Government Corruption News Articles - COMPLETE ARCHIVE

Government Corruption News
Articles
Excerpts of Key Government Corruption News Articles in Media
Below are highly revealing excerpts of important government corruption news articles
from the major media suggesting a cover-up. Links are provided to the full news articles for
verification. If any link fails to function, read this webpage. These government corruption news
articles are listed by order of importance. You can also explore the articles listed by order of the
date of the news article or by the date posted. By choosing to educate ourselves and to spread
the word, we can and will build a brighter future.
Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news articles on dozens of
engaging topics. And read excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever
published.
U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba

2001-05-01, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662
In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent
people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against
Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible
assassination of Cuban migrs, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking
planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. The plans
were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into
supporting a war to oust Cuba's ... Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated
causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and
blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national
indignation." The plans had the written approval of all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and were
presented to President Kennedy's defense secretary, Robert McNamara, in March 1962. But they
apparently were rejected by the civilian leadership and have gone undisclosed for nearly 40 years.
The Joint Chiefs even proposed using the potential death of astronaut John Glenn during the first
attempt to put an American into orbit as a false pretext for war with Cuba. Should the rocket
explode and kill Glenn, they wrote, "the objective is to provide irrevocable proof that the fault
lies with the Communists." The scary thing is none of this stuff comes out until 40 years after.
Note: Why was ABC the only major news source to report on this highly revealing story? Read the
shocking declassified documents on Operation Northwoods. Many military and political leaders
look at the world as a grand chessboard. Sacrificing pawns (innocent civilians) is sometimes
necessary to capture the queen. Explore revealing news articles on military corruption. Then check
out eye-opening 9/11 news articles.
Former U.S. Air Force Officers Recount Experiences With UFOs at

Nuclear Missile Bases
2010-10-27, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/airmen-govt-clean-ufos/story?id=11738715
The U.S. government's official line may be that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) don't pose a
national security threat, but a group of former Air Force officers gathered Monday in the nation's
capital to tell a different story. During a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington,
D.C., seven former Air Force officers once stationed at nuclear bases around the country said that
not only have UFOs visited Air Force bases, some have succeeded in disabling nuclear missiles
stationed there. "I want the government to acknowledge that this phenomenon exists," said Robert
Salas, a former U.S. Air Force Nuclear Launch Officer. Salas said he doesn't think the UFOs he
claims to have encountered had any offensive intent, but he believes they wanted to leave
an impression. "They wanted to shine a light on our nuclear weapons and just send us a
message," he said. "My interpretation is the message is get rid of them because it's going
to mean our destruction." Other former officers recounted similar stories of unexplained moving
lights and odd-shaped flying objects during their time in the service. Leslie Kean, an investigative
journalist and author of the new book "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on
the Record," said thousands of pages of documentation support the officers' accounts. She spent
the last 10 years researching UFOs and combing through thousands of pages of declassified
government material. Kean said that one declassified document that she researched for her book,
relating to the Salas incident, said, "the fact that no apparent reason for the loss of the 10 missiles
can easily be identified is a cause for grave concern to this headquarters."
Note: Watch CNN coverage of this most fascinating testimony. This is not the first time
government and military witnesses have testified at the National Press Club about a major coverup of UFOs. Watch 22 witnesses testifying to remarkable personal stories in May 2001. A twopage written summary presents amazing UFO testimony from top officials. And don't miss these
fascinating news articles on UFOs. What may be the best UFO documentary ever made, Out of
the Blue, is also available for free viewing.
Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group

2005-09-29, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm
How much influence do private networks of the rich and powerful have on government policies and
international relations? One group, the Bilderberg, has often attracted speculation that it
forms a shadowy global government. Every year since 1954 [they have brought] together about
120 leading business people and politicians. At this year's meeting in Germany, the audience
included the heads of the World Bank and European Central Bank, Chairmen or Chief Executives
from Nokia, BP, Unilever, DaimlerChrysler and Pepsi ... editors from five major newspapers,
members of parliament, ministers, European commissioners ... and the queen of the Netherlands.
The chairman ... is 73-year-old Viscount Etienne Davignon. In an extremely rare interview, he
played down the importance of Bilderberg. "I don't think (we are) a global ruling class because I
don't think a global ruling class exists." Will Hutton ... who attended a Bilderberg meeting in 1997,
says people take part in these networks in order to influence the way the world works, to create
what he calls "the international common sense". And that "common sense" is one which supports
the interests of Bilderberg's main participants. For Bilderberg's critics the fact that there is almost
no publicity about the annual meetings is proof that they are up to no good. Bilderberg meetings
often feature future political leaders shortly before they become household names. Bill
Clinton went in 1991 while still governor of Arkansas, Tony Blair was there two years later
while still an opposition MP. All the recent presidents of the European Commission attended
Bilderberg meetings before they were appointed. Informal and private networks like Bilderberg
have helped to oil the wheels of global politics and globalisation for the past half a century.
Note: Why is this meeting of top world leaders kept so secret? Why, until a few years ago, was
there virtually no reporting on this influential group in the major media? Thankfully, the alternative
media has had some good articles. And a Google search can be highly informative. Explore many
other revealing major media news articles on powerful secret societies. And for those interested,
check out reliable, eye-opening information covering the big picture of how and why these secret
societies are using government-sponsored mind control programs to achieve their agenda.
The War On Waste

2002-01-29, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml
On Sept. 10 [2001], Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists,
"the adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy." He said money wasted by the
military poses a serious threat. Rumsfeld promised change but the next daySept. 11the world
changed and in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been
forgotten. Just last week President Bush announced, "my 2003 budget calls for more than $48
billion in new defense spending." More money for the Pentagon ... while its own auditors admit the
military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends. "According to some estimates we
cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted. $2.3 trillionthat's $8,000 for
every man, woman and child in America. A former Marine turned whistle-blower is risking his
job by speaking out ... about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's
balance sheets. Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service ... tried to follow the
money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records. "The director looked at me and
said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback. My supervisor asking me why I care
about doing a good job," said Minnery. He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the
problem. The Pentagon's Inspector General "partially substantiated" several of Minnery's
allegations.
Note: To see the CBS video clip of this shocking admission, click here. For another key clip, click
here. For other media articles revealing major corruption, click here. Even though originally not
reported because of the trauma of 9/11, why wasn't this news broadcast far and wide later? Why
isn't it making media headlines now? For other revealing news articles on military corruption, click
here.
[9/11] Hijack 'suspects' alive and well

2001-09-23, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm
Another of the men named by the FBI as a hijacker in the [9/11] suicide attacks on Washington and
New York has turned up alive and well. The identities of four of the 19 suspects accused of having
carried out the attacks are now in doubt. Saudi Arabian pilot Waleed Al Shehri was one of five men
that the FBI said had deliberately crashed American Airlines flight 11 into the World Trade Centre
on 11 September. His photograph was released, and has since appeared in newspapers and on
television around the world. He told journalists there that he had nothing to do with the attacks. He
has contacted both the Saudi and American authorities. He acknowledges that he attended
flight training school at Daytona Beach in the United States, and is indeed the same Waleed
Al Shehri to whom the FBI has been referring. But, he says, he left the United States in
September last year [and] became a pilot with Saudi Arabian airlines. Abdulaziz Al Omari,
another of the Flight 11 hijack suspects ... says he is an engineer with Saudi Telecoms, and that he
lost his passport while studying in Denver. Meanwhile ... a London-based Arabic daily says it has
interviewed Saeed Alghamdi. He was listed by the FBI as a hijacker in the United flight that
crashed in Pennsylvania. And there are suggestions that another suspect, Khalid Al Midhar, may
also be alive. FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged on Thursday that the identity of several of
the suicide hijackers is in doubt.
Note: The deceptions in the official story of 9/11 are nowhere more clearly shown than in this
important story. The FBI never revised its list of alleged hijackers, and these four are all later
listed in the official 9/11 Commission report as the hijackers. Click here and scroll down a
little over half way to see their photos in the official report. For more on this, click here. For an
abundance of reliable information suggesting a major 9/11 cover-up, click here. For other revealing
news articles on 9/11, click here.
Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of

Representatives
1979-07-00, United States National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/summary.html
Findings of the Select Committee on Assassinations in the Assassination of President John F.
Kennedy in Dallas, Tex., November 22, 1963. Scientific acoustical evidence establishes a high
probability that two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy. Other scientific evidence does not
preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President. The committee believes, on the
basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably
assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee is unable to identify the other gunman
or the extent of the conspiracy. The [original] investigation into the possibility of conspiracy in the
assassination was inadequate. The conclusions of the investigations were arrived at in good faith,
but presented in a fashion that was too definitive. The Department of Justice failed to exercise
initiative in supervising and directing the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the
assassination. The Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to investigate adequately the
possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the President. The Central Intelligence Agency
was deficient in its collection and sharing of information both prior to and subsequent to the
assassination. The Warren Commission failed to investigate adequately the possibility of a
conspiracy to assassinate the President.
Note: This same US Congressional report, on the subject of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
assassination, states that "The committee believes, on the basis of the circumstantial evidence
available to it, that there is a likelihood that James Earl Ray assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King as
a result of a conspiracy." Why hasn't this information been widely reported and become public
knowledge? For a possible answer, click here. For other revealing news articles on assassinations,
click here.
How can it be that you pay more to the IRS than General Electric?
2010-04-01, Forbes magazine
http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corpora...
Some of the world's biggest, most profitable corporations enjoy a far lower tax rate than you do-that is, if they pay taxes at all. The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the
conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam.
In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion. How did this happen? It's complicated. GE in effect
consists of two divisions: General Electric Capital and everything else. The everything else--maker
of engines, power plants, TV shows and the like--would have paid a 22% tax rate if it was a
standalone company. It's GE Capital that keeps the overall tax bill so low. Over the last two years,
GE Capital has displayed an uncanny ability to lose lots of money in the U.S. (posting a $6.5
billion loss in 2009), and make lots of money overseas (a $4.3 billion gain). Not only do the
U.S. losses balance out the overseas gains, but GE can defer taxes on that overseas
income indefinitely. It's the tax benefit of overseas operations that is the biggest reason why
multinationals end up with lower tax rates than the rest of us.
Note: Can you believe that GE not only pays no taxes, they actually get credit from the US
government? They ship US jobs overseas and then reap huge tax benefits as a result. What's
wrong with this picture? For a wealth of media news articles on the hidden manipulations of major
financial corporations, click here.
Political ties to a secretive religious group

2008-04-03, MSNBC News
http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/03/857959.aspx
For more than 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast has been a Washington institution. Every
president has attended the breakfast since Eisenhower. Besides the presidents ... the one
constant presence at the National Prayer Breakfast has been Douglas Coe. Although hes not an
ordained minister, the 79-year-old Coe is the most important religious leader you've never seen or
heard. Scores of senators in both parties ... go to small weekly Senate prayer groups that
Coe attends, [including] senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Observers who have investigated Coes group, called The Fellowship Foundation, [describe] a
secretive organization. Coe repeatedly urges a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Its a
commitment Coe compares to the blind devotion that Adolph Hitler demanded. "Hitler,
Goebbels and Himmler. Think of the immense power these three men had. Coe also quoted
Jesus and said: One of the things [Jesus] said is 'If any man comes to me and does not hate his
father, mother, brother, sister, his own life, he can't be a disciple." Writer Jeff Sharlet ... lived
among Coe's followers six years ago, and came out troubled by their secrecy and rhetoric. We
were being taught the leadership lessons of Hitler, Lenin and Mao. Hitlers genocide wasnt really
an issue for them. It was the strength that he emulated, said Sharlet, who ... has now written
about The Fellowship, also known to insiders as The Family, in [a] book called The Family: The
Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.
Note: This article strangely has been removed from the MSNBC website, though you can still
access it using the Internet Archive. Watch the incredible four-minute NBC video clip showing Coe
praising a communist Red Guard member for cutting the head off his mother at this link. For more
on Coe's powerful links to Congress and corruption, see the MSNBC article available here. And for
powerful inside information from a mind programmer who claims to have escaped from "the
family," and another who says he is from a very high level there, click here and here. To develop
an understanding of the bigger picture behind all of this, click here.
'Bonesmen' for president

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4500423
Pres. Bush and John Kerry were both members of the secret organization. Skull and
Bones dates to 1832. It was in fact a reaction to a secret society, the Masons. Founder William
Huntington Russell thought of his little enclave as sort of anti-Masons and as a home for the
wealthy and the powerful ... who would do anything for another Bonesman. Each year, 15 young
undergraduate seniors are tapped for membership. Members of Skull and Bones gather on High
Street in the Yale campus at the tomb. New members, the neophytes, are expected to do things
like lie in coffins, wrestle in mud, kiss a skull, and confess their sexual histories in front of the group
to bond themselves together. Once youre in, youre in: Skull and Bones is for life. There are a lot
of [famous] Bonesmen ... Henry Luce, who created TIME magazine; Harold Stanley, founder of
Morgan Stanley; William F. Buckley; Averell Harriman, long-time governor of New York. And then
there are the presidents: William Howard Taft, whose father, Alphonso, had helped found
the group; George Herbert Walker Bush, whose father, Prescott, was a Bonesman and a
senator; the current President Bush. [And there's] John Kerry, Bonesman class of 66. His wife
Teresa Kerrys first husband, John Heinz ... was Skull and Bones. Both Bush and Kerry refused to
answer Meet the Press host Tim Russert when asked about the organization. Alexandra Robbins,
author of Secrets of the Tombs" [said] "The sole purpose of Skull and Bones is to get members
into positions of power and then to have those members hire other members to prominent
positions, which is something that President Bush has done."
Note: For a highly revealing, four-minute CNN News clip on Skull and Bones, click here. For other
major media video clips reporting on this powerful secret society, click here. Many have claimed
that secret societies have not had much influence on world politics. This article and videos raises
many serious questions about this. For those interested in exploring reliable information covering
the big picture of how and why these secret societies are using government-sponsored mind
control programs to achieve their agenda, click here. And for other revealing media news articles
on powerful secret societies, click here.
Alleged [9/11] Hijackers May Have Trained At U.S. Bases

2001-09-14, Newsweek Magazine
http://www.newsweek.com/2001/09/14/alleged-hijackers-may-have-trained-at-u-s-...
U.S. military sources have given the FBI information that suggests five of the alleged hijackers of
the planes that were used in [the 9/11] terror attacks received training at secure U.S. military
installations in the 1990s. Three of the alleged hijackers listed their address on drivers
licenses and car registrations as the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla. -- known as the
"Cradle of U.S. Navy Aviation," according to a high-ranking U.S. Navy source. Another of
the alleged hijackers may have been trained in strategy and tactics at the Air War College in
Montgomery, Ala., said another high-ranking Pentagon official. The fifth man may have received
language instruction at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Tex. Both were former Saudi Air
Force pilots who had come to the United States, according to the Pentagon source. The five men
were on a list of 19 people identified as hijackers by the FBI on [September 14]. The three foreign
nationals training in Pensacola appear to be Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmad Alnami, who were
among the four men who allegedly commandeered United Airlines Flight 93. That flight [ended in]
rural Pennsylvania. The third man who may have trained in Pensacola, Ahmed Alghamdi, allegedly
helped highjack United Airlines Flight 75, which hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Military records show that the three used as their address 10 Radford Boulevard, a base roadway
on which residences for foreign-military flight trainees are located.
Note: For more on this vitally important news, see the Washington Post news article available here
and the Los Angeles Times news article here. Several of the alleged hijackers also contacted US
media shortly after 9/11 to report that they were alive and were not on the hijacked planes. See the
BBC News and Times of London news articles on this. Yet the 9/11 Commission Report lists these
men as the official hijackers at this link. So what's really going on here? For many other major
media news articles suggesting that rogue elements of government were involved in 9/11, click
here. For our reliable 9/11 Information Center, click here.
When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing

1999-02-01, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/dotmil/arkin020199.htm
"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United
States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner. At least the
voice sounds amazingly like him. But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology
developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Psychological operations ...
PSYOPS, as the military calls it, seek to exploit human vulnerabilities in enemy governments,
militaries and populations to pursue national and battlefield objectives. Covert operators kicked
around the idea of creating a computer-faked videotape of Saddam Hussein crying or showing
other such manly weaknesses, or in some sexually compromising situation. The nascent plan was
for the tapes to be flooded into Iraq and the Arab world. The tape war never proceeded ... but the
"strategic" PSYOPS scheming didn't die. What if the U.S. projected a holographic image of
Allah floating over Baghdad urging the Iraqi people and Army to rise up against Saddam?
According to a military physicist given the task of looking into the hologram idea, the
feasibility had been established of projecting large, three-dimensional objects that
appeared to float in the air. A super secret program was established in 1994 to pursue the very
technology for PSYOPS application. The "Holographic Projector" is described in a classified Air
Force document as a system to "project information power from space ... for special operations
deception missions."
Note: If the above link fails, click here. If you want to understand some of the many hidden
capabilities of the U.S. military, this article is a must read. For other revealing news articles on the
use of these "nonlethal" weapons, click here.
C.I.A. Data Show 14-Year Project On Controlling Human Behavior

1977-07-21, New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60A1FFC3E59157493C3AB178CD85...
The Central Intelligence Agency conducted a 14-year program to find ways to "control
human behavior" through the use of chemical, biological and radiological material,
according to agency documents made public today by John Marks. The documents ... suggested
broader experimentation on unwitting humans by the intelligence agency or its paid
researchers than had been publicly known before. Mr. Marks distributed 20 documents that
described the following incidents, among others: In 1956, the C.I.A. contracted with a private
physician to test "bulbocapnine," a drug that can cause stupor or induce a catatonic state, on
monkeys and "convicts incarcerated at" an unnamed state penitentiary. A letter from an unnamed
C.I.A. official in 1949 discussed ways of killing people without leaving a trace. "I believe that there
are two chemical substances which would be most useful in that they would leave no characteristic
pathological findings," the letter said. In 1952, two Russian agents who were "suspected of being
doubled" were interrogated using "narcohypnotic" methods. The two men were given sodium
pentothal and a stimulant. One interrogation produced a "remarkable" regression, the papers said,
during which "the subject actually relived certain past activities of his life. The subject totally
accepted Mr. [name deleted] as an old and trusted and beloved personal friend whom the subject
had known in years past in Georgia, U.S.S.R." The C.I.A. conducted secret medical experiments
from 1949 through 1963 under the code names Bluebird, Artichoke, MK Ultra and MK Delta.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For a one-minute video clip showing Congressional
testimony on a dart gun which causes a heart attack without leaving any evidence, click here. For
lots more reliable, verifiable information suggesting a major cover-up of government mind control
programs, click here. For other revealing news articles on mind control, click here.
Hypnotic Experimentation and Research

1954-02-10, Declassified CIA Document (Verify using note below)
http://www.WantToKnow.info/mind_control/foia_mind_control/190691_assassins_pr...
A posthypnotic of the night before (pointed finger, you will sleep) was enacted. Misses [deleted]
and [deleted] immediately progressed to a deep hypnotic state with no further suggestion. Miss
[deleted] was then instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms in any fashion) that
she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss [deleted] (now in a deep hypnotic
sleep) and failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss [deleted]. She was
instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to kill [deleted] for failing to
awaken. Miss [deleted] carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded)
gun at [deleted] and then proceeding to fall into a deep sleep. Both were awakened and
expressed complete amnesia for the entire sequence. Miss [deleted] was again handed the
gun, which she refused (in an awakened state) to pick up or accept from the operator. She
expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened.
Note: This text is quoted from page 1 of declassified CIA document MORI ID 190691. To verify the
statement in the text, make a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request as described here, or
directly view a scanned copy online here. To access thousands of pages of declassified CIA mind
control documents online, click here. For lots more reliable information on this crucial topic, click
here. For many revealing news articles on mind control, click here.
Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/terrorist-plots-helped-along...
[We've] been narrowly saved from lethal terrorist plots in recent years or so it has seemed. A
would-be suicide bomber was intercepted on his way to the Capitol; a scheme to bomb
synagogues and shoot Stinger missiles at military aircraft was developed by men in Newburgh,
N.Y.; and a fanciful idea to fly explosive-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol was
hatched in Massachusetts. But all these dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose
undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4
explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects navely played
their parts until they were arrested. When an Oregon college student ... thought of using a car
bomb to attack a festive Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, the F.B.I. provided a van
loaded with six 55-gallon drums of inert material, harmless blasting caps, a detonator cord and a
gallon of diesel fuel. An undercover F.B.I. agent even did the driving, with Mr. Mohamud in the
passenger seat. To trigger the bomb the student punched a number into a cellphone and got no
boom, only a bust. Typically, the stings initially target suspects for pure speech comments to an
informer outside a mosque, angry postings on Web sites, e-mails with radicals overseas then
woo them into relationships with informers, who are often convicted felons [or] F.B.I. agents posing
as members of Al Qaeda or other groups. This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I.,
would the culprits commit violence on their own? Is cultivating potential terrorists the best use of
the manpower designed to find the real ones?
Note: Read the entire article to find out just how far the FBI will go to entrap incompetent
individuals. To read a New York Times article showing that the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
involved similar entrapment, only the bomber was not stopped by knowing FBI agents, click here.
More on that available here. For reports on other crazy cases of FBI entrapment, click here and
here. For reliable, verifiable information suggesting 9/11 may have been facilitated in some way
click here.
Massive Pentagon Child Pornography Accusations Not Investigated

2011-01-06, CNN
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1101/06/acd.02.html
The Pentagon porn story began in 2006. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] child
pornography sting operation called Project Flicker produced payment records of about 5,200
people, many of whom provided Army or fleet zip codes or military e-mail addresses.
Subsequently, the Pentagon's investigative branch, DCIS, began going through the ICE list to
identify who actually was a DOD employee. The investigation, however, only ran for eight months,
and only cross-checked some 3,500 names for Pentagon ties. According to DCIS documents
revealed in a Freedom of Information Act request, out of that 3,500, investigators uncovered 264
employees or contractors, including staffers for the secretary of defense. Nine people had top
security clearances. But only about 20 percent of those 264 people were completely
investigated. Fewer still were prosecuted. After about eight months, the entire probe was
halted. It left about 1,700 names totally unchecked, 1,700 alleged kiddie porn customers, an
unknown number of whom may still work in some capacity for the Defense Department. Late last
summer, after investigations by "The Boston Globe" and Yahoo! News revealed the figures, a
Pentagon spokesman promised to reopen the investigation, conceding that DCIS had stopped due
to lack of resources. DCIS says it is now revisiting all 5,200 names. They have now identified 302
employees or staffers. [Yet] of the 302 people confirmed as DOD personnel or contractors,
only 70 of them were actually investigated.
Note: To see the CNN video clip of this important news, click here. Isn't it interesting that the
Pentagon, with it's huge budget, claims the investigation was stopped due to "lack of resources." If
you are ready to see how investigations into a massive child sex abuse ring have led to the highest
levels of government, watch the suppressed Discovery Channel documentary "Conspiracy of
Silence," available here.
A New Look at the 9-11 Commission

2009-09-11, Time magazine
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1921659,00.html
Former New Jersey attorney general John Farmer served as senior counsel to the 9/11
Commission, tasked with investigating the government response to the attacks. His new book,
The Ground Truth, picks up where the commission left off taking a deeper look at the
government's ... response to the attacks and exposing officials determined to hide their failings
from the inquiry. Farmer uses newly released transcripts and recordings to cast doubt on the
official version of events. He spoke with TIME. [Time:] Why do you think officials tried to obscure
[the truth about 9/11]? [Farmer:] It's almost a culture of concealment. You have someone like
Sandy Berger ... taking rather extreme measures to remove documents from the National Archives
and hide them at a construction site where he could retrieve them later and destroy them. There
were interviews made at the FAA's New York center the night of 9/11 and those tapes were
destroyed. The CIA tapes of the interrogations were destroyed. The story of 9/11 itself, to
put it mildly, was distorted and was completely different from the way things happened. If
what the government is telling you isn't true, then the truth could be anything. I think there is
evidence that the truth wasn't told and that at least some of that was deliberate.
Note: Many respected scholars, officials and professionals have questioned the 9/11
Commission's report. Click here and here to read some of their statements. For lots more reliable,
verifiable information from the major media questioning the 9/11 Commission's report, click here
and here.
Where'd the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It's a Secret

2008-12-22, Fox News/Associated Press
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470824,00.html
It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money
going? But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they
can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. "We've lent
some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing
it,"' said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in
emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to." The
Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money
and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is
being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest? None of the banks provided specific
answers. "We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking," said Barry Koling, a spokesman for
Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars. The answers
highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which earmarked $700
billionabout the size of the Netherlands' economyto help rescue the financial industry. There
has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. "It is entirely appropriate for the
American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry," said
Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout. But, at least for
now, there's no way for taxpayers to find that out.
Note: For more key information that the bankers don't want you to know, click here. For many
revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Media as lapdog
2007-04-27, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-palast27apr27,0,5178561.story
In an e-mail uncovered and released by the House Judiciary Committee last month, Tim
Griffin, once Karl Rove's right-hand man, gloated that "no [U.S.] national press picked up" a
BBC Television story reporting that the Rove team had developed an elaborate scheme to
challenge the votes of thousands of African Americans in the 2004 election. Griffin wasn't
exactly right. The Los Angeles Times did run a follow-up article. But ... most of the major U.S.
newspapers and the vast majority of television news programs ignored the story even though it
came at a critical moment just weeks before the election. In fact, not one U.S. newsperson even
bothered to ask me or the BBC for the data and research we had painstakingly done. The truth is, I
knew that a story like this one would never be reported in my own country [the U.S.], because
investigative reporting ... is dying. Again and again, I see this pattern repeated. Back in December
2000, I received two computer disks from the office of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.
Analysis of the data ... indicated that Harris' office had purged thousands of African Americans
from Florida's voter rolls as "felons." Florida now admits that many of these voters were not in fact
felons. Nevertheless, the blacklisting helped cost Al Gore the White House. I reported on the
phony felon purge in Britain's Guardian and Observer and on the BBC while Gore was still in the
race, while the count was still on. Yet the story of the Florida purge never appeared in the U.S.
daily papers or on television ... until months later, that is, after the Supreme Court had decided the
election.
Note: The American-born author of this article, BBC reporter Greg Palast, has repeatedly exposed
major corruption in the British media, yet the U.S. press often ignores his well-researched stories.
For possibly the most amazing story he wrote which got virtually no U.S. media coverage, click
here.
CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals

2007-00-00, U.S. Department of Energy Website
https://web.archive.org/web/20070703043857/http://hss.energy.gov/HealthSafety...
In December 1974, the New York Times reported that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic
activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens during the 1960s. That report prompted
investigations by both Congress (in the form of the Church Committee) and a presidential
commission (known as the Rockefeller Commission) into the domestic activities of the CIA, the
FBI, and intelligence-related agencies of the military. Congressional hearings and the
Rockefeller Commission report revealed to the public for the first time that the CIA and the
DOD had conducted experiments on both cognizant and unwitting human subjects as part
of an extensive program to influence and control human behavior through the use of
psychoactive drugs (such as LSD and mescaline) and other chemical, biological, and
psychological means. They also revealed that at least one subject had died after administration
of LSD. Frank Olson, an Army scientist, was given LSD without his knowledge or consent in 1953
as part of a CIA experiment and apparently committed suicide a week later. Subsequent reports
would show that another person ... died as a result of a secret Army experiment involving
mescaline. The CIA program, known principally by the codename MKULTRA, began in 1950 and
was motivated largely in response to alleged Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean uses of mindcontrol techniques on U.S. prisoners of war in Korea. Most of the MKULTRA records were
deliberately destroyed in 1973 by order of then-Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms.
Note: This highly revealing article on a U.S. government website shows that the CIA was actively
involved in mind control projects. For an excellent summary based on thousands of pages of
declassified CIA documents showing the secret creation of unknowing assassins or "Manchurian
Candidates," click here.
9/11 Commission Heads: We Still Don't Know the Whole Truth of 9/11
2006-08-09, CNN News
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0608/09/ldt.01.html
A shocking new book by the 9/11 Commission co-chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton
says Americans still don't know the whole truth about their government's initial response to
those terrorist attacks that day. [The book] outlines repeated misstatements by the
Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration. Fog of war ... could not explain why all of the
after-action reports, accident investigations, and public testimony by FAA and NORAD officials
advanced an account of 9/11 that was untrue. Untrue -- the military's original timeline of United
Flight 93. Equally untrue, the government's timeline for American Flight 77 and details about
fighter jets scrambled to intercept it. DOD did not accurately report to the 9/11 Commission on the
response to the September 11, 2001 hijackings. So far, government investigators stopped short of
calling all of these inaccuracies lies. If all of the after-action reports are untrue, for whatever
reason, that's a lie. Incompetence and ineptitude on the part of this government ... in the weeks
leading up to 9/11 are established. The fact that the government would permit deception ... the fact
that they would continue and perpetuate the lie suggests that we need a full investigation of what
is going on and what is demonstrably an incompetent and at worst deceitful federal government.
The Lowdown on Sweet?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/business/yourmoney/12sweet.html?ex=12974004...
When Dr. Morando Soffritti ... saw the results of his team's seven-year study on aspartame, he
knew he was about to be injected into a bitter controversy over this sweetener. Aspartame is sold
under the brand names Nutra-Sweet and Equal and is found in such popular products as Diet
Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Snapple and Sugar Free Kool-Aid. Hundreds of millions of people consume
it worldwide. Dr. Soffritti ... oversees 180 scientists and researchers in 30 countries. Dr. Soffritti's
study concluded that [aspartame] was associated with unusually high rates of lymphomas,
leukemias and other cancers. The study ... involved 1,900 laboratory rats and cost $1 million.
Soffritti said he was inspired to look at aspartame because of what he calls "inadequacies" in the
cancer studies done by Searle in the 1970's. Others have also challenged Searle's studies. Years
before the F.D.A. approved aspartame, the agency had serious concerns about the
accuracy and credibility of Searle's aspartame studies. From 1977 to 1985 -- during much of
the approval process -- Searle was headed by Donald H. Rumsfeld, who is now the secretary
of defense. Searle was acquired by Monsanto in 1985. Dr. Soffritti said ... more research and open
debate were needed on whether aspartame was a carcinogen. "It is very important to have
scientists who are independent and not funded by industry looking at this."
Note: If you want to understand the influence of big money on your health, this article is well worth
reading. Our Health Information Center Health Information Center has lots more. And for an
excellent, incredibly eye-opening documentary on aspartame that will raise more questions about
diet soft drinks, click here.
FAA Received Alert About 9/11 Hijacker
2006-01-07, ABC News/Associated Press

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91659&page=2
Federal aviation authorities were alerted in early 2001 that an Arizona flight school believed one of
the eventual Sept. 11 hijackers lacked the English and flying skills necessary for the commercial
pilot's license he already held. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector even sat next to the
hijacker, Hani Hanjour, in one of the Arizona classes, checked records to ensure Hanjour's 1999
pilot's license was legitimate but concluded no other action was warranted. Hanjour is believed to
have piloted the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. The operations manager for
the now-defunct JetTech flight school in Phoenix said she called the FAA inspector that
oversaw her school three times in January and February 2001 to express her concerns
about Hanjour. "I couldn't believe he had a commercial license of any kind with the skills
that he had," said Peggy Chevrette, the JetTech manager. She also has been interviewed by
the FBI. Marilyn Ladner, a vice president for the Pan Am International Flight Academy that owned
JetTech before it closed in the aftermath of Sept. 11, said the flight school expressed its concerns
and believes the FAA official observed Hanjour's weaknesses firsthand. The Arizona school's alert
is the latest revelation about the extent of information the government possessed before Sept. 11
Note: This article fails to mention the key fact the Hanjour is officially listed as the hijacker
pilot who executed an extremely sophisticated 330-degree diving turn to crash the plane
into the Pentagon (see official report at this link). Yet this article claims his flight instructor said his
skills were so poor she couldn't believe he had any pilot's license. How can that be? For more
information suggesting Hanjour was assisted by U.S. authorities in obtaining his license, click here.
And why has the Pentagon only released a few of the many dozens of security camera videos they
have of the 9/11 Pentagon crash? And these few show nothing conclusive. For lots more reliable
information questioning what really happened on 9/11, click here.
U.S. Suppressed Footage of Hiroshima for Decades

2005-08-03, New York Times/Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-media-anniversary.html
In the weeks following the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, U.S. authorities
seized and suppressed film shot in the bombed cities by U.S. military crews and Japanese
newsreel teams to prevent Americans from seeing the full extent of devastation wrought by
the new weapons. It remained hidden until the early 1980s and has never been fully aired.
"Although there are clearly huge differences with Iraq, there are also some similarities," said
Mitchell, co-author of "Hiroshima in America" and editor of Editor & Publisher. "The chief similarity
is that Americans are still being kept at a distance from images of death, whether of their own
soldiers or Iraqi civilians." The Los Angeles Times released a survey of six months of media
coverage of the Iraq war in six prominent U.S. newspapers and two news magazines -- a period
during which 559 coalition forces, the vast majority American, were killed. It found they had run
almost no photographs of Americans killed in action. "So much of the media is owned by big
corporations and they would much rather focus on making money than setting themselves
up for criticism from the White House and Congress," said Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN
correspondent. In 1945, U.S. policymakers wanted to be able to continue to develop and test
atomic and eventually nuclear weapons without an outcry of public opinion. "They succeeded but
the subject is still a raw nerve."
Note: As this highly revealing Reuters article was removed from both the New York Times and the
Reuters websites, click here to view it in its entirely on one of the few alternative news websites to
report it. And to go much deeper into how the devastating effects of the bomb were covered up by
various entities within government, click here.
A coverup for a cause of Autism?

2005-06-22, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8243264/ns/msnbc-morning_joe/t/coverup-cause-autism
JOE SCARBOROUGH, Host: Six out of every 1,000 kids get it, and nobody knows exactly why.
But my next guest says ... part of the blame ... needs to fall on government. And it has to do with a
drug called thimerosal. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a senior attorney for the Natural Resources
Defense [Council]. Let's talk tonight about thimerosal. There are a lot of people out there ... very
concerned about the impact of this drug, which is found in vaccines, and how it causes autism.
Talk about that. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: That's right. Thimerosal is a preservative that was put
in vaccines back in the 1930s. Almost immediately after it was put in, autism cases began to
appear. Autism had never been known before. It was unknown to science. Then the vaccines were
increased in 1989 by the CDC and by a couple of other government agencies. What happened
was the vaccine schedule was increased. We went up from receiving about 10 vaccines in our
generation to these kids receive 24 vaccines. And they all had this thimerosal in them, this
mercury. And nobody bothered to do an analysis of what the cumulative impact of all that
mercury was doing to kids. As it turns out, we are injecting our children with 400 times the
amount of mercury that FDA or EPA considers safe. A child on his first day that he is born
is injected with a hepatitis B shot. Under EPA guidelines, he would have to be 275 pounds
to safely absorb that shot. What happened was that, in 1988, one in every 2,500 American
children had autism. Today, one in every 166 children have autism.
Note: For an excellent article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. revealing the severe manipulations around
vaccines, click here. For a seven-minute video clip of the above interview, click here. For lots more
on autism and vaccines from reliable, verifiable sources, click here
Is Al Qaeda Just a Bush Boogeyman?

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/11/opinion/oe-scheer11
Is it conceivable that Al Qaeda, as defined by President Bush as the center of a vast and wellorganized international terrorist conspiracy, does not exist? To even raise the question amid all the
officially inspired hysteria is heretical. Yet a brilliant new BBC film produced by one of Britain's
leading documentary filmmakers systematically challenges this. "The Power of Nightmares: The
Rise of the Politics of Fear" ... argues coherently that much of what we have been told about the
threat of international terrorism "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by
politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned ... around the world." Why have we
heard so much frightening talk about "dirty bombs" when experts say it is panic rather than
radioactivity that would kill people? Why did Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claim on "Meet
the Press" in 2001 that Al Qaeda controlled massive high-tech cave complexes in Afghanistan,
when British and U.S. military forces later found no such thing? The film ... directly challenges
the conventional wisdom by making a powerful case that the Bush administration, led by a
tight-knit cabal of Machiavellian neoconservatives, has seized upon the false image of a
unified international terrorist threat to replace the expired Soviet empire in order to push a
political agenda. "The nightmare vision of a uniquely powerful hidden organization waiting to
strike our societies is an illusion. Wherever one looks for this Al Qaeda organization, from the
mountains of Afghanistan to the 'sleeper cells' in America, the British and Americans are chasing a
phantom enemy."
Note: If above link fails, click here. This highly revealing film by one of Britain's most respected
documentary makers is available for free viewing on the Internet. For the link and lots more on this
amazingly revealing documentary, click here. For an excellent review of the film in one of the
U.K.'s leading newspapers, click here.
Lockheed and the Future of Warfare

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/business/yourmoney/28lock.html?ex=125938440...
Lockheed Martin doesn't run the United States. But it does help run a breathtakingly big part of it.
Lockheed ... has built a formidable information-technology empire that now stretches from the
Pentagon to the post office. It sorts your mail and totals your taxes. It cuts Social Security checks
and counts the United States census. It runs space flights and monitors air traffic. Lockheed ... is
best known for its weapons. But in the post-9/11 world, Lockheed has become more than just the
biggest corporate cog in what Dwight D. Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex. It is
increasingly putting its stamp on the nation's military policies. Former Lockheed executives,
lobbyists and lawyers hold crucial posts at the White House and the Pentagon, picking weapons
and setting policies. War and crisis have been good for business. The company's stock has tripled
in the last four years. Lockheed is creating robot soldiers and neural software - "intelligent agents"
- to do their work. Israel spends much of the $1.8 billion in annual military aid from the United
States to buy F-16 warplanes from Lockheed. Its own executives say the concentration of power
among military contractors is more intense than in any other sector of business outside banking.
AND, after 9/11 ... cost is essentially irrelevant. Former Lockheed executives serve on the
Defense Policy Board ... and the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which help make
military and intelligence policy and pick weapons for future battles. Lockheed's board
includes E. C. Aldridge Jr. ... the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. To say that "war and crisis have been good for business" is
quite an understatement. To read what one of the most highly decorated generals had to say about
this, click here.
The 9/11 Secret in the CIA's Back Pocket

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/19/opinion/oe-scheer19
It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the
election, and this one names names. "It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level
people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed," an
intelligence official who has read the report told me. [The] release of the report, which represents
an exhaustive 17-month investigation by an 11-member team within the agency, has been
"stalled." First by acting CIA Director John McLaughlin and now by Porter J. Goss, the former
Republican House member (and chairman of the Intelligence Committee) who recently was
appointed CIA chief. The official stressed that the report was more blunt and more specific than the
earlier bipartisan reports produced by the Bush-appointed Sept. 11 commission and Congress.
"The report found very senior-level officials responsible." By law, the only legitimate reason
the CIA director has for holding back such a report is national security. None of this should surprise
us given the Bush administration's great determination since 9/11 to resist any serious
investigation. The president fought against the creation of the Sept. 11 commission, for example,
agreeing only after enormous political pressure was applied by a grass-roots movement led by the
families of those slain. And then Bush refused to testify to the commission under oath. Instead
he deigned only to chat with the commission members, with Vice President Dick Cheney present,
in a White House meeting in which commission members were not allowed to take notes.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For other reliable information on the 9/11 cover-up, click
here.
A dangerous dose
2004-09-05, Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2004/09/05/a_dangerous_dose
Marcia Angell [is] a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School [and one of the] former editors
of The New England Journal of Medicine. Her new book, "The Truth About the Drug Companies,"
is a sober, clear-eyed attack on the excesses of drug company power. How does the drug industry
deceive us? It plies attending physicians with expense-paid junkets to St. Croix and Key West,
Fla., where they are given honoraria and consulting fees to listen to promotional presentations. It
promotes new or little-known diseases such as "social anxiety disorder" and "premenstrual
dysphoric disorder" as a way of selling the drugs that treat them. It sets up phony front groups
disguised as "patient advocacy organizations." It hires ghostwriters to produce misleading scientific
articles and then pays academic physicians to sign on as authors. It sends paid lackeys and shills
out onto the academic lecture circuit to ''educate" doctors about a drug's unapproved uses. It hires
multinational PR firms to trumpet dubious studies as scientific breakthroughs while burying the
studies that are likely to harm sales. It buys up the results of publicly funded research. It maintains
a political chokehold on the American public by donating more money to political campaigns than
any other industry in the country. For many years the drug industry has reaped the highest profit
margins of any industry in America. In 2002, the top 10 American drug companies had profit
margins of 17 percent; Pfizer, the largest, had profit margins of 26 percent. So staggeringly
profitable is the drug industry that in 2002 the combined profits for the top 10 drug
companies in the Fortune 500 were greater than those of all the other 490 companies
combined.
Note: For an excellent 10-page summary of this revealing book written by the esteemed author,
click here. For additional reliable information on the health cover-up, click here.
Connections And Then Some

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A25...
The Carlyle Group [is] an investment house famous as one of the most well-connected companies
anywhere. Former president George H.W. Bush is a Carlyle adviser. Former British prime minister
John Major heads its European arm. Former secretary of state James Baker is senior counselor,
former White House budget chief Richard Darman is a partner, former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt
is senior adviser -- the list goes on. Those associations have brought Carlyle enormous success.
The Washington-based merchant bank controls nearly $14 billion in investments, making it the
largest private equity manager in the world. It buys and sells whole companies the way some firms
trade shares of stock. But the connections also have cost Carlyle. It has developed a reputation as
the CIA of the business world -- omnipresent, powerful, a little sinister. Media outlets from the
Village Voice to BusinessWeek have depicted Carlyle as manipulating the levers of government
from shadowy back rooms. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) even suggested that
Carlyle's and Bush's ties to the Middle East made them somehow complicitous in the Sept. 11
terror attacks. It didn't help that as the World Trade Center burned on Sept. 11, 2001, the
news interrupted a Carlyle business conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here attended by a
brother of Osama bin Laden. Former president Bush, a fellow investor, had been with him at
the conference the previous day. Bush['s] primary function is to give speeches for Carlyle that
attract wealthy foreigners in places where the former president is especially revered, such as Asia.
The company has rewarded its faithful with a 36 percent average annual rate of return.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. To understand the amazingly powerful role of this lowprofile, yet extremely wealthy and influential group, click here to view free a 48-minute
documentary shown on Dutch national TV which clearly depicts the depths of corruption and deceit
at the highest levels of government. You will be thankful that you watched this highly educational
film.
Defence redefined means securing cheap energy

2002-12-26, Sydney Morning Herald (One of Australia's leading newspapers)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/25/1040511092926.html
As troops and equipment pour into the Gulf for a looming war with Iraq, United States military
thinkers admit that "defence" means protecting ... cheap oil. As far back as 1975, Henry Kissinger,
then secretary of state, said America was prepared to wage war over oil. Separate plans
advocating US conquest of Saudi oilfields were published in the '70s. So it should come as little
surprise that ... four months before the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York - a
battle plan for Afghanistan was already being reviewed by the US Command that would
carry it out after September 11. Military strategists were highlighting the energy wealth of the
Caspian Sea and Central Asia and its importance to America's "security". The Indian media and
Jane's Intelligence Review reported that the US was fighting covert battles against the Taliban,
months before the "war on terrorism" was declared. Over several months beginning in April last
year a series of military and governmental policy documents was released that sought to legitimise
the use of US military force in the pursuit of oil and gas. A spring 2001 article by Jeffrey Record in
the War College's journal, Parameters, argued the legitimacy of "shooting in the Persian Gulf on
behalf of lower gas prices". Mr Record [is] a former staff member of the Senate armed services
committee (and an apparent favourite of the Council on Foreign Relations). [He] advocated the
acceptability of presidential subterfuge in the promotion of a conflict. Mr Record explicitly
urged painting over the US's actual reasons for warfare with a nobly high-minded veneer,
seeing such as a necessity for mobilising public support for a conflict.
Note: This highly revealing report on the military planning of wars for oil is well worth reading in its
entirety, at the link above. For lots more on major deception and manipulation around the event of
9/11, click here.
Human Guinea Pigs: At Your Own Risk

2002-04-22, Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002263,00.html
Over the past three years, more than 60 institutions, including several of the world's most
prestigious research centers, have been criticized by the U.S. government for failing to protect
human subjects adequately. As recently as 1974 individual scientists and their financial backers
could decide for themselves what constituted ethical research. Most of the time their judgment was
sound, but there were plenty of appalling exceptions. In the 1950s Army doctors gave LSD to
soldiers without telling them what it was. In 1963 researchers injected prisoners and
terminally ill patients with live cancer cells to test their immune responses; they were told
only that it was a "skin test." In the 1950s mentally retarded children at Willowbrook, a state
institution in New York, were deliberately infected with hepatitis so that scientists could work on an
experimental vaccine. And in perhaps the most infamous case on record, doctors at Georgia's
Tuskegee Institute, starting in the 1930s, deliberately withheld treatment from syphilis-infected
African-American men for 40 years to monitor the course of the disease. Financial conflicts of
interest can extend not only to the institutions but also to the researchers themselves. Jesse
Gelsinger's death in the University of Pennsylvania's gene-therapy trial in 1999 seemed especially
scandalous [because] James Wilson, the principal investigator in the study, held a 30% equity
stake in Genovo, which owned the rights to license the drug Wilson was studying; the university
owned 3.2% of the company. When Targeted Genetics Corp. acquired Genovo, Wilson reportedly
earned $13.5 million and Penn $1.4 million.
Note: For a powerful, reliable list of astounding incidents in which government and medical
professionals used humans as guinea pigs over the past hundred years and continuing to the
present, click here. Links are provided to reliable sources for verification. For key facts on
government mind control programs, click here.
Pipeline politics taint U.S. war

2002-03-18, Chicago Tribune
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-03-18/news/0203180046_1_caspian-talib...
Outside this country, there is a widespread belief that U.S. military deployments in Central Asia
mostly are about oil. An article in the Guardian of London headlined, A pro-western regime in
Kabul should give the U.S. an Afghan route for Caspian oil, foreshadowed the kind of skeptical
coverage the U.S. war now receives in many countries. Author George Monbiot ... wrote that the
U.S. oil company Unocal Corp. had been negotiating with the Taliban since 1995 to build "oil and
gas pipelines from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan and into Pakistani ports on the Arabian
sea." Unocal pulled out of the deal after the 1998 terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania were linked to terrorists based in Afghanistan. The terrorist acts of Sept. 11, though
tragic, provided the Bush administration a [pretext] to invade Afghanistan, oust the recalcitrant
Taliban and, coincidentally, smooth the way for the pipeline. To make things even smoother, the
U.S. engineered the rise to power of two former Unocal employees: Hamid Karzai, the new
interim president of Afghanistan, and Zalmay Khalizad, the Bush administrations
Afghanistan envoy. [Uri] Averny, a former member of the Israeli Knesset ... argues that the war
on terrorism provides a perfect pretext for Americas imperial interests. If one looks at the map
of the big American bases created for the war, one is struck by the fact that they are
completely identical to the route of the projected oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean. No
wonder the rest of the world is a bit skeptical about our war on evildoers.
Note: Why do so few people know that these two top officials of Afghanistan were once paid by an
American oil company? For important reports from major media sources on the realities of the "war
on terror," click here.
Experts Urging Broader Inquiry In Towers' Fall

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40A11FB3E550C768EDDAB0994D94...
Saying that the current investigation into how and why the twin towers fell on Sept. 11 is
inadequate, some of the nation's leading structural engineers and fire-safety experts are calling for
a new, independent and better-financed inquiry that could produce the kinds of conclusions vital for
skyscrapers and future buildings nationwide. Experts critical of the current effort ... point out
that the current team of 20 or so investigators has no subpoena power and little staff
support and has even been unable to obtain basic information like detailed blueprints of the
buildings that collapsed. Some structural engineers have said that one serious mistake has
already been made ... the decision to rapidly recycle the steel columns, beams and trusses that
held up the buildings. Interviews with a handful of members of the team, which includes some of
the nation's most respected engineers, also uncovered complaints that they had at various times
been shackled with bureaucratic restrictions that prevented them from interviewing witnesses,
examining the disaster site and requesting crucial information like recorded distress calls to the
police and fire departments. Members have been threatened with dismissal for speaking to
the press.
Note: Our website has over 30 full articles posted from the New York Times. This is the only article
for which the Times threatened to sue us if we didn't remove it. We were allowed to replace it
with this short summary. For more on this, click here. For a two-page summary of many more
major media news articles suggesting a major cover-up of 9/11, click here.
Engineers Suspect Diesel Fuel in Collapse of 7 World Trade Center

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/29/nyregion/29TOWE.html?pagewanted=all
Almost lost in the chaos of the collapse of the World Trade Center is a mystery that under
normal circumstances would probably have captured the attention of the city and the world.
That mystery is the collapse of a nearby 47-story, two-million-square-foot building.
Engineers and other experts ... were for weeks still stunned by what had happened to 7 World
Trade Center. [They] struggle to explain the collapse. That building had housed, among other
things, the mayor's emergency command bunker. It tumbled to its knees shortly after 5:20 on the
ugly evening of Sept. 11. Experts said no building like it, a modern, steel-reinforced high-rise, had
ever collapsed because of an uncontrolled fire, and engineers have been trying to figure out
exactly what happened and whether they should be worried about other buildings like it around the
country. "Even though Building 7 didn't get much attention in the media immediately, within the
structural engineering community, it's considered to be much more important to understand," said
William F. Baker, a partner in charge of structural engineering at the architectural firm Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill. "They say, 'We know what happened at 1 and 2, but why did 7 come
down?'" Jonathan Barnett, a professor of fire protection engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, said a definitive answer to the question of what happened in 7 World Trade Center is
perhaps the most important question facing investigators. "It's just like when you investigate a
plane crash. If we find a weakness in the building or a deficiency in the building that causes that
collapse, we then want to find that weakness in other buildings and fix it."
Note: Though this articles blames the collapse on a diesel fuel fire, over 2,000 architects and
engineers say this is impossible. A New York Times article states that some of the I-beams at WTC
7, "once five-eighths of an inch thick, had vaporized." For powerful evidence presented by experts
that World Trade Center 7 was brought down by explosives, click here. And don't miss the PBS
special, "9/11 Explosive Evidence: Experts Speak Out", in which 40 whistle-blowing architects and
engineers present astounding evidence of controlled demolition at World Trade Center 7.
'We've Hit The Targets'

2001-09-13, Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/2001/09/12/we-ve-hit-the-targets.html
Could the [9/11] bombers have been stopped? NEWSWEEK has learned that while U.S.
intelligence received no specific warning, the state of alert had been high during the past two
weeks, and a particularly urgent warning may have been received the night before the [9/11]
attacks, causing some top Pentagon brass to cancel a trip. Why that same information was
not available to the 266 people who died aboard the four hijacked commercial aircraft may become
a hot topic on the Hill.
Note: This most astounding information is buried in this long article. Yet it is repeated in a
Newsweek article 11 days later (9/24/2001), which states, "On Sept. 10, NEWSWEEK has
learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next
morning, apparently because of security concerns." It was again buried in a longer article, yet the
author felt it important enough to include. Why was there no follow up? WantToKnow.info's Fred
Burks has a reliable deep cover CIA contact who says he was informed just hours before the
attacks that there was going to be a major attack on Washington on 9/11. For an abundance of
reliable verifiable information suggesting a major cover-up around 9/11, click here and here.
Group Calls for Disclosure of UFO Info

2001-05-10, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98572
A group of about 20 former government workers, many of them military and security officials ...
stepped forward on Wednesday to say they had witnessed evidence of aliens and unidentified
flying objects and called for congressional hearings about such sightings. "These testimonies
establish once and for all that we are not alone," said Steven Greer, director of the Disclosure
Project, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to disclosing alleged alien sightings. Greer,
who organized the program at the National Press Club in Washington, argued that the United
States and other governments have known about UFOs for at least 50 years and have been
keeping the information secret. Greer said there were some 400 witnesses who claim to have
firsthand experience with UFO sightings or alien evidence, and are willing to testify before
Congress. Among them is Daniel Sheehan, a well-known Washington lawyer who is acting
as counsel for members of Greer's group. Sheehan told reporters that during the Carter
administration he found out about government-held UFO information that then-CIA Director
George Bush, father of the current president, would not release. Sheehan said he was then led
into the National Archives, where he was shown photographs of captured UFOs, complete with
what appeared to be alien writing symbols. Former Air Force Maj. George Filer III told reporters
that when he was at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, an alien craft came down, and an
alien got out and was shot by a military policeman. "Our security police went out there and found
him at the end of the runway dead," Filer said.
Note: To watch a video of this most intriguing program, click here. An MD and former hospital ER
director, Dr. Steven Greer has videotaped interviews with over 100 military and government
witnesses who had personal experiences with the UFO cover-up. To order these mind-boggling
videos, click here. For lots more reliable, verifiable information on this intriguing topic, click here.
Echelon spy network revealed

1999-11-03, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/503224.stm
Imagine a global spying network that can eavesdrop on every single phone call, fax or e-mail,
anywhere on the planet. It sounds like science fiction, but it's true. Two of the chief protagonists Britain and America - officially deny its existence. But the BBC has confirmation from the
Australian Government that such a network really does exist. The base is linked directly to the
headquarters of the US National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Mead in Maryland, and it is also
linked to a series of other listening posts scattered across the world, like Britain's own GCHQ. The
power of the network, codenamed Echelon, is astounding. Every international telephone call,
fax, e-mail, or radio transmission can be listened to by powerful computers capable of
voice recognition. They home in on a long list of key words, or patterns of messages. The
network is so secret that the British and American Governments refuse to admit that
Echelon even exists. But another ally, Australia, has decided not to be so coy. The man who
oversees Australia's security services, Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Bill Blick, has
confirmed to the BBC that their Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) does form part of the network.
Asked if they are then passed on to countries like Britain and America, he said: "They might be in
certain circumstances." They are looking for evidence of international crime, like terrorism. But the
system is so widespread all sorts of private communications, often of a sensitive commercial
nature, are hoovered up and analysed.
Note that this is a 1999 article. The capability to monitor all communications has existed for a
long time. For a powerful, well documented 20-page paper in the Federal Communications Law
Journal providing strong evidence that this program is unconstitutional, click here.
Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies; Took LSD to C.I.A.

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F70A13FA355B0C738DDDA...
Sidney Gottlieb, who presided over the Central Intelligence Agency's cold-war efforts to control the
human mind and provided the agency poisons to kill Fidel Castro, died on Sunday. He ... spent his
later years caring for dying patients ... and fighting lawsuits from survivors of his secret tests. He
will always be remembered as the Government chemist who dosed Americans with psychedelics
in the name of national security. Mr. Gottlieb joined the C.I.A. in 1951. Two years later, the agency
established MKUltra and Mr. Gottlieb was running it. He served two decades as the senior scientist
presiding over some of the C.I.A.'s darkest secrets. The first of these were the LSD experiments.
Mr. Gottlieb was fascinated by the drug [and] took it hundreds of times. In the 1950's and early
1960's, the agency gave mind-altering drugs to hundreds of unsuspecting Americans in an effort to
explore the possibilities of controlling human consciousness. In one case, a mental patient in
Kentucky was dosed with LSD continuously for 174 days. Other experiments involved agency
employees, military officers and college students. In all, the agency conducted 149 separate
mind-control experiments, and as many as 25 involved unwitting subjects. At least one
participant died, others went mad, and still others suffered psychological damage after
participating in the project, known as MK Ultra. The C.I.A. ... deliberately destroyed most of
the MKUltra records in 1973. Mr. Gottlieb was also involved in the C.I.A.'s assassination plots.
[He] developed a poison handkerchief to kill an Iraqi colonel, an array of toxic gifts to be delivered
to Fidel Castro, and a poison dart to kill a leftist leader in the Congo.
Mind-Control Studies Had Origins in Trial of Mindszenty

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E11F83A5B167493C0A91783D85...
It may be difficult for Americans to comprehend the frame of mind of the men who ... started the
Central Intelligence Agency's effort to manipulate human behavior. The C.I.A. leaders were certain
the Communists had embarked on a campaign to control men's minds and they were determined
to find a defense, setting out in earnest the next year1950with Project Bluebird, which evolved
into Project Artichoke, then became MK-ULTRA - MK-DELTA. With each code name change, they
broadened their sweep, until there remained virtually no avenue of human behavior control they
were not exploring. There was an "urgent need," the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies argued,
to develop "effective and practical techniques" to "render an individual subservient to an imposed

will or control." The C.I.A. men ... acknowledged among themselves that much of what they were
setting out to do was "unethical," bordered on the illegal and would be repugnant to the American
people. "Precautions must be taken," one agency official wrote in an internal memo, "not
only to protect the operation from exposure to enemy forces, but also to conceal these
activities from the American public in general." They wanted to be able to get away with
murder without leaving a trace. In attempts to develop ways to administer lethal and mindaltering drugs surreptitiously through clothing as thick as a leather jacket, they tried out small spray
guns and pencil-like injectors. They studied the writing of the psychologist who worked with Adolf
Hitler, wondered about the use of the "occult" and of "black psychiatry."
Note: To see a free copy of this highly revealing New York Times article, click here. For lots more
reliable, verifiable information suggesting a major cover-up of government mind control programs,
click here.
INTELLIGENCE: Of Dart Guns and Poisons

For nearly nine months the congressional investigations of the Central Intelligence Agency have
been conducted behind closed doors. In the old Senate caucus room the ten members of the
select Senate committee were questioning CIA officials, including Director William Colby and the
deputy director for science and technology, Sayre Stevens, about 11 gm. of shellfish toxin and 8
mg. of cobra venom discovered last May in a CIA storeroom. Colby revealed that the agency in
1952 began a supersecret research program, code-named M.K. Naomi, partly to find
countermeasures to chemical and biological weapons that might be used by the Russian KGB. CIA
researchers ... came up with an array of James Bond weaponry that could use the shellfish toxin
and other poisons as ammunition. To illustrate his testimony, Colby handed a pistol to Committee
Chairman Frank Church. Resembling a Colt .45 equipped with a fat telescopic sight, the gun
fires a toxin-tipped dart, almost silently and accurately up to 250 ft. Moreover, the dart is so
tinythe width of a human hair and a quarter of an inch longas to be almost indetectable,
and the poison leaves no trace in a victim's body. Charles Senseney, an engineer for the
Defense Department, told the Senators that he had devised dart launchers that were disguised as
walking canes and umbrellas.
Note: This silent, lethal dart gun causes what looks like a natural heart attack. If this sophisticated
assassination technology was available back in 1975, what kind of secret weapons do you think
they have now? To watch an incredible one-minute video clip on this dart gun, click here. To
watch the full, highly revealing Warner Brothers documentary Secrets of the CIA, click here. For
other riveting major media articles along these lines, click here.
For Terrorist Fearmongers, Its Always the Scariest Time Ever
2015-06-02, The Intercept

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/02/fear-mongers-always-scariest-ti...
For the fearmongers in the West and their allies, its always the scariest time ever. In February,
former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell, arguing for renewal of the Patriot Act, warned that the
lone wolf terrorist threat to the United States has never been greater. In January, an anonymous
senior aide to U.K. Prime Minister ... argued for a new snooper bill by saying that the terrorist
threat has never been greater. In mid-2014, U.K. Prime Minister Cameron himself raised the
threat level to severe and announced: Britain faces the greatest and deepest terror threat in the
countrys history. Throughout the Bush years ... officials raised their color-coded terror alerts and
issued similar warnings so many times that it became a running joke. Years later, the face of that
joke, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, admitted he was pressured to issue warnings for
political gain. Here we are 14 years after 9/11, and its still always the worst threat ever in all
of history. If we always face the greatest threat ever, then one of two things is true: 1)
fearmongers serially exaggerate the threat for self-interested reasons, or 2) the threat is always
getting more severe, year after year which might mean we should evaluate the wisdom of
terrorism policies that constantly make the problem worse. Whatever else is true, the people
who should have the least credibility on the planet are [those] who have spent the last 15
years exploiting the terror threat in order to terrorize the American population into doing
what they want.
Note: Read an excellent essay by a top US general exposing how war is a racket. For more along
these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about corruption in the
intelligence community and the manipulation of public perception.
Five big banks agree to pay more than $5 billion to settle regulatory
charges
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/five-big-banks-agree-to-pay-more-than-...
Five of the worlds largest banks have agreed to pay more than $5 billion in fines to settle charges
made by regulatory agencies and the Justice Department that the banks had acted in concert to
manipulate international interest and foreign currency exchange rates. Attorney General Loretta
E. Lynch said the banks had engaged in brazenly illegal behavior on a near-daily basis.
The scale of the price-fixing scandal is hard to grasp. It touched ... almost every company and
individual in the financial markets. By tweaking global benchmarks used to set foreign exchange
and interest rates for a staggering number of transactions a day, the banks over several years
bilked billions of dollars of extra profits by altering rates in their favor. Critics complained that the
Justice Department had failed to prosecute any additional individuals. Wall Street watchdog group
Better Markets called it a slap on the wrist, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in an email: Thats not accountability for Wall Street. Its business as usual, and it stinks. Barclays,
along with JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Citigroup, will plead guilty
to conspiring to manipulate the price of U.S. currency and euros, authorities said. JPMorgan
Chase said it had agreed to plead guilty to a single antitrust violation and pay a fine of $550
million. Under the resolution with the Fed, the firm will pay a fine of $342 million. The bank said it
had previously set aside reserves for these settlements.
Note: When it comes to international banking, it appears that almost everything is rigged. For
more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about the
systemically corrupt financial industry.
FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-matche...
The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in
an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered
evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000. Of
28 examiners with the FBI Laboratorys microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic
matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far,
according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence
Project, which are assisting the government with the countrys largest post-conviction review of
questioned forensic evidence. The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death.
Of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison, the groups said under an agreement with the
government to release results after the review of the first 200 convictions. The admissions mark a
watershed in one of the countrys largest forensic scandals, highlighting the failure of the nations
courts for decades to keep bogus scientific information from juries, legal analysts said. The
question now, they said, is how state authorities and the courts will respond to findings that confirm
long-suspected problems with subjective, pattern-based forensic techniques like hair and bitemark comparisons that have contributed to wrongful convictions in more than one-quarter of
329 DNA-exoneration cases since 1989.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on the
threats to civil liberties posed by government corruption from reliable major media sources.
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and

Destroy Reputations
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
Western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with
extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction. Today, [The Intercept is] publishing [a
document from GCHQs previously secret unit, JTRIG, the Joint Threat Research Intelligence
Group], entitled The Art of Deception: Training for Online Covert Operations. Among the core
self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the
internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other
techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers
desirable. To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to
achieve those ends: false flag operations (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it
to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose
reputation they want to destroy), and posting negative information on various forums.
Government plans to monitor and influence internet communications, and covertly infiltrate
online communities in order to sow dissension and disseminate false information, have
long been the source of speculation. Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein, a close Obama
adviser and the White Houses former head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
wrote a controversial paper in 2008 proposing that the US government employ teams of covert
agents and pseudo-independent advocates to cognitively infiltrate online groups and websites,
as well as other activist groups. Sunstein also proposed sending covert agents into chat
rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups which spread what he views as
false and damaging conspiracy theories about the government.
Note: To see a guidebook developed by intelligence agencies full of charts and information on how
to infiltrate and deceive the public, click here. The Intercept is the new media source being funded
by Pierre Omidyar and featuring Glenn Greenwald and other top reporters known for their
independence. Note that Greenwald fails to mention that Sunstein's almost exclusive focus was on
"conspiracy theories" advocated by the 9/11 truth movement. For more on his call for what
amounts to a new COINTELPRO, see David Ray Griffin's book Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama
Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory.
Admiral: 'Destroy' photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse

2014-02-12, USA Today/Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/12/osama-bin-laden-photo-cor...
Less than two weeks after the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a top Pentagon official
ordered all photos of bin Laden's corpse be destroyed or turned over to the CIA. In an e-mail
dated May 13, 2011, Adm. William McRaven, the U.S. Special Operations commander, wrote:
"One particular item that I want to emphasize is photos; particularly UBLs remains. At this point
all photos should have been turned over to the CIA; if you still have them destroy them
immediately or get them to the (redacted)." Shortly after the raid in Pakistan, President Obama
said he would not authorize the release of any images of the al-Qaeda leader's body. Days
before the order to destroy the photos, watchdog group Judicial Watch and the Associated Press
had separately filed a Freedom of Information Act request for photos, videos and documents
regarding bin Laden during the raid. Typically, when a Freedom of Information Act request is filed
to a government agency under the Federal Records Act, the agency is obliged to preserve the
material sought even if the agency later denies the request.
Note: Why would a top military commander order all photos of bin Laden's dead body destroyed?
Why would Obama prevent the release of any images of the body? For powerful evidence that the
dead body was not, in fact, bin Laden's, click here and here. For other solid evidence that the
official story of 9/11 is riddles with holes, see our 9/11 Information Center available here.
The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/us/in-150-shootings-the-fbi-deemed-agents-f...
After contradictory stories emerged about an F.B.I. agents killing last month of a Chechen man in
Orlando, Fla., who was being questioned over ties to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, the
bureau reassured the public that it would clear up the murky episode. But if such internal
investigations are time-tested, their outcomes are also predictable: from 1993 to early 2011, F.B.I.
agents fatally shot about 70 subjects and wounded about 80 others and every one of
those episodes was deemed justified, according to interviews and internal F.B.I. records.
The last two years have followed the same pattern: an F.B.I. spokesman said that since 2011,
there had been no findings of improper intentional shootings. In most of the shootings, the
F.B.I.s internal investigation was the only official inquiry. In the Orlando case, for example,
there have been conflicting accounts about basic facts like whether the Chechen man, Ibragim
Todashev, attacked an agent with a knife, was unarmed or was brandishing a metal pole. But
Orlando homicide detectives are not independently investigating what happened. Occasionally, the
F.B.I. does discipline an agent. A typical punishment involved adding letters of censure to agents
files. Critics say the fact that for at least two decades no agent has been disciplined for any
instance of deliberately shooting someone raises questions about the credibility of the bureaus
internal investigations.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the hidden realities of
intelligence agencies, click here.
UFOs Disabling Nuclear Missiles: Former Senator Says Veterans'

Testimony is the "Smoking Gun"
2013-05-07, Wall Street Journal/PRNewswire-USNewswire
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130507-908600.html
In an interview with ABC News/Yahoo! News last Friday, former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel (DAlaska) said statements by U.S. Air Force nuclear missile launch officers regarding mysterious
aerial objects interfering with the functionality of American ICBMs make clear that top
government officials are lying to the public when they claim to have no knowledge of national
security-related UFO incidents. Gravel first gained national recognition in 1971, by placing the stillclassified Pentagon Papers which documented U.S. government malfeasance during the
Vietnam War into the public record. Gravel said the revelations by former/retired Captains
Robert Salas, Bruce Fenstermacher, and David Schindele, as well as retired Security
Policeman Sgt. David Scott, are "the smoking gun of the whole issue" of government
secrecy on UFOs. On September 27, 2010, Captain Salas co-hosted the "UFOs and Nukes"
press conference with noted researcher Robert Hastings, during which seven USAF veterans
revealed ongoing UFO activity at U.S. nuclear weapons sites during the Cold War era. That media
event was extensively and favorably covered by hundreds of news organizations worldwide,
including CNN, which streamed the proceedings live. The full-length video of the press conference
appears at http://www.ufohastings.com. The latest testimony about UFOs knocking ICBMs offline
was heard by Senator Gravel and five other former members of congress at the "Citizen Hearing
on Disclosure" organized by Stephen Bassett at the National Press Club last week.
Note: For the thorough research of Capt. Salas into the event where UFOs disabled nuclear
missiles, click here. Could UFOs disabling nuclear warheads be a message from extraterrestrial
forces for us not to play with such dangerous toys? Hundreds of military and government
witnesses have gone on record claiming a major cover-up around UFOs, including a former
chief of the CIA, the former chiefs of defense of the UK and Canada (see video), and Edgar
Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. Why is it that so few people are aware of this and
other amazing and even inspiring facts around UFOs? For more, click here.
IMF's epic plan to conjure away debt and dethrone bankers

2012-10-21, The Telegraph (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9623863/IMFs-epic-plan-to-conjure-...
One could slash private debt by 100pc of GDP, boost growth, stabilize prices, and dethrone
bankers all at the same time. It could be done cleanly and painlessly, by legislative command, far
more quickly than anybody imagined. The conjuring trick is to replace our system of private bankcreated money -- roughly 97pc of the money supply -- with state-created money. Specifically, it
means an assault on "fractional reserve banking". If lenders are forced to put up 100pc
reserve backing for deposits, they lose the exorbitant privilege of creating money out of
thin air. The nation regains sovereign control over the money supply. There are no more
bank runs, and fewer boom-bust credit cycles. That at least is the argument [in] the IMF study,
by Jaromir Benes and Michael Kumhof, which came out in August and has begun to acquire a cult
following around the world. Entitled "The Chicago Plan Revisited", it revives the scheme first put
forward by professors Henry Simons and Irving Fisher in 1936 during the ferment of creative
thinking in the late Depression. Benes and Kumhof argue that credit-cycle trauma - caused by
private money creation - dates deep into history. The original authors of the Chicago Plan were
responding to the Great Depression. They believed it was possible to prevent the social havoc
caused by wild swings from boom to bust, and to do so without crimping economic dynamism. The
benign side-effect of their proposals would be a switch from national debt to national surplus.
Note: This article is an incredible breakthrough in real reporting on the banking sector. It is most
highly recommended to read the entire article and then explore our powerful Banking Corruption
Information Center.
Government Workers With Ties to Child Porn

2012-09-19, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2012/09/19/to-catch-government-workers-w...
There is a national crisis of federal employees engaged in the child porn industry and a
related epidemic at the state level. Two states, Vermont and Maine ... appear to be running
state protected child trafficking rings with evidence of cops, judges, lawyers, clergy and
government employees covering for each other. This kind of racketeering creates powerful,
and extremely profitable, pedophile rings. Money drives the crime. It is estimated that a criminal
willing to molest a child in front of a live webcam can earn $1,000 a night. In Kittery Maine, at the
Danish Health Club, one bust yielded $6.1 million in door fees over a five year period with
prostitutes earning $12 million. Pimps earnings were not reported. The door man was a retired
police officer whose wife worked in back. Half of all global child porn is produced in America. Ten
new images of children are posted daily. Estimates of the global profits from child porn range from
$3-20 billion. The Department of Justice (DOJ)s Child Exploitation and Obscenities unit has been,
by many accounts, totally disabled under US Attorney General Eric Holder. Mr. Holder even
refused to prosecute his own Assistant United States Attorney caught doing child porn on DOJ
computers. Child trafficking and porn are the fastest growing crimes in America. With billions being
laundered in black money it makes solid economic sense for the IRS to focus on the child porn
industry. Eric Holders Department of Justice has demonstrated they have no interest in
prosecuting pedophiles, not even their own.
Note: For a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary providing powerful evidence of a child
abuse ring that goes to the highest level in government, click here. For deeply revealing reports
from reliable major media sources on institutional sexual abuse, click here.
The 9/11 Hijackers: Fraud in Official Video Exhibits Uncovered by Expert

Panel
2012-09-10, MarketWatch/Wall Street Journal
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-911-hijackers-fraud-in-official-video-ex...
A Panel of 22 researchers into the history of 9/11 has uncovered evidence of fraud in the
photographic images of Muslim hijackers prior to boarding the planes on 9/11. Court exhibits state
that leader Mohamed Atta took a commuter flight from Portland, Maine, to connect to AA Flight 11
out of Boston, which hit the North Tower. The dubious images heighten the mystery of why
Atta left Boston, where Flight 11 was to be hijacked, and risked the failure of his entire
mission by driving to Portland September 10, staying overnight, and booking a tight
connection back to Boston early September 11. The [9/11 Consensus] Panel's in-depth
review shows the Portland story to be peppered with inconsistencies and revisions, placing
the entire hijack theory in question. Similarly, at Washington's Dulles International Airport, five
hijackers allegedly passed through security before flying AA Flight 77, carrying CNN correspondent
Barbara Olson, into the Pentagon. Yet no images were released from the 300+ security cameras at
Dulles that morning, nor were Arabic men reported in FBI interviews of airport staff. The Panel has
produced 28 Consensus Points of "best evidence" regarding the official claims of 9/11 -- the trigger
event for the Middle East wars of the last decade. Its investigations cover: explosives at the Twin
Towers and Building WTC-7; the inadequate flying skills of the alleged Pentagon pilot; the missing
debris from "Let's Roll" Flight 93; the [many] military drills coinciding on 9/11, and the allegedly
absent political and military commanders.
Note: This article appears to have been removed from the MarketWatch website, though you can
still read it using the Internet Archive. Don't miss the PBS special, "9/11 Explosive Evidence:
Experts Speak Out", in which 40 whistle-blowing experts present evidence of controlled demolition
at the World Trade Center. For many other major media articles which raise serious questions
about the 9/11 official story, click here. For lots more verifiable evidence suggesting a major coverup around 9/11, click here.
Scandal Exposed in Major Study of Autism and Mercury

2011-10-25, Sacramento Bee (Leading newspaper in California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/25/4005040/scandal-exposed-in-major-study.html
The Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) exposes communications between Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) personnel and vaccine researchers revealing U.S. officials apparently
colluded in covering-up the decline in Denmark's autism rates following the removal of
mercury from vaccines. Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
show that CDC officials were aware of Danish data indicating a connection between
removing Thimerosal (49.55% mercury) and a decline in autism rates. Despite this
knowledge, these officials allowed a 2003 article to be published in Pediatrics that excluded this
information, misrepresented the decline as an increase, and led to the mistaken conclusion that
Thimerosal in vaccines does not cause autism. In Denmark, Thimerosal, a controversial mercury
compound used as a preservative in certain vaccines, was removed from all Danish vaccines in
1992. The well-publicized Danish study published in Pediatrics 2003 claimed that autism rates
actually increased after Thimerosal was phased out. This study subsequently became a
cornerstone for the notion that mercury does not cause autism. However, one of the FOIA
documents obtained from CDC clearly indicates that this study omitted large amounts of data
showing autism rates actually dropping after mercury was removed from Danish vaccines.
Note: For the complete text of the article, which has been taken down from the Sacramento Bee
website, click here. Read about a key scientific study which showed that monkeys given standard
human vaccines developed autism symptoms, at this link. And an MSNBC/Associated Press report
shows that the FDA rejected limits on thimerosal and that "most doses of flu vaccine still contain
thimerosal."
Architect Richard Gage Explains His 9/11 Theory

2011-04-19, WJBK Fox 2 (Detroit Affiliate of Fox News)
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/architect-richard-gage-explains-hi...
It is a day of infamy 9/11. The official investigation concluded that intense heat from the crash
and the jet fuel melted the support beams causing the [WTC] towers to collapse. But architect
Richard Gage doesn't believe that. He is the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth.
[Gage:] There is evidence to suggest that explosive demolitions have brought down all three World
Trade Center skyscrapers. We have now 1,500 architects and engineers calling for a new
investigation based on this evidence, including the third skyscraper that most people know nothing
about. This is a 47-story skyscraper that collapses at free fall acceleration, straight down ... into its
own footprint just like a controlled demolition. This is extraordinary evidence, along with the
chemical evidence of high-tech nanothermite composite explosives or incendiaries found in the all
the World Trade Center dust. The architects and engineers are highlighting the specific
evidence in these three skyscrapers, because its so clear that they're explosive
demolitions. We have [found] in all of this massive quantity of dust ... iron microspheres the
size of the diameter of a human hair. Billions of them ... are found. These contain the
evidence of ignited thermite. There is no other explanation for them. What the 1,500 architects
and engineers that I represent are calling for is an investigation that is thorough that uses the
scientific method [and] analyzes all of the evidence. Once this evidence is all analyzed, we'll let the
chips fall where they may. We don't have conspiracy theories. What we want is a real investigation.
Note: The text above is taken from the video news report at the Fox News link above. To watch
the symmetrical fall of the third World Trade Center building, click here. For lots more reliable,
verifiable information questioning the 9/11 official story, see our 9/11 Information Center.
Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

2011-03-03, CBS News
Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief. He was intentionally
letting guns go to Mexico. An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms [ATF] senior agent assigned to the
Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he
says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen. Investigators call the tactic letting guns
"walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the
United States. Dodson's bosses say that never happened. Agent Dodson and other sources say
the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to
see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret
from Mexico. ATF named the case "Fast and Furious." Documents show the inevitable result: The
guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by
watching thousands of weapons hit the streets. The Fast and Furious group supervisor
noted the escalating Mexican violence. One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most
violent month since 2005." Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating
violence. Senior agents including Dodson ... confronted their supervisors over and over. Their
answer ... "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs." On Dec. 14,
2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down. Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly
a year before were found at Terry's murder. Dodson said, "I felt guilty. I mean it's crushing."
Dodson said they never did take down a drug cartel. However, he said thousands of Fast and
Furious weapons are still out there and will be claiming victims on both sides of the border for
years to come.
Note: Could it be that there are those in high positions of power who want this violence to keep us
in fear? The fear industry brings huge profits. For more powerful information on this, click here and
here.
Shocking History of Medical Experiments on People

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=13012856
Shocking as it may seem, U.S. government doctors once thought it was fine to experiment on
disabled people and prison inmates. Such experiments included giving hepatitis to mental
patients in Connecticut, squirting a pandemic flu virus up the noses of prisoners in
Maryland, and injecting cancer cells into chronically ill people at a New York hospital. Much
of this horrific history is 40 to 80 years old, but it is the backdrop for a meeting in Washington this
week by a presidential bioethics commission. The meeting was triggered by the government's
apology last fall for federal doctors infecting prisoners and mental patients in Guatemala with
syphilis 65 years ago. U.S. officials also acknowledged there had been dozens of similar
experiments in the United States. Inevitably, they will be compared to the well-known Tuskegee
syphilis study. In that episode, U.S. health officials tracked 600 black men in Alabama who already
had syphilis but didn't give them adequate treatment even after penicillin became available.
Though people in the studies were usually described as volunteers, historians and ethicists have
questioned how well these people understood what was to be done to them and why, or whether
they were coerced. In the last 15 years, two international studies sparked outrage. U.S.-funded
doctors failed to give the AIDS drug AZT to all the HIV-infected pregnant women in a study in
Uganda even though it would have protected their newborns. The other study, by Pfizer Inc., gave
an antibiotic named Trovan to children with meningitis in Nigeria, although there were doubts
about its effectiveness. Critics blamed the experiment for the deaths of 11 children and the
disabling of scores of others. Pfizer settled a lawsuit with Nigerian officials for $75 million but
admitted no wrongdoing.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. Though it appears these highly unethical studies have
stopped in the US, the article points out that many drug companies are now doing their studies in
countries where ethical codes are not strong. For an astounding list of government-sponsored
programs where humans were used as guinea pigs, click here. For a two-page summary of solid
evidence of government involvement in mind control programs, click here.
A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12advantage.html
On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in
Midtown Manhattan. The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in
the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable and controversial fields in
finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their
identities, have been strictly confidential. Drawn from giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman
Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the bankers form a powerful committee that helps oversee trading in
derivatives, instruments which, like insurance, are used to hedge risk. In theory, this group exists
to safeguard the integrity of the multitrillion-dollar market. In practice, it also defends the
dominance of the big banks. The banks in this group ... have fought to block other banks from
entering the market, and they are also trying to thwart efforts to make full information on prices and
fees freely available. Banks influence over this market, and over clearinghouses like the one this
select group advises, has costly implications for businesses large and small. The size and reach of
this market has grown rapidly over the past two decades. Pension funds today use derivatives to
hedge investments. States and cities use them to try to hold down borrowing costs. Airlines use
them to secure steady fuel prices. Food companies use them to lock in prices of commodities like
wheat or beef.
Note: To explore highly revealing news articles on the powerful secret societies which without
doubt back these top bankers, click here. For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources
detailing the amazing control of major banks over government and society, click here.
The rich get richer, then buy elections

2010-10-24, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/24/IN7R1FV3LE.DTL
It's a perfect storm. I'm talking about the dangers facing our democracy. First, income in America is
now more concentrated in fewer hands than it has been in 80 years. Almost a quarter of total
income generated in the United States is going to the top 1 percent of Americans. The top onetenth of 1 percent of Americans now earn as much as the bottom 120 million of us. Who are
these people? They're top executives of big corporations and Wall Street, hedge-fund managers
and private equity managers. Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into advertisements for
and against candidates - without a trace of where the dollars are coming from. They're laundered
through a handful of groups. Most Americans are in trouble. Their jobs, incomes, savings and even
homes are on the line. They need a government that's working for them, not for the privileged and
the powerful. Yet their state and local taxes are rising. And their services are being cut. There's no
jobs bill to speak of. Washington says nothing can be done. There's no money left. No money?
The marginal income tax rate on the very rich is the lowest it has been in more than 80
years. Under President Dwight Eisenhower ... it was 91 percent. Now it's 36 percent. We're
losing our democracy to a different system. It's called plutocracy.
Note: Whether you are on the left or right of the political spectrum, this incisive article by former
US Sect. of Labor Robert Reich is well worth reading in its entirety. For more in income inequality,
click here.
The Pope, Eichmann and the Nazi 'Ratlines'

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/juliankossoff/100030163/the-pope-eichmann-a...
Germany is fighting to keep sealed the Adolf Eichmann files detailing the years the Holocaust chief
logistical organiser spent on the run before he was captured by Mossad agents. Those hoping to
have a 50-year secrecy order overturned believe the government is embarrassed by details within
that may prove German and Vatican officials colluded in his escape and freedom. For the current
papacy under the German pope, Benedict XVI, the 4,500 page Eichmann dossier could be the
smoking gun that would shoot down his plans to canonize Pope Pius XII (1939-58), aka Hitlers
Pope. The role of Pope Pius XII during World War II, his relationship with Nazism and his efforts
(or lack of them) to save Jews from the gas chambers are hotly disputed. Even within the Jewish
community there are strong opinions on both sides of the debate. In fact historys most savage
mass murderers Adolf Eichmann, Dr Josef Mengele, better known as Auschwitzs Angel
of Death, Franz Stangl, commandant of the Treblinka extermination camp escaped justice
down the ratline that ran straight through the Vatican state in Rome. Senior members of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy marinaded in virulent Judeophobia and obsessed by Bolshevism
organised the escape of thousands of the most debauched, cruel monsters to a peaceful,
prosperous retirement in Catholic South America.
Note: As mentioned by the initiator of the lawsuit to open the documents in this Associated Press
story, "I think it's impossible that in Germany we are hiding documents about a convicted Nazi
mass murderer today." Evidence suggests that these Nazis were purposely allowed to escape with
the involvement of the Vatican, the CIA, and other groups. Josef Mengele is purported to have
gone on to train the CIA in powerful mind control techniques he perfected using concentration
camp inmates as guinea pigs. For more on this, click here.
FDA "Corruption" Letter Authenticated: Lawyers, Start Your Engines!

2010-03-12, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-corruption-letter-authenticated-lawyers-start...
The FDA has "certified" a 2009 letter sent anonymously by FDA staff to President Obama
describing "systemic corruption and wrongdoing that permeates all levels of FDA." The FDA's
official recognition of the letter means that lawyers who want to use it to demonstrate that the FDA
isn't perfect won't have to go through weeks of tedious discovery demands to find someone at the
FDA who can officially say, "Yup, we sent that." That's going to be a headache for drug companies
who often defend their drugs in court by saying, "Hey, the FDA said this product was fine and we
did everything they asked -- so it's not fair to hold us responsible." Plaintiffs' lawyers can now hold
up the letter in court and argue that drug companies have been on notice that the FDA is riddled
with politics, conflicts of interest and outright corruption, and is, as the letter says,
"fundamentally broken." Written by a group of scientists on FDA letter head -- but with their
names blacked out for fear of retaliation -- the letter describes a nightmare of bungling and
self-dealing among higher-ups at the drug safety agency. It begs Obama to step in and reform
the shop: "... many other FDA managers who have failed to protect the American public, who have
violated laws, rules, and regulations, who have suppressed or altered scientific or technological
findings and conclusions, who have abused their power and authority, and who have engaged in
illegal retaliation against those who speak out, have not been held accountable and remain in
place."
Note: The FDA actively persecutes whistle-blowers, placed a former Monsanto lobbyist in a high
ranking position, and gives industrial food companies preferential treatment over small farmers. In
recent years, FDA executives have been caught participating in medical industry corruption,
including keeping important prescription drug safety information hidden from consumers.
IRS: 400 richest averaged $345M in '07 income, 16% tax rate
2010-02-18, USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/02/irs-400-riche...
The [IRS] reports that the nation's 400 highest-earning households reported an average income of
$345 million in 2007 up 31% from 2006 and that their average tax bill fell to a 15-year low.
Bloomberg writes that the elite 400's average income more than doubled that year from
$131.1 million in 2001, the year Congress adopted tax cuts urged by then-President George
W. Bush. Each household in the top 400 of earners paid an average tax rate of 16.6 percent,
the lowest since the agency began tracking the data in 1992. Their average effective tax rate
was about half the 29.4 percent in 1993, the first year of President Bill Clinton's administration. The
top 400 earners received a total $138 billion in 2007, up from $105.3 billion a year earlier. On an
inflation-adjusted basis, their average income grew almost fivefold since 1992. Almost threequarters of the highest earners' income was in capital gains and dividends taxed at a 15 percent
rate set as part of Bush-backed tax cuts in 2003.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on income inequality, click here. And for a
powerful summary of 10 top corporations which avoided taxes in most egregious ways, see the
excellent list compiled by independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders at this link.
UFO sightings revealed in UK archive files from 1990s

2010-02-18, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8520486.stm
Thousands of UFOs have been spotted in the last 20 years around the UK, according to newly
released documents. More than 6,000 pages of reports describe people's experiences with
unidentified flying objects between 1994 and 2000. Details have been released under a three-year
project between the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives. The reports detail how objects
of various shapes and sizes have been witnessed flying over a range of locations. Some drawings
by witnesses have also been released. Included in the latest release is a letter from senior
MoD official Ralph Noyes, in which he describes seeing a film of UFOs captured by RAF
fighter pilots in 1956. Mr Noyes claims the footage was shown at a secret underground
screening arranged for air defence staff at the MoD in 1970. Experts believe the records
highlight how shapes of reported UFOs have changed over the last few decades. Many reports in
this latest file describe aircraft as big, black and triangular in shape with lights along the edges,
whereas the predominant form in the 1940s to 1950s was saucer or disc-shaped. The files are
available to download for free for a month from the National Archives website.
Note: For a concise summary of key testimony on UFO sightings by highly-credible government
and military officials, click here. For astonishing media reports revealing the existence of UFOs,
click here.
Bank Bonuses Far Exceeded Profits

2009-07-30, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/30/business/main5197668.shtml
Several financial giants that received federal bailout money in the last year paid out bonuses to
employees in 2008 that greatly exceeded the amount of profit generated by the banks, according
to a study on executive compensation released by New York State Attorney General Andrew
Cuomo Thursday. Despite claims by bank executives that bonuses are tied to the company's
performance, the report states that "there is no clear rhyme or reason to how the banks
compensate or reward their employees." Cuomo's investigation "suggests a disconnect
between compensation and bank performance that resulted in a 'heads I win, tails you lose'
bonus system." According to the report: Goldman Sachs, which earned $2.3 billion last year
and received $10 billion in TARP funding, paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses in 2008 - more than
double their net income. Morgan Stanley, which earned $1.7 billion last year and received $10
billion in bailout funds, handed out $4.475 billion in bonuses, nearly three times their net income.
JPMorgan Chase, which earned $5.6 billion in 2008 and received $25 billion from the government,
paid out $8.69 billion in bonus money. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch lost a combined $54 billion last
year. They received a total of $55 billion in bailouts and paid out $9 billion in combined bonuses.
($5.33 billion for Citigroup; $3.6 billion for Merrill Lynch, which was subsequently acquired by Bank
of America.) Bonuses have been a hot-button issue surrounding these federally bailed out banks
for months, with company executives facing heat from ... local officials like Cuomo angered by the
exorbitant compensation plans for the same people widely seen as responsible for the country's
financial crisis.
Note: Click here to read the full report. For lots more on the realities behind the taxpayer bailout of
Wall Street, click here.
The $700 trillion elephant

2009-03-06, MarketWatch (Wall Street Journal Digital Network)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/The-700-trillion-elephant-room/story.as...
There's a $700 trillion elephant in the room and it's time we found out how much it really weighs on
the economy. Derivative contracts total about three-quarters of a quadrillion dollars in "notional"
amounts, according to the Bank for International Settlements. These contracts are tallied in
notional values because no one really can say how much they are worth. But valuing them
correctly is exactly what we should be doing because these comprise the viral disease that has
infected the financial markets and the economies of the world. Try as we might to salvage the
residential real estate market, it's at best worth $23 trillion in the U.S. We're struggling to save the
stock market, but that's valued at less than $15 trillion. And we hope to keep the entire U.S.
economy from collapsing, yet gross domestic product stands at $14.2 trillion. Compare any of
these to the derivatives market and you can easily see that we are just closing the windows as a
tsunami crashes to shore. The total value of all the stock markets in the world amounts to less than
$50 trillion, according to the World Federation of Exchanges. To be sure, the derivatives market is
international. But much of the trouble we're in began with contracts "derived" from the
values associated with U.S. residential real estate market. These contracts were engineered
based on the various assumptions tied to those values. Few know what derivatives are
worth. I spoke with one derivatives trader who manages billions of dollars and she said she
couldn't even value her portfolio because "no one knows anymore who is on the other side of the
trade."
Note: Banks and financial firms deemed "too big to fail" were bailed out worldwide at taxpayers'
expense. But what will happen if losses in the derivatives market skyrocket? No government in the
world has the resources to save financial corporations from a collapse in their derivatives trading.
For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources detailing the amazing control of major banks
over government and society, click here.
Ford's records show 2 on Warren panel had doubts in JFK killing

2008-08-10, Washington Post/Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/09/AR20080809007...
Former President Gerald Ford secretly advised the FBI that two of his fellow members on
the Warren Commission doubted the FBI's conclusion that John F. Kennedy was shot from
the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. The new details were included
in 500 pages of the FBI's large file on Ford, released in part this past week in response to requests
under the Freedom of Information Act that The Associated Press and others made on the day Ford
died in December 2006. That Ford served as the FBI's eyes and ears inside the commission has
been known for years. Long ago, the government released a 1963 FBI memo that said Ford ... had
volunteered to keep the FBI informed about the panel's private deliberations, but only if that
relationship remained confidential. The bureau agreed. It was also well-known Ford was an
outspoken proponent of the bureau's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy while
acting alone. [Assistant FBI Director Cartha "Deke"] DeLoach wrote [a memorandum] on Dec. 17,
1963, to outline what Ford told him ... about the commission meeting the day before. "Two
members of the commission brought up the fact that they still were not convinced that the
President had been shot from the sixth floor window of the Texas Book Depository. ... These
members failed to understand the trajectory of the slugs that killed the President. [Ford] stated he
felt this point would be discussed further but, of course, would represent no problem." There was
no explanation of what Ford meant by "no problem."
Note: For many revealing reports on major assassinations from major media sources, click here.
Concentration camp doctor tops list of wanted Nazis

2008-04-30, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://articles.boston.com/2008-04-30/news/29272267_1_efraim-zuroff-top-nazi-...
Karl Lotter, a prisoner who worked in the hospital at Mauthausen concentration camp, had no
trouble remembering the first time he watched SS doctor Aribert Heim kill a man. It was 1941, and
an 18-year-old Jew had been sent to the clinic with a foot inflammation. Heim asked him about
himself and why he was so fit. The young man said he had been a soccer player and swimmer.
Then, instead of treating the prisoner's foot, Heim anesthetized him, cut him open, castrated
him, took apart one kidney and removed the second, Lotter said. The victim's head was
removed and the flesh boiled off so that Heim could keep it on display. "He needed the head
because of its perfect teeth," Lotter, a non-Jewish political prisoner, recalled in testimony eight
years later that was included in an Austrian warrant for Heim's arrest. But Heim managed to
avoid prosecution, his American-held file in Germany mysteriously omitting his time at
Mauthausen, and today he is the most wanted Nazi war criminal on a list of hundreds who the
Simon Wiesenthal Center estimates are still free.
Note: As this article shows, some Nazi concentration camp doctors had virtually no moral aversion
to killing and torturing any prisoner. Some of the most infamous doctors were tasked with
perfecting mind control by any means. And many, like Heim, were allowed to escape. For reliable
information on this, and how some of these doctors were then secretly brought to the US to train
the CIA in mind control techniques, click here.
U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of
the world's prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection
of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment.
Americans are locked up for crimes from writing bad checks to using drugs that
would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept
incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations. Criminologists and legal scholars in other
industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American
prison sentences. The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than
any other nation. The United States ... has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in
population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.) The median among all
nations is about 125, roughly a sixth of the American rate. "Far from serving as a model for the
world, contemporary America is viewed with horror," James Whitman, a specialist in comparative
law at Yale, wrote last year in Social Research. Prison sentences here have become "vastly
harsher than in any other country to which the United States would ordinarily be
compared," Michael Tonry, a leading authority on crime policy, wrote. Indeed, said Vivien Stern, a
research fellow at the prison studies center in London, the American incarceration rate has made
the United States "a rogue state, a country that has made a decision not to follow what is a normal
Western approach."
Note: Many people are not aware that violent crime in the US has dropped by over 50% in the last
15 years. Yet the prison population continues to grow rapidly at the same time. For more on this,
click here.
I touched a UFO: ex-air force pilot

2007-11-13, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia's leading newspaper)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/i-touched-a-ufo-exair-force-pilot/20...
A group of former pilots who have recounted seeing strange phenomena in the sky has
demanded the US government reopen an investigation into UFOs. Several pilots offered
dramatic accounts of witnessing UFOs - including a transparent flying disc and a triangular
craft with mysterious markings. "We want the US government to stop perpetuating the myth that
all UFOs can be explained away in down-to-earth, conventional terms," said Fife Symington, [a]
former governor of Arizona and air force pilot who says he saw a UFO in 1997. "Our country needs
to reopen its official investigation that it shut down in 1969," Symington said. "Nothing in my
training prepared me for what we were witnessing," said James Penniston, a retired US Air Force
pilot, as he described seeing and touching a UFO when he was stationed at a British air base in
Woodbridge. He said he saw an inexplicable triangular craft in a clearing in the woods with "blue
and yellow lights swirling around the exterior". The UFO was "warm to the touch and felt like
metal," Penniston said. One side of the craft had pictorial symbols. Then after 45 minutes, the light
from the object "began to intensify" and it then "shot off at an unbelievable speed" before 80 Air
Force personnel, he said. "In my logbook, I wrote 'speed: impossible'." A former official with the
Federal Aviation Administration, John Callahan, said government agencies discourage inquiries
into UFOs. "'Who believes in UFOs?' is the kind of attitude of the FAA all the time," he said.
"However, when I asked the CIA person: 'What do you think it was,' he responded 'a UFO'." When
Callahan suggested the government tell Americans about [the] UFO, the CIA official allegedly told
him: "'No way, if we were to tell the American public there are UFOs they would panic."'
Note: For an abundance of reliable, verifiable information and resources suggesting a UFO coverup, click here.
Under The Influence
2007-04-02, CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/29/60minutes/main2625305.shtml
If you have ever wondered why the cost of prescription drugs in the United States are the highest
in the world or why it's illegal to import cheaper drugs from Canada or Mexico, you need look no
further than the pharmaceutical lobby and its influence in Washington, D.C. Congressmen are
outnumbered two to one by lobbyists for an industry that spends roughly a $100 million a
year in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses to protect its profits. One reason
[drug company] profits have exceeded Wall Street expectations is the Medicare prescription drug
bill ... passed three-and-a-half years ago. The unorthodox roll call on one of the most expensive
bills ever placed before the House of Representatives began in the middle of the night. The only
witnesses were congressional staffers, hundreds of lobbyists, and U.S. Representatives like Dan
Burton, R-Ind., and Walter Jones, R-N.C. "The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill," says
Jones. Why did the vote finally take place at 3 a.m.? "They didn't want on national television in
primetime," according to Burton. "I've been in politics for 22 years," says Jones, "and it was the
ugliest night I have ever seen." Jones says the arm-twisting was horrible. It certainly wasn't ugly for
the drug lobby which ... has been a source of lucrative employment opportunities for congressmen
when they leave office. In all, at least 15 congressional staffers, congressmen and federal officials
left to go to work for the pharmaceutical industry, whose profits were increased by several billion
dollars. "They have unlimited resources," Burton says. "And when they push real hard to get
something accomplished in the Congress of the United States, they can get it done."
Note: This article also states that the Medicare prescription bill "was the largest entitlement
program in more than 40 years, and the debate broke down along party lines." Usually
Republicans are against entitlement programs while Democrats support them. Why was it the
opposite in this case? Could it be that big industry made huge profits from the passage of this bill?
For lots more, click here.
Whistle-blower Had to Fight NSA, LA Times to Tell Story

2007-03-06, ABC News
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/whistleblower_h.html
Whistle-blower AT&T technician Mark Klein says his effort to reveal alleged government
surveillance of domestic Internet traffic was blocked not only by U.S. intelligence officials
but also by the top editors of the Los Angeles Times. Klein describes how he stumbled across
"secret NSA rooms" being installed at an AT&T switching center in San Francisco and later heard
of similar rooms in at least six other cities. Eventually, Klein says he decided to take his documents
to the Los Angeles Times, to blow the whistle on what he calls "an illegal and Orwellian project."
But after working for two months with LA Times reporter Joe Menn, Klein says he was told the
story had been killed at the request of then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and
then-director of the NSA Gen. Michael Hayden. Klein says he then took his AT&T documents to
The New York Times, which published its exclusive account last April. In the court case against
AT&T, Negroponte formally invoked the "state secrets privilege," claiming the lawsuit and the
information from Klein and others could "cause exceptionally grave damage to the national
security of the United States." The Los Angeles Times' decision was made by the paper's editor at
the time, Dean Baquet, now the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. As the new
Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, Baquet now oversees the reporters who have
broken most of the major stories involving the government surveillance program, often over
objections from the government.
Note: So after the NY Times has the guts to report this important story, the man who was
responsible for the censorship at the LA Times is transferred to the very position in the NY Times
where he can now block future stories there. For why this case of blatant media censorship isn't
making headlines, click here.
The Prophet of Garbage

2007-03-00, Popular Science - March 2007 Issue
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-03/prophet-garbage
The Plasma Converter ... can consume nearly any type of wastefrom dirty diapers to chemical
weaponsby annihilating toxic materials in a process ... called plasma gasification. A 650-volt
current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma.
The plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart
molecular bonds. The system is capable of breaking down pretty much anything except nuclear
waste. The only by-products are an obsidian-like glass [and] a mixture of primarily hydrogen and
carbon monoxide that can be converted into a variety of marketable fuels, including ethanol,
natural gas and hydrogen. Perhaps the most amazing part of the process is that its selfsustaining. Once the cycle is under way, the 2,200F syngas is fed into a cooling system,
generating steam that drives turbines to produce electricity. About two thirds of the power
is siphoned off to run the converter; the rest can be used on-site for heating or electricity,
or sold back to the utility grid. Even a blackout would not stop the operation of the facility. New
York City is already paying an astronomical $90 a ton to get rid of its trash. According to Startech,
a few 2,000-ton-per-day plasma-gasification plants could do it for $36. Sell the syngas and surplus
electricity, and youd actually net $15 a ton. But the decision-making bureaucracy can be slow, and
it is hamstrung by the politically well-connected waste-disposal industry. Startech isnt the only
company using plasma to turn waste into a source of clean energy. A handful of start-ups
Geoplasma, Recovered Energy, PyroGenesis, EnviroArc and Plasco Energy, among othershave
entered the market in the past decade.
Note: Why isn't this amazing, proven machine and technology making front page headlines? Read
this exciting article to find how it is already being used. For why you don't know about it, click here.
And for another amazing new energy source not yet reported in the major media, click here.
A Faith-Based Fuel Initiative

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/opinion/30tue1.html?ex=1327813200&en=8ce942...
In 1975, after the oil embargo, Congress approved the most successful energy-saving measure
this country has ever seen: the Corporate Average Fuel Economy system, known as CAFE, which
set minimum mileage standards for cars. Within 10 years, automobile efficiency had virtually
doubled, to 27.5 miles per gallon in 1985 from just over 14 miles per gallon in 1976. The
mileage standards are still 27.5 m.p.g. Except for minor tweaks, Congress has refused to raise
fuel efficiency requirements or close a gaping loophole that lets S.U.V.s and pickups be measured
by a more lenient standard.
Note: Thank you New York Times for pointing out what so few have bothered to mention. In the
U.S., it is not the automotive industry that determines fuel mileage standards, but rather Congress.
Whenever Congress has raised the mileage standard, industry complies and average mileage
increases. When the standards are not raised, average car mileage for new cars stays the same.
Yet Congress refused to significantly raise the standards from 1985 to 2012, despite the increasing
talk of an energy crisis. Why? If you really want to know, click here and here.
Mind Games
A community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds ... may be
crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that. An academic paper written
for the Air Force in the mid-1990s mentions the idea of [such] a weapon. "The signal can be a
'message from God' that can warn the enemy of impending doom, or encourage the enemy to
surrender." In 2002, the Air Force Research Laboratory patented precisely such a technology:
using microwaves to send words into someone's head. The patent was based on human
experimentation in October 1994 at the Air Force lab, where scientists were able to transmit
phrases into the heads of human subjects, albeit with marginal intelligibility. The official U.S.
Air Force position is that there are no non-thermal effects of microwaves. Yet ... the military's use
of weapons that employ electromagnetic radiation to create pain is well-known. In 2001, the
Pentagon declassified one element of this research: the Active Denial System, a weapon that uses
electromagnetic radiation to heat skin and create an intense burning sensation. While its exact
range is classified, Doug Beason, an expert in directed-energy weapons, puts it at about 700
meters, and the beam cannot penetrate a number of materials, such as aluminum. Given the
history of America's clandestine research, it's reasonable to assume that if the defense
establishment could develop mind-control or long-distance ray weapons, it almost certainly would.
And, once developed, the possibility that they might be tested on innocent civilians could not be
categorically dismissed.
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information on the little-known, yet critical topic of nonlethal
weapons, click here. For an excellent two-page summary of government mind control programs,
click here.
CIA role claim in Kennedy killing

2006-11-21, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6169006.stm
New video and photographic evidence ... puts three senior CIA operatives at the scene of Robert
Kennedy's assassination. It reveals that the operatives and four unidentified associates were at the
Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles in the moments before and after the shooting on 5 June, 1968.
The CIA had no domestic jurisdiction and some of the officers were based in South-East Asia at
the time, with no reason to be in Los Angeles. Kennedy had just won the California Democratic
primary on an anti-War ticket and was set to challenge Nixon for the White House. A 24-year-old
Palestinian, Sirhan Sirhan, was arrested as the lone assassin. However, even under hypnosis, he
has never been able to remember the shooting and defence psychiatrists concluded he was in a
trance at the time. Witnesses placed Sirhan's gun several feet in front of Kennedy but the autopsy
showed the fatal shot came from one inch behind. Dr Herbert Spiegel, a world authority on
hypnosis at Columbia University, believes Sirhan may have been hypnotically programmed
to act as a decoy for the real assassin. Three of these men have been positively identified as
senior officers who worked together in 1963 at JMWAVE, the CIA's Miami base. David Morales
was Chief of Operations and once told friends: "I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and
I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard." George Joannides was Chief of Psychological
Warfare Operations. Now, we see him at the Ambassador Hotel the night a second Kennedy is
assassinated.
Note: There is ample evidence that Sirhan Sirhan was a programmed Manchurian Candidate.
Declassified CIA documents show that U.S. intelligence services were creating programmed
assassins back as early as the 1950s. For reliable, verifiable information on this key topic, click
here.
Tenet told 9/11 panel that he warned Rice of Al Qaeda

2006-10-03, Boston Globe/Washington Post
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/03/tenet_told_9...
Former CIA director George Tenet told the 9/11 Commission that he had warned of an imminent
threat from Al Qaeda in a July 2001 meeting with Condoleezza Rice, adding that he believed Rice
took the warning seriously, according to a transcript of the interview and the recollection of a
commissioner who was there. The meeting has become the focus of a fierce and often confusing
round of finger-pointing involving Rice, the White House, and the 9/11 Commission, all of whom
dispatched staffers to the National Archives and other locations yesterday in attempts to sort out
what had occurred. Members of the commission, an independent bipartisan panel created by
Congress to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, have said for days that they were not
told about the July 10 meeting and were angry at being left out. As recently as yesterday
afternoon, both commission chairman Thomas H. Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton
said they believed the panel had not been told about the July 10 meeting. But it turns out
that the panel was, in fact, told about the meeting, according to the interview transcript and
Democratic commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, who sat in on the interview with Tenet.
Rice added to the confusion yesterday by strongly suggesting that the meeting may never
have occurred at all, even though administration officials had conceded for several days
that it had.
Note: Could it be possible that some of our nation's top leaders are lying? How could they have
just
forgotten
about
such
important
matters?
For
lots
more
see
http://www.WantToKnow.info/911information.
Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug

2006-03-12, Independent (one of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-rumsfeld-makes-5m-kil...
The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares
in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive
amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease. More than 60
countries have so far ordered large stocks of the antiviral medication - the only oral medicine
believed to be effective against the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease - to try to protect their
people. The United Nations estimates that a pandemic could kill 150 million people worldwide. The
drug was developed by a Californian biotech company, Gilead Sciences. Mr Rumsfeld was
on the board of Gilead from 1988 to 2001, and was its chairman from 1997. He then left to join
the Bush administration, but retained a huge shareholding. The 2005 report showed that, in all, he
owned shares worth up to $95.9m, from which he got an income of up to $13m. The firm made a
loss in 2003, the year before concern about bird flu started. Then revenues from Tamiflu almost
quadrupled, to $44.6m, helping put the company well into the black. Sales almost quadrupled
again, to $161.6m last year.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. With both the avian flu and swine flu, top drug companies
raked in billions of dollars from sales of medications and vaccines, most of which went unused and
have now expired. For many more strange coincidences and facts around the avian and swine flu
scares, take a look at our summary of eye-opening news articles available here.
Deadly Immunity - by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

2005-06-16, Common Dreams/Boston Globe
https://web.archive.org/web/20050618020050/http://www.commondreams.org/views0...
In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at
the isolated Simpsonwood conference center ... to ensure complete secrecy. The federal officials
and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming
questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and
young children. A mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- thimerosal -- appeared to be
responsible for a dramatic increase in autism. But instead of taking immediate steps to alert
the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives at
Simpsonwood spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the damaging
data. According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, many at the meeting
were concerned about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine
industry's bottom line. The CDC paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash
the risks of thimerosal, ordering researchers to "rule out" the chemical's link to autism. Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical
industry, has been working to immunize vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that have
been filed by the parents of injured children. More than 500,000 kids currently suffer from autism.
The disease was unknown until 1943, when it was identified and diagnosed among 11 children
born in the months after thimerosal was first added to baby vaccines in 1931. Internal documents
reveal that Eli Lilly, which first developed thimerosal, knew from the start that its product could
cause damage -- and even death -- in both animals and humans.
Note: A good, though somewhat watered down version of the above article was published in the
Boston Globe on July 1, 2005. To see this article on the Globe website, click here. For an excellent
report endorsed by dozens of respected doctors and nurses on the serious risks and dangers of
vaccines, click here.
Why I Resigned From the CIA

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/dec/05/opinion/oe-scheuer5
Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA, wrote "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the
War on Terror." Between January 1996 and June 1999 I was in charge of running operations
against Al Qaeda from Washington. When it comes to this small slice of the large U.S. national
security pie, I speak with firsthand experience (and for several score of CIA officers) when I
state categorically that during this time senior White House officials repeatedly refused to
act on sound intelligence that provided multiple chances to eliminate Osama bin Laden
either by capture or by U.S. military attack. I witnessed and documented, along with dozens of
other CIA officers, instances where life-risking intelligence-gathering work of the agency's men and
women in the field was wasted. I was never charged with deciding whether to act against Bin
Laden. That decision properly belongs solely to senior White House officials. However, as a nowprivate American citizen, it is my right to question their judgment; I am entitled to know why the
protection of Americans most selfishly, my own children and grandchildren was not the top
priority of the senior officials who refused to act on the opportunities to attack Bin Laden provided
by the clandestine service. Each of these officials have publicly argued that the intelligence was
not "good enough" to act, but they almost always neglect to say that they were repeatedly advised
that the intelligence was not going to get better and that Bin Laden was going to kill thousands of
Americans if he was not stopped.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For many other serious questions around the 9/11 attacks,
click here.
Brainwash victims win cash claims

2004-10-17, Times of London
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-1313808,00.html
Hundreds of mentally ill patients who were subjected to barbaric CIA-funded brainwashing
experiments ... could be entitled to compensation following a landmark court ruling. Doctor Ewan
Cameron, who became one of the worlds leading psychiatrists, developed techniques used
by Nazi scientists to wipe out the existing personalities of people in his care. Cameron ...
was recruited by the CIA during the cold war while working at McGill University in Montreal,
Canada. He carried out mind-control experiments using drugs such as LSD on hundreds of
patients, but only 77 of them were awarded compensation. Now a landmark ruling by a Federal
Court judge in Montreal will allow more than 250 former patients, whose claims were rejected, to
seek compensation. Last week, Alan Stein, of Montreal law firm Stein and Stein ... confirmed he
was in the process of contacting former clients who could now renew their appeal. There are
about 200 people still due compensation, he said. Using techniques similar to those portrayed
in the celebrated novel the Manchurian Candidate, it was believed that people could be
brainwashed and reprogrammed to carry out specific acts. Cameron developed a range of
depatterning treatments. Patients were woken from drug-induced stupors two or three times a
day for multiple electric shocks. In a specially designed sleep room made famous by Anne
Collinss book of the same name, Cameron placed a speaker under the patients pillow and
relayed negative messages for 16 hours a day. Cameron ... rose to become the first president of
the World Psychiatric Association.
Note: If the above link does not work, click here. Dr. Cameron was once President of the American
and World Psychiatric Associations. For more on the severe abuses of doctors in serving the CIA's
mind control programs, click here. This article clearly shows that the Manchurian candidate
(programmed assassin) is not just fiction. For a powerful two-page summary of 18,000 pages of
declassified CIA documents on this disturbing mind control program, click here. Links to view the
original top secret documents are included.
FAA Managers Destroyed 9/11 Tape

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A6892-200...
Six air traffic controllers provided accounts of their communications with hijacked planes on Sept.
11, 2001, on a tape recording that was later destroyed by Federal Aviation Administration
managers. It is unclear what information was on the tape because no one ever listened to,
transcribed or duplicated it. The FAA ... said it took disciplinary action against the employee who
destroyed the tape but declined to elaborate on what kind of action they took. [Earlier, an FAA
official incorrectly stated that the agency took action against two employees in the case.] Hours
after the [9/11 attacks] an FAA manager at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center gathered
six controllers who communicated or tracked two of the hijacked planes and recorded in a one-
hour interview their personal accounts of what occurred. The manager, who is not named in the
report, said that his intentions were to provide quick information to federal officials investigating the
attack before the air traffic controllers involved took sick leave for the stress of their experiences,
as is common practice. A second manager ... destroyed the tape between December 2001 and
January 2002 by crushing the tape with his hand, cutting it into small pieces and depositing
the pieces into trash cans around the building. The tape's existence was never made known to
federal officials investigating the attack. The New York managers acknowledged that they received
an e-mail from FAA officials instructing them to retain all materials related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
But the managers decided not to include the tape in a November 2001 "Formal Accident Package"
report the office prepared.
Note: Why on earth wouldn't this most important tape have been included in the FAA's official
report. And more importantly, why did someone later destroy it so carefully and thoroughly. For lots
more, click here.
Transcript: Rice's Testimony on 9/11 (for 9/11 Commissioner Lehman)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61252-2004Apr8_4.html
LEHMAN. Were you told that there were numerous young Arab males in flight training? RICE. I
was not. LEHMAN. Were you told that the red team in F.A.A. for 10 years had reported ... that the
U.S. airport security system never got higher than 20 percent effective. RICE. To the best of my
recollection I was not told that. LEHMAN. Were you aware that I.N.S. had quietly internally halved
its internal security enforcement budget? RICE. I was not made aware of that. LEHMAN. Were you
aware that it was the U.S. government established policy not to question or oppose the sanctuary
policies [which] prohibited the local police from cooperating at all with federal immigration
authorities? RICE. I do not believe I was aware of that. LEHMAN. Were you aware of a program
that was well established that allowed Saudi citizens to get visas without interviews? RICE. I
learned of that after 9/11. LEHMAN. Were you aware of the extensive activities [of] the Saudi
government in supporting over 300 radical teaching schools and mosques around the country,
including right here in the United States? Were you aware at the time of the fact that Saudi
Arabia ... had in their custody the C.F.O. [Chief Financial Officer] and the closest confidante
of Al Qaeda, of Osama bin Laden, and that they refused direct access to the United States?
RICE. I don't remember anything of that kind. LEHMAN. Were you aware that they would not
cooperate and give us access to the perpetrators of the Cobar Towers attack? RICE. I was very
involved in issues concerning Cobar Towers. LEHMAN. Were you aware that it was the policy of
the Justice Department ... to fine airlines if they have more than two young Arab males in
secondary questioning? RICE. No.
Note: Don't miss the full revealing transcript at the link above. Most of the quotes above are
towards the bottom of the webpage. Why didn't we hear lots more about these astounding facts
put forward by one of the 9/11 commissioners, yet hardly mentioned in the final report? For lots
more, click here.
The Results Are in and the Winner Is . . . or Maybe Not

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/opinion/editorial-observer-the-results-are-...
Charlie Matulka, who lost to Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska [in 2002], does not trust the results
in his election. Most of the votes were cast on paper ballots that were scanned into computerized
vote-counting machines, which happen to have been manufactured by a company Mr. Hagel used
to run. Mr. Matulka, suspicious of Senator Hagel's ties to the voting machine company, demanded
a hand recount of the paper ballots. Nebraska law did not allow it, he was informed. In his primary
race in 1996, Mr. Hagel, who had lived in Virginia for 20 years, beat the state attorney general by
nearly two to one. In the general election, he defeated the governor, who had been elected two
years earlier in a landslide. In 2002, against Mr. Matulka, he won more than 80 percent of the
vote. What gets conspiracy theorists excited is not just Mr. Hagel's prodigious wins, but his
job before jumping into the 1996 race: heading American Information Systems, the
manufacturer of the machines that count 85 percent of Nebraska's votes. Rob Behler ... who
helped prepare Georgia's machines for the 2002 election, says secret computer codes were
installed late in the process. Votes ''could have been manipulated,'' he says, and the election
thrown. Modern technology is creating a whole new generation of conspiracy theories -- easy to
imagine and, unless we're careful, impossible to disprove. Among the growing ranks of electronicvoting skeptics ... Mr. Hagel's wins in 1996 and 2002 have taken on mythic status. The problem is,
there is no way to prove the right man was elected. A healthy democracy must avoid even the
appearance of corruption. [The] Nebraska elections fail this test.
Note: For more clear evidence Hagel was directly involved in voting machine manipulation which
lead to an illegal victory for him, click here and here.
Senators: State Department Had Key to Stopping 9/11 Attacks

Sens. Jon Kyl and Pat Roberts said in a report that "the answer to the question could 9/11
have been prevented is yes, if State Department personnel had merely followed the law
and not granted non-immigrant visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers in Saudi Arabia." If laws had
been followed, "most of the hijackers would not have been able to obtain visas and 9/11 would not
have happened," they said. Both [senators] were part of the House and Senate intelligence
committees' inquiry into intelligence failures leading up to the attacks. Last week, in its final report,
the inquiry said agencies were poorly organized and failed to share information, but didn't identify
a single intelligence error that, by itself, allowed the attacks to occur. Kyl and Roberts ... said the
inquiry findings, most of which remain classified, didn't dig deeply enough into the cause of
intelligence problems. They said also intelligence committee leaders excluded other lawmakers
from key decisions during the investigation. Their report also said the investigation's scope,
confined to intelligence issues, was too limited. The most glaring omission, they said, was the
failure to examine State Department procedures for issuing visas.
Note: For many questions concerning the official account of 9/11 asked by highly-respected
professionals, click here and here.
Federal agency planned plane-crashing-into-building drill [on] Sept. 11

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-08-22-sept-11-plane-drill-_x.htm
In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. intelligence agency
was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its
buildings. But the cause wasn't terrorism it was to be a simulated accident. Officials at the
Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in
which a small corporate jet would crash into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters
building. The agency is about four miles from the runways of Washington Dulles International
Airport. "It was just an incredible coincidence that this happened to involve an aircraft crashing into
our facility," [NRO spokesman Art] Haubold said. "As soon as the real world events began, we
canceled the exercise." Adding to the coincidence, American Airlines Flight 77 the Boeing 767
that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon took off from Dulles at 8:10 a.m. on Sept. 11,
50 minutes before the exercise was to begin. It struck the Pentagon around 9:40 a.m., killing 64
aboard the plane and 125 on the ground. The National Reconnaissance Office operates many of
the nation's spy satellites. It draws its personnel from the military and the CIA. In a promotion for
speaker John Fulton, a CIA officer assigned as chief of NRO's strategic gaming division, the
announcement says, "On the morning of September 11th 2001, Mr. Fulton and his team ... were
running a pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency response issues that would be created
if a plane were to strike a building."
Note: For many more disturbing coincindences and outright cover-ups around 9/11, click here.
And for yet another amazing "coincidence" surrounding the London bombings, click here.
Whistleblower Complains of FBI Obstruction

2002-05-30, Fox News
[An] FBI counter-terrorism agent [is] accusing the agency of prohibiting him from conducting his
probe into terror financing activities because he complained about obstruction by bureau superiors.
Chicago-based FBI Special Agent Robert Wright ... said the recent trajectory of his FBI career has
taken a downward spiral since he complained about two incidents that inhibited his ability to
continue terror funding and money laundering probes of members of ... Hamas and Hezbollah.
The FBI has been under fire since it was revealed that FBI field alerts to Washington of
Middle Eastern men training at U.S. flight schools during the summer of 2001 were buried in
paperwork, and agents in Minneapolis who circumvented normal channels to contact the CIA
about suspected "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui were reprimanded. Agents who have
complained about bureaucratic barriers in the past have been punished, and Wright said that he is
one of them. Wright has been demoted to "paper pusher" and "chief dishwasher" at the Chicago
field office since he complained about the wrenches thrown into his probe. Wright is under threat
of retribution should he talk to members of Congress about what he knows. Wright said
throughout his six-year posting in counter-terrorism, he was involved in probes of Hamas and
Hezbollah. His most successful 'get' netted $1.4 million in terrorist money in 1998, money that he
said today was linked to Saudi businessman and financier Yassin Kadi, who was identified late last
year as a close associate of Usama Bin Laden.
Note: For lots more on what happened with Robert Wright, click here. For many still-unanswered
questions from highly respected government officials and professors about the behavior of the
highest levels of the FBI and other US government agencies before, during and after the 9/11
attacks, click here and here.
Has someone been sitting on the FBI?

2001-11-06, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/newsnight/1645527.stm
GREG PALAST: The CIA and Saudi Arabia, the Bushes and the Bin Ladens. Did their connections
cause America to turn a blind eye to terrorism? UNNAMED MAN: There is a hidden agenda at the
very highest levels of our government. PETER ELSNER: How can it be that the former President
of the US and the current President of the US have business dealings with characters that need to
be investigated? PALAST: In the eight weeks since the attacks, over 1,000 suspects and potential
witnesses have been detained. Yet, just days after the hijackers took off from Boston aiming for the
Twin Towers, a special charter flight out of the same airport whisked 11 members of Osama Bin
Laden's family off to Saudi Arabia. That did not concern the White House. Their official line is
that the Bin Ladens are above suspicion - apart from Osama, the black sheep, who they say
hijacked the family name. That's fortunate for the Bush family and the Saudi royal
household, whose links with the Bin Ladens could otherwise prove embarrassing. But
Newsnight has obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of other members of the Bin Laden
family for links to terrorist organisations before and after September 11th. This document is
marked "Secret". Case ID - 199-Eye WF 213 589. 199 is FBI code for case type. 9 would be
murder. 65 would be espionage. 199 means national security. WF indicates Washington field office
special agents were investigating ABL. ABL is Abdullah Bin Laden.
Note: For a Washington Post article showing that former President George H.W. Bush was
meeting with a brother of Osama bin Laden the day before 9/11, click here. For lots more on the
unanswered questions about the official account of 9/11, click here and here.
Sloppy State Dept. Paper Work Let Sept. 11 Hijackers Into the U.S
2001-10-23, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130051
A new report accuses the State Department of staggering lapses in its visa program that gave
Sept. 11 hijackers entry into the United States. The political journal National Review obtained the
visa applications for 15 of the 19 hijackers and evidence that all of them should have been
denied entry to the country. Almost all of the hijacker's visas were issued in Saudi Arabia, at the
U.S. Embassy in Riyadh or the U.S. Consulate in Jedda. Terrorist ties aside, the applications
themselves should have raised red flags, say experts. The forms are incomplete and often
incomprehensible yet that didn't stop any of the 15 terrorists for whom the visa
applications were obtained from coming to the United States. The only alleged would-be
hijacker who failed to get a visa was Ramzi Binalshibh, who was denied entrance to the United
States repeatedly. "This is a systemic problem," said Nikolai Wenzel, a former U.S. consular
officer. "It's a problem of sloppiness, it's a problem of negligence which I would call criminal
negligence because obviously, having reviewed all these applications, there is a pattern here." The
pattern? None of the 15 applications reviewed was filled out properly. The State Department would
not allow interviews with current consular affairs employees.
Note: For many questions concerning the official account of 9/11 asked by highly-respected
professionals, click here and here.
Years Ago, The Military Sprayed Germs on U.S. Cities

2001-10-22, Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1003703226697496080.html
Much of what the Pentagon knows about the effects of bacterial attacks on cities came from ...
secret tests conducted on San Francisco and other American cities from the 1940s through the
1960s, experts say. In the 1950s, Army researchers dispersed Serratia on Panama City, Fla., and
Key West, Fla., with no known illnesses resulting. They also released fluorescent compounds over
Minnesota and other Midwestern states to see how far they would spread in the atmosphere. The
particles of zinc-cadmium-sulfide -- now a known cancer-causing agent -- were detected more than
1,000 miles away in New York state, the Army told the Senate hearings. In New York, military
researchers in 1966 spread Bacillus subtilis variant Niger, also believed to be harmless, in the
subway system by dropping lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto tracks in stations in midtown
Manhattan. The bacteria were carried for miles throughout the subway system. The Army kept
the biological-warfare tests secret until word of them was leaked to the press in the 1970s.
Between 1949 and 1969 ... open-air tests of biological agents were conducted 239 times,
according to the Army's testimony in 1977 before the Senate's subcommittee on health. In
80 of those experiments, the Army said it used live bacteria that its researchers at the time thought
were harmless. Several medical experts have since claimed that an untold number of people may
have gotten sick as a result of the germ tests. These researchers say even benign agents can
mutate into unpredictable pathogens once exposed to the elements.
Note: Reading the full article on the Wall Street Journal website requires a paid subscription. You
can read it free at this link. Considering that the army kept all of these tests secret for decades, is it
possible that they are keeping information on chemtrails secret from the public? For lots more on
the government secretly using unsuspecting citizens as guinea pigs in its risky experiments over
the years, click here. For powerful evidence that this is still happening, click here.
Resentful west spurned Sudan's key terror files

2001-09-30, The Observer (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/sep/30/terrorism.afghanistan2
Security chiefs on both sides of the Atlantic repeatedly turned down the chance to acquire
a vast intelligence database on Osama bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of
his al-Qaeda terrorist network in the years leading up to the 11 September attacks. They
were offered thick files, with photographs and detailed biographies of many of his principal cadres,
and vital information about al-Qaeda's financial interests in many parts of the globe. On two
separate occasions, they were given an opportunity to extradite or interview key bin Laden
operatives who had been arrested in Africa because they appeared to be planning terrorist
atrocities. None of the offers, made regularly from the start of 1995, was taken up. One senior CIA
source admitted last night: 'This represents the worst single intelligence failure in this whole terrible
business.' Bin Laden and his cadres came to Sudan in 1992 because at that time it was one of the
few Islamic countries where they did not need visas. He used his time there to build a lucrative
web of legitimate businesses, and to seed a far-flung financial network - much of which was
monitored by the Sudanese. They also kept his followers under close surveillance. One US source
who has seen the files on bin Laden's men in Khartoum said some were 'an inch and a half thick'.
They included photographs, and information on their families, backgrounds and contacts.
Note: For many questions raised about the official account of the 9/11 attacks by highly credible
professors and officials, click here and here.
Revealed: the men with stolen identities

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/1341391/Reve...
Their names were flashed around the world as suicide hijackers who carried out the attacks on
America. But yesterday four innocent men told how their identities had been stolen by Osama bin
Laden's teams to cover their tracks. The men - all from Saudi Arabia - spoke of their shock at
being mistakenly named by the FBI as suicide terrorists. None of the four was in the United States
on September 11 and all are alive in their home country. The FBI released the list of 19 suicide
terrorists three days after the attacks. The Saudi Airlines pilot, Saeed Al-Ghamdi, 25, and
Abdulaziz Al-Omari, an engineer from Riyadh, are furious that the hijackers' "personal
details" - including name, place, date of birth and occupation - matched their own. The other
two men accused of being terrorists are Salem Al-Hamzi and Ahmed Al-Nami. Mr Al-Hamzi is 26
and had just returned to work at a petrochemical complex in the industrial eastern city of Yanbou ...
when the hijackers struck. Mr Al-Nami, 33, from Riyadh, an administrative supervisor with Saudi
Arabian Airlines, said that he was in Riyadh when the terrorists struck. The FBI admitted that
there was some doubt about the identities of some of the suspects. A spokesman said: "The
identification process has been complicated by the fact that many Arabic family names are similar.
It is also possible that the hijackers used false identities." The spokesman declined to say whether
the FBI would apologise but added: "If we have made mistakes then obviously that would be
regrettable."
Note: The deceptions in the official story of 9/11 are nowhere more clearly shown than in this
important story. The FBI never revised its list of alleged hijackers, and these four are all later listed
in the official 9/11 Commission report as the hijackers. Click here and scroll down a little over half
way to see their photos in the official report. For more on this, click here. For an abundance of
reliable information suggesting a major 9/11 cover-up, click here. For other revealing news articles
on 9/11, click here.
2nd Witness Arrested; 25 Held for Questioning

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A38270-2001Sep15
Investigators yesterday arrested a second person as a material witness in the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. As the investigation gathered strength yesterday, unusual leads
began to surface, among them the possibility that some of the hijackers may have received
training at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida or other U.S. military facilities. Two of 19
suspects named by the FBI, Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi, have the same names
as men listed at a housing facility for foreign military trainees at Pensacola. Two others,
Hamza Alghamdi and Ahmed Alnami, have names similar to individuals listed in public records as
using the same address inside the base. In addition, a man named Saeed Alghamdi graduated
from the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, while men with
the same names as two other hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari, appear as
graduates of the U.S. International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and the
Aerospace Medical School at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, respectively.
Note: For more on this vitally important news, see the Newsweek article available here and the
New York Times article here. Several of the alleged hijackers also contacted US media shortly
after 9/11 to report that they were alive and were not on the hijacked planes. See the BBC News
and Times of London articles on this. Yet the 9/11 Commission Report lists these men as the
official hijackers at this link. So what's really going on here? For many other major media reports
suggesting that rogue elements of government were involved in 9/11, click here. For our reliable
9/11 Information Center, click here.
Biotechnology Food: From the Lab to a Debacle

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/25/business/25FOOD.html?pagewanted=all
In late 1986, four executives of the Monsanto Company, the leader in agricultural biotechnology,
paid a visit to Vice President George Bush at the White House. In the weeks and months that
followed, the White House complied, working behind the scenes, to help Monsanto long a
political power with deep connections in Washington get the regulations that it wanted. It was an
outcome that would be repeated, again and again, through three administrations. What Monsanto
wished for from Washington, Monsanto and, by extension, the biotechnology industry got.
Even longtime Washington hands said that the control this nascent industry exerted over its own
regulatory destiny through the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department
and ultimately the Food and Drug Administration was astonishing. Dr. Louis J. Pribyl, one of 17
government scientists working on a policy for genetically engineered food, ... knew from studies
that toxins could be unintentionally created when new genes were introduced into a plant's cells.
The government was dismissing that risk and any other possible risk as no different from those of
conventionally derived food. That meant biotechnology companies would not need government
approval to sell the foods they were developing. "This is the industry's pet idea, namely that
there are no unintended effects that will raise the F.D.A.'s level of concern," Dr. Pribyl wrote
in a fiery memo to the F.D.A. scientist overseeing the policy's development. "But time and
time again, there is no data to back up their contention."
Note: For a powerful essay showing the grave risks and dangers of GMOs, click here. For deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources on genetically modified foods, click here.
A blacklist burning for Bush

2000-12-10, The Observer (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2000/dec/10/columnists.theobserver
This week, I was hacking my way through the Florida swampland known as the Office of Secretary
of State Katherine Harris and found a couple thousand more names of voters electronically
'disappeared' from the vote rolls. About half of those named are African-Americans. They had the
right to vote, but they never made it to the balloting booths. When we left off our Florida story two
weeks ago, The Observer discovered that Harris's office had ordered the elimination of 8,000
Florida voters on the grounds that they had committed felonies in other states. None had. Harris
bought the bum list from a company called ChoicePoint, a firm whose Atlanta executive suite and
boardroom are filled with Republican funders. ChoicePoint, we have learned, picked up the list of
faux felons from state officials in ... Texas. In fact, it was a roster of people who, like their
Governor, George W, had committed nothing more than misdemeanours. Most of those targeted to
have their names 'scrubbed' from the voter roles were African-Americans, Hispanics and poor
white folk, likely voters for Vice-President Gore. Add it up. The dead-wrong Texas list, the
uncorrected 'corrected' list, plus the out-of-state ex-con list. It's enough to swing a
presidential election.
Note: The entire article at the above link is highly recommended. It provides virtual proof of
criminal fraud. For lots more on blatant deception in the decisive Florida count of the U.S. 2000
presidential election, click here.
Memphis Jury Sees Conspiracy in Martin Luther King's Killing

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/09/us/memphis-jury-sees-conspiracy-in-martin-l...
A jury in a civil suit brought by the family of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decided today that a
retired Memphis cafe owner was part of a conspiracy in the 1968 killing of Dr. King. The jury's
decision means it did not believe that James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the crime, fired the
shot that killed Dr. King. After four weeks of testimony and one hour of deliberation, the jury in the
wrongful-death case found that Loyd Jowers as well as ''others, including governmental agencies''
had been part of a conspiracy. The jury awarded the King family the damages they had sought:
$100, which the family says it will donate to charity. The family has long questioned Mr. Ray's
conviction and hoped the suit would change the legal and historical record of the assassination.
Mr. Jowers, in a 1993 television interview, said that he had hired a Memphis police officer to
kill Dr. King from the bushes behind his restaurant. Mr. Jowers said he had been paid to do
so by a Memphis grocery store owner with Mafia connections. In an unlikely alliance, the King
family was represented in the case by William Pepper, who had been Mr. Ray's lawyer. The King
family maintains that Mr. Pepper's version of the assassination is the one that gets at the real truth
behind Dr. King's death, not the official version with Mr. Ray as the gunman. Mr. Pepper said
federal, state and Memphis governmental agencies, as well as the news media conspired in the
assassination.'
Note: For an awesome six-minute clip on this most important trial, click here. For other major
media article with powerful evidence of conspiracies to kill the Kennedy brothers and more, click
here. And for more from the MLK family on this incident, see their fascinating discussion at this
link.
Homosexual prostitution inquiry ensnares VIPs with Reagan, Bush

1989-06-29, WantToKnow.info/Washington Times
http://www.WantToKnow.info/890629washingtontimesfranklin
A homosexual prostitution ring is under investigation by federal and District authorities and
includes among its clients key officials of the Reagan and Bush administrations, military
officers, congressional aides and US and foreign businessmen with close social ties to
Washington's political elite. Reporters for this newspaper examined hundreds of credit-card
vouchers, drawn on both corporate and personal cards and made payable to the escort service
operated by the homosexual ring. Among clients who charged homosexual prostitutes services on
major credit cards over the past 18 months are Charles K. Dutcher, former associate director of
presidential personnel in the Reagan administration, and Paul R. Balach, Labor Secretary
Elizabeth Doles political personnel liaison to the White House. Members of major news
organizations also procured escort services from the ring, credit card documents show. These
include Stanley Mark Tapscott, who was an assistant managing editor of The Washington Times.
Before joining The Times, Mr. Tapscott worked for the Office of Personnel Management in the
Reagan administration. A major concern, said the former official with longtime ties to top-ranking
military intelligence officers, was that hostile foreign intelligence services were using young male
prostitutes to compromise top administration homosexuals, thus making them subject to blackmail.
Note: How is it possible that this major story was not covered by any major media other
than the Washington Times? For answers to this question, click here. For more on this
astonishing case, don't miss the excellent, reliable resources and the powerful, suppressed
Discovery Channel documentary available here. For an insider's story of how prostitution was
regularly used to compromise politicians, click here.
Nebraska Inquiry Is Given File on Sex Abuse of Foster Children

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE6D9133DF936A15751C1A96E94...
A state file containing reports of physical and sexual abuse of foster children, based on interviews
with some of the children and including one instance reminiscent of slave auctions, has been
turned over to the Executive Board of the Nebraska Legislature. One of the reports in the file ... is
an account by [a] victim who described parties at various places, including Omaha and cities
to which she was flown on the East Coast ... including one in which the ... teen-ager was
made to stand nude at a party while she was offered at auction to the highest bidder. "I don't
know if they can prove it," the source said, "but if one-tenth of what that girl is saying is true, I'd
sure hate to have her talking about me." The foster care agency's submission of the file is among
the latest developments in a case that began surfacing Nov. 4, when the Government's National
Credit Union Administration shut down the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union in Omaha.
The agency ... subsequently filed suit against Lawrence E. King Jr., Franklin Community's
manager and treasurer, charging him with diverting millions of dollars of the institution's money to
his own purposes. In all, the agency says, Franklin Community is missing $38 million. Mr. King has
not been accused of personally engaging in child sexual abuse. But a number of widening Federal
and state investigations into the credit union's collapse are aimed in part at determining whether
any of the money he is accused of embezzling was ever used to transport children or to pay them
for sex.
Note: This article reveals only a small part of what is known about a sophisticated pedophile ring
that reaches to the highest levels of government. For more on the suppressed Franklin Scandal,
don't miss the excellent, reliable resources and the powerful Discovery Channel documentary
available here. Note also the Christmas date of this article. You might be surprised at how often
the press discloses the most deeply revealing information on key cover-ups on holidays, when few
read the paper.
80 Institutions Used in C.I.A. Mind Studies

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20D15F63A5B167493C6A91783D85...
Adm. Stansfield Turner, the Director of Central Intelligence, testified today that the C.I.A.
had secretly supported human behavior control research at 80 institutions, including 44
colleges or universities as well as hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies. He
said that the main action years of MK-Ultra were from 1953 through 1963. The projects, he said,
had included tests of LSD and of a "K," or "knockout drop." The agency had supported 185
nongovernment researchers in 149 separate research projects. Admiral Turner said that ... 8,000
pages of newly discovered documents do not contain the names of the subjects of the tests but do
contain "leads" that might enable them to be found. Admiral Turner acknowledged under
questioning that the C.I.A. had apparently planned to test drugs on terminal cancer patients at the
same institution where it secretly contributed $375,000 toward the construction of a hospital
building. The New York Times has independently confirmed the institution is Georgetown
University Medical School here. Admiral Turner [also] said that "some unwitting testing took place
on criminal sexual psychopaths confined at a state hospital." At the two-hour hearing today,
Senator Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, pressed Admiral Turner to let the universities,
researchers and possible subjects of the tests know of the C.I.A.'s involvement. "These individuals
have a right to know who they are and why they were used," he said.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For lots more reliable, verifiable information suggesting a
major cover-up of government mind control programs, click here.
'Matador' With a Radio Stops Wired Bull

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20817F9395812738DDDAE0994DD4...
The brave bull bore down on the unarmed "matador" a scientist who had never faced a fighting
bull. But the charging animal's horns never reached the man behind the heavy red cape. Moments
before that could happen, Dr. Jose M. R. Delgado, the scientist, pressed a button on a small radio
transmitter in his hand, and the bull braked to a halt. Then, he pressed another button on the
transmitter and the bull obediently turned to the right and trotted away. The bull was obeying
commands from his brain that had been called forth by electrical stimulationby the radio signals
of certain regions in which fine wire electrodes had been painlessly implanted the day before.
[Experiments] have shown, he explained, that "functions traditionally related to the psyche,
such as friendliness, pleasure or verbal expression, can be induced, modified and inhibited
by direct electrical stimulation of the brain." For example, he has been able to "play"
monkeys and cats 'like little electronic toys" that yawn, hide, fight, play, mate and go to
sleep on command. With humans under treatment for epilepsy, he has increased word output
sixfold in one person, has produced severe anxiety in another, and in several others has induced
feelings of profound friendlinessall by electrical stimulation of various specific regions of their
brains. "I do not know why more work of this sort isn't done," he remarked recently, "because it is
so economical and easy." Monkeys will learn to press a button that sends a stimulus to the brain of
an enraged member of the colony and calms it down, indicating that animals can be taught to
control one another's behavior.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. This article shows mind control was being developed over
40 years ago. Though this technology can be used for good purposes, it also can and secretly has
been used to manipulate and control for many years. For lots of information based on released CIA
documents on how mind control has been secretly used for decades to affect both individual
behavior and global politics, click here and here.
Air Force Order on Saucers Cited

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A12F9345D1A728DDDA10A94DA4...
The Air Force has sent its commands a warning to treat sightings of unidentified flying objects as
"serious business" directly related to the nation's defense, it was learned today. An Air Force
spokesman confirmed issuance of the directive after portions of it were made public by a private
flying saucer group. The new regulations were issued by the Air Force inspector general Dec. 24.
Existence of the document was revealed by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Phenomena [NICAP]. The privately financed committee accused the Air Force of deception in
publicly describing reports of unidentified flying objects as delusions and hoaxes while sending the
private admonition to its commands. Vice Admiral R. H. Hillenkoetter (Ret.), a committee board
member and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said ... "It is time for the
truth to be brought out in open Congressional hearings. Behind the scenes, high-ranking
Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and
ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense," the
retired admiral said. He charged that "to hide the facts, the Air Force has silenced its personnel.
Note: If the above link fails, click here for a free copy of this article. Why would a former head of
the CIA be claiming that Air Force officers are "soberly concerned" about UFOs? For an
abundance of reliable, verifiable information on this major cover-up, click here
Declassified Memorandum to FBI Director: Flying Saucers

1950-03-22, Website of FBI
http://vault.fbi.gov/hottel_guy/Guy%20Hottel%20Part%201%20of%201/view
An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been
recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers,
approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape
but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was
bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots. The
saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a very high powered
radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of
the saucers.
Note: Download this amazing document and view it on our website at this link. For an ABC news
article discussing this, click here. Another FBI document shows FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover wanted
"full access to discs recovered" at Roswell. For numerous highly revealing major media reports
presenting strong evidence on UFOs, click here. For other reliable and inspiring information on this
topic, visit our UFO Information Center.
FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft Over US Cities

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/fbi-mysterious-surveillance-aircra...
FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft Over US Cities
June 2, 2015, ABC News/Associated Press

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/fbi-mysterious-surveillance-aircraft...
Scores of low-flying planes circling American cities are part of a civilian air force operated
by the FBI and obscured behind fictitious companies. The aircraft are equipped with high-tech
cameras, and ... technology capable of tracking thousands of cellphones. The surveillance
equipment is used for ongoing investigations, the FBI says, generally without a judge's approval.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has its own planes, also registered to fake companies,
according to a 2011 Justice Department ... report. At the time, the DEA had 92 aircraft in its fleet.
And since 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service has operated an aerial surveillance program with its
own fleet equipped with technology that can capture data from thousands of cellphones. "These
are not your grandparents' surveillance aircraft," said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the
American Civil Liberties Union. Evolving technology can record higher-quality video from long
distances, even at night, and can capture certain identifying information from cellphones using a
device known as a "cell-site simulator" [to] trick pinpointed cellphones into revealing identification
numbers of subscribers, including those not suspected of a crime. The Obama administration [has]
been directing local authorities through secret agreements not to reveal their own use of the
devices. During the past few weeks, the AP tracked planes from the FBI's fleet on more than
100 flights over at least 11 states plus the District of Columbia.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about
the corrupt intelligence agencies that facilitate the erosion of privacy rights in the U.S. and
elsewhere.
What Ever Happened to Antitrust?

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Antitrust-laws-have-lost-all-effe...
The May 20 settlement between the Justice Department and five giant banks reveals the appalling
weakness of modern antitrust. The banks had engaged in the biggest price-fixing conspiracy
in modern history. It was a "brazen display of collusion" that went on for years, said
Attorney General Loretta Lynch. But there will be no trial [and] no executive will go to jail.
The fines ... will be treated by the banks as costs of doing business. America used to have
antitrust laws that permanently stopped corporations from monopolizing markets. No longer. The
result has been higher prices for the many, and higher profits for the few. It's a hidden upward
redistribution from the majority of Americans to corporate executives and wealthy shareholders.
Similar upward distributions are occurring elsewhere in the economy. The four largest food
companies control 82 percent of beef packing, 85 percent of soybean processing, 63 percent of
pork packing, and 53 percent of chicken processing. Monsanto alone owns the key genetic traits to
more than 90 percent of the soybeans planted by farmers in the United States, and 80 percent of
the corn. Big Agribusiness wants to keep it this way. The list goes on, industry after industry,
across the economy. Antitrust has been ambushed by the giant companies it was designed to
contain. The market is rigged. And unless government unrigs it through bold antitrust action to
restore competition, the upward distributions hidden inside the "free market" will become even
larger.
Note: The above article was written by former US Secretary of Labor and current professor of
public policy at UC Berkeley Robert Reich. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing news articles about the systemically corrupt financial industry and the income
inequality that this contributes to.
How the DEA took a young mans life savings without ever charging him
with a crime
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/11/how-the-dea-took-a...
Joseph Rivers ... pulled together $16,000 in seed money to fulfill a lifetime dream of starting
a music video company. Last month, Rivers took the first step in that voyage [by] boarding an
Amtrak train headed for Los Angeles. He never made it. A DEA agent boarded the train at the
Albuquerque Amtrak station and began asking various passengers, including Rivers, where they
were going and why. When Rivers replied that he was headed to LA to make a music video, the
agent asked to search his bags. Rivers complied. The agent found Rivers's cash, still in a bank
envelope. He explained why he had it. The agents didn't believe him. Rivers let them call his
mother back home to corroborate the story. They didn't believe her, either. The agents found
nothing in Rivers's belongings that indicated that he was involved with the drug trade. They
didn't arrest him or charge him with a crime. But they took his cash anyway, every last cent,
under the authority of the Justice Department's civil asset forfeiture program. Rivers says he
suspects he may have been singled out for a search because he was the only black person on that
part of the train. According to a Washington Post investigation last year ... asset forfeiture is
lucrative. In fiscal year 2014 Justice Department agencies made a total of $3.9 billion in civil asset
seizures, versus only $679 million in criminal asset seizures. Asset forfeitures have more than
doubled during President Obama's tenure.
Note: Read a New York Times article on this program which allows law enforcement agencies to
seize money with impunity. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing
news articles about government corruption and the erosion of civil liberties from reliable major
media sources.
Report: DEA agents had 'sex parties' with prostitutes hired by drug
cartels
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-dea-agents-had-s...
Drug Enforcement Administration agents allegedly had "sex parties" with prostitutes hired
by local drug cartels overseas over a period of several years, according to a report released
Thursday by the Justice Department's watchdog. The agents, some of whom had top-secret
security clearances, received suspensions of two to 10 days. Former police officers in Colombia
also alleged that three DEA supervisory special agents were provided with money, expensive
gifts and weapons from drug cartel members, according to the report. The findings were part of
a much broader investigation into the handling of allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct
from fiscal 2009 to 2012 at federal law enforcement agencies. [Justice Department Inspector
General Michael E.] Horowitz said the investigation was "significantly impacted and unnecessarily
delayed" by repeated difficulties his office had in obtaining relevant information from the FBI and
the DEA. When he did receive the information, he said, it "was still incomplete." Sen. Charles
Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called on the Justice Department on
Thursday to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for employees who purchase sex. "The Department of
Justice may not be taking adequate steps to prevent its own employees from buying sex and
thereby contributing to the demand for the human sex trade," Grassley wrote to Acting Deputy
Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates.
Note: DEA agents caught being supplied prostitutes by drug cartels are merely suspended for a
few days? What's up with that? Read the gripping stories of two award-winning journalists giving
powerful evidence of direct DEA and CIA involvement in and support of drug running and drug
cartels. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles
about corruption in government and in the intelligence community.
Public Health Officials Know: Recently Vaccinated Individuals Spread

Disease
2015-03-03, CNBC/Globe Newswire
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102473744
Physicians and public health officials know that recently vaccinated individuals can spread
disease. "The public health community is blaming unvaccinated children for the outbreak of
measles at Disneyland, but the illnesses could just as easily have occurred due to contact with a
recently vaccinated individual," says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price
Foundation. Both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals are at risk from exposure to those
recently vaccinated. Vaccine failure is widespread; vaccine-induced immunity is not
permanent and recent outbreaks of diseases such as whooping cough, mumps and
measles have occurred in fully vaccinated populations. Flu vaccine recipients become more
susceptible to future infection after repeated vaccination. "Vaccine failure and failure to
acknowledge that live virus vaccines can spread disease have resulted in an increase in outbreaks
of infectious disease in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals," says Leslie Manookian,
producer of The Greater Good. "CDC should instruct physicians who administer vaccinations to
inform their patients about the risks posed to others by those who've been recently vaccinated."
The number of measles deaths declined from 7575 in 1920 (10,000 per year in many years in the
1910s) to an average of 432 each year from 1958-1962. The vaccine was introduced in 1963.
Between 2005 and 2014, there have been no deaths from measles in the U.S. and 108 deaths
reported after the MMR vaccine.
Note: The above article provides an extensive list or references. For more, read this informative
webpage on the excellent alternative health website Mercola.com. And this US government
webpage states, "Since the first National Vaccine Injury Compensation (VICP) claims were filed in
1989, 3,981 compensation awards have been made. More than $2.8 billion in compensation
awards has been paid to petitioners."
Serious case review slams police failure in serial abuse of Oxford girls
2015-03-01, The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/01/gangs-abused-hundreds-of-oxfor...
More than 300 young people have been groomed and sexually exploited by gangs of men in
Oxfordshire in the past 15 years, a damning report into the failures of police and social services to
stop years of sexual torture, trafficking and rape will reveal, the Guardian has learned. The victims,
mostly girls, come predominantly from the city of Oxford. A serious case review by the Oxfordshire
safeguarding childrens board, to be published on Tuesday, will condemn Thames Valley police for
not believing the young girls, for treating them as if they had chosen to adopt the lifestyle, and for
failing to act on repeated calls for help. Oxfordshire social services which had responsibility for
the girls safety will be equally damned for knowing they were being groomed and for failing to
protect them despite compelling evidence they were in danger. One social worker told a trial that
nine out of 10 of those responsible for the girls [were] aware of what was going on. The
case echoes the child exploitation scandals in Rotherham, Rochdale and Derby. In Oxford,
however, the grooming, sexual torture and trafficking took place on the streets of the
Cowley area of the city, in churchyards, parks, a guesthouse and empty flats procured for
the purpose of drugging the girls and handing them around to be gang raped and
brutalised. Police officers and social workers did not listen to the girls when they spoke of the
abuse they were suffering, did not believe them and dismissed them.
Note: If you think this is only a problem in the UK, read this disturbing article about the likely
murder of Bill Bowen, a man who was about to complete a documentary exposing blatant, horrible
abuses by the US's Child Protective Services that were covered up at high levels. Watch a
revealing five-minute video presenting solid evidence that Child Protective Services is involved in
organized U.S. child sex trafficking rings. See this webpage for more information. For solid
evidence of a pedophile ring reaching to the highest levels of government, don't miss this powerful
documentary and these sexual abuse new summaries.
Why Does the FBI Have to Manufacture its Own Plots if Terrorism and
ISIS Are Such Grave Threats?
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/26/fbi-manufacture-plots-terrorism...
The FBI and major media outlets yesterday trumpeted the ... latest counterterrorism triumph: the
arrest of three Brooklyn men, ages 19 to 30, on charges of conspiring to travel to Syria to fight for
ISIS. It appears that none of the three men was in any condition to travel or support the Islamic
State, without help from the FBI informant. One of the frightening terrorist villains told the FBI
informant that, beyond having no money, he had encountered a significant problem in following
through on the FBIs plot: his mom had taken away his passport. In this regard, this latest arrest
appears to be quite similar to the overwhelming majority of terrorism arrests the FBI has proudly
touted over the last decade. These cases ... end up sending young people to prison for
decades for crimes which even their sentencing judges acknowledge they never would
have seriously considered, let alone committed, in the absence of FBI trickery. Were
constantly bombarded with dire warnings about the grave threat of [terrorism]. But how serious of a
threat can all of this be, at least domestically, if the FBI continually has to resort to manufacturing
its own plots by trolling the Internet in search of young drifters and/or the mentally ill whom they
target? Shouldnt there be actual plots, ones that are created and fueled without the help of the
FBI? The Justice Department is aggressively pressuring U.S. allies to employ these same
entrapment tactics in order to create their own terrorists, who can then be paraded around as
proof of the grave threat. The FBIs terrorism strategy keep fear alive drives everything they
do.
Note: Human Rights Watch has documented the government manufacture of fake "terrorism" plots
being used to keep fear alive in war on terror. There is even evidence that the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing was an F.B.I. entrapment plan gone awry. In 2012, the New York Times exposed
the pattern of F.B.I. entrapment used to produce these fake "terrorism" plots. How can corrupt
intelligence agencies continue to blatantly manipulate public perception like this?
The 'Real Unemployment Rate' Vs. The Spin: Where's The News Here?
2015-02-08, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnzogby/2015/02/08/the-real-unemployment-rate-v...
Jim Clifton, longtime CEO of Gallup ... penned an op-ed on the company website referring to the
big lie of the official Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly unemployment rate. The 5.7% rate for
January he says is woefully inadequate and does not take into account part-time workers, those
earning $20 a week, those underemployed, and the hundreds of thousands of others who have
simply given up looking for work. The real unemployment is much larger. In all of this, Clifton is
absolutely right. The published rate is not only woefully inadequate, it is misleading and dishonest.
In a follow up interview on CNBC ... he notes that he fears that telling the truth will
endanger his life. So he backed off the big lie headline by telling CNBC: I think that the
number that comes out of BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] and the Department of Labor is
very, very accurate. I need to make that very, very clear so that I dont suddenly disappear. I
need to make it home tonight.
Note: Read the article by Gallup CEO Jim Clifton showing that the US official unemployment rate
of 5.6% is very misleading. Gallup research finds 44% of US citizens available to work are not
getting enough work. Then watch the video where he admits he fears for his life for reporting on
this. Notably, the Forbes article summarized above confirms that Clifton's statements are accurate,
but criticizes him for revealing that mass media is manipulated by the financial and political elite.
New York Times editor: we failed to do our job after 9/11

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jan/28/new-york-times-editor...
Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times, believes his newspaper in company
with the US mainstream media failed their audiences after 9/11. He told the German news
magazine Der Spiegel that he agreed with the criticism originally made by an NYT reporter, James
Risen, Baquet said: The mainstream press was not aggressive enough after 9/11, was not
aggressive enough in asking questions about a decision to go to war in Iraq, was not
aggressive enough in asking the hard questions about the war on terror. I accept that for
the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. Baquet, in charge of the NYT since May
2014, was previously editor-in-chief of the LA Times. In his wide-ranging interview with Der
Spiegel, Baquet also spoke about the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden having chosen to tell
his story to the Guardian. He said he regards the Guardian as a new competitor [for the NYT] in
the digital age. He said: Does it make me nervous that they compete with us and in fact beat us
on the Snowden story? Yes. "It hurt a lot. It meant two things. Morally, it meant that somebody with
a big story to tell didnt think we were the place to go, and thats painful. And then it also meant
that we got beaten on what was arguably the biggest national security story in many, many years.
Note: When asked about the New York Times' refusal to report on military drone base locations in
the interview referenced above, Baquet recalls, "A high-ranking CIA official called me up and
made the case to leave out where the drone base was. It was Saudi Arabia. I accepted it.
And I was wrong." For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing
articles about mass media manipulation.
New police radars can 'see' inside homes

2015-01-20, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/19/police-radar-see-through-walls/...
At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar
devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether
anyone is inside. Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began
deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public
disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues
because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell
them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant. The radars
work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as
human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside
of a house, where they are and whether they are moving. The device the Marshals Service and
others are using [was] first designed for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. They represent the latest
example of battlefield technology finding its way home to civilian policing and bringing
complex legal questions with it. Those concerns are especially thorny when it comes to
technology that lets the police determine what's happening inside someone's home.
Note: This technology is not new. Working as interpreter in Washington, DC, WantToKnow.info
founder Fred Burks witnessed this technology being used by the police there in the late 1980s. For
more along these lines, see this deeply revealing summarized NPR report about The Pentagon's
massive Program 1033 to widely distribute military hardware to domestic police forces.
The Saudi Role in Sept. 11 and the Hidden 9/11 Report Pages
http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-911-george-w-bush-barack-obama-prince-ba...
28 still-classified pages pages in a congressional inquiry on 9/11 ... raise questions about
Saudi financial support to the hijackers in the United States prior to the attacks. Both the
administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama have refused to declassify the pages on
grounds of national security. But [some] members of Congress who have read the pages ... say
national security has nothing to do with it. Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, a Democrat who
co-chaired the joint investigation of the House and Senate intelligence committees into the Sept.
11 attacks ... maintains that nothing in them qualifies as a legitimate national security secret.
The 2002 joint congressional committee probe [Graham] co-chaired reported only that, contacts in
the United States helped hijackers ... But in an interview with Newsweek, Graham said the
contacts were Saudis with close connections to their government. The Florida Democrat charged
that there has been an organized effort to suppress information about Saudi support for
terrorism, which "started long before 9/11 and continued ... after 9/11. ISIS ... is a product of Saudi
ideals, Saudi money and Saudi organizational support, although now they are making a pretense
of being very anti-ISIS, Graham added. The two co-chairman of ... the 9/11 Commission, likewise
urged the White House to declassify the 28 pages. Im embarrassed that theyre not declassified,
former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind) said at a press conference with his co-chair Tom Kean, the
former Republican governor of New Jersey. Meanwhile, Washington and the Saudi royals still
maintain their decades-long, cozy relationship.
Note: Several current and former government officials are trying to expose the Saudi government
money behind ISIS and other terrorist groups. For more along these lines, read concise
summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 investigation news from reliable major media sources.
Ministry of Defence pays out 2 million to settle cadets' sex abuse

claims
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11315528/Ministry-of-Defence-pay...
The Ministry of Defence has paid out more than 2 million in out-of-court settlements in the
last three years as a result of claims that young cadets were sexually abused. The cases
includes allegations that teenage boys performed ritual sex acts on younger cadets, and a cadet
who was raped by an instructor and gave birth to her abusers child. Some of the settlements are
understood to relate to historic abuse, perpetrated against adults when they were children. Others
relate to abuse carried out in recent years. [One] settlement involved a teenage girl who was
sexually abused by her adult cadet instructor while she was a cadet under his charge.
Eventually she gave birth to her abusers child, leading to her suffering post-traumatic stress
disorder and chronic depression. The MoD admitted liability at an early stage and settled the claim
for 210,000. Among the settlements made in 2012, four people made a successful claim for
900,000 after alleging they were abused when they were young members of the Army Cadets in
Harborne, Birmingham. An MoD spokesperson said: We take any allegation of abuse extremely
seriously. All adult volunteers undergo enhanced criminal record checks and are made fully aware
of their responsibility to protect children from harm.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sex abuse scandal
news articles from reliable major media sources.
Five Westminster paedophile rings probed by Scotland Yard

2014-12-21, The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11306575/Five-Westminster-paedop...
Police are investigating claims that up to five paedophile rings operated at the heart of
Westminster with the involvement of highly influential politicians. A Labour MP who has handed
a dossier of evidence to Scotland Yard said he now believed the complexity of child abuse
networks at the heart of government in the Seventies and Eighties had been seriously
underestimated. John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, said it was inconceivable that police would not
now arrest and interview some of the politicians he has named in a list handed to detectives. Mr
Mann, who has spent months sifting evidence from members of the public, met Scotland Yard and
handed over evidence on 22 politicians, including three serving MPs and three members of the
House of Lords. There are at least five paedophile rings which involved MPs, he said.
Each of them involved at least one MP, some involved more, and these were groups of
people who knew about the activities of one another. In some cases I believe they
committed abuse together. Thirteen former ministers were among the list. Mr Mann handed his
dossier to detectives from Operation Trinity, the Metropolitan Polices investigation into alleged
abuse in childrens homes in Lambeth, south London. A range of other inquiries have also been
launched including Operation Midland, looking at allegations of child sex abuse focusing on
Westminster.
Note: A further article states that a member of Parliament is calling for an investigation into the
suspicious deaths of two people who were revealing information on the pedophile rings which go
to the highest levels of government. Watch powerful evidence in a suppressed Discovery Channel
documentary showing that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government.
The Coin of the Realm

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/sns-201412161030--tms--amvoices...
The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 banned insider trading but left it up to the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the courts to define it. Which they have -- in recent decades so broadly
that confidential information [is now Wall Street's] "coin of the realm." If a CEO tells his golf buddy
that his company is being taken over, and his buddy makes a killing on that information, no
problem. If his buddy leaks the information to a hedge fund manager and doesn't say where it
came from, the hedge fund manager can also use the information to make a bundle. CEOs and
other top executives ... routinely use their own inside knowledge of when their companies
will buy back large numbers of shares from the public -- thereby pumping up share prices -in order to time their own personal stock transactions. That didn't used to be legal. Until
1981, the Securities and Exchange Commission required companies to publicly disclose the
amount and timing of their buybacks. But Ronald Reagan's SEC removed those restrictions. Then,
George W. Bush's SEC allowed top executives, even though technically company "insiders" ... to
quietly cash in their stock options without public disclosure. Now it's normal practice. Many CEOs
are making vast fortunes not because they're good at managing their corporations but because
they're good at using insider information.
Note: Is the trend to relax the rules on insider trading related to the revolving door between big
banks and government? For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply
revealing articles about widespread corruption in government and banking and finance.
Media gagged over bid to report MP child sex cases

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/22/media-gagged-westminster-child...
The security services are facing questions over the cover-up of a Westminster paedophile ring as it
emerged that files relating to official requests for media blackouts in the early 1980s were
destroyed. Two newspaper executives have told the Observer that their publications were
issued with D-notices warnings not to publish intelligence that might damage national
security when they sought to report on allegations of a powerful group of men engaging
in child sex abuse in 1984. One executive said he had been accosted in his office by 15
uniformed and two non-uniformed police over a dossier on Westminster paedophiles passed to
him by the former Labour cabinet minister Barbara Castle. The other said that his newspaper had
received a D-notice when a reporter sought to write about a police investigation into Elm Guest
House, in southwest London, where a group of high-profile paedophiles was said to have
operated. Theresa May, home secretary, this month told the Commons that an official review into
whether there had been a cover-up of the Home Offices handling of child-abuse allegations in the
1980s ... was prompted by the discovery that 114 Home Office files related to child abuse in the
1980s had gone missing. The two journalists, Don Hale, the former editor of the Bury Messenger,
and Hilton Tims, news editor of the Surrey Comet between 1980 and 1988, both recall their
publications being issued with D-notices around 1984.
Note: Explore powerful evidence from a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing
that child sexual abuse scandals also reach to the highest levels of government in the US. For
more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing government corruption
and sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable sources.
Police Use Department Wish List When Deciding Which Assets to Seize
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/police-use-department-wish-list-when-dec...
Civil asset forfeiture ... allows the government, without ever securing a conviction or even
filing a criminal charge, to seize property. The practice ... has become a staple of law
enforcement agencies because it helps finance their work. Under a Justice Department
program, the value of assets seized has ballooned to $4.3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year from
$407 million in 2001. From Orange County, N.Y., to Rio Rancho, N.M., forfeiture operations are
being established or expanded. Much of the nuts-and-bolts how-to of civil forfeiture is passed on in
continuing education seminars for local prosecutors and law enforcement officials, some of which
have been captured on video. In the sessions, officials ... offered advice on dealing with skeptical
judges, mocked Hispanics whose cars were seized, and ... gave weight to the argument that civil
forfeiture encourages decisions based on the value of the assets to be seized rather than public
safety. Prosecutors boasted in the sessions that seizure cases were rarely contested or appealed.
Civil forfeiture places the burden on owners, who must pay court fees and legal costs. And often
the first hearing is presided over not by a judge but by the prosecutor whose office benefits from
the proceeds. Mr. McMurtry [chief of the forfeiture unit in the Mercer County, N.J., prosecutors
office] said his handling of a case is sometimes determined by department wish lists. If you want
the car, and you really want to put it in your fleet, let me know Ill fight for it.
Note: Watch the video at the link above showing a trainer teaching cops how to steal a car that a
cop might want legally. For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply
revealing government corruption and civil liberties news articles from reliable sources.
Vote all you want. The secret government won't change

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/18/vote-all-you-want-the-secret-gov...
The Obama version of national security looks almost indistinguishable from the one he inherited.
Critics tend to focus on Obama himself, but Tufts University political scientist Michael J. Glennon
has a more pessimistic answer: Obama couldnt have changed policies much even if he tried. Our
government no longer works that way. In a new book, National Security and Double Government,
he catalogs the ways that the defence and national security apparatus is effectively selfgoverning, with virtually no accountability, transparency, or checks and balances of any
kind. He uses the term double government: Theres the one we elect, and then theres the
one behind it, steering huge swaths of policy almost unchecked. Elected officials end up serving
as mere cover for the real decisions made by the bureaucracy. National Security and Double
Government comes favorably blurbed by former members of the Defense Department, State
Department, White House, and even the CIA. Glennon spoke with Ideas from his office. IDEAS:
Where does the term double government come from? GLENNON: Walter Bagehot - the scholar
who presided over the birth of The Economist magazine. IDEAS: What evidence exists for saying
America has a double government? GLENNON: The documented evidence in the book is
substantial there are 800 footnotes. I think the American people ... believe that when they vote
for a president or member of Congress or succeed in bringing a case before the courts, that policy
is going to change. Policy by and large in the national security realm is made by the
concealed institutions.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing stories about
questionable intelligence agency practices from reliable sources.
Grenade launchers in schools? U.S. school police stock up on free

military gear
2014-09-17, Toronto Star/Associated Press

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/09/17/grenade_launchers_in_schools_us_...
School police departments across the country have taken advantage of free military surplus gear,
stocking up on mine resistant armoured vehicles, grenade launchers and scores of M16 rifles. At
least 26 school districts across the country have participated in the Pentagons surplus
program. Federal records show schools in California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan,
Nevada, Texas and Utah obtained surplus military gear. Nearly two dozen education and civil
liberties groups sent a letter earlier this week to the Pentagon and the Justice and Education
departments urging a stop to transfers of military weapons to school police. The Los Angeles
Unified School District the nations second-largest school district, enrolling more than 900,000
students said in a statement this week that it would remove three grenade launchers it had
acquired under the program in 2001 because they are not essential life-saving items within the
scope, duties and mission of the districts police force. But the district plans to keep 60 M16s and
a MRAP, a military vehicle used in Iraq and Afghanistan that is built to withstand mine blasts. Los
Angeles school board member Steve Zimmer said the district will likely also let go of the MRAP,
too. The board was told of the specific equipment the district had received only after the protests
last month in Ferguson, Zimmer said. Jill Poe, police chief in the Southern Californias Baldwin
Park school district, said shell be returning the three M16 rifles acquired under her predecessor.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government corruption news
articles from reliable major media sources.
U.S. threatened massive fine to force Yahoo to release data

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-threatened-massive-fine-...
The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it failed to comply
with a broad demand to hand over user communications a request the company believed
was unconstitutional according to court documents unsealed [on September 11] that
illuminate how federal officials forced American tech companies to participate in the National
Security Agencys controversial PRISM program. The documents ... outline a secret and ultimately
unsuccessful legal battle by Yahoo to resist the governments demands. The companys loss
required Yahoo to become one of the first to begin providing information to PRISM, a
program that gave the NSA extensive access to records of online communications by users of
Yahoo and other U.S.-based technology firms. The ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court of Review became a key moment in the development of PRISM, helping government
officials to convince other Silicon Valley companies that unprecedented data demands had been
tested in the courts and found constitutionally sound. Eventually, most major U.S. tech companies,
including Google, Facebook, Apple and AOL, complied. Microsoft had joined earlier, before the
ruling, NSA documents have shown. PRISM was first revealed by former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden last year. Documents made it clear that the program allowed the NSA to order U.S.based tech companies to turn over e-mails and other communications to or from foreign targets
without search warrants for each of those targets. Other NSA programs gave even more wideranging access to personal information of people worldwide, by collecting data directly from fiberoptic connections.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government surveillance news
The US government can brand you a terrorist based on a Facebook post

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/30/terrorist-watch-list-rul...
The US governments web of surveillance is vast and interconnected. You can be pulled into the
National Security Agencys database quietly and quickly. Through ICREACH, a Google-style
search engine created for the intelligence community, the NSA provides data on private
communications to 23 government agencies. More than 1,000 analysts had access to that
information. It was confirmed earlier this month that the FBI shares its master watchlist, the
Terrorist Screening Database, with at least 22 foreign governments, countless federal agencies,
state and local law enforcement, plus private contractors. The watchlist [is] based on [low]
standards and secret evidence, which ensnares innocent people. Indeed, the standards are so low
that the US governments guidelines specifically allow for a single, uncorroborated source of
information including a Facebook or Twitter post to serve as the basis for placing you on its
master watchlist. Of the 680,000 individuals on that FBI master list, roughly 40% have no
recognized terrorist group affiliation, according to the Intercept. These individuals dont
even have a connection as the government loosely defines it to a designated terrorist
group, but they are still branded as suspected terrorists. The US [government uses] a loose
standard so-called reasonable suspicion in determining who, exactly, can be watchlisted.
["Reasonable suspicion"] requires neither concrete evidence nor irrefutable evidence. Instead,
an official is permitted to consider reasonable inferences and to draw from the facts in light of
his/her experience.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing terrorism news articles from
reliable major media sources.
Why We Fight Wars

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/opinion/paul-krugman-why-we-fight.html
A century has passed since the start of World War I, which many people at the time declared was
the war to end all wars. Unfortunately, wars just kept happening. In influential research
sponsored by the World Bank, the Oxford economist Paul Collier has shown that the best predictor
of civil war, which is all too common in poor countries, is the availability of lootable resources like
diamonds. Whatever other reasons rebels cite for their actions seem to be mainly after-the-fact
rationalizations. If youre a modern, wealthy nation, however, war even easy, victorious war
doesnt pay. And this has been true for a long time. In his famous 1910 book The Great Illusion,
the British journalist Norman Angell argued that military power is socially and economically futile.
As he pointed out, in an interdependent world (which already existed in the age of steamships,
railroads, and the telegraph), war would necessarily inflict severe economic harm even on the
victor. Modern nations cant enrich themselves by waging war. Yet wars keep happening.
Why? Governments all too often gain politically from war, even if the war in question makes
no sense in terms of national interests. Nations almost always rally around their leaders in
times of war, no matter how foolish the war or how awful the leaders. Argentinas junta briefly
became extremely popular during the Falklands war. For a time, the war on terror took President
George W. Bushs approval to dizzying heights, and Iraq probably won him the 2004 election. True
to form, Mr. Putins approval ratings have soared since the Ukraine crisis began.
Note: For more on this, see this concise summary of War Is A Racket, a powerful book written by
one of the most highly decorated US generals ever.
Inquiry by C.I.A. Affirms It Spied on Senate Panel

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/world/senate-intelligence-commitee-cia-inte...
An internal investigation by the C.I.A. has found that its officers penetrated a computer network
used by the Senate Intelligence Committee in preparing its damning report on the C.I.A.s
detention and interrogation program. The report by the agencys inspector general also found that
C.I.A. officers read the emails of the Senate investigators and sent a criminal referral to the
Justice Department based on false information. The investigation also discovered that the
officers created a false online identity to gain access on more than one occasion to
computers used by the committee staff. The inspector generals account of how the C.I.A.
secretly monitored a congressional committee charged with supervising its activities touched off
angry criticism from members of the Senate and amounted to vindication for Senator Dianne
Feinstein of California, the committees Democratic chairwoman, who excoriated the C.I.A. in
March when the agencys monitoring of committee investigators became public. Senator Mark
Udall, Democrat of Colorado and another member of the Intelligence Committee, demanded Mr.
Brennans resignation. The C.I.A. unconstitutionally spied on Congress by hacking into the Senate
Intelligence Committee computers, he said in a written statement. This grave misconduct not
only is illegal but it violates the U.S. Constitutions requirement of separation of powers, he
added.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing intelligence agency operations
Government agents 'directly involved' in most high-profile US terror

plots

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/21/government-agents-directly-invol...
Nearly all of the highest-profile domestic terrorism plots in the United States since 9/11 featured
the "direct involvement" of government agents or informants, a new report says. Some of the
controversial "sting" operations "were proposed or led by informants", bordering on entrapment by
law enforcement. Yet the courtroom obstacles to proving entrapment are significant, one of the
reasons the stings persist. The lengthy report, released on [July 21] by Human Rights Watch,
raises questions about the US criminal justice system's [respect for] civil rights and due process in
post-9/11 terrorism cases. [The report] portrays a system that features not just the sting
operations but secret evidence, anonymous juries, extensive pretrial detentions and
convictions significantly removed from actual plots. "In some cases the FBI may have
created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by suggesting the idea of taking terrorist
action or encouraging the target to act," the report alleges. Out of the 494 cases related to
terrorism the US has tried since 9/11, the plurality of convictions ... are not for thwarted plots but
for "material support" charges, a broad category expanded further by the 2001 Patriot Act that
permits prosecutors to pursue charges with tenuous connections to a terrorist act or group.
Several cases featured years-long solitary confinement for accused terrorists before their trials.
Some defendants displayed signs of mental incapacity. Jurors for the 2007 plot to attack the Fort
Dix army base, itself influenced by government informants, were anonymous, limiting defense
counsel's ability to screen out bias.
Note: Why was this important news not picked up by any major US media? For more on this, see
concise summaries of deeply revealing intelligence agency operations news articles from reliable
major media sources.
Racy Photos Were Often Shared at N.S.A., Snowden Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/us/politics/edward-snowden-at-nsa-sexually-...
The former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden said in a wide-ranging
interview ... that the oversight of surveillance programs was so weak that members of the United
States military working at the spy agency sometimes shared sexually explicit photos they
intercepted. He also said the British government often pioneered the most invasive surveillance
programs because its intelligence services operate with fewer restrictions intended to protect
individual privacy than its counterparts in the United States and other allies. In the course of
their daily work they stumble across something that is completely unrelated to their work,
for example an intimate nude photo of someone in a sexually compromising situation but
theyre extremely attractive, he said. So what do they do? They turn around in their chair
and they show a co-worker. And their co-worker says: Oh, hey, thats great. Send that to
Bill down the way. Mr. Snowden said that type of sharing ... was seen as the fringe benefits of
surveillance positions. He said that this was never reported and that the system for auditing
surveillance programs was incredibly weak. Mr. Snowden had particularly stark criticism for the
British governments surveillance programs, because in Britain the respect for individual privacy,
he said, is not strongly encoded in law or policy. Because it has fewer restrictions, British
intelligence platforms are used as a testing ground for programs of all five intelligence partners, a
group referred to as Five Eyes, which includes Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the
United States.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing privacy news articles from
The alleged paedophile ring at the heart of the British Establishment

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10950111/The-alleged-paedophile-...
[The] horrors of the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal that saw the BBC accused of cover up and
culture of secrecy to protect itself, ... opened the door on a potentially even more explosive
scandal the claims of a VIP Westminster paedophile ring operating from the heart of the British
Establishment from the 1960s onwards. It has led to allegations of a massive cover up across
Whitehall spanning decades, pressure on the police and prosecutors not to pursue cases and the
apparent disappearance of key dossiers and files detailing claims of child abuse and alleged
attackers. The story begins with Cyril Smith, the late Liberal Democrat MP, who was exposed as
an alleged paedophile in 2012, two years after his death, aged 82. As early as the 1960s, he
allegedly routinely assaulted young boys, especially in childrens homes and special schools in his
home town, where he was MP from 1972 to 1992. He was also said to have been a visitor to the
notorious Elm Guest house in South-west London, now the focus of a Scotland Yard investigation
into an alleged VIP paedophile ring. Smith was only one of a number of alleged high profile
child abusers within Westminster said to have been named in a 40-page dossier submitted
to the Home Office by the late campaigning Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983. Mr Dickens
told his family at the time that it named leading public figures, including senior politicians,
and was going to blow it all apart. But the time bomb never exploded.
Note: The truth is slowly coming out. To learn how child sex abuse rings lead to the highest levels
of government, watch this highly revealing Discovery Channel documentary. If you want to know
more about cults involved in sexual abuse, read a professor's speech and a survivor's account.
Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/us/before-shooting-in-iraq-warning-on-black...
Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdads Nisour Square in 2007,
the State Department began investigating the security contractors operations in Iraq. But the
inquiry was abandoned after Blackwaters top manager there issued a threat: that he could
kill the governments chief investigator and no one could or would do anything about it
as we were in Iraq. American Embassy officials in Baghdad sided with Blackwater rather than
the State Department investigators as a dispute over the probe escalated in August 2007, the
previously undisclosed documents show. The officials told the investigators that they had disrupted
the embassys relationship with the security contractor and ordered them to leave the country.
After returning to Washington, the chief investigator wrote a scathing report to State Department
officials documenting misconduct by Blackwater employees and warning that lax oversight of the
company, which had a contract worth more than $1 billion to protect American diplomats, had
created an environment full of liability and negligence. The management structures in place to
manage and monitor our contracts in Iraq have become subservient to the contractors
themselves, the investigator, Jean C. Richter, wrote in an Aug. 31, 2007, memo to State
Department officials. Blackwater contractors saw themselves as above the law, he said,
adding that the hands off management resulted in a situation in which the contractors,
instead of Department officials, are in command and in control.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war crimes news articles from
CDC's Vaccine Safety Research is Exposed as Flawed and Falsified in

Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journal
2014-06-13, Yahoo! Finance/PR Newswire
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cdcs-vaccine-safety-research-exposed-115600020....
Just months after U.S. Congressman Bill Posey compared the Center for Disease Control (CDC)'s
vaccine safety studies to the SEC's Bernie Madoff scandal, malfeasance in the CDC's studies of
thimerosal-containing vaccines has, for the first time, been documented in peer-reviewed scientific
literature. The journal BioMed Research International now provides direct evidence that the CDC's
safety assurances about the mercury-containing preservative are not fact-based, according to the
article's lead author, Brian Hooker. The paper [cites] over 165 studies that have found thimerosal
to be harmful, including 16 studies that had reported [serious detrimental] outcomes in human
infants and children. "Substantial scientific evidence exists and has existed for many years
that the vaccine ingredient thimerosal is a developmental neurotoxin" says George Lucier,
former Associate Director of the National Toxicology Program. Studies showing harm from
thimerosal sharply contradict published outcomes of six CDC coauthored and sponsored papers
the very studies that CDC relies upon to declare that thimerosal is "safe" for use in infant and
maternal vaccines. Dr. Hooker ... said of the six CDC studies, "Each of these papers is fatally
flawed from a statistics standpoint and several of the papers represent issues of scientific
malfeasance. For example, important data showing a relationship between thimerosal
exposure and autism are withheld from three of the publications. This type of cherrypicking of data by the CDC in order to change the results of important research studies to
support flawed and dangerous vaccination policies should not be tolerated."
Note: A Reuters article reports that the former head of the US's CDC was later named president of
Merck's vaccine division with accompanying high salary. Could this be payoff for her support in
suppressing studies that cast doubt on vaccines? For more on this, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing vaccines news articles from reliable major media sources.
Health conspiracy theories are widely believed

2014-03-19, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/19/health-conspiracy-theori...
Nearly half of American adults believe the federal government, corporations or both are involved in
at least one conspiracy to cover up health information, a new survey finds. Conspiracy theories on
everything from cancer cures to cellphones to vaccines are well known and accepted by sizable
segments of the population, according to a research letter published this week in JAMA Internal
Medicine. The findings reflect "a very low level of trust" in government and business,
especially in pharmaceutical companies, says study co-author Eric Oliver, a professor of
political science at the University of Chicago. The online survey of 1,351 adults found: 37%
agree the Food and Drug Administration is keeping "natural cures for cancer and other
diseases" away from the public because of "pressure from drug companies." 20% believe
health officials are hiding evidence that cellphones cause cancer. 20% believe doctors and health
officials push child vaccines even though they "know these vaccines cause autism and other
psychological disorders." Smaller numbers endorse theories involving fluoride, genetically
modified foods and the deliberate infection of African Americans with HIV. 49% believe at least
one of the theories and 18% believe at least three. The beliefs also go along with certain health
behaviors, the survey found. Those who believe at least three health conspiracy theories are less
likely to use sunscreen, get flu shots or get check-ups and are more likely to use herbal remedies
and eat organic foods.
Note: For an intriguing list of 10 major health cover-ups with evidence to back it up, click here.
Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/us/burglars-who-took-on-fbi-abandon-shadows...
On a night nearly 43 years ago, while Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier bludgeoned each other over
15 rounds in a televised title bout viewed by millions around the world, burglars took a lock pick
and a crowbar and broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation office in a suburb of Philadelphia,
making off with nearly every document inside. They were never caught, and the stolen documents
that they mailed anonymously to newspaper reporters ... would become a flood of revelations
about extensive spying and dirty-tricks operations by the F.B.I. against dissident groups. Perhaps
the most damning document from the cache [was] a 1970 memorandum that ... urged agents to
step up their interviews of antiwar activists and members of dissident student groups. It will
enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles and will further serve to get the point across there
is an F.B.I. agent behind every mailbox. Another document, signed by Hoover himself, revealed
widespread F.B.I. surveillance of black student groups on college campuses. But the document
that would have the biggest impact on reining in the F.B.I.s domestic spying activities [included] a
mysterious word: Cointelpro ... shorthand for Counterintelligence Program. Since 1956, the F.B.I.
had carried out an expansive campaign to spy on civil rights leaders, political organizers
and suspected Communists, and had tried to sow distrust among protest groups. Among
the grim litany of revelations was a blackmail letter F.B.I. agents had sent anonymously to the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., threatening to expose his extramarital affairs if he did not commit
suicide. The intent of Cointelpro was to destroy lives and ruin reputations.
Note: To learn about the brave citizen burglars who have now revealed themselves and watch the
engaging video covering this story, click on the link given above. For more on the realities of
intelligence agency activities, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
100 Years Later, The Federal Reserve Has Failed At Everything It's Tried
2013-12-20, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhendrickson/2013/12/20/100-years-later-the-fe...
On Dec. 23, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Owen Glass Act, creating the Federal
Reserve. As we note its centennial, what has the Fed accomplished during the last 100 years?
The stated original purposes were to protect the soundness of the dollar and banks and also to
lessen the jarring ups and downs of the business cycle. Oops. Under the Feds supervision, boom
and bust cycles have continued. Three of them have been severe: the Great Depression, the
stagflationary period of 1974-82, and the current Great Recession. Bank failures have occurred
in alarmingly high numbers. Depending on what measurements are used, the dollar has lost
between 95 and 98 percent of its purchasing power. (Amazingly, the Feds official position today is
that inflation is not high enough, so the erosion of the dollar continues as a matter of policy.)
Having failed to achieve its original goals, the Fed also has had a miserable record in
accomplishing later goals. The 1970 amendments to the Federal Reserve Act stipulated that the
Fed should promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate
long-term interest rates. In baseball parlance, the Fed has been 0-for-three. So, what has the
Fed accomplished during its century of existence? Well, it has become adept at bailing out
mismanaged banks. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed orchestrated the
big bailout of Wall Street. Politically, the Fed is repugnant. Its chairman is commonly referred to
as the second most powerful person in the country. In a democratic republic, should the second
most powerful policymaker be unelected?
Note: How remarkable for Forbes to publish an article chastising the Fed! The times are a
changin'! For an essay by noted financial researcher Ellen Brown on this occasion, click here. For
more on the collusion between government and the biggest banks, see the deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Police: NC teen fatally shot self in head while handcuffed

2013-12-12, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-teen-shot-self-in-head-while-handcuffed-in...
Officials in North Carolina are investigating how a teen allegedly shot himself in the head while
handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser. Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said ... at a news
conference that Jesus Huerta, 17, died of a self-inflicted gunshot [wound] to the head in
November. Lopez said a handgun was found in the car and that Huerta was still handcuffed from
behind, according to the station. "The medical examiner's office has confirmed that Jesus Huerta
died from a gunshot wound to his head," Lopez said. "Whether that wound was accidental or
intentional is unknown at this time." Huerta [had been] picked up early on Nov. 19 on a trespassing
warrant stemming from a July incident, after family members reported concerns for his safety in a
911 call. Chief Lopez said Huerta was searched by police prior to the shooting incident and the
weapon was not detected. "I know that it is hard for people not in law enforcement to
understand how someone could be capable of shooting themselves while handcuffed
behind the back," Lopez said. "While incidents like this are not common, they unfortunately
have happened in other jurisdictions in the past." Huertas family released a statement
following the news conference. "How did Jesus end up dead in the parking lot at police
headquarters in these circumstances? Searched. Handcuffed behind the back. How is it even
possible to shoot oneself?" the statement reads.
Note: If, as the police chief states, other incidents of people shooting themselves while handcuffed
behind the back have happened, maybe it's time for a thorough investigation of these police
forces. For more on the deadly corruption in the government-prison-industrial complex, see the
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Here's why Wall Street has a hard time being ethical

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/25/wall-street-hard-time-ethical
My first year on Wall Street, 1993, I was paid 14 times more than I earned the prior year and three
times more than my father's best year. For that money, I helped my company create financial
products that were disguised to look simple, but which required complex math to properly
understand. That first year I was roundly applauded by my bosses, who told me I was clever, and
to my surprise they gave me $20,000 bonus beyond my salary. When I did ask, rather naively, if
this was all kosher, I would be assured multiple times that multiple lawyers and multiple managers
had approved the sales. One senior trader, consoling me late at night, reminded me, You are
playing in the big leagues now. If a customer wants a red suit, you sell them a red suit. If that
customer is Japanese, you charge him twice what it costs. Being paid very well also helped ease
any of my concerns. Feeling guilty, kid? Here take a big check. I was, for the first time in my life,
feeling valued for my math skills. Ego and money are nice salves for any potential feeling of guilt.
After a few years on Wall Street it was clear to me: you could make money by gaming
anyone and everything. The more clever you were, the more ingenious your ability to
exploit a flaw in a law or regulation, the more lauded and celebrated you became. Nobody
seemed to be getting called out. No move was too audacious. Traders got more and more
audacious, and corruption became more and more diffused through the system. By 2006 you
could open up almost any major business, look at its inside workings, and find some wrongdoing.
Note: For more on financial corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources available here.
Congressional oversight of the NSA is a joke. I should know, I'm in

Congress
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/nsa-no-congress-oversight
Recently, the US House of Representatives voted on an amendment ... that would have curbed the
NSA's omnipresent and inescapable [spying] tactics. Despite furious lobbying by the intelligence
industrial complex and its allies, and four hours of frantic and overwrought briefings by the NSA's
General Keith Alexander, 205 of 422 Representatives voted for the amendment. The vote signaled
a clear message to the NSA: we do not trust you. The vote also conveyed another, more subtle
message: members of Congress do not trust that the House Intelligence Committee is providing
the necessary oversight. On the contrary, "oversight" has become "overlook". Despite being a
member of Congress possessing security clearance, I've learned far more about government
spying on me and my fellow citizens from reading media reports than I have from "intelligence"
briefings. My colleagues feel the same way. In fact, one long-serving conservative Republican told
me that he doesn't attend such briefings anymore, because, "they always lie". Many of us worry
that Congressional Intelligence Committees are more loyal to the "intelligence community"
that they are tasked with policing, than to the Constitution. And the House Intelligence
Committee isn't doing anything to assuage our concerns. Supporters of the NSA's vast
ubiquitous domestic spying operation assure the public that members of Congress can be briefed
on these activities whenever they want. Senator Saxby Chambliss says all a member of Congress
needs to do is ask for information, and he'll get it. Well I did ask, and the House Intelligence
Committee said "no", repeatedly. And virtually every other member not on the Intelligence
Committee gets the same treatment.
Note: The above article was written by courageous U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson. For more on
government corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
N.S.A. Able to Foil Basic Safeguards of Privacy on Web

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html
The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using
supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine
the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to
newly disclosed documents. The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or
digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like
trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet
chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show. Many
users assume or have been assured by Internet companies that their data is safe from
prying eyes, including those of the government, and the N.S.A. wants to keep it that way.
The agency treats its recent successes in deciphering protected information as among its
most closely guarded secrets, restricted to those cleared for a highly classified program
code-named Bullrun, according to the documents, provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former
N.S.A. contractor. Beginning in 2000, as encryption tools were gradually blanketing the Web, the
N.S.A. invested billions of dollars in a clandestine campaign to preserve its ability to eavesdrop.
Having lost a public battle in the 1990s to insert its own back door in all encryption, it set out to
accomplish the same goal by stealth. The agency ... deployed custom-built, superfast computers
to break codes, and began collaborating with technology companies in the United States and
abroad to build entry points into their products [called "backdoors"].
Note: For an excellent article in the UK's respected Guardian on this, click here. For a guide from
the Guardian on "How to remain secure against NSA surveillance", click here.
New Leaks Into Pacific at Japan Nuclear Plant

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/world/asia/leaks-into-pacific-persist-at-ja...
Tons of contaminated groundwater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have
overwhelmed an underground barrier and are emptying daily into the Pacific, creating what
a top regulator has called a crisis. The water contains strontium and cesium, as well as
tritium. The plant was already struggling to store hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated
water that flowed through the buildings housing three reactors where [three] meltdowns occurred
in 2011. But the contamination in this new groundwater problem is from different sources, Tepco
said. The company has admitted that it failed to respond quickly enough to the latest groundwater
contamination, saying it was preoccupied with more pressing issues like cooling the damaged
reactors. Tepco appears overwhelmed in dealing with what is a very serious problem, said Akio
Yamamoto, a professor of nuclear engineering at Nagoya University, who serves as outside expert
for the Nuclear Regulation Authority, Japans nuclear watchdog. Critics contend that the plant has
emitted far more radioactive materials than it is saying, based in part on levels of contaminants
discovered in the harbor, which are well above safe levels in some places. The contamination
appears to be spreading, with tests last month by Tepco showing high levels of tritium and other
radioactive elements like strontium starting at other locations near the two other crippled reactors.
Note: Declaring the situation an "emergency", the Japanese government has stepped in to take
over control of the response from Tepco. For more on this, click here. For a National Geographic
article on what you need to know about the radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean by the
Fukushima disaster, click here. It reports that scientists have estimated that contaminated
seawater could reach the West Coast of the United States in five years or less. For more on the
environmental devastation of nuclear power, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
media sources available here.
Exclusive: FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes

2013-08-04, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/04/fbi-informant-crimes-rep...
The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year,
according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation's top law enforcement
agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime. The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to
begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that
its agents had allowed Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger to operate a brutal crime
ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice
Department officials each year, but has never before made it public. Agents authorized 15
crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to
bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that
permitting their informants who are often criminals themselves to break the law is an
indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations. USA TODAY
obtained a copy of the FBI's 2011 report under the Freedom of Information Act. The report does
not spell out what types of crimes its agents authorized, or how serious they were. It also did not
include any information about crimes the bureau's sources were known to have committed without
the government's permission. Crimes authorized by the FBI almost certainly make up a tiny
fraction of the total number of offenses committed by informants for local, state and federal
agencies each year.
Note: As reported in this USA Today article, the DEA and ATF don't even track crimes committed
by their informants. For more on the realities of intelligence agency activities, see the deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
The Last Mystery of the Financial Crisis

2013-06-19, Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-last-mystery-of-the-financial-c...
It's long been suspected that ratings agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's helped trigger
the meltdown. A new trove of embarrassing documents shows how they did it. Everybody else got
plenty of blame: the greed-fattened banks, the sleeping regulators, the unscrupulous mortgage
hucksters. But what about the ratings agencies? Thanks to a mountain of evidence gathered for a
pair of major lawsuits by the San Diego-based law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, ... we
now know that the nation's two top ratings companies, Moody's and S&P, have for many
years been shameless tools for the banks, willing to give just about anything a high rating
in exchange for cash. In incriminating e-mail after incriminating e-mail, executives and analysts
from these companies are caught admitting their entire business model is crooked. Ratings
agencies are the glue that ostensibly holds the entire financial industry together. Their primary
function is to help define what's safe to buy, and what isn't. But the financial crisis happened
because AAA ratings stopped being something that had to be earned and turned into
something that could be paid for. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission published a case
study in 2011 of Moody's in particular and discovered that between 2000 and 2007, the agency
gave nearly 45,000 mortgage-backed securities AAA ratings. One year Moody's doled out AAA
ratings to 30 mortgage-backed securities every day, 83 percent of which were ultimately
downgraded. "This crisis could not have happened without the rating agencies," the commission
concluded.
Note: This is another great, well researched article by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi. Why isn't the
major media coming up with anything near the quality of this man's work? For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on financial corruption, click here.
The 9/11 Phone Calls: Disturbing Irregularities Uncovered in the Calls

that Flashed around the World
2013-05-16, Wall Street Journal/PRNewswire
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130516-909978.html
The 9/11 Consensus Panel now offers four evidence-based points about the alleged phone calls
from the 9/11 flights. The famous "let's roll" drama of the passenger revolt on UA 93 was relayed
by passenger Todd Beamer's 13-minute unrecorded seat-back call to GTE telephone supervisor
Lisa Jefferson, who reported Beamer as strangely tranquil, declining to speak to his wife.
Eerily, Beamer's line remained open for 15 minutes after the crash. Oddly, the Verizon
wireless record shows that 19 calls were made from Beamer's cell phone long after the
crash of UA 93. Initial media reports and FBI interviews detailed more than a dozen cell phone
calls from the planes at high elevation. Yet in 2001, a telephone spokesperson stated that
sustained mobile calls were not possible above 10,000 feet. During the 2006 Moussaoui Trial, the
FBI (under oath) reduced the number of cell phone calls to two calls made from 5,000 feet, and
presented evidence of only one (not two) "unconnected" call from Barbara Olson, lasting "0
seconds." In another twist, two other women reported that Caller-ID showed their husband's cell
numbers on their answering machines, which while lasting several minutes, had been made from
elevations of 25,000 and 35,000 feet. Although the FBI conducted a massive investigation into the
calls, none of the telephone billing, nor any of the cell phone location data stored in standard
phone company records has been publicly released.
Note: The 9/11 Consensus Panel, consisting of scientists, pilots, professors, attorneys, and
journalists, has developed 32 Points of evidence contradicting specific claims made by the official
account of 9/11. For many unanswered questions about 9/11 raised by highly credible former
government officials and professors, click here and here. For our 9/11 Information Center filled with
reliable, verifiable 9/11 resources, click here.
With Bags of Cash, C.I.A. Seeks Influence in Afghanistan

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-lead...
For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on
occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of
Afghanistans president courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency. All told, tens of millions of
dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current
and former advisers to the Afghan leader. We called it ghost money, said Khalil Roman, who
served as Mr. Karzais deputy chief of staff from 2002 until 2005. It came in secret, and it left in
secret. The C.I.A. ... has long been known to support some relatives and close aides of Mr.
Karzai. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash delivered directly to his office show payments
on a vaster scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing. Moreover, there is little
evidence that the payments bought the influence the C.I.A. sought. Instead, some American
officials said, the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining
Washingtons exit strategy from Afghanistan. The biggest source of corruption in
Afghanistan, one American official said, was the United States. Now, Mr. Karzai is seeking
control over the Afghan militias raised by the C.I.A. to target ... insurgent commanders, potentially
upending a critical part of the Obama administrations plans for fighting militants as conventional
military forces pull back this year. But the C.I.A. has continued to pay.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government corruption,
click here.
1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It's Time For A
National Conversation
2013-03-11, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-...
The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled "Homeland Security
aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo". It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has
issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. Some of this purchase
order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a
frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq
War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month. Therefore 1.6 billion rounds
would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. DHS now is [also] showing off its
acquisition of heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of
operation. The Department of Homeland Security is apparently taking delivery (apparently through
the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico VA, via the manufacturer Navistar Defense LLC)
of an undetermined number of [recently retrofitted] Mine Resistant Protected MaxxPro MRAP
vehicles for service on the streets of the United States. Why would they need such over-the-top
vehicles on U.S. streets to withstand IEDs, mine blasts, and 50 caliber hits to bullet-proof glass? In
a war zone yes, definitely. [But] on the streets of America?
Note: For a U.S. Army field manual titled "Internment and Resettlement Operations" (FM 3-39.40)
describing how large numbers of American citizens could be sent to internment camps if involved
in "terrorist" activities, click here. The introduction to this document states, "Commanders will use
technology and conduct police intelligence operations to influence and control populations,
evacuate detainees and, conclusively, transition rehabilitative and reconciliation operations to other
functional agencies." For a disturbing report on the massive expansion of drones over US skies,
click here.
To Kill an American
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/opinion/to-kill-an-american.html
The newly disclosed white paper offering a legal reasoning behind the claim that President
Obama has the power to order the killing of American citizens ... coyly describes another,
classified document ... that actually provided the legal justification for ordering the killing of
American citizens. That document still has not been provided to Congress, despite repeated
demands from lawmakers. According to the white paper, the Constitution and the Congressional
authorization for the use of force after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gave Mr. Obama the right to
kill any American citizen that an informed, high-level official decides is a senior operational
leader of Al Qaeda or an associated force and presents an imminent threat of violent attack. It
never tries to define what an informed, high-level official might be, and the authors of the
memo seem to have redefined the word imminent in a way that diverges sharply from its
customary meaning. It takes the position that the only oversight needed for such a
decision resides within the executive branch, and there is no need to explain the judgment to
Congress, the courts or the public or, indeed, to even acknowledge that the killing took place.
The paper argues that judges and Congress dont have the right to rule on or interfere with
decisions made in the heat of combat. The white paper is a confusing blend of self-defense and
law of war concepts said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies. Its due
process analysis is especially weak.
Note: To read the entire 'white paper' on drone strikes on Americans, click here. For a more
detailed analysis by a distinguished lawyer, click here. What this means is that if the president
doesn't like someone and deems him an imminent threat, he can have that person killed and
legally keep it all a secret. Is America drifting towards a police state?
After Years in Solitary, an Austere Life as Uruguays President

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/world/americas/after-years-in-solitary-an-a...
Some world leaders live in palaces. Some enjoy perks like having a discreet butler, a fleet of
yachts or a wine cellar with vintage Champagnes. Then there is Jos Mujica, the former guerrilla
who is Uruguays president. He lives in a run-down house on Montevideos outskirts with no
servants at all. His security detail: two plainclothes officers parked on a dirt road. In a deliberate
statement to this cattle-exporting nation of 3.3 million people, Mr. Mujica, 77, shunned the opulent
Surez y Reyes presidential mansion, with its staff of 42, remaining instead in the home where he
and his wife have lived for years, on a plot of land where they grow chrysanthemums for sale in
local markets. His net worth upon taking office in 2010 amounted to about $1,800 the
value of the 1987 Volkswagen Beetle parked in his garage. He never wears a tie and donates
about 90 percent of his salary, largely to a program for expanding housing for the poor. His
current brand of low-key radicalism ... exemplifies Uruguays emergence as arguably Latin
Americas most socially liberal country. Under Mr. Mujica, who took office in 2010, Uruguay has
drawn attention for seeking to legalize marijuana and same-sex marriage, while also enacting one
of the regions most sweeping abortion rights laws and sharply boosting the use of renewable
energy sources like wind and biomass. For democracy to function properly, [Mujica] argues,
elected leaders should be taken down a notch. We have done everything possible to make the
presidency less venerated, Mr. Mujica said in an interview one recent morning, after preparing a
serving in his kitchen of mate.
Note: For a treasure trove of great news articles which will inspire you to make a difference, click
here.
The 'war on terror' - by design - can never end

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/04/war-on-terror-endless-joh...
In October, the Washington Post's Greg Miller reported that the administration was instituting a
"disposition matrix" to determine how terrorism suspects will be disposed of, all based on this fact:
"among senior Obama administration officials, there is broad consensus that such operations are
likely to be extended at least another decade." As Miller puts it: "That timeline suggests that the
United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on
terrorism." The polices adopted by the Obama administration ... leave no doubt that they are
accelerating, not winding down, the war apparatus that has been relentlessly strengthened
over the last decade. In the name of the War on Terror, the current president has diluted
decades-old Miranda warnings; codified a new scheme of indefinite detention on US soil; plotted to
relocate Guantanamo to Illinois; increased secrecy, repression and release-restrictions at the
camp; minted a new theory of presidential assassination powers even for US citizens; renewed the
Bush/Cheney warrantless eavesdropping framework for another five years, as well as the Patriot
Act, without a single reform; and just signed into law all new restrictions on the release of
indefinitely held detainees. Does that sound to you like a government anticipating the end of the
War on Terror any time soon? Or does it sound like one working feverishly to make their terrorismjustified powers of detention, surveillance, killing and secrecy permanent? There's a good reason
US officials are assuming the "War on Terror" will persist indefinitely: namely, their actions
ensure that this occurs.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the War on Terror, click
here.
Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown...
New documents prove what was once dismissed as paranoid fantasy: totally integrated corporatestate repression of dissent. It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents
show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall so mystifying at the time was not just
coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The
crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to
the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in
bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves was coordinated with the big banks
themselves. The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once
more shame major US media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America
left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request. The document reproduced here in an
easily searchable format shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police,
regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another
that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the
Domestic Security Alliance Council. And it reveals this merged entity to have one centrally
planned, locally executed mission. The documents, in short, show the cops and DHS working
for and with banks to target, arrest, and politically disable peaceful American citizens.
Note: For analysis of these amazing documents revealing the use of joint government and
corporate counterterrorism structures against peaceful protestors of financial corruption, click here
and here. For a Democracy Now! video segment on this, click here.
HSBC, too big to jail, is the new poster child for US two-tiered justice
system
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/12/hsbc-prosecution-fine-mon...
The US is the world's largest prison state, imprisoning more of its citizens than any nation
on earth, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. It imprisons people for longer periods of
time, more mercilessly, and for more trivial transgressions than any nation in the west. This
sprawling penal state has been constructed over decades, by both political parties, and it punishes
the poor and racial minorities at overwhelmingly disproportionate rates. But not everyone is
subjected to that system of penal harshness. It all changes radically when the nation's most
powerful actors are caught breaking the law. With few exceptions, they are gifted not
merely with leniency, but full-scale immunity from criminal punishment. Thus have the most
egregious crimes of the last decade been fully shielded from prosecution when committed by those
with the greatest political and economic power: the construction of a worldwide torture regime,
spying on Americans' communications without the warrants required by criminal law by
government agencies and the telecom industry, an aggressive war launched on false pretenses,
and massive, systemic financial fraud in the banking and credit industry that triggered the 2008
financial crisis. This two-tiered justice system was the subject of [the] book, With Liberty and
Justice for Some. On Tuesday, not only did the US Justice Department announce that HSBC
would not be criminally prosecuted, but outright claimed that the reason is that they are too
important, too instrumental to subject them to such disruptions.
click here.
Cleveland anarchist bomb plot aided and abetted by the FBI

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/28/cleveland-anarchist-bomb-...
On 20 November, district court Judge David D Dowd Jr sentenced three anarchists with the
Occupy Cleveland movement to prison terms ranging from 8 to 11.5 years for attempting to bomb
a highway bridge last spring. Shaquille Azir, a paid FBI informant with a 20-year criminal record,
facilitated every step in the plot. Azir molded the five's childish bravado and drunken fantasies into
terrorism. He played father figure to the lost men, providing them with jobs, housing, beer and
drugs. Every time the scheme threatened to collapse into gutterpunk chaos, he kept it on track.
FBI tapes reveal Azir led the brainstorming of targets, showed them bridges to case out,
pushed them to buy C-4 military-grade explosives, provided the contact for weapons, gave
them money for the explosives and demanded they develop a plan because "we on the
hook" for the weapons. This case could have put on trial the post-September 11 strategy of
"preventative prosecution", in which the FBI dispatches provocateurs to infiltrate targeted religious
and political groups to see what they can stir up. Anarchists are inherently suspect. A recent FBI
document calls anarchists "criminals seeking an ideology to justify their activities." Pardiss
Kebriaei, a senior attorney specializing in national security at the Center for Constitutional Rights,
claims standard operating procedure in terror cases "starts with surveillance and profiling on the
basis of religion, politics and national origin". She notes parallels between the Cleveland
anarchists and the "Newburgh Four", named for the upstate New York town in which the plot was
hatched.
Note: For information on how to contact Brandon Baxter, Joshua Stafford, Connor Stevens and
Douglas Wright, see cleveland4solidarity.org. For the Newburgh Four, see projectsalam.org For
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on entrapment operations and other
manipulations by the FBI and intelligence agencies, click here.
Goldman Sachs' Global Coup D'etat

2012-11-27, Truthout
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12996-goldman-sachs-global-coup-de-tat.html
When the people of Greece saw their democratically elected Prime Minister George Papandreou
forced out of office in November of 2011 and replaced by an unelected Conservative technocrat,
Lucas Papademos, most were unaware of the bigger picture of what was happening. Most of us in
the United States were [equally] ignorant when, in 2008, [Congress] voted yes at the behest of
Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen and jammed through the biggest bailout of Wall Street in
our nations history. But now, as the Bank of England ... announces that former investment banker
Mark Carney will be its new chief, we cant afford to ignore whats happening around the world.
Steadily and stealthily Goldman Sachs is carrying out a global coup detat. Theres one
tie that binds Lucas Papademos in Greece, Henry Paulsen [and Timothy Geithner] in the
United States, and Mark Carney in the U.K., and thats Goldman Sachs. All were former
bankers and executives at the Wall Street giant, all assumed prominent positions of power, and
all played a hand after the global financial meltdown of 2007-08, thus making sure Goldman Sachs
weathered the storm and made significant profits in the process. As Europe descends [into]
economic crisis, Goldman Sachs's people are managing the demise of the continent. As the British
newspaper The Independent reported earlier this year, the Conservative technocrats currently
steering or who have steered post-crash fiscal policy in Greece, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France,
and now the UK, all hail from Goldman Sachs. In fact, the head of the European Central Bank
itself, Mario Draghi, was the former managing director of Goldman Sachs International.
Note: Once again truth-out.org carries this important article and vital information which no major
media has covered. Strangely, the entire website went down for a while not long after the article
was published. If the article cannot be found at the link above, click here. For deeply revealing
Informant: NYPD Paid Me to 'Bait' Muslims

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/informant-nypd-paid-bait-muslims-17547920#...
A paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit was under orders to "bait"
Muslims into saying inflammatory things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside
mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam. Shamiur
Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bangladeshi descent who has now denounced his work as an
informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called "create and capture." He said it
involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to
the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after
a string of minor marijuana arrests. Rahman's account shows how the NYPD unleashed
informants on Muslim neighborhoods, often without specific targets or criminal leads. Much of what
Rahman said represents a tactic the NYPD has denied using. The AP corroborated Rahman's
account through arrest records and weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police
handler. Informants like Rahman are a central component of the NYPD's wide-ranging programs to
monitor life in Muslim neighborhoods since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police officers have
eavesdropped inside Muslim businesses, trained video cameras on mosques and collected license
plates of worshippers. Informants who trawl the mosques known informally as "mosque
crawlers" tell police what the imam says at sermons and provide police lists of
attendees, even when there's no evidence they committed a crime. The programs were built
with unprecedented help from the CIA.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the games intelligence
agencies and units play, click here.
The Deafness Before the Storm

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-...
It was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. On Aug. 6, 2001, President George
W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist
network, Al Qaeda. That mornings presidential daily brief the top-secret document prepared
by Americas intelligence agencies featured the now-infamous heading: Bin Laden Determined
to Strike in U.S. On April 10, 2004, the Bush White House declassified that daily brief and only
that daily brief in response to pressure from the 9/11 Commission. [But] the Aug. 6 document,
for all of the controversy it provoked, is not nearly as shocking as the briefs that came
before it. The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in
the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report
that a group presently in the United States was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on
June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be imminent, although intelligence
suggested the time frame was flexible. Operatives connected to Bin Laden, one [warning]
reported on June 29, expected the planned near-term attacks to have dramatic
consequences, including major casualties. Yet, the White House failed to take significant
action. In the aftermath of 9/11, Bush officials attempted to deflect criticism that they had ignored
C.I.A. warnings by saying they had not been told when and where the attack would occur.
Note: For many revealing reports from major media sources on 9/11, click here.
CNN and the business of state-sponsored TV news

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/04/cnn-business-state-sponso...
[CNN] is seriously compromising its journalism in the Gulf states by blurring the line between
advertising and editorial. CNN International (CNNi) [has refused] to broadcast an award-winning
documentary, "iRevolution", that was produced in early 2011 as the Arab Spring engulfed the
region and which was highly critical of the regime in Bahrain. The documentary ... documented the
brutality and violence the regime was using against its own citizens who were peacefully protesting
for democracy. CNNi has aggressively pursued a business strategy of extensive, multifaceted
financial arrangements between the network and several of the most repressive regimes around
the world which the network purports to cover. Its financial dealings with Bahrain are deep and
longstanding. CNNi's pursuit of and reliance on revenue from Middle East regimes increased
significantly after the 2008 financial crisis, which caused the network to suffer significant
losses in corporate sponsorships. It thus pursued all-new, journalistically dubious ways to
earn revenue from governments around the world. Bahrain has been one of the most
aggressive government exploiters of the opportunities presented by CNNi [which produces]
programs in an arrangement it describes as "in association with" the government of a country, and
offers regimes the ability to pay for specific programs about their country. These programs are then
featured as part of CNNi's so-called "Eye on" series [or] "Marketplace Middle East", [which are]
designed to tout the positive economic, social and political features of that country.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable sources on corruption in the major media, click
here.
Correspondence and collusion between the New York Times and the CIA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/29/correspondence-collusion-...
The rightwing transparency group, Judicial Watch, released [on August 28] a new batch of
documents showing how eagerly the Obama administration shoveled information to Hollywood
film-makers about the Bin Laden raid. Obama officials did so to enable the production of a
politically beneficial pre-election film about that "heroic" killing, even as administration lawyers
insisted to federal courts and media outlets that no disclosure was permissible because the raid
was classified. The newly released emails [were] between Mark Mazzetti, the New York Times's
national security and intelligence reporter, and CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf. The CIA had
evidently heard that [NY Times columnist] Maureen Dowd was planning to write a column on the
CIA's role in pumping the film-makers with information about the Bin Laden raid in order to boost
Obama's re-election chances, and was apparently worried about how Dowd's column would reflect
on them. This exchange ... is remarkably revealing of the standard role played by
establishment journalists and the corruption that pervades it. Here we have a New York
Times reporter who covers the CIA colluding with its spokesperson to plan for the fallout
from the reporting by his own newspaper ("nothing to worry about"). Beyond this, that a New
York Times journalist ostensibly devoted to bringing transparency to government institutions is

pleading with the CIA spokesperson, of all people, to conceal his actions and to delete the
evidence of collusion is so richly symbolic.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable sources on corruption in the major media, click
here.
Libor: They all knew and no one acted

2012-07-14, The Independent (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/libor-they-all-knew--and-no-o...
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic failed to act on clear warnings that the Libor interest rate
was being falsely reported by banks during the financial crisis, it emerged last night. A cache of
documents released yesterday by the New York Federal Reserve showed that US officials had
evidence from April 2008 that Barclays was knowingly posting false reports about the rate
at which it could borrow in order to assuage market concerns about its solvency. An
unnamed Barclays employee told a New York Fed analyst, Fabiola Ravazzolo, on 11 April 2008:
"So we know that we're not posting, um, an honest Libor." He said Barclays started underreporting Libor because graphs showing the relatively high rates at which the bank had to borrow
attracted "unwanted attention" and the "share price went down". The verbatim note of the call
released by the Fed represents the starkest evidence yet that Libor-fiddling was discussed in high
regulatory circles years before Barclays' recent 290m fine. The New York Fed said that,
immediately after the call, Ms Ravazzolo informed her superiors of the information, who then
passed on her concerns to Tim Geithner, who was head of the New York Fed at the time. Mr
Geithner investigated and drew up a six-point proposal for ensuring the integrity of Libor which he
presented to the British Bankers Association, which is responsible for producing the Libor rate
daily. Mr Geithner, who is now US Treasury Secretary, also forwarded the six-point plan to the
Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on regulatory and financial
corruption and criminality, click here. For our highly revealing Banking Corruption Information
Center, click here.
Was the petrol price rigged too?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/fuel/9401934/Libor-scandal-Was-the-pe...
Motorists may have been paying too much for their petrol because banks and other traders are
likely to have tried to manipulate oil prices in the same way they rigged interest rates, an official
report has warned. Concerns are growing about the reliability of oil prices, after a report for the
G20 found the market is wide open to manipulation or distortion. Traders from banks, oil
companies or hedge funds have an incentive to distort the market and are likely to try to report
false prices, it said. Petrol retailers use oil price benchmarks to decide how much to pay for future
supplies. The rate is calculated by data companies based on submissions from firms which
trade oil on a daily basis such as banks, hedge funds and energy companies. However,
like Libor ... the market is unregulated and relies on the honesty of the firms to submit
accurate data about all their trades. This is one of the major concerns raised in the G20 report,
published last month by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). In the
study for global finance ministers, including George Osborne, the regulator warns that traders have
opportunities to influence oil prices for their own profit. It points out that the whole market is
voluntary, meaning banks and energy companies can choose which trades to make public.
IOSCO says this creates opportunity for a trader to submit a partial picture in order to influence
the [price] to the traders advantage.
corruption and criminality, click here.
Bank rate rigging scandal widens; Diamond fights on

2012-06-29, Chicago Tribune/Reuters
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-libor-banksbre85s0p4-2012062...
A scandal over the rigging of key interest rates could plunge the global banking industry into a
legal morass for years, analysts said. The head of the Bank of England said there needed to be
"real change" in the industry's culture. Referring to what he called the "deceitful manipulation" of
rates, Mervyn King told a news conference [that] the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) should
be reformed to reflect actual market transactions. U.S. and British authorities fined Barclays
$453 million on Wednesday for manipulating LIBOR, which underpins some $360 trillion of
loans and financial contracts around the world - and analysts forecast more banks would
soon be named for collusion. Others predicted Barclays and other banks could face billions in
costs from litigation, especially in the United States, in much the same way that oil major BP ran
into drawn-out legal rows over its oil spill. Barclays was the first bank to settle in an investigation
which is looking at other large financial institutions in Europe, Japan and North America.
Note: This article states that LIBOR underpins some $360 trillion of loans and financial contracts
around the world. That's $50,000 for every man, woman, and child on this planet. And it is being
hugely manipulated. For more vitally important information on this, learn about the huge amounts
of derivatives being manipulated at this link and explore the excellent, reliable information in our
Banking Corruption Information Center available here.
Prisons, Privatization, Patronage

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/opinion/krugman-prisons-privatization-patro...
The New York Times has published several terrifying reports about New Jerseys system of
halfway houses privately run adjuncts to the regular system of prisons. The horrors described
are part of a broader pattern in which essential functions of government are being both privatized
and degraded. So whats really behind the drive to privatize prisons? One answer is that
privatization can serve as a stealth form of government borrowing, in which governments avoid
recording upfront expenses (or even raise money by selling existing facilities) while raising their
long-run costs in ways taxpayers cant see. Another answer is that privatization is a way of getting
rid of public employees. But the main answer, surely, is to follow the money. As more and more
government functions get privatized, states become pay-to-play paradises, in which both
political contributions and contracts for friends and relatives become a quid pro quo for
getting government business. Are the corporations capturing the politicians, or the
politicians capturing the corporations? One thing the companies that make up the prisonindustrial complex companies like Community Education or the private-prison giant Corrections
Corporation of America are definitely not doing is competing in a free market. They are, instead,
living off government contracts. And ... despite many promises that prison privatization will lead to
big cost savings, such savings as a comprehensive study by the Bureau of Justice Assistance,
part of the U.S. Department of Justice, concluded have simply not materialized. A corrupt
nexus of privatization and patronage [is] undermining government across much of our nation.
Note: Have you noticed that crime rates are at the lowest in many years, yet prison spending
continues to skyrocket? Is something wrong with this picture? For key major media new articles
exposing more on corruption within the "prison-industrial complex," click here.
Plantations, Prisons and Profits

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opinion/blow-plantations-prisons-and-profit...
Louisiana is the worlds prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head,
than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world.
Louisianas incarceration rate is nearly triple Irans, seven times Chinas and 10 times
Germanys. That paragraph opens a devastating eight-part series published this month by The
Times-Picayune of New Orleans about how the states largely private prison system profits from
high incarceration rates and tough sentencing, and how many with the power to curtail the system
actually have a financial incentive to perpetuate it. The picture that emerges is one of convicts as
chattel and a legal system essentially based on human commodification. One in 86 Louisiana
adults is in the prison system, which is nearly double the national average. More than 50 percent
of Louisianas inmates are in local prisons, which is more than any other state. The national
average is 5 percent. Louisiana leads the nation in the percentage of its prisoners serving life
without parole. Nearly two-thirds of Louisianas prisoners are nonviolent offenders. The national
average is less than half. In the early 1990s, the state was under a federal court order to reduce
overcrowding, but instead of releasing prisoners or loosening sentencing guidelines, the state
incentivized the building of private prisons. But, in what the newspaper called a uniquely
Louisiana twist, most of the prison entrepreneurs were actually rural sheriffs. They saw a way to
make a profit and did.
Note: To read the powerful 8-part investigation of the Louisiana prison system from the New
Orleans Times-Picayune, click here. For more on the cruelty and corruption of the prison-industrial
complex, click here.
Expert Group Rejects World Trade Center Reports

2012-05-22, MarketWatch (Part of the Wall Street Journal's digital network)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expert-group-rejects-world-trade-center-repo...
If you thought that the fires at the World Trade Center twin towers, set off by the horrific jetliner
impacts of September 11, 2001, were the cause of the destruction of those iconic skyscrapers, you
may be mistaken. Experts now cite evidence showing that high-temperature incendiaries
and explosives were planted throughout the twin towers and the lesser-known 47-story
Building 7, also destroyed later the same day. So says a group of architects and engineers
nearly 1700 strong, represented by Richard Gage, AIA, founder of Architects & Engineers For 9/11
Truth and the director/producer of a new documentary. Two years in the making, the documentary
"9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out - FINAL EDITION " officially debuted today. The
film features 43 experts in building engineering, physics, chemistry, and other technical
fields, plus a half-dozen psychologists who discussed the denial of the evidence that the
AE911Truth engineers have been seeking to get attention to since the founding of the nonprofit
organization in 2007. The group's petition, signed by 14,000 concerned citizens in addition to the
architectural and engineering experts, calls upon the U.S. Congress to initiate a new independent
investigation. "The official story about the attacks of September 11 falls apart when you look
squarely at the facts and apply basic scientific principles to interpret them," says Gage.
Note: For an early version of this powerful documentary, click here. See our 9/11 Information
Center for lots more information on the realities behind 9/11.
How America's death penalty murders innocents

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/21/america-death-...
The US criminal justice system is a broken machine that wrongfully convicts innocent people,
sentencing thousands of people to prison or to death for the crimes of others, as a new study
reveals. The University of Michigan law school and Northwestern University have compiled a new
National Registry of Exonerations a database of over 2,000 prisoners exonerated between 1989
and the present day, when DNA evidence has been widely used to clear the names of innocent
people convicted of rape and murder. Of these, 885 have profiles developed for the registry's
website, exonerationregistry.org. The details are shocking. Death row inmates were exonerated
nine times more frequently than others convicted of murder. One-fourth of those
exonerated of murder had received a death sentence, while half of those who had been
wrongfully convicted of rape or murder faced death or a life behind bars. Ten of the inmates
went to their grave before their names were cleared. The leading causes of wrongful
convictions include perjury, flawed eyewitness identification and prosecutorial misconduct. "The
most important thing we know about false convictions is that they happen and on a regular basis
Most false convictions never see the light of the day," said University of Michigan law professors
Samuel Gross and Michael Shaffer, who wrote the study. "Nobody had an inkling of the serious
problem of false confessions until we had this data," said Rob Warden, executive director of the
Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the injustices and corruption of the prisonindustrial complex, click here.
Misinformation campaign targets USA TODAY reporter, editor

2012-04-19, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-04-19/vanden-brook-locker-...
A USA TODAY reporter and editor investigating Pentagon propaganda contractors have
themselves been subjected to a propaganda campaign of sorts, waged on the Internet
through a series of bogus websites. Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have been created in
their names, along with a Wikipedia entry and dozens of message board postings and blog
comments. Websites were registered in their names. The timeline of the activity tracks USA
TODAY's reporting on the military's "information operations" program, which spent hundreds of
millions of dollars on marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns that have been
criticized even within the Pentagon as ineffective and poorly monitored. For example, Internet
domain registries show the website TomVandenBrook.com was created Jan. 7 just days after
Pentagon reporter Tom Vanden Brook first contacted Pentagon contractors involved in the
program. Two weeks after his editor Ray Locker's byline appeared on a story, someone created a
similar site, RayLocker.com, through the same company. If the websites were created using
federal funds, it could violate federal law prohibiting the production of propaganda for domestic
consumption. Some postings ... accused them of being sponsored by the Taliban. "They
disputed nothing factual in the story about information operations," Vanden Brook said.
Note: For more on a proposed amendment to a U.S. bill which would make it legal to use
propaganda and lie to the American public, click here.
Investigating the Investigation

On April 19, 1995, a huge truck bomb destroyed a large part of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City ... killing 168 people, including 19 children. In a matter of days the FBI
established that the bombing was the work of a conspiracy. The first conspirator arrested was
Timothy McVeigh, a 27-year-old Army veteran. The second conspirator arrested was Terry Nichols.
"Oklahoma City," an extraordinarily well-researched book, asserts that the FBI investigation of the
bombing was badly flawed and missed, or disregarded, evidence of a larger conspiracy. The
authors, Andrew Gumbel and Roger Charles, are both highly regarded investigative reporters who
have been immersed in this case for more than a decade. They were given access to vast
amounts of material assembled by the defense teams, including 18,000 FBI witness interviews.
The book ... outlines how federal prosecutors, eager to wrap up the McVeigh and Nichols cases,
avoided raising questions about possible co-conspirators that the defense could use to confound a
jury. Among the glaring gaps in the investigation was the failure of the FBI to attempt to match the
more than 1,000 unidentified latent fingerprints found in the investigation. [And] almost all the
eyewitnesses to the crime claimed that McVeigh was not alone. No fewer than 24 witnesses said
that they saw McVeigh, just before and after the crime, with a man who could not have been
... Mr. Nichols. The FBI concluded that these witnesses had all been confused. Certainly
eyewitness testimony can be unreliable, but 24 mistaken witnessesand no accurate
ones?
Note: Many aspects of the Oklahoma City bombing were covered up. For a compilation of media
videos showing without doubt there were other bombs in the building which later were completely
ignored, click here. For other major media articles showing major manipulation, click here click
here, here, and here.
Man whose WMD lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/man-whose-wmd-lies-led-to-10...
A man whose lies helped to make the case for invading Iraq starting a nine-year war costing
more than 100,000 lives and hundreds of billions of pounds will come clean in his first British
television interview tomorrow [click here for interview]. "Curveball", the Iraqi defector who
fabricated claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, smiles as he confirms how he
made the whole thing up. It was a confidence trick that changed the course of history, with
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi's lies used to justify the Iraq war. The chemical engineer claimed to
have overseen the building of a mobile biological laboratory when he sought political asylum in
Germany in 1999. His lies were presented as "facts and conclusions based on solid
intelligence" by Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, when making the case for war at the UN
Security Council in February 2003. But Mr Janabi ... says none of it was true. US officials "sexed
up" Mr Janabi's drawings of mobile biological weapons labs to make them more presentable,
admits Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, General Powell's former chief of staff. "I brought the White
House team in to do the graphics," he says, adding how "intelligence was being worked to fit
around the policy". Another revelation ... is the real reason why the FBI swooped on Russian spy
Anna Chapman in 2010. Top officials feared the glamorous Russian agent wanted to seduce one
of US President Barack Obama's inner circle. The fear that Chapman would compromise a senior
US official in a "honey trap" was a key reason for the arrest and deportation of the Russian spy
ring of 10 people.
Note: For a Washington Post blog on this important development, click here. For a revealing
essay by a top U.S. general on major war manipulations, click here. For many major media articles
on this topic, click here.
Can the Secret Service tell you to shut up?

2012-03-15, Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/15/can-the-secret-service-tell-y...
[On March 8, 2012], President Obama signed into law the Federal Restricted Buildings and
Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. This law permits Secret Service agents to designate any
place they wish as a place where free speech, association and petition of the government
are prohibited. It permits the Secret Service to make these determinations based on the content
of speech. Thus, federal agents whose work is to protect public officials and their friends may
prohibit the speech and the gatherings of folks who disagree with those officials or permit the
speech and the gatherings of those who would praise them, even though the First Amendment
condemns content-based speech discrimination by the government. The new law also provides
that anyone who gathers in a restricted area may be prosecuted. Permitting people to express
publicly their opinions to the president only at a time and in a place and manner such that he
cannot hear them violates the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to useful speech. The
same may be said of the rights to associate and to petition. If peaceful public assembly and public
expression of political demands on the government can be restricted to places where government
officials cannot be confronted, then those rights, too, have been neutered. This abominable
legislation enjoyed overwhelming support from both political parties in Congress because
the establishment loves power, fears dissent and hates inconvenience, and it doesnt give a
damn about the Constitution.
Note: How strange that the Washington Times was one of the few media to have even covered
this incredible infringement on the right to free speech. Fox News also covered it, as you can see
in this excellent video. Now instead of being a country where free speech is held in great esteem,
the US has "free speech zones" outside of which citizens lose their right to speak freely. What's
happening here?
Pentagon says it has no records of bin Laden's death; CIA hasn't

answered open records request
2012-03-15, Minneapolis Star Tribune/Associated Press
http://www.startribune.com/nation/142811145.html
Government officials have openly discussed details of the mission [to kill Osama bin Laden] in
speeches, interviews and television appearances, but the administration won't disclose records
that would confirm their narrative of that fateful night. The Associated Press asked for files about
the raid in more than 20 separate [FOIA] requests, mostly submitted the day after bin Laden's
death. The Pentagon told the AP this month it could not locate any photographs or video
taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of
bin Laden's body on the Navy aircraft carrier where the al-Qaida leader's body was taken. The
Pentagon said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA
identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government
planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed. It said it searched files at the Pentagon,
U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., and the Navy command in San Diego that
controls the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier used in the mission. The Defense Department
told the AP in late February it could not find any emails about the bin Laden mission or his
"Geronimo" code name that were sent or received in the year before the raid by William
McRaven, the three-star admiral at the Joint Special Operations Command who organized and
oversaw the mission. It also could not find any emails from other senior officers who would have
been involved in the mission's planning.
Note: WantToKnow team member Prof. David Ray Griffin, in his book Osama bin Laden: Dead or
Alive?, lays out the extensive evidence that bin Laden died in December 2001, and that since that
time Pentagon psyops had been keeping him "alive" with fake videos and audiotapes to maintain a
crucial pretext for the ever-expanding "war on terror." Could it be that the Pentagon will produce no
records of its purported "death raid" because in fact it will reveal major manipulations involving bin
Laden's death?
Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html
Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs. Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of
advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet [and] five of the largest asset managers in
the United States. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. After almost 12
years at the firm ... I believe I have worked here long enough to understand ... its culture, its
people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive
as I have ever seen it. To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue
to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Today, if you make
enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a
position of influence. What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm's
"axes," which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other
products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential
profit. b) "Hunt Elephants." In English: get your clients -- some of whom are sophisticated, and
some of whom aren't -- to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. c) Find yourself
sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym. I
attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions
about how we can help clients. It's purely about how we can make the most possible money
off of them.
Note: The author of this article, Greg Smith, was a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of
the firms United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For an
excellent compilation of news articles and government documents showing the huge risk of the
derivatives bubble being manipulate by Goldman Sachs and others, click here.
10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-the-united-states-still-the-land-of...
Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider unfree, Americans remain confident that any
definition of a free nation must include their own the land of [the] free. Yet ... in the decade since
Sept. 11, 2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an
expanded security state. The most recent example of this was the National Defense Authorization
Act, signed Dec. 31, which allows for the indefinite detention of citizens. While each new national
security power Washington has embraced was controversial when enacted, they are often
discussed in isolation. But they dont operate in isolation. They form a mosaic of powers
under which our country could be considered, at least in part, authoritarian. Americans often
proclaim our nation as a symbol of freedom to the world while dismissing nations such as Cuba
and China as categorically unfree. [Yet] the United States now has much more in common with
such regimes than anyone may like to admit. These countries also have constitutions that purport
to guarantee freedoms and rights. But their governments have broad discretion in denying those
rights and few real avenues for challenges by citizens precisely the problem with the new laws
in this country. The list of powers acquired by the U.S. government since 9/11: 1. Assassination of
U.S. citizens. 2. Indefinite detention. 3. Arbitrary justice. 4. Warrantless searches. 5. Secret
evidence. 6. War crimes. 7. Secret court. 8. Immunity from judicial review. 9. Continual monitoring
of citizens. 10. Extraordinary renditions.
Note: Thank you to the Washington Post for publishing this amazing article revealing the
disturbing and severe erosion of freedom and civil liberties in the U.S. ever since 9/11. Written by
Professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University in the nation's capital, this incisive
essay lays bare what so many citizens don't know, and what many don't even want to know. Yet, in
this case, ignorance is not bliss. Don't miss the full article listing the loss of 10 important civil
liberties at this link.
Money's stranglehold on government is key issue

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/23/INL31ME08J.DTL
Americans have never much liked government. After all, the nation was conceived in a revolution
against government. But the surge of cynicism engulfing America isn't about how big government
has become. It's a growing perception that our government is no longer working for average
people. It's for big business, Wall Street and the very rich. The richest Americans are taking home
a bigger share of total income than at any other time since the 1920s. Their tax payments are
down because the Bush tax cuts reduced their top rates to the lowest level in more than half a
century, and cut capital gains taxes to 15 percent. Congress hasn't even closed a loophole that
allows mutual-fund and private-equity managers to treat their incomes as capital gains. So the 400
richest Americans, whose total wealth exceeds the combined wealth of the bottom 150
million Americans put together, pay an average of 17 percent of their income in taxes.
That's lower than the tax rates of most day laborers. And the share of revenues coming
from corporations has been dropping. The biggest, like GE, find ways to pay no federal taxes at
all. Many shelter their income abroad, and every few years Congress grants them a tax amnesty to
bring the money home. Get it? "Big government" isn't the problem. The problem is the big money
that's taking over government. Government is doing less of the things most of us want it to do ...
and more of the things big corporations, Wall Street and the wealthy want it to do.
Note: The author of this analysis, Robert Reich, is a former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of
public policy at UC Berkeley and the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's
Future. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.
Newburgh Four: poor, black, and jailed under FBI 'entrapment' tactics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/12/newburgh-four-fbi-entrapment-terror
Imam Salahuddin Muhammad could hardly miss Shahed Hussain when he first appeared three
years ago at his mosque in the dilapidated town of Newburgh, just 60 miles up the Hudson River
from New York. Hussain was flash, drove expensive cars and treated people to gifts of cash and
food. Hussain would make Newburgh's Muslim community famous when earlier this year four
other black Newburgh Muslims were jailed for 25 years for a 2009 plot to fire a Stinger missile at
US military planes. All four followed the instructions of Hussain, who meticulously organised the
scheme: from getting the missile and bombs, to reconnaissance missions, to teaching the tenets of
radical Islam. Hussain was a fake. In fact, Hussain worked for the FBI as an informant trawling
mosques in hope of picking up radicals. Yet far from being active militants, the four men he
attracted were impoverished individuals struggling with Newburgh's grim epidemic of crack, drug
crime and poverty. Hussain offered the men huge financial inducements to carry out the plot
including $250,000 to one man and free holidays and expensive cars. The Newburgh
Four ... represent the most extreme form of a controversial FBI policy to use invented
terrorist plots to lure targets. "There has been no case as egregious as this. It is unique in
the incentive the government provided. A quarter million dollars?" said Professor Karen
Greenberg, a terrorism expert at Fordham University.
Note: For a powerful BBC documentary showing clearly that much of the war on terror is a
fabrication to forward a political agenda, watch Power of Nightmares at this link. For many reports
from major media sources on the fake terror behind the "global war on terror", click here.
OCCs Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities:

Third Quarter 2011
2011-12-00, OCC (U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Administrator of
National Banks)
http://www.occ.gov/topics/capital-markets/financial-markets/trading/derivativ...
The OCCs quarterly report on trading revenues and bank derivatives activities is based on Call
Report information provided by all insured U.S. commercial banks and trust companies, reports
filed by U.S. financial holding companies, and other published data. The notional amount of
derivatives held by insured U.S. commercial banks decreased $1.4 trillion, or 0.6%, from the
second quarter of 2011 to $248 trillion. Notional derivatives are 5.7% higher than at the same time
last year. Derivatives activity in the U.S. banking system continues to be dominated by a small
group of large financial institutions. The five banks with the most derivatives activity hold 96%
of all derivatives. Insured commercial banks have more limited legal authorities than do their
holding companies.
Note: Graphs in this OCC report (pg. 25 & 26) show that five U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase,
Citibank, BofA, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, hold $235 of the $248 trillion above, while
their holding companies control an additional $311 of the $326 trillion in derivatives held by holding
companies. So these five banks and their holding companies combined hold $546 trillion in
derivatives, 95% of the U.S. derivatives market, nearly 80% of the global market, and equivalent
to over $75,000 for every person on the planet. If the above link fails, click here. For quarterly
derivative reports by the OCC going back to 1995, click here.
Lobbying firm's memo spells out plan to undermine Occupy Wall Street
2011-11-19, MSNBC
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/19/8884405-lobbying-firms-memo...
A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an
$850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the
protests, according to a memo obtained by [MSNBC]. The proposal was written on the letterhead
of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGCs clients, the
American Bankers Association. CLGCs memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to
conduct opposition research on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct negative
narratives about the protests and allied politicians. Two of the memos authors, partners
Sam Geduldig and Jay Cranford, previously worked for House Speaker John Boehner, ROhio. The memo outlines a 60-day plan to conduct surveys and research on OWS and its
supporters so that Wall Street companies will be prepared to conduct a media campaign in
response to OWS. Wall Street companies likely will not be the best spokespeople for their own
cause, according to the memo. A big challenge is to demonstrate that these companies still have
political strength and that making them a political target will carry a severe political cost.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on the reasons why people nationwide are occupying
their city centers in protest against the collusion between powerful corporate and government
elites, click here.
47% of Congress Members Millionaires a Status Shared by Only 1%

of Americans
2011-11-16, ABC News Blog
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/47-of-congress-members-millionai...
Its no secret that many members of the U.S. House and Senate are millionaires 47 percent of
them their salaries paid in part by the American taxpayers. The Center for Responsive Politics
has crunched the numbers and released the results on its Open Secrets blog: About 47 percent of
Congress, or 249 current members are millionaires. In 2010, the estimated median net worth of
a current U.S. senator stood at an average of $2.56 million. Despite the global economic
meltdown in 2008 and the sluggish recovery that followed, thats up about 7.6 percent from
an estimated median net worth of $2.38 million in 2009 and up 13 percent from a median
net worth of $2.27 million in 2008. Fully 36 Senate Democrats, and 30 Senate Republicans
reported an average net worth in excess of $1 million in 2010. The same was true for 110 House
Republicans and 73 House Democrats. The vast majority of members of Congress are quite
comfortable, financially, while many of their own constituents suffer from economic hardships, said
Sheila Krumholz at the Center For Responsive Politics. Few Americans enjoy the same financial
cushions maintained by most members of Congress or the same access to market-altering
information that could yield personal, financial gains.
Note: For key reports on major media control of information and cover-ups, click here.
Abramoff: Lobbying reforms haven't fixed 'flawed' system

2011-11-06, CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-06/politics/politics_abramoff-ethics_1_neil-v...
Ethics reforms put in place since the influence-peddling scandal surrounding high-rolling lobbyist
Jack Abramoff haven't cleaned up the system "at all," a now-free Abramoff says. Abramoff served
three and a half years in prison for conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion before his release last
December. In an interview ... on CBS News' "60 Minutes," he said the reforms imposed after his
guilty plea have little effect while campaign finance remains untouched. "You can't take a
congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak or something like that," he
said. "But you can take him to a fund-raising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him
$25,000 extra and call it a fund-raiser -- and have all the same access and all the same
interactions with that congressman." Abramoff's interview with "60 Minutes" aired the night before
a memoir, Capitol Punishment, is scheduled to hit shelves. Abramoff describes some of the
techniques he employed as a lobbyist as "evil," "terrible" and, at the same time, "effective" for his
firm, his clients and Republican politicians he usually worked with. Abramoff said the best way to
get what he wanted to was to offer high-ranking congressional aides a job when they left
public office. Once that was done, he told CBS, "We owned them." "Everything that we
want, they're going to do. Not only that, they're going to think of things we can't think of to do,"
Abramoff said, estimating his office had "very strong influence" on 100 of the 535 congressional
offices.
Note: For a powerful, six-minute analysis of legalized corruption based on Abramoff's comments
on CBS 60 Minutes, click here. A petty thief steals three times for a total value of a few thousand
dollars and by the "three strikes" law ends up in jail for life. Abramoff, along with his assistants,
successfully corrupt U.S. Senators and Congress members and serve less than four years in jail.
Some of his assistants got off with no jail time. Is the US justice system biased towards the rich?
Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook

2011-11-06, CBS News 60 Minutes
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57319075/jack-abramoff-the-lobbyists-pl...
Jack Abramoff may be the most notorious and crooked lobbyist of our time. He became a master
at showering gifts on lawmakers in return for their votes on legislation. Five years ago ... Jack
Abramoff pled guilty ... and served three and a half years in prison. Abramoff: I think most
congressmen don't feel they're being bought. [They] can in their own mind justify the
system. The "best way" to get a congressional office ... was to offer a staffer a job that could triple
his salary. The moment I [offered] that to them ... we owned them. Most of the people ... on Capitol
Hill wanted ... to be lobbyists. Republican Congressman Bob Ney was ambitious and looked at
Abramoff as a way to build alliances with the White House and the majority leader. Neil Volz, his
former chief of staff, by then a lobbyist for Abramoff .. asked Ney to insert some language into a
reform bill that would give a backdoor license to an Indian casino. Abramoff: We crafted language
that was so obscure ... but so precise to change the U.S. code. "Public law 100-89 is amended
by striking section 207 101 stat. 668, 672." Members don't read the bills. Ney: It was a great big
shell game. Ney would eventually serve 17 months in federal prison, the only congressman who
was ever charged. But Abramoff says that there were many other members that did his bidding
that could have been charged. Abramoff: I'm talking about giving a gift to somebody who makes a
decision on behalf of the public. That's really what bribery is. But it is done everyday. There
were very few members who ... didn't at some level participate in that. Our system is flawed and
has to be fixed. He says the most important thing that needs to be done is to prohibit members of
Congress and their staff from ever becoming lobbyists in Washington.
Note: To watch this incredibly revealing interview, click here. For a powerful, six-minute analysis of
legalized corruption based on Abramoff's comments, click here. A petty thief steals three times for
a total value of a few thousand dollars and by the "three strikes" law ends up in jail for life.
Abramoff, along with his assistants, successfully corrupt U.S. Senators and Congress members
and serve less than four years in jail. Many get off with no jail time. Is the US justice system biased
towards the rich?
The medieval, unaccountable Corporation of London is ripe for protest

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/corporation-london-city-m...
It's the dark heart of Britain, the place where democracy goes to die, immensely powerful, equally
unaccountable. But I doubt that one in 10 British people has any idea of what the Corporation of
the City of London is and how it works. As Nicholas Shaxson explains in his fascinating book
Treasure Islands, the Corporation exists outside many of the laws and democratic controls which
govern the rest of the United Kingdom. The City of London is the only part of Britain over
which parliament has no authority. This is ... an official old boys' network. In one respect at least
the Corporation acts as the superior body: it imposes on the House of Commons a figure called
the remembrancer: an official lobbyist who sits behind the Speaker's chair and ensures that,
whatever our elected representatives might think, the City's rights and privileges are protected.
The mayor of London's mandate stops at the boundaries of the Square Mile. The City has
exploited this remarkable position to establish itself as a kind of offshore state, a secrecy
jurisdiction which controls the network of tax havens housed in the UK's crown
dependencies and overseas territories. This autonomous state within our borders is in a
position to launder the ill-gotten cash of oligarchs, kleptocrats, gangsters and drug barons.
It has also made the effective regulation of global finance almost impossible.
Note: To understand how democracy is easily circumvented, read this full article. For lots more
from reliable sources on the hidden background to the control over governments held by financial
powers, click here.
Bulgers FBI Ties Enrage Cops

2011-10-21, Newsweek/Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/21/whitey-bulger-s-secret-deal-...
Three Massachusetts State Police officers once staked out organized-crime chief Whitey
Bulger for months, all the while not knowing that he was an FBI informant who was tipped
to their surveillance. James Whitey Bulger, now 82, is the Al Capone of Boston. A fugitive
since 1995 who seemed untouchable, he is also compared to the Teflon Don of New York, John
Gotti. His brother, Billy Bulger, was once the most powerful political figure in Massachusetts.
"Whitey" was an FBI informant for decades while ruling the Irish organized-crime world. He made
millions from rackets and drugs and committed an untold number of murders to keep his empire
safe. On June 22, he was arrested in Santa Monica, California. The seizure of weapons and more
than $800,000 in cash was no surprise. Recently, I spoke with three of the bestBob Long, Rick
Fraelick, and Jack OMalley. Intrepid Bob Long was in charge. Bob Long says that if Bulger and
Flemmi had not been protected by the FBI, then ... nine murders would have never taken
place. Long said he believes that Agents Morris and Connolly identified more than a dozen
individuals to Bulger and Flemmi as FBI informants or could-be FBI informants and all of those
people were killed. Connolly is now in prison; Morris received a grant of immunity for testimony.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Citigroup to Pay $285 Million to Settle Fraud Charges

Wall Street's total price tag on settlements with U.S. securities regulators for allegedly misleading
investors about mortgage bonds churned out ahead of the financial crisis surged past $1 billion
with a deal by Citigroup Inc. to pay $285 million ... to end civil-fraud charges by the Securities and
Exchange Commission. The SEC claimed Citigroup sold slices of the $1 billion mortgagebond deal without disclosing to investors that the bank was shorting $500 million of the
deal, or betting its assets would lose value. Several Wall Street firms have settled similar
claims by the SEC, which has generally stuck to the strategy used by the agency to get a $550
million settlement last year with Goldman Sachs Group Inc.. And the SEC's investigation of the
Wall Street mortgage machine isn't over yet. Lorin Reisner, deputy enforcement director at the
SEC, said civil mortgage-related cases against Goldman, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Countrywide
Financial Corp., New Century Financial Corp. and other companies "read like an index to unlawful
conduct in connection with the financial crisis." The SEC has collected a total of $1.03 billion
through mortgage-bond-deal settlements. In addition to Citigroup, the total includes Goldman, J.P.
Morgan, Royal Bank of Canada, Wells Fargo & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the illegal profiteering of major financial
corporations, click here.
Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Secret Loans

2011-08-22, Businessweek/Bloomberg News
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-08-22/wall-street-aristocracy-got-1-2-t...
Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home
prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with
$104 billion of profits. By 2008, the housing markets collapse forced those companies to take
more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The
loans dwarfed the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 got from the U.S. Treasury, yet until now
the full amounts have remained secret. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernankes [actions] included
lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same
amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The
largest borrower, Morgan Stanley, got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion
and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained
through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress. It wasnt
just American finance. Almost half of the Feds top 30 borrowers, measured by peak balances,
were European firms. Data gleaned [under the Freedom of Information Act] make clear for
the first time how deeply the worlds largest banks depended on the U.S. central bank to
stave off cash shortfalls. Even as the firms asserted in news releases or earnings calls that
they had ample cash, they drew Fed funding in secret.
Note: For a treasure trove of information from reliable sources on the government transfer of
public assets to private banks and financial corporations, click here.
The Fed Audit

2011-07-21, Official Government Website of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3
The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how
the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign
banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Among
the [Government Accountability Office] investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally
provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from
South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. The [report] also determined that the Fed
lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for
abuse. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to employees
and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and
corporations that were given emergency loans. For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served
on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390
billion in financial assistance from the Fed. The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced
most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients
of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.
Note: We don't normally use the website of a member of the U.S. Senate as a source, but as
amazingly none of the media covered this vitally important story other than one blog on Forbes, we
are publishing this here. The GAO report to back up these claims is available for all to see at this
link. For how the media is so controlled, don't miss the powerful two-page summary with reports by
many award-winning journalists at this link. For another good article on the Fed's manipulations,
click here.
Top lobbying banks got biggest bailouts: study

2011-05-26, MSNBC/Reuters News
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20110526&id=136...
The more aggressively a bank lobbied before the financial crisis, the worse its loans
performed during the economic downturn -- and the more bailout dollars it received,
according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research this week. The
report, titled "A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis," said that banks' lobbying
efforts may be motivated by short-term profit gains, which can have devastating effects on the
economy. "Overall, our findings suggest that the political influence of the financial industry
played a role in the accumulation of risks, and hence, contributed to the financial crisis,"
said the report, written by three economists from the International Monetary Fund. Data collected
by the three authors -- Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra and Thierry Tressel -- show that the most
aggressive lobbiers in the financial industry from 2000 to 2007 also made the most toxic mortgage
loans. They securitized a greater portion of debt to pass the home loans onto investors and their
stock prices correlated more closely to the downturn and ensuing bailout. The banks' loans also
suffered from higher delinquencies during the downturn.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For lots more from reliable sources on corruption in the
government bailouts of the biggest banks, click here.
Obama Says 'Justice Has Been Done': Bin Laden Scholar Says No
2011-05-06, CNBC News (NBC's Business News Channel)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42929478/
President Obama, speaking of the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, said: "Justice has been
done." It has been widely assumed that, if bin Laden is now dead, the person most responsible for
the 9/11 attacks has been brought to justice. But the US government has never provided
evidence that the attacks were carried out by bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization. In
September 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell promised to provide this evidence, but the next
day recanted, saying "most of [the evidence] is classified." In October, Prime Minister Tony Blair
provided evidence that bin Laden and al-Qaeda planned and executed the 9/11 attacks. But he
added: "This document does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against Osama Bin Laden
in a court of law." The FBI's acts that made bin Laden a "Most Wanted Terrorist" do not include the
9/11 attacks. The FBI's chief of investigative publicity explained: "The FBI has seen no hard
evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11." Could al-Qaeda have carried out the attacks? Scientists
for 9/11 Truth views the rapid, symmetrical, straight-down collapses of the Towers and nearby
WTC 7 as consistent only with controlled demolition. And 1500 members of Architects and
Engineers for 9/11 Truth agree: The 9/11 attacks were not the work of al-Qaeda.
Note: CNBC removed this article not long after posting it. To read this critically important press
release by WantToKnow.info team member and Nobel Peace Prize nominee David Ray Griffin in
its entirety, click here. Dr. Griffin's 2009 book, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? presented
compelling evidence that bin Laden died in December 2001 -- prompting a BBC documentary of
the same name. Griffin was named among the New Statesman's "50 People Who Matter Today".
For an abundance of reliable news articles, videos, and more showing major deception on 9/11,
click here.
The nagging questions that refuse to go away

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-nag...
Some 36 hours after the world first learnt of the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden,
the White House changed parts of its story. A woman was killed, its spokesman said, but she was
not Bin Laden's wife who survived after being shot in the leg. Bin Laden did not, as had earlier
been claimed, use his wife as a human shield; she was injured when she tried to challenge one of
the US commandos. And Bin Laden was not, after all, armed, although he did, the spokesman
said, put up some resistance. The new version no wife as human shield, no weapon makes
[bin Laden] more ordinary and more vulnerable. It also raises further questions. If the first version
was incorrect, perhaps even to an extent "spun" for a certain effect, might there not be
room for doubt about other aspects of the official narrative? About, say, whether the crucial
intelligence about Bin Laden was extracted from al-Qa'ida operatives under torture, which might
appear to justify such methods and lift some of the opprobrium from the previous US
administration and the CIA. A no less pertinent question that the new version raises is whether Bin
Laden was ever actually given a chance to surrender and whether he might have been taken alive
rather than dead. When President Obama said that justice had been done, was this strictly
speaking justice, or was it cold-blooded retribution?
Note: WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin's book establishing the likelihood that Osama
bin Laden died in December 2001, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?, is available here. For many
other major media news articles showing clear deception and more by government officials, click
here.
Food speculation: 'People die from hunger while banks make a killing
on food'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jan/23/food-speculation-ban...
Just under three years ago, people in the village of Gumbi in western Malawi went unexpectedly
hungry. Not like Europeans do if they miss a meal or two, but that deep, gnawing hunger that
prevents sleep and dulls the senses when there has been no food for weeks. Oddly, there had
been no drought, the usual cause of malnutrition and hunger in southern Africa, and there was
plenty of food in the markets. For no obvious reason the price of staple foods such as maize and
rice nearly doubled in a few months. Unusually, too, there was no evidence that the local
merchants were hoarding food. It was the same story in 100 other developing countries. There
were food riots in more than 20 countries and governments had to ban food exports and subsidise
staples heavily. A new theory is emerging among traders and economists. The same banks,
hedge funds and financiers whose speculation on the global money markets caused the
sub-prime mortgage crisis are ... taking advantage of the deregulation of global commodity
markets [to make] billions from speculating on food and causing misery around the world.
As food prices soar again to beyond 2008 levels, it becomes clear that everyone is now being
affected. Food prices are now rising by up to 10% a year in Britain and Europe. What is more, says
the UN, prices can be expected to rise at least 40% in the next decade.
Note: Remember that speculation is behind almost all of the economic bubbles and busts. The
price of oil spiked a couple years ago almost purely because of speculators, while the oil
companies raked in record profits. It looks like the speculators are now driving food prices as high
as they can. For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources investigating the many different
strategies used by financial corporations to enrich themselves at the expense of common people,
click here.
WikiLeaks: US targets EU over GM crops

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/03/wikileaks-us-eu-gm-crops
The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any
European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released
WikiLeaks cables show. In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in
late 2007, the ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of former US president
George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not
support the use of GM crops. "Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real
costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices," said Stapleton, who
with Bush co-owned the St Louis-based Texas Rangers baseball team in the 1990s [and is married
to Dorothy Walker, a first cousin of former U.S. president George H.W. Bush]. In other newly
released cables, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic
government and commercial imperative. In addition, the cables show US diplomats working
directly for GM companies such as Monsanto. It also emerges that Spain and the US have
worked closely together to persuade the EU not to strengthen biotechnology laws. In one cable,
the embassy in Madrid writes: "If Spain falls, the rest of Europe will follow." The cables show that
not only did the Spanish government ask the US to keep pressure on Brussels but that the US
knew in advance how Spain would vote, even before the Spanish biotech commission had
reported.
Note: For a powerful 13-minute video revealing the disturbing results of the first long-term
scientific study on GMOs and showing how they greatly increased cancer incidence in rats, click
here. For more revealing information on this from Dr. Mercola, click here. For an excellent
overview of scientific studies on the risks from genetically-modified foods, click here.
Nazis Were Given Safe Haven in U.S., Report Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html
A secret history of the United States government's Nazi-hunting operation concludes that
American intelligence officials created a "safe haven" in the United States for Nazis and their
collaborators after World War II. The 600-page report, which the Justice Department has tried to
keep secret for four years, provides new evidence about more than two dozen of the most
notorious Nazi cases of the last three decades. It describes the government's ... pursuit of Dr.
Josef Mengele, the so-called Angel of Death at Auschwitz. The report catalogs both the successes
and failures of the band of lawyers, historians and investigators at the Justice Department's Office
of Special Investigations, which was created in 1979 to deport Nazis. The report's most damning
disclosures come in assessing the Central Intelligence Agency's involvement with Nazi
emigres. Scholars and previous government reports had acknowledged the C.I.A.'s use of
Nazis for postwar intelligence purposes. But this report goes further in documenting the
level of American complicity and deception in such operations. The Justice Department has
resisted making the report public since 2006. Under the threat of a lawsuit, it turned over a heavily
redacted version last month to a private research group, the National Security Archive, but even
then many ... portions were omitted. A complete version was obtained by The New York Times.
Note: To read the complete Justice Department report obtained by The New York Times, click
here. For a brief comparison with the heavily redacted version previously available, click here. For
a more detailed analysis by the the National Security Archive, click here.
Former Air Force officers discuss UFO sightings

2010-09-27, Air Force Times
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/09/ap-Former-Air-Force-officers-discus...
Armed with declassified documents and vivid details, a group of former Air Force officers gathered
Monday to go public with an assertion they have kept mostly under wraps for decades: that UFOs
visited the bases they were stationed at and caused nuclear weapon system to temporarily
malfunction. The group, convened by UFO researcher Robert Hastings, came to the National
Press Club in Washington to discuss their individual experiences and to urge a government that
tried to ignore and silence them when they came forward years ago to finally come clean.
Hastings said he believes that visitors from outer space are fixating on nuclear weapons
because they want to send a message: Disarm before the world destroys itself. Hastings
said he has heard of a UFO incident occurring at Malmstrom as recently as 2007. The
declassified documents Hastings presented at Monday's news conference include decades-old
government memos detailing reports of sightings of objects in the skies above Alabama, Montana,
New Mexico and North Dakota. He has talked to 120 former or retired U.S. military about the
presence of UFOs at nuclear weapons sites across the United States and around the globe as
early as 1945, when the world entered the nuclear age with the bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. For some of the officers who came forward Monday, going public wasn't easy. Bruce
Fenstermacher, a missile combat crew commander at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne,
Wyo., was "laughed at" by superiors when he reported a UFO sighting at a launch site that one of
his sergeants had passed on to him, he said. He decided to keep his head low after that. "I was
very careful about who I told what," he said. "I was concerned. I don't want to be considered a
kook. But I think it's more important to come out and tell our story."
Note: To watch 18-minutes of this most fascinating testimony on the CNN website, click here. For
a treasure trove of reliable, verifiable information on the UFO cover-up, see our resource-filled
UFO Information Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/ufoinformation.
What if growth had been equal?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/09/what_if_growth_had_been_e...
"The Conehead economy" [is] the idea that if the economy were a person, its growth over the past
few decades would've turned it from a normal-looking individual into a conehead. Jacob Hacker
and Paul Pierson get at this idea slightly differently [in their book Winner-Take-All Politics]. They've
got a table showing how incomes would look if growth had been equally shared from 1979 to 2006
-- much as it was in the decades before 1979. If growth had been equally shared, the middle
quintile would be making $64,395 today. Instead, they're making $52,100. That's a 23 percent
raise those folks didn't get -- and that I'm sure they would've noticed. The top 1 percent ... made,
on average, $1,200,300 in 2006. If growth had been equally shared in the three decades before
that, however, their incomes would've been cut by more than half, down to $506,002. That's real,
serious money we're talking about. The top 1 percent now accounts for 23.5 percent of the
national income if you include capital gains. In 1979, they only had 9.8 percent of the
nation's earnings. During that same period, tax rates on the richest Americans have
actually dropped. So as the economy went one way -- toward more money going to the rich
-- the tax system went the other.
Note: For lots more on income inequality from reliable sources, click here.
Pentagon Attempts to Block Book on Afghan War

2010-09-10, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/09/military-intelligence-attempts-blo...
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency has attempted to block a book about the tipping point in
Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data mining project called "Able Danger." In a letter
obtained by Fox News, the DIA says national security could be breached if Operation Dark Heart is
published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions of the book that
claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United
States before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. In a highly unusual move, the Department of
Defense is now negotiating with the publisher, St. Martin's Press, to buy all 10,000 copies of the
first printing of the book to keep it off shelves -- even after the U.S. Army had cleared the book for
release. Specifically, the DIA wanted references to a meeting between Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer,
the book's author, and the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow,
removed. In that meeting, which took place in Afghanistan, Shaffer alleges the commission
was told about "Able Danger" and the identification of Atta before the attacks. No mention
of this was made in the final 9/11 report. Once back in the U.S., Shaffer says he contacted the
commission. Without explanation, the commission was no longer interested.
Note: Click here to read the full DIA letter (pdf). For a video of Fox News' exclusive interview with
the author of the book blocked by the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, click here.
US 'fails to account' for Iraq reconstruction billions

2010-07-27, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10774002
A US federal watchdog has criticised the US military for failing to account properly for billions of
dollars it received to help rebuild Iraq. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says
the US Department of Defence is unable to account properly for 96% of the money. Out of
just over $9bn, $8.7bn is unaccounted for, the inspector says. Much of the money came
from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas, and some frozen Saddam Hussein-era assets were also sold
off. The money was in a special fund administered by the US Department of Defense, the
Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), and was earmarked for reconstruction projects. But the report
says that a lack of proper accounting and poor oversight makes it impossible to say exactly what
happened to most of it. "The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses
and undetected loss," the report said. This is not the first time that allegations of missing billions
have surfaced in relation to the US-led invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. In 2005, the inspector
general criticised the Coalition Provisional Authority, the US-led occupation administration, for its
management of an $8.8bn fund that belonged to the Iraqi government. A criminal investigation
conducted led to the conviction of eight US officials on bribery, fraud and money-laundering
charges.
Note: For a collection of major media articles showing how the US military has repeatedly failed to
account for hundreds of billions of dollars, click here.
A hidden world, growing beyond control

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/tsa/static/articles/hid...
In the Department of Defense, where more than two-thirds of the intelligence programs reside,
only a handful of senior officials - called Super Users - have the ability to even know about all the
department's activities. Most [sources for this story] requested anonymity either because they are
prohibited from speaking publicly or because, they said, they feared retaliation at work for
describing their concerns. Beyond redundancy, secrecy within the intelligence world hampers
effectiveness in other ways. For the Defense Department, [the] problem goes back to an ultra-
secret group of programs for which access is extremely limited and monitored by specially trained
security officers. These are called Special Access Programs - or SAPs - and the Pentagon's list of
code names for them runs 300 pages. The intelligence community has hundreds more of its own,
and those hundreds have thousands of sub-programs with their own limits on the number of
people authorized to know anything about them. All this means that very few people have a
complete sense of what's going on. Such secrecy can undermine the normal chain of
command when senior officials use it to cut out rivals or when subordinates are ordered to
keep secrets from their commanders. One military officer involved in one such program said he
was ordered to sign a document prohibiting him from disclosing it to his four-star commander, with
whom he worked closely every day, because the commander was not authorized to know about it
Note: To read the full text of this important article, please make sure to press the "Continue
Reading" button at the end of the first webpage to access all of the fascinating information
provided. For lots more on government secrecy, click here.
Reports accuse WHO of exaggerating H1N1 threat, possible ties to drug

makers
European criticism of the World Health Organization's handling of the H1N1 pandemic intensified
... with the release of two reports that accused the agency of exaggerating the threat posed by the
virus and failing to disclose possible influence by the pharmaceutical industry on its
recommendations for how countries should respond. The WHO's response caused widespread,
unnecessary fear and prompted countries around the world to waste millions of dollars. At
the same time, the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations relied on advice from experts
with ties to drug makers in developing the guidelines it used to encourage countries to stockpile
millions of doses of antiviral medications. The first report ... came from the Social, Health and
Family Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which launched
an investigation in response to allegations that the WHO's response to the pandemic was
influenced by drug companies that make antiviral drugs and vaccines. The second report, a joint
investigation by the [British Medical Journal] and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism ...
criticized 2004 guidelines the WHO developed based in part on the advice of three experts who
received consulting fees from the two leading manufacturers of antiviral drugs used against the
virus, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline.
Note: For wide coverage from reliable sourcesof the swine and avian flu "fake pandemics"
designed for corporate profit, click here.
Speedy New Traders Make Waves Far From Wall Street

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/speedy-new-traders-make-waves-fa...
Inside the humdrum offices of a tiny trading firm called Tradeworx, workers ... tend high-speed
computers that typically buy and sell 80 million shares a day. But on the afternoon of May 6, as the
stock market began to plunge in the flash crash, someone here walked up to one of those
computers and typed the command HF STOP: sell everything and shutdown. Across the country,
several of Tradeworxs counterparts did the same. In a blink, some of the most powerful players in
the stock market high-frequency traders went dark. The result sent chills through the
financial world. After the brief 1,000-point plunge in the stock market that day, the growing role of
high-frequency traders in the nations financial markets is drawing new scrutiny. Over the last
decade, these high-tech operators have become sort of a shadow Wall Street from New Jersey
to Kansas City, from Texas to Chicago. Depending on whose estimates you believe, highfrequency traders account for 40 to 70 percent of all trading on every stock market in the
country. Some of the biggest players trade more than a billion shares a day. These are shortterm bets. Very short. The founder of Tradebot, in Kansas City, Mo., told students in 2008 that
his firm typically held stocks for 11 seconds. Tradebot, one of the biggest high-frequency
traders around, had not had a losing day in four years, he said.
Note: For key reports on the dubious practices which underlay the financial crisis and the
impoverishment of the public treasury, click here.
Were Russian secrets shared with space alien visitors?

2010-05-07, The Times (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7118769.ece
Russia has never been immune to spies and informers, but the latest claim must have struck
President Medvedev as a little bizarre: he has been urged to investigate whether a regional
politician passed official secrets to a group of aliens. The request came after Kirsan Ilyumzhinov,
the millionaire President of Kalmykia, claimed on state television that he had been visited by
aliens at his Moscow apartment several years ago and had spent hours in discussions with
them on board their spaceship. The head of the republic said that the humanoid figures
wore yellow spacesuits and gave him a tour of their craft, which he described as a semitransparent half-tube. They had brought him home in the morning, just as his worried driver and
two advisers were about to call a citywide search after finding his apartment empty. I am often
asked which language I used to talk to them. Perhaps it was on a level of the exchange of ideas,
Mr Ilyumzhinov, who is also president of the international chess federation FIDE, told the Vladimir
Pozner programme on Russias main First Channel. Mr Ilyumzhinov told his interviewer that his
encounter had taken place in 1997. I would not have believed it, if I had not had three witnesses.
Note: For lots more on UFOs, check out our information-packed UFO Information Center.
New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06kristof.html
The Presidents Cancer Panel is the Mount Everest of the medical mainstream, so it is astonishing
to learn that it is poised to join ranks with the organic food movement and declare: chemicals
threaten our bodies. The cancer panel is releasing a landmark 200-page report ... warning that our
lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for our health. It calls
on America to rethink the way we confront cancer, including much more rigorous regulation of
chemicals. The Presidents Cancer Panel suggests ... giving preference to organic food, checking
radon levels in the home and microwaving food in glass containers rather than plastic. In particular,
the report warns about exposures to chemicals during pregnancy, when risk of damage seems to
be greatest. Noting that 300 contaminants have been detected in umbilical cord blood of
newborn babies, the study warns that: to a disturbing extent, babies are born prepolluted. The report blames weak laws, lax enforcement and fragmented authority, as well as
the existing regulatory presumption that chemicals are safe unless strong evidence emerges to the
contrary. Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have
been tested for safety, the report says. It adds: Many known or suspected carcinogens are
completely unregulated.
Note: To read the President's Cancer Panel report, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, click
here. For many other important reports from major media sources on potential cancer cures and
treatments, click here.
Obama gives order to kill American imam

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7089899.ece
The Obama Administration has taken the unprecedented step of authorising the killing of a US
citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The decision is extraordinary not only
because Mr al-Awlaki is believed to be the first American whose killing has been approved
by a US President, but also because the Obama Administration chose to make the move
public. The Los Angeles Times reported in January that Mr al-Awlakis name had been placed on
a top-secret list of targeted killings. In the past 24 hours, however, a handful of intelligence and
counter-terrorism officials have briefed Reuters and The New York Times on the decision. The
authorisation ... and the decision to make it public is a high-risk strategy. Tina Foster, of the USbased International Justice Network, told The Times: It is shocking that our Government would go
to these extremes, even depriving someone of their life without a legal process. The policy of
targeted killings is controversial. President Ford issued an order in 1976 banning political
assassinations. Yet Congress approved the use of force against al-Qaeda after the September 11
attacks.
Note: Obama is the first president to publicly order the assassination an American citizen. Neither
George W. Bush nor Dick Cheney asserted such a power on the part of the president.
Leaked U.S. video shows deaths of Reuters' Iraqi staffers

2010-04-05, Washington Post/Reuters
Classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen
people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, was released on [April 5] by a group that
promotes leaking to fight government and corporate corruption. The group, WikiLeaks, told a
news conference in Washington that it acquired encrypted video of the July 12, 2007, attack
from military whistleblowers and had been able to view and investigate it after breaking the
encryption code. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the
video and audio were authentic. David Schlesinger, Reuters' editor-in-chief, said the video
released by WikiLeaks showed the deaths of [Namir] Noor-Eldeen and [Saeed] Chmagh were
"tragic and emblematic of the extreme dangers that exist in covering war zones." "The video
released today via WikiLeaks is graphic evidence of the dangers involved in war journalism and
the tragedies that can result," he said. Reuters has pressed the U.S. military to conduct a full and
objective investigation into the killing of the two staff. WikiLeaks posted the video at
http://www.collateralmurder.com.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. Should the above video disappear, click here to view it on
one of our websites. The only reason this event made news is because the two cameramen killed
were Reuters reporters. US forces then fired on an unarmed van with children in it, which was
attempting to bring the dead and wounded out of the combat zone. How many innocent civilians
are killed like this and never make the news? Spread this important video and help others to wake
up and work together to stop the creulty of some of the US forces. The Pentagon is working hard
to shut down Wikileaks, the organization which secured this powerful video.
Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time

2010-02-19, Newsweek magazine
http://www.newsweek.com/id/233916
Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real timewithout the benefit of a warrant.
Amid all the furor over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program a few years ago,
a mini-revolt was brewing over another type of federal snooping that was getting no public
attention at all. Federal prosecutors were seeking what seemed to be unusually sensitive records:
internal data from telecommunications companies that showed the locations of their customers'
cell phonessometimes in real time, sometimes after the fact. Prosecutors "were using the cell
phone as a surreptitious tracking device," said Stephen W. Smith, a federal magistrate in Houston.
"And I started asking the U.S. Attorney's Office, 'What is the legal authority for this? What is the
legal standard for getting this information?'" Those questions are now at the core of a
constitutional clash between President Obama's Justice Department and civil libertarians
alarmed by what they see as the government's relentless intrusion into the private lives of
citizens. There are numerous other fronts in the privacy warsabout the content of e-mails, for
instance, and access to bank records and credit-card transactions. The Feds now can quietly get
all that information. But cell-phone tracking is among the more unsettling forms of government
surveillance, conjuring up Orwellian images of Big Brother secretly following your movements
through the small device in your pocket.
Note: For many key reports from major media sources on the disturbing trend toward increasing
government and corporate surveillance, click here.
Battle Over the Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/nyregion/14fed.html
Mark Pittman, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News ... filed a Freedom of Information Act
request with the Federal Reserve Board, seeking the details of its unprecedented efforts to funnel
money to the collapsing banks of Wall Street. That was in September 2008. Just more than a year
later, Mr. Pittman ... died unexpectedly at age 52. But his cause has persevered. It is now known
as Bloomberg L.P. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, an attempt to unlock the vault of
the largest Wall Street rescue plan in decades or, as the legal briefs put it, to break down a wall
of secrecy that the Fed has kept in place for nearly two years in its controversial use of public
money to prop up financial institutions. The Federal Reserve has wrapped itself in secrecy
since the turn of the 20th century, when a select group of financiers met at the private
Jekyll Island Club off the eastern coast of Georgia and, forgoing last names to preserve
their anonymity among the staff, drafted legislation to create a central bank. Its secrecy, of
course, persists today, with Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, refusing to tell even
Congress which banks received government money under the bailout. There is also a heated
battle to force the Fed to disclose its role in the controversial attempt to save the insurance giant
American International Group.
Note: Isn't it interesting that Pittman died at age 52 while trying to expose manipulations of the big
bankers? For a one-minute video proving the existence of a secret weapon which can cause an
undetectable heart attack, click here. For a concise, excellent background on the hidden role of the
Federal Reserve, click here.
Terror suspect allowed to keep visa by intelligence officials

2010-01-27, Detroit News
http://detnews.com/article/20100127/NATION/1270405/Terror-suspect-kept-visa-t...
The State Department didn't revoke the visa of foiled terrorism suspect Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab because federal counterterrorism officials had begged off revocation, a top
State Department official revealed. Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at
the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't taken away because intelligence officials
asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist. "Revocation action would have
disclosed what they were doing," Kennedy said in testimony before the House Committee on
Homeland Security. Since the failed attack, criticism has swirled around leaders of the U.S.
intelligence community who have indicated they were warned by the suspect's father about a
month before the flight of a potential terror threat, but failed to stop Abdmutallab, despite other
warning signs like the fact that he purchased a one-way ticket to Detroit with cash.
Note: So federal counterterrorism officials stopped the bomber's visa from being revoked.
Hmmmm... Clearly there is more going on in this case than "failure to connect the dots." Why
aren't other major media reporting this important story? Kurt Haskell, a key eyewitness passenger
who almost lost his life, has written a powerfully revealing blog piece on what he thinks is really
going on, available here. For more on this key case, click here.
David Kelly death evidence 'to be kept secret for 70 years'

2010-01-25, Telegraph (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7066383/David-Kelly-death-evidence-to-...
A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, means
medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a
direct interest in the case are dead. And a 30-year secrecy order has been placed on written
records provided to Lord Hutton's inquiry which were not produced in evidence. Liberal Democrat
MP Norman Baker, who has conducted his own investigations into Dr Kelly's death, described the
order as "astonishing". Dr Kelly's body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in
2003, shortly after it was revealed that he was the source of a BBC report casting doubt on
the Government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired
within 45 minutes. An inquest was suspended by then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, who ruled
that Lord Hutton's inquiry could take its place. But ... the inquiry focused more on the question of
how the BBC report came to be broadcast than on the medical explanation for Dr Kelly's death.
Lord Hutton's report in 2004 concluded that Dr Kelly killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist.
But the finding has been challenged by doctors who claim that the weapons inspector's stated
injuries were not serious enough.
Note: For a cache of illuminating reports on government secrecy, click here.
Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/nyregion/14watchlist.html
The Transportation Security Administration ... has on its web site a mythbuster that tries to
reassure the public. Myth: The No-Fly list includes an 8-year-old boy. Buster: No 8-year-old is on a
T.S.A. watch list. Meet Mikey Hicks, said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a
New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle
because he shares the name of a suspicious person. Its not a myth. Hickss mother initially
sensed trouble when he was a baby and she could not get a seat for him on their flight to Florida at
an airport kiosk; airline officials explained that his name was on the list, she recalled. The first
time he was patted down, at Newark Liberty International Airport, Mikey was 2. He cried.
After years of long delays and waits for supervisors at every airport ticket counter, this years
vacation to the Bahamas badly shook up the family. Mikey was frisked on the way there, then more
aggressively on the way home. Up your arms, down your arms, up your crotch someone
is patting your 8-year-old down like hes a criminal, Mrs. Hicks recounted. It is true that Mikey
is not on the federal governments no-fly list, which includes about 2,500 people, less than 10
percent of them from the United States. But his name appears to be among some 13,500 on the
larger selectee list, which sets off a high level of security screening.
Note: For many reports from major media sources on the extreme loss of liberties brought about
by the highly touted "war on terrorism," click here.
Federal Reserve Seeks to Protect U.S. Bailout Secrets

2010-01-12, BusinessWeek/Bloomberg News
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-12/federal-reserve-seeks-to-protect-...
The Federal Reserve asked a U.S. appeals court to block a ruling that for the first time
would force the central bank to reveal secret identities of financial firms that might have
collapsed without the largest government bailout in U.S. history. Bloomberg argued that the
public has the right to know basic information about the unprecedented and highly controversial
use of public money. Banks and the Fed warn that bailed-out lenders may be hurt if the
documents are made public, causing a run or a sell-off by investors. New York-based Bloomberg
... sued in November 2008 after the Fed refused to name the firms it lent to or disclose the
amounts or assets used as collateral under its lending programs. Bloomberg has been trying for
almost two years to break down a brick wall of secrecy in order to vindicate the publics right to
learn basic information, Thomas Golden, an attorney for the company with Willkie Farr &
Gallagher LLP, wrote in court filings. More than a dozen other groups or companies filed amicus,
or friend-of-the-court, briefs, including the American Society of News Editors and individual news
organizations. The judge postponed the application of her ruling to allow the appeals court to
consider the case.
Note: When doling out trillions of dollars of tax-payers' money, doesn't the public have a right to
know who is receiving the money and what it is being used for?
Is the Fed rigging the stock market?

2010-01-05, MSN Money
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks/blog.aspx?post=1528464
It is not illegal for the Federal Reserve or the U.S. Treasury to buy S&P 500 futures. This type of
intervention could explain some of the unusual market action in recent months, with stock prices
grinding higher on low volume even as companies sold huge amounts of new shares and retail
investors stayed on the sidelines. Some market watchers have charted that virtually all of the
markets upside since mid-September has come from after-hours futures activity. [These
claims are] based on an analysis of the possible sources of the $600 billion in net new cash that
was needed to boost the U.S. stock market capitalization by $6 billion since March. The usual
sources, such as retail investors and pension funds, could muster only about $100 billion. The rest
had to come from somewhere. The Fed has been openly buying some $1.7 trillion worth of
long-term bonds since last March, which is something it hasn't done since the 1950s. Today,
the Fed is making purchases to support housing by keeping mortgages cheap. As these
purchases are phased out over the next few months, long-term interest rates will continue to move
higher. This will cause long-term bond prices to fall, causing this new "bond bubble" to deflate.
Stock investors will benefit, just as they did in the 1950s and 1960s as capital was moved from
falling bonds into rising stocks.
Note: For a treasure trove of key reports from reliable sources on the secret manipulations
keeping Wall Street afloat, click here.
Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law

Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States -- from flame retardants in
furniture to household cleaners -- nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all
public officials under a little-known federal provision. Under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control
Act, manufacturers must report to the federal government new chemicals they intend to market.
But the law exempts from public disclosure any information that could harm their bottom
line. Government officials, scientists and environmental groups say that manufacturers have
exploited weaknesses in the law to claim secrecy for an ever-increasing number of chemicals. In
the past several years, 95 percent of the notices for new chemicals sent to the government
requested some secrecy, according to the Government Accountability Office. About 700
chemicals are introduced annually. Some companies have successfully argued that the federal
government should not only keep the names of their chemicals secret but also hide from public
view the identities and addresses of the manufacturers.
Note: So according to this law, the bottom line (profits) trumps public health. For lots more on
corporate and government secrecy, click here.
US aid tied to purchase of arms

2010-01-02, Sydney Mountain Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-aid-tied-to-purchase-of-arms-20100101-llsb.html
Just before Christmas, the US President, Barack Obama, signed into law one of his country's
biggest aid pledges of the year. It was bound not for Africa or any of the many struggling countries
on the World Bank's list. It was a deal for $US2.77 billion ($3 billion) to go to Israel in 2010 and
a total of $US30 billion over the next decade. Israel is bound by the agreement to use 75 per
cent of the aid to buy military hardware made in the US. For the first time the US is also
providing $US500 million to the Palestinian Authority, including $US100 million to train security
forces, under the strict proviso that the authority's leadership recognises Israel. For many years
Israel has been the largest recipient of US foreign aid, followed by Egypt ($US1.75 billion), which
also receives most of its assistance in tied military aid. The Congressional Research Service says
that the US spent 17 per cent of its total aid budget - or $US5.1 billion - on military aid in 2008, of
which $US4.7 billion was grants to enable governments to receive equipment from the US.
Note: Israel's population is 7.5 million. If you do the math, the US is providing the equivalent of
$4,000 in aid to every man, woman and child in Israel over the next decade, with $3,000 of
that to buy US military hardware. For lots more on government-facilitated profiteering in the arms
industry, click here and here.
G30, Ripe for Conspiracy Theorists

2009-12-04, Wall Street Journal blog
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/12/04/g30-ripe-for-conspiracy-theorists
If you want to encourage the kind of conspiracy theories that have prospered in the wake of
last years financial crisis those that describe a secret cabal of elites running the world
try doing the following: Have a group of 30 high-powered economists, government officials
and bankers meet under the auspices of an international group that shares ideas on how to run the
global financial architecture. Have your Board of Trustees led by an influential former Federal
Reserve chairman whos now working as a senior advisor to the president of the United States.
Name the former vice chairman of bailout behemoth AIG as the groups Chairman and CEO (It
helps that he [is] former governor of the Bank of Israel). Ensure that membership includes the likes
of these: A former Treasury Secretary and president of Harvard who also now works as a top
presidential economic advisor; Citigroups senior vice chairman; a former IMF deputy managing
director and the current governor of the Bank of Israel; and top representatives of the worlds four
most important central banks. Hold two days of closed-door meetings at the New York Fed. Do not
publicize a list of attendees and leave everyone guessing about the agenda. These were the
circumstances surrounding Fridays start to the 62nd plenary meetings of the Group of 30,
whose formal name is The Consultative Group on International Economic and Monetary Affairs,
Inc.
Note: The article interestingly then goes on to claim that this secret meeting of the world's top
bankers is not really anything to worry about, that they are really working for the public good. If so,
why not have the meeting open and widely covered by the press? For many other revealing
articles from major media reports on secret societies and secret meetings of the most rich and
powerful people in our world, click here.
Public servants on $20m a year

2009-12-03, BBC News blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2009/12/public_servants_...
Twice a year, the chairmen and chief executives of Europe's biggest banks gather in secret.
They meet under the auspices of a hush-hush club formed after World War II, whose
operations are so mysterious that even the grandees who attend it seem unclear what it's
really called. One bank supremo told me its name was the Instituts d'Etudes Financieres ...
another that it went by the moniker IIEB. Either way, what I can tell you is that it attracts a pretty
high calibre of banker - and that its last meeting was just a few weeks ago at the plush London
hotel, Claridges, where the main item on the agenda was the topical question of bankers' bonuses.
Present were ... Stephen Green of HSBC, Philip Hampton of RBS, Marcus Agius of Barclays and
David Mayhew of JP Morgan Cazenove, and their counterparts from Germany, Italy, France and so
on. Now, let's be clear: the idea that banks would ever collude to solve a mutual problem would be
an outrageous and unwarranted slur. That said, they would dearly love a collective agreement to
cease hostilities on bankers' pay, because they know there is a one-to-one correlation between
each million pound bonus they pay and damage to their reputations. But although they explored
whether they could reach an entente on capping bankers' pay, they abandoned the ambition as a
hopeless cause. Why? Because they can't get the Americans into the room. So what is the going
rate for RBS's top profit generators? Last year, when the bonus pool was 900m [over $1.3 billion]
for the investment bank, several hundred of its executives earned more than a million pounds
each. [This year] quite a number of its top traders will be expecting $10m plus.
Note: You can bet that the money for this year's bonuses is coming out of taxpayers' pockets
through the huge bailouts. So here is yet another secret meeting of the world's top bankers not
being reported in the major media except for this BBC blog. For many other revealing articles from
major media reports on secret societies and secret meetings of the most rich and powerful people
in our world, click here.
The Lies They Told

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Heilbrunn-t.html
When Sept. 11, 2001, dawned, the Northeast Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y., went on full alert
to prepare for a training exercise that envisioned a sneak attack by Russian planes flying over
the North Pole to bomb the United States, a prospect that Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
had dismissed as outdated in 1966. Later that morning, ... three F-16 fighter jets were scrambled
from Langley Air Force Base to form a combat air patrol over Washington. But degraded radio
transmission quality meant that the pilots were left clueless about the nature of their mission. On
seeing the Pentagon in flames, the lead fighter pilot later explained, I reverted to the Russian
threat. Im thinking cruise missile threat from the sea. You know, you look down and see the
Pentagon burning, and I thought the bastards snuck one by us. You couldnt see any airplanes,
and no one told us anything. As senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, [Farmer] investigated
the derelict conduct of the national security apparatus. Now that numerous transcripts and tapes
have been declassified, [in his book The Ground Truth] Farmer draws on them to assail the
governments official depiction of 9/11 as so much public relations flimflam. Both Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick Cheney, Farmer says, provided
palpably false versions that touted the militarys readiness to shoot down United 93 before
it could hit Washington. Planes were never in place to intercept it. Farmer ... was the attorney
general of New Jersey and is the dean of the Rutgers School of Law,
Note: For more on Farmer's book, see a summary of this Time magazine article. For more on this,
see concise summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 news articles from reliable major media sources.
State to 'spy' on every phone call, email and web search

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6534319/State...
Every phone call, text message, email and website visit made by private citizens is to be stored for
a year and will be available for monitoring by government bodies. All telecoms companies and
internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customers
personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as
the websites they have visited. Despite widespread opposition to the increasing amount of
surveillance in Britain, 653 public bodies will be given access to the information, including
police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and
even prison governors. They will not require the permission of a judge or a magistrate to obtain the
information, but simply the authorisation of a senior police officer or the equivalent of a deputy
head of department at a local authority. The Government announced yesterday it was pressing
ahead with privately held Big Brother databases that opposition leaders said amounted to
state-spying and a form of covert surveillance on the public. It is doing so despite its
own consultation showing that it has little public support. The new rules ... will not only force
communications companies to keep their records for longer, but to expand the type of data they
keep to include details of every website their customers visit.
Note: For many more reports from major media sources on the disturbing trend toward increasing
government and corporate surveillance and loss of privacy, click here.
Freedom of Information: Stalled at CDC and D.C. Government

2009-10-27, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/freedom-of-information-stalled-at-cdc-and-dc-gove...
In August 2009, CBS News made a simple request of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention for public documents, e-mails and other materials CDC used to communicate to states
the decision to stop testing individual cases of Novel H1N1, or "swine flu." When the public affairs
folks at CDC refused to produce the documents and quit responding to my queries altogether, I
filed a formal Freedom of Information (FOI) request for the materials. Two months after my FOI
request, the CDC has yet to produce any of these easily retrievable materials. This has
become standard operating procedure in Washington. Today, I received a letter from the CDC
Freedom of Information office ... to inform me that my request for "expedited" treatment of my FOI
request has been denied because CDC has determined the request is "not a matter of widespread
and exceptional media and public interest." The CDC may be the only agency on the planet to
argue that testing and counting of swine flu cases is "not of widespread and exceptional
media and public interest." CBS News reporting on the topic has been quoted and reproduced
internationally by news organizations such as California NPR, radio talk shows and others. The
Freedom of Information Act ... was supposed to stop federal agencies from using their power and
control to withhold public information from the people who own it. Many federal agencies use it to
obstruct the delay or release of obviously public information.
Note: See powerful media reports suggesting that both the Avian Flu and Swine Flu were
manipulated to promote fear and boost pharmaceutical sales. For other verifiable information on
health corruption, see the excellent, reliable resources provided in our Health Information Center.
Swine Flu Cases Overestimated

2009-10-21, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/21/cbsnews_investigates/main5404829.shtml
If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months,
you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didnt have H1N1 flu. In fact, you probably didnt
have flu at all. That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS
News investigation. Why the uncertainty about who has and who hasn't had H1N1 flu? In late
July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting
individual cases. CBS News learned that the decision to stop counting H1N1 flu cases was made
so hastily that states weren't given the opportunity to provide input. When CDC did not provide us
[CBS News] with the material, we filed a Freedom of Information request with the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS). More than two months later, the request has not been fulfilled.
We also asked CDC for state-by-state test results prior to halting of testing and tracking, but CDC
was again, initially, unresponsive. We asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed
H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The vast majority of cases were
negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically
testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors,
such as travel to Mexico. With most cases diagnosed solely on symptoms and risk factors, the
H1N1 flu epidemic may seem worse than it is.
Note: Some states found that less than 2% of cases claimed to be swine flu turned out to be the
real thing. The numbers have been greatly exaggerated. Yet the drug companies raked in billions
of dollars in profit from all the fear mongering. For more reliable information on this, click here and
here.
Material missing from Oklahoma bombing tapes, lawyer says

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-27-okla-city-bombing-tapes_N.htm
Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the
Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been
edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday. "The real story is what's missing,"
said Jesse Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney who obtained the recordings through the federal
Freedom of Information Act as part of an unofficial inquiry he is conducting into the April 19, 1995,
bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. The tapes turned over by the FBI came
from security cameras various companies had mounted outside office buildings near the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building. They are blank at points before 9:02 a.m., when a truck bomb carrying a
4,000-pound fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb detonated in front of the building, Trentadue said. "Four
cameras in four different locations going blank at basically the same time on the morning of
April 19, 1995. There ain't no such thing as a coincidence," Trentadue said. He said
government officials claim the security cameras did not record the minutes before the bombing
because "they had run out of tape" or "the tape was being replaced." "The absence of footage
from these crucial time intervals is evidence that there is something there that the FBI
doesn't want anybody to see." Trentadue said he is seeking more tapes along with a variety of
bombing-related documents from the FBI and the CIA. An FOIA request by Trentadue for 26 CIA
documents was rejected in June. A letter from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which
reviewed the documents, said their release "could cause grave damage to our national security."
Note: This revealing article also tells how Trentadue's brother was murdered by FBI agents who
mistakenly thought his brother was the bomber. For more valuable information on this and other
evidence challenging the official story of the Oklahoma City bombing, click here.
Gardasil Researcher Speaks Out

2009-08-29, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500690_162-5253431.html
Amid questions about the safety of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, one of the lead researchers for the
Merck drug is speaking out about its risks, benefits and aggressive marketing. Dr. Diane Harper
says young girls and their parents should receive more complete warnings before receiving the
vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Dr. Harper helped design and carry out the Phase II and Phase
III safety and effectiveness studies to get Gardasil approved, and authored many of the published,
scholarly papers about it. She has been a paid speaker and consultant to Merck. It's highly
unusual for a researcher to publicly criticize a medicine or vaccine she helped get
approved. Dr. Harper joins a number of consumer watchdogs, vaccine safety advocates, and
parents who question the vaccine's risk-versus-benefit profile. She says data available for
Gardasil shows that ... there is no data showing that it remains effective beyond five years.
This raises questions about the CDC's recommendation that the series of shots be given to
girls as young as 11-years old. "If we vaccinate 11 year olds and the protection doesn't last...
we've put them at harm from side effects, small but real, for no benefit," says Dr. Harper. "The
benefit to public health is nothing, there is no reduction in cervical cancers, they are just
postponed, unless the protection lasts for at least 15 years, and over 70% of all sexually active
females of all ages are vaccinated." She also says that enough serious side effects have been
reported after Gardasil use that the vaccine could prove riskier than the cervical cancer it purports
to prevent. Cervical cancer is usually entirely curable when detected early through normal Pap
screenings.
Note: For more on the dangers of vaccines, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Legislators for sale

2009-08-03, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32276889/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann
A special comment on health care reform in this country. The insurance industry owns the
Republican Party. Not exclusively. Pharma owns part of it, too. Hospitals and HMO's, another part.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota ... has thus far received from the Health Sector, campaign
contributions ... amounting to $1,206,176. How about Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite? Are you truly
worth every dollar of the $369,000,255 ... you have received over the years from the Health
Sector? [And Democrat] Bart Gordon of Tennessee ... $1,173,000 in donations from the
Health Sector. [Democratic Senator] Max Baucus of Montana, ... you're supposed to be
negotiating all this out with the Republicans and hesitant Democrats? Your price has been ...
$414,000 in donations from hospitals, about $667,000 from the insurance companies and just over
$1,000,000 from Big Pharma. Mr. Baucus, you are not the Senator from Schering-Plough Global
Health Care, even if they have already given you $76,000 towards your re-election. We could bring
up Senator Hagan ... who, at $628,000, appears to represent the insurance industry and not North
Dakota. I could bring up Sen. Carper, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln. I could bring up all the other
Democrats doing their masters' bidding in the House or the Senate. Every poll, every analysis,
every vote, every region of this country supports health care reform, and the essential great
leveling agent of a government-funded alternative to ... profiteering private insurance corporations.
Note: For an excellent analysis of the huge influence of the pharmaceutical industry over our
government by the former editor-in-chief of the esteemed New England Journal of Medicine, click
here. It's time to get the money influence out of politics and shift from our current one dollar equals
one vote to one person equals one vote.
Sticker Shock: $23.7 Trillion Bailout?

2009-07-21, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=8140184
"The total potential federal government support could reach up to $23.7 trillion," says Neil
Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, in a report
released today on the government's efforts to fix the financial system. "The potential financial
commitment the American taxpayers could be responsible for is of a size and scope that isn't even
imaginable," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., ranking member on the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee. "If you spent a million dollars a day going back to the birth
of Christ, that wouldn't even come close to just $1 trillion -- $23.7 trillion is a staggering
figure." The government has about 50 different programs to fight the current recession, including
programs to bail out ailing banks and automakers, boost lending and beat back the housing crisis.
So far they've cost taxpayers around $4 trillion. But Barofsky says if each federal agency spent the
maximum potential amount involved in these initiatives, taxpayers could be on the hook for trillions
more. The watchdog also warned today that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars could be lost if
the government does not increase the transparency of the TARP program, which he says has
grown to an unprecedented scope and scale. Requiring TARP recipients to report on how
government funds are used is among the recommendations urged by Barofsky. He also wants the
department to report on the values of its TARP portfolio so taxpayers know about the value of their
investments.
Note: For a treasure trove of revelations from reliable sources on the hidden realities behind the
Wall Street bailout, click here.
Washington's C Street House at Congress Run by Secretive 'The Family'

2009-07-13, MSNBC
The secretive religious group, the Family, ... appears to be the connective tissue of the Senator
Ensign sex scandal and the Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina sex scandal. Its a mystery
that concerns this house at 133 C Street Southeast in Washington, D.C. This buildings financial
paper trail [shows] that its actually considered to be a church. That designation makes C
Street a convenient tax-free haven for the secretive organization that runs it, an
organization known as the Family. Members of Congress who live there are sworn to
secrecy. This powerful, poorly understood religious group ... and the house at C Street have
ended up reluctantly in the headlines now because of the two major politicians sex scandals.
Embattled Nevada Senator John Ensign lives at the C Street house. Prominent members of the
Family ... as well as other members of Congress who live at C Streetwere both aware of
Ensigns secret affair and were involved in his efforts to pay off the mistress and her family. South
Carolina Governor Mark Sanford mentioned C Street by name in his long public statement of
regret about his affair with a woman in Argentina. Jeff Sharlet ... secretly infiltrated the family to
write a book [The Family] about them. SHARLET: They like to call themselves the Christian mafia.
They mean this in the sense of money moving quietly behind the scenes. Where the money goes
they believe God goes. Douglas Coe, "The Family" leader, ... again and again [uses] the
model of Hitler as an ideal of strength. Its not that hes a neo-Nazi. Its that they fetishize
strength. They look for the leader who they believe is chosen by God. Evidence [of this] is his
power, his wealth, and his willingness to align himself with their version of American power.
Note: To watch a stunning MSNBC video clip on "the Family," click here. For how political sex
scandals may be much more commonplace than you might think, click here. And for powerful
inside information from one who claims to have escaped from "the family," and another who says
he is from a very high level there, click here and here. To develop an understanding of the bigger
picture behind all of this, click here.
Affordable Health Care on the Critical List

2009-07-10, PBS Bill Moyers Journal
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch3.html
Quality, affordable health care is on the critical list in America. And so is the newspaper business.
So maybe it's not surprising that one of the most powerful papers in the country attempted an
unholy alliance, trying to turn a profit from its newsroom's coverage of the fight for health care
reform. You may have missed the story because it broke on the eve of the July 4th weekend. The
publisher of The Washington Post, Katharine Weymouth one of the most powerful people
in the nation's capital invited top officials from the White House, the Cabinet and
Congress to her home for an intimate, off-the-record dinner to discuss health care reform
with some of her reporters and editors covering the story. But she then invited CEOs and
lobbyists from the health care industry to come, too providing they fork over $25,000 a
head, or a quarter of a million if they want to sponsor a whole series of these cozy little gettogethers. And what is the inducement she offers them? Nothing less than and I'm quoting the
invitation verbatim "An exclusive opportunity to participate in the health care reform debate
among the select few who will actually get it done." The invitation promises this private, intimate,
and off-the-record dinner is an extension "of The Washington Post brand of journalistic inquiry into
the issues, a unique opportunity for stakeholders to hear and be heard." Let that sink in. The
"stakeholders" in health care reform in this case do not include the rabble the folks across the
country who actually need quality health care but can't afford it. If any of them showed up at the
kitchen door on the night of this little soiree, a bouncer would drop kick them beyond the beltway.
Note: To read the complete text, click on the link above and scroll below the video box at the top of
the page. For an excellent article on the Washington Post's ties to the CIA and manipulative
politics, click here.
Senate Blocks Bid to Audit Federal Reserve

2009-07-09, Fox News
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, HOST: Despite growing pressure from the House and ordinary
people, the Senate decided not to increase scrutiny on the Federal Reserve. They actually blocked
a bid on procedural grounds to have the Government Accountability Office audit the Federal
Reserve and issue a report. Here is Republican Senator Jim DeMint. Senator DeMint, ... Why
should the Federal Reserve be audited? DEMINT: Well, the value of our dollar, our whole
economic system, rides on [this] unelected, secret agency called the Federal Reserve. We're not
sure what they're doing right now. And Ron Paul in the House with over half of the House signing
up as cosponsors, and me and Bernie Sanders in the Senate are pushing the idea of a complete
audit of the Federal Reserve, because frankly, a lot of us here in this country and around the world,
are concerned that we're going to destroy the American dollar and the worldwide reserve currency.
NAPOLITANO: How is it that legislation that has more than half the members of the House
behind it and is proposed by a staunch conservative Republican like you and then
independent socialists like Bernie Sanders is stopped on the floor of the Senate cold before
you can even formally introduce it, before you can make a speech in favor of it? DEMINT:
Well, if we could get the Federal Reserve under control, it would make it more difficult for the
Obama administration, I think, to carry out the continued spending and growing of debt. Because
one thing we're concerned about is the Federal Reserve ... will do what we call monetize the debt,
basically print money, buy our own debt as a country, and devalue the dollar that way.
Note: For two powerful, short videos revealing efforts to expose the intriguing secrets of the
Federal Reserve, click here and here. If you care about the financial health of the U.S. and its
implications in our world, these are both must watch videos.
'Bailout psychology' destroying the economy

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/04/INR316Q4F5.DTL
President Obama must stop the bailouts and start the prosecutions. It's time to focus on antipoverty programs to protect the growing unemployed from hunger and homelessness. Stealth
payments to billionaire bondholders must cease immediately. Since the mid-1970s, average
Americans' wages have stayed flat when adjusted for inflation. Productivity rose, profits
rose, but not wages. To compensate for stagnant wages and the desire to consume more
each year, Americans worked more, retired later, spouses went to work, and many burned
savings. Then they started borrowing. Debt became America's growth industry. The scheme
collapsed because Americans' wages weren't sufficient to pay the interest on existing debts. The
administration and the banks keep talking about a credit crisis, but there isn't one. Banks are
lending. If you want a mortgage and can afford to pay it back, you can borrow at low rates today.
But most Americans don't want more debt because it is a debilitating path to poverty. The average
American family already pays 14 percent of annual income in interest to banks. To fix this fake
crisis, there are fake discussions about what the government must do. The endlessly recycled plan
to buy "troubled" assets isn't to get banks lending again, because they haven't stopped lending.
The plan seeks for taxpayers to buy worthless assets at high prices to absorb rich investors'
losses. That's it. It keeps coming back as a different plan, but with that same goal. There is no goal
beyond that one goal: keep rich people from taking losses.
Note: For an extensive archive of key reports on the hidden realities of the Wall Street bailout,
click here.
Several Clay County Officials Arrested On Federal Charges

2009-03-21, MSNBC
Five Clay County [Kentucky] officials, including the circuit court judge, the county clerk, and
election officers were arrested Thursday after they were indicted on federal charges accusing them
of using corrupt tactics to obtain political power and personal gain. The 10-count indictment,
unsealed Thursday, accused the defendants of a conspiracy from March 2002 until November
2006 that violated the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The
defendants were also indicted for extortion, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to injure
voters' rights and conspiracy to commit voter fraud. According to the indictment, these alleged
criminal actions affected the outcome of federal, local, and state primary and general
elections in 2002, 2004, and 2006. Clay County Circuit Court Judge Russell Cletus Maricle, 65,
and school superintendent Douglas C. Adams, 57, allegedly used their status in the county to
influence the appointment of corrupt members to the Clay County Board of Election Officials. [They
also] caused election officers to commit acts of extortion, mail fraud, and bribery. Clay County
Clerk, Freddy Thompson, 45, allegedly provided money to election officers to be distributed by the
officers to buy votes. He also instructed officers how to change votes at the voting machine.
Paul E. Bishop, 60, ... hosted alleged meetings at his home where money was pooled together by
candidates and distributed to election officers, including himself. He was also accused of
instructing the officers how to change votes at the voting machine. The investigation preceding the
indictment was conducted by the FBI, Kentucky State Police, and Appalachia
Note: For some strange reason, the article is no longer available at the link above. To read it on an
MSNBC affiliate website, click here. The media have almost always proclaimed that voting
maching tampering has never been proven to affect election outcome. This article demonstrates
that not only does it happen, but it may be much more prevalent than most would think. For more
on this indictment, click here. For more reliable information on widespread election fraud, click
here.
Pentagon sets sights on public opinion

2009-02-05, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29040299/
The Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing the money it spends to win what it calls "the
human terrain" of world public opinion. In the process, it is raising concerns of spreading
propaganda at home in violation of federal law. An Associated Press investigation found that over
the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and
abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Department of
Defense budgets and other documents. That's almost as much as it spent on body armor for
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006. This year, the Pentagon will employ
27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations almost as many as
the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department. The biggest chunk of funds
about $1.6 billion goes into recruitment and advertising. Another $547 million goes into public
affairs, which reaches American audiences. And about $489 million more goes into what is
known as psychological operations. Staffing across all these areas costs about $2.1 billion, as
calculated by the number of full-time employees and the military's average cost per service
member. That's double the staffing costs for 2003. Recruitment and advertising are the only two
areas where Congress has authorized the military to influence the American public. Far more
controversial is public affairs, because of the prohibition on propaganda to the American public.
Note: For more revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities of the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq, click here.
Whistleblower exposes spying on Americans

2009-01-22, MSNBC Countdown With Keith Olberman
OLBERMANN: It has taken less than 24 hours after the Bush presidency ended for a former
analyst at the National Security Agency to come forward to reveal new allegations about how this
nation was spied on by its own government. Russell Tice [reveals] that under the collar of fighting
terrorism, the Bush administration was also targeting specific groups of Americans for surveillance.
TICE: The National Security Agency had access to all Americans communications, faxes,
phone calls, and their computer communications. They monitored all communications.
What was done was a sort of an ability to look at the meta data, the signaling data for
communications, and ferret that information to determine what communications would ultimately
be collected. Basically, filtering out sort of like sweeping everything with that meta data, and then
cutting down ultimately what you are going to look at and what is going to be collected, and in the
long run have an analyst look at, you know, needles in a haystack for what might be of interest.
OLBERMANN: I mention that you say specific groups were targeted. What group or groups can
you tell us about? TICE: [Some of the groups they] collected on were U.S. news organizations and
reporters and journalists. The collection ... was 24/7, and you know, 365 days a year, and it made
no sense.
Note: To watch this revealing clip on video, click here. For many reports on government
surveillance and invasions of privacy, click here.
U.S. Embassy in Iraq Largest, Most Expensive Ever

2009-01-05, Fox News
After much delay the United States opened its new $700 million embassy in Iraq on Monday,
inaugurating the largest and most expensive embassy ever built. The compound is six
times larger than the United Nations compound in New York, and two-thirds the size of the
National Mall in Washington. It has space for 1,000 employees with six apartment blocks
and is 10 times larger than any other U.S. embassy. Critics have said that the embassy's
fortress-like design and immense size show a fundamental disconnect between the U.S. and
conditions on the ground in Iraq. The presence of a massive U.S. embassy by far the largest in
the world co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an
indication of who actually exercises power in their country, the International Crisis Group, a
European-based research group, said in 2006. "The idea of an embassy this huge, this costly, and
this isolated from events taking place outside its walls is not necessarily a cause for celebration,"
architectural historian Jane Loeffler wrote in Foreign Affairs in 2007. Although the U.S.
Government regularly proclaims confidence in Iraqs democratic future, the U.S. has designed an
embassy that conveys no confidence in Iraqis and little hope for their future. Instead, the U.S. has
built a fortress capable of sustaining a massive, long-term presence in the face of continued
violence.
Note: Why would the U.S. want Iraq (estimated population 28 million) to have an embassy 10
times or more larger than that of China (over a billion people), Canada, Japan, or for that matter
many other countries? And why isn't any major media besides Fox even raising this key question?
Look at the AP article which has virtually nothing critical. Could this possibly have anything to do
with control of oil and other precious resources there?
Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane

http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/stocks/news/press_release.asp?docKey=6...
Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George
Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three
miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a non-profit that has been investigating
Mr. Connell's activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell
has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how he can tell all about his work for George
Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that George Bush and Dick
Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus." A tipster close to the McCain campaign
disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell's life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had
threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR's attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States
Attorney General, Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that
Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell's not to
fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very
experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of
suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport
outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he
crashed.
Note: WantToKnow.info supporter Dr. Josh Mitteldorf downloaded this essay from the New York
Times website the day it was published, but then was surprised to find it removed the very next
day. You can find the article as it originally appeared at this link. For an excellent OpEdNews article
by Dr. Mitteldorf on this most strange death and why it matters, click here. And for the deposition of
Stephen Spoonamore, a Republican insider and computer consultant who came out as
whistleblower on this matter, click here.
The Madoff Economy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/opinion/19krugman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&...
The revelation that Bernard Madoff brilliant investor (or so almost everyone thought),
philanthropist, pillar of the community was a phony has shocked the world, and understandably
so. The scale of his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend. Yet ... how different,
really, is Mr. Madoffs tale from the story of the investment industry as a whole? The financial
services industry has claimed an ever-growing share of the nations income over the past
generation, making the people who run the industry incredibly rich. Yet, at this point, it looks as if
much of the industry has been destroying value, not creating it. And its not just a matter of
money: the vast riches achieved by those who managed other peoples money have had a
corrupting effect on our society as a whole. Last year, the average salary of employees in
securities, commodity contracts, and investments was more than four times the average salary in
the rest of the economy. Earning a million dollars was nothing special, and even incomes of $20
million or more were fairly common. The incomes of the richest Americans have exploded over the
past generation, even as wages of ordinary workers have stagnated. High pay on Wall Street was
a major cause of that divergence. Wall Streets ill-gotten gains corrupted and continue to
corrupt politics, in a nicely bipartisan way. From Bush administration officials ... who looked the
other way as evidence of financial fraud mounted, to Democrats who still havent closed the
outrageous tax loophole that benefits executives at hedge funds and private equity firms ...
politicians have walked when money talked. The pay system on Wall Street lavishly rewards
the appearance of profit, even if that appearance later turns out to have been an illusion.
Note: This entire, penetrating article is well worth a read at the link above. For many revealing
reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
US diluted loan rules before crash

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/business&id=6532267
The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interestonly mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of
the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold
the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.
"Expect fallout, expect foreclosures, expect horror stories," California mortgage lender Paris Welch
wrote to U.S. regulators in January 2006, about one year before the housing implosion cost her a
job. Bowing to aggressive lobbying - along with assurances from banks that the troubled
mortgages were OK - regulators delayed action for nearly one year. By the time new rules were
released late in 2006, the toughest of the proposed provisions were gone and the meltdown was
under way. The administration's blind eye to the impending crisis is emblematic of its governing
philosophy, which trusted market forces and discounted the value of government intervention in
the economy. Its belief ironically has ushered in the most massive government intervention since
the 1930s. Many of the banks that fought to undermine the proposals by some regulators are now
either out of business or accepting billions in federal aid to recover from a mortgage crisis they
insisted would never come. In 2005, faced with ominous signs the housing market was in jeopardy,
bank regulators proposed new guidelines for banks writing risky loans. Those proposals all were
stripped from the final rules.
Note: For many revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout from reliable sources, click here.
All Fall Down

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/opinion/26friedman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss...
I spent Sunday afternoon brooding over a [New York Times] front-page article, entitled ["Citigroup
Saw No Red Flags Even as It Made Bolder Bets]. In searing detail it exposed ... how some of our
countrys best-paid bankers were overrated dopes who had no idea what they were selling, or
greedy cynics who did know and turned a blind eye. But it wasnt only the bankers. This
financial meltdown involved a broad national breakdown in personal responsibility,
government regulation and financial ethics. So many people were in on it: People who had
no business buying a home, with nothing down and nothing to pay for two years; people who had
no business pushing such mortgages, but made fortunes doing so; people who had no business
bundling those loans into securities and selling them to third parties, as if they were AAA bonds,
but made fortunes doing so; people who had no business rating those loans as AAA, but made
fortunes doing so; and people who had no business buying those bonds and putting them on their
balance sheets so they could earn a little better yield, but made fortunes doing so. Citigroup was
involved in, and made money from, almost every link in that chain. And the banks executives,
including ...the former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, were ... so ensnared by the cronyism
between the banks risk managers and risk takers (and so bought off by their bonuses) that they
had no interest in stopping it. These are the people whom taxpayers bailed out on Monday to the
tune of what could be more than $300 billion.
Note: For many revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout from major media sources, click here.
Treasury gives banks multi-billion tax break windfall

2008-11-11, San Francisco Chronicle/Associated Press
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/11/BUTP141OVI.DTL
Some of the nation's biggest banks are in for a windfall on top of the $700 billion
government bailout thanks to a new tax policy quietly issued by the Treasury Department.
The notice gives big tax breaks to companies that acquire struggling banks hit hard by the
mortgage crisis. In some cases, the tax breaks could exceed the cost of acquiring the banks,
according to analyses by private tax experts. The change could cost the Treasury as much as
$140 billion by enabling firms that acquire struggling banks to use more losses incurred by those
banks to offset their own taxable profits. San Francisco's Wells Fargo & Co., which made a bid to
acquire Wachovia Corp. just days after the notice was issued, stands to reap about $20 billion in
additional tax savings because of the change, according to the analyses. Wells Fargo paid $14.8
billion in a stock deal to buy Wachovia. The notice was issued Sept. 30 as Congress debated the
$700 billion bailout plan. Some members of Congress are upset that such a sweeping tax change
was issued with no public hearings or congressional input. "I am concerned that the notice, which
was never debated by Congress, could end up costing taxpayers tens of billions of more dollars on
top of the hundreds of billions of dollars already approved by Congress in the financial rescue
plan," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson. Some tax lawyers questioned the legality of the notice. Before the notice was issued, the
merged bank could write off only a limited amount of the losses. The notice removed those
restrictions, enabling the acquiring banks to make huge reductions in their tax liabilities.
Note: With no limitations placed on the nine biggest banks receiving many billions of dollars in
bailout money, they are free to buy up smaller banks. And they will likely receive huge tax breaks,
sometimes even greater than the purchase price, for doing so! For many revealing, reliable reports
on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
New Terrain for Panel on Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/business/economy/04bailout.html?partner=rss...
Having been handed vast authority and almost no restrictions in the bailout law that
Congress passed ... a committee of five little-known government officials, aided by a barebones staff of 40, is picking winners and losers among thousands of banks, savings and
loans, insurers and other institutions. It is new and unfamiliar terrain for the officials, who are
making monumental decisions a form of industrial policy, some critics say that contradict the
free market philosophy they usually espouse. Predictably, the process is stirring alarm from Capitol
Hill to Wall Street. Among the problems, critics say, is that despite earlier promises of
transparency, the process is shrouded in secrecy, its precise goals opaque. Treasury
officials have refused to disclose their criteria for deciding which banks ... get money. And officials
have yet to say they even have a broader strategy, though banking executives are convinced the
government wants to encourage acquisitions. Already, critics from Capitol Hill to Wall Street are
lashing out at the program, saying the banks are misusing the capital infusions by hoarding the
money rather than lending it. The government, the critics say, is wrongly steering funds to banks to
take over weaker rivals. All this comes after Mr. Paulson abruptly shifted the focus of the program
to injecting capital rather than buying distressed mortgage-related assets from the banks. This
meant that Congress had never debated the details of how the government ought to carry out a
recapitalization.
Note: With the intense secrecy and all of the lobbyist and big guns for banking fighting for
hundreds of billions of dollars given practically free by the government, do you really think these
"five little-known government officials" will be impartial in their decisions? For many revealing,
reliable reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
So When Will Banks Give Loans?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/business/25nocera.html?partner=rssuserland&...
Chase recently received $25 billion in federal funding. What effect will that have on the business
side and will it change our strategic lending policy? It was Oct. 17, just four days after JPMorgan
Chases chief executive, Jamie Dimon, agreed to take a $25 billion capital injection courtesy of the
United States government, when a JPMorgan employee asked that question [during] an employeeonly conference call. The JPMorgan executive who was moderating the employee conference call
didnt hesitate to answer. What we ... think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on
the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. I think there are
going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an
opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way. Read that answer as many times as you want
you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy.
On the contrary: It is starting to appear as if one of Treasurys key rationales for the
recapitalization program namely, that it will cause banks to start lending again is a fig
leaf, Treasurys version of the weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Treasury wants banks
to acquire each other and is using its power to inject capital to force a new and wrenching round
of bank consolidation. Treasury would even funnel some of the bailout money to help banks buy
other banks. And, in an almost unnoticed move, it recently put in place a new tax break, worth
billions to the banking industry, that has only one purpose: to encourage bank mergers. As a tax
expert, Robert Willens, put it: It couldnt be clearer if they had taken out an ad.
Note: Was the real purpose of the "bailout" to strengthen the biggest banks by enabling them to
gobble up the smaller ones at the public's expense? No wonder the legislation was rushed through
without discussion! For lots more highly revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
EPA silences employees

2008-07-29, Los Angeles Times/Associated Press
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epagag29-2008jul29,0,585...
The Environmental Protection Agency is telling its pollution enforcement officials not to talk with
congressional investigators, reporters and even the agency's own inspector general, according to
an internal e-mail provided to The Associated Press. The June 16 message instructs 11 managers
in the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the branch of the agency charged
with making sure environmental laws are followed, to remind their staff members to keep quiet. "If
you are contacted directly by the IG's office or GAO requesting information of any kind . . . please
do not respond to questions or make any statements," reads the e-mail sent by Robbi Farrell, the
division's chief of staff. Instead, staff members should forward inquiries to a designated EPA
representative, the memo says. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained the email and provided it to the AP. The group is a nonprofit alliance of local, state and federal
professionals. Jeff Ruch, its executive director, said ... the e-mail reinforces a "bunker
mentality" within EPA under the Bush administration. "The clear intention behind this move
is to chill the cubicles by suppressing any uncontrolled information." The Office of Inspector
General said it did not approve of the language in the e-mail. "All EPA officials and employees are
required to cooperate with OIG," the statement said. "This cooperation includes providing the OIG
full and unrestricted access to EPA documents, records, and personnel."
Note: For many revealing reports on government secrecy from major media sources, click here.
American inequality highlighted by 30-year gap in life expectancy

2008-07-17, The Independent (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-inequality-highligh...
The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the
average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous
New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending
on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday. The American Human
Development Index has [issued a report] measuring well-being ... with shocking results. The US
finds itself ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in survival of infants to age.
Suicide and murder are among the top 15 causes of death and although the US is home to
just 5 per cent of the global population it accounts for 24 per cent of the world's prisoners.
The report points to a rigged system that does little to lessen inequalities. "The report shows that
although America is one of the richest nations in the world, it is woefully behind when it comes to
providing opportunity and choices to all Americans to build a better life," the authors said. Some of
its more shocking findings reveal that ... Asian-American males have the best quality of life and
black Americans the lowest, with a staggering 50-year life expectancy gap between the two
groups. Using official government statistics, the study points out that because American schools
are funded primarily from local property taxes, rich districts get the best state education. The US
has no federally mandated sick pay, paternity leave or annual paid vacation.
Note: For lots more on health issues from reliable, verifiable sources, click here.
BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince

2008-02-15, The Guardian (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/15/bae.armstrade
Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless
corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents
revealed yesterday. Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced
"another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their
inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence. Prince Bandar, the head of
the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the
man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces
accusations that he himself took more than 1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.
He was accused in yesterday's high court hearings of flying to London in December 2006 and
uttering threats which made the prime minister, Tony Blair, force an end to the Serious Fraud Office
investigation into bribery allegations involving Bandar and his family. The threats halted the fraud
inquiry. Lord Justice Moses, hearing the civil case with Mr Justice Sullivan, said the government
appeared to have "rolled over" after the threats. He said one possible view was that it was "just as
if a gun had been held to the head" of the government. The SFO investigation began in 2004,
when Robert Wardle, its director, studied evidence unearthed by the Guardian. This revealed that
massive secret payments were going from BAE to Saudi Arabian princes, to promote arms deals.
Yesterday, anti-corruption campaigners began a legal action to overturn the decision to halt the
case. They want the original investigation restarted, arguing the government had caved into
blackmail.
Note: This report comes very close to confirming the close link between terrorist attacks and highlevel policy of certain states. For many revealing clues along these lines from reliable sources,
click here.
Bush, aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war

2008-01-23, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/
President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed
by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001, according to a study released ... by two
nonprofit journalism groups. "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the
basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in
military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003," reads an overview of the examination,
conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in
Journalism. According to the study, Bush and seven top officials -- including Vice President Dick
Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice -- made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years. The study says Bush made
232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein's possessing weapons of
mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq's links to al Qaeda. The study, released
Tuesday, says Powell had the second-highest number of false statements, with 244 about
weapons and 10 about Iraq and al Qaeda. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer each made 109 false statements. "It is now beyond dispute that Iraq
did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda," the report
reads. The overview of the study also calls the media to task, saying most media outlets didn't do
enough to investigate the claims. "Some journalists -- indeed, even some entire news
organizations -- have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far
too deferential and uncritical," the report reads.
Note: These lies led to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi civilians. Why is no action being taken on this matter? For other powerful revelations of war
corruption and profiteering, click here.
Global Derivatives Market Expands to $516 Trillion

2007-11-22, Bloomberg News
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a58EF32GpHeg
The market for derivatives grew at the fastest pace in at least nine years to $516 trillion in
the first half of 2007, the Bank for International Settlements said. Credit-default swaps,
contracts designed to protect investors against default and used to speculate on credit
quality, led the increase, expanding 49 percent to cover a notional $43 trillion of debt in the
six months ended June 30, the BIS said in a report published late yesterday. Derivatives of debt,
currencies, commodities, stocks and interest rates rose 25 percent from the previous six months,
the biggest jump since the Basel, Switzerland-based bank began compiling the data. Investors
have been turning to credit derivatives as a way to speculate on a growing risk of defaults amid
record U.S. mortgage foreclosures. The money at risk through credit-default swaps increased 145
percent from last year to $721 billion, the report said. The amount at stake in the entire derivatives
market is $11.1 trillion, according to the BIS, which was formed in 1930 to monitor financial
markets and regulate banks. Derivatives are financial instruments derived from stocks, bonds,
loans, currencies and commodities, or linked to specific events like changes in interest rates or the
weather. The report is based on contracts traded outside of exchanges in over-the- counter
market.
Note: Like most reporting in the major media, this article trivializes the massive size of the
derivatives market. $516 trillion is equivalent to $75,000 for every man, woman, and child in the
world! Do you think the financial industry is out of control? For lots more powerful, reliable
information on major banking manipulations, click here. For a powerful analysis describing just
how crazy things have gotten and giving some rays of hope by researcher David Wilcock, click
here.
Former pilots and officials call for new U.S. UFO probe
2007-11-12, ABC News/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3855969
An international panel of two dozen former pilots and government officials called on the U.S.
government on Monday to reopen its generation-old UFO investigation as a matter of safety and
security given continuing reports about flying discs, glowing spheres and other strange sightings.
"Especially after the attacks of 9/11, it is no longer satisfactory to ignore radar returns ... which
cannot be associated with performances of existing aircraft and helicopters," they said in a
statement released at a news conference. The panelists from seven countries, including former
senior military officers, said they had each seen a UFO or conducted an official investigation into
UFO phenomena. "It's a question of who [are] you going to believe: your lying eyes or the
government?" remarked John Callahan, a former Federal Aviation Administration
investigator, who said the CIA in 1987 tried to hush up the sighting of a huge lighted ball
four times the size of a jumbo jet in Alaska. The panel, organized by a group dedicated to
winning credibility for the study of UFOs, urged Washington to resume UFO investigations through
the U.S. Air Force or NASA. "It would certainly, I think, take a lot of angst out of this issue," said
former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, who said he was among hundreds who saw a delta-shaped
craft with enormous lights silently traverse the sky near Phoenix in 1997.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For a eight-minute CNN clip on this historic event including
witness testimony, click here. For lots more media coverage of this and other major UFO events,
click here. For their bios, photos, and official statements, click here.
Chip implants linked to animal tumors

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the
manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients'
medical records almost instantly. The FDA found "reasonable assurance" the device was safe, and
a sub-agency even called it one of 2005's top "innovative technologies." But neither the company
nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating
to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumors in some lab
mice and rats. "The transponders were the cause of the tumors," said Keith Johnson, a
retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining ... the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow
Chemical Co. Leading cancer specialists reviewed the research for The Associated Press and ...
said the findings troubled them. Some said they would not allow family members to receive
implants, and all urged further research before the glass-encased transponders are widely
implanted in people. To date, about 2,000 of the so-called radio frequency identification, or RFID,
devices have been implanted in humans worldwide. Did the agency know of the tumor findings
before approving the chip implants? The FDA declined repeated AP requests to specify what
studies it reviewed. The FDA is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services,
which, at the time of VeriChip's approval, was headed by Tommy Thompson. Two weeks after the
device's approval took effect on Jan. 10, 2005, Thompson left his Cabinet post, and within five
months was a board member of VeriChip Corp. and Applied Digital Solutions. He was
compensated in cash and stock options.
Note: For more reliable information about the use and dangers of microchips, click here.
The White House Coup

2007-07-23, BBC Radio
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml
[BBC Radio] uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American
businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of
half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most
famous families in America (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell [House] and
George Bushs grandfather, Prescott [Bush]) believed that their country should adopt the
policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Why [is] so little ... known about
this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy?
Note: The highly decorated General Smedley Butler, author of the landmark book War is a Racket,
was approached by the plotters for assistance in carrying out this coup. He at first played along,
but then eventually exposed the coup plot in Congressional testimony. Yet news of this huge plot
was squelched by both the government and media. To understand why, read a two-page summary
of General Butler's book by clicking here and listen to the gripping, 30-minute BBC broadcast at
the link above.
UCSF study questions drug trial results

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/05/DRUGS.TMP
Money talks -- and very loudly -- when a drug company is funding a clinical trial involving one of its
products. UCSF researchers looked at nearly 200 head-to-head studies of widely prescribed
cholesterol-lowering medications, or statins, and found that results were 20 times more likely to
favor the drug made by the company that sponsored the trial. "We have to be really, really
skeptical of these drug-company-sponsored studies," said Lisa Bero, the study's author and
professor of clinical pharmacy and health policy studies. The trials typically involved comparing the
effectiveness of a drug to one or two other statins. UCSF researchers also found that a study's
conclusions -- not the actual research results but the trial investigators' impressions -- are
more than 35 times more likely to favor the test drug when that trial is sponsored by the
drug's maker. Bero said drug companies fund up to 90 percent of drug-to-drug clinical trials for
certain classes of medication. The researchers found other factors that could affect trial results.
For example, pharmaceutical companies could choose not to publish results of studies that fail to
favor their drugs, or they could be designed in ways to skew results. The study found the most
important weakness of trials was lack of true clinical outcome measures. In the case of statins,
some trials focused on less-direct results such as lipid levels but failed to connect the results with
key outcomes such as heart attacks or mortality. "None of us really care what our cholesterol level
is. We care about having a heart attack," Gibson said. "For the drug to be worthwhile taking, it has
to be directly related to prevent a heart attack."
Note: For lots more reliable information about corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, click here.
Buying the War

2007-04-25, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html
Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a
flight suit ... in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a
"breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound
questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing
violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was
won. How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the
existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue
to go largely unreported? In the run-up to war, skepticism was a rarity among journalists inside the
Beltway. The [PBS "Buying the War"] program analyzes the stream of unchecked information from
administration sources and Iraqi defectors to the mainstream print and broadcast press. While
almost all the claims would eventually prove to be false, the drumbeat of misinformation about
WMDs went virtually unchallenged by the media. "Buying the War" examines the press coverage
in the lead-up to the war as evidence of a paradigm shift in the role of journalists in democracy and
asks, four years after the invasion, what's changed? "More and more the media become ...
common carriers of administration statements," says the Washington Post's Walter Pincus. "We've
sort of given up being independent on our own."
Note: You can view the highly revealing documentary "Buying the War" or read the transcript at
the link above.
Terrorized by 'War on Terror'

The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of
these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious
impact on American democracy. Constant reference to a "war on terror" did accomplish one
major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear. Fear obscures reason,
intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on
behalf of the policies they want to pursue. America today is not the self-confident and
determined nation that responded to Pearl Harbor; nor is it the America that heard from its leader,
at another moment of crisis, the powerful words "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Fearmongering, reinforced by security entrepreneurs, the mass media and the entertainment industry,
generates its own momentum. The terror entrepreneurs ... are necessarily engaged in competition
to justify their existence. Hence their task is to convince the public that it faces new threats.
"Security" procedures have become routine, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and further
contributing to a siege mentality. Government at every level has stimulated the paranoia. The
record is even more troubling in the general area of civil rights. The culture of fear has bred
intolerance, suspicion of foreigners and the adoption of legal procedures that undermine
fundamental notions of justice. Innocent until proven guilty has been diluted if not undone, with
some -- even U.S. citizens -- incarcerated for lengthy periods of time without ... due process. There
is no known, hard evidence that such excess has prevented significant acts of terrorism.
Note: This is an amazingly deep and powerful analysis of the use of fear by politicians, big
business, and the media to promote their own agendas. Amazingly, the article was written by
Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Carter. This is the same man who
wrote in his book The Grand Chessboard, that U.S. global primacy is not likely to be achieved
"except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat."
Strange, but the article is well worth reading in its entirety. For more, click here.
The Lights Over Phoenix

2007-03-22, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/03/22/transcript.fri/index.html#three
Ten years ago in Arizona's capital, thousands of people reported seeing a massive, v-shaped line
of lights. Some government officials later said military flares caused the confusion. But Gary
Tuchman spoke with one former governor who's now saying they didn't look like flares to him.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN REPORTER: Fife Symington ... was the Republican governor of Arizona
for six years. FIFE SYMINGTON: If you had been here ten years ago, and looked at the lights and
the view, you would have been astounded. TUCHMAN: Governor Symington is referring to what is
now known as the Phoenix lights -- an object videotaped by many and seen by thousands over
several nights in the Arizona sky in 1997. It was described by witnesses as larger than a football
field and silent. The governor, a Vietnam Air Force veteran, had never publicly acknowledged
seeing it until now. SYMINGTON: I suspect that unless the Defense Department proves us
otherwise, that it was probably some form of alien spacecraft. TUCHMAN: So why didn't he
say anything then? Partly he says, because he didn't want people to panic. UFO enthusiasts were
not amused, especially since the governor was believed to have seen nothing. But now he's
coming out. SYMINGTON: The lights were really brilliant. And it was just fascinating. It was
enormous. It just felt otherworldly. TUCHMAN: Symington will be talking about this in an updated
film about UFOs called 'Out of the Blue.' Governor Symington says he did tell his family, friends,
and staff about what he saw early on. SYMINGTON: I still behind the scenes tried to investigate it,
but I got nowhere.
Note: To watch this fascinating three-minute CNN broadcast, click here. For more on the intriguing
Phoenix lights, click here. For lots more on the powerfully revealing UFO documentary Out of the
Blue, arguably the best UFO documentary ever made, click here. Learn about dozens of top
military brass who have publicly testified on a major cover-up of UFOs and more. For a two-page
summary of this powerful witness testimony, click here.
The 9/11 conspiracy movement

2007-02-14, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/conspiracy_files/6354679.stm
9/11 was the first global event in the age of the internet. And now the world wide web is being
used as a platform for a wide range of conspiracy theories ... which allege that the US
government was somehow involved in the attacks. Those who question the official account
of 9/11 form a broad coalition. Loose Change has been viewed tens of millions of times and pulls
no punches. [Creator Dylan Avery claims] "our government will willingly kill its own citizens for
whatever gain it deems necessary ... and then lie as much as they need to cover it up." At the
other extreme [Professor Jim] Fetzer is a former US Marine officer and retired professor of
philosophy. Puzzled by the apparent discrepancies in the official account of 9/11, he founded a
coalition of like-minded academics called Scholars For 9/11 Truth. Its purpose is to research
exactly what happened that day, using the principles of scientific research. Alex Jones, a nationally
syndicated radio talk show host ... believes 9/11 was "an inside job." "It's a self inflicted wound, it's
a false-flag terror operation," he claims. After the attacks, government officials were summoned to
give evidence before a Congressional Inquiry set up to investigate the intelligence failure before
9/11. Co-chairman Senator Bob Graham told ... of his frustration at the lack of co-operation from
the FBI in that inquiry, and by the government's decision to censor over 30 pages of his report
which related to Saudi Arabia. "Within 9/11 there are too many secrets," he said, "withholding of
those secrets has eroded public confidence in their government."
Note: Don't miss the BBC's impressive 9/11 Timeline available here which is related to the above
article. And for lots more reliable, verifiable information suggesting a 9/11 cover-up, click here. If
the above link to the BBC article does not function, click on The 9/11 Conspiracy Movement.
US scientists reject interference

2006-12-14, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6178213.stm
Some 10,000 US researchers have signed a statement protesting about political
interference in the scientific process. The statement, which includes the backing of 52
Nobel Laureates, demands a restoration of scientific integrity in government policy.
According to the American Union of Concerned Scientists, data is being misrepresented for
political reasons. It claims scientists working for federal agencies have been asked to change data
to fit policy initiatives. The Union has released an "A to Z" guide that ... documents dozens of
recent allegations involving censorship and political interference in federal science. Campaigners
say that in recent years the White House has been able to censor the work of agencies like the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration because a Republican
congress has been loath to stand up for scientific integrity. Michael Halpern from the UCS said the
statement of objection to political interference had been supported by researchers regardless of
their political views. "This science statement that has now been signed by the 10,000 scientists is
signed by science advisers to both Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to
President Eisenhower, stating that this is not business as usual and calling for this practice to
stop."
Fiscal mess awaits new defense chief: 'Worst-managed' federal agency

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/13/MNG96MUHPF1.DTL
Robert Gates will face ... the enormous task of cleaning up the Pentagon's tangled finances, which
outside auditors lambaste as so chaotic that no one knows how much money is being spent on
defense at any given time. The White House's Office of Management and Budget believes the
Pentagon's financial management systems are in such a mess "that independent auditors still
cannot certify the accuracy of the financial statements." David Walker, the U.S. Comptroller
General, issued a devastating assessment of the Pentagon's finances, which include an annual
budget of over $500 billion. The Pentagon's financial problems "are pervasive, complex, longstanding and deeply rooted in virtually all business operations throughout the department," Walker
told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Financial problems like the Pentagon's "would put
any civilian company out of business," said Kwai Chan, a former GAO auditor ... and author of
a report entitled "Financial Management in the Department of Defense: No One is Accountable."
Winslow Wheeler, a former national security expert for the Senate Budget Committee, called the
Defense Department "the worst-managed agency in the federal government, (that) can't account
for the half-trillion dollars it spends each year, and seeks to produce weapons that are irrelevant or
ineffective, or both."
Note: For major media articles showing that more than $1 trillion of taxpayers money have gone
missing at the Pentagon, click here. For the deeper reasons behind this, a top U.S. general's
explanation is available here.
It's still about oil in Iraq

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-juhasz8dec08,0,4717508.story
While the Bush administration, the media and nearly all the Democrats still refuse to explain the
war in Iraq in terms of oil, the ever-pragmatic members of the Iraq Study Group share no such
reticence. Page 1, Chapter 1 ... lays out Iraq's importance: "It has the world's second-largest
known oil reserves." The report makes visible to everyone the elephant in the room: that we
are fighting, killing and dying in a war for oil. Recommendation No. 63 ... calls on the U.S. to
"assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise." This is an
echo of calls made [by] the U.S. State Department's Oil and Energy Working Group, meeting
between December 2002 and April 2003. Iraq "should be opened to international oil companies as
quickly as possible after the war." Its preferred method of privatization was a form of oil contract
called a production-sharing agreement. These agreements are ... rejected by all the top oil
producers in the Middle East because they grant greater control and more profits to the companies
than the governments. For any degree of oil privatization to take place ... Iraq has to amend its
constitution. Recommendation No. 26 of the Iraq Study Group calls for a review of the constitution
to be "pursued on an urgent basis." Petroleum Economist magazine later reported that U.S. oil
companies considered passage of the new oil law more important than increased security. Further,
the Iraq Study Group would commit U.S. troops to Iraq for several more years to ... provide
security for Iraq's oil infrastructure. We can thank the Iraq Study Group for making its case publicly.
It is now our turn to decide if we wish to spill more blood for oil.
Note: For more on corporate complicity in fomenting war exposed by a top U.S. general, click
here.
Selling 'pandemic flu' through a language of fear

2006-03-21, Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0321/p09s01-coop.html
Americans consider the United States to be a country where debate flourishes. Yet with regard to
avian flu, hyped sound bites predominate. When President Bush asked Congress for $7.1 billion
toward "pandemic flu preparedness," even his critics replied "not enough." What is lacking in the
overall discussion about pandemic flu is disagreement, criticism, and skepticism - once the
bedrock of science - from researchers willing to question and test the data. Some facts:
According to the World Health Organization, the first "outbreak" of the H5N1 virus, also known as
avian flu, killed six people in 1997. Since then, H5N1 has allegedly killed 97 more worldwide, the
majority of whom lived in poor, rural areas and had direct contact with dead or sick birds often kept
in unsanitary conditions. These numbers do not suggest the human population faces an
insurmountable threat from this virus. Peter Palese, flu scientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine
in New York, told The New York Times in a Nov. 8, 2005 article that H5N1 is a false alarm. The
virus has been "around for more than a dozen years, but it hasn't jumped into the human
population." The reason? It probably can't. There are better ways to promote America's health than
selling sickness through the language of fear. Before the government employs "all instruments of
national power," including "quarantine authority," as the National Strategy for Pandemic
Influenza declares, we need to be told what "pandemic flu" really means.
Note: Not mentioned are the huge profits reaped by the drug companies and their political
supporters thanks to the intense fear of bird flu generated by the media. For more:
http://www.WantToKnow.info/healthcoverup
Out of Control: AIDS and the corruption of medical science

2006-03-01, Harper's Magazine
http://harpers.org/archive/2006/03/0080961
HIV tests detect footprints, never the animal itself. These footprints, antibodies ... were limited to
two in 1984 ... but over the years expanded to include many proteins previously not associated
with HIV. A majority of HIV-positive tests, when retested, come back indeterminate or negative. In
many cases, different results emerge from the same blood tested in different labs. There are
currently at least eleven different criteria for how many and what proteins at which band density
signal positive. The most stringent criteria (four bands) are upheld in Australia and France; the
least stringent (two bands), in Africa, where an HIV test is not even required as part of an AIDS
diagnosis. Africa ... has become ground zero of the AIDS epidemic. The clinical definition of AIDS
in Africa, however, is stunningly broad and generic, and was seemingly designed to be little other
than a signal for funding. The Bangui definition of AIDS ... requires neither a positive HIV test nor
a low T-cell count, as in the West, but only the presence of chronic diarrhea, fever, significant
weight loss, and asthenia. These happen to be the symptoms of chronic malnutrition, malaria,
parasitic infections, and other common African illnesses. The statistical picture of AIDS in Africa,
consequently, is a communal projection based on very rough estimates ... extrapolated across the
continent using computer models and highly questionable assumptions. More than 2,300 people,
mostly scientists and doctors, including Nobelists in chemistry and medicine, have signed
the petition of the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV-AIDS Hypothesis, which
calls for a more independent and skeptical approach to the question of AIDS causality.
Note: If you want to be educated about the details of how rampant corruption has become in the
medical research industry, read this well researched article. For a concise description of unbridled
corruption in the health care industry by one of the most respected doctors in the world, click here.
Losing bin Laden

Despite a huge and costly effort by the media, the public still has an incomplete picture of what
really happened during the [war in Afghanistan] and of how Osama bin Laden survived it. Gary
Berntsen's Jawbreaker provides a valuable new account by a major participant that fills in many
blanks. Berntsen was a top CIA field commander in the most critical sector of a new kind of war; at
various times, the CIA veteran had elements of the Delta Force, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs and
tactical air units reporting to him. Crown Publishers has chosen unnecessarily to position it as a
diatribe that the CIA tried to suppress. In fact, while the CIA dragged its feet in reviewing the
manuscript for classified material and redacted plenty of specifics, the book is hardly an attack on
the CIA. In fact, the overall picture of the CIA here is far more flattering than that in The 9/11
Commission Report. Still, to portray Jawbreaker as "the book the CIA doesn't want you to read" (as
the cover puts it), the publisher has displayed the redactions throughout the book as large black
lines. Contradicting Bush administration denials, Berntsen writes that his teams discovered bin
Laden and the remnants of his entourage in the now famous Tora Bora Mountains along the
lawless, rugged Afghan-Pakistani border. Berntsen recounts very credibly how he and others
pleaded with Gen. Tommy Franks and the Pentagon brass to put in blocking forces so that
bin Laden and the remnants of al Qaeda's leadership could not flee into Pakistan. But for
reasons that remain unclear to Berntsen ... the Bush administration or Franks decided to
depend instead on local Afghan warlords rather than put U.S. forces on the ground to block
bin Laden's escape.
Note: To read a concise summary of reliable news reports that raise serious questions about what
really happened on 9/11, click here.
U.S. Can Confine Citizens Without Charges, Court Rules

A federal appeals court yesterday backed the president's power to indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen
captured on U.S. soil without any criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital during
wartime to protect the nation from terrorist attacks. The ruling, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
4th Circuit, came in the case of Jose Padilla, a former gang member and U.S. citizen arrested in
Chicago in 2002 and a month later designated an "enemy combatant" by President Bush. Padilla
has been held without trial in a U.S. naval brig for more than three years, and his case has ignited
a fierce battle over the balance between civil liberties and the government's power to fight
terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A host of civil liberties groups and former attorney
general Janet Reno weighed in on Padilla's behalf, calling his detention illegal and arguing that the
president does not have unchecked power to lock up U.S. citizens indefinitely. In its ruling
yesterday, the three-judge panel overturned a lower court. Avidan Cover, a senior associate at
Human Rights First, said the ruling "really flies in the face of our understanding of what
rights American citizens are entitled to." Opponents have warned that if not constrained by
the courts, Padilla's detention could lead to the military being allowed to hold anyone who,
for example, checks out what the government considers the wrong kind of reading
materials from the library.
Note: For many disturbing reports from major media sources on government threats to civil
liberties, click here.
Getting Agnostic About 9/11

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-crgriffin35aug28,...
Anyone who types the words "9/11" and "conspiracy" into an online search engine soon learns that
not everybody buys the official narrative of what took place on Sept. 11, 2001. As a professor
emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology, 66-year-old David Ray Griffin would seem to have
more affinity for leather elbow patches than tin hats, yet after friends and colleagues prodded him
into sifting through the evidence, he experienced a conversion. "For the first year and a half I
just accepted the conventional view ... that this was blowback for our foreign policy. When
a colleague suggested to me ... forces within our own government had arranged it, I didn't
accept that. Then several months later another colleague sent me a website that had a
timeline. Once I ... saw all those stories drawn from mainstream sources that contradicted the
official account, I decided I needed to look into it more carefully, and the more I looked, the worse it
got. The fact that Building 7 ... collapsed when it had not been hit by an airplane ... that's a
smoking gun. The fact that standard operating procedures were not followed that morning, and
we've gotten three different stories now by the U.S. military as to why they did not intercept the
planes, that's a smoking gun. The 9/11 commission simply ignored those questions. The official
account itself is a conspiracy theory. It says that 19 Arab Muslims...conspired to pull off this
operation. The question is not whether one is a conspiracy theorist about 9/11. It's which
conspiracy theory do you find most supported by the evidence?"
Note: If the Los Angeles Times link does not work, click here for the full article. The timeline to
which Prof. Griffin refers is the WantToKnow.info timeline at http://www.WantToKnow.info/911cover-up
CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8853000/site/newsweek/
During the 2004 presidential campaign, George W. Bush and John Kerry battled about whether
Osama bin Laden had escaped from Tora Bora in the final days of the war in Afghanistan. Bush
asserted that U.S. commanders on the ground did not know if bin Laden was at the mountain
hideaway along the Afghan border. But in a forthcoming book, the CIA field commander for the
agency's Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, says he and other U.S. commanders did
know that ... bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora ... and could have been caught. Asked to
comment on Berntsen's remarks, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones passed
on 2004 statements from former CENTCOM commander Gen. Tommy Franks. "We don't know to
this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001," Franks wrote in an Oct. 19
New York Times op-ed. [CIA Commander] Berntsen says Franks is "a great American. But he was
not on the ground out there. I was." In his booktitled "Jawbreaker"the decorated career CIA
officer criticizes Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Department for not providing enough support to the
CIA and the Pentagon's own Special Forces teams in the final hours of Tora Bora. Berntsen ... has
sued the agency over what he calls unacceptable delays in approving his book. "They're just
holding the book," which is scheduled for October release, he says. "CIA officers, Special
Forces and U.S. air power drove the Taliban out in 70 days. The CIA has taken roughly 80
days to clear my book."
Note: For a concise summary of reliable, verifiable information questioning the official account of
9/11, click here.
Was Use of Cell Phones on 9/11 Flights Possible?

2004-12-15, WantToKnow.info/Washington Post/SF Chronicle/Associated Press
http://www.WantToKnow.info/911cellphonecalls
Once you get to a certain height, you are no longer in the range of the cellular network,
because cell phone towers aren't built to project their signals that high.
Washington Post, 12/9/04
Today's vote by the FCC is intended to address whether technology has improved to the
extent that cell phone calls now are possible above 10,000 feet -- they weren't in the past.
San Francisco Chronicle, 12/15/04
"With television cameramen hovering, Qualcomm chief executive Irwin Jacobs sat in the
front row of coach and made one of the first legal cell phone calls from a commercial
jetliner. Jacobs pronounced the [brand new] technology behind the airborne phone call a
success, although adding that it will be improved over the next couple years. Connections
from the plane were generally good, although some calls were dropped."
USA Today/Associated Press, 7/16/04
Note: To find articles showing multiple cell phone use on Sept. 11, 2001, type "9/11" and "cell
phone calls" into your favorite search engine, or click here for a Washington Post report on an
alleged 30-minute uninterrupted cell phone call from Flight 93. Click here for a CNN report on
another call from that flight. Tests have shown it is not possible to have an extended cell phone
conversation above 10,000 feet.
Army test in 1950 may have changed microbial ecology

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Serratia-has-dark-history-in-region-Army...
Serratia is a bacterium that some doctors and residents of the Bay Area have been familiar with for
many years. In 1950, government officials believed that serratia did not cause disease. That belief
was later used as a justification for a secret post-World War II Army experiment that became a
notorious disaster tale about the microbe. The Army used serratia to test whether enemy agents
could launch a biological warfare attack on a port city such as San Francisco from a location miles
offshore. For six days in late September 1950, a small military vessel near San Francisco
sprayed a huge cloud of serratia particles into the air while the weather favored dispersal.
Army tests showed that the bacterial cloud had exposed hundreds of thousands of people
in a broad swath of Bay Area communities. Soon after the spraying, 11 people came down
with hard-to-treat infections at the old Stanford University Hospital in San Francisco. By
November, one man had died. The outbreak was so unusual that the Stanford doctors wrote it up
for a medical journal. But the medics and [the dead man's] relatives didn't find out about the Army
experiment for nearly 26 years, when a series of secret military experiments came to light. Some
people now speculate that descendants of the Army germs are still causing infections here today.
The secret bio-warfare test might have permanently changed the microbial ecology of the region.
Note: The military regularly used humans as guinea pigs in experiments in the decades before
and after WWII. For a list of these sometimes lethal experiments, click here. For reliable
information on government mind control experiments which also used unsuspecting civilians, click
here.
Write More About Skull And Bones

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/10/27/notes102704.DTL
I get this a lot: Hey Mark ... why don't you quit toeing the typical blas journalism line ... and
instead write about the real truths? Like for example how both Kerry and Bush are members of
mega-yuppie Yale secret society/boys' club Skull & Bones. And why, furthermore, don't you talk
about the real truths of 9/11? Haven't you seen that amazing [9/11] video on that Web site? And
what about Building 7? Why did that 47-story tower adjacent to the WTC collapse when it had no
fire and no plane crash? Why isn't the media reporting any of this? Does this make you laugh?
Scoff? It is, after all, incredibly easy to dismiss conspiracy theories. But you know what? It's not
that easy. These people ... have a point. They are indeed onto something quite large and ominous
and it very much has to do with the media toeing the line of "safe" information. There is indeed
ample evidence that the U.S. government, long before 9/11, had already discussed the quite
plausible possibilities and strategic benefits of unleashing a "Pearl Harbor"-type event on America.
There are plenty of strangely unanswered questions about 9/11, about the stunning inaction of
NORAD and Bush's stupefying nonreaction upon hearing of the attack, not to mention his
administration's incredible attempts to halt any independent 9/11 investigations. Of course, no
one in any major media will touch this stuff. It is professional suicide to dare suggest an
alternate truth to the one supplied by the Pentagon and regurgitated by the media. And the
truth is, we don't really want such unstable questions answered. We simply cannot tolerate to have
our world, our leaders, our foundations so questioned. We prefer stasis to growth, security to true
knowledge.
Conspiracy Theories Flourish on the Internet

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13059-2004Oct6.html
Darren Williams spent four weeks this summer making a short but startling video that raises novel
questions about the 2001 attack. The video, "9/11: Pentagon Strike," suggests that it was not
American Airlines Flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon, but a missile or a small plane. The
video offers flashes of photographs taken shortly after impact, interspersed with witness accounts.
The pictures seem incompatible with damage caused by a jumbo jet. Firefighters stand outside a
perfectly round hole in a Pentagon wall where the Boeing 757 punched through; it is less than 20
feet in diameter. Propelled by word of mouth, Internet search engines and e-mail, the video
has been downloaded by millions of people around the world. Williams created a Web site for
the video, www.pentagonstrike.co.uk. Then he e-mailed a copy to Laura Knight-Jadczyk [who]
posted a link to the video on the group's Web site, www.Cassiopaea.org. Within 36 hours,
Williams's site collapsed under the crush of tens of thousands of visitors. But there were others to
fill the void. In Texas, a former casino worker who downloaded the video began drawing almost
700,000 visitors a day. In Louisiana, a young Navy specialist put the video on his personal Web
page. Suddenly, the site was inundated by more than 20,000 hits. "Pentagon Strike" is just the
latest and flashiest example of a growing number of Web sites, books and videos contending that
something other than a commercial airliner hit the Pentagon. Knight-Jadczyk said she never
imagined anyone outside her group would ever view "Pentagon Strike." "The fact everybody's
been sending it to his brother and his cousin ... reflects the fact that there is a deep unease," she
said.
Note: This five-minute video is well worth watching, even though it was made a few years ago. To
view it free online, click here. For lots more information suggesting a major 9/11 cover-up, click
here.
Big Pharma snared by net

2004-09-26, The Observer (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1312765,00.html
No one foresaw ... the shocking extent to which the internet would change the terms of trade
between corporations and society. One of the world's largest drug companies [was] the first victim.
Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second-largest pharma, denied any wrongdoing, but agreed
to pay $2.5m ... for concealing evidence of its antidepressant Seroxat's potential for harming
children, while doing them no measurable good. Infinitely more frightening ... this pharma had the
backing of institutions that we, the public, rely on to protect us from poisoning by prescription. The
Royal College of Psychiatrists had insisted only a year earlier that 'there is no evidence that
antidepressant drugs can cause dependence syndromes'. It was really the internet that allowed
public health activists to do an end run around GSK's and the medical authorities' denials
of the drug's risks. An explosion of websites dedicated to vivid accounts of antidepressant
reactions told these campaigners about hundreds of thousands affected by a problem that
officially did not exist. Health activists in Britain and America have uncovered the core of pharma
might. In both countries, clinical drug tests are paid for by the pharmas, who tweak the trials'
design for the best possible results. Until recently, only the most favourable findings got published
in the 20,000-odd biomedical journals, many of them dependent on pharmas for funding. The
drugs are approved for marketing by regulators, whose salaries are mostly financed by the
subjects of their evaluations. The medicines are then prescribed by doctors routinely courted with
pharma gifts ... meant to persuade them to change their prescribing habits.
Note: For a two-page summary with lots more reliable information on major health cover-ups by a
doctor who was editor-in-chief of one of the most pretigious medical journals in the world, click
here.
Son probes strange death of WMD worker

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/12/MNG468MM8N1.DTL
Eric Olson now has a new verb for what happened to his father, Frank Olson, who worked for the
Army's top-secret Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, where he developed bioweapons
and experimented with mind-control drugs. Eric Olson found the verb in a 1950s CIA manual. The
verb is "dropped." And the manual is a how-to guide for assassins. "The most efficient accident, in
simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface," the manual says, adding
helpfully: "It will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject before dropping him." Eric Olson
believes his father -- who developed misgivings about his work and tried to resign -- was murdered
by government agents to protect dark government secrets. "No assassination instructions
should ever be written or recorded," says the CIA assassination manual. "Decision and
instructions should be confined to an absolute minimum of persons." It adds: "For secret
assassination the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully
executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated." William P. Walter, 78, who
supervised anthrax production at Detrick, says Olson's colleagues were divided about his death.
"Some say he jumped. Some say he had help," Walter says. "I'm one of the 'had-help' people." So
is James Starrs, a George Washington University forensic pathologist who ... called the evidence
"rankly and starkly suggestive of homicide." In a report to the CIA on the death, [Harold]
Abramson, [a doctor who had experimented with LSD] wrote that the LSD experiment was
designed "especially to trap (Olson)." This ... raised a troubling possibility: that the LSD experiment
was actually designed to see whether Olson could still be trusted to keep the agency's dark
secrets.
Note: Frank Olson was just one of many tragic casualties of the CIA's mind-control programs. For
revealing information on this secret history, click here.
Lost In Translation
2004-08-08, CBS News
Sibel Edmonds, a translator who worked at the FBI's language division, says [that hundreds, if not
thousands, of foreign language intelligence documents] weren't translated because the division
was riddled with incompetence and corruption. Edmonds was fired after reporting her concerns to
FBI officials. Because she is fluent in Turkish and other Middle Eastern languages, Edmonds, a
Turkish-American, was hired by the FBI soon after Sept. 11 and given top-secret security
clearance to translate some of the reams of documents seized by FBI agents who have been
rounding up suspected terrorists across the United States and abroad. In its rush to hire more
foreign language translators after Sept. 11, the FBI admits it has had difficulty performing
background checks to detect translators who may have loyalties to other governments, which
could pose a threat to U.S. national security. Take the case of Jan Dickerson, a Turkish translator
who worked with Edmonds. The FBI has admitted that when Dickerson was hired, the bureau
didn't know that she had worked for a Turkish organization being investigated by the FBI's
own counter-intelligence unit. They also didn't know she'd had a relationship with a Turkish
intelligence officer stationed in Washington who was the target of that investigation.
According to Edmonds, Dickerson tried to recruit her into that organization, and insisted that
Dickerson be the only one to translate the FBI's wiretaps of that Turkish official. She got very
angry, and later she threatened me and my family's life, says Edmonds, when she decided not to
go along with the plan. She said, Why would you want to place your life and your family's life in
danger by translating these tapes? Edmonds says that when she reviewed Dickerson's
translations of those tapes, she found that Dickerson had left out information crucial to the FBI's
investigation - information that Edmonds says would have revealed that the Turkish intelligence
officer had spies working for him inside the U.S. State Department and at the Pentagon.
Note: This article should be read in its entirety. For many revealing articles on the ongoing efforts
by longtime whistleblower Sibel Edmonds to tell her story, click here.
Letter to Thomas Kean from Sibel Edmonds

2004-08-05, AsiaTimes ('Asia's most trusted news source')
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FH05Aa01.html
Your commission ... has now issued its "9/11 Commission Report". After [9/11] we, the
translators at the FBI's largest and most important translation unit, were told to slow down,
even stop, translation of critical information related to terrorist activities. This issue has
been confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Melek Can Dickerson, with the assistance of
her direct supervisor, forged signatures on top-secret documents related to certain 9/11 detainees.
Not only does the supervisor facilitating these criminal conducts remain in a supervisory position,
he has been promoted. In April 2001, a long-term FBI informant/asset ... received information that:
1) Osama Bin Laden was planning a major terrorist attack in the United States targeting 4-5 major
cities, 2) the attack was going to involve airplanes [and] the attack was going to be carried out
soon. No action was taken. After 9/11, the agents and the translators were told to 'keep quiet'
regarding this issue. The translator who was present ... reported this incident to Director Mueller in
writing. Why did your report choose to exclude the information ... despite the public confirmation by
the FBI, witnesses provided to your investigators, and briefings you received directly? As you are
fully aware, these issues and incidents were found confirmed by a Senior Republican Senator,
Charles Grassley, and a Senior Democrat Senator, Patrick Leahy. Even FBI officials 'confirmed all
my allegations and denied none' during their unclassified meetings with the Senate Judiciary staff.
However, neither your commission's hearings, nor your commission's five hundred sixty sevenpage report ... include these serious issues, major incidents, and systemic problems.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. Sibel Edmonds is one of the great heroes of our day. She
has been gagged directly by the U.S. Attorney General from telling what she knows. The above
letter was not published in any major U.S. media, though widely reported in alternative new
sources. To understand how such vital information is hidden from the public, click here. For lots
more on Ms. Edmonds, click here.
The inside story of how a band of reformers tried and failed to

change America's spy agencies
2004-07-25, US News & World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/040802/2intell.htm
Twice each week, a top-secret report with distinctive red stripes lands on the desks of select
policymakers in Washington. Called the "Red Cell," it is the work of a CIA unit by the same name,
set up after the 9/11 attacks. "Some of it is really wacky, even scary," says an insider. "Like
bombing Iran." The "Red Cell," in a very real sense, is emblematic of the trouble the U.S.
intelligence community finds itself in today. Created in 1947, the U.S. intelligence community has
grown enormously in terms of bodies and dollars but also in the number and complexity of its
responsibilities. It has also, for many reasons, grown into a mess. After 9/11, Americans had good
reason to assume the nation's intelligence capabilities were being improved. But then came the
Iraq war and the subsequent revelations that the CIA's "slam dunk" intelligence on Saddam
Hussein's stockpiles of banned weapons was a complete air ball, a casualty of badly forged
documents, eager exiles with outlandish stories, and analysis that, in the most charitable sense,
could be described as flawed. The Senate Intelligence Committee's 511-page Iraq report
documents how on the country's weightiest issue whether to launch a pre-emptive war
the U.S. intelligence community ended up wrong on virtually every critical point. "In short,"
laments Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the intelligence panel's ranking Democrat, "we went to war in Iraq
based on false claims." When Harry Truman signed into law the National Security Act of 1947,
creating the CIA, he wanted precisely what the name implied: a central agency for intelligence.
"The CIA was set up by me for the sole purpose of getting all the available information to
the president," Truman wrote. "It was not intended to operate as an international agency
engaged in strange activities." Within months, of course, Truman himself was ordering the CIA
to engage in "strange activities," such as staving off a Communist takeover in Italy.
Note: For more on the realities of intelligence agency operations, see the deeply revealing reports
from reliable major media sources available here.
Bilderberg: The ultimate conspiracy theory

2004-06-03, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3773019.stm
The Bilderberg group, an elite coterie of Western thinkers and power-brokers, has been
accused of fixing the fate of the world behind closed doors. As the organisation marks its 50th
anniversary, rumours are more rife than ever. On Thursday the Bilderberg group marks its 50th
anniversary with the start of its yearly meeting. For four days some of the West's chief political
movers, business leaders, bankers, industrialists and strategic thinkers will hunker down in a fivestar hotel in northern Italy to talk about global issues. What sets Bilderberg apart from other highpowered get-togethers, such as the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), is its mystique. Not a
word of what is said at Bilderberg meetings can be breathed outside. No reporters are
invited in and while confidential minutes of meetings are taken, names are not noted. A
former journalist, Mr Gosling runs a campaign against the group from his home in Bristol, UK."
One of the first places I heard about the determination of US forces to attack Iraq was from leaks
that came out of the 2002 Bilderberg meeting," says Mr Gosling.
Retired FBI agent guilty of sex abuse

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/18/retired_fbi_agent_guilt...
The former chief internal watchdog at the FBI has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 6year-old girl and has admitted he had a history of molesting other children before he joined
the bureau for what became a two-decade career. John H. Conditt Jr., 53, who retired in 2001, was
sentenced last week ... to 12 years in prison after he admitted he molested the daughter of two FBI
agents after he retired. He acknowledged molesting at least two other girls before he began his
law enforcement career, his lawyer said. Conditt headed the internal affairs unit, which
investigates agent wrongdoing, for the Office of Professional Responsibility at FBI
headquarters in Washington from 1999 until June 2001, the FBI said. FBI officials said
yesterday they had no information suggesting Conditt had any problems during his career and he
was never the subject of an investigation. Assistant District Attorney Mitch Poe of Tarrant County,
who prosecuted the case, said he wanted a longer prison sentence and was skeptical of Conditt's
claim that his molestation of children subsided during his FBI career.
Note: For powerful evidence in a Discovery Channel documentary that many top politicians are
involved in sophisticated child sex abuse rings, click here.
Military waste under fire: $1 trillion missing

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/05/18/MN251738.DTL
The Department of Defense, already infamous for spending $640 for a toilet seat...couldn't account
for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles
and planes. The nonpartisan General Accounting Office has raised the volume of its perennial
complaints about the financial woes at Defense, which recently failed its seventh audit in as many
years. "Overhauling DOD's financial management operations represent a challenge that goes far
beyond financial accounting," GAO chief David Walker told lawmakers. Recent government reports
suggest the Pentagon's money management woes have reached astronomical proportions. A
GAO report found Defense inventory systems so lax that the U.S. Army lost track of 56
airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. When military leaders
were scrambling to find enough chemical and biological warfare suits to protect U.S.
troops, the department was caught selling these suits as surplus on the Internet "for
pennies on the dollar," a GAO official said. "We are overhauling our financial management
system," said Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon's chief financial officer. "The Pentagon has failed to
address financial problems that dwarf those of Enron," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles.
Gregory Kutz, director of GAO's financial management division [said] "I've been to Wal-Mart. They
were able to tell me how many tubes of toothpaste were in Fairfax, Va. And DOD can't find its
chem-bio suits." Opposition to defense spending is portrayed as unpatriotic. Legislators are often
more concerned about winning Pentagon pork than controlling defense waste.
Note: You can read the GAO Report (Page 17 on missing planes). Page two states, "To date, no
major part of DOD has yet been able to pass the test of an independent audit." For an intriguing
Online Journal article exposing the deep role of the Pentagon's former CFO (Chief Financial
Officer) Zakheim in this corruption, click here. Why wasn't and isn't this front page headlines? Why
are newspaper editors keeping this most vital information from the public?
9-11 Commission Funding Woes

Is the Bush White House trying to put the brakes on the congressional panel created last fall to
investigate 9-11 attacks? The White House brushed off a request quietly made last week by the 911 Commission Chairman Tom Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, to boost his
budget by $11 million. The panel has until the end of May 2004 to complete its work, but it will
spend the $3 million it was originally allotted by around August 2003 if it doesn't get the
supplement. Bush's recent move has miffed some members of the 9-11 panel. Kean and former
congressman Lee Hamilton, the panel's top Democrat, requested additional funding in a letter to
the administration last week. In denying the request, the White House irritated many of the
members of the commission. The White House sidestepped the issue of why the request wasn't
granted. The latest effort to curtail funding has angered victims of the attacks. Stephen Push, a
leader of the 9/11 victims' families, who are closely monitoring the commission, said the White
House decision was another in a long line of efforts to water down or shrink the panel's
role. Commission member Tim Roemer ... has gone so far as to draw comparisons with the
$50 million provided to investigate the recent Columbia tragedy in which seven people died.
"If we're looking at well over $11 million for that, we certainly should be looking for at least the
same vicinity of money for how 3,000 people died and how to strengthen our homeland security,"
he said.
Note: MSNBC reported that "the Ken Starr investigation of Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky cost
the tax-payer $64 million." The Columbia tragedy invstigation ran $50 million. Yet the White House
wanted to limit the investigation of the worst terror attack ever to $3 million. What secrets are they
hiding? Click here for more.
The people who control the world

2003-01-30, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/books/01/30/ronson.them
The Middle Ages had the Knights Templar. The 18th century had the Masons and the Illuminati.
Our modern age has golf-playing businessmen. [Jon] Ronson, a 35-year-old British writer,
humorist and documentarian, kept reading and hearing about the "tiny elite [that] rules the world
from inside a secret room" -- so he decided to go in search of it. He met with extremists of many
stripes: Ku Klux Klansmen with a PR bent, Muslim rabble-rousers ... and others convinced that a
New World Order meant the end of the world. He sought out the industrialists of groups such as
the Bilderberg Group and Bohemian Grove. He wrote about his experiences in "Them." Ronson's
extremists seem rather normal. Some are very much aware of how their views marginalize them.
The people of "Them" are people who are all too human -- even if they would deny others their
humanity. As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to
get you. Ronson doesn't deny that many of the extremists in "Them" are, well, extreme. Many have
put together half-baked theories that blame the troubles of the world on wealthy businessmen,
usually a code word for Jews. Ronson, who's Jewish himself, sometimes found it awkward to listen
to their views. Conspiracy theorists tend to be fearful, less educated, less tied in to the power
structure. Meanwhile, the leaders of corporations and countries do meet as part of conferences
sponsored by organizations such as the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group. While
researching a Bilderberg Group meeting, [Ronson] was chased through parts of Portugal
by shadowy security men. He found out just how thin the membrane between "us" and
"them" may be.
Note: Them is by far the most balanced, entertaining book you are likely to find on conspiracy
theorists. It pokes a lot of fun both at the conspiracy theorists and at the powerful secret groups
which he finds to be deluded almost as much as the conspiracy theorists themselves.
The Man Behind The Vaccine Mystery

2002-12-12, CBS News
It's been a mystery in Washington for weeks. Just before President Bush signed the homeland
security bill into law an unknown member of Congress inserted a provision into the
legislation that blocks lawsuits against the maker of a controversial vaccine preservative
called "thimerosal," used in vaccines that are given to children. Drug giant Eli Lilly and
Company makes thimerosal. It's the mercury in the preservative that many parents say causes
autism in thousands of children. But nobody in Congress would admit to adding the provision,
reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta until now. House Majority Leader Dick Armey tells
CBS News he did it to keep vaccine-makers from going out of business under the weight of
mounting lawsuits. "I did it and I'm proud of it," says Armey, R-Texas. "It's a matter of national
security," Armey says. Because Armey is retiring at the end of the year, some say the outgoing
majority leader is the perfect fall guy to take the heat and shield the White House from
embarrassment.
Note: A Reuters article reports that the former head of the US's CDC was later named president of
Merck's vaccine division with accompanying high salary. Could this be payoff for her support in
suppressing studies that cast doubt on vaccines?
The Secret War

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/oct/27/opinion/op-arkin27
The Defense Department is dramatically expanding its 'black world' of covert operations. The Bush
administration has turned to what the Pentagon calls the "black world" to press the war on
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The increasingly dominant role of the military ...
reflects the desire of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to gain greater overall control of the
war on terror. "Our task is to find and destroy the enemy before they strike us." Though covert
action can bring quick results, because it is isolated from the normal review processes it can just
as quickly bring mistakes and larger problems. The epicenter of the Pentagon's covert operations
remains the North Carolina-based Joint Special Operations Command, often referred to as Delta
Force. The super-secret command is still not officially acknowledged to exist. Rumsfeld's influential
Defense Science Board ... recommends creation of a super-Intelligence Support Activity, an
organization it dubs the Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group, (P2OG), to bring together CIA
and military covert action, information warfare, intelligence, and cover and deception. This body
would launch secret operations aimed at "stimulating reactions" among terrorists and
states possessing weapons of mass destruction -- that is, for instance, prodding terrorist
cells into action and exposing themselves to "quick-response" attacks by U.S. forces. The
Air Force is designing its own Global Response Task Force ... capable of delivering a "worldwide
attack within an hour."
Note: For an amazing expos by a highly decorated U.S. general on the hidden reasons behind
war, click here.
Foundations are in place for martial law in the US

2002-07-21, Sydney Morning Herald
Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national security initiatives put in place
in the Reagan era could see internment camps and martial law in the United States. When
president Ronald Reagan was considering invading Nicaragua he issued a series of executive
orders that provided the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with broad powers in
the event of a "crisis" such as "violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition
against a US military invasion abroad". On July 20 the Detroit Free Press ran a story entitled
"Arabs in US could be held, official warns". The story referred to a member of the US Civil Rights
Commission who foresaw the possibility of internment camps for Arab Americans. FEMA has
practised for such an occasion. FEMA, whose main role is disaster response, is also responsible
for handling US domestic unrest. From 1982-84 Colonel Oliver North assisted FEMA in
drafting its civil defence preparations. They included executive orders providing for
suspension of the constitution, the imposition of martial law, internment camps, and the
turning over of government to the president and FEMA. A Miami Herald article on July 5, 1987,
reported that the former FEMA director Louis Guiffrida's deputy, John Brinkerhoff, handled the
martial law portion of the planning. Today Mr Brinkerhoff is with the highly influential Anser Institute
for Homeland Security.
Note: Most of these provisions are still in place today. Isn't it time for a change?
Coleen Rowley's Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html
Dear Director Mueller: I feel that certain facts, including the following, have, up to now, been
omitted, downplayed, glossed over and/or mis-characterized in an effort to avoid or minimize
personal and/or institutional embarrassment on the part of the FBI and/or perhaps even for
improper political reasons: ... 5) The fact is that key FBIHQ personnel whose job it was to assist
and coordinate with field division agents ... continued to, almost inexplicably, throw up roadblocks
and undermine Minneapolis' by-now desperate efforts to obtain a FISA search warrant. In all of
their conversations and correspondence, HQ personnel never disclosed to the Minneapolis
agents that the Phoenix Division had, only approximately three weeks earlier, warned of Al
Qaeda operatives in flight schools seeking flight training for terrorist purposes! Nor did
FBIHQ personnel do much to disseminate the information about Moussaoui to other
appropriate intelligence/law enforcement authorities. When, in a desperate 11th hour measure
to bypass the FBIHQ roadblock, the Minneapolis Division undertook to directly notify the CIA's
Counter Terrorist Center (CTC), FBIHQ personnel actually chastised the Minneapolis agents for
making the direct notification without their approval!
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For many more serious questions about the official account
of 9/11 raised by former officials like Colleen Rowley, click here. For more solid information
suggesting a major cover-up, click here.
Clues Alerted White House to Potential Attacks

[There are] many examples of "missed leads" that the Bush administration was given prior to Sept.
11. An Iranian in custody in New York City told local police last May of a plot to attack the World
Trade Center. German intelligence alerted the Central Intelligence Agency, Britain's MI-6
intelligence service, Israel's Mossad in June 2001 that Middle Eastern terrorists were training for
hijackings and targeting American and Israeli interests. Based on its own intelligence, the
Israeli government provided "general" information to the United States in the second week
of August that an Al Qaeda attack was imminent. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said
publicly that he ordered his intelligence agencies to alert the United States last summer that
suicide pilots were training for attacks on U.S. targets. An Islamic terrorist conspiracy was
uncovered in 1996 in the Philippines to hijack a dozen airplanes and fly them into CIA
headquarters and other buildings. U.S. investigators confirmed in October that a 29-year-old
Iranian ... made phone calls to U.S. police from his deportation cell that an attack on the World
Trade Center was imminent in "the days before the attack." [A] memo from the FBI Phoenix office
about Arabs training in U.S. flight schools never reached headquarters. In 1999, the Federal
Research Division at the Library of Congress published its own report ... which described that
"Suicide bomber(s) belonging to Al Qaeda's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft
packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the [CIA], or
the White House."
Note: For lots more evidence that suggest 9/11 at the very least may have been allowed to
happen, click here.
'Shadow Government' News To Congress

2002-03-01, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/01/attack/main502530.shtml
Key congressional leaders say they didn't know President Bush had established a "shadow
government," moving dozens of senior civilian managers to secret underground locations outside
Washington. Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) [said] he had not been
informed by the White House about the role, location or even the existence of the shadow
government that the administration began to deploy the morning of the Sept. 11 hijackings.
Among Congress's GOP leadership, aides to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), second in line
to succeed the president if he became incapacitated, and to Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott
(Miss.) said they were not sure whether they knew. Mr. Bush acknowledged yesterday that the
administration had taken extensive measures to guarantee "the continuity of government," adding,
"This is serious business." Such an operation was conceived as a Cold War precaution against
nuclear attack during the Eisenhower administration but never used until now. It went into effect in
the first hours after the terror attacks [and] is an extension of a policy that has kept Vice President
Dick Cheney in secure, undisclosed locations away from Washington. Cheney has moved in and
out of public view as threat levels have fluctuated.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy from reliable sources, click here. For an abundance of
solid information suggesting a major cover-up around 9/11, click here.
German Firm Probes Final World Trade Center Deals

2001-12-17, Fox News/Reuters
German computer experts are working round the clock to unlock the truth behind an
unexplained surge in financial transactions made just before two hijacked planes crashed
into New York's World Trade Center Sept. 11. Were criminals responsible for the sharp rise in
credit card transactions that moved through some computer systems at the WTC shortly before the
planes hit the twin towers? Or was it coincidence that unusually large sums of money,
perhaps more than $100 million, were rushed through the computers as the disaster
unfolded? A world leader in retrieving data, German-based firm Convar is trying to answer those
questions. Using a pioneering laser scanning technology to find data on damaged computer hard
drives and main frames found in the rubble of the World Trade Center and other nearby collapsed
buildings, Convar has recovered information from 32 computers that support assumptions of dirty
doomsday dealings. "The suspicion is that inside information about the attack was used to send
financial transaction commands and authorizations in the belief that amid all the chaos the
criminals would have, at the very least, a good head start,'' said Convar director Peter Henschel.
"Not only the volume but the size of the transactions was far higher than usual for a day like that.
There is a suspicion that these were possibly planned to take advantage of the chaos.''
Note: For a CNN article on this most bizarre news, click here. A German news broadcast from
March 11, 2002 at this link reveals that the results are being kept secret. But why? And why hasn't
there been any follow-up news on this astounding information? Could it be that key government
insiders knew there was going to be an attack? For lots more reliable, verifiable information on
9/11 raising serious questions, click here.
Bin Laden treated for kidney problem in Dubai, claims report

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0110/31/world/world105.html
Osama bin Laden underwent treatment in July at the American Hospital in Dubai where he met a
US Central Intelligence Agency official, French daily Le Figaro and Radio France International
reported today. Quoting "a witness, a professional partner of the administrative management of the
hospital," they said the man suspected by the United States of being behind the September 11
terrorist attacks had arrived in Dubai on July 4 by air from Quetta, Pakistan. He was immediately
taken to the hospital for kidney treatment. He left the establishment on July 14, Le Figaro said.
During his stay, the daily said, the local CIA representative was seen going into bin Laden's
room and "a few days later, the CIA man boasted to some friends of having visited the
Saudi-born millionaire." Quoting "an authoritative source," Le Figaro and the radio station said
the CIA representative had been recalled to Washington on July 15. Bin Laden ... was admitted to
the urology department of Dr Terry Callaway, who specialises in kidney stones and male infertility.
Telephoned several times, the doctor declined to answer questions. Several sources had reported
that bin Laden had a serious kidney infection. He had a mobile dialysis machine sent to his
Kandahar hideout in Afghanistan in the first half of 2000, according to "authoritative sources"
quoted by Le Figaro and RFI.
Note: This article has disappeared from the Herald website. To read the full original as we copied
it, click here. For excerpts from many major media articles suggesting a 9/11 cover-up, click here.
Mystery of terror 'insider dealers'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mystery-of-terror-insider-dea...
Share speculators have failed to collect $2.5m (1.7m) in profits made from the fall in the share
price of United Airlines after the 11 September World Trade Centre attacks. Further details of the
futures trades that netted such huge gains in the wake of the hijackings have been disclosed. To
the embarrassment of investigators, it has also emerged that the firm used to buy many of
the "put" options where a trader, in effect, bets on a share price fall on United Airlines
stock was headed until 1998 by "Buzzy" Krongard, now executive director of the CIA. Until
1997, Mr Krongard was chairman of Alex Brown Inc, America's oldest investment banking firm.
Alex Brown was acquired by Bankers Trust, which in turn was bought by Deutsche Bank. His last
post before resigning to take his senior role in the CIA was to head Bankers Trust Alex Brown's
private client business, dealing with the accounts and investments of wealthy customers around
the world. Between 6 and 7 September, the Chicago Board Options Exchange saw purchases of
4,744 "put" option contracts in UAL versus 396 call options. Holders of the put options would have
netted a profit of $5m (3.3m) once the carrier's share price dived after 11 September. On 10
September, more trading in Chicago saw the purchase of 4,516 put options in American Airlines,
the other airline involved in the hijackings. This compares with a mere 748 call options in American
purchased that day. Investigators cannot help but notice that no other airlines saw such trading in
their put options.
Note: This important article on the CIA connections to the insider trading in put options on key
airlines, insurance and financial corporation stocks in the days immediately before 9/11 has been
removed from The Independent website. To read the full article, click here.
[9/11] Suicide hijackers hid behind stolen Arab identities

2001-09-20, WantToKnow.info/London Times
http://www.WantToKnow.info/010920londontimes.hijackers
Five of the [9/11] hijackers were using stolen identities, and investigators are studying the
possibility that the entire suicide squad consisted of impostors. In Saudi Arabia, five of the
alleged hijackers have emerged, alive, innocent and astonished to see their names and
photographs appearing on satellite television. "The name is my name and the birth date is
the same as mine, but I am not the one who bombed the World Trade Centre," Abdulaziz
Alomari told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Mr Alomari, 28, ... said that he had
left the United States in April 2000. The US-educated engineer had reported to police that his
passport was stolen when his flat in Denver, Colorado, was burgled in 1995. A Saudi diplomat
formerly based in Washington, Ahmed al-Shehri, told al-Eqtisadiah newspaper that details of one
of the hijackers matched his son, Waleed. The young man, a pilot with Saudi Arabian Airlines who
graduated four years ago from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, is living in
Morocco. Another Saudi pilot, Said Hussein al-Ghamdi, whose photograph was broadcast on CNN
when it portrayed him as a hijacker, is living in Tunis. The family of Ziad al-Jarrah, an alcoholdrinking Lebanese partygoer, deny he could have been the fanatical Muslim hijacker whose aircraft
crashed in Pennsylvania. Alarming reports claimed that three of the hijackers -Saeed al-Ghamdi,
Ahmed al-Mani and Ahmed al-Ghamdi -had learned to fly at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola,
Florida, known as the "Cradle of US Naval Aviation".
Note: Yet these individuals are all later listed in the 9/11 Commission report as the hijackers. Click
here and scroll down a little over half way to see their photos in the official report. For more on this,
click here. For an abundance of reliable information suggesting a major 9/11 cover-up, click here.
Congress OKs Use of Force

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/15/news/mn-46069
Two of them were American-trained Saudi fighter pilots. One graduated from America's foremost
flight university. One drank Stoli and orange juice and one advertised for a Mexican bride. The 19
men identified by the FBI as suspects in the World Trade Center and Pentagon hijack attacks ...
studied flying, lived in nondescript suburban apartments and seldom called attention to
themselves. Most lived for a time in Florida. Others were scattered in Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Arizona and Southern California. Then, in the last several weeks, they began disappearing from
their neighborhoods. They reappeared Friday on a list of suspects in the deadliest terrorist attack
in U.S. history. The FBI said it did not know for certain where most of the men came from, exactly
where they lived in the United States or how old they were. Several had names so common in the
Middle East that tracking them down might never be possible. A defense official said two of the
[9/11] hijackers were former Saudi fighter pilots who had studied in exchange programs at
the Defense Language School at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and the Air War College
at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
Note: Can you beleive that two of the alleged 9/11 hijackers trained at a US Air Force base? For
other major media reports showing as many as seven of the hijackers trained at US military bases,
click here.
On Flight 77: 'Our Plane Is Being Hijacked'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14365-2001Sep11
About an hour after takeoff from Dulles International Airport yesterday morning, Flight 77, a Boeing
757 headed for Los Angeles with 64 people aboard, became a massive missile aimed at the White
House. The target would change suddenly, but the symbolism was equally devastating. The diving
plane carved out a massive chunk of the Pentagon. The unidentified pilot executed a pivot so
tight that it reminded observers of a fighter jet maneuver. The plane circled 270 degrees to the
right to approach the Pentagon from the west, whereupon Flight 77 fell below radar level,
vanishing from controllers' screens. Aviation sources said the plane was flown with
extraordinary skill, making it highly likely that a trained pilot was at the helm, possibly one of
the hijackers. Someone even knew how to turn off the transponder, a move that is considerably
less than obvious.
Note: Yet Hani Hanjour, the alleged terrorist pilot of Flight 77, was a terrible pilot. According to a
New York Times article, "Marcel Bernard, the chief flight instructor at the school, said Mr. Hanjour
showed up in Washington asking to rent a single-engine plane. But he was told that he had to
prove his skills before being allowed to do so. Mr. Bernard said Mr. Hanjour made three flights with
two different instructors but was unable to prove that he had the necessary skills." The article
states this was less than a month before 9/11. How then was he able to execute the "fighter jet
maneuver" above on a Boeing 757? Click here for more.
IMF's four steps to damnation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2001/apr/29/business.mbas
Joseph Stiglitz, ex-chief economist of the World Bank, ... was in Washington for the big confab of
the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. From sources unnamable (not Stiglitz), we
obtained a cache of documents marked, 'confidential' and 'restricted'. Stiglitz helped translate one,
a 'country assistance strategy'. There's an assistance strategy for every poorer nation, designed,
says the World Bank, after careful in-country investigation. But according to insider Stiglitz, the
Bank's 'investigation' involves little more than close inspection of five-star hotels. It
concludes with a meeting with a begging finance minister, who is handed a 'restructuring
agreement' pre-drafted for 'voluntary' signature. The Bank hands every minister the same
four-step programme. Step One is privatisation. Stiglitz said that rather than objecting to the selloffs of state industries, some politicians - using the World Bank's demands to silence local critics happily flogged their electricity and water companies. After privatisation, Step Two is capital market
liberalisation. Stiglitz calls this the 'hot money' cycle. Cash comes in for speculation in real estate
and currency, then flees at the first whiff of trouble. A nation's reserves can drain in days. And
when that happens, to seduce speculators into returning a nation's own capital funds, the IMF
demands these nations raise interest rates to 30%, 50% and 80%. Step Three: market-based
pricing - a fancy term for raising prices on food, water and cooking gas. Step Four: free trade. This
is free trade by the rules of the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank, which Stiglitz likens
to the Opium Wars. 'That too was about "opening markets",' he said.
Note: For an essay by John Perkins, an insider who was directly involved in these severe
manipulations, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on
government collusion in financial corruption, click here.
The Virus and the Vaccine

2000-02-01, Atlantic Monthly
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2000/02/002bookchin.htm
A simian virus known as SV40 has been associated with a number of rare human cancers.
This same virus contaminated the polio vaccine administered to 98 million Americans from
1955 to 1963. Federal health officials see little reason for concern. A growing cadre of medical
researchers disagree. A breakthrough in the war against polio had come in the early 1950s, when
Jonas Salk took advantage of a new discovery: monkey kidneys could be used to culture the
abundant quantities of polio virus necessary to mass-produce a vaccine. But there were problems
with the monkey kidneys. In 1960 Bernice Eddy, a government researcher, discovered that when
she injected hamsters with the kidney mixture on which the vaccine was cultured, they developed
tumors. Eddy's superiors tried to keep the discovery quiet, but Eddy presented her data at a
cancer conference in New York. She was eventually demoted, and lost her laboratory. The
cancer-causing virus was soon isolated by other scientists and dubbed SV40, because it was the
fortieth simian virus discovered. Alarm spread through the scientific community as researchers
realized that nearly every dose of the vaccine had been contaminated. In 1961 federal health
officials ordered vaccine manufacturers to screen for the virus and eliminate it from the vaccine.
Worried about creating a panic, they kept the discovery of SV40 under wraps and never recalled
existing stocks. For two more years millions of additional people were needlessly exposed -bringing the total to 98 million Americans from 1955 to 1963.
Note: This fascinating report on modern research into SV40's role in human cancers is well worth
reading in its entirety at the link above. It is most strange that the CDC posted a webpage stating
"it has been estimated that 1030 million Americans could have received an SV40 contaminated
dose of vaccine" and much more, but the webpage was then taken down. Using the Internet
Archive, you can still see the revealing page that has been removed at this link.
Tsunami bomb - NZ's devastating war secret

1999-09-25, New Zealand Herald (New Zealand's leading newspaper)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=14727
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal
wave bomb, declassified files reveal. United States defence chiefs said that if the project had
been completed before the end of the war it could have played a role as effective as that of the
atom bomb. Details of the tsunami bomb, known as Project Seal, are contained in 53-year-old
documents released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Papers stamped "top secret"
show the US and British military were eager for Seal to be developed in the post-war years too.
The experiments involved laying a pattern of explosives underwater to create a tsunami. It is
unclear what happened to Project Seal once the final report was forwarded to Wellington Defence
Headquarters late in the 1940s. The bomb was never tested on a full scale. "Whether it could ever
be resurrected ... Under some circumstances I think it could be devastating."
Roswell Plus 50
1997-07-00, Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/1282456.html
As a presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter claimed to have seen a UFO. As president, Ronald
Reagan mused openly on how petty differences among nations might evaporate in the face of an
extraterrestrial threat. And no one has done more to turn up the speculative heat than retired Adm.
Bobby Ray Inman, who held a slew of top intelligence posts, including deputy director of the
Central Intelligence Agency. In a Learning Channel documentary, Inman said but has since
repeatedly and vigorously denied that the military is attempting to use technology from
unspecified "recovered vehicles." The most perplexing UFO mystery of all began in the desert
north of Roswell, NM. Ideas of what happened here during the first week of July 1947 range from
the simple a weather balloon crash to the downright silly Earth was being scouted for an
intergalactic invasion. The latest official government explanation there have been three thus far
is that the recovered debris came from a Project Mogul balloon that was carrying instruments to
detect Soviet nuclear tests. After interviewing witnesses who had seen and handled crashsite debris, and reviewing [classified documents], we have concluded that there really was
a crashed disc, dead bodies and a secret that could have been politically deadly to
presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Note: If the above link fails, click here or here. This well researched article raises more questions
than it answers, yet it leaves virtually no doubt that there was a major cover-up. For lots more
intriguing media articles suggesting a major cover-up of UFOs and related phenomena, click here.
Up Close and Personal With a Remote Viewer

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/offers.html?url=%2Fwashingtonpost%...
Remote viewers have been in the headlines recently because it's come to light that several
of them worked on the "Stargate" program, a top-secret, multimillion-dollar project at Fort
Meade, Md. [They helped] locate American hostages, enemy submarines, strategic
buildings in foreign countries and who knows what else. [Joseph] McMoneagle, 49, defended
remote viewing, which he explained as the act of describing or drawing details about a place,
person or thing without having any prior knowledge. He said that true remote viewing, unlike
crystal-ball gazing and tea-leaf reading, is always conducted under "strict scientific protocols." He
put his skills on the line last week on national television when ABC became, for an hour, the
other psychic network and the demonstration was impressive. "My career was destroyed in the
Army," said McMoneagle, who joined in 1964. He said he knew when he first joined the Stargate
project which was then called Grillflame in 1978 that he would never again be taken seriously
for any other job in the military. But he felt the assignment was too important to national security to
decline. The government was ... using remote viewers, about 15 of them, who operated under
strict guidelines developed in the laboratories at SRI International, a California contractor, to
provide additional information to be used in conjunction with intelligence gathered by satellites or
spies or any other traditional means. Research has shown that remote viewing works 14 percent of
the time or more. He said, "There is a huge percentage of intelligence collection systems that don't
do as well." He helped the Army locate hostages in Iran. He said he predicted almost precisely
where Skylab was going to fall, 11 months before the spacecraft returned to Earth in 1979.
Note: The U.S. government completely denied the existence of this program for decades. For a
free copy of this entire, fascinating article, click here. For a four-minute newscast video showing
how remote viewing works, click here. For an excellent, albeit overly dramatized documentary on
remote viewing, click here.
Tapes Depict Proposal to Thwart Bomb Used in Trade Center Blast

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00617FE3A5C0C7B8EDDA...
Law-enforcement officials were told that terrorists were building a bomb that was eventually used
to blow up the World Trade Center. The informer was to have helped the plotters build the
bomb and supply the fake powder, but the plan was called off by an F.B.I. supervisor who
had other ideas about how the informer, Emad A. Salem, should be used. The account, which
is given in the transcript of hundreds of hours of tape recordings Mr. Salem secretly made of his
talks with law-enforcement agents, portrays the authorities as in a far better position than
previously known to foil the Feb. 26 bombing of New York City's tallest towers. The explosion left
six people dead, more than 1,000 injured and damages in excess of half a billion dollars. The
transcript quotes Mr. Salem as saying that he wanted to complain to F.B.I. headquarters in
Washington about the bureau's failure to stop the bombing, but was dissuaded by an agent
identified as John Anticev. "He said, I don't think that the New York people would like the things out
of the New York office to go to Washington, D.C." Another agent ... does not dispute Mr. Salem's
account, but rather, appears to agree with it. Other Salem tapes and transcripts were being
withheld pending Government review, of "security and other issues." William M. Kunstler, a
defense lawyer in the case, accused the Government this week of improper delay in handing over
all the material. The transcripts he had seen, he said, "were filled with all sorts of Government
misconduct." But citing the judge's order, he said he could not provide any details.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For a two-minute CBS News clip the same day giving more
information on this little-known story, click here.
US Navy tested mustard gas on its own sailors

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/us-navy-tested-mustard-gas-on-its-own...
Fifty years ago, the US Navy locked 17-year-old Glenn Jenkins into a gas chamber within sight of
the dome of the US Capitol in Washington. It then poisoned him with mustard and lewisite
(arsenic) gas. He never recovered his good health. Nathan Schnurman, another 17-year-old, was
asked to test summer uniforms for the navy. He was locked in a small hut heated by a furnace and
with a door that could be opened only from the outside. When something went wrong with his
mask, he asked over the intercom to come out, but was refused. He vomited into his mask, passed
out and had a heart attack. The plight of Mr Jenkins, Mr Schnurman and 2,500 other sailors
who were used in what the navy called 'man break' experiments with poison gas, has
remained a secret for five decades. Only last week, under pressure from the victims, did the
Pentagon agree to let them tell their stories. Many, who had been told that the Espionage Act
would be used against them, did not even tell their doctors what had happened. All the survivors,
now in their late sixties, tell similar stories. The navy not only volunteered its own men, but for
decades after the war also refused to compensate them for crippling injuries. [And] the
experiments were for nothing. Mustard gas was used just once in the Second World War by the
Allies, and then by accident.
Note: The military has repeatedly condoned horrendous research on live subjects. For a revealing
list of highly unethical experimentation on human over the past 75 years, click here. For a concise
summary of the government's secret quest to control the mind and human behavior no matter what
the cost, click here.
U.S. Strategy Plan Calls For Insuring No Rivals Develop

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/world/us-strategy-plan-calls-for-insuring-n...
In a broad new policy statement that is in its final drafting stage, the Defense Department asserts
that America's political and military mission in the post-Cold-War era will be to insure that no rival
superpower is allowed to emerge in Western Europe, Asia or the territory of the former Soviet
Union. The classified document makes the case for a world dominated by one superpower
whose position can be perpetuated by constructive behavior and sufficient military might to
deter any nation or group of nations from challenging American primacy. With its focus on
this concept of benevolent domination by one power, the Pentagon document articulates
the clearest rejection to date of collective internationalism, the strategy that emerged from
World War II when the five victorious powers sought to form a United Nations that could mediate
disputes and police outbreaks of violence. Though the document is internal to the Pentagon and is
not provided to Congress, its policy statements are developed in conjunction with the National
Security Council and in consultation with the President or his senior national security advisers. Its
drafting has been supervised by Paul D. Wolfowitz, the Pentagon's Under Secretary for Policy. Mr.
Wolfowitz often represents the Pentagon on the Deputies Committee, which formulates policy in
an interagency process dominated by the State and Defense departments. The document is
known in Pentagon parlance as the Defense Planning Guidance, an internal Administration policy
statement that is distributed to the military leaders and civilian Defense Department heads to
instruct them on how to prepare their forces, budgets and strategy for the remainder of the decade.
Note: For more on the long-term planning for future war, see the deeply revealing reports from
reliable major media sources available here.
CIA Brainwashing Suit Settled

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24835384.html?dids=24835384...
Eight elderly Canadians who were victims of CIA-funded brainwashing experiments in the 1950s
reached a tentative out-of-court settlement Tuesday in their multimillion-dollar damage suit against
the U.S. spy agency. The Canadian plaintiffs, who say they suffered permanent mental and
physical damage as a result of the bizarre experiments performed on them at a Montreal
psychiatric hospital, will divide a $750,000 payment among them, according to their attorney,
James Turner. The Canadians, all patients of the late Dr. Ewen Cameron at Montreal's Allan
Memorial Institute in the late 1950s, were injected with repeated doses of mind-altering
LSD, deprived of sleep, subjected to massive electroshock treatments and forced to listen
to thousands of repetitions of taped messages taken from the most sensitive moments of
their therapy sessions.
Note: Dr. Cameron was once President of the American and World Psychiatric Associations. For
more on the severe abuses of doctors in serving the CIA's mind control programs, click here. For
lots more reliable, verifiable information on CIA mind control experiments and programs, click here.
The link above provides this abstract of the complete article, which can be accessed by payment
of a small fee.
Above Their Own Laws

By one count, only 61 of the 2,500 senior policy staff members working for the Senate are black.
There are, however, no exact records -- because Congress has exempted itself from equalopportunity and affirmative-action laws. -- House Speaker Jim Wright's office catches fire, but there
are no sprinklers. The laws requiring them do not apply to the Capitol or other federal buildings. -A controversy erupts over dangerous working conditions in the Capitol's mail-folding room, where
newsletters are processed. Congress does not fall under the occupational safety and health
(OSHA) regulations that bedevil other employers. -- Legislators are about to decide whether to
raise the federal minimum-wage level for the first time in seven years. At the moment, however,
the minimum-wage laws do not protect the 15,000 people who work for Congress. -- Michael
Deaver and Lyn Nofziger face jail terms because their lobbying ran afoul of the Ethics in
Government Law. Congressmen and their staffers who become lobbyists and do the same things
have no fear: the law does not apply to them. Congress's attitude, says Senator John Glenn,
"is the rankest form of hypocrisy. Laws that are good enough for everybody else ought to
be good enough for us." Instead, Congress has exempted itself from a broad array of laws
covering civil rights, minimum wages, and safety requirements and discrimination. "Congress
would exempt itself from the laws of gravity if it could," says Illinois Congressman Henry
Hyde.
Note: The fact that Congress exempts itself from its own laws is one of the major sources of
corruption in the US. For lots more from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis

1987-11-04, WantToKnow.info/PBS Documentary
http://www.WantToKnow.info/050423secretgovernment
The Secret Government is an interlocking network of official functionaries, spies,
mercenaries, ex-generals, profiteers and superpatriots, who, for a variety of motives,
operate outside the legitimate institutions of government. The Russians had been our ally
against the Nazis, an expedient alliance for the sake of war. Now they were our enemy. To fight
them we turned to some of the very men who had inflicted on humanity the horrors of Hitlers
madness. We hired Nazis as American spies. Admiral Gene La Rocque: That National Security
Act of 1947 changed dramatically the direction of this great nation. It established the framework for
a national security state. Never have we had a National Security Council so concerned about the
nations security that were always looking for threats and looking how to orchestrate our society to
oppose those threats. National Security was invented, almost, in 1947, and now it has become the
prime mover of everything we do. The National Security Act also gave us the Central Intelligence
Agency." In 1975 ... Congress took its first public look at the Secret Government. Senator Frank
Church chaired the Select Committee to study government operations. The hearings opened the
books on a string of lethal activities. From the use of electric pistols and poison pellets, to Mafia
connections and drug experiments. And they gave us a detailed account of assassination plots
against foreign leaders and the overthrowing of sovereign governments. This is a system easily
corrupted. While freedom does have enemies in the world, it can also be undermined here at
home, in the dark, by those posing as its friends.
Note: This highly revealing PBS documentary is available for free viewing on the Internet. For the
link, written text, and much more on this amazingly revealing documentary, click here.
The CIA and the Media

1977-10-20, Website of Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Carl Bernstein
http://carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php
In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of Americas leading syndicated columnists, went to the
Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate.
He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went
at the request of the CIA. Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past
twenty-five years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency,
according to documents on file at CIA headquarters. Journalists provided a full range of
clandestine servicesfrom simple intelligence gathering to serving as go-betweens with
spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors
shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters
who considered themselves ambassadors-without-portfolio for their country. Most were less
exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their
work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring-do of the spy business as in
filing articles; and, the smallest category, full-time CIA employees masquerading as journalists
abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for
the CIA with the consent of the managements of Americas leading news organizations.
Note: To understand how the CIA and others manipulate the major media is in its news coverage,
see the brilliant summary of the work of 20 award-winning journalists on this key topic at this link.
Method and Apparatus for Tunneling by Melting

1972-09-22, US Patent and Trademark Office
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&...
The invention described herein was made in the course of, or under, a contract with the U. S.
ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION. It relates ... to a method and apparatus for drilling, tunneling
and shaft-sinking in rock with particular advantage at hitherto inaccessible depths. The present
invention uses the basic apparatus and method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,505 and in Los
Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California Report No. LA-3243 (1965) entitled
"Rock Melting as a Drilling Technique." In the existing rock melting devices of the prior art, a major
difficulty which limited performance was that of delivering a sufficiently large heat flux to the
melting face of the drill or penetrator. The development of the heat pipe alleviates this problem in
that the use of heat pipes enables the transfer of heat energy from a compact heat source to the
extended melting surface of the penetrator at rates high enough to maintain the surface above the
melting temperature of the rock. The extrapolation of a mechanism useful for forming large holes in
the earth in accordance with the present invention uses the combination of a refractory rock-
melting tool, an in situ heat source preferably a small nuclear reactor and an exceedingly
efficient heat transfer mechanism such as a system of heat pipes to convey heat from the
source to the walls of the drilling tool.
Note: This patent shows that government scientists at Los Alamos were using a "small nuclear
reactor" to drill underground tunnels. Several of the inventors listed on the patent worked at Los
Alamos National Laboratory, including: McInteer, Berthus B.; Mills, Robert L.; Potter, Robert M.;
Robinson, Eugene S.; Rowley, John C.; and Smith, Morton C.. For photos and more fascinating
information on this most intriguing patent, click here.
C.I.A.: Maker of Policy, or Tool?

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A15FA3D5D137B93C7AB178FD85...
[Many questions] have dogged the [CIA] for years. This secret body [is] known to have overthrown
governments and installed others, raised armies, staged an invasion of Cuba, spied and
counterspied, established airlines, radio stations and schools. Was it in fact damaging, while it
sought to advance, the national interest? Former President Truman, whose administration
established the CIA in 1947, said In 1963 that by then he saw "something about the way the CIA
has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic positions." President Kennedy, as
the enormity of the Bay of Pigs disaster came home to him, said to one of the highest
officials of his administration that he wanted "to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and
scatter it to the winds." In the 19 years that the CIA has been in existence, 150 resolutions
for tighter congressional control have been introduced - and put aside. Few persons in or out
of the American Government know much about its work, its organization, its supervision or its
relationship to the other arms of the executive branch. In 1960, CIA agents in Laos, disguised as
"military advisers," stuffed ballot boxes and engineered local uprisings to help a hand-picked
strongman ... set up a "pro-American" government. It was the CIA that built up Ngo Dinh Diem as
the pro-American head of South Vietnam after the French ... had found him in a monastery cell in
Belgium and brought him back to Saigon as Premier. The revelation that CIA agents served among
Michigan State University scholars in South Vietnam from 1955 to 1959 has contributed to the fear
[of infiltration of universities].
Note: For a longer, even more revealing summary of this very lengthy article, click here. To see a
full copy of this article, click here. For more on the secret and illegal activities of major intelligence
agencies, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Flying Disks
1947-07-10, FBI Website, UFO Vault
http://vault.fbi.gov/UFO/UFO%20Part%201%20of%2016/
At request of Brigadier General George F. Schulgen, Chief of the Requirements Intelligence

Branch of Army Air Corps Intelligence, Special Agent [deleted] discussed the above captioned
matter with him on July 9, 1947. General Schulgen indicated to [deleted] that the Air Corps has
taken the attitude that every effort must be undertaken in order to run down and ascertain whether
or not the flying disks are a fact and, if so, to learn all about them. He advised that to complete the
picture he desired the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in locating and questioning
the individuals who first sighted the so-called flying disks in order to ascertain whether or not they
are sincere in their statements that they saw these disks. [Deleted] indicated that it was his attitude
that the flying disks are not the result of any Army or Navy experiments. He stated that he was of
the opinion that the Bureau, if at all possible, should accede to General Schulgen's request. [FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover's handwritten response:] I would do it but before agreeing to it we
must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance in the Sa. case the army
grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory investigation.
Note: The excerpt above is from pages 44 and 45 of the rich collection of declassified FBI
documents on UFOs at the link above. If the link fails, click here. Note that this was just days after
the Roswell crash. For lots more solid evidence of a major UFO cover-up, see our UFO
Information Center at this link. Why hasn't this been widely reported and become public
knowledge? For a possible answer, click here.
Ford Sees Wealth in Muscle Shoals: Edison Backs Him Up

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=3&res=9C04E0D7103EEE3ABC4E53...
Henry Ford [is] convinced that if Congress will complete and lease to him the water-power
developments [at Muscle Shoals], he can make this whole section of the South more prosperous.
Thomas A. Edison indorsed Mr. Fords views. He is very earnest in his support of Fords [proposal]
to finance Muscle Shoals by an issue of currency ... directly by the Government. "If our nation can
issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill," said Mr. Edison. "[When Congress authorizes] an
issue of bonds, it must go out to the money brokers. We then must pay interest to the money
brokers for the use of our own money. In all our great bond issues, the interest is always greater
than the principal. All of the great public works cost more than twice the actual cost on that
account. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money
brokers collect twice the amount of the bond ... whereas the currency pays nobody but
those who directly contribute. Both are promises to pay: but one promise fattens the
usurer, and the other helps the people. It is the money broker, the money profiteer, the private
banker, that I oppose. It is a terrible situation when the Government ... must go into debt and
submit to ruinous interest charges at the hands of men who control the [issuance of currency]. The
people must pay any way: why should they be compelled to pay twice as the bond system
compels them? [If] Government will adopt this policy of increasing its national wealth without
contributing to the interest collector ... you will see an era of progress and prosperity in this country
such as could never have come otherwise. Mr. Edison reiterated his belief [that if] the currency
method is tried in raising money for public improvements, the country will never go back to the
borrow method.
Note: If the above link fails, you can read the a copy of the full, fascinating article at this link or this
one. The entire article contains lots of amazing revelations of how big bankers keep us in debt.
How fascinating that Ford and Edison, both ultra-wealthy businessmen, here are arguing strongly
against the privately owned Federal Reserve system through which private bankers print US
money and charge interest on it, and for the US government printing its own money. This would
avoid US citizens having to pay the big bankers all of the interest on much of the national debt. For
lots of evidence to support this way of thinking, click here.
CIA's torture experts now use their skills in secret drones program
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/29/cias-torture-experts-now...
The New York Times reported on Sunday that many of those in charge of the CIAs torture
program the same people whose names were explicitly redacted from the Senates torture
report in order to avert accountability have ascended to the agencys powerful senior
ranks and now run the CIA drone program. Rather than being fired and prosecuted, they have
been rewarded with promotions. The longtime Counterterrorism Center chief who just stepped
down, Michael DAndrea, was previously in charge of the notorious CIA prison known as the Salt
Pit, where prisoners were regularly tortured and some died. His replacement, Chris Wood, was
also central to the interrogation program, according to the Times. The only reason we know
DAndrea and Woods names is because the New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet
commendably decided to publish them. The CIA asked them not to. Adding to the disturbing nature
of the CIAs ability to kill people in complete secrecy, the agency apparently now has a carte
blanche to conduct drone strikes on its own. President Obama doesnt individually approve them
anymore he lets the CIA unilaterally decide to kill people. The Obama administration has
promised more transparency around drone strikes, yet at the same time, wont even acknowledge
that the controversial drone strike its apologizing for even happened - just because such
admission might force courts to hold the government accountable for its actions.
corruption in government and in the intelligence community.
Stop Making Us Guinea Pigs

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/opinion/stop-making-us-guinea-pigs.html?_r=0
The issues surrounding G.M.O.s - genetically modified organisms - became more complicated last
week when the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that glyphosate, the
active ingredient in the widely used herbicide Roundup, probably causes cancer in
humans. Two insecticides, malathion and diazinon, were also classified as "probable" carcinogens
by the agency, a respected arm of the World Health Organization. Roundup, made by Monsanto
for both home and commercial use, is crucial in the production of genetically engineered corn and
soybean crops, so it was notable that the verdict on its dangers came nearly simultaneously with
an announcement by the Food and Drug Administration that new breeds of genetically engineered
potato and apple are safe to eat. Few people are surprised that an herbicide in widespread use is
probably toxic at high doses or with prolonged exposure, circumstances that may be common
among farmers and farmworkers. Nor is it surprising that it took so long - Roundup has been used
since the 1970s - to discover its likely carcinogenic properties. There is a sad history of us acting
as guinea pigs for the novel chemicals that industry develops. To date, G.M.O.s and other forms of
biotech have done nothing but enrich their manufacturers and promote a system of agriculture
that's neither sustainable nor for the most part beneficial. We don't need better, smarter
chemicals along with crops that can tolerate them; we need fewer chemicals. There's no
reason to put the general population, and particularly the farming population, at risk for the sake of
industry profits.
Note: Monsanto's Roundup and the GMO crops that support its use are well-known by scientists
to be a threat to public health. For more, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles
on GMO risks and how these are covered up.
UK Police Watchdog to Investigate Westminster Child Abuse Cover-Up

http://www.newsweek.com/uk-police-watchdog-investigate-westminster-child-abus...
The UK police watchdog has announced that it is investigating the Metropolitan Police following
allegations that the force was involved in a cover-up over child abuse offenses. The Independent
Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has launched the investigation after the Met referred
themselves over 16 separate allegations - 14 of which are to be investigated. The IPCC will look
into claims of corruption within the force and whether they purposefully ignored evidence and
halted investigations due to the involvement of MPs and other members of the establishment. This
most recent development comes as a result of Operation Fairbank, first launched by
Scotland Yard in 2012, to probe suggestions that high profile figures were involved in
historic Westminster paedophile rings. Since then detectives have also opened up inquiries into
the murder of three boys who its alleged were killed by those involved in such rings, claims which
... have resulted in the police calling for witnesses as they have been unable to identify the victims.
One of the 14 referrals for the IPCC says that a proactive operation targeting young men in
Dolphin Square was stopped because officers were too near prominent people, while another is
about allegations that a politician had spoken with a senior Met Police officer and demanded
no action was taken regarding a paedophile ring and boys being procured and supplied to
prominent persons in Westminster in the 1970s.
that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government. For more along these
lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about sexual abuse scandals and
government corruption from reliable major media sources.
Covert police unit spied on trade union members, whistleblower reveals

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2...
An undercover police unit that monitored political groups over 40 years gathered intelligence on
members of at least five trade unions, a whistleblower has revealed. Peter Francis, who spent
four years undercover infiltrating political activists, has named five trade unions whose
members he spied on: Unison, the Fire Brigades Union, Communication Workers Union,
National Union of Teachers, and the National Union of Students. Francis, who has become a
whistleblower in recent years ... was part of the covert Metropolitan police unit, the Special
Demonstration Squad (SDS), that monitored hundreds of political groups between 1968 and 2008.
Francis gave a statement to a packed meeting in Parliament that marked the launch of a new book
about the blacklisting of thousands of workers by multi-national construction firms. This month, the
Daily Mirror revealed that one of the undercover officers in the SDS, Mark Jenner, posed as a
joiner and was a member of the construction workers union, UCATT, for three years. Jenners
involvement in trade unions is detailed here by the Undercover Research Group, a resource on
covert infiltration of political groups. It describes how he attended meetings of UCATT and other
unions, regularly went on pickets and ferried trade unionists to demonstrations. In his statement ...
Francis said, Let me state very clearly that Mark Jenner was 100% one of my fellow undercover
SDS police officers deployed alongside me in the 1990s.
Note: While undercover, Mark Jenner had a four-year relationship with a woman who did not know
his real identity. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing
government corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Washington revolving door speeds up as Obama officials head for

lobbying jobs
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/07/washington-revolving-door-lobb...
Washington has long been notorious for its revolving doors. Politicians, regulators and other
officials spin out of one capital building only to return at another as highly paid lobbyists. Leading
the pack of former White House staff [now] accepting the corporate shilling is Jay Carney,
President Obamas former White House press secretary, who this week joined Amazon as its head
of global corporate affairs. Carney follows David Plouffe, Obamas former campaign manager and
senior White House adviser, who quit the White House in 2013 and joined Uber. Others to have left
the Obama administration for the serious cash of the corporate world include Samuel Maruca, who
was director of transfer pricing (multinational company taxation) at the Internal Revenue Service,
[and] Shara Aranoff, [former] chair of the US International Trade Commission. Bill Allison, senior
fellow of the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit that campaigns for open government, said the
number of senior government officials switching to lobbying roles in big companies poses
a huge problem for transparency". Obama was very clear he didnt want people to switch
between lobbying and the government, but thats what is happening. When he took office,
Obama signed an order that the White House said: closes the revolving door that allows
government officials to move to and from private sector jobs in ways that give that sector undue
influence over government.
Note: For more on this, see Glenn Greenwald's excellent article.
A Whistleblower's Horror Story

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/a-whistleblowers-horror-story-20150218
One man's story in particular highlights just about everything that can go wrong when you give
evidence against your bosses in America: former Countrywide/Bank of America whistleblower
Michael Winston. Two years ago this month, Winston was being celebrated in the news as a hero.
He'd blown the whistle on Countrywide Financial, the bent mortgage lender that ... nearly blew up
the global economy. Today, Winston [has] spent over a million dollars fighting Countrywide (and
the firm that acquired it, Bank of America) in court. At first, that fight proved a good gamble, as a
jury granted him a multi-million-dollar award for retaliation and wrongful termination. But
after Winston won that case, an appellate judge not only wiped out that jury verdict, but
allowed Bank of America to counterattack him. The bank eventually beat him for nearly
$98,000 in court costs. That single transaction means a good guy in the crisis drama, Winston,
had by the end of 2014 paid a larger individual penalty than virtually every wrongdoer connected
with the financial collapse of 2008. When Winston protested his preposterous punishment on the
grounds that a trillion-dollar company recouping legal fees from an unemployed whistleblower was
unreasonable and unnecessary, a California Superior Court judge denied his argument get this
on the grounds that Winston failed to prove a disparity in resources between himself and Bank
of America! Four years later, we're still waiting for the first criminal conviction against any individual
for crisis-era corruption. There's been no significant reform. What we've seen instead is a series of
cash deals with the most corrupt companies.
Note: Countrywide bought political influence to more effectively defraud institutional investors and
taxpayers. Thanks to Winston, they were caught and proven guilty. But Bank of America
purchased Countrywide, and has been paying off officials in secret deals to continue skirting the
law without admitting wrongdoing. And Michael Winston now has to pay Bank of America for their
trouble.
Research misconduct often unreported in published studies
2015-02-09, NBC/Reuters
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/56951863#.VOheuSyeaZk
When U.S. health regulators find serious problems with how medical researchers collect their data,
the researchers final reports often dont mention it, a new analysis suggests. Out of 78 published
papers reporting on clinical trials in which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found
very serious issues, only three mentioned any violations, the new report says. These are
major things, said Charles Seife, a journalism professor and the studys author. Using documents
and data from 1998 to 2013, Seife and his students at New York University in New York City
identified 57 clinical trials that received an official action indicated violation - the most serious
type of violation for trials - for reasons including poor record keeping, false information and poor
patient safety. The problems that weren't reported were sometimes egregious. One paper, for
example, said all patients reported improvement, but in fact, the FDA found that one patient had a
foot amputated two weeks after receiving the treatment. In another case, the entire clinical trial
was considered unreliable by the FDA - but the published paper didn't mention that. In another,
researchers falsified data, which led to one patients death. Data on these violations are not readily
available. So it's impossible to say how often tainted data are published and how often the
violations are noted, Seife said.
Note: Read an informative article with much more detail about the egregious conduct of the FDA.
This article raises the question, "Why does the FDA stay silent about fraud and misconduct in
scientific studies of medicine?" For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing science corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Rotherham abuse: Researcher's warning 'ignored in 2002'

2015-02-09, BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31327781
A former Home Office researcher says a bullying culture at Rotherham Council led to her
warnings of child sexual exploitation being suppressed in 2002, years before action was
finally taken. A report this month by government official Louise Casey concluded the council was
not "fit for purpose". The council says it is investigating researcher Adele Gladman's claims.
Previously, she has only spoken anonymously. "What I didn't realise was just how many whistleblowers there had been over the years and how many opportunities to change poor practice," she
said. "That has cost young people their health, their happiness and in some cases their
lives." Ms Gladman was based at Rotherham Council when she carried out the work for the Home
Office. She describes being subjected to bullying and intimidation after her research found a small
number of men, mainly of Pakistani heritage, were sexually exploiting a significant number of
young people. She says the council sent her on race awareness training and effectively
suppressed her report. "I had every aspect of my professionalism questioned," she said. "I had
every aspect of my work questioned. I had data removed over a weekend so that I couldn't
substantiate my findings." She says the bullying she faced went beyond the local authority and
remembers a police officer approaching her outside her office. "He and a colleague said words
along the lines of 'Wouldn't it be a shame if these perpetrators found out where you and your
family lived'. "And I took that as a direct threat to my personal safety. The message was very
clear."
Note: By 'conservative estimates' detailed in a 2014 report, over 1400 children as young as 12
were sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham. Police and elected officials actively
helped the perpetrators, covered up the crimes, and systematically prevented the victims from
getting help. For more, watch powerful evidence in a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary
showing that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government, or read
deeply revealing sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.
Thatcher stopped officials publicly naming Sir Peter Hayman as

suspected paedophile
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thatcher-stopped-officials-pub...
Margaret Thatcher told officials not to publicly name a senior diplomat connected to a
paedophile scandal despite being fully briefed on allegations made against him, a newly
revealed secret file has shown. The file was prepared for the late Conservative Prime Minister in
the early Eighties, and details allegations of unnatural sexual activity by Sir Peter Hayman in
1966, when he returned from ... West Berlin to the Foreign Office. It also notified Mrs Thatcher that
the senior diplomat had been subject to a police investigation, after a parcel containing "obscene
materials" was found on a London bus in 1978. Sir Peter was not prosecuted following an
investigation into his activities. The diplomat, who died in 1992, was accused of being a
paedophile by MP Geoffrey Dickens under the cloak of parliamentary privilege in 1983, before the
file was prepared for the then Prime Minister. Compiled between October 1980 and March 1981,
the 37-page file is now available for public view, and features Mrs Thatchers handwritten
annotations and notes. It confirms that Sir Peter was a member of the Paedophile Information
Exchange (PIE) group, and claims he intended to make "contact with adults with whom he could
exchange obscene material." The revelations come as Home Secretary Theresa May announced
she would be launching an inquiry into historical child abuse, during which Sir Peters activities will
be investigated.
Don't Trade Away Our Health

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/opinion/dont-trade-away-our-health.html?_r=0
A secretive group met behind closed doors in New York this week. What they decided may lead to
higher drug prices for you and hundreds of millions around the world. Representatives from the
United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries convened to decide the future of their
trade relations in the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (T.P.P.). Powerful companies
appear to have been given influence over the proceedings, even as full access is withheld
from many government officials from the partnership countries. Among the topics negotiators
have considered are some of the most contentious T.P.P. provisions those relating to intellectual
property rights. These rules could help big pharmaceutical companies maintain or increase their
monopoly profits on brand-name drugs [and] block cheaper generic drugs from the market. Big
Pharmas profits would rise, at the expense of the health of patients and the budgets of consumers
and governments. Of course, pharmaceutical companies claim they need to charge high prices to
fund their research and development. This just isnt so. For one thing, drug companies spend more
on marketing and advertising than on new ideas. Overly restrictive intellectual property rights
actually slow new discoveries. As it is, most of the important innovations come out of our
universities and research centers, like the National Institutes of Health, funded by government and
foundations.
Note: Read what a former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Health has to say about
the egregious profiteering of Big Pharma. Watch an excellent, two-minute video by former U.S.
Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on the TPP titled "The Worst Trade Deal You've Never Heard of,"
or read leaked draft texts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for yourself.
Wall Street's threat to the American middle class

The middle class can't be saved unless Wall Street is tamed. Yet most presidential
aspirants don't want to talk about taming the Street because Wall Street is one of their
largest sources of campaign money. Six years ago ... the financial collapse crippled the
middle class and poor, consuming the savings of millions of average Americans and causing 23
million to lose their jobs, 9.3 million to lose their health insurance and some 1 million to lose their
homes. A repeat performance is not unlikely. Wall Street's biggest banks are much larger now
than they were then. Five of them hold about 45 percent of America's banking assets. In 2000,
they held 25 percent. Meanwhile, the Street's lobbyists have gotten Congress to repeal a provision
of Dodd-Frank curbing excessive speculation by the big banks. The language was drafted by
Citigroup and personally pushed by Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. It's nice that
presidential aspirants are talking about rebuilding America's middle class. But to be credible, the
candidates have to [propose] to limit the size of the biggest Wall Street banks, to resurrect the
Glass-Steagall Act (which used to separate investment banking from commercial banking), to
define insider trading the way most other countries do (using information any reasonable person
would know is unavailable to most investors), and to close the revolving door between the Street
and the U.S. Treasury. It also means not depending on the Street to finance their campaigns.
corruption in government and the financial industry.
Prince Andrew Sex Scandal Lawsuit Has High Legal Stakes

2015-01-07, Time
http://time.com/3658851/prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein/
A federal court filing accuses ... Prince Andrew of having sex in three countries with the
self-described sex slave of an American financier, Jeffrey Epstein. The lawsuit that
mentions these charges [targets] the U.S. Department of Justice. The case [started] in 2005, when
Florida police began investigating claims that Epstein was paying underage girls for sex at his
West Palm Beach home. Investigators uncovered evidence that more than a dozen girls may
have been victimized by Epstein. The Justice Department agreed to a deal with Epstein that
required him to plead guilty to two state charges, including a single count of solicitation of minors
for prostitution, to register as a sex offender and to serve a short jail sentence. In exchange, the
U.S. Attorney agreed to drop any further prosecution. The agreement also said that the parties
anticipate that this agreement will not be made part of any public record, an unusual condition for
such a criminal plea. The [deal] shocked several of the victims. The case has been now been
ongoing for six years, with more than 280 filings. In legal filings, Edwards [a Florida trial lawyer]
and Cassell [a victims' rights advocate and former federal judge] have questioned [the] pressure
on the U.S. Attorney to keep the case from trial, either from Prince Andrew or former President
Clinton, who travelled with Epstein on his private plane at the time but has not been accused of
wrongdoing. The elephant in the room is this: How does a guy who sexually abused 40 girls end
up doing basically one year in a halfway house, says Cassell.
Note: This is the second recent child sex scandal connected with UK royalty. Watch powerful
evidence in a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that child sexual abuse
scandals reach to the highest levels of government. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media
sources.
At Americas court of last resort, a handful of lawyers now dominates

the docket
2014-12-08, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/scotus/
The U.S. Supreme Court building proclaims a high ideal: Equal Justice Under Law. But inside, an
elite cadre of lawyers has emerged [to give] their clients a disproportionate chance to influence the
law. A Reuters examination of nine years of cases shows that 66 of the 17,000 lawyers who
petitioned the Supreme Court ... were at least six times more likely to be accepted by the court
than were all others. About half [of these 66 lawyers] worked for justices past or present, and some
socialize with them. Although they account for far less than 1 percent of lawyers who filed appeals
to the Supreme Court, these attorneys were involved in 43 percent of the cases the high court
chose to decide from 2004 through 2012. The Reuters examination of the Supreme Courts
docket, the most comprehensive ever, suggests ... a decided advantage for corporate
America. Some legal experts contend that the reliance on a small cluster of specialists, most
working on behalf of businesses, has turned the Supreme Court into an echo chamber a place
where an elite group of jurists embraces an elite group of lawyers who reinforce narrow views of
how the law should be construed. Of the 66 most successful lawyers, 51 worked for law firms
that primarily represented corporate interests. In cases pitting the interests of customers,
employees or other individuals against those of companies, a leading attorney was three times
more likely to launch an appeal for business than for an individual, Reuters found.
Note: How interesting that no major media seem to have picked up this revealing story. For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about government
corruption from reliable major media sources.
Afghanistan: The Making of a Narco State

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/afghanistan-the-making-of-a-narco-s...
In the largest opium harvest in Afghanistan's history; with a record 224,000 hectares under
cultivation this year, the country produced an estimated 6,400 tons of opium, or around 90 percent
of the world's supply. In Afghanistan today, according to U.N. estimates, the opium industry
accounts for 15 percent of the economy. The Afghan narcotics trade has gotten undeniably
worse since the U.S.-led invasion: The country produces twice as much opium as it did in
2000. In the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, I arrange an interview with a drug smuggler. I'll call
him Sami. He grew up in a camp near the border town of Chagai, in Pakistan. After finishing 11th
grade, he got work as a driver and began ... smuggling opium through the desert. Baramcha, a
smuggling hub on the Afghan side of the border ... functions as a kind of switching station for much
of the opium trade. "The security situation is good ... the drug smugglers and the ISI are tight
together," he says, referring to Pakistan's intelligence service. The United States' alliances with
opium traffickers in Afghanistan go back to the 1980s, when the CIA waged a dirty war to
undermine the Soviet occupation of the country. Large-scale cultivation was introduced [with]
support from the ISI and the CIA. U.S. counternarcotics programs, which have cost nearly
$8 billion to date, and the Afghan state-building project in general, are perversely part of ...
the drug trade.
Note: Read the complete article above for an in depth look at the Afghan narcotics trade. For
more, read this 2002 news article, which shows that the Taliban had nearly eliminated opium
production in Afghanistan prior to the US led invasion. Yet once the allies defeated the Taliban,
opium production hit new records. Today, Afghanistan produces 90% of the global opium supply.
This huge source of income is used to fund all kinds of secret projects. Read powerful evidence
that the CIA and US military are directly involved in the drug trade.
41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes the facts on
the ground
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147
A new analysis of the data available to the public about drone strikes, conducted by the
human-rights group Reprieve, indicates that even when operators target specific
individuals the most focused effort of what Barack Obama calls targeted killing they
kill vastly more people than their targets, often needing to strike multiple times. Attempts to
kill 41 men resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 people, as of 24 November. Reprieve
[focused on] cases in which specific people were targeted by drones multiple times. Their data,
shared with the Guardian, raises questions about the accuracy of US intelligence. The analysis is
a partial estimate. Drone strikes ... are only as precise as the intelligence that feeds them. There
is nothing precise about intelligence that results in the deaths of 28 unknown people, including
women and children, for every bad guy the US goes after, said Reprieves Jennifer Gibson. The
data cohort is only a fraction of those killed by US drones. Neither Reprieve nor the Guardian
examined ... the so-called signature strikes that attack people based on a pattern of behavior
considered suspicious, rather than intelligence tying their targets to terrorist activity. An analytically
conservative Council on Foreign Relations tally assesses that 500 drone strikes outside of Iraq and
Afghanistan have killed 3,674 people. Like all weapons, drones will inevitably miss their targets.
But the secrecy surrounding them obscures how often misses occur and the reasons for them.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing military corruption
news articles from reliable major media sources, including this NPR article that reports on the
possibility of future drone strikes taking place within the US.
Doctor Transparency: Why Leana Wen Received Threats After

Launching
2014-11-19, International Business Times
http://www.ibtimes.com/doctor-transparency-why-leana-wen-received-threats-aft...
Leana Wen created the Whos My Doctor campaign last year. The effort ... goes a step
further than the federal governments mandate requiring physicians to disclose all money they
receive from drug companies. Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released
data that outlined the $3.5 billion that companies paid to the nations doctors. The Open Payments
database ... was heavily opposed by physician groups and pharmaceutical companies.
Incentives matter, said Wen in a recent TED talk, If you go to your doctor because of
back pain, you might want to know hes getting paid $5,000 to perform spine surgery versus
$25 to refer you to see a physical therapist. As part of the Whos My Doctor effort, each
physician voluntarily publishes a Total Transparency Manifesto, which ... flows into a searchable
database that prospective patients can use. One year after starting the project, only 34
transparent doctors are listed on the website. There are many more who were less than pleased.
I thought some doctors would sign on and others wouldnt, but I had no idea of the backlash that
would ensue, she said in her TED talk. The criticism quickly went beyond online comments. Soon,
people were asking Wens employer to fire her, and sending mail to her home address with
threats.
Note: Don't miss the inspiring TED talk of Dr. Wen. And check out her website "Who's My Doctor"
at http://www.whosmydoctor.com.
Organised child sex abuse 'widespread in England', MPs say

2014-11-18, BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-30083835
Organised child sex abuse is widespread in England, a report by MPs on the Rotherham
exploitation scandal says. Their report said: "On the evidence we took, the alarming
conclusion is that Rotherham was not an outlier and that there is a widespread problem of
organised child sexual exploitation in England." The MPs inquiry was prompted by a report by
Prof Alexis Jay, which revealed up to 1,400 children were estimated to have been victims of abuse
in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Ofsted, which carried out a series of inspections during the
period, said it had introduced a "more rigorous inspection framework". The parliamentary
committee called for an investigation into missing files at the council and said council officials
"should be held accountable for their actions." In a statement, Ofsted said it welcomed "the
opportunity to give evidence to the committee. In common with a number of organisations, we
accept that past inspections may not have given child sexual exploitation the forensic focus it
needed and deserved," it said.
that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government. And read an
abundance of major media news articles showing rampant child sexual abuse at high levels in
many prominent organizations.
'Vaccine court' keeps claimants waiting

2014-11-17, Bloomberg/Associated Press
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2014-11-17/ap-impact-vaccine-court-keeps-claim...
A system Congress established to speed help to Americans harmed by vaccines has
instead heaped additional suffering on thousands of families. The system is not working as
intended. The AP read hundreds of decisions, conducted more than 100 interviews, and analyzed
a database of more than 14,500 cases filed in a special vaccine court. Among the findings: Private
attorneys have been paid tens of millions of taxpayer dollars even as they clog the court. The court
offers a financial incentive to over-file unlike typical civil court cases. Prominent attorneys have
enlisted expert witnesses whose own work has been widely discredited, including one who treated
autism with a potent drug used to chemically castrate serial rapists. Many doctors hired by the
government to defend vaccine safety in court have ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Cases are supposed to be resolved within 240 days, with options for another 150 days of
extensions. Less than 7 percent of 7,876 claims not involving autism met the 240-day target. Add
in autism claims, which were postponed so the court could hear all of them at once, and just 4.5
percent took fewer than 240 days. Hundreds have surpassed the decade mark. Several people
died before getting any money.
Note: The secret court that shields big pharma from legal liability for selling harmful vaccines is
described in this 2009 Wall Street Journal news article. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing news articles on vaccines from reliable major media sources
showing huge corruption and deception.
FBI: Violent crime drops, reaches 1970s level

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-violent-crime-1970s-level-...
U.S. violent crimes including murders fell 4.4 percent in 2013 to their lowest number since
the 1970s, continuing a decades-long downturn, the FBI said on Monday. The law enforcement
agency's annual Crime in the United States report showed the country had an estimated 1.16
million violent crimes last year, the lowest number since 1.09 million were recorded in 1978. All
types of violent crimes were lower, with murder and non-negligent manslaughter off 4.4 percent to
14,196, the lowest figure since 1968. Rape was down 6.3 percent and robbery fell 2.8 percent, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation data showed. The violent crime rate last year was 367.9 for each
100,000 in population, down 5.1 percent from 2012. The rate has fallen every year since at least
1994, the earliest year for readily accessible FBI data, and the 2013 figure was about half
the 1994 rate. Property crimes fell 4.1 percent ... the 11th straight yearly decline. In an analysis,
the non-profit Pew Charitable Trusts said the drop in crime coincided with a decline in the prison
population, with the number of U.S. prisoners down 6 percent in 2013 from its peak in 2008. Thirtytwo of the 50 states have seen a drop in crime rates as the rate of imprisonment fell, Pew said.
California notched the largest drop in imprisonment rate over the five-year period, at 15 percent,
and crime was down 11 percent. The state has been under court order to reduce prison
overcrowding, and voters last week approved an initiative that reduced sentences for some crimes.
Note: Why isn't this inspiring news being broadcast widely by the media? And why hasn't the FBI
website updated their data on this since 2010? The police and media appear to consistently
downplay the huge drop in violent crime since 1994. According to the FBI's own statistics, violent
crime has currently dropped to 1/3 or less what it was in 1994. See the revealing FBI graphs and
charts here, here, and here. Yet some of these charts have now been removed and mention of this
huge decrease downplayed. The obvious reason is that a large decrease in crime might cause
people to want to decrease police and FBI budgets. More here.
The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase's Worst Nightmare

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-9-billion-witness-20141106
[Alayne] Fleischmann is the central witness in one of the biggest cases of white-collar crime in
American history, possessing secrets that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon late last year paid
$9 billion ... to keep the public from hearing. In 2006, as a deal manager at the gigantic bank,
Fleischmann first witnessed, then tried to stop, what she describes as "massive criminal securities
fraud." This past year she watched as Holder's Justice Department struck a series of historic
settlement deals with Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. The root bargain in these
deals was cash for secrecy. The idea that Holder had cracked down on Chase was ... fiction.
The settlement, says Kelleher, "was ... crafted to bypass the court system. The DOJ and JPMorgan were trying to avoid disclosure of their dirty deeds." Chase emerged with barely a scratch.
The settlement put you, me and every other American taxpayer on the hook. Chase was allowed
to treat some $7 billion of the settlement as a tax write-off. The bank's share price soared six
percent on news of the settlement. Chase actually made money from the deal. What's more,
to defray the cost of this and other fines, Chase last year laid off 7,500 lower-level employees. But
no one made out better than [Chase CEO Jamie] Dimon. The board awarded [him] a 74 percent
raise. The people who stole all those billions are still in place. And the bank is more untouchable
than ever. Mary Jo White and Andrew Ceresny, who represented Chase for some of this case,
have since been named to the two top jobs at the SEC.
Note: Read this entire, fascinating article to understand just how corrupt both the banks and our
government are. For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing
articles about widespread corruption in government and banking and finance. For additional
information, see the excellent, reliable resources provided in our Banking Corruption Information
Center.
The NSA and Me: By Former ABC Producer James Bamford

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/02/the-nsa-and-me/
My biggest battle with the NSA came before my book [The Puzzle Palace] was even published. I
had obtained the criminal file that the Justice Department had opened on the NSA. Marked as Top
Secret, the file was so sensitive that only two original copies existed. Never before or since has
an entire agency been the subject of a criminal investigation. Senior officials at the NSA
were even read their Miranda rights. Issued on June 6, 1975, the report noted that both the NSA
and CIA had engaged in questionable and possibly illegal electronic surveillance. As a result,
Attorney General Edward Levi established a secret internal task force to look into the potential for
criminal prosecution. Focusing particularly on NSA, the task force probed more deeply into
domestic eavesdropping than any part of the executive branch had ever done before. The reports
prosecutive summary also pointed to the NSAs top-secret charter issued by the
Executive Branch, which exempts the agency from legal restraints placed on the rest of the
government. This ... meant the NSA did not have to follow any restrictions placed on electronic
surveillance unless it was expressly directed to do so. In short, the report asked, how can you
prosecute an agency that is above the law? More than three decades later, the NSA, like a momand-pop operation that has exploded into a global industry, now employs sweeping powers of
surveillance that Frank Church could scarcely have imagined in the days of wired phones and
clunky typewriters. At the same time, the Senate intelligence committee he once chaired has done
an about face, protecting the agencies from the public rather than the public from the agencies.
Without adequate oversight, or penalties for abuse, the only protection that citizens have comes
not from Congress or the courts, but from whistleblowers.
Note: James Bamford is the courageous ABC producer and investigative reporter who first
exposed the declassified Operation Northwoods files in the May of 2001. These files showed
beyond a shadow of a doubt that the top Pentagon generals were willing to carry out false flag
terrorism activities which would kill innocent civilians in order to foment war fever against Cuba.
Yet only ABC News out of all the major media outlets was willing to report this most shocking
news. Don't miss the entire, highly revealing article by Bamford at the link above.
Ex-Senator: FBI covered up 9/11 investigation

2014-09-10, WTSP-TV (Tampa Bay, FL CBS affiliate)
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/09/10/911-cover-up-fbi-for...
A major FBI cover-up ... connects Sarasota and the 9/11 hijackers to the Saudi Arabian
government. While still at Sarasota's Emma E. Booker Elementary on the day of the 2001 terrorist
attacks, President George W. Bush said, "Terrorism against our nation will not stand." However,
the president's visit wasn't the only thing to tie this Bay area county to the September 11th attacks.
Within days, we learned three of the hijackers had been living in the area while taking flying
lessons at Huffman Aviation and Florida Flight Training in Sarasota County... but there is even
more than that. "There was a network supporting the hijackers," says former U.S. Senator
and Florida governor Bob Graham. According to Graham, the FBI has been covering up that
fact for years, and continues to try and hide it even now. Graham says he is convinced
there was a direct line between some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th
attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia. According to Graham, the FBI was aware of the
strong connection between hijackers and a Saudi Arabian family who were living in an upscale
Sarasota gated community. Twelve days before 9/11, the family abandoned the house -- leaving
behind valuable items including food, clothing, furnishings and three vehicles. "There are some
things I can't talk about," Graham told us, "And there are others like what I know is involved in the
investigation in Sarasota, which is diametrically opposed to what the FBI said publicly."
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 news articles from
Aggressive police take hundreds of millions of dollars from motorists

not charged with crimes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/
The spread of an aggressive brand of policing ... has spurred the seizure of hundreds of millions of
dollars in cash from motorists and others not charged with crimes. Thousands of people have been
forced to fight legal battles that can last more than a year to get their money back. Behind the rise
in seizures is a little-known cottage industry of private police-training firms that teach the
techniques of highway interdiction to departments across the country. [It has] enabled police
nationwide to share detailed reports about American motorists criminals and the innocent alike
including their Social Security numbers, addresses and identifying tattoos, as well as hunches
about which drivers to stop. A thriving subculture of road officers on the network now
competes to see who can seize the most cash and contraband, describing their exploits in
the networks chat rooms and sharing trophy shots of money and drugs. Some police
advocate highway interdiction as a way of raising revenue for cash-strapped municipalities.
Unexplored until now is the role of the federal government and the private police trainers in
encouraging officers to target cash on the nations highways. There have been 61,998 cash
seizures made on highways and elsewhere since 9/11 without search warrants ... totaling more
than $2.5 billion. State and local authorities kept more than $1.7 billion of that while Justice,
Homeland Security and other federal agencies received $800 million. 298 departments and 210
task forces have seized the equivalent of 20 percent or more of their annual budgets since 2008.
In 400 federal court cases examined by The Post where people who challenged seizures and
received some money back, the majority were black, Hispanic or another minority.
Note: Watch an excellent spoof on this unbelievable police practice. For more on this, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing government corruption news articles from reliable major media
sources.
Friends of Israel
2014-09-01, The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel
On July 23rd, officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committeethe powerful lobbying
group known as AIPACgathered in a conference room at the Capitol for a closed meeting with a
dozen Democratic senators. The agenda of the meeting, which was attended by other Jewish
leaders as well, was the war in the Gaza Strip. In the century-long conflict between the Israelis and
the Palestinians, the previous two weeks had been particularly harrowing. In Gaza, there were
scenes of utter devastation, with hundreds of Palestinian children dead from bombing and mortar
fire. The Israeli government claimed that it had taken extraordinary measures to minimize civilian
casualties, but the United Nations was launching an inquiry into possible war crimes. AIPAC ...
endorsed a Senate resolution in support of Israels right to defend its citizens, which had seventynine co-sponsors and passed without a word of dissent. AIPAC is prideful about its influence.
Its promotional literature points out that a reception during its annual policy conference, in
Washington, will be attended by more members of Congress than almost any other event,
except for a joint session of Congress or a State of the Union address. AIPAC has more
than a hundred thousand members, a network of seventeen regional offices, and a vast pool of
donors. The lobby does not raise funds directly. Its members do, and the amount of money they
channel to political candidates is difficult to track. But everybody in Congress recognizes its
influence in elections, and the effect is evident.
Note: To understand the powerful influence of the Israeli lobby on US politics, read the entire
revealing article at the link above. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing
Abuse Cases in British City Long Ignored

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/europe/children-in-rotherham-england-...
A report released on [August 26] on accusations of widespread sexual abuse in the northern
England city of Rotherham found that about 1,400 minors some as young as 11 years old
were beaten, raped and trafficked from 1997 to 2013 as the local authorities ignored a series
of red flags. Some children were doused in gasoline and threatened with being set on fire if
they reported their abusers. Others were forced to watch rapes and threatened with the
same fate. In more than a third of the cases, the victims appear to have been known to child
protection agencies, but the police and local government officials failed to act. Within hours of the
reports publication, [Roger Stone, the leader of the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
since 2003,] resigned. It was not until 2010 that the first case of child sexual exploitation in
Rotherham, a South Yorkshire city of about 250,000 people, made it to court. Five men received
long prison sentences for grooming three teenage girls for sex. It was one of several high-profile
prosecutions over the past four years that revealed sexual exploitation in cities including Oxford,
Rochdale and Derby. Alexis Jay, the author of the report and a former chief inspector of social
work, said that vulnerable girls as young as 11 and largely from disadvantaged backgrounds had
been brutalized by groups of men. They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other
towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated, she wrote. The report
described the failures of the political and police leadership as blatant.
Note: Further information is available in this story in the UK's Guardian. For more on this, see
concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandals news articles from reliable major
media sources.
Former cyber security chief convicted in child porn case

2014-08-27, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-cyber-security-chief-convicted-in-child-po...
A former federal cyber security chief was convicted [on August 26] on several charges
related to accessing and distributing child pornography. Timothy DeFoggi, 56, was acting
director of cyber security at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when he
was detained in May 2013 as part of an investigation targeting three child pornography websites.
The former Germantown, Md. resident registered as a member of one of the sites on March 2,
2012, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release. He used the site to access and
solicit child pornography, "and exchanged private messages with other members where he
expressed an interest in the violent rape and murder of children," according to the DOJ.
DeFoggi also suggested to one member of a message board that they meet in person to fulfill
fantasies of violently raping and murdering children. He is the sixth person convicted in connection
with the investigation. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7.
Note: For powerful evidence from a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that
child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government, click here. For more on
this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandals news articles from reliable
Trigger happy
2014-08-15, The Economist blog
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/08/armed-police
The shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American, by a police officer in Ferguson,
Missouri, is a reminder that civiliansinnocent or guiltyare far more likely to be shot by police in
America than in any other rich country. In 2012, according to data compiled by the FBI, 410
Americans were justifiably killed by police409 with guns. That figure may well be an
underestimate. Not only is it limited to the number of people who were shot while committing a
crime, but also, amazingly, reporting the data is voluntary. Last year, in total, British police
officers actually fired their weapons three times. The number of people fatally shot was
zero. In 2012 the figure was just one. Even after adjusting for the smaller size of Britains
population, British citizens are around 100 times less likely to be shot by a police officer than
Americans. Between 2010 and 2014 the police force of one small American city, Albuquerque in
New Mexico, shot and killed 23 civilians; seven times more than the number of Brits killed by all of
England and Waless 43 forces during the same period. The explanation for this gap is simple. In
Britain, guns are rare. Only specialist firearms officers carry them; and criminals rarely have
access to them. In America, by contrast, it is hardly surprising that cops resort to their weapons
more frequently. In 2013, 30 cops were shot and killedjust a fraction of the 9,000 or so murders
using guns that happen each year. Add to that a hyper-militarised police culture and a deep history
of racial strife and you have the reason why so many civilians are shot by police officers.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing police corruption news articles
from reliable major media sources.
Study: Government Blocks Specific Journalists From Accessing

Information
http://www.ibtimes.com/study-government-blocks-specific-journalists-accessing...
It was revealed this week that many government information officers block specific journalists they
don't like from accessing information. The news comes as 47 federal inspectors general sent a
letter to lawmakers criticizing "serious limitations on access to records" that they say have
"impeded" their oversight work. The data about public information officers was compiled over the
past few years by Kennesaw State University professor Carolyn Carlson. Her surveys found that 4
in 10 public information officers say "there are specific reporters they will not allow their
staff to talk to due to problems with their stories in the past." Carlson has conducted
surveys of journalists and public information officers since 2012. In her most recent survey
of 445 working journalists, four out of five reported that "their interviews must be
approved" by government information officers, and "more than half of the reporters said they
had actually been prohibited from interviewing [government] employees at least some of the time
by public information officers." The Associated Press reported earlier this year that in 2013 "the
government cited national security to withhold information a record 8,496 times a 57 percent
increase over a year earlier and more than double Obama's first year." This week's letter from
more than half of the federal government's inspectors general [said] that government agencies'
move to hide information from them represents a "potentially serious challenge to the authority of
every Inspector General and our ability to conduct our work thoroughly, independently, and in a
timely manner."
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government secrecy news
Britains Crime of Complicity

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/opinion/Britains-Crime-of-Complicity-With-t...
The [UK] government [has] announced an inquiry into historical allegations of child sex abuse by
leading political figures. The Westminster inquiry will investigate not just the rape and assault of
children at group homes going back decades but also accusations that child abuse by politicians
and other public figures was deliberately covered up or even facilitated by members of the elite.
[The] Parliament has ... spent 30 years failing to catch the pedophiles in its own house. Before the
inquiry was even announced, it emerged that 114 files concerning allegations of abuse against
children involving senior political figures had mysteriously disappeared. What links all these
convicted or alleged predators of children is not background or upbringing. What united them was
power and access and a sense of entitlement, acquired from Britains traditional elite, that came
from the knowledge that their reputations were too great for them to be held accountable. In many
cases, investigation by the authorities was deliberately deflected. Nowhere is this truer than
at Britains top public schools, as the private secondary, usually boarding, schools are
known. In these, a culture of bullying and sexualized violence has been understood for
more than a century as part of the process of training young men to be leaders. Teachers at
130 of these schools have been implicated; several schools are under criminal investigation by
the police. That victims of child abuse often grow up to replicate that abuse, to become bullies or
tyrants or covert sexual predators, has long been understood as a human tragedy. Only in Britain
does it seem to have been the intrinsic psychology at the dark heart of the governing elite.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandals news
Hacking Online Polls and Other Ways British Spies Seek to Control the
Internet
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/14/manipulating-online-polls-ways-...
The secretive British spy agency GCHQ has developed covert tools to seed the internet
with false information, including the ability to manipulate the results of online polls,
artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, amplif[y] sanctioned messages on
YouTube, and censor video content judged to be extremist. The capabilities, detailed in
documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, even include an old standby for preadolescent prank callers everywhere: A way to connect two unsuspecting phone users together in
a call. The tools were created by GCHQs Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), and
constitute some of the most startling methods of propaganda and internet deception contained
within the Snowden archive. Previously disclosed documents have detailed JTRIGs use of fake
victim blog posts, false flag operations, honey traps and psychological manipulation to target
online activists, monitor visitors to WikiLeaks, and spy on YouTube and Facebook users. A newly
released top-secret GCHQ document called JTRIG Tools and Techniques provides a
comprehensive, birds-eye view of just how underhanded and invasive this units operations are.
The documentavailable in full hereis designed to notify other GCHQ units of JTRIGs
weaponised capability when it comes to the dark internet arts, and serves as a sort of hackers
buffet for wreaking online havoc.
Phil Donahues vindication: Media icon unloads on Fox, Cheney and

what happened at MSNBC
2014-07-10, Salon
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/10/phil_donahues_vindication_media_icon_unloads_...
[Phil Donahue:] I [have] produced ... an anti-Iraq War documentary. Its titled Body of War, and it
is available on Netflix. Id very much like you to see the behavior of the [US] congressmen [in my
film]. They were summoned to the White House by WHIG, White House Iraq Group. This is a Karl
Rove committee that included the advertising warriors who named our invasion Shock and Awe,
and Rolling Thunder, like video games. And they gave them their talking points: A smoking gun
will become a mushroom cloud; The longer we wait, the more dangerous he becomes; Saddam
has more weapons of mass destruction than Hitler ever had; I see Hitler in Saddam Hussein.
And they read this, theyre looking down at the piece of paper, in what was at most a shell debate,
that led to the deaths of over 4,500 service people, men and women both, not to mention how
many injuries, were not even sure, were not even sure how many Iraqis are dead, and the
refugees are in the millions. This is unbelievable. Youve got to see this debate. Its truly a very
instructive piece on what you can do if you scare the people. George Bush took this nation,
the mainstream media included, and led it right into this war. It was an amazingly executed,
brilliantly executed, plan. The politics of fear. We havent won a war, and were spending $2
billion a day on things that go boom. We have become a warrior nation. We have no respect for
diplomacy. We have to be tough, and we dont talk to people we dont like.
Note: Learn lots more about the politics of fear by watching online the BBC documentary Power of
Nightmares. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government corruption
In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the

foreigners who are
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-nsa-intercepted-data...
Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted
foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital
networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post. [90% of] account
holders found in a large cache of intercepted conversations, which former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden provided in full to The Post, were not the intended surveillance targets but were caught
in a net the agency had cast for somebody else. Many of them were Americans. [Many] files,
described as useless by the analysts but nonetheless retained, have a startlingly intimate,
even voyeuristic quality. They tell stories of love and heartbreak, illicit sexual liaisons,
mental-health crises, political and religious conversions, financial anxieties and
disappointed hopes. The daily lives of more than 10,000 account holders who were not targeted
are catalogued and recorded nevertheless. The cache Snowden provided came from domestic
NSA operations under the broad authority granted by Congress in 2008 with amendments to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA content is generally stored in closely controlled data
repositories, and for more than a year. The files offer an unprecedented vantage point on the
changes wrought by Section 702 of the FISA amendments, which enabled the NSA to make freer
use of methods that for 30 years had required probable cause and a warrant from a judge.
More secret 9/11 documents identified, but FBI has yet to turn them over
to judge
2014-04-30, Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/30/4090497/more-secret-911-documents-ident...
Contradicting an earlier assertion made under oath by a senior FBI official, an attorney for the
Justice Department said [on April 30] that the FBI has identified four more boxes of classified
9/11 documents held by its Tampa field office. The government, however, has yet to comply with a
federal judges orders ... that it turn over copies of that massive 9/11 file now said to total 27
boxes for his personal inspection. U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch issued those orders in a
Freedom of Information lawsuit brought by BrowardBulldog.org seeking records about the FBIs
investigation into apparent pre-9/11 terrorist activity in Sarasota. Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham,
who co-chaired Congress Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks, has said that the FBI did not disclose
the existence of the Sarasota investigation to either the Joint Inquiry or the subsequent 9/11
Commission. The documents state that the Sarasota Saudis had many connections to
individuals associated with the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. One document lists three
individuals, with names blacked out, and ties them to the Venice, Fla., flight school where
suicide hijackers Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi trained.
Note: For solid evidence that many more were involved in 9/11 than is generally admitted, see the
revealing newspaper article at this link. For an excellent documentary focused on the Venice,
Florida flight school which all but proves a major cover-up involving US citizens involved in the
planning of 9/11, click here. And for a treasure trove of reliable information showing a major coverup around 9/11, click here.
Hundreds of U.S. inmates sentenced to death are innocent, researchers

say
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-04-29/news/sns-rt-us-usa-crime-death-...
As many as 300 people who were sentenced to death in the United States over a three-decade
period were likely innocent. Dozens of defendants sentenced to death in recent years have been
exonerated before their sentences could be carried out, but many more were probably falsely
convicted, said University of Michigan professor Samuel Gross, the study's lead author. "Our
research adds the disturbing news that most innocent defendants who have been sentenced to
death have not been exonerated," Gross wrote in the study, published in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. In their research, Gross and his colleagues examined the 7,482
U.S. death sentence convictions between 1973 and 2004. Of those, 117 had been exonerated in
recent years, thanks to the efforts of numerous groups and a tide of public attention to issues
surrounding the death penalty. Gross and his co-authors ... estimated that about 4 percent of
those sentenced to death were actually innocent, nearly three times the number exonerated
during that period. Once inmates' sentences are commuted to life, they are far less likely to
be exonerated, mostly because there are fewer legal resources given to their cases, Gross said.
"If you were never sentenced to death, you never had the benefit - if you call it a benefit - of that
process," he said. Although the study focuses on a period ending 10 years ago, the percentage of
false death sentence convictions likely holds true today, Gross said.
Note: For more on the terrible injustices within the corrupt prison-industrial complex, see the
Elizabeth Warrens A Fighting Chance: An exclusive excerpt on the

foreclosure crisis
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/04/26/elizabeth-warren-new-memoir-ex...
In fall 2009, Secretary Timothy Geithner invited people working on TARP oversight to a meeting.
After we had listened to the secretary go on and on about his departments cheery projections for
recovery, I finally interrupted with a question about a new topic. Why, I asked, had Treasurys
response to the flood of foreclosures been so small? The Congressional Oversight Panel had been
sharply critical of Treasurys foreclosure plan. We thought that the program was poorly designed
and poorly managed and provided little permanent help, and we worried that it would reach too few
people to make any real difference. The secretary ... quickly launched into a general discussion of
his approach to dealing with foreclosures, rehashing the plan that the Congressional Oversight
Panel had already reviewed. Next, he explained why Treasurys efforts were perfectly adequate.
Then he hit his key point: The banks could manage only so many foreclosures at a time, and
Treasury wanted to slow down the pace so the banks wouldnt be overwhelmed. And this was
where the new foreclosure program came in: It was just big enough to foam the runway for them.
There it was: The Treasury foreclosure program was intended to foam the runway to protect
against a crash landing by the banks. Millions of people were getting tossed out on the
street, but the secretary of the Treasury believed the governments most important job was
to provide a soft landing for the tender fannies of the banks.
Note: Adapted from A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren. For more on the government's
collusion with the big banks before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis brought about by
fraudulent mortgage sales, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
Stockpiles of Roche Tamiflu Drug are Waste of Money, Report Finds

2014-04-10, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/us-roche-hldg-novartis-search-idUSB...
Researchers who have fought for years to get full data on Roche's flu medicine Tamiflu said on
Thursday that governments who stockpile it are wasting billions of dollars on a drug whose
effectiveness is in doubt. In a review of trial data on Tamiflu, and on GlaxoSmithKline's flu drug
Relenza, scientists from the respected research network the Cochrane Review said that the
medicines had few if any beneficial effects, but did have adverse side effects. "Remember,
the idea of a drug is that the benefits should exceed the harms," Heneghan said. "So if you can't
find any benefits, that accentuates the harm." Tamiflu sales hit almost $3 billion in 2009 - mostly
due to its use in the H1N1 flu pandemic. The drug, one of a class of medicines known as
neuraminidase inhibitors, is approved by regulators worldwide and is stockpiled in preparation for a
potential global flu outbreak. It is also on the World Health Organization's "essential medicines" list.
The United States has spent more than $1.3 billion buying a strategic reserve of antivirals
including Tamiflu, while the British government has spent almost 424 million pounds ($703
million) on a stockpile of some 40 million Tamiflu doses. There was no evidence of a reduction
in hospitalizations or in flu complications ... and Tamiflu also increased the risk of nausea and
vomiting in adults by around 4 percent and in children by 5 percent.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health corruption
news articles from reliable major media sources. For more along these lines, see the excellent,
reliable resources provided in our Health Information Center.
Tamiflu: drugs given for swine flu 'were waste of 500m'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/10756200/Tamiflu-drugs-given-for-...
The drug Tamiflu, given to tens of thousands of people during the swine flu pandemic, does
nothing to halt the spread of influenza and the [UK] Government wasted nearly 500 million
stockpiling it, a major study has found. The review, authored by Oxford University, claims that
Roche, the drugs Swiss manufacturer, gave a false impression of its effectiveness and
accuses the company of sloppy science. The study found that Tamiflu, which was given to
240,000 people in the UK at a rate of 1,000 a week, has been linked to suicides of children in
Japan and suggested that, far from easing flu symptoms, it could actually worsen them.
Roche claimed at the time of the 2009 swine flu outbreak that trials had shown that it would reduce
hospital admissions and complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis or sinusitis. Based on [these
claims], the Department of Health bought around 40 million doses of Tamiflu at a cost of 424
million and prescribed it to around 240,000 people. In 2009, 0.5 per cent of the entire NHS budget
was spent on the drug. However, researchers from The Cochrane Collaboration, a not-for-profit
organisation which carries out reviews of health data, found that Tamiflu only cut flu-like symptoms
from seven days to 6.3 days and there was no evidence of a reduction in hospital admissions.
Eight children who took the drug in Japan ended up committing suicide after suffering psychotic
episodes. Other side effects included kidney problems, nausea, vomiting and headaches. Many
people reported feeling anxious or depressed when taking the drug.
Note: We sent out numerous messages at the time of all the fear-mongering around the avian and
swine flu scares that this was wasting huge amounts of money. Of course the money wasn't just
wasted, much of it went into the pockets of Donald Rumsfeld and others, as reported in this
newspaper article. For the revealing news articles we compiled showing the blatant greed and
corruption involved, click here.
Why aren't we putting US agencies on trial for financing El Chapo's drug

war?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/10/us-agencies-financing-el...
Since [the days of Al Capone,] Chicago officials have awarded "Public Enemy No 1" status to only
one other person: cartel billionaire Joaqun Guzmn Loera, better known now to the world over
as "El Chapo". But nearly seven weeks before [his February] capture at a beach resort, the
Mexican newspaper El Universal reported how US agencies had armed and financed El
Chapo's Sinaloa criminal empire for at least 12 years. That link has been substantiated by
DEA and Justice Department court testimonies, and even US agents confirmed the
financing had been approved by high-ranking officials and federal prosecutors. But the
American media barely reported how entrenched the American government has become in the
Mexican drug trade. The latest installment of the "war on drugs" has killed 100,000 people since its
official declaration by Mexican President Filipe Calderon and US President George W Bush in
2006. During this period, the US-El Chapo partnership was reportedly never closer: under the deal,
Washington allowed El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel to carry on business as usual while top Sinaola
members, for their part, provided information on their rivals. DEA agents met with their informants
more than 50 times, El Universal reported, as the agents offered their whisperers immunity.
American patronage goes well beyond stoking the largest and most powerful of the Mexican
cartels (Sinaloa), as well as the most heinous (Golfo and Los Zetas). Drug arrests of cartel
associates amounted to less than 2% of over 50,000 arrests made in the first four years of the
Bush-Calderon partnership.
Note: For more on government corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Senator accuses CIA of spying on Congress

2014-03-11, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/feinstein-cia-senate
Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA on [March 11] of violating
the law and the Constitution of the United States by interfering in a committee investigation into
Bush-era torture of terror suspects. Feinstein said the CIA had removed documents provided to the
committee through a special, segregated network set up by the agency for the committee to
pursue its investigation. Among the documents removed was an internal review of CIA
interrogation techniques conducted by then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, which committee members
have said corroborated committee findings critical of the agencys interrogation program. The CIA
just went and searched the committees computers, Feinstein said on the Senate floor.
This was done without the knowledge or approval of committee members or staff, and in
violation of our written agreements. Further, this type of behavior would not have been possible
had the CIA allowed the committee to conduct the review of documents here in the Senate,
Feinstein said. Feinstein said that the CIAs activities may have violated the Fourth Amendment,
the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and executive order 12333, which bars the CIA from
conducting domestic surveillance. Feinstein also said the CIAs activities violated the separation of
powers principles in the Constitution by interfering with congressional oversight of the executive
branch.
Note: For more on the out-of-control activities of intelligence agencies, see the deeply revealing
Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQ

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-...
Britain's surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted
and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret
documents reveal. GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance
program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved
them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or
not. In one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery including
substantial quantities of sexually explicit communications from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user
accounts globally. Yahoo ... denied any prior knowledge of the program, accusing the agencies of
"a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy". Optic Nerve, the documents provided by NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden show, began as a prototype in 2008 and was still active in 2012.
The system, eerily reminiscent of the telescreens evoked in George Orwell's Nineteen
Eighty-Four, was used for experiments in automated facial recognition, to monitor GCHQ's
existing targets, and to discover new targets of interest. Such searches could be used to try to
find terror suspects or criminals making use of multiple, anonymous user IDs. Rather than
collecting webcam chats in their entirety, the program saved one image every five minutes from
the users' feeds ... to avoid overloading GCHQ's servers. The documents describe these users as
"unselected" intelligence agency parlance for bulk rather than targeted collection.
Note: For more on government surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Genetically Modified Babies

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/opinion/genetically-modified-babies.html
An advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration is set to begin two days of meetings
tomorrow to consider radical biological procedures that, if successful, would produce genetically
modified human beings. This is a dangerous step. These techniques would change every cell in
the bodies of children born as a result of their use, and these alterations would be passed down to
future generations. The F.D.A. calls them mitochondrial manipulation technologies. The
procedures involve removing the nuclear material either from the egg or embryo of a woman with
inheritable mitochondrial disease and inserting it into a healthy egg or embryo of a donor whose
own nuclear material has been discarded. Any offspring would carry genetic material from three
people the nuclear DNA of the mother and father, and the mitochondrial DNA of the donor.
Developers of these modification techniques say they are a way for women with mitochondrial
disease to give birth to healthy children to whom they are related genetically. Some are also
promoting their use for age-related infertility. These procedures are deeply problematic in
terms of their medical risks and societal implications. Will the child be born healthy, or will
the cellular disruptions created by this eggs-as-Lego-pieces approach lead to problems
later on? What about subsequent generations? And how far will we go in our efforts to
engineer humans? Unfortunately, there are now worrisome signs that opposition to inheritable
genetic modifications, written into law by dozens of countries, according to our count, may be
weakening. British regulators are also considering mitochondrial manipulations, and proponents
there, like their counterparts in the United States, want to move quickly to clinical trials.
Note: For more on the dangers to society of genetic engineering, see the deeply revealing reports
The Vampire Squid Strikes Again: The Mega Banks' Most Devious Scam
Yet
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-strikes-again-the...
It's 1999, the tail end of the Clinton years. Most observers on the Hill thought the Financial
Services Modernization Act of 1999 also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was just the
latest and boldest in a long line of deregulatory handouts to Wall Street that had begun in the
Reagan years. Wall Street had spent much of that era arguing that America's banks needed to
become bigger and badder, in order to compete globally with the German and Japanese-style
financial giants. Bank lobbyists were pushing a new law designed to wipe out 60-plus years of
bedrock financial regulation. The key was repealing or "modifying," as bill proponents put it the
famed Glass-Steagall Act separating bankers and broker. Now, commercial banks would be
allowed to merge with investment banks and insurance companies, creating financial megafirms
potentially far more powerful than had ever existed in America. The [bill] additionally legalized
new forms of monopoly, allowing banks to merge with heavy industry. A tiny provision in
the bill also permitted commercial banks to delve into any activity that is "complementary
to a financial activity and does not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of
depository institutions or the financial system generally." Today, banks like Morgan Stanley,
JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs own oil tankers, run airports and control huge quantities of
coal, natural gas, heating oil, electric power and precious metals. They likewise can now be found
exerting direct control over the supply of a whole galaxy of raw materials crucial to world industry
and to society in general, including everything from food products to metals like zinc, copper, tin,
nickel and ... aluminum.
Note: For more on government collusion with the biggest banks, see the deeply revealing reports
What Nazis Taught the CIA

2014-02-11, Yahoo! News/Daily Beast
http://news.yahoo.com/nazis-taught-cia-104500320--politics.html
In the years after the end of WWII, CIA and US intelligence operatives tested LSD and other
interrogation techniques on captured Soviet spiesall with the help of former Nazi doctors.
It was 1946. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were preparing for total war with the Soviets. They even set
an estimated start date of 1952. U.S. military officers had been capturing and then hiring Hitlers
weapons makers in a Top Secret program that would become known as Operation Paperclip.
Soon, more than 1,600 of these men and their families would be living the American dream, right
here in the United States. In 1948, Operation Paperclips Brigadier General Charles E. Loucks ...
was working with Hitlers former chemists when one of the scientists [shared] information about a
drug with military potential ... LSD. Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) reveal that the U.S. developed its post-war enhanced interrogation techniques ... under the
CIA code name Operation Bluebird. The CIA teamed up with the Army Chemical Corps at Camp
Detrick, in Maryland, to conduct further research and development on the chemistry of mindaltering drugs. One [Detrick agent was] Dr. Frank Olson, a former army officer and bacteriologist
turned agency operative whose sudden demiseby covert LSD poisoningin 1953 would nearly
bring down the CIA. In one of the rare, surviving official documents from the program, Deputy
Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles sent a secret memo to Richard Helms: In our
conversation of 9 February 1951, I outlined to you the possibilities of augmenting the usual
interrogation methods by the use of drugs, hypnosis, shock, etc., and emphasized the
defensive aspects as well as the offensive opportunities.
Note: To read excerpts from incredibly revealing declassified CIA documents on these programs,
click here. For more on secret government mind control programs which have had a powerful
hidden influence on global politics, see our Mind Control Information Center available here.
James Clapper might as well be called director of US fearmongering

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/06/james-clapper-us-threat-...
James Clapper is very worried. It's not the first time. Last week the man who serves as America's
Director of National Intelligence [told] assembled members of the Senate Select Intelligence
Committee that the annual worldwide threat assessment ... has filled him with dread. Last year he
appeared before Congress for a similar purpose. He was very, very concerned then too. [And the
same] in 2012. Of course, one must consider the possibility that over the past five decades the
world has never been as dangerous, complex and challenging as it's been over the past three
years, [even though the] whole "threat of nuclear holocaust" ... defined much of the 60s, 70s and
80s. Clapper's alarmist tone is hardly matched by the threats he cites. Significantly more
Americans die each year from falling furniture [than from terrorist acts]. To listen to Clapper and
others in the intelligence community one might never know that inter-state war has largely
disappeared and that wars in general are in the midst of a multi-decade decline. 2013 was a
landmark year for non-proliferation with important progress made in slowing down Iran's nuclear
aspirations and enforcing the norm on chemical weapons usage. There are real threats to the US,
but Clapper should be able to talk about them in sober, evidence-based, non-hysterical terms. It's
almost as if Clapper and the intelligence community that he helms are playing up foreign
threats in order to justify bloated post-9/11 budgets. [Remember that] he allegedly lied to
Congress over the extent to which the National Security Agency was collecting phone and e-mail
records of individual Americans. [Sadly,] threat mongering and exaggeration is the norm rather
than the exception.
Note: For a dramatic BBC documentary showing how many politicians literally promote fear for
their own self benefit, watch Power of Nightmares at this link. For more on intense deception
perpetrated by the intelligence community, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Snowden: NSA conducts industrial espionage too

2014-01-26, CBS News/Reuters
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/
The U.S. National Security Agency is involved in industrial espionage and will grab any intelligence
it can get its hands on regardless of its value to national security, former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden told a German TV network. ARD TV quoted Snowden saying the NSA does not limit its
espionage to issues of national security and he cited German engineering firm, Siemens as
one target. "If there's information at Siemens that's beneficial to U.S. national interests even if it doesn't have anything to do with national security - then they'll take that
information nevertheless," Snowden said. Snowden's claim the NSA is engaged in industrial
espionage follows a New York Times report earlier this month that the NSA put software in almost
100,000 computers around the world, allowing it to carry out surveillance on those devices and
could provide a digital highway for cyberattacks. The NSA planted most of the software after
gaining access to computer networks, but has also used a secret technology that allows it entry
even to computers not connected to the Internet, the newspaper said, citing U.S. officials,
computer experts and documents leaked by Snowden. Frequent targets of the programme, codenamed Quantum, included units of the Chinese military and industrial targets.
Cheating Alleged in US Nuclear Missile Force

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/air-force-34-missile-officers-cheati...
In what may be the biggest such scandal in Air Force history, 34 officers entrusted with land-based
nuclear missiles have been pulled off the job for alleged involvement in a cheating ring that officials
say was uncovered during a drug probe. The 34 are suspected of cheating several months ago on
a routine proficiency test that includes checking missile launch officers' knowledge of how to
handle an "emergency war order," which is the term for the authorization required to launch a
nuclear weapon. The cheating scandal is the latest in a series of Air Force nuclear stumbles
... including deliberate violations of safety rules, failures of inspections, breakdowns in
training and evidence that the men and women who operate the missiles from underground
command posts are suffering burnout. In October the general who commands the nuclear
missile force was fired for engaging in embarrassing behavior, including drunkenness, while
leading a U.S. delegation to a nuclear exercise in Russia. The AP disclosed in May an internal Air
Force email in which a missile operations officer complained that his force was infested with "rot"
bad attitudes and disregard for discipline. The Air Force's nuclear mission includes operation of
450 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Malmstrom unit failed a nuclear safety and
security inspection in August but succeeded on a redo in October.
Note: Some are speculating about a purge of high-level U.S. military officers. For evidence of this,
click here. And is it just a coincidence that the Malmstrom unit is mentioned? That is the base
where several officers testified that a UFO shut down all nuclear warheads several decades ago.
For more, click here. And for more on military corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from
Why the Pentagon's accounting fixes end up broken

2013-12-23, CNBC/Reuters
The Defense Department has launched 20 or more projects to build modern businessmanagement systems since the late 1990s. At least five were subsequently killed as complete
failures after billions of dollars were spent on them. With each failure, a pattern emerges: An offthe-shelf product with a proven track record in the private sector is chosen and then
modified to the point where it doesn't work properly. The Pentagon is unable to account for
itself, and thus for roughly half of all congressionally approved annual federal spending. Interviews
with scores of current and former defense officials, contractors and Pentagon watchers, as well as
a review of dozens of reports by oversight agencies, show that the Pentagon is continually
thwarted by a lack of accountability for failures ... and an incentive to spend. All other federal
agencies are audited annually ... and with rare exceptions, they pass every year. The
Pentagon alone has never been audited, leaving roughly $8.5 trillion in taxpayer dollars
unaccounted for since 1996. The Pentagon has for years kept lousy books with impunity.
The 2009 law requiring the Defense Department to be audit-ready by 2017 provides for no
penalties if it misses the deadline. From 1995 through 2002, Senator Charles Grassley pushed
through an amendment to the annual defense appropriations bill requiring the Pentagon to account
for its expenditures by following one seemingly simple procedure: match each payment to the
expense it covered. The order was ignored, and Grassley gave up. There is no doubt that bad
bookkeeping conceals movements of money that in some instances are illegal. But because the
Pentagon has never been audited, it is impossible to determine the frequency or extent of
violations.
Note: This article sadly fails to state the obvious: Many military officers illegally rake in tons of
money with false contracts which benefit those officers and contracting companies. They obviously
don't want their accounts to be properly audited. For a revealing essay by a top U.S. general
exposing major war manipulations, click here. For more on military corruption, see the deeply
Stealth Surprises in NSA Report Take on Non-NSA Spying

2013-12-20, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/stealth-surprises-nsa-report-nsa-spying/story?i...
The White House's expert NSA panel may have made headlines ... for telling President Barack
Obama to knock off the collection of Americans' meta-data, but surveillance experts said they were
surprised that the panel also took to task some controversial non-NSA-related spy tactics as well.
One recommendation was to impose much stricter oversight on the FBI's ability to issue National
Security Letters (NSLs), which have been used to obtain telephone call records and credit reports
in terrorism and espionage cases. Another even more peculiar recommendation by the five
national security experts ... was their advice that "governments" shouldn't hack into bank
accounts and drain funds. "Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities
to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial
systems," the unanimous Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies report
warned Obama. "That was a strangely specific recommendation for something nobody was talking
about," Kel McClanahan, executive director of government transparency group National Security
Counselors, told ABC News. Michelle Richardson, the American Civil Liberties Union's legislative
council in Washington, also said the findings on "NSLs" and government hacking were unexpected
-- but welcomed.
Note: The fact that this expert panel would even mention governments manipulating financial
accounts suggests that if it hasn't already happened, some were seriously considering this. For
lots more on this strange news, click here. For more on the realities of intelligence agency
activities, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Uruguay's president Jos Mujica: no palace, no motorcade, no frills

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/13/uruguay-president-jose-mujica
If anyone could claim to be leading by example in an age of austerity, it is Jos Mujica, Uruguay's
president, who has forsworn a state palace in favour of a farmhouse, donates the vast bulk of his
salary to social projects, flies economy class and drives an old Volkswagen Beetle. But the former
guerrilla fighter is clearly disgruntled by those who tag him "the world's poorest president" and
much as he would like others to adopt a more sober lifestyle the 78-year-old has been in politics
long enough to recognise the folly of claiming to be a model for anyone. "If I asked people to live
as I live, they would kill me," Mujica said during an interview in his small but cosy one-bedroom
home set amid chrysanthemum fields outside Montevideo. The president is a former member of
the Tupamaros guerrilla group, which was notorious in the early 1970s for bank robberies,
kidnappings and distributing stolen food and money among the poor. He was shot by
police six times and spent 14 years in a military prison, much of it in dungeon-like
conditions. Since becoming leader of Uruguay in 2010, however, he has won plaudits
worldwide for living within his means, decrying excessive consumption and pushing ahead with
policies on same-sex marriage, abortion and cannabis legalisation that have reaffirmed Uruguay
as the most socially liberal country in Latin America. But the man who is best known as Pepe says
those who consider him poor fail to understand the meaning of wealth. "I'm not the poorest
president. The poorest is the one who needs a lot to live," he said. "My lifestyle is a consequence
of my wounds. I'm the son of my history."
here.
Corporate Espionage Undermines Democracy

2013-11-26, MSN/Reuters
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&Date=20131127&ID=171...
Its not just the NSA that has been caught spying on Americans. Some of our nations largest
corporations have been conducting espionage as well, against civic groups. Thats the lesson of a
new report on corporate espionage against nonprofit organizations by ... Essential Information.
The title of the report is Spooky Business, and it is apt. Spooky Business is like a Canterbury
Tales of corporate snoopery: Hiring investigators to pose as volunteers and journalists.
Hacking. Wiretapping. Information warfare. Physical intrusion. Investigating the private
lives of nonprofit leaders. Dumpster diving using an active duty police officer to gain
access to trash receptacles. Electronic surveillance. Many different types of nonprofit civic
organizations have been targeted by corporate spies: environmental, public interest, consumer,
food safety, animal rights, pesticide reform, nursing home reform, gun control and social justice. A
diverse constellation of corporations has planned or executed corporate espionage against these
nonprofit civic organizations. Food companies like Kraft, Coca-Cola, Burger King, McDonalds and
Monsanto. Oil companies like Shell, BP and Chevron. Chemical companies like Dow and Sasol.
Also involved are the retailers (Wal-Mart), banks (Bank of America), and, of course, the nations
most powerful trade association: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Plenty of mercenary spooks
have joined up to abet them, including former officials at the FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service and
U.S. military. Sometimes even government contractors are part of the snooping.
Note: For more on corporate corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Behind the Pentagons doctored ledgers, a running tally of epic waste

Linda Woodford spent the last 15 years of her career inserting phony numbers in the U.S.
Department of Defense's accounts. Woodford and her fellow [accountants] set about preparing
monthly reports to square the Navy's books with the U.S. Treasury's. And every month ... numbers
were missing. Numbers were clearly wrong. Woodford and her colleagues were told by
superiors to ... enter false numbers, commonly called "plugs," to make the Navy's totals
match the Treasury's. Fudging the accounts with false entries is standard operating
procedure. Former military service officials say record-keeping at the operational level
throughout the services is rife with made-up numbers to cover lost or missing information.
Plugs also are symptomatic of one very large problem: the Pentagon's chronic failure to keep track
of its moneyhow much it has, how much it pays out and how much is wasted or stolen. The
Defense Department's 2012 budget totaled $565.8 billion, more than the annual defense budgets
of the 10 next largest military spenders combined, including Russia and China. How much of that
money is spent as intended is impossible to determine. The Pentagon is largely incapable of
keeping track of its vast stores of weapons, ammunition and other supplies. It has amassed a
backlog of more than half a trillion dollars in unaudited contracts with outside vendors. [It] also has
systematically ignored warnings about its accounting practices. The Pentagon is the only federal
agency that has not complied with a law that requires annual audits of all government
departments. That means that the $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the
Pentagon since 1996 ... has never been accounted for. That sum exceeds the value of China's
economic output last year. A single [military accounting] office in Columbus, Ohio, made at least
$1.59 trillion - yes, trillion - in errors, including $538 billion in plugs.
Note: This article sadly fails to state the obvious: Many military officers illegally rake in tons of
money with false contracts which benefit those officers and contracting companies. They obviously
don't want their accounts to be properly audited. For a revealing essay by a top U.S. general
exposing major war manipulations, click here. For more on military corruption, see the deeply
No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/no-morsel-too-minuscule-for-all-consu...
When Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, sat down with President Obama at the
White House in April to discuss Syrian chemical weapons, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and
climate change, it was a cordial, routine exchange. The National Security Agency nonetheless
went to work in advance and intercepted Mr. Bans talking points for the meeting, a feat the agency
later reported as an operational highlight in a weekly internal brag sheet. It was emblematic of an
agency that for decades has operated on the principle that any eavesdropping that can be done on
a foreign target of any conceivable interest now or in the future should be done. After all,
American intelligence officials reasoned, whos going to find out? From thousands of classified
documents, the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering
capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and
other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own
operations. It spies routinely on friends as well as foes, as has become obvious in recent
weeks; the agencys official mission list includes using its surveillance powers to achieve
diplomatic advantage over such allies as France and Germany and economic advantage over
Japan and Brazil, among other countries. The scale of eavesdropping by the N.S.A., with 35,000
workers and $10.8 billion a year, sets it apart.
NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over

contacts
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-leaders-c...
The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being
given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified
document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The confidential memo reveals that the
NSA encourages senior officials in its "customer" departments, such as the White House, State
and the Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the agency can add the phone numbers of
leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems. The document notes that one unnamed
US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of
whom is named. These were immediately "tasked" for monitoring by the NSA. The
revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after
the German chancellor Angela Merkel ... accused the US of tapping her mobile phone. The
NSA memo obtained by the Guardian suggests that such surveillance was not isolated, as the
agency routinely monitors the phone numbers of world leaders and even asks for the assistance
of other US officials to do so. The memo, dated October 2006 and which was issued to staff in the
agency's Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), was titled "Customers Can Help SID Obtain
Targetable Phone Numbers". In the wake of the Merkel row, the US is facing growing international
criticism that any intelligence benefit from spying on friendly governments is far outweighed by the
potential diplomatic damage.
Note: For more on the hidden realities of intelligence agency operations, see the deeply revealing
Rigging currency markets

2013-10-12, The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21587824-are-foreign-exch...
[Banks] have rigged LIBOR, an interest rate used to peg contracts worth trillions. Its equivalent in
the world of derivatives, ISDAfix, has also come under question. Commodities prices from crude oil
to platinum have been the subject of allegations and inquiries. Now prices in global currency
markets, where turnover is $5 trillion a day, are being scrutinised by authorities, who suspect
bankers have tampered with those too. Switzerlands financial watchdog announced on October
4th that it was investigating a slew of banks it thinks have manipulated currencies. Britain and the
European Union also have probes under way. Concerns reportedly centre around abnormal
movements ahead of a widely-used daily snapshot of exchange rates, known as the 4pm London
fix. It represents the average of prices agreed during 60 seconds trading, and is used as a
reference rate to execute a much larger set of currency deals. Bankers, who are big participants in
the market, have huge incentives to nudge the price of a given currency pairing ahead of the fix.
With billions of dollars changing hands, a difference of a fraction of a cent can add a tidy sum to
the bonus pool. If proven, the charge would amount to banks fleecing their clients. Banks
know the big trades they are about to execute on others behalf, and are often themselves
the counterparty. By moving the markets ahead of the fix, they could alter the rate to their
profit and their clients loss. One suspected method is banging the close: submitting a quick
succession of orders just as the benchmark is set, to distort its value.
The Snowden files: why the British public should be worried about
GCHQ
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/03/edward-snowden-files-john-lanche...
The problem and the risk [with surveillance by GCHQ] comes in the area of mass capture of data,
or strategic surveillance. This is the kind of intelligence gathering that sucks in data from everyone,
everywhere: from phones, internet use from email to website visits, social networking, instant
messaging and video calls, and even areas such as video gaming; in short, everything digital. In
the US, the Prism programme may have given the NSA access to the servers of companies such
as Google and Facebook; in the UK, GCHQ has gained a similar degree of access via its Tempora
programme, and the two of them together have a cable- and network-tapping capabilities
collectively called Upstream, which have the ability to intercept anything that travels over the
internet. This data is fed into a database called XKeyscore, which allows analysts to extract
information "in real time", ie immediately. What this adds up to is a new thing in human history:
with a couple of clicks of a mouse, an agent of the state can target your home phone, or your
mobile, or your email, or your passport number, or any of your credit card numbers, or your
address, or any of your log-ins to a web service. Using that "selector", the state can get
access to all the content of your communications, via any of those channels; can gather
information about anyone you communicate with, can get a full picture of all your internet
use, can track your location online and offline. It can, in essence, know everything about you,
including thanks to the ability to look at your internet searches what's on your mind.
Note: For an excellent 15-minute BBC Newsnight interview with Glenn Greenwald defending
Edward Snowden's release of secret documents, click here. For more on government privacy
invasions, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
As F.B.I. Pursued Snowden, an E-Mail Service Stood Firm

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/us/snowdens-e-mail-provider-discusses-press...
The owner of the e-mail service [Lavabit, Ladar Levison,] said he closed it down after the
government, in pursuit of Edward J. Snowden, sought untrammeled access to the protected
messages of all his customers. Mr. Levison was willing to allow investigators with a court order to
tap Mr. Snowdens e-mail account; he had complied with similar narrowly targeted requests
involving other customers about two dozen times. But they wanted more, he said: the passwords,
encryption keys and computer code that would essentially allow the government untrammeled
access to the protected messages of all his customers. That, he said, was too much. On Aug. 8,
Mr. Levison closed Lavabit rather than, in his view, betray his promise of secure e-mail to his
customers. On [October 2], a federal judge unsealed documents in the case, allowing the tech
entrepreneur to speak candidly for the first time about his experiences. He had been summoned
to testify to a grand jury in Virginia; forbidden to discuss his case; held in contempt of
court and fined $10,000 for handing over his private encryption keys on paper and not in
digital form; and, finally, threatened with arrest for saying too much when he shuttered his
business. While Mr. Levisons struggles have been with the F.B.I., hovering in the background is
the N.S.A., which has worked secretly for years to undermine or bypass encrypted services like
Lavabit so that their electronic message scrambling cannot obstruct the agencys spying. Mr.
Levisons case shows how law enforcement officials can use legal tools to pry open messages, no
matter how well protected.
Edward Snowden's release of secret documents, click here. For more on government privacy
invasions, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
NSA spied on Martin Luther King, documents reveal

2013-09-25, USA Today
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24279394
The US National Security Agency spied on civil rights leader Martin Luther King and boxer
Muhammad Ali during the height of the Vietnam War protests, declassified documents reveal. The
documents show the NSA also tracked journalists from the New York Times and the Washington
Post and two senators. Some NSA officials later described the programme as "disreputable if not
outright illegal", the documents show. The operation, dubbed "Minaret", was originally exposed in
the 1970s. However, the names of those on the phone-tapping "watch list" had been kept
secret until now. The secret papers were published after a government panel ruled in favour of
researchers at George Washington University. The university's National Security Archive - a
research institute that seeks to check government secrecy - described the names on the NSA's
watch-list as "eye-popping". The agency eavesdropped on civil rights leaders Martin Luther King
and Whitney Young as well as boxing champion Muhammad Ali, New York Times journalist Tom
Wicker and Washington Post columnist Art Buchwald. The NSA also monitored the overseas
phone calls of two prominent US senators - Democrat Frank Church and Republican Howard
Baker. In 1967 the strength of the anti-war campaign led President Lyndon Johnson to ask US
intelligence agencies to find out if some protests were being stoked by foreign governments. Many
of those targeted were considered to be critics of US involvement in the Vietnam War. The
NSA worked with other spy agencies to draw up the "watch lists" of anti-war critics, tapping
their phone calls. The programme continued after Richard Nixon entered the White House in
1969.
Note: These names were kept secret until now allegedly for reason of "national security." Note
how this term is repeatedly used to cover up illegal government activity solely to protect those who
commit these crimes. For more on the hidden realities of intelligence agency operations, see the
NSA stories around the world

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/23/various-items-nsa-india-...
One of the most overlooked aspects of the NSA reporting in the US has been just how global of a
story this has become. Last week it was revealed that Belgium's largest telecom, Belgacom, was
the victim of a massive hacking attack which systematically compromised its system for as long as
two years. Last week, using documents obtained from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Laura
Poitras and other Der Spiegel journalists reported in that paper that it was the GCHQ, Britain's
intelligence agency, that was behind the attack. According to that report, the attack was carried out
by targeting individual engineers at the telecom with malware that allowed GCHQ agents to "own"
their computer and thus exploit their access to the telecommunications system. As the US and UK
run around the world protesting the hacking activities of others and warning of the dangers
of cyber-attacks, that duo is one of the most aggressive and malicious, if not the most
aggressive and malicious, perpetrators of those attacks of anyone on the planet. Nobody
hacks as prolifically and aggressively as the two countries who most vocally warn of the dangers of
hacking. A coalition called Stop Watching Us has been formed by privacy and civil liberties groups
from across the political spectrum. On October 26, the 12th anniversary of the enactment of the
Patriot Act, they will hold an anti-surveillance rally in Washington DC.
The biggest threat to America? The size of its own military budget
2013-08-09, The Guardian (One of the UK's Leading Newspapers)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/09/biggest-threat-america-s...
Don't be fooled by terror alerts and dire warnings: the world in general is a safer place than ever.
Don't believe me? Check out what Michael Morell, the No. 2 man at the CIA, had to say about the
threats facing America in this recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. If anyone knows about
foreign threats, it's gotta be this guy, right? He gets to see everything [at the CIA]. The fact is, none
of what Morell describes as a threat actually is a significant threat. And while national security
elites from the secretary of defense to prominent think tank denizens like to describe the world
today as a "dangerous" place, it simply isn't true. There were six wars last year (just six!). This
follows a consistent trend of declining violence that dates back decades. When wars do occur, they
pretty much never occur between states. Since the Gulf war of 1991, territorial conquest has gone
the way of the dodo. Indeed, when the US fights a major war these days, it is generally because
they've started it with consistently disastrous results. What is most striking about Morell's
warnings is, in fact, the stunning hollowness of the threats he describes. If Syria, North Korea and
Iran are truly what threaten us, then truly, we have little to fear from the world outside our
borders. That this grab-bag of minor threats is used to justify a defense budget in the range
of $600bn, an active and reserve force of 1 million troops and a far-flung empire of military
bases and partners not to mention, a rather effective navy and air force, and thousands of
nuclear weapons is astounding. If this is best the CIA can do, they really need to pick up their
game. So, rest easy, America. It's not so bad out there.
Note: Read the powerful words of a top US general showing that war is a racket resulting from
greed and propaganda put out by banks and major corporations at this link. To watch the BBC's
powerful documentary "Power of Nightmares", showing that "Al Qaeda" was likely fabricated and is
in fact little more than a US/UK psychological operation to enable the Global War on Terror, click
here.
Americans pay GCHQ 100m to spy for them, leaked papers claim
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10217280/Americans-pay-GCHQ-10...
GCHQ has received at least 100 million from the US to help fund intelligence gathering, raising
questions over American influence on the British agencies. The money was paid across a range
of projects over three years and resulted in GCHQ spying on behalf of America, according
to leaked documents. It also emerged that the intelligence agency wants the ability to
exploit any phone, anywhere, any time and that some staff have raised concerns over the
morality and ethics of their operational work. The payments from the US National Security
Agency (NSA) are detailed in GCHQs annual investment portfolios, leaked by Mr Snowden to
The Guardian. The NSA paid GCHQ 22.9 million in 2009, 39.9 million in 2010 and 34.7 million
in 2011/12. The 2010 funding included ... 17.2 million for the agencys Mastering the Internet
project, which gathers raw information from the web to be analysed. In return, GCHQ has to have
the American view in mind when prioritising work, the papers claim. One strategy briefing
disclosed the pressure on GCHQ to meet NSA demands, saying: GCHQ must pull its weight and
be seen to pull its weight. In another document, from 2010, GCHQ apparently acknowledged that
the US had raised a number of issues with regards to meeting NSAs minimum expectations.
XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the

internet'
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data
A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior
authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of
millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The
NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching"
system for developing intelligence from the internet. The files shed light on one of Snowden's most
controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10.
"I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a
federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email". Training materials for XKeyscore
detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by
filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The
request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed. One
presentation claims the program covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the
internet", including the content of emails, websites visited and searches, as well as their
metadata. Analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing "real-time"
interception of an individual's internet activity. XKeyscore provides the technological capability [to
target] US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some
identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst.
Note: For more on government privacy invasions, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable
major media sources available here.
What the Government Pays to Snoop on You

2013-07-10, CNBC/Associated Press
In the era of intense government surveillance and secret court orders, a murky multimillion-dollar
market has emerged. Paid for by U.S. tax dollars, but with little public scrutiny, surveillance fees
charged in secret by technology and phone companies can vary wildly. AT&T, for example,
imposes a $325 "activation fee" for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it. Smaller
carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap. But snoop on a Verizon
customer? That costs the government $775 for the first month and $500 each month after that.
Regardless of price, the surveillance business is growing. The U.S. government long has enjoyed
access to phone networks and high-speed Internet traffic under the U.S. Communications
Assistance for Law Enforcement Act to catch suspected criminals and terrorists. More recently, the
FBI has pushed technology companies like Google and Skype to guarantee access to real-time
communications on their services. As the number of law enforcement requests for data grew and
carriers upgraded their technology, the cost of accommodating government surveillance requests
increased. AT&T, for example, said it devotes roughly 100 employees to review each request
and hand over data. Likewise, Verizon said its team of 70 employees works around the
clock, seven days a week to handle the quarter-million requests it gets each year.
Note: For more on government and corporate attacks on privacy, see the deeply revealing reports
'Whitey' Bulger Trial Details FBI Corruption

2013-06-27, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/whitey-bulger-trial-details-fbi-corruption/story?id=...
Former FBI supervisor John Morris thought he had left his sordid relationship with James "Whitey"
Bulger back in Boston along with the envelopes of money, the cases of expensive wine, the homecooked meals he had prepared for the accused mob boss. Then the phone rang one night. It was
1995 and Bulger had become a fugitive from justice. It was Bulger on the phone. And he was livid.
A Boston newspaper had reported that Bulger was a longtime FBI informant, and Bulger wanted
Morris to have the story retracted. "He said if he was going to jail ... I was going with him." Morris
testified in the trial of Bulger, 83, who is accused of a string of crimes, including 19 murders.
Testimony during the trial has stated Bulger ran a criminal enterprise with the help of corrupt FBI
agents [John] Connolly and Morris, and that Bulger was an FBI informant concerning his criminal
rivals. Morris' testimony put a spotlight on a staggering amount of corruption in the Boston
FBI field office that included cash bribes and tip-offs to wiretaps. Connolly's relationship with
Bulger extended into the Massachusetts State House, Morris testified. His friendship with Bulger's
brother, then Senate President William Bulger, [could] land him a job as the Boston police
commissioner upon his retirement from the bureau. Connolly's behavior did not raise any
eyebrows with the Special Agents in Charge of the Boston FBI field office, Morris told the
court. In fact it was quite the opposite. FBI bosses sought Connolly's friendship, Morris testified.
"He had tremendous access across the board to everything including sports events, political
figures," Morris testified.
Note: For more on major corruption within the FBI and other intelligence services, see the deeply
Was Michael Hastings' Car Hacked? Richard Clarke Says It's Possible
2013-06-24, Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-car-hacked_n_349233...
The peculiar circumstances of journalist Michael Hastings' death in Los Angeles last week have
unleashed a wave of conspiracy theories. Now there's another theory to contribute to the paranoia:
According to a prominent security analyst, technology exists that could [have] allowed someone to
hack his car. Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism Richard Clarke [said] that what is known about the single-vehicle crash is "consistent
with a car cyber attack." Clarke said, "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for
major powers" -- including the United States -- know how to remotely seize control of a car. "It's
relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as
cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when
the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post.
Hastings was driving a 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe when he crashed into a tree on Highland Ave.
in Los Angeles at approximately 4:30 am on June 18. Video posted online showed the car in
flames, and one neighbor told a local news crew she heard a sound like an explosion. Another
eyewitness said the car's engine had been thrown 50 to 60 yards from the car. There were no
other vehicles involved in the accident. The fire was so all-consuming that it took the Los Angeles
County coroner's office two days to identify Hastings' body, but Clarke said a cyber attack on the
vehicle would have been nearly impossible to trace "even if the dozen or so computers on board
hadn't melted."
Note: For a video of a DARPA specialist talking about how any computerized function of a car can
be taken over, click here. This news article shows how a university test proved a car's onboard
computer can be hacked. For an excellent video presenting powerful evidence that Hastings' death
was anything but suicide, click here. For a Fox News video showing other evidence of
premeditated murder, click here. In this video, a good friend states he had just received an email
from Hastings that he had a story on the CIA that would be the biggest story yet. A later email then
said he was worried as he was now under FBI investigation.
How Barrett Brown shone light on the murky world of security

contractors [and is now jailed]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/24/surveillance-us-national-...
[Barrett] Brown is not a household name like Edward Snowden or Bradley Manning. But after
helping expose a dirty tricks plot, he faces jail. Brown made a splash in February 2011 by helping
to uncover "Team Themis", a project by intelligence contractors retained by Bank of America to
demolish the hacker society known as Anonymous. The Team Themis story began in late 2010,
when Julian Assange warned WikiLeaks would release documents outlining an "ecosystem of
corruption [that] could take down a bank or two." Bank of America went into damage-control mode
and, as the New York Times reported, assembled "a team of 15 to 20 top Bank of America officials
scouring thousands of documents in the event that they become public." Days later, Bank of
America retained the well-connected law firm of Hunton & Williams [which] "proposed various
schemes to attack" WikiLeaks. Its partners suggested creating false documents and fake personas
to damage progressive organizations. The tech companies' emails which Anonymous
hacked and Barrett Brown helped publicize listed planned tactics: "Feed[ing] the fuel
between the feuding groups. Disinformation. Create messages around actions to sabotage
or discredit the opposing organization. Submit fake documents and then call out the error."
Brown [has] been cooling his heels in a jail outside Dallas ... awaiting two separate trials that could
put him on ice for more than 100 years. In contrast to the FBI's aggressive pursuit of Brown, no
probe of the Team Themis project was launched despite a call from 17 US House
representatives to investigate a possible conspiracy to violate federal laws.
Note: With the wide focus on the privatized national security state by the leaks from Edward
Snowden, there is renewed interest in Brown's plight and the campaign for justice in his case. For
more on this and to support Barret Brown, click here. For more on intelligence agency corruption,
see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world's

communications
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communicati...
Britain's spy agency GCHQ has secretly gained access to the network of cables which carry the
world's phone calls and internet traffic and has started to process vast streams of sensitive
personal information which it is sharing with its American partner, the National Security Agency
(NSA). The sheer scale of the agency's ambition is reflected in the titles of its two principal
components: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, aimed at scooping up as
much online and telephone traffic as possible. This is all being carried out without any form of
public acknowledgement or debate. One key innovation has been GCHQ's ability to tap into and
store huge volumes of data drawn from fibre-optic cables for up to 30 days so that it can be sifted
and analysed. GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access and process vast
quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted
suspects. This includes recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries
on Facebook and the history of any internet user's access to websites all of which is
deemed legal, even though the warrant system was supposed to limit interception to a specified
range of targets. The existence of the programme has been disclosed in documents shown to the
Guardian by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Britain's technical capacity to tap into the
cables that carry the world's communications ... has made GCHQ an intelligence superpower. A
total of 850,000 NSA employees and US private contractors with top secret clearance had access
to GCHQ databases.
Note: For solid evidence spy agencies targeted even top politicians, click here. For more on
intelligence agency corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/16/gchq-intercepted-communications-g20-...
Foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had
their computers monitored and their phone calls intercepted on the instructions of their British
government hosts. Some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had been set up
by British intelligence agencies to read their email traffic. The disclosure raises new questions
about the boundaries of surveillance by GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters] and
its American sister organisation, the National Security Agency [NSA], whose access to phone
records and internet data has been defended as necessary in the fight against terrorism and
serious crime. There have often been rumours of this kind of espionage at international
conferences, but it is highly unusual for hard evidence to confirm it and spell out the detail.
The evidence is contained in documents classified as top secret which were uncovered
by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and seen by the Guardian. They reveal that during
G20 meetings in April and September 2009 GCHQ used what one document calls "groundbreaking intelligence capabilities" to intercept the communications of visiting delegations. This
included: Setting up internet cafes where they used an email interception programme and keylogging software to spy on delegates' use of computers; Penetrating the security on delegates'
BlackBerrys to monitor their email messages and phone calls; Supplying 45 analysts with a live
round-the-clock summary of who was phoning who at the summit.
intelligence agencies, click here
America's private prison system is a national disgrace

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/13/aclu-lawsuit-east-mississ...
Privatization [of government functions] often comes with a lack of oversight and a series of abuses.
One particularly stunning example is the American prison system, the realities of which should be
a national disgrace. Some of those realities are highlighted in a recent lawsuit filed by the
American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility
(EMCF). EMCF houses severely mentally ill prisoners, with the supposed intent of providing both
incarceration and treatment. Instead, the ACLU contends, the facility, which is operated by private
contractors, is rife with horrific abuses. The complaint lists a litany of such horrors, [including]:
Rampant rapes. Placing prisoners in solitary confinement for weeks, months or even years at a
time. Rat infestations so bad that vermin crawl over prisoners. Many suicide attempts, some
successful. Denying or delaying treatment for infections and even cancer. Stabbings, beatings and
other acts of violence. Malnourishment and chronic hunger. Officers who deal with prisoners by
using physical violence. The [US] prison system is increasingly built and run by for-profit
corporations, who have a financial interest in increasing the number of people in prison
while decreasing the amount of money it costs to house them. Since 1980, the US prison
population has grown by 790%. We have the largest prison population of any nation in the
history of the world.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption and human
rights abuses in prisons, click here.
U.S., British intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies
in broad secret program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from...
The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine
leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails,
documents, and connection logs. The program, code-named PRISM, has not been made public
until now. It may be the first of its kind. Equally unusual is the way the NSA extracts what it wants,
according to the document: Collection directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers:
Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple. GCHQ, Britains
equivalent of the NSA, also has been secretly gathering intelligence from the same internet
companies through an operation set up by the NSA. PRISM was launched from the ashes of
President George W. Bushs secret program of warrantless domestic surveillance in 2007, after
news media disclosures, lawsuits and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court forced the
president to look for new authority. Congress obliged with the Protect America Act in 2007 and the
FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which immunized private companies that cooperated voluntarily
with U.S. intelligence collection. Government officials and the document itself made clear that
the NSA regarded the identities of its private partners as PRISMs most sensitive secret,
fearing that the companies would withdraw from the program if exposed. 98 percent of
PRISM production is based on Yahoo, Google and Microsoft; we need to make sure we
dont harm these sources, the briefings author wrote in his speakers notes.
Note: For graphs and lots more on the Prism program, see the Guardian article at this link.
Technically, U.S. officials are not allowed to mine personal data from U.S. citizens. Yet if U.K.
authorities mine data on U.S. citizens, they can share it freely with officials in the U.S. and vice
versa. There is evidence that this happens quite frequently, thus circumventing privacy protections.
For an excellent article which goes deep into this issue, click here.
Graham: FBI hindered Congresss 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about

Sarasota Saudis
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/05/3434487/graham-fbi-hindered-congresss.html
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has accused the FBI in court papers of having impeded
Congresss Joint Inquiry into 9/11 by withholding information about a Florida connection to the ...
attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The information ... includes a recently declassified FBI
report that ties a Saudi family who once lived in Sarasota to individuals associated with the
terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. The FBIs failure to call (to the Joint Inquirys attention) documents
finding many connections between Saudis living in the United States and individuals associated
with the terrorist attack(s) interfered with the Inquirys ability to complete its mission, said
Graham, co-chairman of the Joint Inquiry. Graham said the FBI kept the 9/11 Commission in the
dark, too. He said co-chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton and executive director Philip
Zelikow all told him they were unaware of the FBIs Sarasota investigation. Moreover, Graham
stated that Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce, the Bureaus second in command, personally
intervened to block him from speaking with the special agent-in-charge of the Sarasota
investigation. I am troubled by what appears to me to be a persistent effort by the FBI to
conceal from the American people information concerning possible Saudi support of the
Sept. 11 attacks, Floridas former governor said.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the 9/11 attacks, click
here.
U.S. tax dollars promote Monsanto's GMO crops overseas: report

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-usa-gmo-reportbre94d0il-2013...
U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for overseas lobbying that promotes controversial biotech crops
developed by U.S.-based Monsanto Co and other seed makers, a report issued on [May 14] said.
A review of 926 diplomatic cables of correspondence to and from the U.S. State Department and
embassies in more than 100 countries found that State Department officials actively promoted the
commercialization of specific biotech seeds, according to the report issued by Food & Water
Watch, a nonprofit consumer protection group. The officials tried to quash public criticism of
particular companies and facilitated negotiations between foreign governments and seed
companies such as Monsanto over issues like patents and intellectual property, the report said.
The cables show U.S. diplomats supporting Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, in
foreign countries even after it paid $1.5 million in fines after being charged with bribing an
Indonesian official and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 2005. One 2009 cable
shows the embassy in Spain seeking "high-level U.S. government intervention" at the "urgent
request" of Monsanto to combat biotech crop opponents there. The report covered cables from
2005-2009 that were released by Wikileaks in 2010. "It really goes beyond promoting the U.S.'s
biotech industry and agriculture," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.
"It really gets down to twisting the arms of countries and working to undermine local democratic
movements that may be opposed to biotech crops."
click here.
IRS apologizes for inappropriately targeting conservative political

groups in 2012 election
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/irs-apologizes-for-inappropriately-tar...
Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting Tea Party groups as early as
2011, according to a draft of an inspector generals report obtained by The Associated Press that
seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner. The IRS apologized [on May
10] for what it acknowledged was inappropriate targeting of conservative political groups during
the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed lowlevel employees, saying no high-level officials were aware. But on June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner,
who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that
groups were being targeted, according to the watchdogs report. At the meeting, she was told that
groups with Tea Party, Patriot or 9/12 Project in their names were being flagged for additional
and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says. The 9-12 Project is a group started by
conservative TV personality Glenn Beck. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for
flagging groups immediately, the report says. On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging
suspect groups was changed to, political action type organizations involved in
limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social
economic reform/movement, the report says.
click here.
Indisputable Torture
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/opinion/indisputable-torture-of-prisoners.html
A dozen years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, an independent, nonpartisan panels
examination of the interrogation and detention programs carried out in their aftermath by the Bush
administration ... provides a valuable, even necessary reckoning. The work of the [11-member task
force convened by the Constitution Project, a legal research and advocacy group] is informed by
interviews with dozens of former American and foreign officials, as well as with former prisoners. It
is the fullest independent effort so far to assess the treatment of detainees at Guantnamo Bay, in
Afghanistan and Iraq, and at the C.I.A.s secret prisons. The reports authoritative conclusion that
the United States engaged in the practice of torture is impossible to dismiss. The report found
that those methods violated international legal obligations with no firm or persuasive evidence
that they produced valuable information that could not have been obtained by other means. The
task force found that using torture like waterboarding, slamming prisoners into walls,
and chaining them in uncomfortable stress position for hours had no justification. And
in engineering enforced disappearances and secret detentions, the United States violated
its international treaty obligations. As the panel notes, there never was before the kind of
considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his
top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees
in our custody.
Note: For another informative article on this from the Times, click here.
Ex-Regulator Says Reactors Are Flawed

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/us/ex-regulator-says-nuclear-reactors-in-un...
All 104 nuclear power reactors now in operation in the United States have a safety problem
that cannot be fixed and they should be replaced with newer technology, the former
chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on [April 8]. Shutting them all down at
once is not practical, he said, but he supports phasing them out rather than trying to extend their
lives. The position of the former chairman, Gregory B. Jaczko, is not unusual in that various antinuclear groups take the same stance. But it is highly unusual for a former head of the nuclear
commission to so bluntly criticize an industry whose safety he was previously in charge of
ensuring. Dr. Jaczko made his remarks at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in
Washington in a session about the Fukushima accident. Dr. Jaczko said that many American
reactors that had received permission from the nuclear commission to operate for 20 years beyond
their initial 40-year licenses probably would not last that long. He also rejected as unfeasible
changes proposed by the commission that would allow reactor owners to apply for a second 20year extension, meaning that some reactors would run for a total of 80 years. Dr. Jaczko resigned
as chairman last summer after months of conflict with his four colleagues on the commission. He
often voted in the minority on various safety questions, advocated more vigorous safety
improvements, and was regarded with deep suspicion by the nuclear industry.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on grave risks caused by
corruption in the nuclear power industry, click here.
British terror suspects quietly stripped of citizenship then killed by

drones
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/british-terror-suspects-quietly-st...
The Government has secretly ramped up a controversial programme that strips people of their
British citizenship on national security grounds with two of the men subsequently killed by
American drone attacks. Since 2010, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, has revoked the
passports of 16 individuals, many of whom are alleged to have had links to militant or terrorist
groups. Critics of the programme warn that it allows ministers to wash their hands of
British nationals suspected of terrorism who could be subject to torture and illegal
detention abroad. They add that it also allows those stripped of their citizenship to be killed
or rendered without any onus on the British Government to intervene. At least five of those
deprived of their UK nationality ... were born in Britain, and one man had lived in the country for
almost 50 years. Those affected have their passports cancelled, and lose their right to enter the
UK making it very difficult to appeal. The leading human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce said the
present situation smacked of mediaeval exile, just as cruel and just as arbitrary. Ian Macdonald
QC, the president of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, described the citizenship
orders as sinister. Its not open government; its closed, and it needs to be exposed.
Government officials act when people are out of the country on two occasions while on holiday
before cancelling passports and revoking citizenships.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on crimes committed in wars
of aggression, click here.
Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killi...
The Texas Medical Center [is] a nearly 1,300-acre, 280-building complex of hospitals and related
medical facilities, of which MD Anderson is the lead brand name. Medicine had obviously become
a huge business. In fact, of Houstons top 10 employers, five are hospitals, including MD Anderson
with 19,000 employees. How did that happen? Wheres all that money coming from? And where is
it going? I have spent the past seven months trying to find out by analyzing a variety of bills from
hospitals like MD Anderson, doctors, drug companies and every other player in the American
health care ecosystem. When you look behind the bills that ... patients receive, you see nothing
rational no rhyme or reason about the costs they faced in a marketplace they enter through
no choice of their own. The only constant is the sticker shock for the patients who are asked to
pay. Yet those who work in the health care industry and those who argue over health care policy
seem inured to the shock. Why exactly are the bills so high? What are the reasons ... that
cancer means a half-million- or million-dollar tab? Why should a trip to the emergency room
for chest pains that turn out to be indigestion bring a bill that can exceed the cost of a
semester of college? What makes a single dose of even the most wonderful wonder drug
cost thousands of dollars? Why does simple lab work done during a few days in a hospital cost
more than a car? And what is so different about the medical ecosystem that causes technology
advances to drive bills up instead of down?
Note: For the amazing answers to all these questions, read this detailed investigative report in its
entirety at the link above. For more on corruption in the medical industry, click here.
Wild hospital cost disparities revealed

2013-02-11, San Francisco Chronicle/New York Times
ttp://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Wild-hospital-cost-disparities-revealed-4...
Jaime Rosenthal, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, called more than 100 hospitals in
every state last summer, seeking prices for a hip replacement for a 62-year-old grandmother who
was uninsured but had the means to pay herself. Only about half of the hospitals, including topranked orthopedic centers and community hospitals, could provide any sort of price estimate,
despite repeated calls. Those that could gave quotes that varied by a factor of more than 10, from
$11,100 to $125,798. Rosenthal's grandmother was fictitious, created for a summer research
project on health care costs. But the findings, which form the basis of a paper released Monday by
JAMA Internal Medicine, [highlight] the unsustainable growth of U.S. health care costs and an
opaque medical system in which prices are often hidden from consumers. Although many experts
have said that Americans must become more discerning consumers to help rein in health care
costs, the study illustrates how hard that can be. Researchers emphasized that studies have
found little consistent correlation between higher prices and better quality in U.S. health
care. Cram said there was no data that "Mercedes" hip implants were better than cheaper options,
for example. Jamie Court, the president of Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, said: "If one
hospital can put in a hip for $12,000, then every hospital should be able to do it." With such
immense variation in prices, he said, "There is no real price. It's about profit."
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption in the health
care industry, click here.
Waiting Times at Ballot Boxes Draw Scrutiny

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/us/politics/waiting-times-to-vote-at-polls-...
With studies suggesting that long lines at the polls cost Democrats hundreds of thousands of votes
in November, party leaders are beginning a push to make voting and voter registration easier,
setting up a likely new conflict with Republicans over a deeply polarizing issue. Democrats in the
House and Senate have already introduced bills that would require states to provide online voter
registration and allow at least 15 days of early voting, among other things. Fourteen states are also
considering whether to expand early voting, including the battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and
Virginia, according to FairVote, a nonprofit group that advocates electoral change. Several recent
polls and studies suggest that long waiting times in some places depressed turnout in 2012 and
that lines were longest in cities, where Democrats outnumber Republicans. In a New York
Times/CBS News poll taken shortly after Election Day, 18 percent of Democrats said they
waited at least a half-hour to vote, compared with 11 percent of independents and 9 percent
of Republicans. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis determined that blacks and
Hispanics waited nearly twice as long in line to vote on average than whites. Florida had the
nations longest lines, at 45 minutes, followed by the District of Columbia, Maryland, South
Carolina and Virginia, according to Charles Stewart III, the political science professor who
conducted the analysis. A separate analysis, by an Ohio State University professor and The
Orlando Sentinel, concluded that more than 200,000 voters in Florida gave up in
frustration without voting.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on major inadequacies in US
electoral procedures, click here.
JSOC: Obama's secret assassins

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/03/jsoc-obama-secret-assassins
The president has a clandestine network targeting a 'kill list' justified by secret laws. How is that
different than a death squad? The film Dirty Wars, which premiered at Sundance ... tracks the Joint
Special Operations Command (JSOC), a network of highly-trained, completely unaccountable US
assassins, armed with ever-expanding "kill lists". [Narrator Jeremy] Scahill and [director Rick]
Rowley track this new model of US warfare that strikes at civilians and insurgents alike in 70
countries. They interview former JSOC assassins, who are shell-shocked at how the "kill lists" they
are given keep expanding, even as they eliminate more and more people. Our conventional forces
are subject to international laws of war: they are accountable for crimes in courts martial; and they
run according to a clear chain of command. As much as the US military may fall short of these
standards at times, it is a model of lawfulness compared with JSOC, which has far greater scope
to undertake the commission of extra-legal operations and unimaginable crimes. JSOC morphs
the secretive, unaccountable mercenary model of private military contracting, which Scahill
identified in Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, into a hybrid with
the firepower and intelligence backup of our full state resources. JSOC operates outside the
traditional chain of command; it reports directly to the president of the United States. What
does it means for the president to have an unaccountable paramilitary force, which can
assassinate anyone anywhere in the world?
Note: For more on JSOC, click here.
The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street

from prosecutions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-...
PBS' Frontline program on [January 22] broadcast a new one-hour report on one of the greatest
and most shameful failings of the Obama administration: the lack of even a single arrest or
prosecution of any senior Wall Street banker for the systemic fraud that precipitated the
2008 financial crisis: a crisis from which millions of people around the world are still suffering.
What this program particularly demonstrated was that the Obama justice department, in
particular the Chief of its Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer, never even tried to hold the highlevel criminals accountable. What Obama justice officials did instead is exactly what they did in
the face of high-level Bush era crimes of torture and warrantless eavesdropping: namely, acted to
protect the most powerful factions in the society in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious
criminality. Worst of all, Obama justice officials both shielded and feted these Wall Street oligarchs
... as they simultaneously prosecuted and imprisoned powerless Americans for far more trivial
transgressions. As Harvard law professor Larry Lessig put it two weeks ago when expressing
anger over the DOJ's persecution of Aaron Swartz: "we live in a world where the architects of the
financial crisis regularly dine at the White House." As [documented in the] 2011 book on America's
two-tiered justice system, With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy
Equality and Protect the Powerful, the evidence that felonies were committed by Wall Street is
overwhelming.
Note: To watch this highly revealing PBS documentary, click here or here. For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on the collusion between government 'regulators' and
the financial powers they 'regulate', click here.
Military archives show NZ and US conducted secret tsunami bomb tests

2013-01-13, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3663487.htm
It's been revealed that the United States and New Zealand conducted secret tests in the 1940s of
a 'tsunami bomb' designed to inundate coastal cities. Thousands of underwater tests were carried
out near Auckland during the Second World War and showed such a weapon was feasible. The
top-secret operation code-named, ''Project Seal'', was shelved just months before the atomic bomb
was used on Japan in 1945. The secret plans have been uncovered during research by a New
Zealand author and filmmaker, Ray Waru. EMILY BOURKE: Where were these tests carried out?
RAY WARU: They were carried out at one of ... New Zealand's most well-known holiday spots, the
Whangaparaoa Peninsula just north of Auckland. Over a period of several months they carried out
almost 4,000 test explosions to kind of calibrate the size of the explosions, the number of
explosions and the depth of the explosion in the water would need to be in order to create a
tsunami effect. EMILY BOURKE: Was there any damage that occurred as a result of the research
and those tests? RAY WARU: No. They never actually produced a tidal wave. They decided at
the end if there were 2 million kilograms and they were detonated in an array a specific
number of kilometres from the shore that they would produce a wave ... about ten or 12 ...
metres in height. That would have been enough to wash out a shore installation. EMILY
BOURKE: Were these tests carried out at the behest of the United States? Did the United States
fund it? RAY WARU: Yes they were [and] they were carried out with the full cooperation of the New
Zealand government.
Note: This article was published on the website of Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia's
equivalent of the BBC. A 1999 article in New Zealand's leading newspaper at this link also
discusses this secret tsunami bomb. For a very well researched webpage on HAARP, a secret
weapon allegedly used for weather control and much more, click here.
Cleric may have booked pre-9/11 flights for hijackers, FBI documents
show
2013-01-03, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/03/exclusive-al-awlaki-booked-pre-11-...
The FBI suspected within days of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that the American Muslim
cleric Anwar al-Awlaki may have purchased tickets for some of the hijackers for air travel in
advance of the attacks, according to newly released documents. The heavily redacted records
obtained by Judicial Watch through a [FOIA] request suggest the FBI held evidence tying the
American-born cleric to the hijackers just 16 days after the attack that killed nearly 3,000
Americans. We have FBI documents showing that the FBI knew that al-Awlaki had bought three
tickets for three of the hijackers to fly into Florida and into Las Vegas, including the lead hijacker,
Mohammad Atta, Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News. He added that the
records show the cleric, killed in September 2011 by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, was a central
focus of the FBI's investigation of 9/11. They show he wasn't cooperative. And they show that he
was under surveillance. The cleric was a guest speaker on moderate Islam at a Pentagon
executive dining room in February 2002. The newly released documents now suggest the
FBI knew five months earlier of al-Awlakis probable link to the hijackers. Al-Awlaki was held
at New York Citys JFK airport on Oct. 10, 2002, under a warrant for passport fraud, a felony
punishable by 10 years. However, ... an FBI agent, Wade Ammerman, from the bureaus
Washington field office ordered the cleric be released from custody, even though there was
an active warrant for his arrest.
Note: Click here to view the more than 200 pages of documents obtained by Judicial Watch. Isn't it
quite strange that the continuously monitored Al-Awlaki was breakfasting with the Pentagon brass
and was released from custody by the FBI, after the 9/11 attacks? Could his assassination by
drone have been for the purpose of keeping him quiet about what he knew concerning 9/11?
Too Big to Indict

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/opinion/hsbc-too-big-to-indict.html
It is a dark day for the rule of law. Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC,
the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal
prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system. They also
have not charged any top HSBC banker in the case, though it boggles the mind that a bank could
launder money as HSBC did without anyone in a position of authority making culpable decisions.
Clearly, the government has bought into the notion that too big to fail is too big to jail. When
prosecutors choose not to prosecute to the full extent of the law in a case as egregious as this, the
law itself is diminished. The deterrence that comes from the threat of criminal prosecution is
weakened, if not lost. In the HSBC case, prosecutors may want the public to focus on the $1.92
billion settlement. But even large financial settlements are small compared with the size of
international major banks. More important, once criminal sanctions are considered off limits,
penalties and forfeitures become just another cost of doing business, a risk factor to consider on
the road to profits. If banks operating at the center of the global economy cannot be held
fully accountable, the solution is to reduce their size by breaking them up and restricting
their activities not shield them and their leaders from prosecution for illegal activities.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government collusion
with financial corruption, click here.
U.S. Terrorism Agency to Tap a Vast Database of Citizens

Through Freedom of Information Act requests and interviews with officials at numerous agencies,
The Wall Street Journal has reconstructed the clash over the counterterrorism program within the
administration of President Barack Obama. The attorney general [has] signed the changes into
effect. The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the
government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to
suspect them. That is a departure from past practice, which barred the agency from storing
information about ordinary Americans unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an
investigation. Now, NCTC can copy entire government databasesflight records, casinoemployee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others. The
agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to
analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. Previously, both were prohibited. Data about
Americans "reasonably believed to constitute terrorism information" may be permanently retained.
"It's breathtaking" in its scope, said a former senior administration official. The Fourth Amendment
of the Constitution says that searches of "persons, houses, papers and effects" shouldn't be
conducted without "probable cause" that a crime has been committed.
Note: This article requires subscription to view at the link above. To read it for free, click here. For
analysis of this sweeping increase in government privacy invasions, click here. For deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government privacy invasions, click here.
German man locked up over HVB bank allegations may have been
telling truth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/28/gustl-mollath-hsv-claims-fraud
A German man committed to a high-security psychiatric hospital after being accused of fabricating
a story of money-laundering activities at a major bank is to have his case reviewed after evidence
has emerged proving the validity of his claims. Gustl Mollath, 56, was submitted to the secure
unit of a psychiatric hospital seven years ago after court experts diagnosed him with
paranoid personality disorder following his claims that staff at the Hypo Vereinsbank (HVB)
including his wife, then an assets consultant at HVB had been illegally smuggling large
sums of money into Switzerland. Mollath was tried in 2006 after his ex-wife accused him of
causing her physical harm. He denied the charges, claiming she was trying to sully his name in the
light of the evidence he allegedly had against her. He was admitted to the clinic, where he has
remained against his will ever since. But recent evidence brought to the attention of state
prosecutors shows that money-laundering activities were indeed practiced over several years by
members of staff at the Munich-based bank, the sixth-largest private financial institute in Germany.
A number of employees, including Mollath's wife, were subsequently sacked following the bank's
investigation. The "Mollath affair", as it has been dubbed by the German media, has taken on such
political dimensions that it now threatens to bring down the government of Bavaria.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on financial corruption, click
here.
HSBC Investigation: clients of Britain's biggest bank exposed

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9665741/HSBC-...
Britains biggest bank is at the centre of a major ... investigation after it opened offshore accounts
in Jersey for serious criminals living in this country. Tax authorities have obtained details of every
British client of HSBC in Jersey after a whistleblower secretly provided a detailed list of names,
addresses and account balances earlier this week. Among those identified on the list are Daniel
Bayes, a drug dealer who is now in Venezuela; Michael Lee, who was convicted of possessing
more than 300 weapons at his house in Devon; three bankers facing major fraud allegations and a
man once dubbed Londons number two computer crook. The disclosures raise serious
questions about HSBCs procedures in Jersey, with the bank already preparing to pay fines of
around $1.5 billion in America for breaking money laundering rules. The bank is legally obliged to
report to the authorities any suspicions about the source of money deposited in its accounts. The
list identifies 4,388 people holding 699 million in offshore current accounts and they are also likely
to have billions of pounds more in investment schemes. Several celebrities and other well-known
figures are understood to be identified in the client data. The HSBC Jersey client list is
understood to be heavily dominated by senior figures in the City. Dozens of bankers are
understood to have deposited six-figure sums offshore with some institutions said to have
clusters of employees taking advantage of the accounts. Doctors, mining and oil executives
and oil workers are also heavily represented in the list.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on financial corruption and
criminality, click here.
Living with death by drone

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/04/opinion/la-oe-gibson-drones-civilians...
Last week, Stanford University and New York University released a major study about the use of
drones in the ever-evolving but never-ending war on terror. Drones are terrorizing an entire civilian
population. [We] spent weeks in Pakistan interviewing more than 60 people from North Waziristan.
Many were survivors of strikes. Others had lost loved ones and family members. All of them live
under the constant threat of annihilation. What my colleagues and I learned from these unnamed
and unknown victims of America's drone warfare gave the report its title: "Living Under Drones."
Drones are a constant presence in the skies above the North Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan,
with as many as six hovering over villages at any one time. People hear them day and night. They
are an inescapable presence, the looming specter of death from above. And that presence is
steadily destroying a community twice the size of Rhode Island. The routines of daily life have
been ripped to shreds. Indisputably innocent people cower in their homes, afraid to assemble
on the streets. "Double taps," or secondary strikes on the same target, have stopped
residents from aiding those who have been injured. A leading humanitarian agency now
delays assistance by an astonishing six hours. What makes this situation even worse is that no
one can tell people in these communities what they can do to make themselves safe. No one
knows who is on the American kill list, no one knows how they got there and no one knows what
they can do to get themselves off. It's all terrifyingly random. Suddenly, and without warning, a
missile launches and obliterates everyone within a 16-yard radius.
Note: The author of this report, Jennifer Gibson, is a staff attorney with Reprieve, a London-based
legal charity that represents dozens of Pakistani drone victims. For an excellent, seven-minute
video by professors exploring the tragic reality of drone strikes in Pakistan, click here. For the
"Living Under Drones" website where you can read a summary and download this report by
Stanford University and the New York Times, click here. To learn about a beautiful movement to
place large photos of children's faces in target areas to stop drone operators from killing innocents,
click here.
Fighting Recession the Icelandic Way

2012-09-26, Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-26/is-remedy-for-next-crisis-buried-in-...
Few countries blew up more spectacularly than Iceland in the 2008 financial crisis. The local stock
market plunged 90 percent; unemployment rose ninefold; inflation shot to more than 18 percent;
the countrys biggest banks all failed. Since then, Iceland has turned in a pretty impressive
performance. It has repaid International Monetary Fund rescue loans ahead of schedule. Growth
this year will be about 2.5 percent, better than most developed economies. Unemployment has
fallen by half. Icelands approach was the polar opposite of the U.S. and Europe, which
rescued their banks and did little to aid indebted homeowners. Nothing distinguishes
Iceland as much as its aid to consumers. To homeowners with negative equity, the country
offered write-offs that would wipe out debt above 110 percent of the property value. The
government also provided means-tested subsidies to reduce mortgage-interest expenses: Those
with lower earnings, less home equity and children were granted the most generous support. In
June 2010, the nations Supreme Court gave debtors another break: Bank loans that were indexed
to foreign currencies were declared illegal. Because the Icelandic krona plunged 80 percent during
the crisis, the cost of repaying foreign debt more than doubled. The ruling let consumers repay the
banks as if the loans were in krona. These policies helped consumers erase debt equal to 13
percent of Icelands $14 billion economy. Now, consumers have money to spend on other things.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the collusion of most
major governments with the financial sector whose profiteering contributed to the global economic
crisis, click here.
FBI releases more records on Richard Aoki

2012-09-07, San Francisco Chronicle/Center for Investigative Reporting
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/FBI-releases-more-records-on-Richard-Aoki...
Revelations that prominent radical activist Richard Aoki was an FBI informant have prompted
angry denials among his supporters, but newly released records confirm he was secretly providing
information to agents during the period he gave the Black Panthers guns and firearms training.
The documents from Aoki's FBI informant file - totaling 221 pages - were released after a court
challenge under the Freedom of Information Act and show that Aoki was an informant from 1961 to
1977, with only brief interruptions. The records say that at various points, he provided information
that was "unique" and of "extreme value." The records chronicle Aoki's 16-year career as an
informant, including years in which he was a student at Merritt College in Oakland and at UC
Berkeley, participating in the Black Panthers and other radical groups. They also cover years
during which Aoki was a teacher at those universities. An early FBI report says Aoki was assigned
the alias "Richard Ford" to use when signing reports, as well as a permanent informant number,
which the FBI redacted. It notes his date of birth, his parents' names and his address. "Coverage
furnished by this informant is unique and not available from any other source," the FBI
report says. "Many activist individuals seek informant's advice and counseling since
informant is considered as a militant who has succeeded within the establishment without
surrending (sic) to it."
Note: Here is undeniable evidence that the FBI was involved in infiltrating movements and
radicalizing them with guns and weapons. Why isn't this being discussed widely in the media,
particularly as it is likely this is still going on, most recently with the Occupy movement? The
revelation that Aoki was an informant was first made last month in a news report and video by the
Center for Investigative Reporting, based on the new book Subversives: The FBI's War on Student
Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power.
U.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/world/middleeast/us-foreign-arms-sales-reac...
Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major sales to
Persian Gulf [countries], according to a new study for Congress. Overseas weapons sales by the
United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or nearly 78 percent of the global arms market,
valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals. The
U.S. weapons sales total was an "extraordinary increase" over the $21.4 billion in deals for
2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of U.S. arms
exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas
totaled nearly $31 billion. Increasing tensions with Iran drove a set of Persian Gulf nations -- Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman -- to spend record amounts on weapons. These
states do not share a border with Iran, and their purchases focused on warplanes and complex
missile defense systems. The agreements with Saudi Arabia included the purchase of 84
advanced F-15 fighters, a variety of ammunition, missiles and logistics support, and upgrades of
70 of the F-15 fighters in the current fleet ... all contributing to a total Saudi weapons deal with the
United States of $33.4 billion, according to the study. The United Arab Emirates bought a Terminal
High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced anti-missile shield that is valued at $3.49 billion, as well
as 16 Chinook helicopters for $939 million.
Note: For analyses of this deeply revealing Congressional report on the intense preparations for
war on Iran, click here and here. If just 1% of these skyrocketing arms sales were put towards
feeding the world, global hunger would vanish in no time.
Big Banks: No Crime, No Punishment

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/no-crime-no-punishment.html
When the Justice Department recently closed its criminal investigation of Goldman Sachs,
it became all but certain that no major American banks or their top executives would ever
face criminal charges for their role in the financial crisis. Justice officials and even
President Obama have defended the lack of prosecutions, saying that even though greed and
other moral lapses were evident in the run-up to the crisis, the conduct was not necessarily illegal.
But that characterization of the financial industry's actions has always defied common sense - and
all the more so now that a fuller picture is emerging of the range of banks' reckless and lawless
activities, including interest-rate rigging, money laundering, securities fraud and excessive
speculation. The financial crisis, fomented over years by big banks and presided over by
executives, involved reckless lending, heedless securitizations, exorbitant paydays and illusory
profits, all of which led to government bailouts and economic calamity. Is it plausible that none of
that broke the law and that none of the people in positions of power and authority knew what was
going on? The statute of limitations, generally five years for securities fraud and most other federal
offenses, is running out, precluding the possibility of bringing many new suits dating from the
bubble years. The result is a public perception that the big banks and their leaders will never have
to answer fully for the crisis. The shameless pursuit of Wall Street campaign donations by both
political parties strengthens this perception, and further undermines confidence in the rule of law.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the collusion between
government and the big banks, click here.
Bank scandals: Somebody must go to jail

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Bank-scandals-Somebody-must-go-to-jail-...
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing
armies." - Thomas Jefferson, 1816. When Thomas Jefferson spoke those words, banks were
local and very small compared with the financial behemoths of today. Banks are more dangerous
now than in Jefferson's time, and they are totally out of control. During the Depression of
the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt referred to banks as the "money changers in the
temple of our civilization," and little has been done since. It is well past the time that people on
Wall Street live by the rule of law - not just pay fines - and some executives go to jail for their
conduct. In 2008, the much-publicized Troubled Assets Relief Program bailed out banks and Wall
Street to the tune of $700 billion with taxpayer money. While the banks were bailed out of the
trouble they caused, they continued to pay out enormous executive bonuses with taxpayers'
money in multimillion-dollar year-end gifts. JPMorgan received $25 billion from the government in
2008 and gave out nearly $9 billion in bonus money that year. When the derivative-driven housing
market collapsed in 2008, Citigroup and Bank of America, the major banks in that market, and
eight other top Wall Street firms got $1.2 trillion in then-secret loans of taxpayer money from the
Federal Reserve. The Fed even went to court in an attempt to hide the identities of those banks
from the public. Regulating the banks and bringing the rule of law to Wall Street banks is
necessary now. Sending a few Wall Street banksters to jail would stop some of the abuse as well.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the corrupt relationship
between government and the financial sector, click here.
The unrepentant and unreformed bankers

2012-08-18, San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspaper)
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/The-unrepentant-and-unreformed-bankers-...
Money laundering. Price fixing. Bid rigging. Securities fraud. Talking about the mob? No,
unfortunately. Wall Street. These days, the business sections of newspapers read like rap sheets.
GE Capital, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Wells Fargo and Bank of America tied to a bid-rigging
scheme to bilk cities and towns out of interest earnings. ING Direct, HSBC and Standard
Chartered Bank facing charges of money laundering. Barclays caught manipulating a key interest
rate, costing savers and investors dearly, with a raft of other big banks also under investigation.
Not to speak of the unprecedented wrongdoing that precipitated the financial crisis of 2008. Yet, it's
clear that the unrepentant and the unreformed are still all too present within our banking system. A
June survey of 500 senior financial services executives in the United States and Britain turned up
stunning results. Some 24 percent said that they believed that financial services
professionals may need to engage in illegal or unethical conduct to succeed, 26 percent
said that they had observed or had firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace,
and 16 percent said they would engage in insider trading if they could get away with it. That
too much of Wall Street remains unchanged is not surprising. Simply stated, the banks and their
leaders have paid no real economic, legal or political price for their wrongdoing and thus have not
felt compelled to change.
Note: The author of this article, Phil Angelides, is a former state treasurer of California and the
chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. For deeply revealing reports from reliable
major media sources on the corrupt relationship between government and the financial sector,
click here.
9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out

2012-08-18, Colorado Public Television
http://www.cpt12.org/tv_schedule/program_details.cfm?series_id=66785954&CFID=...
In [the] new film ["9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out"], over 40 experts in the fields of
structural engineering, high-rise architecture, controlled demolition, physics, chemistry and
metallurgy lay out the case for a controlled demolition of the World Trade Center on 9/11. The
experts cite evidence showing that high-temperature incendiaries and explosives were planted
throughout the twin towers and the lesser-known Building 7 which collapsed later the same day.
Eight experts in psychology ... discuss the difficulties many people have in confronting this
possible reality and how necessary the truth is for healing both at the individual and collective
levels. Two years in the making, "9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out" is the latest film
from Architects & Engineers for 911 Truth, represented by founder Richard Gage, AIA. The
official story about the attacks of September 11 falls apart when you look squarely at the
facts and apply basic scientific principles to interpret them," says Gage. "After more than
ten years, a high-level investigation of the evidence is long overdue. Too much is at stake
here to sweep the concerns under the rug. Family members of 9/11 victims speak to the viewers of
this film. They explain why they are still not happy with the answers they've been given by our
government. And they are asking you to join them in looking at what our experts have to say."
Note: To watch a beautifully-made 15-minute documentary put together by Architects and

Engineers for 9/11 Truth, click here.
What makes our NDAA lawsuit a struggle to save the US constitution

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/10/ndaa-lawsuit-struggle-us-...
I [Tangerine Bolen] am one of the lead plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit against the National Defense
Authorization Act, which gives the president the power to hold any US citizen anywhere for as long
as he wants, without charge or trial. In a May hearing, Judge Katherine Forrest issued an
injunction against it; this week, in a final hearing in New York City, US government lawyers
asserted even more extreme powers the right to disregard entirely the judge and the law. On
Monday 6 August, Obama's lawyers filed an appeal to the injunction a profoundly important
development that, as of this writing, has been scarcely reported. In the earlier March hearing, US
government lawyers had confirmed that, yes, the NDAA does give the president the power to lock
up people like journalist Chris Hedges and peaceful activists like myself and other plaintiffs.
Government attorneys stated on record that even war correspondents could be locked up
indefinitely under the NDAA. In this hearing ... Obama's attorneys refused to assure the court,
when questioned, that the NDAA's section 1021 the provision that permits reporters and
others who have not committed crimes to be detained without trial has not been applied
by the US government anywhere in the world after Judge Forrest's injunction. In other
words, they were telling a US federal judge that they could not, or would not, state whether
Obama's government had complied with the legal injunction that she had laid down before them. I,
like many in this fight, am now afraid of my government. We have good reason to be.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on civil liberties, click here.
Democracy falling prey to big money

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Democracy-falling-prey-to-big-mon...
Who's buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino
magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn, among others. And they're doing much of it in
secret. It's a perfect storm - the combination of three waves that are about to drown
government as we know it. The first is the greatest concentration of wealth in America in more
than a century. The 400 richest Americans are richer than the bottom 150 million Americans put
together. The trend started 30 years ago, and it's related to globalization and technological
changes that have stymied wage growth for most people, "trickle-down economics," ... tax cuts
and the steady decline in the bargaining power of organized labor. The second is the wave of
unlimited political contributions, courtesy of ... one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history,
Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the 2010 ruling that held that corporations are
people under the First Amendment, [meaning] that virtually any billionaire can contribute as much
to a political campaign as he wants. The third is complete secrecy about who's contributing how
much to whom. Political fronts posing as charitable, nonprofit "social welfare" organizations ...
don't have to disclose their donors. As a result, outfits like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl
Rove's Crossroads GPS are taking in hundreds of millions from corporations that don't even tell
their own shareholders what political payments they're making. Separately, any one of these three
would be bad enough. Put the three together, and our democracy is being sold down the drain.
Note: The author of this article, Robert Reich, is a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and
former U.S. secretary of labor, and author of the newly released Beyond Outrage: What Has Gone
Wrong With Our Economy and Our Democracy, and How to Fix It.
Wall Street Legend Sandy Weill: Break Up the Big Banks

2012-07-25, CNBC
Former Citigroup Chairman & CEO Sanford I. Weill, the man who invented the financial
supermarket, called for the breakup of big banks in an interview on CNBC Wednesday. What
we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking, have banks be deposit
takers, have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans, have banks do something thats
not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, thats not too big to fail, Weill told CNBCs Squawk Box. He
added: If they want to hedge what theyre doing with their investments, let them do it in a way
thats going to be mark-to-market so theyre never going to be hit. He essentially called for the
return of the GlassSteagall Act, which imposed banking reforms that split banks from
other financial institutions such as insurance companies. He said banks should be split off
entirely from investment banks, and they should operate with a leverage ratio of 12 times to 15
times of what they have on their balance sheets. Banks should also be completely transparent,
Weill said, with everything on balance sheet. There should be no such thing as off balance sheet,
he said.
Note: For deeply revealing and reliable major media reports on corruption and criminality in the
operations and regulation of the financial sector, click here.
Wealth doesn't trickle down it just floods offshore, research reveals

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/offshore-wealth-global-economy...
The world's super-rich have taken advantage of lax tax rules to siphon off at least $21
trillion, and possibly as much as $32tn, from their home countries and hide it abroad a
sum larger than the entire American economy. James Henry, a former chief economist at
consultancy McKinsey and an expert on tax havens, has conducted groundbreaking new research
for the Tax Justice Network campaign group sifting through data from the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private sector analysts to construct
an alarming picture that shows capital flooding out of countries across the world and disappearing
into the cracks in the financial system. "This offshore economy is large enough to have a major
impact on estimates of inequality of wealth and income; on estimates of national income and debt
ratios; and most importantly to have very significant negative impacts on the domestic tax
bases of 'source' countries," Henry says. John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network
[commented] "Inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still
relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people. This new data shows the exact
opposite has happened: for three decades extraordinary wealth has been cascading into the
offshore accounts of a tiny number of super-rich." In total, 10 million individuals around the world
hold assets offshore, according to Henry's analysis; but almost half of the minimum estimate of
$21tn $9.8tn is owned by just 92,000 people.
Note: Henry's report, entitled The Price of Offshore Revisited, is available here. For more on this,
click here.
Regulators and HSBC Faulted in Report on Money Laundering

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/scathing-report-details-money-launderi...
The global bank HSBC has been used by Mexican drug cartels looking to get cash back into
the United States, by Saudi Arabian banks that needed access to dollars despite their
terrorist ties and by Iranians who wanted to circumvent United States sanctions, a Senate
report says. The 335-page report released [on July 16] also says that executives at HSBC and
regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ignored warning signs and failed to stop
the illegal behavior at many points between 2001 and 2010. The problems at HSBC, Europe's
largest financial institution, [are] indicators of a broader problem of illegal money flowing through
international financial institutions into the United States. The report on HSBC is the latest of
several scandals that have recently rocked global banks and highlighted the inability of regulators
to catch what is claimed to be widespread wrongdoing in the financial industry. The British bank
Barclays recently admitted that its traders tried to manipulate a crucial global interest rate, and
multiple major banks are under investigation. JPMorgan Chase disclosed last week that its
employees may have tried to hide trades that are likely to cost the bank billions of dollars. The
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has come under particularly harsh criticism for showing
too much deference to the banks it regulates.
corruption and criminality, click here. For our highly revealing Banking Corruption Information
Center, click here.
Time for Banksters to be prosecuted

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-time-for-bankste...
Once more the big banks are exposed in systematic fraudulent activity. When Barclays agreed to a
$450 million fine for trying to rig the Libor, its CEO offered the classic excuse: Everyone does it.
Once more the question remains: Will CEOs and CFOs, as well as traders, be prosecuted? Or
will they depart with their multimillion dollar rewards intact, leaving shareholders to pay the
tab for the hundreds of millions in fines? The Barclays settlement exposed that traders
colluded to try to fix the Libor rate. This is the rate used as the basis for exotic derivatives as well
as mortgages, credit card and personal loan rates. Almost everyone is affected. Fixing the rate
even a few hundredths of a percentage point could make Barclays millions on any single day
money taken out of the pockets of consumers and investors. Once more the banks were rigging
the rules; once more their customers were their mark. The collusion was systematic and routine.
Investigations are underway not only in the United Kingdom but also in the United States, Canada
and the European Union. Those named in the probes are all the usual suspects: JPMorgan Chase,
Citibank, UBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, UBS and others. This wasnt rogue trading, ... it was
more like a cartel. The Economist writes that what has been revealed here is the rotten heart of
finance, a culture of casual dishonesty.
Note: For key investigative reports on the criminality and corruption in the financial industry and
biggest banks, click here.
Guilty bankers should clean toilets

2012-07-05, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/05/opinion/quest-libor-analysis/index.html
The Libor scandal has confirmed what many of us have known for some time: There is something
smelly in the London financial world and the stench is now overwhelming. The Financial Services
Authority report [made it] clear just how widespread, how blatant was the fixing of the benchmark
interest rate Libor and Euribor by Barclays. Brazen is the only word for it. The emails and phone
calls reveal that on dozens of occasions those who stood to gain by the decisions asked
for favors (and got them) from those who helped set the interest rates. And all the time the
world believed Libor was somehow a barometer of what banks were lending to each other. It
wasn't. It was the rate at which a bank was prepared to corrupt the money markets for its own
narrow, venal gain. It is the way the traders, the rate submitters -- everyone involved in this cesspit
-- [were] running to do wrong which makes it so egregious. With one or two feeble exceptions, no
one ever seemed to stop and say "this is against the rules." Or, heaven forbid, "this is wrong." I
have no doubt that Barclays wasn't the only one up to this. The FSA report makes it clear that
other traders were putting pressure on their rate setters too. Libor and its cousin Euribor are the
rates used to determine hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of highly specialized financial
contracts called derivatives. Businesses and household loans are set by this benchmark. It is the
backbone of the financial world and now it has been proven to be bent and crooked.
Note: For an incredibly incisive interview between Eliot Spitzer, Matt Taibbi, and a top banking
expert on how the LIBOR scandal undermines the integrity of all banking, click here. For
astounding news on the $700 trillion derivatives bubble, click here. For a treasure trove of reliable
reports on the criminality and corruption within the financial and banking industries, click here.
Inquiry Declares Fukushima Crisis a Man-Made Disaster

2012-07-05, CNBC/New York Times
The nuclear accident at Fukushima was a preventable disaster rooted in government-industry
collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture, a parliamentary inquiry [has]
concluded. The report, released by the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation
Commission, challenged some of the main story lines that the government and the operator of the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant have put forward. Most notably, the report said the plants
crucial cooling systems might have been damaged in the earthquake on March 11, 2011, not only
in the ensuing tsunami. That possibility raises doubts about the safety of all the quake-prone
countrys nuclear plants just as they begin to restart after a pause ordered in the wake of the
Fukushima crisis. It was a profoundly man-made disaster that could and should have
been foreseen and prevented, said Kiyoshi Kurokawa, the commissions chairman, in the
reports introduction. And its effects could have been mitigated by a more effective human
response. The 641-page report criticized Tepco as being too quick to dismiss earthquake
damage as a cause of the fuel meltdowns at three of the plants six reactors, which overheated
when the site lost power. Tepco has contended that the plant withstood the earthquake that rocked
eastern Japan, instead placing blame for the disaster on what some experts have called a once in
a millennium tsunami that followed.
Note: For lots more from reliable major media articles on corruption in the nuclear power industry,
click here.
Joseph Stiglitz: Man who ran World Bank calls for bankers to face the
music
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/joseph-stigl...
The Barclays Libor scandal may have shocked the British public, but Joseph Stiglitz saw it
coming decades ago. And he's convinced that jailing bankers is the best way to curb
market abuses. [Former World Bank Chief Economist] Stiglitz wrote a series of papers in the
1970s and 1980s explaining how when some individuals have access to privileged knowledge that
others don't, free markets yield bad outcomes for wider society. That insight (known as the theory
of "asymmetric information") won Stiglitz the Nobel Prize for economics in 2001. And he has
leveraged those credentials relentlessly ever since to batter at the walls of "free market
fundamentalism". It is a crusade that [includes] his new book The Price of Inequality. When traders
working for Barclays rigged the Libor interest rate and flogged toxic financial derivatives using
their privileged position in the financial system to make profits at the expense of their customers
they were unwittingly proving Stiglitz right. "It's a textbook illustration," Stiglitz said. "Where there
are these asymmetries a lot of these activities are directed at rent seeking [appropriating resources
from someone else rather than creating new wealth]. That was one of my original points. It wasn't
about productivity, it was taking advantage." He argues that breaking the economic and political
power that has been amassed by the financial sector in recent decades, especially in the US and
the UK, is essential if we are to build a more just and prosperous society. The first step, he says, is
sending some bankers to jail.
Libor scandal: How I manipulated the bank borrowing rate

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9368430/Libor...
An anonymous insider from one of Britain's biggest lenders ... explains how he and his colleagues
helped manipulate the UK's bank borrowing rate. Neither the insider nor the bank can be identified
for legal reasons. It was during a weekly economic briefing at the bank in early 2008 that I first
heard the phrase. A sterling swaps trader told the assembled economists and managers that
"Libor was dislocated with itself". What the trader told us was that the bank could not be seen to
be borrowing at high rates, so we were putting in low Libor submissions, the same as
everyone. How could we do that? Easy. The British Bankers' Association, which compiled
Libor, asked for a rate submission but there were no checks. The trader said there was a
general acceptance that you lowered the price a few basis points each day. According to the
trader, "everyone knew" and "everyone was doing it". There was no implication of illegality. After
all, there were 20 to 30 people in the room from management to economists, structuring teams
to salespeople and more on the teleconference dial-in from across the country. The discussion
was so open the behaviour seemed above board. In no sense was this a clandestine gathering.
Libor had dislocated with itself for a very good reason to hide the true issues within the bank.
Note: For an incredibly incisive interview between Eliot Spitzer, Matt Taibbi, and a top banking
expert on how the LIBOR scandal undermines the integrity of all banking, click here. For a treasure
trove of reliable reports on the criminality and corruption within the financial and banking industries,
click here.
South Floridas ex-ICE chief to plead guilty to Internet child-porn

charges
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/25/2867608/south-floridas-ex-ice-chief-to....
Anthony V. Mangione, the former chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in South
Florida, plans to plead guilty rather than go to trial next month on Internet child-pornography
charges, according to a federal court filing. It is customary for federal defendants who plead guilty
to receive lower sentences after they accept responsibility and forego trial. Still, each of the
charges accusing Mangione of transporting and receiving images of minors engaging in sexually
explicit conduct carries a minimum-mandatory sentence of five years. Mangione ... served as an
agent with ICE for 27 years. During the past decade, ICE aggressively targeted child
pornography, with Mangione frequently speaking out against predators who illegally
share images through their computers. ICE also investigates migrant smuggling, illegal
weapons exports, terrorism and drug trafficking. As the special agent in charge of ICEs South
Florida office between 2007 and 2011, Mangione often praised the agencys efforts against
child pornography in both the cyber and real worlds.
Note: To learn about documented sexual abuse in secret CIA mind control programs, click here.
For deeply revealing and reliable major media reports on sexual abuse, click here.
Drones over America. Are they spying on you?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0616/Drones-over-America.-Are-they-spying-o...
Most Americans have gotten used to regular news reports about military and CIA drones attacking
terrorist suspects including US citizens in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere abroad. But picture
thousands of drone aircraft buzzing around the United States. By some government estimates, as
many as 30,000 drones could be part of intelligence gathering and law enforcement here in
the United States within the next ten years. Operated by agencies down to the local level,
this would be in addition to the 110 current and planned drone activity sites run by the
military services in 39 states, reported this week by the Federation of American Scientists, a
non-government research project. Civil libertarians warn that unmanned aircraft carrying cameras
raise the prospect of a significant new avenue for the surveillance of American life, as the
American Civil Liberties Union put it in a report last December. The technology is quickly
becoming cheaper and more powerful, interest in deploying drones among police departments is
increasing, and our privacy laws are not strong enough to ensure that the new technology will be
used responsibly and consistently with democratic values, reported the ACLU. In short, all the
pieces appear to be lining up for the eventual introduction of routine aerial surveillance in American
life.
Note: For deeper analysis of the threats posed to American citizens by military and police drones
in the skies, click here. For information on a federal recent law compelling the Federal Aviation
Administration to allow drones to fly in US skies, click here. For more information on the use of
drones by police in the US, click here. For lots more from reliable sources on surveillance in the
US, click here.
Heist of the century: Wall Street's role in the financial crisis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/20/wall-street-role-financial-crisis
Wall Street bankers could have averted the global financial crisis, so why didn't they? In this
exclusive extract from his book Inside Job: The Financiers Who Pulled Off the Heist of the
Century, Charles Ferguson argues that they should be prosecuted: The Securities and Exchanges
Commission has been deservedly criticised for not following up on years of complaints about
[Bernard L.] Madoff. But not a single bank that had suspicions about Madoff made such a call.
Instead, they assumed he was probably a crook, but either just left him alone or were happy to
make money from him. It is no exaggeration to say that since the 1980s, much of the global
financial sector has become criminalised, creating an industry culture that tolerates or even
encourages systematic fraud. The behaviour that caused the mortgage bubble and financial
crisis of 2008 was a natural outcome and continuation of this pattern, rather than some kind
of economic accident. This behaviour is criminal. We are talking about deliberate concealment
of financial transactions that aided terrorism, nuclear weapons proliferation and large-scale tax
evasion; assisting in major financial frauds and in concealment of criminal assets; and committing
frauds that substantially worsened the worst financial bubbles and crises since the Depression.
And yet none of this conduct has been punished in any significant way.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on corruption and criminality in the finance industry, click
here.
The spectacle of terror and its vested interests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/09/spectacle-terr...
A cycle of overhyped terror plots involving government agency entrapment feeds a multimilliondollar surveillance industry. The news stories ... quickly surface, long enough to cause scary
headlines, then vanish before people can learn how often the cases are thrown out. These are
stories about "bumbling fantasists", hapless druggies, the aimless, even the virtually homeless and
mentally ill, and other marginal characters with not the strongest grip on reality, who have been
lured into discourses about violence against America only after assiduous courting, and in some
cases outright payment, by undercover FBI or police informants. But the tales of entrapment and
terror hype continue apace ten years after 9/11. Now we have another "underwear bomber"
declared by the Pentagon to have been about to launch a major attack via a US-bound plane, but
who appears, reportedly, to have been a CIA-run double agent. What is the evidence that the
"device", which is supposedly so sophisticated that there is doubt as to whether existing
surveillance technologies in US airports would have caught it, actually exists? It is important
to note that we can no longer assume that the FBI and the CIA and the NSA work ... for the safety
of the American people; they [now] represent a revolving door of government officials who become
security industry lobbyists and manufacturers, which, in turn, get the multimillion-dollar contracts
for tackling the very problems these stories [hype].
Note: For more on this bizarre news, see the CBS report at this link. Isn't it amazing how many
terrorist groups have undercover FBI and CIA agents involved in actually pushing plots forward?
One has to wonder how far the plots would go without prompting by intelligence insiders. For a
powerful BBC documentary suggesting that terrorism is pushed and sold by politicians for a
deeper agenda, click here.
Genetically modified crops' results raise concern

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/29/MN1O1O5SS0.DTL
Biotechnology's promise to feed the world did not anticipate "Trojan corn," "super weeds"
and the disappearance of monarch butterflies. In the Midwest and South - blanketed by more
than 170 million acres of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton - an experiment begun
in 1996 with approval of the first commercial genetically modified organisms is producing
questionable results. Those results include vast increases in herbicide use that have created
impervious weeds now infesting millions of acres of cropland, while decimating other plants, such
as milkweeds that sustain the monarch butterflies. More than a million people have signed a
petition to the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of genetically engineered food. The
stakes on labeling such foods are huge. The crops are so widespread that an estimated 70
percent of U.S. processed foods contain engineered genes. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture has approved more than 80 genetically engineered crops while denying none.
Genetically engineered crops ... have spawned an infestation of "super weeds" now covering at
least 13 million acres in 26 states. The crops led to a 400-million-pound net increase in herbicide
applications. Dave Mortensen, a weed ecologist at Pennsylvania State University, said the number
of "super weed" species grew from one in 1996 ... to 22 today. Last month, scientists definitively
tied heavy use of glyphosate to an 81 percent decline in the monarch butterfly population. It turns
out that the herbicide has obliterated the milkweeds on Midwest corn farms where the monarchs
lay their eggs after migrating from Mexico. Iowa State University ecologist John Pleasants, one of
the study's authors, said the catastrophic decline in monarchs is a consequence of the genetically
engineered crops that no one foresaw.
Note: Multiple reliable sources have shown that you may be eating genetically modified food daily
which scientific experiments have repeatedly demonstrated can cause sickness and even death in
lab animals. For key reports from major media sources on hidden facts on the dangers of
genetically modified food, click here.
How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the

masses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/05/us-sexual-humi...
In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon
arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. [This joins] the NDAA, which lets anyone be
arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill", which gives you a 10-year sentence
for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection. Is American strip-searching
benign? The man who had brought the initial suit ... described having been told to "turn around.
Squat and cough. Spread your cheeks." There's the sexual abuse of prisoners at Bagram, [where]
in some cases, an interrogator would place his penis along the face of the detainee while he was
being questioned. Other inmates were raped with sticks or threatened with anal sex. And there's
the policy ... to grope US travelers genitally or else force them to go through a machine made by
a company, Rapiscan, owned by terror profiteer and former DHA czar Michael Chertoff with
images so vivid that it has been called the "pornoscanner". Believe me: you don't want the state
having the power to strip your clothes off. History shows that the use of forced nudity by a
state that is descending into fascism is powerfully effective in controlling and subduing
populations. Where are we headed? These recent laws ... are being set up to work in concert
with a see-all-all-the-time surveillance state. Remember, you don't need to have done anything
wrong to be arrested in America any longer. The man who was forced to spread his buttocks was
stopped for a driving infraction. As one internet advocate said: "There is a race against time: they
realise the internet is a tool of empowerment that will work against their interests, and they need to
race to turn it into a tool of control."
Note: How sad that it takes a British newspaper to spell out the highly repressive and invasive new
laws being passed in the US. For many revealing major media articles showing the dangers of big
brother in our world, click here. For excellent articles revealing the severe erosion of civil liberties,
click here.
Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip Searches for Any Arrest

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/justices-approve-strip-searches-for-any-...
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people
arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no
reason to suspect the presence of contraband. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the courts
conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of
correctional officials. The procedures endorsed by the majority are forbidden by statute in at least
10 states. According to a supporting brief filed by the American Bar Association, international
human rights treaties also ban the procedures. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for the four
dissenters, said the strip searches the majority allowed were a serious affront to human dignity
and to individual privacy and should be used only when there was good reason to do so. Justice
Breyer said that the Fourth Amendment should be understood to bar strip searches of people
arrested for minor offenses not involving drugs or violence, unless officials had a reasonable
suspicion that they were carrying contraband. People have been subjected to the humiliation
of a visual strip search after being arrested for driving with a noisy muffler, failing to use a
turn signal and riding a bicycle without an audible bell. A nun was strip-searched ... after an
arrest for trespassing during an antiwar demonstration. In a study of 23,000 people admitted
to a correctional facility in Orange County, N.Y., using that standard, there was at most one
instance of contraband detected that would not otherwise have been found.
Note: For an abundance of major media articles showing severe erosion of civil liberties, click
here.
Very High Radiation, Little Water in Japan Reactor

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/high-radiation-water-japan-reac...
One of Japan's crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and hardly any water
to cool its fuel, according to an internal examination that reinforces doubts about the plant's
stability. The data collected showed the damage from the disaster is so severe, the plant operator
will have to develop special equipment and technology to tolerate the harsh environment and
decommission the plant, a process expected to last decades. The No. 2 reactor is the only one
plant workers have been able to closely examine so far. Tuesday's examination with an
industrial endoscope detected radiation levels up to 10 times the fatal dose inside the
chamber. The other two reactors that had meltdowns could be in even worse shape. Three
Dai-ichi reactors had meltdowns, but the No. 2 reactor is the only one that has been examined
because radiation levels inside the reactor building are relatively low and its container is designed
with a convenient slot to send in the endoscope. The exact conditions of the other two reactors,
where hydrogen explosions damaged their buildings, are still unknown. Simulations have indicated
that more fuel inside No. 1 has breached the core than the other two, but radiation at No. 3
remains the highest. The high radiation levels inside the No. 2 reactor's chamber mean it's
inaccessible to the workers. Fukushima's accident has instilled public distrust and concerns about
nuclear safety, making it difficult for the government to start up reactors even after regular safety
checks. All but one of Japan's 54 reactors are now offline, with the last one scheduled to stop in
early May.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on Fukushima and other cases of corruption in the
nuclear power industry, click here.
Does the Federal Reserve Have Too Much Power?

2012-03-26, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2012/03/does-the-federal-reserve-hav...
Question: A group proposing a change in monetary policy based on the writings of Stephen
Zarlenga (monetary.org) [argues] that the government should print the money, not the Fed or any
other private body. H.R. 2990 proposed by Dennis Kucinich is based on these ideas. Are they
reasonable to you? Paul Solman: As the Treasury borrows more and more money by issuing
bonds and selling them to all comers, it commits itself, "with the full faith and credit" of the United
States, to pay back its creditors in full. That means it will either raise taxes in the future or -- and
this is the relevant point -- get the Fed to create more money by purchasing bonds on the open
market. This is called "monetizing the debt." There's a legitimate case that the Fed has too
much power, is insufficiently beholden to the people in what's supposed to be a democracy,
since no one on the Fed is chosen by popular election and private bankers are heavily
represented on its board. This has long been the argument of financial journalist William Greider,
author of a major book on the Fed, "The Secrets of the Temple." Greider: "The idea of giving the
Federal Reserve still greater power [is] dangerous. First of all it rewards failure. But secondly, it
puts them in the position as arbiter of who shall fail and who shall succeed. It asks to be able to
choose what are the 30 or 40 or 50 banks and industrial firms that it regards as systemic risks for
the society and ... it will protect those from failure. The government stands behind them and the
rest of us are on our own."
Note: If you look at the top of any U.S. currency bill, you will see the words "Federal Reserve
Note." Thus, though U.S. dollars are printed by the Treasury, they are issued and controlled by the
Federal Reserve, which is privately owned, though subject to minimal federal oversight. To see just
how much control the Federal Reserve has over the issuance of U.S. currency, see their webpage
at this link. For lots more on hidden manipulations of the Federal Reserve, click here.
Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness

2012-03-16, The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-nationa...
Section 101. Purpose. This order delegates authorities and addresses national defense resource
policies and programs under the Defense Production Act of 1950. Sec. 103. General Functions.
Executive departments and agencies ... responsible for plans and programs relating to national
defense ... or for resources and services needed to support such plans and programs, shall: ... (c)
be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions
necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including
services and critical technology, for national defense requirements; ... Sec. 310. Critical Items. The
head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense is delegated the
authority of the President ... to take appropriate action to ensure that critical components,
critical technology items, essential materials, and industrial resources are available from
reliable sources when needed to meet defense requirements during peacetime, graduated
mobilization, and national emergency. Appropriate action may include restricting contract
solicitations to reliable sources, restricting contract solicitations to domestic sources (pursuant to
statutory authority), stockpiling critical components, and developing substitutes for critical
components or critical technology items. [signed] BARACK OBAMA
Note: For analysis of this executive order issued by President Obama giving legal power to the
executive office to take control of all national resources, public or private, in peacetime or in war,
click here.
Corporations pay less in taxes than Buffett, Romney

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/EDG91NILV9.DTL
Corporations pay a lower effective tax rate than Warren Buffett and Mitt Romney, but you wouldn't
know it from all the complaints that our corporate tax rate puts our country at a competitive
disadvantage. Despite an official corporate tax rate 35 percent, last year, U.S. corporations paid
just 12.1 percent of their earnings in federal corporate income taxes. Buffett's tax rate is 17.4
percent; Romney's reported 2010 tax rate was 13.9 percent. Our broken tax system blesses U.S.
multinational corporations with lots of loopholes that enable them to pay less in taxes than Main
Street businesses. It has starved our government of revenue. Contrary to common perception,
U.S. corporations pay far less toward the cost of public services and infrastructure than they did in
decades past, and less than foreign competitors pay in their countries today. In the 1950s,
corporate federal income taxes accounted for nearly one-third of federal government
revenue; in 2011, corporate taxes accounted for less than 8 percent. U.S. corporate profits
account for more than 10 percent of GDP, a 50-year high. Federal corporate income taxes
collected as a percent of GDP are at a 50-year low. The challenge of corporate taxes and
competitiveness is not that rates are too high, but that loopholes, preferences and subsidies make
corporate tax collections far too low.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on corporate and government corruption, click here
and here.
Holder: US can legally kill Americans in terror groups

2012-03-05, MSNBC
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/05/10585197-holder-us-can-legally-k...
The U.S. government is legally justified in killing its own citizens overseas if they are involved in
plotting terror attacks against America, Attorney General Eric Holder said [on March 5], offering the
Obama administration's most detailed explanation so far of its controversial targeted killing
program. The Fifth Amendment provides that no one can be "deprived of life" without due process
of law. But that due process, Holder said, doesn't necessarily come from a court. "Due process
and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The
Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process," the attorney general said. The ACLU
called Holder's explanation "a defense of the governments chillingly broad claimed authority to
conduct targeted killings of civilians, including American citizens, far from any battlefield without
judicial review or public scrutiny." "Few things are as dangerous to American liberty as the
proposition that the government should be able to kill citizens anywhere in the world on the
basis of legal standards and evidence that are never submitted to a court, either before or
after the fact," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLUs National Security Project. "Anyone willing
to trust President Obama with the power to secretly declare an American citizen an enemy of the
state and order his extrajudicial killing should ask whether they would be willing to trust the next
president with that dangerous power, she said. The ACLU is suing the Obama administration,
seeking to have documents regarding the targeted killing program made public.
Note: Attorney General Holder's claim that US citizens can be killed by the government without
judicial process clearly violates the U.S. Bill of Rights. In addition to the Fifth Amendment that
states that no person shall be held to answer for a crime "without due process of law," the Sixth
Amendment states that "the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial."
The extra dollars you're paying at the pump are going to Wall Street
speculators
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-201202280930--tms--amvoicesctnav-a20120228f...
The current surge in gas prices has almost nothing to do with energy policy. It doesn't even have
much to do with global supply and demand. It has most to do with America's continuing failure to
adequately regulate Wall Street. Oil supplies aren't being squeezed. Over 80 percent of America's
energy needs are now being satisfied by domestic supplies. In fact, we're starting to become an
energy exporter. Demand for oil isn't rising. Oil demand in the U.S. is down compared to last year
at this time. The American economy is showing only the faintest signs of recovery. Meanwhile,
global demand is still moderate. Europe's debt crisis hasn't gone away. China's growth continues
to slow. But Wall Street is betting on higher oil prices. Hedge-fund managers and traders assume
that mounting tensions in the Middle East will hobble supplies later this year. Wall Street
speculators also assume global demand for oil will rise in the coming year. These are just
expectations, not today's realities. But they're pushing up oil prices just the same, because Wall
Street firms and other big financial players now dominate oil trading. Where there's money to be
made, Wall Street will find a way of making it. And when it comes to oil, so much money is at
stake that gigantic sums can be made if the bets pay off. Speculators figure they can hedge
against bad bets. Financial speculators historically accounted for about 30 percent of oil
contracts, producers and end users for about 70 percent. But today speculators account for
64 percent of all contracts.
Note: This article was written by Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, professor of public
policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy
and America's Future. He blogs at www.robertreich.org. For lots more reliable information from the
major media on energy manipulations, click here.
Foreclosure abuse rampant across U.S., experts say

2012-02-17, MSNBC/Reuters
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46424973/ns/business/t/foreclosure-abuse-rampant-...
A report this week showing rampant foreclosure abuse in San Francisco reflects similar levels of
lender fraud and faulty documentation across the United States, say experts and officials who
have done studies in other parts of the country. The audit of almost 400 foreclosures in San
Francisco found that 84 percent of them appeared to be illegal, according to the study
released by the California city. "The audit in San Francisco is the most detailed and
comprehensive that has been done - but it's likely those numbers are comparable nationally,"
Diane Thompson, an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, told Reuters. Across the
country from California, Jeff Thingpen, register of deeds in Guildford County, North Carolina,
examined 6,100 mortgage documents last year, from loan notes to foreclosure paperwork. Of
those documents, created between January 2008 and December 2010, 4,500 showed signature
irregularities, a telltale sign of the illegal practice of "robosigning" documents. Robosigning
involves the use of bogus documents to force foreclosures without lenders having to
scrutinize all the paperwork involved with mortgages. The practice was at the heart of the
foreclosure scandal that led to a $25 billion settlement between the U.S. government and five
major banks last week.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the illegal foreclosures made by the biggest
banks and financial firms, the collusion of government agencies, and more, see our "Banking
Bailout" news articles.
Canadian government is 'muzzling its scientists'

2012-02-17, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468
Speakers at a major science meeting being held in Canada said communication of vital research
on health and environment issues is being suppressed. Prof Thomas Pedersen, a senior scientist
at the University of Victoria, said he believed there was a political motive in some cases. The
Canadian government recently withdrew from the Kyoto protocol to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. The allegation of "muzzling" came up at a session of the AAAS meeting to discuss the
impact of a media protocol introduced by the Conservative government shortly after it was elected
in 2008. The protocol requires that all interview requests for scientists employed by the
government must first be cleared by officials. A decision as to whether to allow the interview
can take several days, which can prevent government scientists commenting on breaking
news stories. Sources say that requests are often refused and when interviews are granted,
government media relations officials can and do ask for written questions to be submitted
in advance and elect to sit in on the interview. Andrew Weaver, an environmental scientist at
the University of Victoria in British Columbia, described the protocol as "Orwellian". Professor
Weaver said that information is so tightly controlled that the public is "left in the dark"."The only
information they are given is that which the government wants, which will then allow a supporting
of a particular agenda," he said.
US sued over Navy sonar tests in whale waters

2012-01-26, NBC News
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/01/26/10244852-us-sued-over-navy-sonar-t...
Environmental groups sued the Obama administration ... for granting the Navy permits to test
underwater sonar along the West Coast -- and potentially harass up to 650,000 porpoises, seals,
dolphins and whales over a five-year period. The alliance said it wasn't seeking to stop the testing
but to scale it back, especially at certain times and in waters important for feeding and giving birth.
Several studies have found that marine mammals can hear low-frequency sonar, which is
magnified under water, and periodically dolphins and even whales have been found with
perforated ear drums. The National Marine Fisheries Service "fell down on the job and failed to
require the Navy to take reasonable and effective actions to protect" marine mammals, Steve
Mashuda, an attorney for the law firm Earthjustice, said. The lawsuit ... claims that the Navy's
sonar use might be strong enough to kill the animals outright. But even if it doesn't, it claims, the
repeated use of sonar in certain critical habitats is unwarranted. In 2010, the fisheries service
approved the Navy's five-year plan for operations in the Northwest Training Range Complex, an
area roughly the size of California that stretches from Washington state to Northern California.
Under the five-year plan, the service said it was acceptable for the Navy to incur up to 650,000
cases of harassment of marine mammals.
Note: Sonar can drive drive marine mammals insane with the intensity of noise. Imagine a huge
siren right next to your ears. You would certainly flee to try to get away. This is likely what is
causing many of the whale and dolphin strandings. How much sound does it take to perforate
an ear drum, as is mentioned in this article? For more on threats to marine mammals, see the
FBI tracking videotapers as terrorists?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-fbi-tracking-animal-vi...
The FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force has recommended for many years that animal activists who
carry out undercover investigations on farms could be prosecuted as domestic terrorists. New
documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by activist Ryan Shapiro show
the FBI advising that activists including Shapiro who walked onto a farm, videotaped animals
there and rescued an animal had violated terrorism statutes. The documents ... were issued by
the Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2003 in response to an article in an animal rights publication in
which Shapiro and two other activists (whose names were redacted from the document), openly
claimed responsibility for shooting video and taking animals from a farm. The FBI notes discuss
the videotaping, illegal entry and the removal of animals, then concludes with there is a
reasonable indication that [Subject 1] and other members of the [redacted] have violated the
Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, 18 USC Section 43 (a). The penalties for such a conviction can
include terrorism enhancements which can add decades to a sentence. Its simply outrageous
to consider civil disobedience as terrorism, Shapiro [said]. Civil disobedience is not
terrorism. It has a long and proud place in our nations history, from Martin Luther King to
Occupy Wall Street, and the [Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act] takes that kind of advocacy
that we celebrate from the civil rights movement and turns it into a terrorist event.
Note: As the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act shows, the animal experimentation lobby has
demonstrated its considerable clout by getting Congress to pass legislation making principled
demonstrations against animal torture and killing into a form of "terrorism". Do you think that Wall
Street might lobby for a similar law making "terrorists" out of Occupiers?
Alarm as Dutch lab creates highly contagious killer flu

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alarm-as-dutch-lab-creates-highly-c...
A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in
a laboratory by European scientists who now want to publish full details of how they did it. Some
scientists are questioning whether the research should ever have been undertaken in a university
laboratory, instead of at a military facility. For the first time the researchers have been able to
mutate the H5N1 strain of avian influenza so that it can be transmitted easily through the air in
coughs and sneezes. Until now, it was thought that H5N1 bird flu could only be transmitted
between humans via very close physical contact. Dutch scientists carried out the controversial
research to discover how easy it was to genetically mutate H5N1 into a highly infectious "airborne"
strain of human flu. They believe that the knowledge gained will be vital for the development of
new vaccines and drugs. But critics say the scientists have endangered the world by creating
a highly dangerous form of flu which could escape from the laboratory. The H5N1 strain of
avian influenza has killed hundreds of millions of birds since it first appeared in 1996, but
has so far infected only about 600 people who came into direct contact with infected
poultry. What makes H5N1 so dangerous, though, is that it has killed about 60 per cent of those it
has infected, making it one of the most lethal known forms of influenza in modern history a
deadliness moderated only by its inability (so far) to spread easily through airborne water droplets.
Note: For key major media reports revealing manipulation around both the avian and swine flus,
click here. For solid evidence that Lyme disease originated in a secret government germ
laboratory, click here.
Wall Street shenanigans fuel public distrust

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/17/IN5N1MBT60.DTL
Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It's busily shredding new regulations and making the public
more distrustful than ever. The Street's biggest lobbying groups have just filed a lawsuit against
the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, seeking to overturn its new rule limiting speculative
trading in food, oil and other commodities. The Street makes bundles from these bets, but they
have raised costs for consumers. In other words, a small portion of what you and I pay for
food and energy has been going into the pockets of Wall Street. Just another redistribution
from the middle class and the poor to the top. The Street argues that the commission's costbenefit analysis wasn't adequate. Putting the question into the laps of federal judges gives the
Street a huge tactical advantage because the Street has almost an infinite amount of money to
hire so-called "experts" who will say benefits have been exaggerated and costs underestimated.
But when it comes to regulating Wall Street, one big cost doesn't make it into any individual
weighing: the public's mounting distrust of the entire economic system, generated by the Street's
repeated abuse of the public's trust. Wall Street's shenanigans have convinced a large portion of
America that the economic game is rigged. Wall Street has blanketed America in a miasma of
cynicism.
Note: The author of this analysis, Robert Reich, is a former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of
public policy at UC Berkeley and the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's
Future. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.
Derivatives industry eyes UK Lehman appeal ruling

2011-12-14, Reuters News Agency
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/14/britain-derivatives-idUSL6E7NE1YQ20...
Regulators and the world's $700 trillion derivatives industry are closely watching a legal
battle that began in Britain ... and which will fuel a sea change in swaps payouts. Four
cases, including one involving a unit of collapsed U.S. bank Lehman Brothers, are being presented
in a five-day hearing at the UK Court of Appeal. All revolve around payouts under the derivatives
industry's "master agreement", a framework contract. A bank that trades swaps with another bank
typically has one master agreement which sets the terms for millions of transactions between
them. The master agreement ... covers around 90 percent of off-exchange derivatives
transactions. Under the agreement, Lehman's bankruptcy is considered a default. However, in the
four cases before the court this week, the other party in the contracts elected not to terminate them
because they would have had to pay out to the defunct bank.
Note: Like most reporting in the major media, this article trivializes the massive size of the
derivatives market. $700 trillion is equivalent to $100,000 for every man, woman, and child in
the world! Do you think the financial industry is out of control? For lots more powerful, reliable
information on major banking manipulations, click here. For a powerful analysis of just how crazy
things have gotten and with some rays of hope by researcher David Wilcock, click here.
What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-price-t...
The ascension of Mario Monti to the Italian prime ministership is remarkable for more reasons than
it is possible to count. By imposing rule by unelected technocrats, [Italy] has suspended the normal
rules of democracy, and maybe democracy itself. And by putting a senior adviser at Goldman
Sachs in charge of a Western nation, it has taken to new heights the political power of an
investment bank that you might have thought was prohibitively politically toxic. The European
Central Bank ... is under ex-Goldman management, and the investment bank's alumni hold sway
in the corridors of power in almost every European nation, as they have done in the US throughout
the financial crisis. Even before the upheaval in Italy, there was no sign of Goldman Sachs living
down its nickname as "the Vampire Squid", and now that its tentacles reach to the top of the
eurozone, sceptical voices are raising questions over its influence. Simon Johnson, the former
International Monetary Fund economist, in his book 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the
Next Financial Meltdown, argued that Goldman Sachs and the other large banks had become so
close to government in the run-up to the financial crisis that the US was effectively an oligarchy. At
least European politicians aren't "bought and paid for" by corporations, as in the US, he says.
"Instead what you have in Europe is a shared world-view among the policy elite and the
bankers, a shared set of goals and mutual reinforcement of illusions." This is The Goldman
Sachs Project. Put simply, it is to hug governments close.
Note: For revealing major media articles on key secret societies which manipulate global politics,
click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on financial corruption,
click here.
Congress: Trading stock on inside information?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57323527/congress-trading-stock-on-insi...
Washington, D.C. is a town that runs on inside information - but should our elected officials be able
to use that information to pad their own pockets? Members of Congress and their aides have
regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock
market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, the practice is perfectly legal,
but some say it's time for the law to change. Few of them are doing it for the salary and all of
them will say they are doing it to serve the public. But there are other benefits: Power, prestige,
and the opportunity to become a Washington insider with access to information and connections
that no one else has, in an environment of privilege where rules that govern the rest of the country,
don't always apply to them. Most former congressmen and senators manage to leave Washington
- if they ever leave Washington - with more money in their pockets than they had when they
arrived. Congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been
considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to non-public
information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.
Note: According to a New York Times article, U.S. "Senators' stocks beat the market by 12
percent," while "the average household's portfolio underperformed the market by 1.44 per cent a
year." To watch this revealing 15-minute piece on CBS 60 Minutes, click here. For key reports from
reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
White House does damage control after Sarkozy-Obama exchange

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-sarkozy-20111109,0,2922780.s...
The White House is suggesting that President Obama hasnt damaged his relationship with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following an embarrassing moment in France last week when
he was overheard making dismissive remarks about the Israeli leader. As fallout from the episode
mounts, the White House had been saying little about the exchange between Obama and his
French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, at the G20 summit in Cannes. The two men were speaking
in private, apparently unaware that their microphones were still on. I cant stand to see him
anymore, hes a liar, Sarkozy told Obama, according to a French translation of the exchange.
You are fed up with him, but me, I have to deal with him every day, Obama replied. Briefing
reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Ben Rhodes, a spokesman for the National Security
Council, took a question about the flap. Obama has a very close working relationship with
Prime Minister Netanyahu, Rhodes said. They speak very regularly. Indeed, Rhodes said,
Obama has probably spent more time one on one with Netanyahu than with any other
world leader. Most of what happens at international summit meetings is off limits to the public. So
the Obama-Sarkozy exchange is being treated as a rare window into the unvarnished thinking of
two world leaders.
Note: For more on this story from the BBC, click here.
Group of moms defies U.S. law in raw milk protest

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/01/MNRG1LP5LU.DTL
A self-described "caravan of criminal mothers" defied federal law [on November 1] by transporting
raw milk across state lines from a Pennsylvania farm and drinking it in front of the Food and Drug
Administration headquarters in Maryland. "It's totally natural for me as a parent to want to feed my
children good food that makes them healthy," said Liz Reitzig, 31, a mother of five in Bowie, Md.,
who organized the protest. "In this case that is fresh, clean, raw milk from farmers we know and
trust. The idea that we become criminals for engaging in that transaction is what is so appalling."
The protesters, numbering about 100, ... drove in from as far away as Illinois and Kentucky to
denounce government tyranny, corporate cabals and the "agricultural-industrial complex,"
promising more protests and civil disobedience. The FDA considers it "perfectly safe to feed
your kids Mountain Dew, Twinkies and Cocoa Puffs, but it's unsafe to feed them raw milk,
compost-grown tomatoes and Aunt Matilda's pickles," said Joel Salatin, the Virginia farmer
made famous by the documentary "Food, Inc.," who joined the protesters. The protest sprang from
an FDA sting operation on Amish farmer Dan Allgyer's tiny dairy of three dozen cows in Kinzer,
Pa., that culminated in a predawn raid on the farm last year. Allgyer had been selling milk to
consumers in Maryland who had formed a buying club. None of Allgyer's milk was contaminated.
His alleged crime was selling it across state lines.
Note: For a great video of the raw milk freedom riders, click here. For key reports from reliable
sources on government attacks on civil liberties, click here.
BofA Said to Split Regulators Over Moving Merrill Contracts

2011-10-18, Bloomberg/Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-18/bofa-said-to-split-regulators-ove...
Bank of America Corp., hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its
Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits. Derivatives are financial instruments
used to hedge risks or for speculation. Theyre derived from stocks, bonds, loans, currencies and
commodities, or linked to specific events such as changes in the weather or interest rates. Keeping
such deals separate from FDIC-insured savings has been a cornerstone of U.S. regulation for
decades, including last years Dodd-Frank overhaul of Wall Street regulation. Three years after
taxpayers rescued some of the biggest U.S. lenders, regulators are grappling with how to protect
FDIC-insured bank accounts from risks generated by investment-banking operations. The
concern is that there is always an enormous temptation to dump the losers on the insured
institution, said William Black, professor of economics and law at the University of MissouriKansas City and a former bank regulator. We should have fairly tight restrictions on that. Bank of
Americas holding company -- the parent of both the retail bank and the Merrill Lynch
securities unit -- held almost $75 trillion of derivatives at the end of June. That compares
with JPMorgans deposit-taking entity, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, which contained 99
percent of the New York-based firms $79 trillion of notional derivatives.
Note: Remember that the GDP of the entire world is estimated at around $60 trillion, less
than JPMorgan or BofA own in derivatives. For an excellent article laying out the incredible risk
this creates of a major economic collapse, click here. For more on the high risk and cost to
taxpayers of BofA moving its massive amount of derivatives to its subsidiary, click here. For lots
more from major media sources on the illegal profiteering of major financial corporations enabled
by lax government regulation, click here.
Report: Pentagon doesn't know where the money is going

2011-10-13, MSNBC
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/13/8294595-report-pentagon-doe...
The Defense Department, which has promised to publish a reliable account of how it
spends its money by 2017, has discovered that its financial ledgers are in worse shape than
expected and that it will have to spend billions of dollars in the coming years to make its
financial accounting credible, the Center for Public Integrity reported [on October 13]. The U.S.
military has spent more than $6 billion to develop and deploy new financial systems, but the effort
has been plagued by significant added overruns and delays, defense officials told the CPI, a
nonprofit investigative news organization. The Government Accountability Office said in a report
last month that although the services can now fully track incoming appropriations, they still can't
demonstrate that their funds are being spent as they should be. The Pentagons bookkeeping has
come under increased scrutiny as Congress and the Obama administration have vowed to reduce
the federal deficit. The department could face substantial cutbacks if a special bipartisan
"supercommittee" cant agree on a formula for reducing the deficit.
Note: For an essay by a top U.S. general revealing how wars are used to bring huge profits to the
powerful elite of our world, click here. For lots more from reliable sources on government
corruption, click here.
Megabanks growing even more dominant

2011-09-08, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44426180/ns/business-local_business/t/megabanks-g...
The American banking sector apparently is going to be vastly different when it finally emerges from
the financial crisis that took hold more than three years ago. It is going to be significantly smaller,
and the domination of a relative handful of behemoth institutions is going to increase. At the end of
June, there were 7,522 commercial banks, down from 8,542 on Dec. 31, 2007. That is a decline of
nearly 12 percent in just three and a half years. Of the more than 1,000 banks that disappeared,
about 370 failed. But the rest of the decrease came through mergers and acquisitions as a
decades-long pattern of consolidation continued. Most banks in the United States still are fairly
small. The median size of a bank at the end of June, according to an analysis of statistics from the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was about $155 million in assets. Thats about an 18 percent
increase since the end of 2007. But those numbers seriously skew the nature of the industry. Of
the more than $13.6 trillion in assets held by banks at the end of June, nearly $9.4 trillion is in
the hands of just 37 institutions, each with more than $50 billion in assets. And of that, $5.5
trillion is held by just four banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and Wells
Fargo. Each of those have more than $1 trillion in assets. In other words, the U.S. banking
industry resembles a tall cake, with a very thick layer of icing on top.
Note: To learn how these same four banks and their holding companies hold over 90% of the $700
trillion derivatives market, click here. For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the
concentration and centralization of financial power by a few megabanks, click here.
The Terrible Missed Chance

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/04/the-terrible-missed-chance.html
It was early afternoon on Friday, Aug. 17, 2001. Special Agent Harry Samit of the FBIs
Minneapolis field office [sat] across from ... Zacarias Moussaoui, a 33-year-old French-born
student arrested the day before for overstaying his visa. Samit, a former intelligence officer at the
Navys celebrated Top Gun flight school, felt sure the man across the desk from him was a Muslim
extremist who was part of a plot to hijack a commercial jetliner filled with passengers. That same
day [at] FBI headquarters ... in Washington, counterterrorism supervisors were treating Samits first
reports about Moussaoui with skepticism, even contempt. New disclosures about Samits story
suggest that FBI agents in Minneapolis were much closer to unraveling the 9/11 plot than
previously known. The officials directly involved in the case were denied access to a key
internal memo - prepared for outgoing FBI Director Louis Freeh - that could have
allowed the Minneapolis field office to connect the dots and possibly preempt the attacks.
Their efforts were thwarted by a group of arrogant, slow-moving supervisors at FBI headquarters.
There is no clear reference to the Freeh memo in the 9/11 commissions report.
Note: For questions raised about the official story of 9/11 by hundreds of highly-respected citizens
from all walks of life, click here and here.
Study: Top CEOs earned more than companies paid in tax

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0901-ceo-pay-20110901,0,261944....
Twenty-five of the 100 highest-paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies
paid in federal income tax, a pay study by a Washington think tank said [on August 31]. The
Institute for Policy Studies said it also found many of the companies spent more on
lobbying than they did on taxes. The institute compared CEO pay with current U.S. taxes paid,
excluding foreign, state and local taxes that may have been paid, as well as deferred taxes, which
can often be far larger than current taxes paid. The group's rationale was that U.S. taxes paid are
the closest approximation in public documents to what companies may have actually written a
check for last year. It said deferred taxes may or may not be paid. Among the companies topping
the IPS list: EBay, whose CEO John Donahoe made $12.4 million, but which reported a $131
million refund on its 2010 current U.S. taxes. Boeing, which paid CEO Jim McNerney $13.8
million, sent in $13 million in federal income taxes and spent $20.8 million on lobbying and
campaign spending. General Electric, where CEO Jeff Immelt earned $15.2 million in 2010, while
the company got a $3.3 billion federal refund and invested $41.8 million in its own lobbying and
political campaigns.
Note: For lots more on corporate corruption from major media sources, click here.
SEC accused of dumping records

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sec-accused-of-dumping-records...
The SEC has violated federal law by destroying the records of thousands of enforcement cases
in which it decided not to file charges against or conduct full-blown investigations of Wall Street
firms and others initially suspected of wrongdoing, a former agency official has alleged. The
purged records involve major firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America,
Morgan Stanley and hedge-fund manager SAC Capital. At issue were suspicions of actions
such as insider trading, financial fraud and market manipulation. A file closed in 2002
involved Lehman Brothers, the investment bank whose collapse fueled the financial meltdown of
2008, according to the former official. A file closed in 2009 involved suspected insider trading in
securities related to American International Group, the insurance giant bailed out by the
government at the height of the financial crisis. The allegations were leveled in a July letter to Sen.
Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) from Gary J. Aguirre, a former SEC enforcement lawyer now
representing a current SEC enforcement lawyer, Darcy Flynn. Flynn last year began managing
SEC enforcement records and became concerned that records that were supposed to be
preserved under federal law were being purged as a matter of SEC policy, Aguirre wrote.
Note: For more on this important news by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, click here. For lots more
from reliable sources on the criminal practices of Wall Street corporations which led to global
economic recession and massive government bailouts, click here.
Richard Clarke launches new 9/11 charge at CIA

2011-08-12, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/12/national/main20091608.shtml
[The top counterterrorism adviser to President Clinton and Mr. Bush, Richard Clarke will] be
featured in a documentary advancing [a] theory that the Central Intelligence Agency tried to
turn two of the 9/11 hijackers into double agents while they resided in the United States in
the years leading up to the attacks. During the 9/11 Commission's investigation of the
attacks, the CIA said it didn't know the location of the hijackers Clarke refers to, Nawaf alHazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. In the documentary, Clarke ... concludes that the CIA director at
the time, George Tenet, ordered the cover-up after the recruitment effort failed. In response to that
accusation, Tenet released a written statement saying that Clarke has "suddenly invented
baseless allegations which are belied by the record and unworthy of serious consideration."
Note: Richard Clarke is not the only highly-credible and respected former government official to
question the official acount of 9/11. For the questions raised by many more, click here.
Dont Get Caught Holding Dollars When The U.S. Default Arrives
2011-07-23, Forbes.com blog
http://blogs.forbes.com/greatspeculations/2011/07/23/dont-get-caught-holding-...
By some measures, the United States is even more deeply in hock than Greece. Greeces debt-toGDP ratio is 143%. Americas is officially 97%. But the $14.3 trillion national debt, stacked up
against a $14.7 trillion economy, doesnt tell the whole story. [It] doesnt count the black box of
bailouts. We know how much the Federal Reserve doled out in emergency loans: $16.1
trillion between Dec. 1, 2007, and July 21, 2010. We know that because yesterday the
Government Accountability Office completed its first-ever audit of the Fed, made possible
largely through the persistence of Rep. Ron Paul (R.-Tex.) making that audit, however incomplete,
the law. What we dont know is how much of that has been paid back. We have literally injected
about $5.3 trillion, said Dr. Paul earlier this month during his questioning of Fed chief Ben
Bernanke, and I dont think we got very much for it. The national debt went up $5.1 trillion.
Bernanke did not challenge those figures. Even now, Americans are turning to their credit cards to
pay for groceries and gas. According to First Data Corp., the volume of gasoline purchases put on
credit cards jumped 39% over the last 12 months. You dont want to be the average American in a
default scenario, whenever it arrives. Ray Dalio, the head of Bridgewater Associates, the worlds
biggest hedge fund, puts that day in late 2012 or early 2013.
Note: A careful Internet search reveals that no one in the major media except this Forbes blog
even mentioned the astonishing results of the first ever audit of the Federal reserve - $16 trillion in
secret loans. To understand how the media is controlled from reporting vitally important information
like this, click here. For another revealing article showing what is happening from a historical
perspective and its relationship to gold prices, click here. For an article detailing who received
these trillions and links to the official GAO report, click here. For critical information on the financial
system kept hidden from the public, click here.
Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/30/british-government-plan-pla...
British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public
relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake
and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known. Internal emails seen
by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind
the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse to try to
ensure the accident did not derail their plans for a new generation of nuclear stations in the
UK. "This has the potential to set the nuclear industry back globally," wrote one official at the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), whose name has been redacted. "We need
to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy
the territory and hold it. We really need to show the safety of nuclear." Officials stressed the
importance of preventing the incident from undermining public support for nuclear power. Louise
Hutchins, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace, said the emails looked like "scandalous collusion".
"This highlights the government's blind obsession with nuclear power and shows neither they, nor
the industry, can be trusted when it comes to nuclear," she said.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government and corporate corruption, click here and
here.
U.S. nuke regulators weaken safety rules

2011-06-20, CBS News/Associated Press
Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's
aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or
simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after
time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations
were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril. The result? Rising fears
that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety and inching the
reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public. Examples abound. When valves leaked,
more leakage was allowed up to 20 times the original limit. When rampant cracking
caused radioactive leaks from steam generator tubing, an easier test of the tubes was
devised, so plants could meet standards. Failed cables. Busted seals. Broken nozzles, clogged
screens, cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals and rusty underground pipes all
of these and thousands of other problems linked to aging were uncovered. Not a single official
body in government or industry has studied the overall frequency and potential impact on safety of
such breakdowns in recent years, even as the NRC has extended the licenses of dozens of
reactors.
Note: Read this detailed report in its entirety to see the amazing range of serious problems in the
US nuclear industry which have systematically been covered up by the NRC. For lots more from
reliable sources on government and corporate corruption, click here and here.
We invent enemies to buy the bombs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/16/eisenhower-fears-invent-e...
Why do we still go to war? We seem unable to stop. Britain's borders and British people have not
been under serious threat for a generation. Yet time and again our leaders crave battle. Why? Last
week we got a glimpse of an answer and it was not nice. The outgoing US defence secretary,
Robert Gates, berated Europe's "failure of political will" in not maintaining defence spending. He
said Nato had declined into a "two-tier alliance" between those willing to wage war and those "who
specialise in 'soft' humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and talking tasks". Peace, he
implied, is for wimps. Real men buy bombs, and drop them. Libya has cost Britain 100m so far,
and rising. But Iraq and the Afghan war are costing America $3bn a week, and there is
scarcely an industry, or a state, in the country that does not see some of this money. These
wars show no signs of being ended, let alone won. But to the defence lobby what matters is
the money. It sustains combat by constantly promising success and inducing politicians and
journalists to see "more enemy dead", "a glimmer of hope" and "a corner about to be turned".
Victory will come, but only if politicians spend more money on "a surge".
Note: For a very similar, classic analysis of war profiteering by famed US Marine Corps General
Smedley Butler, click here.
Red Cross and Vatican helped thousands of Nazis to escape

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/nazis-escaped-on-red-cross-documents
The Red Cross and the Vatican both helped thousands of Nazi war criminals and collaborators to
escape after the Second World War, according to a book that pulls together evidence from
unpublished documents. Gerald Steinacher, a research fellow at Harvard University, was given
access to thousands of internal documents in the archives of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC). They throw light on how and why mass murderers such as Adolf Eichmann,
Josef Mengele and Klaus Barbie and thousands of others evaded capture by the allies. By
comparing lists of wanted war criminals to travel documents, Steinacher says Britain and
Canada alone inadvertently took in around 8,000 former Waffen-SS members in 1947, many
on the basis of valid documents issued mistakenly. The documents which are discussed in
Steinacher's book Nazis on the Run: How Hitler's henchmen fled justice offer a significant insight
into Vatican thinking, particularly, because its own archives beyond 1939 are still closed. The
Vatican has consistently refused to comment. Through the Vatican Refugee Commission, war
criminals were knowingly provided with false identities.
Note: Many Nazis were allowed entry, often under false identities, into the US in the late 40's and
early '50s. Some were doctors who had experimented on concentration camp inmates without their
consent, often torturing them and killing them. They continued to experiment on unwilling subjects
in CIA mind-control experiments. For confirmation and more information, click here.
Guatemala to Restore Legacy of a President the U.S. Helped Depose

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/world/americas/24guatemala.html
After President Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in a C.I.A.-backed coup in 1954, the Guatemalan
government reversed his policies and branded him a Communist, all but erasing his brief
presidency from history. Nearly six decades later, a democratic Guatemala has promised to restore
his legacy and treat him as a statesman. In an agreement signed with Mr. Arbenzs descendants
last week, the government promised to revise the school curriculum and grant Mr. Arbenz the
treatment afforded to historical heroes. It will name a main highway and a museum wing after the
ousted president, prepare a biography of him, publish his widows memoir and mount an exhibition
about him and his legacy in the National History Museum. The post office will even issue a series
of stamps in his honor. After winning the presidency in a landslide election in 1950, Mr. Arbenz
began an effort to modernize the economy, including a land-redistribution program that
angered American corporations and the United States government. President Eisenhower,
convinced that Mr. Arbenz was giving the Communists a foothold in the Americas,
authorized a coup that ousted the Guatemalan president in nine days.
Note: Many are still not aware of the role of the US in overthrowing democratically-elected leaders
like Guatemala's Arbenz. For a powerful documentary featuring five CIA whistleblowers, one of
whom was directly involved in overthrowing Arbenz, only later to regret his actions, click here.
Goldman Sachs faces contentious AGM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/06/goldman-sachs-set-contentious-agm
Goldman Sachs is bracing itself for what may be the most contentious annual meeting in the
embattled investment bank's 142-year history. Angry shareholders, including a coalition of religious
groups, are planning to call on Goldman's executives to justify the combined $69.6m (42.4m)
payday its top five executives received in 2010 and to answer questions about allegations that the
bank misled clients and lied to Congress. The meeting comes amid mounting pressure on the
bank. Earlier this week Eric Holder, the US attorney-general, confirmed that the justice department
was investigating Goldman's role in the financial crisis following a withering report on the bank's
role led by senators Carl Levin and Tom Coburn. The 650-page report "Wall Street and the
Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse," gave Goldman its own section titled "Failing to
Manage Conflicts of Interest: A Case Study of Goldman Sachs." In July the bank paid $500m to
settle charges brought by financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that
it misled customers over complex sub-prime mortgage products it sold in 2007. The spotlight on
executive pay could not come at a more sensitive moment for the bank. The bank's top five
executives received cash and stock last year that was 13 times greater than the year before.
Goldman's 2010 net revenues fell 13% and profits fell 37%. Goldman paid Blankfein close to
$19m in compensation for 2010, almost double his award for the previous year.
Note: For lots more on the financial chicanery of Goldman Sachs and other major financial
corporations that led to the global economic crisis and massive taxpayer bailouts of the firms, click
here.
Skeptics Question Osama Bin Laden Death, Asking for Proof

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/WorldNews/conspiracy-theories-proof-bin-ladens...
As elated crowds celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden after Navy SEALs killed the al-Qaida
chief in a weekend raid in Pakistan some are asking, "Where's the proof?" Photos depicting a
bloodied and bruised face appearing to be that of bin Laden began appearing on Twitter and
Facebook last night soon after news of his death spread across the Internet. According to Reuters,
an archive photo of bin Laden at a news conference proves that image was a fake. Now people
are asking to see the evidence proving bin Laden is dead. From Pakistan to the U.S. people
expressed their skepticism about the death of the man who is perhaps the most infamous terrorist
ever known. Officials said today they are "99.9 percent" certain that bin Laden was shot dead in
Pakistan. They also cited CIA photo analysis matching physical features such as bin Laden's
height. Rep. Mike Roger, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Associated Press
that more than one DNA sample was used to identify Osama bin Laden. After Adolf Hitler's
suicide in April 1945, conspiracy theories for years suggested Hitler was alive and in
hiding. The Russian secret services came forward with a skull and jawbones. DNA results
eventually showed the skull was that of a female.
Note: For two BBC reports suggesting that bin Laden may already have been dead, click here and
here. Why would bin Laden's body be buried at sea? Could it be to prevent a proof of identity?
Guantnamo leaks lift lid on world's most controversial prison

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-lift-lid-prison
More than 700 leaked secret files on the Guantnamo detainees lay bare the inner workings of
America's controversial prison camp in Cuba. The US military dossiers ... reveal how ... many
prisoners were flown to the Guantnamo cages and held captive for years on the flimsiest
grounds, or on the basis of lurid confessions extracted by maltreatment. The 759
Guantnamo files, classified "secret", cover almost every inmate since the camp was opened in
2002. More than two years after President Obama ordered the closure of the prison, 172 are still
held there. The files depict a system often focused less on containing dangerous terrorists or
enemy fighters, than on extracting intelligence. Among inmates who proved harmless were an 89year-old Afghan villager, suffering from senile dementia, and a 14-year-old boy who had been an
innocent kidnap victim. The documents also reveal: US authorities listed the main Pakistani
intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), as a terrorist organisation.
Almost 100 of the inmates who passed through Guantnamo are listed by their captors as having
had depressive or psychotic illnesses. Many went on hunger strike or attempted suicide. A
number of British nationals and residents were held for years even though US authorities knew
they were not Taliban or al-Qaida members.
Note: For many key reports on government secrecy from major media sources, click here.
Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-memos-expose-link-betwee...
Plans to exploit Iraq's oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world's largest
oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents
show. The papers ... raise new questions over Britain's involvement in the war, which had divided
Tony Blair's cabinet and was voted through only after his claims that Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction. The minutes of a series of meetings between ministers and
senior oil executives are at odds with the public denials of self-interest from oil companies
and Western governments at the time. In March 2003, just before Britain went to war, Shell
denounced reports that it had held talks with Downing Street about Iraqi oil as "highly inaccurate".
BP denied that it had any "strategic interest" in Iraq, while Tony Blair described "the oil conspiracy
theory" as "the most absurd". But documents from October and November the previous year paint
a very different picture. Five months before the March 2003 invasion, Baroness Symons, then the
Trade Minister, told BP that the Government believed British energy firms should be given a share
of Iraq's enormous oil and gas reserves as a reward for Tony Blair's military commitment to US
plans for regime change. The papers show that Lady Symons agreed to lobby the Bush
administration on BP's behalf because the oil giant feared it was being "locked out" of deals that
Washington was quietly striking with US, French and Russian governments and their energy firms.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the real reasons behind the "global war on terrorism",
click here.
Report: Market share drove faulty credit ratings decisions

2011-04-13, Kansas City Star/McClatchy News
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/13/2798570/report-market-share-drove-faulty...
Analysts who reviewed complex mortgage bonds that ultimately collapsed and ruined the U.S.
housing market were threatened with firing if they lost lucrative business, prompting faulty ratings
on trillions of dollars worth of junk mortgage bonds, a Senate report said [on April 13]. The 639page report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations confirms much of what
McClatchy Newspapers first reported about mismanagement by credit ratings agencies in 2009.
Credit rating agencies are supposed to provide independent assessments on the quality of debt
being issued by companies or governments. Traditionally, investments rated AAA had a probability
of failure of less than 1 percent. But in collusion with Wall Street investment banks, the Senate
report concludes, the top two ratings agencies - Moody's Investors Service and Standard &
Poor's - effectively cashed in on the housing boom by ignoring mounting evidence of
problems in the housing market. Profits at both companies soared, with revenues at market
leader Moody's more than tripling in five years. Then the bottom fell out of the housing market, and
Moody's stock lost 70 percent of its value; it has yet to fully recover. More than 90 percent of
AAA ratings given in 2006 and 2007 to pools of mortgage-backed securities were
downgraded to junk status.
Note: For many key reports from major media sources illuminating how major financial
corporations knowingly brought about the global financial crisis and profited from it, click here.
Unfair investment practices by wives of business bigs

2011-04-12, New York Daily News
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-12/gossip/29426543_1_matt-taibbi-stud...
Christy Mack, the wife of Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack, and Susan Karches, the widow of
the company's former investment-banking division president, Peter Karches, are among the chief
investors in a company that received $220 million in low-interest loans. The funds came from a
federal bailout program that "virtually guaranteed them millions in risk-free income," according to
the article ... "The Real Housewives of Wall Street," which appears in [Rolling Stone]. In 2009,
Christy Mack and Susan Karches launched Waterfall TALF Opportunity, a company with a Cayman
Islands address, although the two women did not seem "to have any experience whatsoever in
finance." TALF stands for "Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility." The federal aid they
received "falls under a broader category of bailout initiatives designed" by Federal Reserve chief
Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. With an initial upfront investment of
$15 million, Waterfall TALF received $220 million in cash from the Fed, most of which it
used to purchase "student loans and commercial mortgages." The loans were set up so
that the investors "would keep 100% of any gains on the deal while the Fed and the
Treasury (read: the taxpayer) would eat 90% of the losses."
Note: We don't usually quote the New York Daily News, but as they were the only major media to
report this important story, we've included it here. Why are the major media silent on this powerful
information uncovered by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders? For the full story on this, click here. For
lots more from reliable sources on corruption in the government bailouts of the biggest banks, click
here.
Billionaires' guide to U.S. taxes shows Top 400 pay lower rates than you
2011-04-08, Miami Herald/Bloomberg News
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/08/2156941/billionaires-guide-to-us-taxes....
For the well-off, this could be the best tax day since the early 1930s: Top tax rates on ordinary
income, dividends, estates and gifts will remain at or near historically low levels for at least the
next two years, thanks in part to federal legislation passed in December. The 400 U.S. taxpayers
with the highest adjusted gross income paid income taxes at an actual, or effective, rate
of just under 17 percent in 2007, down from almost 30 percent in 1995, according to the
Internal Revenue Service. The effective rate for the 1.4 million people in the top 1 percent of
taxpayers dropped to 23 percent the year before. That means the top 400 pay a lower rate than
the next 1,399,600 or so. Much of the top 400s income is from dividends and capital gains,
generated by everything from appreciated real estate to stocks and the sale of family businesses.
As Warren Buffett has said, since most of his income is from dividends, his tax rate is less
than that of the people who clean his office.
Note: For lots more on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Bush Cousin Presides Over Federal Court Case Against Former Bush
Administration Officials
2011-04-07, CNBC
Confounding lawyers and legal scholars all over the world, Judge John Walker, first cousin
of former President George W. Bush, was one of three judges of the 2nd Circuit Court of
Appeals to hear argument [on April 5] in Gallop v. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Myers. The lawsuit
was brought by a soldier injured during the attack on the Pentagon and accuses former Vice
President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers, of conspiring to facilitate the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The
attacks killed 3000 Americans, plus many who have died from the toxic clean-up conditions at
Ground Zero. Attorney William Veale, acting for April Gallop, learned of the assignment the usual 5
days before the argument, and filed a motion to disqualify Judge Walker. There was no prior
decision regarding the motion, and when Veale asked about it in court the motion was denied by
Judge Winter. Veale then requested a continuance to seek appellate review of the court's ruling
but that was denied as well. Veale, amidst frequent interruptions from the three judges, managed
to point out Cheney's direct involvement in tracking and dealing with the airplane that was heading
for the Pentagon, as reported to the 9/11 Commission by then Secretary of Transportation Norman
Mineta, a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Note: For a description of this important court case brought by US soldier April Gallop, who was in
the Pentagon where it was struck on 9/11 and whose account was suppressed by the FBI and has
been brought to light by, among others, Jesse Ventura on his recent television program on the
Pentagon, click here and here.
Mortgage mess: Who really owns your mortgage?

2011-04-03, CBS News 60 Minutes Overtime
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20049744-10391709.html
Do you know who really owns your mortgage? That question has become a nightmare for many
homeowners since the invention of mortgage-backed securities. Yes, those were the exotic
investments that sparked the financial collapse in this country. And they're still causing problems.
As it turns out, Wall Street cut corners when it bundled homeowners' mortgages into securities that
were traded from investor to investor. Now that banks are foreclosing on people, they're
finding that the legal documents behind many mortgages are missing. So, what do the
banks do? Some companies appear to be resorting to forgery and phony paperwork in what
looks like a nationwide epidemic. Even if you're not at risk of foreclosure, there could be legal
ramifications for a homeowner if the chain of title has been lost.
Note: Don't miss at the link above the most excellent, six-minute CBS video explaining more on
this blatant deception and manipulation by many banks. You have to put up with a one-minute
commercial shortly after the video starts. For lots more from reliable sources on the criminal
practices of mortgage lenders, click here.
Genetically modified cows produce 'human' milk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/geneticmodification/8423536/Gene...
Scientists have created genetically modified cattle that produce "human" milk in a bid to make
cows' milk more nutritious. The scientists have ... introduced human genes into 300 dairy cows to
produce milk with [some of] the same properties as human breast milk. The scientists behind the
research ... hope genetically modified dairy products from herds of similar cows could be sold in
supermarkets. The research has the backing of a major biotechnology company. Genetically
modified food has become a highly controversial subject and currently they can only be sold in the
UK and Europe if they have passed extensive safety testing. The consumer response to GM food
has also been highly negative, resulting in many supermarkets seeking to source products that are
GM free. Helen Wallace, director of biotechnology monitoring group GeneWatch UK, said: "We
have major concerns about this research to genetically modify cows with human genes. There are
major welfare issues with genetically modified animals as you get high numbers of still births.
There is a question about whether milk from these cows is going to be safe for humans and
it is really hard to tell that unless you do large clinical trials like you would a drug, so there
will be uncertainty about whether it could be harmful to some people. Ethically there are
issues about mass producing animals in this way."
Note: For a powerful summary of the dangers of genetically modified foods, click here. And for
other major media news articles exposing the serious risks and dangers of genetically modified
foods, click here.
G.E.s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html
General Electric, the nations largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010. The company
reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its
operations in the United States. Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of
$3.2 billion. That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and
households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company
has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for
years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies. Its extraordinary
success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and
innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. G.E.s giant tax
department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often
referred to as the worlds best tax law firm. Indeed, the companys slogan Imagination at Work
fits this department well. The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also
from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress. While General Electric is
one of the most skilled at reducing its tax burden, many other companies have become better at
this as well.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on corporate and government corruption, click
here and here.
Indiana prosecutor resigns for encouraging fake attack on Wisconsin

governor
2011-03-25, CBS News

Carlos Lam, a Republican activist and Indiana deputy prosecutor, has resigned amid revelations
that he sent an email calling for a fake attack on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker designed to
discredit union protesters. Walker, a Republican, was the target of protests for his efforts to roll
back many union collective bargaining rights in his state. In a Feb. 19 email uncovered by the
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Lam apparently told Walker he had a "good
opportunity" to win public sympathy with a "'false flag' operation." "If you could employ an
associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions' cause to physically attack you (or
even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions," read the email. Lam initially
denied having sent the email. He [claimed] he had been shopping for a minivan with his family
when it was sent, and suggested his email account had been infiltrated by his political enemies.
Lam resigned as deputy prosecutor on Thursday morning, however, reportedly telling his boss he
had indeed sent the email. Last month, another Indiana official -- Deputy Attorney General Jeff
Cox - lost his job for calling on law enforcement to "use live ammunition" on Wisconsin protesters.
Also in February, Walker was the victim of a prank call by a liberal journalist pretending to be
billionaire conservative activist David Koch. When the journalist suggested planting people among
the protesters to stir up trouble, Walker responded that "we thought about that" but added that he
had decided against it.
Note: To learn more about the prevalence of "false flag" operations in politics with links to reliable,
verifiable sources, click here. For more on this official's call for a false-flag attack, click here.
Parents Lose High Court Appeal in Vaccine Case

2011-02-22, U.S. News & World Report/Associated Press
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/02/22/parents-lose-high-court-appeal...
The Supreme Court closed the courthouse door ... to parents who want to sue drug makers over
claims their children developed autism and other serious health problems from vaccines. The
ruling was a stinging defeat for families dissatisfied with how they fared before a special no-fault
vaccine court. The court voted 6-2 against the parents of a child who sued the drug maker Wyeth
in Pennsylvania state court for the health problems they say their daughter, now 19, suffered from
a vaccine she received in infancy. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said Congress
set up a special vaccine court in 1986 to ... create a system that spares the drug companies
the costs of defending against parents' lawsuits. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia
Sotomayor dissented. Nothing in the 1986 law ''remotely suggests that Congress intended such
a result,'' Sotomayor wrote, taking issue with Scalia. Scalia's opinion was the latest legal setback
for parents who felt they got too little from the vaccine court or failed to collect at all. Such was the
case for Robalee and Russell Bruesewitz of Pittsburgh, who filed their lawsuit after the vaccine
court rejected their claims for compensation. According to the lawsuit, their daughter, Hannah, was
a healthy infant until she received the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine in April 1992.
Within hours of getting the DPT shot, the third in a series of five, the baby suffered a series of
debilitating seizures.
Note: Vaccines have been strongly promoted for decades, yet the research supporting many
vaccines is amazingly weak. For more powerful information questioning the efficacy of vaccines,
click here.
At CIA, Grave Mistakes, Then Promotions

2011-02-11, ABC News/AP
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=12874101
In December 2003, security forces boarded a bus in Macedonia and snatched a German citizen
named Khaled el-Masri. For the next five months, el-Masri was a ghost. Only a select group of CIA
officers knew he had been whisked to a secret prison for interrogation in Afghanistan. But he was
the wrong guy. In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officers who committed
serious mistakes that left people wrongly imprisoned or even dead have received only
minor admonishments or no punishment at all. Many officers who made significant
missteps are now the senior managers fighting the president's spy wars. The AP
investigation of the CIA's actions revealed a disciplinary system that takes years to make
decisions, hands down reprimands inconsistently and is viewed inside the agency as prone to
favoritism and manipulation. When people are disciplined, the punishment seems to roll downhill,
sparing senior managers even when they were directly involved in operations that go awry. Two
officers involved in the death of a prisoner in Afghanistan, for instance, received no discipline and
have advanced into Middle East leadership positions. Other officers were punished after
participating in a mock execution in Poland and playing a role in the death of a prisoner in Iraq.
Those officers retired, then rejoined the intelligence community as contractors. Since 9/11, retired
CIA officers have published a variety of books opining on what ails the CIA. Their conclusions
differ, but they are in nearly unanimous agreement that the system of accountability is broken.
Note: It is great news that the media is now revealing some of the craziness at the CIA, a topic
that was almost taboo for the press in the past.
Critics question billions in aid routed back to US contractors

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/02/03/critics_question_billio...
United States taxpayers have funneled more than $60 billion of aid into Egypt since President
Hosni Mubarak came to power in 1981, but more than half of the money has been spent supplying
weapons to the countrys military. About $34 billion of the aid to Egypt has come in the form of
grants that Congress requires Egypt to spend on American military hardware. In recent
years the large amount of aid earmarked for the military, and the relatively low sums supporting
civilian aid, have attracted scathing criticism from Egyptians, some of whom argue that US aid has
gone to entrench a military dictator at the expense of the fledgling democracy activists. During the
early turmoil, protesters were the target of tear gas canisters that read "made in the USA,"
fueling debate about the aid. Last year, Egypt was the fifth-largest recipient of US aid, getting $1.6
billion. Congress ... authorized major aid packages to both [Egypt and Israel in 1979], using an
informal formula not enshrined in the peace treaty that gave Egypt $2 for every $3 that Israel
received. Israel quickly became the largest recipient of US aid, and Egypt the second-largest
rankings that were only recently overtaken by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and last year,
the disaster in Haiti. The strong interest of US companies could help explain why US military
assistance to Egypt has remained at $1.3 billion a year, while its civilian economic assistance has
steadily shrunk, from $815 million a decade ago to $250 million requested for 2011. The decline
began in 1998, when Israel arranged for a reduction in economic support and an increase military
aid. As Israelis economic aid shrunk, so too did Egypts.
Note: Israel receives about $3 billion a year from the US, yet the population of the country is 8
million. If you do the math, the US is providing the equivalent of nearly $4,000 in aid per year
to every man, woman and child in Israel, with $3,000 of that to buy US military hardware. For
lots more reliable information on how the military/industrial complex manipulates world politics to
support the war machine, click here and here.
Deregulation of derivatives set stage for collapse

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-01-30/business/27091349_1_otc-derivatives-otc...
"We certainly applaud the efforts of the commission," said White House press secretary Robert
Gibbs, referring to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report. "Frankly, I'm not sure much has changed,"
said one of commissioners, Byron Georgiou. "The concentration of assets in the nation's 10
biggest banks is bigger now than it was five years ago, from 58 percent in 2006 to 63
percent now." Referring to executives who remain at the head of those banks that almost ran
aground, Georgiou said ... "Either they knew and didn't want to tell us, or they really didn't know.
Either way, they put their institutions at risk." And have yet to be held accountable. Commissioner
Brooksley Born can enjoy a certain sense of vindication. Not only had "over-the-counter
derivatives contributed significantly to this crisis," ... but the enactment of legislation in 2000 to ban
their regulation "was a key turning point in the march toward the financial crisis." As head of the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the 1990s, Born was aware of the damage the largely
unregulated instruments had already caused. Born suggested some more regulation. [She] was
squashed like a bug by Clinton administration heavyweights, including Lawrence Summers and
Robert Rubin, [and] Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. One of the results: The
Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 eliminated government oversight of the OTC
market. As the report documents, the use of such derivatives ... helped bring the entire
financial system to its knees. Born hasn't seen much change in terms of accountability. One
thing the report makes clear ... is just how preposterous were the "Who knew?" and "Who could
have predicted?" statements offered up by chief executives and top government officials.
Note: So the 10 biggest banks now control 63% of total U.S. bank assets. The total for these
banking assets as of the second quarter of 2010 were calculated at $13.22 trillion. Yet four of
these megabanks also control an astounding 95% of the $574 trillion derivatives market, a sum
over 40 times the amount of bank assets! Do you think there might be a problem with a derivatives
bubble?
FDA panel urges new look at "silver" teeth fillings

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40604587/ns/health
Enough uncertainty surrounds silver-colored metal dental fillings with mercury that U.S. regulators
should add more cautions for dentists and patients, a U.S. advisory panel [has] said. The fillings
should be accompanied by warnings about unknown risks for vulnerable people such as children
and pregnant women. "There really is no place for mercury in children," Suresh Kotagal, a panelist
and neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said of the toxic metal. Mercury has
been linked to neurological damage at high exposure levels and makes up about half of a metal
filling. While the panel stopped short of urging a ban, it wants the FDA to look at the latest data and
reassess its guidance after the agency last year declared the fillings safe. Some European nations
have banned amalgam use. Critics told the advisers there was a clear link between mercury
fillings and side effects, especially in more vulnerable patients. They should be banned or
not implanted unless patients give consent, they said.
Note: Why is mercury still used in most dental fillings, when there is a known risk and other
materials are available? Our teeth are not a good place for mercury. Studies have proven that
small amounts of mercury are released by these fillings in gases into the mouth, only the toxicity is
debated. For more, click here.
U.S. officials protected Gestapo agents

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40605965/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts
A report to Congress reveals details on how U.S. intelligence officials used and protected some
Nazi Gestapo agents after World War II. The report was authored by historians hired by the U.S.
National Archives and Records Administration. The report draws from an unprecedented trove of
records on clandestine operations that the CIA was persuaded to declassify and from previously
inaccessible Army intelligence files. "The CIA records give us a much better picture of the
movements of Nazi war criminals in the postwar period. The Army records are voluminous,
and will be keeping people busy for many years," said Richard Breitman, of the American
University in Washington, D.C., who co-authored the report with Norman J.W. Goda, of the
University of Florida. The records were made available under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act
of 1998. Nazi hunters and lawmakers have long raised questions about what U.S. government
knew and its involvement with war criminals during the Cold War. The Nazi War Crimes Disclosure
Act has so far resulted in more than 8 million documents being declassified; a landmark 2005 book
on U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis in part authored by Breitman and Goda; and a final report to
Congress.
Note: The CIA would never have declassified these documents were it not for pressure from
caring citizens which caused Congress to act. For details of the CIA employment of Nazis in its
post-war mind-control experimentation on humans without their consent, click here.
Tension grows between Calif. Muslims, FBI after informant infiltrates

mosque
Before the sun rose, the informant donned a white Islamic robe. A tiny camera was sewn into a
button, and a microphone was buried in a device attached to his keys. The undercover FBI
informant - a convicted forger named Craig Monteilh - then drove off for 5 a.m. prayers at the
Islamic Center of Irvine, where he says he spied on dozens of worshipers in a quest for potential
terrorists. Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims were so alarmed by his talk of
violent jihad that they obtained a restraining order against him. He had helped build a terrorismrelated case against a mosque member, but that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently
took the extraordinary step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught
on tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had portrayed
the man as a dire threat. Compounding the damage, Monteilh has gone public, revealing secret
FBI methods and charging that his "handlers" trained him to entrap Muslims as he
infiltrated their mosques, homes and businesses. He is now suing the FBI. Officials ...
confirm that he was a paid FBI informant. Court records and interviews corroborate not only
that Monteilh worked for the FBI - he says he made $177,000, tax-free, in 15 months - but that he
provided vital information on a number of cases.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the long series of fake terror scares used by
governments to control their domestic populations by fear, click here.
Fed aid in financial crisis went beyond U.S. banks to industry, foreign
firms
2010-12-02, The Washington Post
New disclosures show the Federal Reserve rushed trillions of dollars in emergency aid not just to
Wall Street but also to ... foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009. The central bank's aid programs
also supported U.S. subsidiaries of banks based in East Asia, Europe and Canada. The biggest
users of the Fed lending programs were some of the world's largest banks, including Citigroup,
Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Swiss-based UBS and Britain's Barclays, according to more
than 21,000 loan records released [December 1] under new financial regulatory legislation. The
data reveal banks turning to the Fed for help almost daily in the fall of 2008 as the central bank
lowered lending standards and extended relief to all kinds of institutions it had never assisted
before. The extent of the lending to major banks - and the generous terms of some of those deals heighten the political peril for a central bank that is already under the gun for a wide range of
actions, including a recent decision to try to stimulate the economy by buying $600 billion in U.S.
bonds. "The American people are finally learning the incredible and jaw-dropping details of
the Fed's multitrillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and corporate America," said Sen. Bernard
Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime Fed critic whose provision in the Wall Street regulatory overhaul
required the new disclosures. "Perhaps most surprising is the huge sum that went to bail out
foreign private banks and corporations." The Fed launched emergency programs totaling $3.3
trillion in aid, a figure reached by adding up the peak amount of lending in each program.
Note: The figure of $3.3 trillion cited in this article was simply the peak amount lent at one moment
in time; the total amount lent by the Fed over the years covered by the data exceeded $20 trillion.
For analysis of this data release, click here.
McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write UK health policy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/mcdonalds-pepsico-help-health-...
The Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed
food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart
of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease. In an overhaul of public
health, said by [critics] to be the equivalent of handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry,
health secretary Andrew Lansley has set up five "responsibility deal" networks with business, cochaired by ministers, to come up with policies. The groups are dominated by food and alcohol
industry members, who have been invited to suggest measures to tackle public health crises. The
alcohol responsibility deal network is chaired by the head of the lobby group the Wine and Spirit
Trade Association. The food network to tackle diet and health problems includes processed food
manufacturers, fast food companies, and Compass, the catering company. The food deal's subgroup on calories is chaired by PepsiCo, owner of Walkers crisps. The leading supermarkets are
an equally strong presence. In early meetings, these commercial partners have been invited
to draft priorities and identify barriers, such as EU legislation, that they would like removed.
They have been assured by Lansley that he wants to explore voluntary not regulatory
approaches, and to support them in removing obstacles.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on corporate and government corruption, click here and
here.
"Inside Job" rigorously shows how financial crisis happened

2010-10-29, Denver Post (Denver's leading newspaper)
http://www.denverpost.com/movies/ci_16451155
Somebody owes us $20 trillion. "Inside Job," a riveting, eye-opening, infuriating documentary
about the financial collapse of 2008, coolly presents a prosecutor's brief against the culprits who
engineered the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. They occupy both sides of
the legislative aisle, corporate boardrooms, Ivy League faculty lounges and bank headquarters.
They made money sometimes obscene amounts of it while rigging a monetary
meltdown that left middle-class taxpayers holding the bag, and thousands of less-fortunate
former homeowners holding cardboard signs beside freeway on-ramps. This is no dry
economics lesson; it is a vital wakeup call. The presentation is articulate and rigorously factual,
presented in six chapters, from "How We Got There" to "Accountability." The financial earthquake
was not only entirely avoidable, but was utterly predictable given the steady erosion of scrutiny of
financial markets here and abroad. Reducing state monitoring under the Reagan administration set
the stage for the savings-and-loan crisis and the collapse of the junk-bond market. But that was a
luau compared with what lay ahead. Successive administrations, Democratic and Republican
alike, heeded advisers pushing for further deregulation, leading to WorldCom, Enron, the dot-com
bubble and the 2008 panic. Many of those laissez-faire advocates were prominent academics
receiving sizable consulting fees to testify in antitrust cases and in Congress on Wall Street's
behalf.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the long history of criminal and corrupt practices of
major financial powers and regulatory bodies, click here.
Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of
American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.
Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian ... via the
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The new logs detail how: A US helicopter gunship involved
in a notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after they tried to surrender.
More than 15,000 civilians died in previously unknown incidents. The logs record 66,081 noncombatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities. The numerous reports of detainee abuse,
often supported by medical evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists
or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks. Six reports end with a
detainee's apparent death. The whistleblowing activists say they have deleted all names from the
documents that might result in reprisals.
Note: For an analysis by the Ad Hoc Committee for Justice for Iraq of the still very one-sided
picture of the devastation of Iraq provided by this leak of Iraq war logs, click here. For an interview
of the leader of Wikileaks on CNN in which he walks out after being asked about his personal life
rather than Iraqi deaths, click here.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission judge says colleague biased

against complainants
As George H. Painter was preparing to retire recently as one of two administrative law judges
presiding over investor complaints at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, he issued an
extraordinary request: Please don't assign my pending cases to the other judge. [The CFTC
oversees trading of the nation's most important commodities, including oil, gold and cotton.]
Painter said Judge Bruce Levine ... had a secret agreement with a former Republican chairwoman
of the agency to stand in the way of investors filing complaints with the agency. "On Judge
Levine's first week on the job, nearly twenty years ago, he came into my office and stated
that he had promised Wendy Gramm, then Chairwoman of the Commission, that we would
never rule in a complainant's favor," Painter wrote. "A review of his rulings will confirm that
he fulfilled his vow. Judge Levine ... forces pro se complainants to run a hostile procedural
gauntlet until they lose hope, and either withdraw their complaint or settle for a pittance, regardless
of the merits of the case." Levine was the subject of a story 10 years ago in the Wall Street
Journal, which said that except in a handful of cases in which defunct firms failed to defend
themselves, Levine had never ruled in favor of an investor. Gramm [wife of former senator Phil
Gramm (R-Tex.)], was head of the CFTC just before president Bill Clinton took office. She has
been criticized by Democrats for helping firms such as Goldman Sachs and Enron gain influence
over the commodity markets. After leaving the CFTC, she joined Enron's board.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
How to brand a disease -- and sell a cure

2010-10-11, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/11/elliott.branding.disease/
If you want to understand the way prescription drugs are marketed today, have a look at the 1928
book, Propaganda, by Edward Bernays, the father of public relations in America. For Bernays, the
public relations business was less about selling things than about creating the conditions for things
to sell themselves. When Bernays was working as a salesman for Mozart pianos, for example, he
did not simply place advertisements for pianos in newspapers. That would have been too obvious.
Instead, Bernays persuaded reporters to write about a new trend: Sophisticated people were
putting aside a special room in the home for playing music. Once a person had a music room,
Bernays believed, he would naturally think of buying a piano. As Bernays wrote, "It will come to
him as his own idea." Just as Bernays sold pianos by selling the music room, pharmaceutical
marketers now sell drugs by selling the diseases that they treat. The buzzword is "disease
branding." To brand a disease is to shape its public perception in order to make it more
palatable to potential patients. Once a branded disease has achieved a degree of cultural
legitimacy, there is no need to convince anyone that a drug to treat it is necessary. It will
come to him as his own idea. It is hard to brand a disease without the help of physicians, of
course. So drug companies typically recruit academic "thought leaders" to write and speak about
any new conditions they are trying to introduce.
Note: This key topic is discussed in great depth in the BBC's documentary "Century of the Self"
available here. And for a top doctor's analysis that the cholesterol scare was largely manufactured
for profit, click here.
Poor healthcare may shorten American lives

Americans die sooner than citizens of a dozen other developed nations and the usual suspects -obesity, traffic accidents and a high murder rate -- are not to blame. Instead, poor healthcare may
be to blame, the team at Columbia University in New York reported. They found that 15-year
survival rates for men and women aged 45 to 65 have fallen in the United States relative to the
other 12 countries over the past 30 years. In June, the Commonwealth Fund, which advocates on
and does research focusing on healthcare reform, reported that Americans spend twice as much
on healthcare as residents of other developed countries -- $7,290 per person -- but get lower
quality and less efficiency. Between 1975 and 2005, medical costs went up in all the countries, as
did life expectancy. But costs went up far more in the United States and life expectancy increased
to a far lower degree. "In 1950, the United States was fifth among the leading industrialized
nations with respect to female life expectancy at birth, surpassed only by Sweden, Norway,
Australia, and the Netherlands," [the report authors] wrote. At last count, the United States
was 46th in female life expectancy; 49th for both sexes.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on important health issues, click here.
Horrific medical tests of past raise concerns for today

2010-10-01, MSNBC
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39463624/ns/today-today_health
The astounding revelation that U.S. medical researchers intentionally gave Guatemalans
gonorrhea and syphilis more than 60 years ago is so horrifying that we want to believe that what
happened then could never happen today. A report from the United States Department of Health
and Human Services noted that roughly 80 percent of drug approvals in 2008 were based in part
on data from outside the U.S. Susan Reverby, a distinguished historian at Wellesley College in
Massachusetts, has ... long researched the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the experiment
where poor, black men in rural Alabama were deliberately left untreated for syphilis by government
researchers. The study, somehow, was allowed to run from 1932 to 1972. More recently, Reverby
came across documents that showed that Dr. John C. Cutler, a physician who would later be one
of the researchers involved in the Tuskegee study, was involved in a completely unethical research
study much earlier in Guatemala. Cutler, who went to his grave defending the Tuskegee
experiment, directly inoculated unknowing prisoners in Guatemala with syphilis and also
encouraged them to have sex with diseased prostitutes for his research from 1946-48. His
work was sponsored by lauded organizations such as the United States Public Health Service, the
National Institutes of Health with collaboration of the Pan American Health Sanitary Bureau (now
the Pan American Health Organization), and the Guatemalan government.
Note: The author of this commentary is Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the
University of Pennsylvania. For many other examples of government-sponsored experimentation
on human guinea pigs, click here.
Ex-Air Force Personnel: UFOs Deactivated Nukes

2010-09-27, CBS News
Whatever the mysterious lights in the sky were, they seemed to have an interest in our nukes. One
of the more out-of-the-ordinary press conferences held in Washington this week consisted of
former Air Force personnel testifying to the existence of UFOs and their ability to neutralize
American and Russian nuclear missiles. UFO researcher Robert Hastings of Albuquerque,
N.M., who organized the National Press Club briefing, said more than 120 former service
members had told him they'd seen unidentified flying objects near nuclear weapon storage
and testing grounds. Robert Jamison, a retired USAF nuclear missile targeting officer, told of
several occasions having to go out and "re-start" missiles that had been deactivated, after UFOs
were sighted nearby. [In a] December 1980 incident near two Royal Air Force Bases in Suffolk,
England ... several U.S. Air Force personnel reported seeing a strange metallic object hovering.
Retired USAF Col. Charles Halt said that in December 1980, when he was deputy base
commander at RAF Bentwaters, strange lights in the forest were investigated by three patrolmen.
They reported approaching a triangular craft, "approximately three meters on a side, dark metallic
in appearance with strange markings." Halt found indentations in the ground, broken branches,
and low-level background radiation. He and his team also witnessed various lights moving silently
in the sky, of one which was "shedding something like molten metal." Several of the exservicemembers speaking Monday said when they'd brought their concern of such appearances to
superiors, they'd been told it was "top secret" or that it "didn't happen." Hastings suggested the
presence of such phenomena meant that aliens were monitoring our weapons, and perhaps
warning us - "a sign to Washington and Moscow that we are playing with fire."
Note: To watch 18-minutes of this most fascinating testimony on the CNN website, click here. For
lots more reliable information on the famous RAF Bentwaters incident, click here. For what may be
the best UFO documentary ever made, watch Out of the Blue, available for free viewing at this link.
Pentagon Destroys Copies of Controversial Memoir Written by Army

Officer
2010-09-25, Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/25/pentagon-destroys-copies-controver...
The Pentagon has burned 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's memoir
Operation Dark Heart, his book about going undercover in Afghanistan. A Department of
Defense official tells Fox News that the department purchased copies of the first printing
because they contained information which could cause damage to national security. The
U.S. Army originally cleared the book for release. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency attempted
to block the book about the tipping point in Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data mining
project called "Able Danger." In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says national security could
be breached if Operation Dark Heart is published in its current form. The agency also attempted to
block key portions of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker Mohammed
Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Note: Able Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged 9/11
hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media reports on the intense
controversy around this program (which is likely why the book is being burned), click here.
Nixon plot against newspaper columnist detailed

2010-09-13, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39157420/ns/politics
Nearly 40 years before the Obama White House denounced the WikiLeaks website for publishing
classified documents, another president, Richard Nixon, was even more obsessed with the same
phenomenon. Only Nixon and his top aides went to far greater lengths to deal with the problem:
They launched an extraordinary campaign to smear and discredit the journalist who, more than
anyone else, was bedeviling them by publishing government secrets: newspaper columnist Jack
Anderson. The White House obsession with Anderson whose "Washington Merry Go-Round"
column was the WikiLeaks of its day is detailed in a new book being published this month,
Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washingtons Scandal
Culture, by journalism professor Mark Feldstein. The book relies in part on newly unearthed tapes
from the National Archives that document how Nixons aides plotted to destroy Anderson by
planting forged evidence with him and spreading false rumors about his sex life and that of one of
his associates. Feldstein also has uncovered new evidence that documents one of the more
outrageous schemes of the Nixon presidency: a plot to assassinate Anderson by either
putting poison in his medicine cabinet or exposing him to a massive dose of LSD by
smearing it on the steering wheel of his car.
Note: For more on the use of LSD and other substances by the CIA for mind control and
assassination, click here.
CIA Mind-Control Experiments

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2008962_200896...
At the height of the Cold War, the CIA conducted covert, illegal scientific research on human
subjects. Known as Project MK-ULTRA, the program subjected humans to experiments with drugs
such as LSD and barbiturates, hypnosis and (some reports indicate) radiological and biological
agents. In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all documents from Project MK-ULTRA
destroyed. Nevertheless, late the following year, the New York Times reported on the illegal
activities. In 1975, the Church Committee, headed by Senator Frank Church, and a commission
headed by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller investigated the project. They found that over more
than two decades, the CIA spent nearly $20 million, enlisted the services of researchers at
more than 30 universities and conducted experiments on subjects without their knowledge.
Some of the research was performed in Canada. Some historians argue that the goal of the
program was to create a mind-control system by which the CIA could program people to
conduct assassinations. In 1953, Richard Condon dramatized the idea in the thriller The
Manchurian Candidate, which was adapted into a film starring Frank Sinatra. Such ultimately
wacky ideas were also dramatized in the recent George Clooney film The Men Who Stare at
Goats.
Note: For more on CIA mind control experiments, see the extensive documentation available here.
BP accused of 'buying academic silence'

2010-07-22, BBC News
The head of the American Association of University Professors has accused BP of trying to "buy"
the best scientists and academics to help it contest litigation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "This
is really one huge corporation trying to buy faculty silence in a comprehensive way," said
Cary Nelson. BP faces more than 300 lawsuits so far. In a statement, BP says it has hired more
than a dozen national and local scientists "with expertise in the resources of the Gulf of Mexico".
The BBC has obtained a copy of a contract offered to scientists by BP. It says that scientists
cannot publish the research they do for BP or speak about the data for at least three years, or until
the government gives the final approval to the company's restoration plan for the whole of the Gulf.
And it adds that scientists must take instructions from lawyers offering the contracts and other inhouse counsel at BP. What Mr Nelson is concerned about is BP's control over scientific research.
"Our ability to evaluate the disaster and write public policy and make decisions about it as a
country can be impacted by the silence of the research scientists who are looking at conditions,"
he said. "It's hugely destructive. I mean at some level, this is really BP versus the people of
the United States."
Note: For lots more on corporate corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

2010-07-19, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/TheLaw/videotaping-cops-arrest/story?id=11179076
It wasn't his daredevil stunt [on his motorcycle] that has [Anthony Graber] facing the possibility of
16 years in prison. For that, he was issued a speeding ticket. It was the video that Graber posted
on YouTube one week later -- taken with his helmet camera -- of a plainclothes state trooper
cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore. In early April, state police
officers raided Graber's parents' home in Abingdon, Md. They confiscated his camera, computers
and external hard drives. Graber was indicted for allegedly violating state wiretap laws by
recording the trooper without his consent. Arrests such as Graber's are becoming more common
along with the proliferation of portable video cameras and cell-phone recorders. Videos of alleged
police misconduct have become hot items on the Internet. YouTube still features Graber's
encounter along with numerous other witness videos. "The message is clearly, 'Don't criticize
the police,'" said David Rocah, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland who
is part of Graber's defense team. "With these charges, anyone who would even think to
record the police is now justifiably in fear that they will also be criminally charged." Carlos
Miller, a Miami journalist who runs the blog "Photography Is Not a Crime," said he has documented
about 10 arrests since he started keeping track in 2007. Miller himself has been arrested twice for
photographing the police.
Note: To our knowledge, no one has ever been prosecuted for videotaping police doing good
things, which they often do, yet many have been arrested for catching police doing bad things.
Where's the justice here?
Report details oil company gifts to regulators

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/26/MN1I1DKGSU.DTL
Employees of the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling accepted lunches, football tickets,
hunting trips and other gifts from the oil and gas companies they were in charge of policing,
according to a report [on May 25] by the Interior Department's inspector general. The investigation,
which zeroed in on the Lake Charles, La., office of the embattled Minerals Management Service,
also found that at least one agency inspector also was actively negotiating employment with an oil
and gas production company while simultaneously inspecting its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil spill in the gulf has focused intense scrutiny on the agency's oversight of offshore drilling
and raised questions about whether it was lax in setting requirements for key safety devices and
practices. But even before the spill, the agency had been singled out for ethical lapses and
mismanagement. In 2008, the Interior Department's inspector general rapped workers in
MMS' Lakewood, Colo., office for having sexual relationships with and accepting gifts from
energy company representatives. Over a decade, there have been ten inspector general reports
and nine from the Government Accountability Office that documented "failures within MMS," [Rep.
Darrell Issa] said, "and yet it still took a massive catastrophe to get anyone to ... agree on the need
for a massive bureaucratic overhaul."
Note: For an abundance of revealing articles from major media sources on government and
corporate collusion and corruption, click here and here.
Stock market time bomb?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/10/stock-market-time-bomb/?page=all
Even the worlds most savvy stock-market giants (e.g., Warren E. Buffett) have warned over the
past decade that derivatives are the fiscal equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction. And the
consequences of such an explosion would make the recent global financial and economic crisis
seem like penny ante. But generously lubricated lobbyists for the unrestricted, unsupervised
derivatives markets tell congressional committees and government regulators to butt out.
While banks all over the world were imploding and some $50 trillion vanished in global
stock markets, the derivatives market grew by an estimated 65 percent, according the Bank
for International Settlements. BIS convenes the worlds 57 most powerful central bankers in Basel,
Switzerland, for periodic secret meetings. Occasionally, they issue a cry of alarm. This time,
derivatives had soared from $414.8 trillion at the end of 2006 to $683.7 trillion in mid-2008 - 18
months time. The derivatives market is now estimated at $700 trillion. Whats so difficult to
understand about derivatives? Essentially, they are bets for or against the house - red or black at
the roulette wheel. Or betting for or against the weather in situations in which the weather is critical
(e.g., vineyards). Forwards, futures, options and swaps form the panoply of derivatives. Credit
derivatives are based on loans, bonds or other forms of credit. Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives
are contracts that are traded and privately negotiated directly between two parties, outside of a
regular exchange. All of this is unregulated.
Note: Though not from one of the top U.S. newspapers, this incisive article lays bare severe
market manipulations that greatly endanger our world. The entire article is highly recommended.
$700 trillion is equivalent to $100,000 for every man, woman, and child in the world! Do you think
the financial industry is out of control? For lots more powerful, reliable information on major
banking manipulations, click here. For a powerful analysis describing just how crazy things have
gotten and giving some rays of hope by researcher David Wilcock, click here.
Report Details Torture at Secret Baghdad Prison

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/world/middleeast/28baghdad.html
The torture of Iraqi detainees at a secret prison in Baghdad was far more systematic and brutal
than initially reported, Human Rights Watch reported. Human Rights Watch ... documented its
findings, which it described as credible and consistent, in a draft report provided to The New York
Times. The group said it had interviewed 42 detainees who displayed fresh scars and wounds.
Many said they were raped, sodomized with broomsticks and pistol barrels, or forced to
engage in sexual acts with one another and their jailers. All said they were tortured by
being hung upside down and then whipped and kicked before being suffocated with a
plastic bag. Those who passed out were revived, they said, with electric shocks to their genitals
and other parts of their bodies. The horror we found suggests torture was the norm in Muthanna,
said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East program at Human Rights Watch. Security
officials whipped detainees with heavy cables, pulled out finger and toenails, burned them with
acid and cigarettes, and smashed their teeth, Human Rights Watch said.
Note: For more on the atrocities committed by the US and its recent wars, click here.
George W. Bush 'knew Guantnamo prisoners were innocent'

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men
were sent to the Guantnamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would
harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror, according to a new document
obtained by The Times. The accusations were made by Lawrence Wilkerson, a top aide to Colin
Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State, in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed
by a Guantnamo detainee. He claimed that the former Vice-President and Defence Secretary
knew that the majority of the initial 742 detainees sent to Guantnamo in 2002 were innocent but
believed that it was politically impossible to release them. Colonel Wilkerson, a long-time critic of
the Bush Administrations approach to counter-terrorism and the war in Iraq, claimed that the
majority of detainees children as young as 12 and men as old as 93 never saw a US
soldier when they were captured. He said that many were turned over by Afghans and
Pakistanis for up to $5,000. Little or no evidence was produced as to why they had been
taken. He also claimed that one reason Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld did not want the innocent
detainees released was because the detention efforts would be revealed as the incredibly
confused operation that they were.
Note: For lots more on the realities of the "war on terror", click here.
U.S. Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/asia/21marja.html
The effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO
commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication. From Gen. Stanley A.
McChrystal on down, the militarys position is clear: U.S. forces no longer eradicate, as
one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja.
American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers fields alone.
United Nations drug officials agree with the Americans. Pictures of NATO and other allied soldiers
walking next to the opium fields wont go well with domestic audiences, but the approach of
postponing eradicating in this particular case is a sensible one, said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is in
charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime here. Though the United States
governments official position is still to support opium crop eradication in general, some American
civilian officials say that the internal debate over Marja is far from over within parts of the State
Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. A spokesman for the United States
Embassy in Kabul, Brendan J. OBrien, said officials would decline to comment while the matter
was under review.
Note: For weeks the Pentagon and press claimed Marja is a city of 80,000 people, and compared
the "battle for Marja" as comparable to the attack on Falluja, Iraq. Then the news leaked out that
Marja is not even a town, but an unincorporated agricultural area with a few villages. Now the "city"
turns out to be a center of opium poppy production! Could protection of the lucrative poppy crops
be the real reason for the selection of this area for the largest single military operation of the
occupiers since the invasion in 2001? For more on this, click here.
Police or provocateurs?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/18/undercover-police-infiltr...
Last Sunday's Observer claimed to expose how "an officer from a secretive unit of the Metropolitan
police" worked "undercover among anti-racist groups in Britain, during which he routinely engaged
in violence against members of the public and uniformed police officers to maintain his cover".
Despite this sensationalist introduction, "Officer A" does not describe his involvement in any violent
incidents. No wonder. The organisation he infiltrated, Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE)
is a peaceful organisation of young people, which in the 1990s organised mass protests
against racism and the BNP [British National Party]. YRE [has often faced] violence from
the far right, and unfortunately also from the police. The police not only used violence against
[YRE] demonstrations but also carried out a secretive, unaccountable and clearly expensive
infiltration operation. They gained nothing from it. Far from being secretive [YRE] publicly
advertised [its] events. The Observer's revelation is not unique. Christopher Andrew's The Defence
of the Realm: the Authorized History of M15, published last year, also describes state infiltration of
Militant, the National Union of Miners and others. Surveillance of peaceful protestors has
mushroomed. Police brutality also, as the tragic death of Ian Tomlinson showed, is not a thing of
the past.
Note: Why would police place officers promoting violence in peaceful groups working against
racism? Could it be that key elements within the police are racist?
Learning From Lehman

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14sun3.html
On top of everything Lehman Brothers did before it collapsed in 2008, nearly toppling the financial
system, it now seems that it was aggressively massaging its books. A new report on the Lehman
collapse, released last week ... would leave anyone dumbstruck by the firms audacity
and reminded of the crying need for adult supervision of Wall Street. The 2,200-page report
[finds that] Lehman engaged in transactions that let it temporarily shift troubled assets off its books
and in so doing, hide its reliance on borrowed money. The maneuvers ... made the firm appear
healthier than it was. [The author, Anton R. Valukas, a former federal prosecutor,] wrote that
Richard S. Fuld Jr., Lehmans former chief executive, was at least grossly negligent, and that
Lehman executives engaged in actionable balance sheet manipulation. According to the report,
rating agencies, government regulators and Lehmans board of directors had no clue about the
gimmicks. The result is that we were all blindsided. And we could be blindsided again. Congress
is not even close to passing meaningful regulatory reform. The surviving banks have only
gotten bigger and more politically powerful. If the Valukas report is not a wake-up call, what
would be?
Note: The Lehman report is described in detail here. For revealing information showing how the
US Treasury Department continues to fight against a much-needed audit of the Federal Reserve,
click here. For a great collection of revealing reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities
behind the financial crisis and government bailouts of the biggest financial corporations, click here.
Did the CIA test LSD in the New York City subway system?
2010-03-13, New York Post
http://nypost.com/2010/03/14/did-the-cia-test-lsd-in-the-new-york-city-subway...
On Nov. 28, 1953, Frank Olson, a ... 42-year-old government scientist, plunged to his death from
room 1018A in New York's Statler Hotel. [Twenty-two] years later, the Rockefeller Commission
report was released, detailing a litany of domestic abuses committed by the CIA. The ugly truth
emerged: Olson's death was the result of his having been surreptitiously dosed with LSD days
earlier by his colleagues. The belated 1975 [admission] ... generated more interest into a series of
wildly implausible "mind control" experiments on an unsuspecting populace over three decades.
Much of this plot unfolded here, in New York, according to H.P. Albarelli Jr., author of A Terrible
Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments. Albarelli spent
more than a decade sifting through more than 100,000 pages of government documents and his
most startling chestnut might be his claim that the intelligence community conducted aerosol
tests of LSD inside the New York City subway system. "The experiment was pretty shocking
shocking that the CIA and the Army would release LSD like that, among innocent
unwitting folks," Albarelli told The Post. An Olson colleague, Dr. Henry Eigelsbach, confirmed to
Albarelli that the LSD subway test did, in fact, occur in November 1950, albeit on a smaller scale
than first planned. Little, however, is known about the test what line, how many people and what
happened.
Note: For lots more reliable information on CIA mind control experiments, click here and here.
The GM war in Europe starts here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthcomment/geoffrey-lean/7431043/The-GM-wa...
Brussels bureaucrats [are determined] to spread GM crops throughout Europe, against the will of
most of its people. In a little-noticed move last week, the European Commission defied most of the
governments to which it is supposed to answer to give the green light to growing a [genetically]
modified potato across the continent. It was the first time a GM crop had been authorised for
cultivation in 13 years. But, now the long moratorium has been broken, similar approvals for others
are expected rapidly to follow. The decision has its origins in a couple of secret, top-level
meetings called by Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commission's strongly pro-GM president. He
invited the prime ministers of each of the 27 EU member states to send a personal
representative along to discuss how to "speed up" the spread of the technology and "deal
with" public opposition. About three times as many Europeans oppose genetic modification as
support it. As a result, GM crops cover only about 0.12 per cent of Europe's agricultural land and
the continent accounts for just 0.08 per cent of the area growing them worldwide. And they have
been losing ground. In the past two years, both France and Germany banned the Monsanto maize,
joining Austria, Hungary, Greece and Luxembourg.
Note: Though Europeans are very aware of the threat of genetically modified foods and have
worked hard to prohibit them, the media in the US have managed to stifle almost any reporting on
the topic. Most Americans have no idea that they are regularly eating GM foods known to have
serious health risks.
Jesse Ventura claims govt involved in 9/11

2010-03-09, MSNBC
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35728268/ns/today-today_books
In his new book, American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That the Government
Tells Us, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura begins an investigative journey to prove that there
is more to our national history than the government wants us to know. In this excerpt, he writes
about an alleged 9/11 cover-up. Chapter 12: What really happened on September 11? Our
government engaged in a massive cover-up of what really happened, including its own ties to the
hijackers. Unanswered questions remain about how the towers were brought down, and whether a
plane really struck the Pentagon. The Bush Administration either knew about the plan and allowed
it to proceed, or they had a hand in it themselves. I certainly never expected to think that elements
of the Bush Administration were complicit. Today, though, I am convinced that some people
inside our government knew the attack was going to happen and allowed it to come to pass
because it furthered their political agenda. I say this after expending many hours
researching things about the official story that dont add up, and interviewing a number of
witnesses with firsthand knowledge that contradicts what we were told. As a patriotic American, I
say this with a heavy heart and with an outrage that really knows no words. But its something
we, as a nation, must come to terms with. Otherwise, it could happen again.
Note: For the questions raised by many other highly respected former government officials about
what really happened on 9/11, click here.
Daniel Ellsberg on the Limits of Knowledge

2010-02-27, Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/02/daniel-ellsberg-limitations-kno...
[Here's a story] from Ellsberg's book Secrets. The setting is a meeting with Henry Kissinger in late
1968. In 1968 Ellsberg was a highly respected analyst ... who had worked for both the Pentagon
and Rand, and Kissinger was just entering the government. Ellsberg told him, "Henry, there's
something I would like to tell you. You've dealt a great deal with top secret information. But you're
about to receive a whole slew of special clearances, maybe fifteen or twenty of them, that are
higher than top secret. First, you'll be exhilarated by some of this new information. But second, ...
you will feel like a fool for having studied, written, talked about these subjects, criticized and
analyzed decisions made by presidents for years without having known of the existence of all this
information. In particular, you'll feel foolish for having literally rubbed shoulders for over a
decade with some officials and consultants who did have access to all this ... and you'll be
stunned that they kept that secret from you so well. You will feel like a fool. Then, after
you've ... become used to using what amounts to whole libraries of hidden information, ... you will
forget there ever was a time when you didn't have it. You'll be aware only of the fact that you have
it now and most others don't ... and that all those other people are fools. [In] a matter of two or
three years you'll eventually become aware of the limitations of this information. It's often
inaccurate, and it can lead you astray. But that takes a while to learn. In the meantime ... you will
deal with a person who doesn't have those clearances only from the point of view of what you want
him to believe and what impression you want him to go away with. You'll have to lie carefully to him
about what you know. In effect, you will have to manipulate him.
Note: Don't miss the entire fascinating, highly revealing article at the link above. To see this quote
from Ellsberg's book on Google books, click here. For more on government secrets, see the
Explosive News

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/22/inside-the-beltway-70128635
A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has
political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds? A
thousand architects and engineers want to know, and are calling on Congress to order a
new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade
Center. "In order to bring down this kind of mass in such a short period of time, the material must
have been artificially, exploded outwards," says Richard Gage, a San Francisco architect and
founder of the nonprofit Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Mr. Gage, who is a member of the
American Institute of Architects, managed to persuade more than 1,000 of his peers to sign a new
petition requesting a formal inquiry. "The official Federal Emergency Management [Agency] and
National Institute of Standards and Technology reports provide insufficient, contradictory and
fraudulent accounts of the circumstances of the towers' destruction. We are therefore calling for a
grand jury investigation of NIST officials," Mr. Gage adds. "The implications are enormous."
Note: To read statements questionig the official account of the events of 9/11 by hundreds of
professors, government officials and professionals, click here and here. For our 9/11 Information
Center, click here.
Greece to Make All Large Cash Transactions Illegal

http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/The-Daily-Reckoning/2010/0216/Greece-to-Make-A...
Embroiled in its debt crisis and looking for any avenue to bolster tax receipts [Greece] has done
the unthinkable it has made [cash, in euros] illegal for transactions over 1,500 euros. Of course,
larger credit- or debit-based electronic transactions over 1,500 will still be denominated in euros.
However, electronic transactions clearly require infrastructure and limit personal freedom. From
Reuters: From 1. Jan. 2011, every transaction above 1,500 euros between natural persons
and businesses, or between businesses, will not be considered legal if it is done in cash.
Transactions will have to be done through debit or credit cards. It seems wrong for the
Greek state to dictate how cash euros can be used. In fact, its surprising that the EU-endorsed
plan would allow Greece to control euro usage at that level. Despite the fact that the reform bill is a
piece of an approved EU plan to help improve Greek tax revenue and reduce deficit, it seems to
go too far in curtailing personal liberty. How much is a government willing to punish its own citizens
for using too much of their own legal tender in an otherwise legal transaction?
Note: What gives any government the right to limit cash transactions? And why is the EU
approving this unusual measure? Could this be part of a hidden agenda to push the public towards
a cashless society?
The government has your baby's DNA
2010-02-04, CNN News

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/04/baby.dna.government/index.html
When Annie Brown's daughter, Isabel, was a month old, her pediatrician asked Brown and her
husband to sit down because he had some bad news to tell them: Isabel carried a gene that put
her at risk for cystic fibrosis. While grateful to have the information -- Isabel received further testing
and she doesn't have the disease -- the Mankato, Minnesota, couple wondered how the doctor
knew about Isabel's genes in the first place. After all, they'd never consented to genetic testing. It's
simple, the pediatrician answered: Newborn babies in the United States are routinely screened
for a panel of genetic diseases. Since the testing is mandated by the government, it's often
done without the parents' consent, according to Brad Therrell, director of the National Newborn
Screening & Genetics Resource Center. In many states, such as Florida, where Isabel was born,
babies' DNA is stored indefinitely, according to the resource center. Many parents don't realize
their baby's DNA is being stored in a government lab, but sometimes when they find out, as the
Browns did, they take action. Parents in Texas, and Minnesota have filed lawsuits, and these
parents' concerns are sparking a new debate about whether it's appropriate for a baby's genetic
blueprint to be in the government's possession.
Note: For many reliable reports on the increasing governmental and corporate threats to privacy,
click here.
SEC mulled national security status for AIG details

2010-01-24, CNN Money/Reuters
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/reuters/MTFH21979_2010-01-24_19-...
U.S. securities regulators [at the Securities and Exchange Commission] originally treated the New
York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group
bailout like a request to protect matters of national security. The SEC ... agreed to limit the number
of SEC employees who would review the document to just two and keep the document locked in a
safe while the SEC considered AIG's confidentiality request. The SEC had also agreed that if it
determined the document should not be made public, it would be stored "in a special area where
national security related files are kept." Emails ... that have become public in recent weeks reveal
that some at the New York Fed had gone to great lengths to keep the terms of the bailout private
and the SEC may have played a role in contributing to some of the secrecy surrounding the AIG
rescue package. "The New York Fed was orchestrating what can only be characterized as an
extreme effort to ensure that details of the counterparty deal stayed secret," Rep. Darrell
Issa ... said. "More and more it looks as if they would've kept the details of the deal secret
indefinitely, it they could have."
Note: So now bank transactions are being considered a matter of "national security." What next?
It's becoming ever more apparent that "national security" is used as a catch-all phrase for
information that those in power don't want us to know about their secret dealings which benefit
themselves at the expense of most of the rest of us.
The Anthrax Attacks Remain Unsolved

The investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks ended as far as the public knew on July 29, 2008,
with the death of Bruce Ivins, a senior biodefense researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Md. Less than a week after his apparent suicide,
the FBI declared Ivins to have been the sole perpetrator of the 2001 Anthrax attacks. The FBI
[had] turned the pressure up on him, isolating him at work and forcing him to spend what little
money he had on lawyers to defend himself. He became increasingly stressed. Then came his
suicide (which, as Eric Nadler and Bob Coen show in their documentary "The Anthrax War," was
one of four suicides among American and British biowarfare researchers in past years). But there
was still a vexing problem. Silicon was used in the 1960s to weaponize anthrax. Anthrax spores
were coated with the substance to prevent them from clinging together so as to create a lethal
aerosol. But since weaponization was banned by international treaties, research anthrax no longer
contains silicon, and the [anthrax] at Fort Detrick contained none. Ivins, no matter how weird he
may have been, had neither the set of skills nor the means to attach silicon to anthrax
spores. If Ivins had neither the equipment or skills to weaponize anthrax with silicon, then
some other party with access to the anthrax must have done it.
Note: As usual, the FBI tries to pin it on one wacko, when it is clear others most have been
involved. Remember that the anthrax attacks occurred as Congress was considering the PATRIOT
Act, and were directed in part at key senators opposed to the act. Congress was shut down for a
period, and when it reconvened it passed the bill without discussion. For lots more on the antrax
attacks as a likely false-flag operation, click here.
Fed paid record $46.1B to Treasury last year

2010-01-12, Houston Chronicle/Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6811506.html
The Federal Reserve paid a record $46.1 billion in earnings to the Treasury Department last year,
reflecting gains as the central bank bulked up its portfolio of securities to revive the economy and
fight the financial crisis. The payment marks an increase of $14.4 billion from what the
Treasury was provided in 2008 and is the largest since the Fed began operating in 1914, the
central bank announced. The Fed's net income of $52.1 billion in 2009 also was a record,
according to preliminary figures. It was up from $35.5 billion in 2008. Such income rose largely
because the Fed's holdings of securities mushroomed, though increases in the value of the
securities also helped, Fed officials said. Under one program that ended last year, the Fed
snapped up $300 billion in government debt. Under another program, the Fed is on track to buy a
total of $1.25 trillion in mortgage securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the end of
March. Those programs have boosted the value of securities held by the Fed.
Note: How interesting that the trillions of dollars of US taxpayer money funneled to the big banks
brought record income in 2009, while the average American saw little to no benefit. For key
background on the Federal Reserve, click here. For a trove of reports from major media sources
that reveal hidden realities of the government bailout of the biggest financial firms, click here.
With Bigger Bonuses, Another Upside for Banks

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/business/01bonus.html
Along with Wall Streets resurgent bonuses will come a jump in an ancillary benefit: tax breaks. For
all banks and Wall Street firms, Im sure were talking $200 billion total compensation, which
would create a tax savings for the firms of $80 billion, said Robert Willens, an accounting and tax
analyst in New York. The tax deductions, which will increase the bottom line of the banks, are
perfectly legal and not new. They come as compensation for 2009 has roared back after the
largest banks paid back billions of dollars in federal aid, an outlay still fresh in the minds of
taxpayers. As pay goes up, so do the deductions. Many American banks already pay minuscule
federal income taxes. Because of various deductions and clever tax planning the payoutrelated breaks will reduce their tax bills further in coming years. The biggest tax break will
go to Goldman Sachs. It expects to award its employees $23 billion in bonuses the most
in its history. Because most employee compensation is a deductible expense under tax laws,
Goldman Sachs ... will save about $9 billion in federal income taxes on the bonuses it pays out for
2009.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports on the government bailout of Wall Street, click here.
Capability Surprise
2010-01-00, U.S. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2010-10-Capability_Suprise_Vol_2.pdf
Deception [is reliant] on the close control of information, running agents (and double-agents) and
creating stories that adversaries will readily believe. In an era of ubiquitous information access,
anonymous leaks and public demands for transparency, deception operations are extraordinarily
difficult. Nevertheless, successful strategic deception has in the past provided the United States
with significant advantages that translated into operational and tactical success. Successful
deception also minimizes U.S. vulnerabilities, while simultaneously setting conditions to surprise
adversaries. Thus, strategic deception capabilities and plans must perforce be highly
classified. Deception cannot succeed in wartime without developing theory and doctrine in
peacetime. In order to mitigate or impart surprise, the United States should develop more
robust interagency deception planning and action prior to the need for military operations.
To be effective, a permanent standing office with strong professional intelligence and operational
expertise needs to be established.
Note: The above excerpts can be found on pages 77 and 78. For a powerful two-page summary of
a top general's description of how the American public is deceived into supporting war, click here.
Former CDC head lands vaccine job at Merck

2009-12-21, Reuters News
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2124506920091221
Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was
named president of Merck & Co Inc's vaccine division. Gerberding, who led the CDC from 2002 to
2009 and stepped down when President Barack Obama took office, will head up the company's $5
billion global vaccine business that includes shots to prevent chickenpox, cervical cancer and
pneumonia. She had led CDC from one crisis to another, including the investigation into the
anthrax attacks that killed five people in 2001, the H5N1 avian influenza, the global outbreak
of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and various outbreaks of food poisoning. She
may be charged with reigniting flagging sales of Merck's Gardasil vaccine to prevent cervical
cancer by protecting against human papillomavirus or HPV. After an encouraging launch Gardasil
sales have been falling and were down 22 percent in the third quarter at $311 million.
Note: So the head of the CDC now is in charge of vaccines at one of the biggest pharmaceutical
companies in the world. Could this be considered conflict of interest? Could this possibly be
payback for supporting the vaccine agenda so strongly for years? For more on the risks and
dangers of vaccines, click here.
Trillions Of Troubles Ahead

2009-12-18, Forbes magazine
http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/18/government-budget-deficit-personal-finance-f...
If the government stays on the course it's been on for the past forty years without a radical change,
the federal government will soon have a $10 trillion budget. In other words, the federal budget
deficit will be $1.4 trillion. Just to make the size more visible, that's $1,400 billion. Our colleague
Rob Arnott ... wrote in his recent report that "at all levels, federal, state, local and GSEs, the
total public debt is now at 141% of GDP. That puts the United States in some elite company-only Japan, Lebanon and Zimbabwe are higher. That's only the start. Add household debt
(highest in the world at 99% of GDP) and corporate debt (highest in the world at 317% of GDP, not
even counting off-balance-sheet swaps and derivatives) and our total debt is 557% of GDP. Less
than three years ago our total indebtedness crossed 500% of GDP for the first time."
Note: For many revealing reports from major media sources on the realities of the governmentfinanced bank bailouts, click here.
CIA working with Palestinian security agents

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/17/cia-palestinian-security-agents
Palestinian security agents who have been detaining and allegedly torturing supporters of the
Islamist organisation Hamas in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the
Guardian has learned. Less than a year after Barack Obama signed an executive order that
prohibited torture and provided for the lawful interrogation of detainees in US custody, evidence is
emerging the CIA is co-operating with security agents whose continuing use of torture has been
widely documented by human rights groups. The relationship between the CIA and the two
Palestinian agencies involved Preventive Security Organisation (PSO) and General Intelligence
Service (GI) is said by some western diplomats and other officials in the region to be so close
that the American agency appears to be supervising the Palestinians' work. One senior
western official said: "The [Central Intelligence] Agency consider them as their property,
those two Palestinian services." A diplomatic source added that US influence over the agencies
was so great they could be considered "an advanced arm of the war on terror". Among the human
rights organisations that have documented or complained about the mistreatment of detainees
held by the PA in the West Bank are Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, al-Haq and the
Israeli watchdog B'Tselem.
Note: For many accounts from major media sources of the horrific abuses committed by military,
intelligence and security forces in the wars of occupation in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, click
here.
Ventura Turns Investigator for 'Conspiracy Theory'

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9219009
Jesse Ventura is back for another stab at TV stardom, this time hosting a program that digs into
conspiracy theories, including alternate views of what was behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
and the purpose of a sprawling research center in remote Alaska. The former Minnesota governor,
professional wrestler and Navy SEAL stars in "Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura," ... on
truTV. The cable network, part of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., has ordered seven episodes of
the hourlong weekly series. Marc Juris, executive vide president and general manager of truTV,
said Ventura is passionate about the show and brings "knowledge from the inside" of
government. "He's not doing this as an act or a gimmick. It's true to his heart. He's really
looking for the answers," Juris told the AP. The premiere episode deals with the High Frequency
Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, a 35-acre compound of 180 antennas near Gakona,
Alaska, that is used to study the Earth's ionosphere. Ventura and those he interviews question
whether the government is using the site to manipulate the weather or to bombard people with
mind-controlling radio waves. Future "Conspiracy Theory" shows explore alleged cover-ups
surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks and whether there are real "Manchurian Candidate" assassins
who are programmed to kill, said Juris.
Note: Ventura was also a Navy Seal, where he personally was involved in top secret activities and
learned how what is presented to the public is very different from the deeper realities. Don't miss
the highly educational episode on the vitally important topic of HAARP by clicking here. And watch
the excellent episode on 9/11 by clicking here. You'll be surprised by the new angles presented.
Lending Declines as Bank Jitters Persist

U.S. lenders saw loans fall by the largest amount since the government began tracking
such data, suggesting that nervousness among banks continues to hamper economic recovery.
Total loan balances fell by $210.4 billion, or 3%, in the third quarter, the biggest decline since data
collection began in 1984, according to a report released ... by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The FDIC also said its fund to backstop deposits fell into negative territory for just the second time
in its history, pushed down by a wave of bank failures. The decline in total loans showed how
banks remain reluctant to lend, despite the hundreds of billions of dollars the government has
spent to prop up ailing banks and jump-start lending. The issue has taken on greater urgency with
the U.S. unemployment rate hitting 10.2% in October. "There is no question that credit availability
is an important issue for the economic recovery," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair told reporters
Tuesday. "We need to see banks making more loans to their business customers." She said large
banks -- which account for 56% of industry assets and received a large share of the
government's bailout funds -- accounted for 75% of the decline.
Note: The big banks were given trillions in bailout funds with a mandate to increase loans and
stimulate the economy. Why are they still giving out so few loans? Where did the huge amounts of
our taxpayer money go? Why isn't the government demanding accountability with such huge sums
of taxpayer money? For lots more on major manipulations by the big bankers, click here.
Skull and Bones members include some of America's most powerful

2009-11-12, CNN
http://www.edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0911/12/ec.01.html
What really happens behind the padlocked doors of this windowless building, [the home] of Skull
and Bones, Yale's oldest secret society? Its members include some of America's most powerful
and privileged elite all sworn to secrecy. [CAMPBELL] BROWN: Alexandra Robbins broke through
the wall of silence to write Secrets of the Tomb based on clandestine interviews with dozens of
bonesmen. Only 15 [Yale students] get picked each year. The society includes at least three
U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, and too many senators and CEOs to name. In
2004, Bush versus Kerry was the first all-bonesmen presidential election. ALEXANDRA
ROBBINS: Skull and Bones' only purpose is to get its members into positions of
prominence around the world so that they can elevate other members to similar positions.
One of the first activities they participate in is called connubial bliss, where ... each member must
spend an evening standing in front of the other 14 bonesmen and recount his or her entire sexual
and romantic history. BROWN: According to one ... story, Prescott Bush, George W. Bush's
grandfather, was part of a group that broke into the Oklahoma burial place of the Apache chief
Geronimo and made off with his skull. Geronimo's grave was disturbed back in 1918, there are
photos of skulls inside the "Skull and Bones" tomb. They have their own private retreat. Deer
Island off the coast of New York. And a world of ready investors and political contacts in the
highest echelons of American society. What has kept the secret society alive for all these years?
Good old fashioned networking for the super elite.
Note: To watch the CNN video clip on this Yale secret society, click here. For lots more powerful
information on Skull and Bones and other secret societies reported in major media articles, click
here.
In Germany, a Better Vaccine for Politicians?

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1932366,00.html
As Germany launched its mass-vaccination program against the H1N1 flu virus on Monday, the
government found itself fending off accusations of favoritism because it was offering one vaccine
believed to have fewer side effects to civil servants, politicians and soldiers, and another,
potentially riskier vaccine to everyone else. The German government prepared for its massvaccination campaign earlier this year by ordering 50 million doses of the Pandemrix vaccine. The
vaccine, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, contains an immunity-enhancing chemical
compound, known as an adjuvant, whose side effects are not yet entirely known. The
Interior Ministry confirmed that it had ordered a different vaccine, Celvapan, for government
officials and the military. Celvapan, which is made by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Baxter, does not
contain an adjuvant and is believed to have fewer side effects.
Note: For a revealing article exposing more on this critical issue, click here. Other thoroughly
researched articles suggesting a major cover-up around the swine flu vaccine are available here.
Police in 9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-domestic-extremists-database
Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political
meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence
databases. The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor "domestic extremists".
Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of
overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime. Senior officers say domestic
extremism, a term coined by police that has no legal basis, can include activists suspected of
minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience. Three national
police units responsible for combating domestic extremism are run by the "terrorism and allied
matters" committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). In total, it receives 9m in
public funding, from police forces and the Home Office, and employs a staff of 100. The main unit,
the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), runs a central database which lists thousands
of so-called domestic extremists. It filters intelligence supplied by police forces across England and
Wales, which routinely deploy surveillance teams at protests, rallies and public meetings. Vehicles
associated with protesters are being tracked via a nationwide system of automatic number plate
recognition (ANPR) cameras. Police surveillance units, known as Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT)
and Evidence Gatherers, record footage and take photographs of campaigners as they enter and
leave openly advertised public meetings. Surveillance officers are provided with "spotter cards"
used to identify the faces of target individuals who police believe are at risk of becoming involved
in domestic extremism. Targets include high-profile activists regularly seen taking part in protests.
Note: This important article should be read in its entirety. For further revelations of the magnitude
of this surveillance and "rebranding protest as extremism " program, click here.
Why governments are selling Vitamin D short

2009-10-23, Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/11180df8-beaa-11de-b4ab-00144feab49a.html
Reinhold Vieth, [a] professor at the University of Torontos Department of Laboratory Medicine and
Patho-biology, ... is among the most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of vitamin
D. In the US and Canada, official vitamin D policy is set by the Institute of Medicine. And in the
opinion of Vieth, the current recommendations 200 International Units per day for people under
50, 400 for people aged 51-70, and 600 for those 71 and older are outrageously low. Vieth and
other vitamin D advocates have good reason to think there will be minimal changes made to
dietary guidelines. Last December, the World Health Organisations International Agency for
Research on Cancer issued a 465-page report that concluded there was no need to raise vitamin
D recommendations. The evidence favouring vitamin D is probably as good as the evidence
that shows smoking is bad for you, Vieth says, explaining that just as smoking is correlated
with certain cancers, so are low vitamin D levels. But when these government officials see the
same kind of evidence that deals with vitamin D as they see with smoking they go, Oh wait
a minute. We cant really trust this. Vieth pauses, as though he can barely stand to talk about
such a miserable state of affairs. Its easy to say dont do something dont smoke. Its very hard
to say take this. Take vitamin D.
Note: For many key reports from reliable sources on important health issues, click here.
Officers accused of inciting violence to testify before police ethics panel

2009-10-23, Globe and Mail (One of Canada's leading newspapers)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/officers-accused-of-inciting-vio...
Three undercover officers accused of inciting protesters to attack riot police at the 2007 North
American leaders summit in Montebello are being summoned to testify before Quebec's
independent police ethics committee. The decision from the committee released this week
overrules an independent review that exonerated the officers. It also comes more than two years
after the black-clad trio were first exposed on YouTube. Dave Coles, the union leader who
confronted the men at the time and filed a complaint against the police ... said he suspects an
inquiry would find there was political involvement. This is the big question: Who sent them
in? asked Mr. Coles. And don't give me some lame excuse that it was a low-level officer.
Video images of the incident posted on YouTube showed three officers disguised as protesters
wearing black tops and camouflage pants. Their faces were covered by black and white bandanas.
One of them, wearing a sideways ball cap marked with graffiti, held a large stone in his hand. Mr.
Coles yelled at them to show their faces and the officer carrying the rock responded with a twohanded shove.
Note: Click on the link above to watch the astonishing YouTube video of this police provocation.
This is just one case that happened to be caught on film. Why are undercover police infiltrating
activist groups and inciting violence at demonstrations around the world?
Voices of Power: Elizabeth Warren

LOIS ROMANO: Welcome, Elizabeth Warren, Chairman of the Congressional Oversight
Committee that is tasked with scrutinizing how the Treasury Department has spent $700 billion to
shore up our failing financial institutions. There's a wonderful moment [in the movie "Capitalism: a
Love Story"] when [Michael Moore] asks you where the $700 billion is, and you look at him and
you say, "I don't know." So the question is: why don't you know? WARREN: Well, we don't know
where the $700 billion is because the system was initially designed to make sure that we didn't
know. When Secretary Paulson first put this money out into the banks, he didn't ask "what
are you going to do with it?" He didn't put any restrictions on it. He didn't put any tabs on
where it was going to go; in other words, he didn't ask. And if you don't ask, no one tells.
And so we have a system that originally put more than $200 billion into the financial institutions
basically saying just take it. ROMANO: And that money is gone. You have not been able to track
where that money is? WARREN: Well, we don't know where the money went from the financial
institutions. The big conversation at the time was that the credit markets are frozen; if we put
money into the financial institutions, they will start lending it because that's what they do when they
receive money. It was called the "Healthy Banks Program." Secretary Paulson kept saying, over
and over, these are investments in healthy financial institutions, no one needs any subsidy, that
[the] money was going to be used in lending to small businesses and consumers and kind of get
our whole credit market going again. That didn't happen.
Note: To watch a powerfully revealing, five-minute video showing the Inspector General of the
Federal Reserve testifying that she doesn't know where trillions of dollars are, click here. For a
comprehensive overview of the realities underlying the government's bailout of the biggest
financial institutions, click here.
Study prompts provinces to rethink flu plan

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/study-prompts-province...
A perplexing Canadian study linking H1N1 to seasonal flu shots is throwing national influenza
plans into disarray and testing public faith in the government agencies responsible for protecting
the nation's health. Distributed for peer review last week, the study confounded infectiousdisease experts in suggesting that people vaccinated against seasonal flu are twice as
likely to catch swine flu. The paper has since convinced several provincial health agencies
to announce hasty suspensions of seasonal flu vaccinations, long-held fixtures of publichealth planning. It has confused things very badly, said Dr. Ethan Rubinstein, head of adult
infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. And it has certainly cost us credibility from the
public because of conflicting recommendations. Until last week, there had always been much
encouragement to get the seasonal flu vaccine. On Sunday Quebec joined Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia in suspending seasonal flu shots for anyone under 65
years of age. Quebec's Health Ministry announced it would postpone vaccinations until January.
B.C. is expected to announce a similar suspension during a press conference Monday morning.
Other provinces, including Manitoba, are still pondering a response to the research. Dr. Rubinstein,
who has read the study, said it appears sound. There are a large number of authors, all of them
excellent and credible researchers, he said. And the sample size is very large 12 or 13 million
people taken from the central reporting systems in three provinces. The research is solid.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the dangers of vaccines, click here.
FBI: Murder, Violent Crime Dropped in 2008

2009-09-14, New York Times/Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/14/us/politics/AP-US-Crime.html
Murder and manslaughter dropped almost 4 percent last year, as reported crime overall fell around
the country, according to new data released ... by the FBI. The 3.9 percent decline in killings
reported to police was part of a nationwide drop in violent crime of 1.9 percent from 2007 to 2008.
Rapes declined 1.6 percent, to the lowest national number in 20 years -- about 89,000. The
statistics are based on crimes reported to police, who then forward the information to the FBI.
There were 14,180 murder victims in the United States last year. ''What has been impressive
has been how flat all the violent crime rates have been since 2000. To a large degree that's
still the case, but the striking change this year has been murder,'' said Alfred Blumstein, a
professor of criminal justice at Carnegie-Mellon University. The figures show that crime has come
way down since its peak in the early 1990's. ''These are rates we haven't seen since the 1960's,
even though the change from year to year has been rather small,'' said Blumstein. Property crimes
declined overall, by 0.8 percent, but that was driven mostly by a 12.7 percent drop in car thefts.
The other major categories of property crime -- burglaries and larceny-thefts -- both rose. Typically,
crime is expected to rise during economic hard times, but Blumstein said last year's data was too
early in the economic cycle to reflect that, because the most serious economic impacts came
toward the end of 2008, and may not have affected teenagers -- the group most likely to turn to
crime as their job prospects dwindle.
Note: What this report completely fails to report is that violent crime is down over 50% since
1994! Why does the major media consistently fail to report this awesome news? For verifiable
information on this, click here.
CIA's black sites, illuminated

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-detainee31-2009aug31...
The secret overseas "black sites" where the CIA conducted the interrogations are empty now, if not
already dismantled. They were never examined by a congressional committee, nor inspected by
the international Red Cross. The black sites not only imprisoned men but reduced them to a near
helpless state. The aim, as outlined in one document, was to teach every detainee "to perceive
and value his personal welfare, comfort and immediate needs more than the information he is
protecting." The prisoners' arrival -- almost always in diapers -- was engineered to achieve that
end. After being shaved, stripped and photographed nude, detainees were examined by CIA
medical and psychological personnel. Then came a preliminary interrogation that would determine
the prisoners' fate. Only those considered extremely cooperative would avoid a trio of techniques
designed to produce a "baseline, dependent" state: the deprivation of clothes, solid food and
sleep. Follow-up sessions would start with the prisoner standing with his back against a wall and a
towel or collar to prevent whiplash wrapped around his neck. He could be thrown against the wall
just once "to make a point, or 20 to 30 times consecutively." Prisoners so abhorred the repeated
slamming that they would remain in so-called stress positions, such as painful kneeling postures,
for hours to avoid a return to the wall, according to one Dec. 30, 2004, memo that amounts to a
CIA blueprint for breaking a detainee's will. Earlier this year, the Obama administration
released a series of Justice Department memos laying out legal rationales for the array of
coercive interrogation methods the CIA employed.
Note: For further revelations from major media sources on the illegal methods used by the US
government in its wars around the world, click here.
Interview: Brooksley Born

2009-08-28, PBS Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/interviews/born.html
As head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], Brooksley Born became alarmed
by the lack of oversight of the secretive, multitrillion-dollar over-the-counter derivatives market. Her
attempts to regulate derivatives ran into fierce resistance from then-Fed Chairman Alan
Greenspan, then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and then-Deputy Treasury Secretary
Larry Summers, who prevailed upon Congress to stop Born and limit future regulation.
PBS: Let's start with September 2008 as we all sat there and watched the economy melting down.
Born: It was like my worst nightmare coming true. I had had enormous concerns about the overthe-counter derivatives [OTC] market ... for a number of years. The market was totally opaque.
Nobody really knew what was going on. And then it became obvious as Lehman Brothers failed,
as AIG suddenly appeared to be on the brink of tremendous defaults and turned out [to have been
a major derivatives] dealer. PBS: How did it happen? Born: It happened because there was no
oversight of a very, very big, dynamic, growing market. I would never say derivatives should be
banned or forbidden. The problem is that they can be extremely misused. Traditionally,
government has had to protect the public interest by overseeing the marketplace and keeping the
extreme behavior under some check. All other financial markets have some kind of government
oversight protecting the public interest. [But] not this one. The over-the-counter derivatives dealers
business ... was something like 40 percent of the profits of many of these big banks as recently as
a couple of years ago. PBS: We're the losers. Who were the winners? Born: Our largest banks. It
was short-term benefit for a few major institutions at the expense of all the people who
have lost their jobs, who have lost their retirement savings, who have lost their homes.
Note: Don't miss this entire, astonishing interview with Born, who practiced derivatives law for 20
years before being appointed head of the CFTC. She lays bare the level of deceit, greed, and
corruption by both bankers and some of the politicians who protect them.
Health Care Battle: Lobbyists Outnumber Lawmakers

2009-08-14, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/story?id=8322683
The time, money and manpower that lobbying firms devote to courting lawmakers reveals an
investment inside the Beltway of staggering proportions. For every lawmaker in Congress, there
are about six lobbyists pushing their health care priorities, according to a Bloomberg News
investigation released today. That's about 3,300 registered health care lobbyists working Capitol
Hill. A total of $263 million has been spent on health lobbying in 2009, according to the latest data
from the Center for Responsive Politics. That's more money spent on health than any other sector
this year. The list of the top 20 spenders in 2009 across all sectors includes the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce at No. 1, spending more than $26 million, Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) at No. 3, spending $13 million, and Pfizer in the No. 6 spot,
spending $11 million. Also joining the ranks of the top 20 spenders this year are Blue Cross Blue
Shield, AARP, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and Eli Lilly, each
having doled out between $7 and $10 million this year. Wendell Potter, a 20-year health insurance
veteran and former CIGNA vice president, ... spoke out about insurance companies operating
behind the scenes. Potter recalled previous health care fights, saying insurers have undoubtedly
tried to shape the battle. "It is usually done through the PR firms that work for them," Potter said.
"They want to keep their fingerprints off stuff like that. "With this history, you can rest assured
that the industry is up to the same dirty tricks, using the same devious PR practices it has
used for many years to kill reform this year, or even better, to shape it so that it benefits
insurance companies and their Wall Street investors far more than average Americans," he
said.
Note: For lots more on the corrupt medical/governmental complex, click here.
Fed Struggles with Perceptions of Transparency

2009-07-30, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec09/federalreserve_07-30.html
PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour economics correspondent: As the Federal Reserve moved rapidly and
radically last year to prevent what it feared was an economic meltdown, it bailed out some
institutions, but not others, forced mergers, [and] created hundreds of billions of dollars. The net
result: increased suspicion of the Fed itself. That's nothing new. The 1913 act of Congress that
established America's central bank was ... a compromise between government ... and
private banking interests, which owned the 12 regional Fed branches. [All along,] some
Americans have been suspicious of the Fed for operating above politics, too close to bankers, and
behind closed doors. Simply Google "Federal Reserve." You encounter everything from skepticism
to fear of conspiracy. NARRATOR: With the power to regulate the money supply is also the
power to bring entire economies and societies to its knees. DONALD KOHN, Federal Reserve
vice chairman: We bring information to bear from the private sector, from foreign governments and
foreign central banks that they tell us in confidence about what's going on in their businesses.
WILLIAM GREIDER, author, "Secrets of the Temple": You could say, "We have to have our
meetings in secret because things will be said that are national security secrets, but we'll vet the
transcript and release it four weeks later." Why not do that? SOLMAN: A House bill ... would give
the Government Accountability Office the right to audit the Fed's interest rate decisions. Chairman
Bernanke opposes it as compromising the Fed's independence.
Note: If you look at the top of any U.S. currency, you will see the words "Federal Reserve Note."
U.S. dollars are issued and controlled by the Federal Reserve, which is privately owned, though
subject to minimal federal oversight. To see just how much control the Federal Reserve has over
the issuance of U.S. currency, see their webpage at this link. For lots more on hidden
manipulations of the Federal Reserve, click here.
New Fed powers not matched with accountability

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55O6EZ20090625
President Barack Obama's proposal for a regulatory overhaul of the financial industry vastly
expands the reach of the Federal Reserve, yet fails to make policy-makers more accountable for
their actions. Critics argue that the new legislation fundamentally misses the problems that led to
the financial crisis. It was a lack of enforcement by supervisors, they say, not insufficient rules, that
fostered a cowboy culture of rampant risk-taking on Wall Street. "Obama is letting the Fed and
everyone else off the hook by saying that the problem was with the regulations and not the
regulators," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research in
Washington. "If regulators know that even if they totally fail on the job, they will face no career
consequences, then at some future point, when there is a choice between confronting the financial
industry or just going along, the regulators will just go along," said Baker. Some feel uncomfortable
with a broader role for the Fed primarily because of the Fed's closeness to the banking sector. The
Fed is not technically a public entity. Each of the Fed's 12 branches are overseen by a ninemember board of directors, two-thirds of whom are elected by the bankers in the district. "The
Federal Reserve has massive conflicts of interest that make it ill-suited for its present
regulatory functions and certainly for an expanded regulatory reach," said Robert Auerbach,
a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. "The officials leading the Fed
today preside over an organization that is run in substantial part by the bankers they
regulate."
Note: For empowering insight into the historic roots of the Federal Reserve's unaccountability,
click here.
Fed Would Be Shut Down If It Were Audited, Expert Says

2009-06-10, CNBC News
The Federal Reserve's balance sheet is so out of whack that the central bank would be shut down
if subjected to a conventional audit, Jim Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, told
CNBC. With $45 billion in capital and $2.1 trillion in assets, the central bank would not withstand
the scrutiny normally afforded other institutions, Grant said. "If the Fed examiners were set upon
the Fed's own documents ... to pass judgment on the Fed's capacity to survive the
difficulties it faces in credit, it would shut this institution down," he said. "The Fed is
undercapitalized in a way that Citicorp is undercapitalized." Grant said he would support
legislation currently making its way through Congress calling for an audit of the Fed. Moreover, he
criticized the way the Fed has managed the financial crisis, saying the central bank's target rate
should not be around zero. "I think zero is the wrong rate for almost any economy," Grant said,
adding the Fed has "embarked on a vast experiment in moral hazard. Interest rates are the traffic
signals in a market economy, and everything's green. ... You have to wonder whether these
interest rates are the right clearing rate or rather they are the imposition of a central bank." Amid a
disparity between analysts predicting there will be no rate hikes soon and the fed funds futures
indicating tightening by the end of the year, Grant said he thinks the Fed indeed will begin raising
rates as inflation creeps into the picture. Fed funds futures have fully priced in as much as a half-
point rise in the target rate from its current range of zero to 0.25 percent. "If the hairs on the back
of your neck stand up when there's too much unanimity of opinion, then one begins to worry about
this," he said. "The Fed proverbially has been late."
Note: For an astonishing five-minute video clip of a Congressional hearing where the Inspector
General of the Fed acknowledges she knows almost nothing about trillions of dollars missing from
the Fed, click here. For many more important reports shedding light on the hidden realities of the
economic crisis, click here.
Abu Ghraib abuse photos 'show rape'

2009-05-28, The Telegraph (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5395830/Abu-Ghraib...
Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include
images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged. At least one picture shows an
American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male
translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on
prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently
shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts. Detail of the
content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who
conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Allegations of rape and abuse were
included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed. He has
now confirmed their existence in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. The graphic nature of
some of the images may explain the US Presidents attempts to block the release of an estimated
2,000 photographs from prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan despite an earlier promise to allow them
to be published. Maj Gen Taguba, who retired in January 2007, said he supported the Presidents
decision, adding: These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency. I am not sure
what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to
imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them. The mere
description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it.
JPMorgan's Dangerous Derivatives

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_20/b4131069034013.htm
Gillian Tett [is the author of] Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was
Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe. Tett is a respected business
journalist at the Financial Times. Tett successfully pieces together the colorful backstory of
the bank's work to win acceptance in the market for its brainchild, turning credit derivatives
"from a cottage industry into a mass-production business." With the benefit of hindsight, we
know that while these inventions were intended to control risk, they amplified it instead. This novel
idea turned noxious when applied broadly to residential mortgages, a game that the rest of Wall
Street later entered into with gusto. We learn in deep detail about not only how collateralized debt
obligations are assembled but also their many iterations. Perhaps it's noteworthy that Tett's book
begins when JPMorgan had the face-value equivalent of $1.7 trillion in derivatives on its
books. Today that number has jumped to a mind-boggling $87 trillion. Part of that portfolio
includes almost $8.4 trillion in credit derivatives, more than Bank of America's (BAC), Citi's, and
Goldman Sachs' (GS) holdings combined.
Note: So JP Morgan has $87 trillion in derivatives, a mass market it helped to create. That is
greater than the GDP for the entire world! To verify this, click here. For a New York Times
review of this revealing book, click here.
Interrogation Memos Detail Harsh Tactics by the C.I.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us/politics/17detain.html?partner=rss&emc=r...
The Justice Department ... made public detailed memos describing brutal interrogation techniques
used by the Central Intelligence Agency, as President Obama sought to reassure the agency that
the C.I.A. operatives involved would not be prosecuted. In dozens of pages of dispassionate legal
prose, the methods approved by the Bush administration for extracting information from senior
operatives of Al Qaeda are spelled out in careful detail like keeping detainees awake for up to
11 straight days, placing them in a dark, cramped box or putting insects into the box to exploit their
fears. The interrogation methods were authorized beginning in 2002, and some were used
as late as 2005 in the C.I.A.s secret overseas prisons. The United States prosecuted some
Japanese interrogators at war crimes trials after World War II for waterboarding and other
methods detailed in the memos. Together, the four memos give an extraordinarily detailed
account of the C.I.A.s methods and the Justice Departments long struggle, in the face of graphic
descriptions of brutal tactics, to square them with international and domestic law. Passages
describing forced nudity, the slamming of detainees into walls, prolonged sleep deprivation and the
dousing of detainees with water as cold as 41 degrees alternate with elaborate legal arguments
concerning the international Convention Against Torture. The revelations may give new momentum
to proposals for a full-blown investigation into Bush administration counterterrorism programs and
possible torture prosecutions.
Note: For many revealing reports from major media sources on increasing threats to civil liberties,
click here.
Fed Shrouding $2 Trillion in Bank Loans in Secrecy, Suit Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aS89AaGjOplw
U.S. taxpayers need to know the risks behind the Federal Reserves $2 trillion in lending to
financial institutions because the public is now an involuntary investor in the nations banks,
according to a court filing by Bloomberg LP. The Fed refuses to name the borrowers, the amounts
of loans or assets banks put up as collateral under 11 programs, arguing that doing so might set
off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders. The largest U.S. banks have tapped more than
$125 billion in government aid under the Troubled Asset Relief Program in the past seven months.
Assets, including loans and securities, on the Fed balance sheet totaled $2.09 trillion as of April 9.
Banks oppose any release of information because that might signal weakness and spur shortselling or a run by depositors, the Fed argued in its March 4 response. The release of the
information can fuel market speculation and rumors, including a drop in stock price and a run on
the bank, the Fed said. Bloomberg replied yesterday that these speculative injuries relate only to
the reactions of customers, shareholders and other members of the public, not to competitors use
of the borrowers proprietary information to their advantage, the exception to disclosure under the
FOIA law. Government loans, spending or guarantees to rescue the U.S. financial system
total more than $12.8 trillion since the international credit crisis began in August 2007,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of March 31. The total includes about $2
trillion on the Feds balance sheet.
click here.
Investments Can Yield More on K Street, Study Indicates

In a remarkable illustration of the power of lobbying in Washington, a study released last week
found that a single tax break in 2004 earned companies $220 for every dollar they spent on the
issue -- a 22,000 percent rate of return on their investment. The study by researchers at the
University of Kansas underscores the central reason that lobbying has become a $3 billion-a-year
industry in Washington: It pays. The paper by three Kansas professors examined the impact of a
one-time tax break approved by Congress in 2004 that allowed multinational corporations to
"repatriate" profits earned overseas, effectively reducing their tax rate on the money from 35
percent to 5.25 percent. More than 800 companies took advantage of the legislation, saving an
estimated $100 billion in the process, according to the study. The largest recipients of tax
breaks were concentrated in the pharmaceutical and technology fields, including Pfizer,
Merck, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson and IBM. Pfizer alone repatriated $37 billion,
representing 70 percent of its revenue in 2004, the study found. The now-beleaguered
financial industry also benefited from the provision, including Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase,
Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, all of which have since received tens of billions of dollars in
federal bailout money. The researchers calculated an average rate of return of 22,000 percent for
those companies that helped lobby for the tax break.
Swiss hold '$150m Nigeria bribes'

2009-04-09, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7991447.stm
US investigators have traced $150m in bribes given to Nigerian officials to Swiss banks, Nigeria's
justice minister has said. Michael Kase Aondoakaa said the money was part of $180m in bribes
given by US construction company Halliburton to Nigerian officials. The Nigerian government says
it has asked the US to release the names of officials who negotiated the bribes. Halliburton
admitted paying the bribes to top officials between 1994 and 2004. "We have discovered that $150
million of the bribe money is in Zurich. That is the first shocking discovery. The entire money is
$180 million. $150 million is already trapped in Zurich," Mr Aondoakaa said. Halliburton and its
engineering subsidiary Kellogg Brown Root negotiated bribes with "three successive
holders of a top-level office in the executive branch of the government of Nigeria" during
that time, according to the plea agreement the company made with the US Department of Justice.
The Nigerian government has come under pressure from the media to follow up the findings of the
US court and prosecute the Nigerian bribe-takers. Mr Aondoakaa said they had requested the
court unseal the judgement and pass on the names of the officials. Albert "Jack" Stanley, the
former chief executive of KBR who pleaded guilty to making the bribes in order to secure $6bn in
contracts, is to be sentenced on 6 May. KBR has agreed to pay more than $402m in fines, of
which Halliburton, as the former parent company, agreed to pay $302m.
Note: Why doesn't the public know that Halliburton bribed top government officials, and why aren't
those officials being prosecuted? For major reports from reliable sources on corporate corruption,
click here.
No-Risk Insurance at F.D.I.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/business/07sorkin.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&...
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was set up 76 years ago with the important but simple
job of insuring bank deposits. Now, because of what could politely be called mission creep, its
elbowing its way into the middle of the financial mess as an enabler of enormous leverage. In the
fine print of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithners plan to lend as much as $1 trillion to
private investors to help them buy toxic assets from our nations banks, youll find some
details of how the F.D.I.C is trying to stabilize the system by adding more risk, not less, to
the system. Its going to be insuring 85 percent of the debt, provided by the Treasury, that private
investors will use to subsidize their acquisitions of toxic assets. These loans, while controversial,
were given a warm welcome by the market when they were first announced. And why not? The
terms are hard to beat. They are, for example, nonrecourse, which means that if an investor
loses money, he owes taxpayers nothing. Its the closest thing to risk-free investing with
leverage! around. But, as weve learned the hard way these last couple of years, risk-free
investing is an oxymoron. So where did the risk go this time? To the F.D.I.C., and ultimately, to us
taxpayers. A close reading of the F.D.I.C.s statute suggests the agency is using a unique some
might call it plain wrong reading of its own rule book to accomplish this high-wire act. Somehow,
in the name of solving the financial crisis, the F.D.I.C. has seemingly been given a blank check,
with virtually no oversight by Congress.
Note: For a powerfully revealing archive of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of
the financial bailout, click here.
CIA expert: Electronic voting not secure

2009-03-25, Miami Herald/McClatchy News
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/966214.html
The CIA, which has been monitoring foreign countries' use of electronic voting systems, has
reported apparent vote-rigging schemes in Venezuela, Macedonia and Ukraine and a raft of
concerns about the machines' vulnerability to tampering. In a presentation that could provide
disturbing lessons for the United States, where electronic voting is becoming universal, [CIA
cybersecurity expert] Steve Stigall summarized what he described as attempts to use computers to
undermine democratic elections in developing nations. His remarks have received no news media
attention until now. Stigall told the Election Assistance Commission ... that computerized
electoral systems can be manipulated at five stages, from altering voter registration lists to
posting results. Stigall said voting equipment connected to the Internet could be hacked,
and machines that weren't connected could be compromised wirelessly. Eleven U.S. states
have banned or limited wireless capability in voting equipment, but Stigall said elections officials
didn't always know it when wireless cards were embedded in their machines. Stigall said that most
Web-based ballot systems had proved to be insecure. The commission has been criticized for
giving states more than $1 billion to buy electronic equipment without first setting performance
standards. Numerous computer-security experts have concluded that U.S. systems can be
hacked, and allegations of tampering in Ohio, Florida and other swing states have triggered a
campaign to require all voting machines to produce paper audit trails.
Note: For key articles from reliable sources exposing the many flaws in electronic voting systems,
click here.
Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/03prison.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewa...
One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to
the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study. Criminal correction spending is
outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and
federal data. Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which
quadrupled in the past two decades, according to [a new report] by the Pew Center on the
States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years.
The increases in the number of people in some form of correctional control occurred as
crime rates declined by about 25 percent in the past two decades. As states face huge budget
shortfalls, prisons, which hold 1.5 million adults, are driving the spending increases. Pew
researchers say that as states trim services like education and health care, prison budgets are
growing. Those priorities are misguided, the study says. States are looking to make cuts that will
have long-term harmful effects, said Sue Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the
States. Corrections is one area they can cut and still have good or better outcomes than what
they are doing now. About $9 out of $10 spent on corrections goes to prison financing (that
includes money spent to house 780,000 people in local jails). One in 11 African-Americans, or 9.2
percent, are under correctional control, compared with one in 27 Latinos (3.7 percent) and one in
45 whites (2.2 percent).
Note: Crime is down 25%, yet prison spending is 400% of what it was 20 years ago. Is there
anything strange here? The prison-industrial complex is mighty big and in many ways mighty
corrupt.
Vaccine Makers Enjoy Immunity

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB123535050056344903
A special "vaccines court" hears cases brought by parents who claim their children have
been harmed by routine vaccinations. The court buffers Wyeth and other makers of
childhood-disease vaccines from ... litigation risk. The legal shield, known as the National
Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, was put into place in 1986. Vaccines ... are
poised to generate $21.5 billion in annual sales for their makers by 2012, according to France's
Sanofi-Aventis SA, a leading producer of inoculations. Vaccines' transformation into a lucrative
business has some observers questioning whether the shield law is still appropriate. Critics ...
underscored the limited recourse families have in claiming injury from vaccines. "When
you've got a monopoly and can dictate price in a way that you couldn't before, I'm not sure you
need the liability protection," said Lars Noah, a specialist in medical technology. Kevin Conway, an
attorney at Boston law firm Conway, Homer & Chin-Caplan PC, which specializes in vaccine cases
and brought one of the recent autism suits, says the lack of liability for the pharmaceutical industry
compromises safety. Even if they had won their cases, the families of autistic children wouldn't
have been paid by the companies that make the vaccines. Instead, the government would have
footed the bill, using the funds from a tax levied on inoculations.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on
vaccines from reliable major media sources showing huge corruption and deception.
Fed Refuses to Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=apx7XNLnZZlc
The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more
than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is
accepting as collateral. Bloomberg filed suit Nov. 7 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act
requesting details about the terms of 11 Fed lending programs, most created during the deepest
financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Fed responded Dec. 8, saying its allowed to
withhold internal memos as well as information about trade secrets and commercial information.
If they told us what they held, we would know the potential losses that the government
may take and thats what they dont want us to know, said Carlos Mendez, a senior managing
director at New York-based ICP Capital LLC. The Fed stepped into a rescue role that was the
original purpose of the Treasurys $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. The central bank
loans dont have the oversight safeguards that Congress imposed upon the TARP. Total Fed
lending exceeded $2 trillion for the first time Nov. 6. It rose by 138 percent, or $1.23 trillion, in the
12 weeks since Sept. 14, when central bank governors relaxed collateral standards to accept
securities that werent rated AAA. There has to be something they can tell the public because we
have a right to know what they are doing, said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Arlington,
Virginia-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Financial Bailout Balloons to the Trillions

2008-11-25, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=6332892
The government's financial bailout will be the most expensive single expenditure in American
history, potentially costing around $7.5 trillion -- or half the value of all the goods and services
produced in the United States last year. In comparison, the total U.S. cost of World War II adjusted
for inflation was $3.6 trillion. The bailout will cost more than the total combined costs in
today's dollars of the Marshall Plan, the Louisiana Purchase, the Korean War, the Vietnam
War and the entire historical budget of NASA, including the moon landing, according to data
compiled by Bianco Research. It remains to be seen whether the government's multipronged
approach to bail out banks, stimulate spending and buy up mortgages will revive the economy, but
as the tab continues to grow so does concern over where the government will find the money.
Monday the government guaranteed an additional $306 billion to bail out Citigroup, and today
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pledged $800 billion to make credit more available to
consumers and small businesses, and to buy up mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Congress last month allocated $700 billion for an emergency bailout of some of Wall Street's most
storied firms by purchasing their troubled assets. The funds allocated through the Troubled Assets
Relief Program are but a small part of the government's overall bailout spending. Bailout programs
also include a Federal Reserve plan to buy as much as $2.4 trillion in short-term notes called
commercial paper that began Oct. 27, and an FDIC plan to spend $1.4 trillion to guarantee bankto-bank loans that commenced Oct. 14, according to Bloomberg News, which first compiled the
total cost of the bailout.
Note: $7.5 trillion amounts to about $25,000 for every person in the U.S. What's going on here?
For many revealing reports on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Paulson makes it clear: He's in charge

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/13/BUUK1439IF.DTL
Henry Paulson's speech Wednesday made it pretty clear: The Treasury secretary has seized
control of the financial system. "He is absolutely the most powerful person in the country.
Maybe the world," says Wall Street accounting expert Robert Willens. The most telling line in
his speech came when Paulson was explaining why he did a 180-degree turn with money
approved by Congress under the $700 billion bailout bill. Instead of using it to buy troubled
mortgage assets from banks, as clearly envisioned, he scrapped that idea and used it to make
equity investments in banks. "In consultation with the Federal Reserve, I determined that the most
timely, effective step to improve credit market conditions was to strengthen bank balance sheets
quickly through direct purchases of equity in banks," he said. If Paulson bothered consulting with
President Bush, he didn't mention it. In fact, he didn't even mention the president until the tail end
of his speech, when he talked about the global summit Bush is hosting this weekend. I can
understand why Paulson wants to distance himself from an unpopular president, especially one
who has little facility for complex financial matters. But Bush is [the] president and even Presidentelect Barack Obama knows there can be only one president at a time. And his last name is not
Paulson. In September, when Paulson asked for a $700 billion blank check from Congress to fix
the financial markets, he got a lot of blowback. By the time Congress was done with his
proposal, it had grown from 2 1/2 pages to more than 450. Yet it now appears that Paulson
got the blank check he wanted.
Note: Why doesn't Congress have some say in what is done with this $700 billion? That's over
$3,000 for every taxpayer in the U.S. which is being spent with practically no accountability. Is this
what democracy looks like? For many key articles revealing the hidden realities of the bailout, click
here.
Has Anyone Seen a Stray H-Bomb?

2008-11-11, New York Times Blog
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/has-anyone-seen-a-stray-h-bomb
A hydrogen bomb is missing from the United States' arsenal and has been, evidently, for 40 years.
When last seen, the bomb was one of four aboard an Air Force B-52 bomber that crashed on a
frozen bay near Thule Air Force Base in northern Greenland on Jan. 21, 1968. Two years later, the
United States and Denmark reported that they agreed "that the accident caused no danger to man
or animal and plant life in the area." The 96-page report of the investigation indicated that all four
nuclear warheads aboard the plane had disintegrated on impact. Case closed. Well, maybe not,
the BBC says this week. Declassified documents that the BBC obtained under the United
States Freedom of Information Act indicate that only three of the bombs were accounted
for, and that the United States searched secretly for the fourth bomb, without success. By
April [1968], a decision had been taken to send a Star III submarine to the base to look for the lost
bomb, which had the serial number 78252. (A similar submarine search off the coast of Spain two
years earlier had led to another weapon being recovered.) But the real purpose of this search was
deliberately hidden from Danish officials. One document from July reads: "Fact that this operation
includes search for object or missing weapon part is to be treated as confidential NOFORN", the
last word meaning not to be disclosed to any foreign country. "For discussion with Danes, this
operation should be referred to as a survey repeat survey of bottom under impact point," it
continued. And what does the Pentagon have to say about all this now? It had no comment for the
BBC.
Note: To read the original New York Times article from Jan. 22, 1968 on this incident, click here.
Government Rescue Spending: Clear or Cloudy?

2008-11-11, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=6225744&page=1
After weeks of sometimes frenzied efforts by the federal government to rescue the financial system
... critics say there are many questions but few answers about the work performed by the Treasury
Department and the Federal Reserve. "The bailout, the Treasury, the Federal Reserve -- it's
like a three-card monte game, you don't know where the money's coming from, you don't
know who it's going to, and I think the public has every right to be outraged by this," said
Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency watchdog
group. Gerald O'Driscoll, a former vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas ... said he
worried that the failure of the government to provide more information about its rescue spending
could signal corruption. "Nontransparency in government programs is always associated with
corruption in other countries, so I don't see why it wouldn't be here," he said. Questions about
transparency at the Federal Reserve, in particular, have prompted a lawsuit: Bloomberg L.P.,
which operates the news agency Bloomberg News, is suing the Fed for the release of information
on its lending to private financial institutions. "We really don't know anything," Matthew Winkler, the
editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, told ABCNews.com. "All we know is something close to 2
trillion is being used and that money is the taxpayers'. ... We don't know whom it's being lent to and
for what purpose because we can't see it because it isn't disclosed."
Note: For many revealing and reliable reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Warning: King Henry's bailout like Rummy's Iraq

2008-11-10, MarketWatch (A Wall Street Journal Digital Network Website)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/reagonomics-hides-sleeper-cells-harbori...
So you thought Barack Obama's victory signaled the death of Reaganomics? Wrong, wrong:
Reaganomics is very much alive. In a subtle, bloodless coup, the Reaganomics ideology magically
pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat in the meltdown. The magic happened fast and quietly, in
the shadows, while you were in a trance, distracted by the election drama. Recently Naomi Klein,
author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, framed the issue perfectly: "Has
the Treasury partially nationalized the private banks, as we have been told? Or is it the
other way around?" The question was rhetorical, the answer painfully clear. In a few weeks
Wall Street did the old bait and switch, emerging from an economic and market disaster
with new powers, in total control of America. And thanks to Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson's brilliant bailout coup, Reaganomics is now the new "sleeper cell" quietly hidden inside
the Obama White House and America's Treasury, where it will be for a long time to come. Listen
closely folks: You and your government are and will continue being conned out of trillions. Klein
further exposed this insanity in a recent Rolling Stone article, "The New Trough: The Wall Street
bailout looks a lot like Iraq, a 'free-fraud zone' where private contractors cash in on the mess they
helped create." Paulson's privatization, outsourcing and management of the $700 billion bailout
has the exact same Reaganomics ideological, strategic and deceptive footprints that President
George W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used to privatize, outsource and
mismanage the costly Iraq War blunder.
Note: For the powerfully revealing article by Naomi Klein mentioned in the article above, click
here. Speaking on Tulsa Oklahomas 1170 KFAQ, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma
(Republican) has revealed that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was the source of the threat of
martial law in the US if the $700 billion bailout bill was not passed that was exposed on the House
floor by Rep. Brad Sherman. For many key articles revealing the hidden realities of the bailout,
click here.
White House defends money for banks

Under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike, the White House ... defended giving billions of
bailout dollars to banks that plan to reward shareholders and executives -- or even buy other
banks. Allowing banks to engage in such normal business activities actually could help loosen
lending and revive the sagging economy, said Ed Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic
Advisers. He said the administration would not impose any conditions on banks beyond those
required when Congress created the bailout program, which authorized the government to buy
stock in financial institutions. Lazear was put before the cameras in the White House briefing room
amid a rising chorus of complaints from lawmakers about the latitude that banks will have when
they receive bailout money from Washington. That bailout was originally sold by the administration
as a plan for the government to purchase toxic mortgage-based assets from financial institutions,
to get them off their books and inspire the resumption of normal lending. After passage, though,
the administration decided the better course would be to devote $250 billion into buying ownership
stakes in banks. With taxpayers' money flowing into their vaults, banks are going ahead with
paying dividends to shareholders, giving bonuses to top executives and acquiring

competitors. Lawmakers are asking why banks with the money to do those things need
taxpayer-funded help. The rescue legislation included some limits on executive compensation,
considered weak by many. And while it does not allow institutions receiving the money to increase
dividends, it does not prevent them from paying those dividends.
Note: For extensive coverage of continuing revelations about the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Reports Link Karzais Brother to Afghanistan Heroin Trade

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html
The White House says it believes that Ahmed Wali Karzai is involved in drug trafficking, and
American officials have repeatedly warned President Karzai that his brother is a political liability.
Numerous reports link Ahmed Wali Karzai to the drug trade, according to current and former
officials from the White House, the State Department and the United States Embassy in
Afghanistan, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity. Neither the Drug Enforcement
Administration, which conducts counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan, nor the fledgling Afghan
anti-drug agency has pursued investigations into the accusations against the presidents brother.
Several American investigators said senior officials at the D.E.A. and the office of the
Director of National Intelligence complained to them that the White House favored a handsoff approach toward Ahmed Wali Karzai. The concerns about Ahmed Wali Karzai have surfaced
recently because of the imprisonment of an informant who tipped off American and Afghan
investigators to [a] drug-filled truck outside Kabul in 2006. The informant, Hajji Aman Kheri, ... said
he had been an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration and United States intelligence
agencies, an assertion confirmed by American counternarcotics and intelligence officials. Ever
since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, critics have charged that the Bush
administration has failed to take aggressive action against the Afghan narcotics trade.
Note: For revealing information suggesting the CIA is directly involved in the lucrative opium trade
in Afghanistan, click here and here.
Israeli ex-agent: We allowed Nazi doc to escape

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26505933/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/israeli...
Israeli agents who kidnapped Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann from Argentina in 1960
found the notorious death camp doctor Josef Mengele but let him get away, one of the
operatives said Tuesday. Mengele was one of the most wanted Nazi war criminals, a doctor
who conducted cruel experiments on twins and dwarves at the Auschwitz concentration camp and
killed children with lethal injections. He selected prisoners who would be subjected to his
experiments and sent others straight to their death in gas chambers. Rafi Eitan, now an 81-year-
old Israeli Cabinet minister, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he and other Mossad
agents located Mengele living in a Buenos Aires apartment with his wife at the time of Eichmann's
capture in 1960. But they decided that trying to nab him would risk sabotaging the capture of
Eichmann, who implemented Adolf Hitler's "final solution" to kill European Jewry and was deemed
a more important target. Mengele was infamous for his sadistic experiments in the death
camps. He injected dye into the eyes of twins to change their color and sewed them together to try
to create artificially conjoined twins. He ordered twins killed simultaneously and then dissected for
examination of their organs. His horrors earned him the title "Angel of Death." After the war,
Mengele fled Germany under an assumed name and ended up in Argentina ... in 1949 but left in
1959 and became a naturalized citizen of Paraguay. After Eichmann was captured in May 1960,
Mengele moved to Brazil, according to the report by the Office of Special Investigations (OSI),
which tracks Nazis.
Note: It is suspected by many who have researched government mind control programs that after
he escaped capture as mentioned above, Mengele was secretly brought to the U.S., where he
trained top operatives of the infamous MKULTRA program in mind control techniques he perfected
while experimenting without ethical limitations on live humans at Auschwitz. For more on this, click
here and here.
Bracelet Promises Air Safety, At A Price

2008-07-31, CBS4-TV (Miami, FL CBS affiliate)
http://cbs4.com/iteam/security.bracelet.security.2.784127.html
Flying today can be stressful, inconvenient and downright difficult. But what if there was a way to
make it all easier? What if you had one small device, say a bracelet, which carried all your flight
information and other data to make things easier? This bracelet could even track you and your
luggage. Former United States Air Marshal Jeffrey Denning describes the idea this way: "The
bracelets would take the place of boarding tickets. [They] would also work as a GPS to track air
travelers and their luggage." Denning says airline passengers might use this bracelet technology in
place of a boarding pass but the government could use it for something else. "And here's the
shocking part," Denning said. "No pun intended. If the passengers act up it (the bracelet) would
shock and immobilize them for several minutes." That's right. If the flight crew decides that
you're getting out of control or posing a threat, to them or the plane, they could simply
engage a computer, press a button which would activate this bracelet, shocking and
incapacitating you for as long as several minutes. "I guess the design was ... for any air
passengers who would become a terrorist or be a terrorist," Denning told [CBS4-TV]. "The bracelet
has a capacity to shock ... whoever is wearing it kind of like a police 'taser.'"
Note: What will they think of next? To watch this revealing CBS news broadcast, click here.
McCain's 'big advantage'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/24/EDPC11EHS4.DTL
Charlie Black, senior adviser to John McCain, caused a fluff by saying that a terrorist attack on
U.S. soil would be a "big advantage" to his candidate. No one mentioned that eight years ago, the
Project for a New American Century called for "a new Pearl Harbor" that could move the American
people to accept the neoconservative vision of militarized global domination. Then 9/11 happened,
lifting George W. Bush from the shadows of a disputed election to the heights of a "war
presidency." Bush has taken on unprecedented powers since the events of 9/11. On that day, the
president issued his "Declaration of Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks" under the
authority of the National Emergencies Act. This declaration, which can be rescinded by joint
resolution of Congress, has instead been extended six times. In 2007, the declaration was quietly
strengthened with the issuance of National Security Presidential Directive 51, which gave the
president the authority to do whatever he deems necessary in a vaguely defined
"catastrophic emergency," including everything from canceling elections to suspending the
Constitution to launching a nuclear attack. Not a single congressional hearing was held on
this directive. Will Congress act decisively to remove the president's emergency powers,
challenge the directive and defend the Constitution?
Capitol Chaos
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/06/INFS114789.DTL
[California] Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi had no intention of voting for AB2818, a bill that the
Castro Valley Democrat feared could undermine its stated goal of protecting affordable housing.
But on May 28, she nearly approved it - without her knowledge, and without her presence on the
Assembly floor. As the roll call began, Hayashi was engaged in a budget subcommittee meeting on
the Capitol's fourth floor. Suddenly, two floors below, the light next to her name on the big
electronic voting board in the Assembly chamber turned green, a "yes" vote. Seconds later, it
turned red. Then green. Red. Green. Finally, after 22 seconds of alternating colors, the space next
to Hayashi's name went blank. While there are conflicting accounts of exactly what caused this
dizzying sequence, this much is clear: Two people had their hands on Hayashi's voting switches
during the roll call on AB2818 - and one was acting against her will. "Ghost voting" was not the
only disturbing episode as the Assembly took up 316 bills in the three days leading up to
the deadline for measures to pass their house of origin. In the frenzied treadmill, there was
little or no debate on most matters, important bills died when legislators failed to vote, and
votes were being cast for members without their express consent. In the Hayashi case,
eyewitnesses said her initial "yes" vote was cast by Assemblyman Kevin de Len, D-Los Angeles,
an assistant majority floor leader who colleagues said had taken the liberty of voting for other
missing members as bills were being rushed to beat the deadline. "I don't recall it, but I don't deny
it either," de Len said.
Note: For lots more on problems with voting systems, click here.
Investors' Growing Appetite for Oil Evades Market Limits

Hedge funds and big Wall Street banks are taking advantage of loopholes in federal trading
limits to buy massive amounts of oil contracts, ... helping to push oil prices to record highs.
The federal agency that oversees oil trading, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
has exempted these firms from rules that limit speculative buying. The CFTC has also
waived regulations over the past decade on U.S. investors who trade commodities on some
overseas markets, freeing those investors to accumulate large quantities of the future oil supply by
making purchases on lightly regulated foreign exchanges. Over the past five years, investors have
become such a force on commodity markets that their appetite for oil contracts has been equal to
China's increase in demand over the same period, said Michael Masters, a hedge fund manager
who testified before Congress on the subject last month. The commodity markets, he added, were
never intended for such large financial players. Commodities have become especially enticing to
investors as the credit crisis has roiled other investment opportunities such as stocks and debtrelated securities. The recent flood of investment money has transformed the markets for oil, as
well as uranium, wheat, cotton and other goods, into a volatile realm that some insiders call the
Wild West of Wall Street. Michael Greenberger, a professor at the University of Maryland and
former CFTC commissioner, said there were loopholes the agency could close without much effort.
"There's smoke here, and the CFTC hasn't wanted to look if there's a fire," he said. "But these are
dark markets. They don't even know who's doing the trading."
Note: For revealing reports on financial corruption and criminality from major media sources, click
here.
40 years after RFK's death, questions linger

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/03/MNN110S5KH.DTL
Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of killing Robert F. Kennedy 40 years ago this week in the Ambassador
Hotel in Los Angeles, is living out his days in the California state prison at Corcoran. He is 64 and
has never fully explained what happened that night other than to say he can't remember it. "The
interesting thing is how under-examined the Robert Kennedy assassination is, compared to
President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.," said David Talbot of San Francisco, author of
Brothers, a book that looks into Robert Kennedy's own investigation into his brother's death and
his conviction that JFK was the victim of a conspiracy. "Bobby remains the unknown territory,"
Talbot said. "But even if you look at it minimally, there are questions that come to mind." Over the
years, Sirhan has told investigators who interviewed him in prison that he was in a hypnotic trance
during the shooting and can't remember it at all. William Turner, a retired FBI agent who wrote a
book about the case, ... thinks Sirhan was "hypno-programmed to shoot" and that he was a
real-life Manchurian Candidate - [a] brainwashed dupe whose controllers want to
assassinate a presidential candidate. Turner suspects the same villains as do the JFK
conspiracy theorists - "organized crime and, predominantly, people from the CIA." [Philip Van
Praag, a retired electrical engineer and audio expert,] and a fellow investigator, former American
Academy of Forensic Scientists president Robert Joling, ... have written a book about the killing,
whose title, An Open and Shut Case, is a dig at the police investigation. Joling says an
"independent panel of forensic scientists" should be created to "reinvestigate this matter on all the
evidence."
Note: To listen to a highly revealing presentation by Sirhan's lawyer, Lawrence Teeter, on the
many lines of evidence proving Sirhan was not a lone gunman, click here. For further revealing
reports on major political assassinations, click here.
The Global Ruling Class: Billion-dollar Babies

2008-04-24, The Economist magazine
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11081878
Who rules the world? The rise of nation states produced national ruling classes. It would be odd if
the current integration of the world economy did not produce new global elites business people
and financiers who run global companies and global politicians who steer supra-national
organisations such as the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund. David
Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argues that these
elites constitute nothing less than a new global superclass. They have all the clubby
characteristics of the old national ruling classes, but with the vital difference that they
operate on the global stage, far from mere national electorates. They attend the same
universities. They are groomed in a handful of world-spanning institutions such as Goldman
Sachs. They belong to the same clubs the Council on Foreign Relations in New York is a
particular favourite and sit on each other's boards of directors. Many of them shuttle between
the public and private sectors. They meet at global events such as the World Economic Forum at
Davos and the Trilateral Commission or for the crme de la crme the Bilderberg meetings or
the Bohemian Grove seminars that take place every July in California. Mr Rothkopf is anything but
a crank, and he is right when he says that, these days, the most influential people around the
world are also the most global people. He is also admirably ambivalent about his subject. He
worries about surging inequality the richest 1% of humans own 40% of the planet's wealth
and about the rumbling backlash against so much unaccountable power.
Note: For reliable, verifiable information the secret societies of which the global elite are a part,
click here. Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making by David Rothkopf
is available here.
Permissible Assaults Cited in Graphic Detail

Thirty pages into a memorandum discussing the legal boundaries of military interrogations in 2003,
senior Justice Department lawyer John C. Yoo tackled a question not often asked by American
policymakers: Could the president, if he desired, have a prisoner's eyes poked out? Or, for
that matter, could he have "scalding water, corrosive acid or caustic substance" thrown on
a prisoner? How about slitting an ear, nose or lip, or disabling a tongue or limb? What
about biting? These assaults are all mentioned in a U.S. law prohibiting maiming, which Yoo
parsed as he clarified the legal outer limits of what could be done to terrorism suspects as
detained by U.S. authorities. The specific prohibitions, he said, depended on the circumstances or
which "body part the statute specifies." But none of that matters in a time of war, Yoo also said,
because federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes by military interrogators are
trumped by the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief. In the sober language of
footnotes, case citations and judicial rulings, the memo explores a wide range of unsavory topics,
from the use of mind-altering drugs on captives to the legality of forcing prisoners to squat on their
toes in a "frog crouch." It repeats an assertion in another controversial Yoo memo that an
interrogation tactic cannot be considered torture unless it would result in "death, organ failure or
serious impairment of bodily functions." Yoo, who is now a law professor at the University of
California at Berkeley, also uses footnotes to effectively dismiss the Fourth and Fifth amendments
to the Constitution, arguing that protections against unreasonable search and seizure and
guarantees of due process either do not apply or are irrelevant in a time of war. He frequently cites
his previous legal opinions to bolster his case.
Administration Asserted a Terror Exception on Search and Seizure

The Justice Department concluded in October 2001 that military operations combating terrorism
inside the United States are not limited by Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable
searches and seizures, in one of several secret memos containing new and controversial
assertions of presidential power. The memo, sent on Oct. 23, 2001, to the Defense Department
and the White House by the Office of Legal Counsel, focused on the rules governing any
deployment of U.S. forces inside the country "in the event of further large-scale terrorist activities."
Administration officials declined to detail what domestic military operations were being
contemplated at the time. The memo has not been formally withdrawn. The Fourth Amendment
assertion is one of several far-reaching legal arguments revealed by the disclosure Tuesday
of a 2003 Justice Department memo that authorized harsh military interrogations. In its
footnotes, asides and central text, that 81-page memo asserted nearly unlimited
presidential powers during a time of war. The document disclosed, for example, that the
administration's top lawyers had declared that the president has unfettered power to seize
oceangoing ships as commander in chief; that Congress has no ability to pass legislation
governing the interrogations of enemy combatants; and that federal laws prohibiting assault and
other crimes did not apply to military interrogators. One section discussed to what extent the
president might be allowed to legally maim a prisoner, such as through the use of a "scalding,
corrosive, or caustic substance." A footnote argued that Fifth Amendment guarantees of dueprocess rights "do not address actions the Executive takes in conducting a military campaign
against the Nation's enemies."
Note: For further disturbing reports on threats to civil liberties, click here.
Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb'

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/derivatives-are-the-new-ticking-time-bomb
"In our view, however, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers
that, while now latent, are potentially lethal." That warning was in [Warren] Buffett's 2002 letter to
Berkshire shareholders. He saw a future that many others chose to ignore. Wall Street didn't listen
to Buffett. Derivatives grew into a massive bubble, from about $100 trillion to $516 trillion by 2007.
Despite Buffett's clear warnings, a massive new derivatives bubble is driving the domestic and
global economies, a bubble that continues growing today parallel with the subprime-credit
meltdown triggering a bear-recession. Data on the five-fold growth of derivatives to $516 trillion in
five years comes from the most recent survey by the Bank of International Settlements, the world's
clearinghouse for central banks in Basel, Switzerland. Keep in mind that while the $516 trillion
"notional" value (maximum in case of a meltdown) of the deals is a good measure of the market's
size, the 2007 BIS study notes that the $11 trillion "gross market values provides a more accurate
measure of the scale of financial risk transfer taking place in derivatives markets." The fact is,
derivatives have become the world's biggest "black market," exceeding the illicit traffic in
stuff like arms, drugs, alcohol, gambling, cigarettes, stolen art and pirated movies. Why?
Because like all black markets, derivatives are a perfect way of getting rich while avoiding
taxes and government regulations. And in today's slowdown, plus a volatile global market, Wall
Street knows derivatives remain a lucrative business.
Note: $516 trillion is equivalent to $75,000 for every man, woman, and child in the world! Do you
think the financial industry is out of control? For lots more powerful, reliable information on major
banking manipulations, click here. For a powerful analysis describing just how crazy things have
gotten and giving some rays of hope by researcher David Wilcock, click here.
What FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds found in translation

2008-02-17, Dallas Morning News (Dallas' leading newspaper)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-sibe...
Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they
never will. The former FBI translator turned whistle-blower tells a chilling story of corruption at
Washington's highest levels sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms
transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage. Ms. Edmonds' account is full of
dates, places and names. And if she is to be believed, a treasonous plot to embed moles in
American military and nuclear installations and pass sensitive intelligence to Israeli,
Pakistani and Turkish sources was facilitated by figures in the upper echelons of the State
and Defense Departments. Her charges could be easily confirmed or dismissed if classified
government documents were made available to investigators. But Congress has refused to act,
and the Justice Department has shrouded Ms. Edmonds' case in the state-secrets privilege,
a rarely used measure so sweeping that it precludes even a closed hearing attended only by
officials with top-secret security clearances. Ms. Edmonds' revelations have attracted corroboration
in the form of anonymous letters apparently written by FBI employees. There have been frequent
reports of FBI field agents being frustrated by the premature closure of cases dealing with foreign
spying, particularly when those cases involve Israel, and the State Department has frequently
intervened to shut down investigations based on "sensitive foreign diplomatic relations." Curiously,
the state-secrets gag order binding Ms. Edmonds, while put in place by DOJ in 2002, was not
requested by the FBI but by the State Department and Pentagon which employed individuals she
identified as being involved in criminal activities. If her allegations are frivolous, that order would
scarcely seem necessary.
Note: The author of this article, Philip Giraldi, is a retired career CIA officer. For further powerful
details of Sibel Edmonds' revelations, click here.
Bill Moyers talks with [NY Times reporter] David Cay Johnston about
Free Lunch
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/transcript1.html
BILL MOYERS: Why do some of the most powerful and privileged people in the country get a free
lunch you pay for? You'll find some of the answers [in]: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans
Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). The theme of the book
as I read it is that not that the rich are getting richer but that they've got the government rigging the
rules to help them do it. DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: That's exactly right. And they're doing it in a way
that I think is very crucial for people to understand. They're doing it by taking from those with
less to give to those with more. We gave $100 million dollars to Warren Buffett's company
last year, a gift from the taxpayers. We make gifts all over the place to rich people. Donald
Trump benefits from a tax specifically levied by the State of New Jersey for the poor. Part of
the casino winnings tax in New Jersey is dedicated to help the poor. But $89 million of it is being
diverted to subsidize Donald Trump's casino's building retail space. George Steinbrenner, like
almost every owner of a major sports franchise, gets enormous public subsidies. The major sports
franchises [make] 100 percent of their profits from subsidies. In fact, if it weren't for these
subsidies, the baseball, football, hockey, and basketball enterprises as a whole would be losing
hundreds of millions of dollars a year. George Bush owes almost his entire fortune to a tax
increase that was funneled into his pocket and into the use of eminent domain laws to essentially
legally cheat other people out of their land for less than it was worth to enrich him and his fellow
investors.
Note: Watch part of this amazingly revealing interview online at this link. Johnston is a prolific
writer with the NY Times; to see a list of his many articles there, click here. For deeply revealing
Stonewalled by the C.I.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02kean.html
More than five years ago, Congress and President Bush created the 9/11 commission. Soon after
its creation, the presidents chief of staff directed all executive branch agencies to cooperate with
the commission. The commissions mandate was sweeping and it explicitly included the
intelligence agencies. But the recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped
interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond
to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those
videotapes and did not tell us about them obstructed our investigation. No one in the
administration ever told the commission of the existence of videotapes of detainee interrogations.
We did ask, repeatedly, for the kind of information that would have been contained in such
videotapes. Beginning in June 2003, we requested all reports of intelligence information ... that had
been gleaned from the interrogations of 118 named individuals, including both Abu Zubaydah and
Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, two senior Qaeda operatives, portions of whose interrogations were
apparently recorded and then destroyed. The C.I.A. gave us many reports summarizing
information gained in the interrogations. But the reports raised almost as many questions as they
answered. So, in October 2003, we sent another wave of questions to the C.I.A.s general counsel.
The general counsel responded in writing with non-specific replies. The agency did not disclose
that any interrogations had ever been recorded or that it had held any further relevant information,
in any form. Government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by
Congress and the president, to investigate one the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We
call that obstruction.
Note: The authors of this op-ed, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, served as chairman and
vice chairman, respectively, of the 9/11 Commission.
FDA Science and Mission at Risk

2007-11-00, FDA Subcommittee on Science and Technology
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/AC/07/briefing/2007-4329b_02_01_FDA%20Report...
The nation is at risk if FDA science is at risk. In recognition of this threat, in December 2006, FDA
Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, MD requested that the Science Board, which is the
Advisory Board to the Commissioner, form a Subcommittee to assess whether science and
technology at the FDA can support current and future regulatory needs. This report is the product
of that assessment. The Subcommittee concluded that science at the FDA is in a precarious
position: the Agency suffers from serious scientific deficiencies and is not positioned to
meet current or emerging regulatory responsibilities. The FDA cannot fulfill its mission
because its scientific base has eroded and its scientific organizational structure is weak. The FDA
cannot fulfill its mission because its scientific workforce does not have sufficient capacity and
capability. FDA does not have the capacity to ensure the safety of food for the nation. The FDA
science agenda lacks a structure and vision, as well as effective coordination. The FDA has an
inadequate and ineffective program for scientist performance. Recommendations of excellent FDA
reviews are seldom followed.
Note: The above excerpts are all taken from the chapter headings in the initial table of contents
and the second page of the initial overview.
Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/washington/04interrogate.html?ex=1349150400...
When the Justice Department publicly declared torture abhorrent in a legal opinion in December
2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited
presidential authority to order brutal interrogations. But soon after Alberto R. Gonzaless arrival as
attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one
in secret. It was a very different document; according to officials briefed on it, [it was] an
expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central
Intelligence Agency. The new opinion ... for the first time provided explicit authorization to
barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including
head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures. Later that year, as Congress moved
toward outlawing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the Justice Department issued
another secret opinion. The Justice Department document declared that none of the C.I.A.
interrogation methods violated that standard. The classified opinions, never previously disclosed,
are a hidden legacy of President Bushs second term and Mr. Gonzaless tenure at the Justice
Department. Congress and the Supreme Court have intervened repeatedly in the last two years to
impose limits on interrogations, and the administration has responded as a policy matter by
dropping the most extreme techniques. But the 2005 Justice Department opinions remain in effect,
and their legal conclusions have been confirmed by several more recent memorandums, officials
said. They show how the White House has succeeded in preserving the broadest possible legal
latitude for harsh tactics.
Dirty Secret: Green Cars Automakers Won't Sell You

http://autos.msn.com/advice/article.aspx?contentid=4024974
On a recent run from Boston to Cape Cod, I test drove the 2008 Honda Accord, the latest version
of this family favorite. The new Accord boasts an environmental first: a six-cylinder gasoline engine
that's cleaner than many hybrid systems. There's only one catch: You can't actually buy this ultra-
green Accord, or the four-cylinder version that also produces near-zero pollution. That is, unless
you live in California, New York or six other northeast states that follow California's tougher
pollution rules. Only there can you buy this Accord, or the roughly two dozen other models that
meet so-called Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle standards, PZEV for short. Not only can't you buy
one, but the government says it's currently illegal for automakers to sell these green cars
outside of the special states. Under terms of the Clean Air Act in the kind of delicious
irony only our government can pull off anyone (dealer, consumer, automaker) involved in
an out-of-bounds PZEV sale could be subject to civil fines of up to $27,500. Volvo sent its
dealers a memo alerting them to this fact, noting that its greenest S40 and V50 models were only
for the special states. So, just how green is a PZEV machine? Well, if you just cut your lawn with a
gas mower, congratulations, you just put out more pollution in one hour than these cars do in 2,000
miles of driving. Grill a single juicy burger, and you've cooked up the same hydrocarbon emissions
as a three-hour drive in a Ford Focus PZEV. As the California Air Resources Board has noted, the
tailpipe emissions of these cars can be cleaner than the outside air in smoggy cities. PZEV models
are already available from Toyota, Ford, Honda, GM, Subaru, Volvo and VW. But chances are,
you've never heard of them.
Note: For many exciting articles about new, efficient and clean energy inventions, click here.
Iraq corruption whistleblowers face penalties

One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the
massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted. Or worse. For daring to report
illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in
a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods. He had
thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and
the land mines and the rocket-launchers all of them being sold for cash, no receipts necessary,
he said. The buyers were Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi
embassy and ministry employees. The seller, he claimed, was the Iraqi-owned company he
worked for, Shield Group Security Co. It was a Wal-Mart for guns, he says. It was all illegal and
everyone knew it. So Vance says he blew the whistle, supplying photos and documents and other
intelligence to an FBI agent in his hometown of Chicago because he didnt know whom to trust in
Iraq. For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison
outside Baghdad. Congress gave more than $30 billion to rebuild Iraq, and at least $8.8 billion of it
has disappeared. If you do it, you will be destroyed, said William Weaver, professor of
political science at the University of Texas-El Paso and senior advisor to the National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition. Reconstruction is so rife with corruption. Sometimes people ask
me, Should I do this? And my answer is no. If theyre married, theyll lose their family.
They will lose their jobs. They will lose everything, Weaver said.
1934: The Plot Against America

2007-07-28, Harper's magazine
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651
In November 1934, federal investigators uncovered an amazing plot involving some two dozen
senior businessmen, a good many of them Wall Street financiers, to topple the government of the
United States and install a fascist dictatorship. An alert FDR shut it down but stopped short of
retaliatory measures against the plotters. A key element of the plot involved [Smedley Butler], a
retired prominent general who was to have raised a private army of 500,000 men from
unemployed veterans and who blew the whistle when he learned more of what the plot entailed.
The plot was heavily funded and well developed and had strong links with fascist forces abroad. A
story in the New York Times and several other newspapers reported on it, and a special
Congressional committee was created to conduct an investigation. The records of this committee
were scrubbed and sealed away in the National Archives, where they have only recently been
made available. The Congressional committee kept the names of many of the participants under
wraps and no criminal action was ever brought against them. But a few names have leaked out.
And one is Prescott Bush, the grandfather of the incumbent president. Prescott Bush was ...
deep into the business of the Hamburg-America Lines, and had tight relations throughout
this period with the new Government that had come to power in Germany a year earlier
under Chancellor Adolph Hitler. It appears that Bush was to have formed a key liaison for the
group with the new German government. The role of the most powerful political dynastic family in
the nations history in this whole affair is shocking.
Note: You can listen to the highly revealing BBC Radio broadcast on Bush/Nazi ties by clicking
here. And to watch an eye-opening History Channel documentary on the coup plot, click here. U.S.
Marine Corps General Smedley Butler was the author of the landmark book "War is a Racket,"
summarized here.
State Vote Machines Lose Test To Hackers

2007-07-28, San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspaper), Front Page
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/28/MNGP6R8TJO1.DTL
State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of
virtually every model of California's voting machines and change results or take control of
some of the systems' electronic functions, according to a University of California study. The
researchers "were able to bypass physical and software security in every machine they tested,''
said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who authorized the "top to bottom review" of every voting
system certified by the state. Neither Bowen nor the investigators were willing to say exactly
how vulnerable California elections are to computer hackers. The review included voting
equipment from every company approved for use in the state. Bowen said ... that the report is only
one piece of information she will use to decide which voting systems are secure enough to use in
February's presidential primary election.
Note: For more reliable, verifiable information on the problems with new electronic voting
machines, click here.
Agency's Strangeloves altered mind of a girl aged 4

2007-06-28, The Australian (Australia's national daily newspaper)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21980496-2703,00.html
Easily lost, on page 425, in the mass of the CIA's notorious "Family Jewels" files is a short
paragraph outlining "potentially embarrassing Agency activities". "Experiments in influencing
human behaviour through the administration of mind- or personality-altering drugs to unwitting
subjects." Of all the heinous acts committed by the CIA in the name of national security, these
experiments, done on the agency's behalf by prominent psychiatrists on innocent victims including children as young as four - may be the darkest. "We have no answer to the moral issue,"
former director Richard Helms infamously said when asked about the nature of the projects. The
release of the Family Jewels documents revealed the CIA handsomely funded these real-life Dr
Strangeloves and engaged pharmaceutical companies to help its experiments. The agency
appealed to Big Pharma to pass on any drugs that could not be marketed because of
"unfavourable side effects" to be tested on mice and monkeys. Any drugs that passed muster
would then be used ... on volunteer US soldiers. The Family Jewels files do not provide further
detail into the numerous mind-control programs, such as MKULTRA, covertly propped up by the
agency. In 1953, MKULTRA was given 6 per cent of the total CIA budget without any
oversight. The nature of the experiments, gathered from government documents and testimony in
numerous lawsuits brought against the CIA, is shocking, from testing LSD on children to implanting
electrodes in victims' brains to deliberately poisoning people with uranium. "The CIA bought my
services from my grandfather in 1952 starting at the tender age of four," wrote Carol Rutz of
her experiences.
Note: The entire body of the CIA's "Family Jewels" documents have been posted online by the
National Security Archives, and can be read by clicking here. And for a 10-page summary of Carol
Rutz's riveting book on her experiences as a government-created Manchurian candidate, click
here.
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

Part One: 'A Different Understanding With the President': In less than an hour ... Cheney's
proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects
held by the United States were stripped of access to any court -- civilian or military, domestic or
foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed
"military commissions." "What the hell just happened?" Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
demanded ... when CNN announced the order that evening, Nov. 13, 2001. National security
adviser Condoleezza Rice, incensed, sent an aide to find out. Even witnesses to the Oval Office
signing said they did not know the vice president had played any part. "Angler," as the Secret
Service code-named him, has approached the levers of power obliquely, skirting orderly
lines of debate he once enforced as chief of staff to President Gerald R. Ford. He has
battled a bureaucracy he saw as hostile, using intimate knowledge of its terrain. He has
empowered aides to fight above their rank, taking on roles reserved in other times for a White
House counsel or national security adviser. And he has found a ready patron in George W. Bush
for edge-of-the-envelope views on executive supremacy that previous presidents did not assert.
Over the past six years, Cheney has shaped his times as no vice president has before. [The]
relationship [between Bush and Cheney] is opaque, a vital unknown in assessing Cheney's impact
on events. Officials who see them together often, not all of them admirers of the vice president,
detect a strong sense of mutual confidence that Cheney is serving Bush's aims.
Note: This is an important, in-depth investigation of the Cheney vice-presidency. It is highly
revealing and well worth reading it its entirety.
U.S. health care is bad for your health

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/03/EDGHQP1J6K1.DTL
[A new] study ... finds that not only is the U.S. health care system the most expensive in the
world (double that of the next most costly comparator country, Canada) but comes in dead
last in almost any measure of performance. Although U.S. political leaders are fond of stating
that we have the best health-care system in the world, they fail to acknowledge an important
caveat: It is the best only for the very rich. For the rest of the population, its deficits far outweigh its
advantages. [The] study compared the United States with Australia, Canada, Germany, New
Zealand and the United Kingdom. Although the most notable way in which the United States differs
from the other countries is in the absence of universal coverage, the United States is also last on
dimensions of access, patient safety, efficiency and equity. The other five countries considered
spend considerably less on health care, both per capita and as a percent of gross domestic
product, than the United States. The United States spends $7,000 per person per year on health
care, almost double that of Australia, Canada and Germany, each of which achieve better results
on health status indicators than the United States. The United States also lags behind all
industrialized nations in terms of health coverage. 46.6 million Americans (about 15.9 percent of
the population) had no health insurance coverage during 2005. It is no wonder, then, that medical
bills are overwhelmingly the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable information on health, click here.
Who really did kill Kennedy?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/13/RVG5FPLIMF1.DTL
David Talbot, founder of Salon.com ... believes that new evidence, including his own research
encompassing more than 150 interviews, further undermines the conclusions of the Warren
Commission Report. [His new book] "Brothers" ... stresses the extent to which the Kennedy
administration faced political pressure from the extreme right, including elements of the CIA
leadership, the national security apparatus [and] anti-Castro Cubans. JFK incurred the wrath of his
enemies and incubated a desire for revenge in many of them. The author will convince many ...
that the likelihood of a conspiracy to assassinate JFK (and maybe RFK) is significant. Talbot's
highly readable, at times gripping book makes the case for releasing the classified documents
pertaining to the JFK assassination. Declassified JFK files reveal that in 1963, [CIA agent George]
Joannides was the agent in charge of one of the most powerful Cuban anti-Castro organizations in
Miami, the Revolutionary Students Directorate, or DRE. A few months before JFK's assassination,
the DRE had significant contact with Lee Harvey Oswald. In the course of four intensive
investigations of the JFK assassination, however, the CIA failed to divulge information
about this connection, or even that Joannides was the CIA officer assigned to manage the
DRE, and refused to release important parts of Joannides' personnel file. In September, on
grounds of national security, the CIA successfully thwarted a request for such information. Until it is
released, many ... will reasonably speculate that crucial information about the JFK assassination is
being concealed.
Note: For more reliable information on the Kennedy assassination and more, click here. The
History Channel also has an excellent documentary showing beyond doubt there was more than
one gunman. To order this highly revealing documentary, click here.
Ex-CIA official, contractor face new charges

New charges have been filed alleging that a former top CIA official pushed a proposed $100 million
government contract for his best friend in return for lavish vacations, private jet flights and a
lucrative job offer. The indictment [brings] charges ... against Kyle Dusty Foggo, who resigned
from the spy agency a year ago, and ... defense contractor Brent Wilkes. The charges grew from
the bribery scandal that landed former U.S. Rep. Randy Duke Cunningham in prison. The pair
now face 30 wide-ranging counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering [including that] Foggo
provided Wilkes with sensitive, internal information related to ... national security, including
classified information, to help him prepare proposals for providing undercover flights for the CIA
under the guise of a civil aviation company and armored vehicles for agency operations. Then, he
pushed his CIA colleagues to hire Wilkes companies without disclosing their friendship,
prosecutors allege. In a June 2005 e-mail to the head of CIA air operations quoted in the
indictment, Foggo offered to use some EXDIR grease on Wilkes behalf. Foggo was the
agencys executive director at the time. In return, Wilkes offered to hire Foggo after he retired
from government service. [An] initial indictment in February charged the pair with 11 counts of the
same charges in connection with a $1.7 million water-supply contract Foggo allegedly helped win
for one of Wilkes companies while he was working as a logistics coordinator at a CIA supply hub
overseas. Foggo, the former No. 3 official at the CIA, resigned from the spy agency after his house
and office were raided by federal agents.
Note: Until just a few years ago, there was a virtual blackout in the media on any negative
coverage of the CIA. The prosecution of the #3 man in the CIA is an external manifestation of huge
shake-ups going on behind the scenes. Buzzy Krongard, the previous #3 at the CIA has been
linked to the millions of dollars in suspicious stock option trades made just prior to 9/11 that were
never claimed, though this received little media coverage.
Man with tuberculosis jailed for not wearing mask

2007-04-03, CNN/Associated Press
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/04/03/tuberculosis.confinement.ap
Behind the county hospital's tall cinderblock walls, a 27-year-old tuberculosis patient ... sits in a jail
cell equipped with a ventilation system that keeps germs from escaping. Robert Daniels has been
locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, since last July. But he has not been charged
with a crime. Instead, he suffers from an extensively drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis. It is
considered virtually untreatable. County health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as
a danger to the public because ... he did not heed doctors' instructions to wear a mask in public.
"I'm being treated worse than an inmate," Daniels said. "I'm all alone. Four walls. Even the door to
my room has been locked. I haven't seen my reflection in months." He said sheriff's deputies will
not let him take a shower -- he cleans himself with wet wipes -- and have taken away his
television, radio, personal phone and computer. His only visitors are masked medical staff
members who come in to give him his medication. Though Daniels' confinement is extremely rare,
health experts say it is a situation that U.S. public health officials may have to confront
more and more because of the spread of drug-resistant TB and the emergence of diseases
such as SARS and avian flu.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. What possible reason is there for taking away this man's
TV, radio, cell phone, and computer? Are we being prepared for mass quarantines and
imprisonment due to disease? For more, click here.
Former governor says he saw UFO

2007-03-21, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/03/former-gover...
It's not everyday a former governor tells you he witnessed a UFO that he believes came from
another world. But that's what Fife Symington, who served as governor of Arizona for six years in
the 1990s, just did. Symington ... says he saw what is now referred to as the "Phoenix Lights."
Exactly 10 years ago, thousands of Arizonans saw an object in the sky described by witnesses as
larger than a football field with brilliant lights. It was also videotaped by many. Witnesses say it
made no noise. Symington was governor at the time, and not only did he never publicly mention
that he saw it, but there are many who feel he ridiculed those who did. The governor held a news
conference after the sightings in which he claimed the case had been solved. At that point, a man
in an alien costume walked into the room. That "alien" was his chief of staff. The creators of a film
about UFOs called "Out of the Blue" contacted Symington because they are updating their
documentary. After being asked questions about the 1997 episode, Symington told the
filmmakers that he did indeed see the UFO but said nothing publicly, in part, because he
didn't want to scare Arizonans. Symington [says] what he saw in the sky that night was
"otherworldly" and he believes it was an "alien spacecraft." He is a U.S. Air Force veteran who
served in Vietnam and is highly doubtful it was some secret military craft.
Note: For a three-minute CNN video interview with the ex-governor, click here. For the CNN
transcript, click here. If you are at all open to the possibility of UFOs, the film mentioned in this
article, Out of the Blue, is a powerful, amazing collection of reliable information and video clips on
UFOs which was aired on the Sci-Fi channel and ended up being its most watched episode. To
watch this incredible documentary free, click here.
Cars that make hybrids look like gas guzzlers

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/04/ING44OD4AS1.DTL
Toyota Prius owners tend to be a proud lot since they drive the fuel-efficient hybrid gas-electric car
that's ... one of the hottest-selling vehicles in America. A few, however, felt that good was not good
enough. They've made "improvements" even though the modifications voided parts of their
warranties. Why? Five words: one hundred miles per gallon. "We took the hybrid car to its logical
conclusion," [Felix] Kramer says, by adding more batteries and the ability to recharge by plugging
into a regular electrical socket at night. Compared with the Prius' fuel efficiency of 50 mpg, plug-in
hybrids use half as much gasoline by running more on cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity.
These trendsetters monkeyed with the car ... to make a point: If they could make a plug-in
hybrid, the major car companies could, too. Kramer ... and a cadre of volunteers formed the
California Cars Initiative (online at calcars.org). They added inexpensive lead-acid batteries ...
giving the car over 100 mpg in local driving and 50 to 80 mpg on the highway. The cost of
conversion is about $5,000 for a do-it-yourselfer. Several small companies like EnergyCS ...
started doing small numbers of conversions for fleets and government agencies using longerlasting, more energy-dense lithium-ion batteries. Kramer hired EnergyCS to convert his Prius and
reported on a typical day of driving. Compared with driving his Prius before the conversion, he ...
spewed out two-thirds less greenhouse gases at a total cost of $1.76 for electricity and gasoline,
instead of the $3.17 it would have required on gasoline alone. People want plug-in hybrids but
can't get them. Dealers don't sell them yet, and the few conversion services cater to fleets.
Note: For a video and educational package to guide those who want to build a 100 mpg car, see
www.eaa-phev.org. For why the car companies with their massive budgets haven't developed cars
like this, click here.
An Orwellian solution to kids skipping school

2007-02-20, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2007/02/19/0220truants.html
Let's say your teenager is a habitual truant and there is nothing you can do about it. A
Washington area politician thinks he might have the solution: Fit the child with a Global
Positioning System chip, then have police track him down. "It allows them to get caught
easier," said Maryland Delegate Doyle Niemann (D-Prince George's), who recently co-sponsored
legislation in the House that would use electronic surveillance as part of a broader truancy
reduction plan. "It's going to be done unobtrusively. The chips are tiny and can be put into a
hospital ID band or a necklace." Niemann's legislation mirrors a bill sponsored by state Sen.
Gwendolyn Britt (D-Prince George's). Both would provide truants and their parents with better
access to social services, such as mental health evaluations and help with schoolwork. Electronic
monitoring would be a last resort. Still, the prospect of tagging children and using them in some
"catch and release" hunt by police casts a pall over everything that's good about the plan. Odd
how billions and billions of dollars keep going to a war that almost nobody wants, but there's never
enough to fund the educational programs that nearly everybody says are needed. Aimed solely at
students in Prince George's the only predominantly black county in the Washington area the
truancy effort is called a "pilot program," a first-of-its-kind experiment. It would cost $400,000 to
keep track of about 660 students a year.
Note: For more reliable information on the push to microchip the entire population, click here.
Making Martial Law Easier

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/opinion/19mon3.html?ex=1329541200&en=b63c90...
A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American
democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into
the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administrations behest that makes it easier for a
president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law. The provision,
signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the
doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law
enforcement. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which ... essentially limits a presidents use
of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a
state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights. The newly enacted
provisions upset this careful balance. The president may now use military troops as a
domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack
or to any other condition. Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a
thorough public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped into the law without
hearings or public debate. The president made no mention of the changes when he signed the
measure, and neither the White House nor Congress consulted in advance with the nations
governors.
First, do no harm (to whites)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/31/RVGNGN44B91.DTL&type=...
[Book Review of] Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black
Americans From Colonial Times to the Present. Harriet Washington opens the door on the torture
room in "Medical Apartheid". Experimental operations on the skulls of slave children, Washington
writes, were a favorite pursuit of a particularly sadistic South Carolinian doctor named J. Marion
Sims, widely revered today as the "father of gynecology." For years, Sims experimented on a
group of slave women, to whom he refused anesthesia. The most notorious post-slavery racial
crime of American medicine [was] the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, conducted by the U.S. Public
Health Service between 1932 and 1972. More than 100 black subjects ... were denied
treatment, even and especially after the discovery of penicillin in 1943. The research
required that they suffer and die, the more slowly the better. Tuskegee was hardly unique. The
Rockefeller Institute ... conducted a study in 1910 that saw 470 black syphilitics injected with a
deadly strain of malaria. Black Americans were also disproportionately used ... as subjects in
government inquiries into the effects of radiation. Washington's chilling history ends with
contemporary case studies. At the Incarnation Children's Center in New York, Columbia University
doctors continue to administer experimental AIDS drugs to minority orphans, even after many
develop painful and debilitating reactions. As for current clinical trials in Africa, Washington
describes the continent as the new "laboratory for the West," where unsuspecting patients
regularly receive experimental therapies that might never receive state sanction in the United
States or Europe.
Note: For more reliable, verifiable information on major corruption in the health industry, click here.
It's also interesting to not that no other major media chose to review this important book.
Opium, thugs bloom under U.S. policies in Afghanistan war

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/17/ING08MTPMB1.DTL
The Taliban ... briefly banned poppy cultivation in 2000 in an effort to gain U.S. diplomatic
recognition and aid. When the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan in October 2001,
poppies were grown on only 7,600 hectares. Under the American occupation ... poppy
cultivation spread to every province, and overall production has increased exponentially
ever since -- this year by 60 percent. Within Afghanistan, where perhaps 3 million people draw
direct income from poppy, profits may reach $3 billion this year. In-country profit adds up to an
estimated 60 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product, or more than half the country's
annual income. Afghanistan provides 92 percent of the world's heroin. Through many
administrations, the U.S. government has been implicated in the Afghan drug trade. Before the
American and Pakistani-sponsored mujahedeen took on the Soviets in 1979, Afghanistan
produced a very small amount of opium for regional markets, and no heroin at all. By the end of
the jihad against the Soviet army, it was the world's top producer of both drugs. The CIA made it all
possible by providing legal cover for these operations. The United States [encouraged] Islamist
extremists (then "our" soldiers) and ... set the stage for the Taliban. [Currently,] President Hamid
Karzai['s] strategy is to avoid confrontation, befriend potential adversaries and give them offices,
often in his Cabinet. The trade penetrates even the elected Parliament. Among the 249 members
of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) are at least 17 known drug traffickers, in addition to 40
commanders of armed militias, 24 members of criminal gangs, and 19 men facing serious
allegations of war crimes.
Note: Could it be that some U.S. officials are turning a blind eye, or even supporting this drug
trade? For some very strong evidence of this from a former award-winning DEA agent turned
journalist and author, click here.
Government Accountability Office Report

2006-12-15, Comptroller General of the United States
http://fms.treas.gov/fr/06frusg/06gao2.pdf
The Secretary of the Treasury ... is required annually to submit financial statements for the U.S.
government to the President and the Congress. GAO is required to audit these statements. Certain
material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of our work resulted
in conditions that continued to prevent us from expressing an opinion on the accompanying
consolidated financial statements for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2006 and 2005. The
federal government did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting. While we are
unable to express an opinion ... the following key items deserve emphasis. The U.S.
governments total reported liabilities, net social insurance commitments, and other fiscal
exposures continue to grow and now total approximately $50 trillion, representing
approximately four times the Nations total output (GDP) in fiscal year 2006, up from about
$20 trillion, or two times GDP in fiscal year 2000. The retirement of thebaby boom generation
is [also] closer to becoming a reality with the first wave of boomers eligible for early retirement
under Social Security in 2008. It seems clear that the nations current fiscal path is unsustainable
and that tough choices by the President and the Congress are necessary in order to address the
nations large and growing long-term fiscal imbalance. Other material weaknesses were the federal
governments inability to: determine the full extent to which improper payments exist; identify and
resolve information security control weaknesses; and effectively manage its tax collection
activities.
Note: The full 172-page report is available here. Why didn't any of the media cover this eyeopening report? Is the fact that the national debt has risen 150% since 2000 not news? For a
possible answer, click here. To learn of the trillions of unaccounted for dollars in the military, click
here.
Pentagon resists pleas for help in Afghan opium fight

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fg-afghandrugs5dec05,...
The Pentagon ... has resisted entreaties from U.S. anti-narcotics officials to play an aggressive
role in the faltering campaign to curb the country's opium trade. Military units in Afghanistan
largely overlook drug bazaars, rebuff some requests to take U.S. drug agents on raids and
do little to counter the organized crime syndicates shipping the drug to Europe, Asia and,
increasingly, the United States. Poppy cultivation has exploded, increasing by more than half
this year. Afghanistan supplies about 92% of the world's opium. "It is surprising to me that we have
allowed things to get to the point that they have," said ... a former top State Department counternarcotics official. Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said that Afghanistan's
flourishing opium trade is a law enforcement problem, not a military one. The opium trade is onethird of the country's economy. Several dozen kingpins ... have become more brazen, richer and
powerful. [They] openly run huge opium bazaars and labs that turn opium into heroin. [The] head
of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said ... that the location of major drug operations
were "well-known to us and to the authorities." The Pentagon has balked at drug interdiction efforts
even when it had the resources, said a former senior U.S. anti-drug official. "There were [drug]
convoys where military people looked the other way," the former official said. "DEA would identify a
lab to go hit or a storage facility and [the Pentagon] would find a reason to ground the helicopters."
A recent congressional report said the DEA asked the Pentagon for airlifts on 26 occasions in
2005, and the requests were denied in all but three cases.
Note: Some observers and insiders believe the reason Afghanistan was attacked is because the
Taliban had virtually stopped the opium trade in 2001. For reliable evidence supporting these
allegations, click here.
Blowing the Whistle on Big Oil

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/business/yourmoney/03whistle.html?ex=132280...
During a 22-year career, Bobby L. Maxwell routinely won accolades and awards as one of the
Interior Departments best auditors in the nations oil patch. Mr. Maxwells career has been
characterized by exceptional performance and significant contributions, wrote Gale A. Norton,
then the secretary of the interior, in a 2003 citation. Less than two years later, the Interior
Department eliminated his job. That came exactly one week after a federal judge in Denver
unsealed a lawsuit in which Mr. Maxwell contended that a major oil company had spent years
cheating on royalty payments. Invoking a law that rewards private citizens who expose fraud
against the government, Mr. Maxwell has filed a suit [which] contends that the Interior Department
ignored audits indicating that Kerr-McGee was cheating. Maxwell says his first serious doubts
about the Interior Department originated in 1998, when the agency reluctantly began to investigate
accusations of systematic cheating on royalties for oil. Several of the nations biggest oil
companies eventually settled that investigation by paying nearly $440 million. Mr. Maxwell said,
There have always been people who dont want to pursue things. But now its grown into a major
illness. Broader investigations by Congress and the Interior Departments own inspector general
[are investigating] whether the agency properly collects the money for oil and gas pumped from
public land. The Interior Departments inspector general told a House subcommittee in September
that senior officials at the agency had repeatedly glossed over ethical lapses. Short of crime,
anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior, declared Earl E.
Devaney, the inspector general.
Note: If you want to understand how corruption can grow and fester in large government agencies,
this entire article is highly educational and revealing.
Experts Concerned as Ballot Problems Persist

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/us/politics/26vote.html?ex=1322197200&en=0d...
After six years of technological research, more than $4 billion spent by Washington on new
machinery and a widespread overhaul of the nations voting system, this months midterm election
revealed that the country is still far from able to ensure that every vote counts. Tens of thousands
of voters, scattered across more than 25 states, encountered serious problems at the polls. The
difficulties led to shortages of substitute paper ballots and long lines that caused many voters to
leave without casting ballots. Voting experts say it is impossible to say how many votes were not
counted that should have been. In Florida alone, the discrepancies ... amount to more than 60,000
votes. In Colorado, as many as 20,000 people gave up trying to vote ... as new online
systems for verifying voter registrations crashed repeatedly. In Arkansas, election officials
tallied votes three times in one county, and each time the number of ballots cast changed
by more than 30,000. Election experts say that with electronic voting machines, the potential
consequences of misdeeds or errors are of a [great] magnitude. A single software error can affect
thousands of votes, especially with machines that keep no paper record. In Ohio, thousands of
voters were turned away or forced to file provisional ballots by poll workers puzzled by voteridentification rules. In Pennsylvania, the machines crashed or refused to start, producing many
reports of vote-flipping [where] voters press the button for one candidate but a different candidates
name appears on the screen. In Ohio, even a congressman, Steve Chabot, a Republican, was
turned away from his polling place because the address listed on his drivers license was different
than his home address.
Assault on Press Freedom

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/26/INGAKMHOCV1.DTL
In a nation that preaches the virtues of democracy, the United States government has consistently
eroded the media's ability to report. U.S. press freedom has been slipping away since Sept. 11,
2001. Many other countries are now ranked freer than the United States. In the most recent survey
by Freedom House [the U.S.] tied for 17th place. International free-press advocates Reporters
Without Borders ranked us 53rd, tied with Botswana, Croatia and Tonga. Now that we are in a
seemingly permanent "war" on terrorism, the government claims wartime powers that
result in restricting press freedom. The Bush administration has multiplied exponentially the
number of documents it classifies as secret. The office of Vice President Dick Cheney claims to be
exempt from reporting even the numbers of records it brands with the "classified" stamp. Within
weeks after 9/11, President Bush issued Executive Order 13233, allowing him to veto public
release not only of his own presidential papers but those of former [presidents]. One of former
Attorney General John Ashcroft's first post-Sept. 11 acts was to issue a directive to federal
agencies restricting access to government records under the Freedom of Information Act. Cheney
[refused] to disclose even the identity of the corporate executives he met with to determine the
administration's energy policy. The U.S. Supreme Court held ... that there is no such thing as a
First Amendment right of access to government information or facilities. The Bush administration
did not advance press freedom by producing ... favorable "news" stories with fake reporters. It is
hard to stomach the hypocrisy of claiming to spread democracy abroad while restricting at home
the very freedoms that make democracy possible.
Drug Industry Is on Defensive as Power Shifts

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/washington/24drug.html?ex=1322024400&en=55e...
Hoping to prevent Congress from letting the government negotiate lower drug prices for millions of
older Americans on Medicare, the pharmaceutical companies have been recruiting Democratic
lobbyists [and] lining up allies in the Bush administration and Congress. Many drug company
lobbyists concede that the House is likely to pass a bill intended to drive down drug prices, but
they are determined to block such legislation in the Senate. If that strategy fails, they are counting
on President Bush to veto any bill that passes. With 49 Republicans in the Senate next year, the
industry is confident that it can round up the 34 votes normally needed to uphold a veto. They
began developing strategy last week at a meeting of the board of the Pharmaceutical Research
and Manufacturers of America. Billy Tauzin, president of that group [and] a former
congressman...met with Senator Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who has been trying
for six years to allow drug imports from Canada. The industry vehemently opposes such
legislation. The 2003 Medicare law prohibits the federal government from negotiating drug prices
or establishing a list of preferred drugs. Drug makers have not set a budget for their campaign.
They and their trade groups already spend some $100 million a year on lobbying in
Washington. Representative Frank Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey [said] The 2003
Medicare law was essentially written by the drug industry. Drug companies may be open to some
changes in the Medicare drug benefit, but they say they cannot accept any form of price
negotiation.
Note: For lots of verifiable information on the power of the drug industry to corrupt Congress, click
here.
When Votes Disappear

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/opinion/24krugman.html
There were many problems with voting in this election. In at least one Congressional race, the
evidence strongly suggests that paperless voting machines failed to count thousands of votes, and
that the disappearance of these votes delivered the race to the wrong candidate. [In] Floridas 13th
Congressional District .. according to the official vote count, the Republicans [won] narrowly. The
problem is that the official vote count isnt credible. In much of the 13th District, the voting pattern
looks normal. But in Sarasota County, which used touch-screen voting machines ... almost 18,000
voters nearly 15 percent of those who cast ballots using the machines supposedly failed to
vote for either candidate in the hotly contested Congressional race. That compares with undervote
rates ranging from 2.2 to 5.3 percent in neighboring counties. The Herald-Tribune of Sarasota ...
interviewed hundreds of voters. About a third of those interviewed by the paper reported that
they couldnt even find the Congressional race on the screen. Moreover, more than 60
percent of those interviewed ... reported that they did cast a vote in the Congressional race
but that this vote didnt show up on the ballot summary page. An Orlando Sentinel
examination of other votes cast by those who supposedly failed to cast a vote ... shows that they
strongly favored Democrats, and Mr. Buchanan won the official count by only 369 votes. For the
nation as a whole, the important thing isnt who gets seated to represent Floridas 13th District. Its
whether the voting disaster there leads to legislation requiring voter verification and a paper trail.
Ive been shocked at how little national attention the mess in Sarasota has received.
Counting the Vote, Badly

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/opinion/16thur1.html?ex=1321333200&en=73e0e...
Last weeks elections provided a lot of disturbing news about the reliability of electronic voting. In a
Congressional race...Sarasota County [Florida] reported that more than 18,000 people, or one in
eight, did not choose either candidate. That undervote of nearly 13 percent is hard to believe,
given that only about 2.5 percent of absentee voters did not vote. Ms. Jennings trails Mr.
Buchanan by about 400 votes. The serious questions about the Buchanan - Jennings race only
add to the high level of mistrust that many people already feel about electronic voting. Congress
has resisted all appeals to pass a law that would ensure that electronic voting is honest and
accurate across the nation. Partisan secretaries of state continue to skew the rules to favor
their parties and political allies. States are adopting harsh standards for voter registration drives
to make it harder for people to register. Some states have adopted an indefensible rule that
provisional ballots cast at the wrong table of the correct polling place must be thrown out.
Congress has failed to address these and other important flaws with the mechanics of the election
system. But this...may be about to change. Senator Feinstein is saying that providing fair access to
the ballot will be among her committees top priorities in the coming year. Election reform has
tended to be a partisan issue, with Democrats arguing for reform and Republicans resisting it. It
shouldnt be. Congressional Democrats should make fixing this countrys broken system of
elections a top priority, and Republicans should join them.
Human Research Protection Program

2006-11-06, Department of the Navy
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/navy/secnavinst/3900_39d.pdf
"The Under Secretary of the Navy (UNSECNAV) is the Approval Authority for research
involving: (a) Severe or unusual intrusions, either physical or psychological, on human
subjects (such as consciousness-altering drugs or mind-control techniques). (b) Prisoners.
(c) Potentially or inherently controversial topics (such as those likely to attract significant media
coverage or that might invite challenge by interest groups). The UNSECNAV forwards to the
Director, Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) for final determination: (a) All proposed
research involving exposure of human subjects to the effects of nuclear, biological or chemical
warfare agents or weapons, as required by reference (a)."
Note: This 2006 US Department of the Navy document shows that the US military continues to
develop mind control techniques, use mind-altering drugs, and expose individuals to lethal nuclear,
biological, and chemical agents while keeping it all out of the media's eye. For lots more showing
blatant disregard for human rights on this topic, click here and here.
FDA rejects new limits on mercury in vaccines

Federal health officials wont put new restrictions on the use of a mercury-based preservative in
vaccines and other medicines. A group called the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs petitioned
the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 seeking the restrictions on thimerosal, citing
concerns that the preservative is linked to autism. The FDA rejected the petition. Thimerosal,
about 50 percent mercury by weight, has been used since the 1930s to kill microbes in vaccines.
There have been suspicions that thimerosal causes autism. However, studies that tracked
thousands of children consistently have found no association between the brain disorder and the
mercury-based preservative. Critics contend the studies are flawed. Since 2001, all vaccines given
to children 6 and younger have been either thimerosal-free or contained only trace amounts of the
preservative. Thimerosal has been phased out of some, but not all, adult vaccines as well. Most
doses of the flu vaccine still contain thimerosal. There also are minute amounts of mercury, as
thimerosal or phenylmercuric acetate, in roughly 45 eye ointments, nasal sprays and nasal
solutions, the FDA said.
Note: Why are they still using mercury in flu shots when it is not necessary? Heavy metals are well
known to be toxic to the human body. The studies mentioned above are almost entirely funded by
pharmaceutical interests and government bodies working with them. For lots more on this major
cover-up, click here.
Getting closer to Uncle Sam

2006-09-20, Toronto Star (One of Canada's top newspapers)
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Articl...
Public kept in dark as business leads talks about North American integration. Away from the
spotlight, from Sept. 12 to 14, in Banff Springs, Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor met with U.S. and Mexican government officials and business
leaders to discuss North American integration at the second North American Forum. The guest list
included such prominent figures as U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Mexican Secretary
of Public Security Eduardo Medina Mora and Canadian Forces chief General Rick Hillier. The
event was chaired by former U.S. secretary of state George Schultz, former Alberta premier, Peter
Lougheed and former Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe. Organizers did not alert the media
about the event. Our government ... refuses to release any information about the content of
the discussions or the actors involved. The event was organized by the Canadian Council
of Chief Executives. The media have paid little attention to this far-reaching agreement, so
Canadians are unaware that a dozen working groups are currently "harmonizing" Canadian
and U.S. regulations on everything from food to drugs to the environment and even more
contentious issues like foreign policy. This process ... is about priming North America for better
business by weakening the impacts of such perceived obstacles as environmental standards and
labour rights. This is why the public has been kept in the dark while the business elite has played a
leading role in designing the blueprint for this more integrated North America.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. Why has the U.S. media not covered this key topic? For a
second article discussing this secret meeting on a top Canadian TV website, click here. To learn
about other secret meetings of the power elite, click here
Classified intelligence bills often are unread

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/08/06/classified_i...
Nearly all members of the House of Representatives opted out of a chance to read this year's
classified intelligence bill, and then voted on secret provisions they knew almost nothing about.
The bill, which passed by 327 to 96 in April, authorized the Bush administration's plans for fighting
the war on terrorism. Many members say they faced an untenable choice: Either consent to a
review process so secretive that they could never mention anything about it in House
debates, under the threat of prosecution, or vote on classified provisions they knew
nothing about. Most chose to know nothing. A Globe survey sent to all members of the House,
[revealed] the vast majority of the respondents ... said they typically don't read the classified parts
of intelligence bills. The failure to read the bill, however, calls into question the vows of many
House members to provide greater oversight of intelligence. The rules make open debate on
intelligence policy and funding nearly impossible, lawmakers say. Revealing classified secrets has
long been a crime, punishable by expulsion from the House and criminal prosecution. Operating
largely in secret, the intelligence panels have a limited staff because of the security clearances
involved. Further, committee members can't go to outside experts to vet policies or give advice,
leaving members with no way to fact-check the administration's assertions. Democratic and
Republican leaders are no longer briefed together, raising questions about whether the two leaders
are being told the same things.
Note: If above link fails, click here. If you want to understand how U.S. Congressional
representatives are kept in the dark and easily manipulated when it comes to intelligence matters,
this article is a must read.
Protesters challenge the powerful at exclusive California retreat

2006-07-22, San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/07/22/state/n163157D01.DTL
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside an exclusive California retreat for government and
business leaders Saturday to challenge the right of a "ruling elite" to make policy decisions without
public scrutiny. The annual Bohemian Grove retreat has attracted powerful men such as
Ronald Reagan, George Bush, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, philanthropist
David Rockefeller, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich. It's also become a magnet for all types of activists who increasingly use
the event to network and organize their campaigns. The men who attend the Bohemian Grove
retreat spend two weeks performing plays, eating gourmet camp grub, listening to speakers and
power-bonding at the 2,700-acre compound near the Russian River in Sonoma County. The
retreat is organized by the exclusive San Francisco-based Bohemian Club. The club and event are
shrouded in mystery, much like Yale University's most-famous secret society, Skull and Bones,
whose members include President George W. Bush and his presidential rival Sen. John Kerry.
Note: This article strangely has been removed from the San Francisco Chronicle website. To see it
in the Internet Archive, click here. For an informative five-minute ABC news clip on the power elite
gathering Bohemian Grove reported in 1981, click here. And for reliable information on the most
secretive meeting of the world's elite reported by the major media, see our Bilderberg Group
compilation available here.
Nationwide Child Abuse Ring In Free Discovery Channel Documentary

2006-05-01, Discovery Channel/WantToKnow.info
http://www.WantToKnow.info/060501conspiracyofsilence
"Conspiracy of Silence" is a powerful, disturbing documentary revealing a nationwide child

abuse and pedophilia ring that leads to the highest levels of government. Featuring intrepid
investigator John DeCamp, a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran and 16-year Nebraska state
senator, "Conspiracy of Silence" reveals how rogue elements at all levels of government have
been involved in systematic child abuse and pedophilia to feed the base desires of key politicians.
Based on DeCamp's riveting book, The Franklin Cover-up, "Conspiracy of Silence" begins with the
shut-down of Nebraska's Franklin Community Federal Credit Union after a raid by federal agencies
in November 1988 revealed that $40 million was missing. When the Nebraska legislature launched
a probe into the affair, what initially looked like a financial swindle soon exploded into a startling
tale of drugs, money laundering, and a nationwide child abuse ring. Nineteen months later, the
legislative committee's chief investigator died suddenly and violently, like more than a dozen other
people linked to the Franklin case.
How To Steal an Election

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/03/16/GR20060316002...
It's easier to rig an electronic voting machine than a Las Vegas slot machine, says
University of Pennsylvania visiting professor Steve Freeman. That's because Vegas slots
are better monitored and regulated than America's voting machines, Freeman writes in a
book, Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official
Count, that argues, among other things, that President Bush may owe his 2004 win to an unfair
vote count. Software: Slot Machine: State of Nevada has access to all software. Illegal to use
software that is not on file. Voting Machine: Software is a trade secret. Spot Checking: Slot
Machine: State gaming inspectors show up unannounced at casinos to compare computer chips
with those on file. If there is a discrepancy, the machine is shut down and investigated. Voting
Machine: No checks are required. Election officials have no chip to compare with the one found in
the machine. Background Security: Slot Machine: Manufacturers subjected to background
checks. Employees are investigated for criminal records. Voting Machine: Citizens have no way of
knowing, for example, whether programmers have been convicted of fraud. Equipment
Certification: Slot Machine: By a public agency at arm's length from manufacturers. Public
questions invited. Voting Machine: By for-profit companies chosen and paid by the manufacturers.
No public information on how the testing is done.
Note: For many revealing major media reports on the corruptibility of electronic voting systems,
click here.
Sustained Improvement in Federal Financial Management Is Crucial to

Addressing Our Nation's Financial Condition and Long-term Fiscal
Imbalance
2006-03-01, Government Accountability Office (GAO) Website
http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-06-406T
GAO is required by law to annually audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S.
government. Until the problems discussed in GAO's audit report on the U.S. government's
consolidated financial statements are adequately addressed, they will continue to...hinder the
federal government from having reliable financial information to operate in an economical, efficient,
and effective manner. For the ninth consecutive year, certain material weaknesses in internal
control and in selected accounting and financial reporting practices resulted in conditions
that continued to prevent GAO from being able to provide the Congress and American
people an opinion as to whether the consolidated financial statements of the U.S.
government are fairly stated in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting
principles. Major impediments to an opinion on the consolidated financial statements continued to
be (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense. The federal
government's fiscal exposures now total more than $46 trillion, representing close to four times
gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal year 2005 and up from about $20 trillion or two times GDP
in 2000.
Note:For the official .pdf version on the GAO website click here. Why didn't this become headline
news? Why isn't anyone being assigned to seriously investigate these continually unresolved core
issues and report to the public that the largest, most powerful country in the world is a long way
from being able to track its own finances. For lots more major media articles on major government
corruption, click here. You can help to build a better world by sharing this vital information with your
friends and colleagues and contacting members of the media and your government
representatives asking them to address this pervasive problem. Thanks for caring.
Why did the 9/11 Commission ignore 'Able Danger'

2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
The Able Danger intelligence, if confirmed, is undoubtedly the most relevant fact of the entire post9/11 inquiry. Even the most junior investigator would immediately know that the name and photo ID
of Atta in 2000 is precisely the kind of tactical intelligence the FBI has many times employed to
prevent attacks. Yet the 9/11 Commission inexplicably concluded that it "was not historically
significant." This astounding conclusion -- in combination with the failure to investigate Able
Danger and incorporate it into its findings -- raises serious challenges to the commission's
credibility and, if the facts prove out, might just render the commission historically
insignificant itself. The Able Danger team had identified Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers by
mid-2000 but were prevented by military lawyers from giving this information to the FBI. The
Pentagon...blocked several military officers from testifying...about the Able Danger program. The
chairman of the 9/11 Commission reacted to Able Danger with the standard Washington PR
approach. [He] demanded that the Pentagon conduct an "investigation" to evaluate the "credibility"
of Col. Shaffer and Capt. Phillpott. The final 9/11 Commission report...concluded that "American
intelligence agencies were unaware of Mr. Atta until the day of the attacks." This now looks to be
embarrassingly wrong. The Joint Intelligence Committees should reconvene and, in addition to
Able Danger team members, we should have the 9/11 commissioners appear as witnesses so the
families can hear their explanation why this doesn't matter.
Note: If the above link fails, click here.
Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu

2005-10-31, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/
The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's
proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically
connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to
Tamiflu. Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the
Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million
and $25 million. In the past six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu
have sent Gilead's stock from $35 to $47. That's made the Pentagon chief, already one of the
wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer. Rumsfeld isn't the only political
heavyweight benefiting from demand for Tamiflu. Former Secretary of State George Shultz, who is
on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005.
Military Bars 9/11 Intel Testimony

2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence officer to testify Wednesday
about a secret military unit that the officer says identified four Sept. 11 hijackers as
terrorists more than a year before the attacks, according to the man's attorney. The Judiciary
Committee was hearing testimony about the work of a classified unit code named "Able Danger."
Zaid, appearing on behalf of Shaffer and contractor John Smith [stated] that Able Danger, using
data mining techniques, identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001 - including
mastermind Mohamed Atta. "At least one chart, and possibly more, featured a photograph of
Mohamed Atta," Zaid said. Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a Defense Department spokesman, said
Wednesday that open testimony would not be appropriate. "There's nothing more to say than that,"
Swiergosz said. "It's not possible to discuss the Able Danger program because there are security
concerns." Zaid also charged that records associated with the unit were destroyed during 2000
and March 2001, and copies were destroyed in spring 2004. Former members of the Sept. 11
commission have dismissed the "Able Danger" assertions.
John K. Vance; Uncovered LSD Project at CIA

John K. Vance [was] a member of the Central Intelligence Agency inspector general's staff in the
early 1960s who discovered that the agency was running a research project that included
administering LSD and other drugs to unwitting human subjects. Code-named MKULTRA (and
pronounced m-k-ultra), the project Mr. Vance uncovered was the brainchild of CIA Director
Allen Dulles, who was intrigued by reports of mind-control techniques allegedly conducted
by Soviet, Chinese and North Korean agents on U.S. prisoners of war during the Korean
War. The CIA wanted to use similar techniques on its own POWs and perhaps use LSD or other
mind-bending substances on foreign leaders, including Cuba's Fidel Castro a few years after the
project got underway in 1953. Heading MKULTRA was a CIA chemist named Sidney Gottlieb. In
congressional testimony, Gottlieb, who died in 1999, acknowledged that the agency had
administered LSD to as many as 40 unwitting subjects, including prison inmates and patrons of
brothels set up and run by the agency. At least one participant died when he jumped out of a 10thfloor window in a hotel; others claimed to have suffered serious psychological damage. Mr. Vance
learned about MKULTRA in the spring of 1963 during a wide-ranging inspector general survey of
the agency's technical services division. The inspector general's report said: "The concepts
involved in manipulating human behavior are found by many people both within and outside the
agency to be distasteful and unethical." MKULTRA came to public light in 1977 as a result of
hearings conducted by a Senate committee on intelligence chaired by Sen. Frank Church (DIdaho).
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For an excellent two-page summary of reliable verifiable
information on CIA mind control programs which clearly violated ethical and moral standards, click
here.
Lifting the Censor's Veil on the Shame of Iraq

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00914FC3C540C768CDDAC0894DD4...
There was a close-up of a soldier who was holding someone's severed leg. There were photos of
G.I.'s happily posing with the bodies of dead Iraqis. This is what happens in war. It's the sickening
reality that is seldom seen in the censored, sanitized version of the conflict that Americans typically
get from the government and the media. Mr. Delgado, 23, is a former Army reservist who was
repelled by the violence and dehumanization of the war. He completed his tour in Iraq. But he
sought and received conscientious objector status and was honorably discharged last January.
Some of the most disturbing photos in his possession were taken after G.I.'s at Abu Ghraib
opened fire on detainees who had been throwing rocks at guards during a large protest. Four
detainees were killed. The photos show American soldiers posing and goofing around with the
bodies of the detainees. In one shot ... a G.I. is leaning over the top of the body bag with a spoon
in his right hand, as if he is about to scoop up a portion of the dead man's wounded flesh. "These
pictures were circulated like trophies," Mr. Delgado said. Some were posted in command
headquarters. But while at work in a headquarters office, he said, he learned that most of the
detainees at Abu Ghraib had committed only very minor nonviolent offenses, or no
offenses at all. (Several investigations would subsequently reveal that vast numbers of
completely innocent Iraqis were seized and detained by coalition forces.) His goal, he said, is to
convince his listeners that the abuse of innocent Iraqis by the American military is not limited to "a
few bad apples," as the military would like the public to believe.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For more on war manipulations and the suffering of our
soldiers by a highly decorated U.S. general, click here.
FBI to Fire Dissident Agent

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10381-2005Apr22.html
The FBI has moved to fire a veteran agent who alleged that the bureau had mishandled
domestic investigations. On Thursday, Robert Wright was ordered by superiors at an FBI
counterterrorism command office in Washington to hand over his badge and weapon, was
suspended and was told he would be fired within 30 days, said an official with Judicial Watch, a
government watchdog group whose attorneys represent Wright. Wright was told he was being
dismissed for, among other things, publicly discussing sensitive FBI matters in 2003, the official
said. Wright has been under disciplinary investigation for almost three years. He has two lawsuits
pending against the FBI. Yesterday, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick J. Leahy (DVt.) sent FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III a letter repeating their support for Wright and
expressing concern that the FBI was retaliating against him for his public statements.
Note: What the Post article completely fails to mention is that Robert Wright was hot on the
trail of key terrorists before 9/11, yet he was ordered to stop the investigation by his FBI
supervisors. For past media stories on this with links to original sources, click here, here, and here.
Mr. Wright is one of the FBI agents who approached renowned attorney David Schippers just
weeks before 9/11 to warn that a major terrorist attack was going to take place in lower Manhattan.
For more, click here.
Lost: One H-Bomb. Call Owner

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59703-2005Apr16
Just after midnight on Feb. 5, 1958, two U.S. Air Force jets, each traveling 500 mph, collided
35,000 feet over the Georgia countryside. Improbably, all four crew members survived and
the accident might have passed into dim memory if not for the thermonuclear weapon
jettisoned off Tybee Island, Ga. The bomb is still there. After a weeks-long search, it was
"declared irretrievably lost on 16 April 1958," the Air Force reported four years ago in an
assessment of whether to conduct a new search and recovery mission. It concluded that "it is in
the best interest of the public and the environment to leave the bomb in its resting-place." The
Navy Supervisor of Salvage, the report noted, didn't think the bomb could be found. Energy
Department engineers' best guess was that it lay "buried nose-down, probably 5-15 feet below the
seabed." Clearly, the Air Force would have been glad to let it go at that. However, it did not count
on the determination of Derek Duke, a 60-year-old retired Air Force officer who lives nearby and
for more than six years has been searching for the bomb in the waters around Tybee Island, about
16 miles from Savannah. Responding to Duke's claim that he had found an area of high radiation
the Air Force returned last September to look again. The report on the new search has not been
released. Any danger still presented by the Tybee bomb is from the 400 pounds of conventional
explosives or from humans somehow ingesting uranium that might escape from the bomb and its
silt prison.
Note: For another interesting article on this in USA Today on Oct. 19, 2004, click here. For a much
more in-depth article on this incident, click here.
New Details on F.B.I. Aid for Saudis After 9/11

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/politics/27exodus.html?ex=1269579600&en=e2d...
In the frenzied days after Sept. 11, 2001, when some flights were still grounded, dozens of
well-connected Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, managed to leave the
United States on specially chartered flights. Newly released government records show
previously undisclosed flights ... and point to a more active role by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in aiding some of the Saudis in their departure. The F.B.I. gave personal airport
escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were
allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed. The material ... provides details about
the F.B.I.'s interaction with at least 160 Saudis who were living in or visiting the United States and
were allowed to leave the country. Some of the departing Saudis were related to Osama bin
Laden. In several ... cases, Saudi travelers were not interviewed before departing the country, and
F.B.I. officials sought to determine how what seemed to be lapses had occurred. "From these
documents, [the Saudi interviews that did occur] look like they were courtesy chats, without the
time that would have been needed for thorough debriefings," said Christopher J. Farrell, who is ...
a former counterintelligence interrogator for the Army. "It seems as if the F.B.I. was more interested
in achieving diplomatic success than investigative success." The F.B.I. documents left open the
possibility that some departing Saudis had information relevant to the Sept. 11 investigation.
Note: For lots more crucial, verifiable information suggesting a 9/11 cover-up, click here.
United States Interventions: What For?

2005-03-21, Revista: Harvard Review of Latin America
http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/revista/articles/view/828
In the slightly less than a hundred years from 1898 to 1994, the U.S. government has
intervened successfully to change governments in Latin America a total of at least 41 times.
That amounts to once every 28 months for an entire century. Direct intervention occurred in 17
of the 41 cases. These incidents involved the use of U.S. military forces, intelligence agents or
local citizens employed by U.S. government agencies. In another 24 cases, the U.S. government
played an indirect role. That is, local actors played the principal roles, but either would not have
acted or would not have succeeded without encouragement from the U.S. government. The 41
cases do not include incidents in which the United States sought to depose a Latin American
government, but failed in the attempt. The most famous such case was the failed Bay of Pigs
invasion of April 1961. Also absent from the list are numerous cases in which the U.S. government
acted decisively to forestall a coup detat or otherwise protect an incumbent regime from being
overthrown. In nearly every case, U.S. officials cited U.S. security interests, either as
determinative or as a principal motivation. With hindsight, it is now possible to dismiss most
these claims as implausible. In many cases, they were understood as necessary for generating
public and congressional support, but not taken seriously by the key decision makers.
Inspector General Rebukes F.B.I. over Espionage Case and Firing of

Whistle-Blower
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F60F15F73F5C0C768DDDA...
The F.B.I. has failed to aggressively investigate accusations of espionage against a translator at
the bureau and fired the translator's co-worker in large part for bringing the accusations, the
Justice Department's inspector general concluded. In a long-awaited report that the Justice
Department sought for months to keep classified, the inspector general issued a sharp
rebuke to the F.B.I. over its handling of claims of espionage and ineptitude made by Sibel
Edmonds, a bureau translator who was fired in 2002 after superiors deemed her conduct
"disruptive." The report [came] from the office of Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department's
inspector general. Mr. Fine's investigation found that many of Ms. Edmonds's accusations "were
supported, that the F.B.I. did not take them seriously enough and that her allegations were, in fact,
the most significant factor in the F.B.I.'s decision to terminate her services." Ms. Edmonds's case
has become a cause clbre for critics who accused the bureau of retaliating against her and other
whistle-blowers who have sought to expose management problems related to the campaign
against terrorism. The American Civil Liberties Union joined her cause earlier this week, asking an
appellate court to reinstate a whistle-blower lawsuit she brought against the government. The suit
was dismissed last year after Attorney General John Ashcroft, invoking a rarely used power,
declared her case to be a matter of "state secret" privilege, and the Justice Department
retroactively classified a 2002 Congressional briefing about it.
Note: What this article completely fails to mention is that Ms. Edmonds has claimed
repeatedly that she has key information revealing major corruption related to 9/11. For a
highly revealing report written by Ms. Edmonds to the 9/11 Commission chairman, click here.
Another highly revealing article is available here. The Times link above requires payment. To view
the above article free, click here.
A Hidden Story Behind Sept. 11? One Man's Ad Campaign Says So

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/nyregion/08ads.html?ex=1257656400&en=730dbc...
The grainy 30-second commercials ... suggest a government cover-up of the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. The advertisements, which ran repeatedly ... on several cable networks, including CNN,
Fox News and ESPN, offer a Web site, an address and a phone number. The ads are the latest
salvo from James W. Walter ... who over the years has financed programs promoting voter
registration in low-income neighborhoods and prison reform. The television commercials, as well
as ads in magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and
The Daily News, are part of a $3 million national campaign paid for by Mr. Walter in an effort to
press for the reopening of the investigation by the independent Sept. 11 commission. "We've
never gotten solid answers on why Tower 7 collapsed when it was two full blocks away
from where the planes hit," he said. "We've also never received an answer for how such a large
plane left such a small hole in the side of the Pentagon." A Zogby poll of New Yorkers' opinions
about the 9/11 investigation, released last month, indicated that 49 percent of New York City
residents and 41 percent of New York state residents believed that some federal officials "knew in
advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously
failed to act." The poll also found that 66 percent of New York City residents and 56 percent of
state residents wanted a fuller investigation of the "still unanswered questions."
Note: For lots more reliable information suggesting a major cover-up of 9/11, click here.
Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/04/MNGM393GPK1.DTL
The U.S. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power
source -- antimatter, the eerie "mirror" of ordinary matter -- in future weapons. The most powerful
potential energy source presently thought to be available to humanity, antimatter is a term normally
heard in science-fiction films. But antimatter itself isn't fiction. During the Cold War, the Air Force
funded numerous scientific studies of the basic physics of antimatter. Following an initial inquiry
from The Chronicle this summer, the Air Force forbade its employees from publicly
discussing the antimatter research program. Still, details on the program appear in
numerous Air Force documents distributed over the Internet prior to the ban. It almost defies
belief, the amount of explosive force available in a speck of antimatter. One millionth of a gram of
positrons contain as much energy as 37.8 kilograms (83 pounds) of TNT. A simple calculation,
then, shows that about 50-millionths of a gram could generate a blast equal to the explosion ... in
Oklahoma City in 1995. Officials at Eglin Air Force Base initially agreed enthusiastically to try to
arrange an interview with ... Kenneth Edwards, director of the "revolutionary munitions" team at the
Munitions Directorate at Eglin. "We're all very excited about this technology," spokesman Rex
Swenson [said] in late July. But Swenson backed out in August after he was overruled by higher
officials in the Air Force and Pentagon. Reached by phone in late September, Edwards repeatedly
declined to be interviewed. His superiors gave him "strict instructions not to give any interviews
personally. "I'm sorry about that -- this (antimatter) project is sort of my grandchild."
Indicting the Drug Industry's Practices

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/06/books/06masl.html?ex=1252209600&en=1accf3fe...
Dr. Marcia Angell is a former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine and
spent two decades on the staff of that publication. Her new book is a scorching indictment
of drug companies and their research and business practices. "Despite all its excesses, this is
an important industry that should be saved - mainly from itself," she writes. Dr. Angell's case is
tough, persuasive and troubling. "The Truth About the Drug Companies" ... is devoted to
assertions of shady, misleading corporate behavior. In the past, drug discoveries made through
government research remained in the public domain. Beginning in 1980 those breakthroughs could
be patented, even if their research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. As a
consequence, Dr. Angell says, patent shenanigans have reshaped the drug business, as have the
recent government regulations that expedite direct-to-consumer drug advertising. "Once upon a
time, drug companies promoted drugs to treat diseases," Dr. Angell writes. "Now it is often the
opposite. They promote diseases to fit their drugs." Why all the advertising? "If prescription drugs
are so good, why do they need to be pushed so hard?" she asks. Dr. Angell is now a senior
lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
Note: For an excellent 10-page summary of this revealing book written by the esteemed author,
click here. For more reliable information on the health cover-up, click here.
Secretive testing firms certify nation's vote count machines

2004-08-23, MSNBC News/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5762054/from/RL.4
The three companies that certify the nation's voting technologies operate in secrecy, and
refuse to discuss flaws in the machines to be used by nearly one in three voters in
November. Federal regulators have virtually no oversight over testing of the technology. The
certification process, in part because the voting machine companies pay for it, is described as
obsolete by those charged with overseeing it. Despite concerns over whether the so-called
touchscreen machines can be trusted, the testing companies won't say publicly if they have
encountered shoddy workmanship. They say they are committed to secrecy in their contracts with
the voting machines' makers even though tax money ultimately buys or leases the machines.
Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist and electronic voting expert, told
lawmakers in Washington, D.C. "I find it grotesque that an organization charged with such a heavy
responsibility feels no obligation to explain to anyone what it is doing." The system for "testing and
certifying voting equipment in this country is not only broken, but is virtually nonexistent," Shamos
added. More than a decade ago, the Federal Election Commission authorized the National
Association of State Election Directors to choose the independent testers. On its Web site, the
association says the three testing outfits "have neither the staff nor the time to explain the process
to the public, the news media or jurisdictions."
The Pakistan connection

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1266520,00.html
There is evidence of foreign intelligence backing for the 9/11 hijackers. Why is the US
government so keen to cover it up? Omar Sheikh, a British-born Islamist militant, is waiting to
be hanged in Pakistan for a murder he almost certainly didn't commit - of the Wall Street Journal
reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. Both the US government and Pearl's wife have since acknowledged
that Sheikh was not responsible. Significantly, Sheikh is also the man who, on the instructions of
General Mahmoud Ahmed, the then head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), wired
$100,000 before the 9/11 attacks to Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker. It is extraordinary that
neither Ahmed nor Sheikh have been charged and brought to trial on this count. Ahmed, the
paymaster for the hijackers, was actually in Washington on 9/11, and had a series of pre-9/11 toplevel meetings in the White House, the Pentagon, the national security council, and with George
Tenet, then head of the CIA. Why hasn't the US demanded that he be questioned and tried in
court? [Another] witness is Sibel Edmonds ... former FBI translator of intelligence. She tried to blow
the whistle on the cover-up of intelligence that names some of the culprits who orchestrated the
9/11 attacks, but is now under two gagging orders that forbid her from testifying in court or
mentioning the names of the people or the countries involved. The FBI, illegally, [also] continues to
refuse the to release of their agent Robert Wright's 500-page manuscript Fatal Betrayals of the
Intelligence Mission, and has even refused to turn the manuscript over to Senator Shelby, vicechairman of the joint intelligence committee charged with investigating America's 9/11 intelligence
failures.
Note: The above article was written by Michael Meacher, who served as the U.K. Minster of
Environment from 1997 to 2003. For lots more reliable information suggesting a major cover-up
around 9/11, click here.
Skull And Bones

2004-06-13, CBS News
As opposite as George Bush and John Kerry may seem to be, they do share a common secret one they've shared for decades. The secret: details of their membership in Skull and Bones, the
elite Yale University society whose members include some of the most powerful men of the 20th
century. Bonesmen, as they're called, are forbidden to reveal what goes on in their inner sanctum.
Bones has included presidents, cabinet officers, spies, Supreme Court justices, [and] captains of
industry. They'd responded to questions with utter silence until an enterprising Yale graduate,
Alexandra Robbins, managed to penetrate the wall of silence in her book, Secrets of the Tomb. "I
spoke with about 100 members of Skull and Bones. They were members who were tired of the
secrecy, says Robbins. But probably twice that number hung up on me, harassed me, or
threatened me. Skull and Bones, with all its ritual and macabre relics, was founded in 1832. Since
then, it has chosen or "tapped" only 15 senior students a year who become ... lifetime members of
the ultimate old boys' club. A lot of Bonesmen have gone on to positions of great power. President
Bush ... tapped five fellow Bonesmen to join his administration. Bonesmen have [included]
William Howard Taft, the 27th President; Henry Luce, the founder of Time Magazine; and W.
Averell Harriman, the diplomat and confidant of U.S. presidents. Mr. Bush, like his father
and grandfather before him, has refused to talk openly about Skull and Bones. But as a
Bonesman, he was required to reveal his innermost secrets to his fellow Bones initiates. They're
supposed to recount their entire sexual histories in ... a dimly-lit cozy room.
Note: For a highly revealing, four-minute CNN News clip on Skull and Bones, click here. For other
major media news clips reporting on this powerful secret society, click here. And for lots more
reliable information from major media sources on powerful, secret groups like this, click here.
Defense Department drops $100M on unused airline tickets

2004-06-09, USA Today/New York Times/Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-06-09-pentagon-flights_x.htm
The Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used
over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable,
congressional investigators say. The GAO estimated that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense
Department bought at least $100 million in tickets that were not used or used only partially by a
passenger who did not complete all legs of a flight. The waste went undetected because the
department relied on individuals to report the unused tickets. They did not do so. "The millions of
dollars wasted on unused airline tickets provides another example of why DOD financial
management is one of our high-risk areas, with DOD highly vulnerable to fraud, waste and
abuse," the GAO said. Two of the three lawmakers who asked for the study were Republicans,
and both were highly critical of the Pentagon's lack of financial control. Sen. Charles Grassley, RIowa, said, "It's outrageous that the Defense Department would be sending additional federal tax
dollars to the airlines by way of unused passenger tickets." While one GAO report focused on the
unused tickets, the second investigation found potential fraud. It said the department paid travelers
for tickets the department already bought and reimbursed employees for tickets that had not been
authorized. It is a crime for a government employee knowingly to request reimbursement for goods
and services he or she did not buy. To demonstrate how easy it was to have the Pentagon pay for
airline travel, the investigators posed as Defense employees, had the department generate a ticket
and showed up at the ticket counter to pick up a boarding pass.
Note:To read this astonishing article on the New York Times website, click here.
NORAD had drills of jets as weapons

2004-04-18, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-18-norad_x.htm
In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense
Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at
the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass
casualties. One of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In another exercise ... the
target was the Pentagon but that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic,
NORAD and Defense officials say. NORAD, in a written statement, confirmed that such hijacking
exercises occurred. "Numerous types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked
aircraft," the statement said. "These exercises tested track detection and identification; scramble
and interception; hijack procedures; internal and external agency coordination and operational
security and communications security procedures." On April 8, the commission investigating the
Sept. 11 attacks heard testimony from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that the White
House didn't anticipate hijacked planes being used as weapons. President Bush said ... "Nobody
in our government ... could envision flying airplanes into buildings on such a massive scale." One
operation, planned in July 2001 ... involved planes from airports in Utah and Washington state that
were "hijacked." NORAD officials have acknowledged that "scriptwriters" for the drills included the
idea of hijacked aircraft being used as weapons. "Threats of killing hostages or crashing were left
to the scriptwriters to invoke creativity and broaden the required response," Maj. Gen. Craig
McKinley, a NORAD official, told the 9/11 commission.
Note: This highly revealing news was reported on the front page of USA Today, yet no other major
media even picked up the story. Why? For lots more, click here and here.
Bush: 'Had I Known, We Would Have Acted'

2004-04-12, CNN News
http://articles.cnn.com/2004-04-11/politics/911.investigation_1_intelligence-...
President Bush said Sunday that an intelligence memo he read shortly before September 11,
2001, contained no "actionable intelligence" that would have helped him to try to prevent the 9/11
attacks. "The (August 6, 2001 memo) was no indication of a terrorist threat," Bush said. But a
member of the independent commission investigating the September 11 attacks said ... the memo
-- the president's daily briefing, or PDB -- should have alerted Bush to the strong possibility of such
an attack. Richard Ben-Veniste [said] the memo and other reports and incidents made up a
"substantial body of information" about Osama bin Laden's possible plans. The briefing was
headlined, "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US." "The CIA was reminding the president -- with
the headline ... 'don't just look overseas for the possibility of this spectacular event that everyone
was predicting,' " Ben-Veniste told reporters. Ben-Veniste also took issue with national security
adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the committee ... that the White House had no
inkling al Qaeda would use planes as missiles. He said he would "be surprised if Dr. Rice
didn't know" about a no-fly zone in place over Genoa, Italy, for the spring 2001 G8 meeting,
spurred by fears terrorists could crash planes "into the buildings where the leaders were meeting."
Note: To see the daily presidential briefing which shows beyond any doubt that Bush was not
telling the truth on this, click here. For excerpts from many major media articles suggesting a 9/11
FBI let innocents get death sentences

The FBI used murderers as informants in Boston for three decades, even allowing innocent men to
be sentenced to death to protect the secret operation, a government report has found. The FBI's
policy "must be considered one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement"
and had "disastrous consequences", the report by the House Committee on Government Reform
said. More than 20 people were murdered by FBI informants in Boston from 1965, often with
the help of FBI agents, it said. But no FBI agent or official has ever been disciplined. The
FBI's policy of using murderers grew out of a belated effort by a former director, J. Edgar Hoover,
to go after the Mafia, which Hoover had earlier denied even existed. In the early 1960s, the bureau
began recruiting underworld informers in its new campaign. The report focuses heavily on one
episode, the 1965 murder of Edward Deegan, a small-time hoodlum who was killed by Jimmy
Flemmi and Joseph Barboza, who had just been recruited by an FBI agent in Boston. The FBI
knew the two men were the killers because it had been using an unauthorised wire tap and had
heard Flemmi ask the Mafia boss, Raymond Patriarca, for permission to kill Deegan. A few days
later, Deegan was shot dead. Four men who had nothing to do with the killing were tried and
convicted, with two sentenced to death and two to life in prison. Two of the men died in prison and
two had their sentences commuted and were freed after serving 30 years behind bars. Hoover was
kept fully informed about this murder and the wrongful convictions, the report said.
Did LBJ Cover For Israel?

A former Navy attorney who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the
USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former President Lyndon Johnson and his
defense secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an
accident. Retired Capt. Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the Navy's
inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming
evidence to the contrary." Boston was senior legal counsel to the Navy's original 1967 review of
the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because ... "when orders
come ... I follow them." The USS Liberty was an electronic intelligence-gathering ship that was
cruising international waters off the Egyptian coast on June 8, 1967. Israeli planes and torpedo
boats opened fire on the Liberty. It was "one of the classic all-American cover-ups," said Ret.
Adm. Thomas Moorer, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who spent a year
investigating the attack as part of an independent panel he formed with other former
military officials. The panel also included a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James
Akins. David Lewis of Lemington, Vt., was on the Liberty when it was attacked. In an interview, he
said Israel had to know it was targeting an American ship. He said a U.S. flag was flying that day
and Israel shot it full of holes. The sailors on the ship, he said, quickly hoisted another American
flag, a much bigger one, to show Israel it was a U.S. vessel.
Note: For lots more on this major cover-up by a U.S. president and top military officers, click here.
ABC producer James Bamford, who exposed the Operation Northwoods cover-up, also has an
excellent chapter on this event in his highly revealing book, Body of Secrets, about the National
Security Agency.
This war on terrorism is bogus (by past U.K. Minister of Environment)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1036571,00.html
At least 11 countries provided advance warning to the US of the 9/11 attacks. Two senior Mossad
experts were sent to Washington in August 2001 to alert the CIA and FBI to a cell of 200 terrorists
said to be preparing a big operation. The list they provided included the names of four of the 9/11
hijackers, none of whom was arrested. In November 2001 the US airforce complained it had
had al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in its sights as many as 10 times over the previous six
weeks, but had been unable to attack because they did not receive permission quickly enough.
The BBC reported [that] a former Pakistan foreign secretary was told by senior American officials
at a meeting in Berlin in mid-July 2001 that "military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by
the middle of October". Zacarias Moussaoui ... was arrested in August 2001. One agent wrote, a
month before 9/11, that Moussaoui might be planning to crash into the Twin Towers. US agents ...
sought a warrant to search his computer. They were turned down by the FBI. [A] PNAC blueprint
supports an earlier document ... which said the US must "discourage advanced industrial nations
from challenging our leadership". The document also calls for the creation of "US space forces" to
dominate space, and the total control of cyberspace to prevent "enemies" using the internet. It also
hints that the US may consider developing biological weapons "that can target specific genotypes
[and] may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool". The
conclusion of all this analysis must surely be that the "global war on terrorism" has the hallmarks of
a political myth propagated to pave the way for a wholly different agenda - the US goal of world
hegemony, built around securing by force command over the oil supplies required to drive the
whole project.
Note: This is one of the very few articles recommended as a must read. Michael Meacher
was the U.K. Minister of Environment from May 1997 to June 2003. Mr. Meacher lays out a wealth
of highly revealing information backed by reliable sources. To confirm most of his statements on
our 9/11 timeline, click here. Mr. Meacher's cliams were reported on BBC News, as well, though
the BBC mentioned amazingly little on his claims of U.S. involvement in 9/11. To see the BBC
article click here.
FBI Agent Probed After Criticizing Bureau

2003-06-12, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90548#.UZznatjfKSo
A 12-year veteran FBI agent is under investigation for alleged insubordination following his
appearances on ABC News programs and a recent press conference in Washington, D.C., in
which he criticized the bureau's efforts to combat terrorism, according to the agent's attorney.
Special Agent Robert Wright ... began tracking terrorists in the Chicago area in the mid-1990s for
the Terrorism Task Force. He says he soon became frustrated when he was ordered by his
superiors at the FBI Intelligence Division not to make any arrests of suspected terrorists. According
to Wright, he was ordered to drop his investigation into a suspected terror financier whose name
had arisen during the investigation into the bombings of two American embassies in East Africa in
1998, in which at least 224 people were killed. Wright and his partner John Vincent, who has since
retired from the FBI, said that the money trail uncovered in the embassy bombing probe led to,
among others, a powerful Saudi Arabian businessman, Yassin Qadi, who had extensive business
and financial ties in Chicago. "Two months after the embassies are hit in Africa they want to
shut down the criminal investigation. They wanted to kill it," Wright said. Last year, Wright
told ABC News that he had more to say about the failures of the Terrorism Task Force.
"There's so much more," he said. "God, there's so much more."
Note: For other media articles giving more detailed information on Wright's allegations, click here
and here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on intelligence agency
Maybe It Stands for War's Mission Disputed

2003-06-08, WantToKnow.info/Minneapolis Star Tribune
http://www.WantToKnow.info/disappearededitorial
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass
destruction." Vice President Dick Cheney, Aug. 26, 2002 [White House website] "Our
intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500
tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." President Bush, Jan. 28, 2003 [St. Petersburg Times
website] "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime
continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." President
Bush, March 17, 2003 [White House website] "There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam
Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will
be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." Gen.
Tommy Franks, March 22, 2003 [Washington Post] "They may have had time to destroy them, and
I don't know the answer." Donald Rumsfeld, May 27, 2003 [Washington Post website]"For
bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction [as justification for
invading Iraq] because it was the one reason everyone could agree on." Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, May 28, 2003 [CNN website]
Note: This article was published on the front page of the editorial section in the June 8, 2003
edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Yet within weeks of its publication it disappeared from their
website. Why have the media so avoided these most important facts? For an enlightening
answer to this question, a powerful article by a highly decorated U.S. general is available here.
The Kissinger Commission

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60812FB395C0C7A8EDDA80994DA4...
In naming Henry Kissinger to direct a comprehensive examination of the government's failure to
prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush has selected a consummate Washington insider.
Unfortunately, his affinity for power and the commercial interests he has cultivated since leaving
government may make him less than the staunchly independent figure that is needed for this
critical post. Indeed, it is tempting to wonder if the choice of Mr. Kissinger is not a clever
maneuver by the White House to contain an investigation it long opposed. It seems
improbable to expect Mr. Kissinger to report unflinchingly on the conduct of the
government, including that of Mr. Bush. He would have to challenge the established order and
risk sundering old friendships and business relationships. The new inquiry will be undone if the 10member panel is hesitant to call government organizations and officials to account. There can be
no place for the kind of political calculation and court flattery that Mr. Kissinger practiced so
assiduously during his tenure as Richard Nixon's national security adviser and secretary of state.
Nor is there any tolerance for the kind of cynicism that Mr. Kissinger applied to the prosecution of
the Vietnam War.
Note: Kissinger was later forced to decline this offer as it was revealed that he was a paid advisor
to members of the bin Laden family. To confirm this, watch minutes 15 to 18 of the amazing 84minute 9/11 documentary, "9/11: Press for Truth," available here. This excellent video is focused on
the revealing investigations of the "Jersey Girls," who lost their husbands in the attacks and
uncovered Kissinger's bin Laden connections. Yet though the major media reported widely that
Kissinger resigned for "conflict of interest" reasons, none of the media mentioned that it was
because of his bin Laden connections. To find out why, click here
Revealed: The Taliban minister, the US envoy and the warning of

September 11 that was ignored
2002-09-07, The Independent (One of the UK's leading newpapers)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=331115
Weeks before the terrorist attacks on 11 September, the United States and the United
Nations ignored warnings from a secret Taliban emissary that Osama bin Laden was
planning a huge attack on American soil. The warnings were delivered by an aide of Wakil
Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban Foreign Minister at the time, who was known to be deeply unhappy
with the foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Arabs. The minister then ordered him to alert the
US and the UN about what was going to happen. The message was disregarded because of
what sources describe as "warning fatigue". At the same time, the FBI and the CIA failed to
take seriously warnings that Islamic fundamentalist students had enrolled in flight schools across
the US. Mr Muttawakil's aide, who has stayed on in Kabul and who has to remain anonymous for
his security, described in detail to The Independent how he alerted first the Americans and then
the United Nations of the coming calamity of 11 September.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For many other revealing major media articles raising
serious questions about what happened on 9/11, click here.
Ashcroft Travel Alert Didn't Involve Bin Laden

Attorney General John Ashcroft was urged in May 2001 by his top security experts not to fly
aboard commercial aircraft because of personal threats on his life, not out of fears about terrorist
hijackings, the Justice Department said. The department moved quickly to quell suggestions
that Ashcroft, who routinely flies aboard a small jet operated by the FBI, took precautions
for his own safety in the months before Sept. 11 based on warnings of any threats involving
Usama bin Laden or the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Ashcroft declined to discuss the issue while
visiting ... with Bulgarian justice officials in his office. Ashcroft walked from the room without
comment when a reporter asked about it. An FBI security review after Ashcroft took office
recommended that the attorney general eschew flying on commercial planes whenever possible,
citing nonspecific threats against Ashcroft's life. Since July 2001, Ashcroft has typically flown
aboard an FBI jet or aboard other jets leased by U.S. agencies, although he occasionally has
traveled on commercial flights.
Note: For more on this bizarre news, see the CBS report available here. Did Ashcroft have access
to information about an impending air disaster that others didn't? For many other major media
reports suggesting that rogue elements of government were involved in 9/11, click here.
Millions were in germ war tests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/apr/21/uk.medicalscience
The Ministry of Defence turned large parts of the country into a giant laboratory to conduct a series
of secret germ warfare tests on the public. A government report just released provides for the first
time a comprehensive official history of Britain's biological weapons trials between 1940 and 1979.
Many of these tests involved releasing potentially dangerous chemicals and micro-organisms over
vast swaths of the population without the public being told. While details of some secret trials have
emerged in recent years, the 60-page report reveals new information about more than 100
covert experiments. The report reveals that military personnel were briefed to tell any
'inquisitive inquirer' the trials were part of research projects into weather and air pollution.
The tests [were] carried out by government scientists at Porton Down. In most cases, the
trials did not use biological weapons but alternatives which scientists believed would mimic germ
warfare and which the MoD claimed were harmless. But families in certain areas of the country
who have children with birth defects are demanding a public inquiry.
Note: Military personnel were ordered to lie to cover-up potentially dangerous experiments on the
public. So how can we trust that these people have the public interest as a priority?
Blunders that let bin Laden slip away

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1385794/Blunders-t...
In retrospect, and with the benefit of dozens of accounts from the participants, the battle for
Tora Bora looks more like a grand charade, a deliberate ploy to cover bin Laden's quiet
escape. The US strategy bore little logic for those suffering the brunt of the attacks. "When
we round up a pack of stray sheep, we send in shepherds from four sides, not just one," said Malik
Osman Khan, a one-eyed tribal chief whose 16-year-old son Wahid Ullah was one of more than
100 Afghan civilians killed in the intense US bombing. "At first, we thought that the US military was
trying to frighten the Arabs out, since they were only bombing on one side." Haji Zahir, one of the
three Afghan commanders whose ill-prepared fighters led the charge up the southern slopes of
Tora Bora, agreed that the US bombing worked against his efforts on the ground. "They started the
bombing before they surrounded the area." Bin Laden had left some days previously, and even as
the US military's proxy war got under way, the rush of his fighters out of Tora Bora, which had been
a trickle and then a stream, now became a mad dash for freedom. The eastern Afghanistan
intelligence chief for the country's new government, Pir Baksh Bardiwal, was astounded that the
Pentagon planners of the battle for Tora Bora had failed to even consider the most obvious exit
routes. He said: "The border with Pakistan was the key, but no one paid any attention to it. AlQa'eda escaped right out from under their feet."
Note: For many questions raised about the official account of 9/11 by highly respected individuals,
click here and here.
CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/nov/01/afghanistan.terrorism
Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the
American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French
newspaper Le Figaro. Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in
Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology
department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi
personalities, and the CIA. The CIA chief was seen in the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden,
and later, it is alleged, boasted to friends about his contact. Intelligence sources say that
another CIA agent was also present; and that Bin Laden was also visited by Prince Turki al Faisal,
then head of Saudi intelligence, who had long had links with the Taliban, and Bin Laden. The
American hospital in Dubai emphatically denied that Bin Laden was a patient there. Washington
last night also denied the story. Bin Laden has often been reported to be in poor health. Some
accounts claim that he is suffering from Hepatitis C, and can expect to live for only two more years.
According to Le Figaro, last year he ordered a mobile dialysis machine to be delivered to his base
at Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Note: For many unanswered questions about the official account of 9/11 asked by highlyrespected professors and officials, click here and here.
Fearing Harm, bin Laden Kin Fled From U.S.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F14F63F590C738FDDA00894D94...
In the first days after the terror attacks on New York and Washington, Saudi Arabia supervised the
urgent evacuation of 24 members of Osama bin Laden's extended family from the United States,
fearing that they might be subjected to violence. Most of Mr. bin Laden's relatives were attending
high school and college. They are among the 4,000 Saudi students in the United States. King
Fahd, the ailing Saudi ruler, sent an urgent message to his embassy here saying there were "bin
Laden children all over America" and ordered, "Take measures to protect the innocents," the
ambassador said. The young members of the bin Laden clan were driven or flown under
F.B.I. supervision to a secret assembly point in Texas and then to Washington from where
they left the country on a private charter plane when airports reopened three days after the
attacks. A majority of the men who hijacked four airliners in the attacks carried Saudi passports.
Surprisingly, Osama bin Laden was not a stranger even to a royal family member like Prince
Bandar. In the early 1980's, bin Laden came to greet the prince and thank him for helping to build
the coalition that fought against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. Mr. bin Laden is one of 52
children of a Yemeni-born migrant who made a vast fortune building roads and palaces in Saudi
Arabia.
Note: Should the above link fail to function, click here. For a Boston Globe article on this key topic,
click here. For more detailed information which both the Times and Globe neglected to report, click
here.
FBI Knew Terrorists Were Using Flight Schools

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A10...
Federal authorities have been aware for years that suspected terrorists with ties to Osama bin
Laden were receiving flight training at schools in the United States and abroad, according to
interviews and court testimony. Three days after the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade
Center, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III described reports that several of the hijackers had
received flight training in the United States as "news, quite obviously," adding, "If we had
understood that to be the case, we would have -- perhaps one could have averted this." A senior
government official yesterday acknowledged law enforcement officials were aware that ... a dozen
people with links to bin Laden had attended U.S. flight schools. Abdul Hakim Murad ... was
arrested in Manila in 1995 and later convicted in New York of plotting to blow up a dozen
U.S. airliners over the Pacific, then crash a suicide plane into CIA headquarters. According to
law enforcement officials and press reports, the 19 suspected terrorists received flight training from
at least 10 U.S. flight schools. At least 44 people sought by the FBI for questioning received some
flight instruction.
Note: Why did the upper levels of the FBI "not know" about the suspicious people in US flight
schools, when so many lower-level FBI personnel were desperately trying to inform them of these
facts? For many other unanswered questions about the official account of 9/11 from highly
respected professionals, click here and here.
US 'planned attack on Taleban'

2001-09-18, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm
A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against
Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks. Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani
Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against
Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October. Mr Naik said US officials told him of the
plan at a UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in Berlin. Mr
Naik told the BBC that at the meeting the US representatives told him that unless Bin Laden was
handed over swiftly America would take military action to kill or capture both Bin Laden and the
Taleban leader, Mullah Omar. The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple the
Taleban regime and install a transitional government of moderate Afghans in its place. Mr Naik
was told that Washington would launch its operation from bases in Tajikistan, where American
advisers were already in place. He was told that Uzbekistan would also participate in the operation
and that 17,000 Russian troops were on standby. Mr Naik was told that if the military action
went ahead it would take place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by the
middle of October at the latest. He said that he was in no doubt that after the World Trade
Center bombings this pre-existing US plan had been built upon and would be implemented
within two or three weeks. And he said it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even
if Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taleban.
A Conspiracy So Vast; How Crimes Become Obsessions

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/13/weekinreview/the-nation-a-conspiracy-so-vas...
The disclosure that the Federal Bureau of Investigation withheld documents from Timothy
McVeigh's lawyers seems certain to ignite a controversy that will burn for years, perhaps
decades. ''If any questions or doubts remain about this case, it would cast a permanent cloud over
justice,'' said Attorney General John D. Ashcroft in delaying Mr. McVeigh's execution until at least
June 11. But for some people the cloud has been there all along, and always will be. They will
never accept the government's assertion that the withholding of the documents was simple human,
bureaucratic error. And so the 1995 bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City seems
likely to join the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as
events whose truth -- in the eyes of some Americans -- is forever untold. ''Gee, how did that
happen?'' Charles Key, a former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, said in
sarcastic response to the news that the McVeigh defense team had been denied evidence held by
the government. Mr. Key, who lives in Oklahoma City, said he has always been convinced that Mr.
McVeigh had accomplices beyond Terry Nichols, the other person convicted in the bombing. The
government has not pursued the case aggressively, he said, because the full truth would be too
damning.
Note: There is an abundance of solid information that the Oklahoma City bombing was
manipulated in major ways. For two revealing AP articles on the FBI concealing evidence, click
here and here. For news reports that there were undetonated bombs in the building, sharply
contradicting the official story click here and here.
What Did the C.I.A. Do to His Father?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9D02E2DE113CF932A35...
For a quarter of a century, [Eric Olson] has believed that the Central Intelligence Agency murdered
his father, a United States government scientist. On Nov. 28, 1953, around 2 a.m. [the] night
manager at the Statler Hotel ... in New York rushed out the front door ... to find a middle-aged man
lying on the sidewalk. The man had fallen from the 10th floor -- apparently after crashing through a
closed window. [In late July, 1975] the C.I.A.'s director, William Colby [provided Olson's] family ...
declassified documents relating to Frank Olson's death. Olson had not been a civilian employee of
the Department of the Army. He had been a C.I.A. employee working at Fort Detrick. Olson's
specialty, it turned out, had been the development of aerosols for the delivery of anthrax. The
Colby documents were ... full of unexplained terms like the ''Artichoke'' and ''Bluebird'' projects.
These turned out to be the precursors of what became known as MK-ULTRA, a C.I.A. project,
beginning in the Korean War, to explore the use of drugs like LSD as truth serums, as well as
botulism and anthrax, for use in covert assassination. The documents claimed that during a
meeting between the C.I.A. and Fort Detrick scientists ... on Nov. 19,1953, Sidney Gottlieb of the
C.I.A. slipped LSD into Olson's glass of Cointreau. Olson, a scientist by training, would have
known that he was working for a government that had put Nazi scientists on trial at
Nuremberg for immoral experiments on human beings. Now, in the late summer of 1953,
[Olson] faced up to the possibility that his own government was doing the same thing.
Slipping LSD into Olson's Cointreau was ... designed to get him to talk ... to assess what kind of
risk he posed and then eliminate him if necessary.
Note: For those interested in this vital, yet disturbing topic, the entire Times article is well worth
reading. For further verifiable information on the CIA mind control programs mentioned in this
article, click here.
CIA Reveals Covert Acts In Chile

2000-09-11, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-reveals-covert-acts-in-chile/
The CIA is acknowledging for the first time the extent of its deep involvement in Chile, where it
dealt with coup-plotters, false propagandists and assassins. The agency [released] a declassified
report required by the U.S. Congress. Despite the disclosures, the CIA report admits to no abuses
or cover-up by CIA agents. But it chronicles clandestine contacts authorized by then-U.S.
President Richard Nixon and other top U.S. officials which it said would violate standards now
upheld by the agency. Among the disclosures: The CIA had prior knowledge of the plot that
overthrew Allende three years later. The CIA supported a kidnapping attempt of Chile's
army chief in October 1970, as part of a plot to prevent the congressional confirmation of Allende
as president. The kidnapping attempt failed, and Gen. Rene Schneider was shot and killed. The
CIA later paid $35,000 to the kidnappers in what it termed "humanitarian" assistance. The CIA
made a one-time payment to secret police head Gen. Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, the head
of the military regime's feared secret police. He was sentenced in 1993 for killing Chilean
socialist leader Orlando Letelier in Washington in 1976. Contreras has said the CIA was
behind the assassination. The report also describes efforts to influence news media in Chile
against Allende and to continue anti-leftist propaganda efforts by successor Pinochet, "including
support for news media committed to creating a positive image for the military Junta" now accused
of an array of abuses during his 17-year rule, including more than 3,000 killings.
The C.I.A. in Iran -- How a Plot Convulsed Iran in '53 (and in '79)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html
The Central Intelligence Agency's secret history of its covert operation to overthrow Iran's
government in 1953 offers an inside look at how the agency stumbled into success, despite a
series of mishaps that derailed its original plans. Written in 1954 by one of the coup's chief
planners, the history details how United States and British officials plotted the military coup that
returned the shah of Iran to power and toppled Iran's elected prime minister, an ardent nationalist.
The document shows that: * The C.I.A. and S.I.S., the British intelligence service, handpicked Gen.
Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and covertly funneled $5
million to General Zahedi's regime two days after the coup prevailed. * Iranians working for the
C.I.A. and posing as Communists harassed religious leaders and staged the bombing of
one cleric's home in a campaign to turn the country's Islamic religious community against
Mossadegh's government.
Note: For the complete text of this major report in single-page format, click here.
Experimental bomb to create huge tidal wave was tested in 1944

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/experimental-bomb-to-create-huge-tidal-wave...
Secret wartime experiments were conducted off the New Zealand coast to perfect a bomb
that could trigger devastating tidal waves, according to government files declassified in
Auckland. The New Zealand Herald, citing the files, said that senior United States defence
officials believed the weapon had the potential to be as deadly as the atomic bomb. But the
tsunami bomb, as it was known, was never fully tested and the war ended before the project was
completed. Its mastermind was Thomas Leech, an Australian professor who as the dean of
engineering at Auckland University from 1940 to 1950. He was seconded to the New Zealand
Army during the Second World War. He set off a series of underwater explosions that triggered
mini tidal waves at Whangaparaoa, just north of Auckland, in 1944 and 1945. Details of the
research, known as Project Seal, are contained in 53- year-old documents released by the New
Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. What happened to Project Seal once the final report
was forwarded to Wellington in the late 1940s is not clear.
Note: For a revealing, well researched article presenting solid evidence that elements within the
military have much more control over the weather than is generally believed, click here.
Bin Laden comes home to roost

At the CIA, it happens often enough to have a code name: Blowback. Simply defined, this is the
term describing an agent, an operative or an operation that has turned on its creators. Osama bin
Laden, our new public enemy Number 1, is the personification of blowback. And the fact that he is
viewed as a hero by millions in the Islamic world proves again the old adage: Reap what you sow.
There are times when the United States, faced with ... moral dilemmas, should have resisted the
temptation to act. Arming a multi-national coalition of Islamic extremists in Afghanistan during the
1980s ... was one of those times. Bin Laden is the heir to Saudi construction fortune who ... has
used that money to finance countless attacks on U.S. interests. Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia to fight
the Soviet army in Afghanistan. By 1984, he was running a front organization known as ... the MAK
- which funneled money, arms and fighters from the outside world into the Afghan war. MAK was
nurtured by Pakistans state security services, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, the
CIAs primary conduit for conducting the covert war against Moscows occupation. The CIA ... had
conclusive evidence by the mid-1980s of the deepening crisis of infrastructure within the Soviet
Union. The CIA, as its deputy director Robert Gates acknowledged under congressional
questioning in 1992, had decided to keep that evidence from President Reagan and his top
advisors and instead continued to grossly exaggerate Soviet military and technological
capabilities. Given that context, a decision was made to provide Americas potential enemies with
the arms, money - and most importantly - the knowledge of how to run a war of attrition violent and
well-organized enough to humble a superpower. That decision is coming home to roost.
Note: The #2 man (who later became #1) at the CIA acknowledges that the CIA deceived the
president in order to forward its own confrontational objectives. How often do you think this might
happen? Who's really in charge here? For a highly revealing documentary titled "Secrets of the
CIA," click here.
Inside the CIA: An interview with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman
1998-01-00, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/21/interviews/goodman/
Melvin Goodman was a senior analyst in Soviet affairs at the Central Intelligence Agency, where
he worked for two decades (1966-1986). He currently is professor of international studies at the
National War College. [In the CIA], not only do you have political assassinations -- attempts at
least -- throughout the Fifties and the Sixties ... but you even have assassination attempts against
international leaders: the Mongoose operation in Cuba [and] assassination attempts in Chile,
where you were dealing with a country that wasn't even in the vital national interests or concerns
of the United States. All of these assassination attempts were done with the authorization of the
White House. I think the major problem at the CIA -- and it exists to this day -- is that you have two
cultures. You have an intelligence or analytical culture that must remain open. The opposite of that
is the clandestine side: it's secret, it's a policy branch of the government. The White House
basically uses the operational component of the CIA to do its bidding. It's very useful to
have a clandestine corps to carry out military or paramilitary actions very cheaply, without
the hand of the United States or a particular president being obvious. In many ways, you're
getting worst-case assessments, because quite often the contacts of the CIA are people on the
CIA payroll, telling the CIA what these people believe the CIA wants to know -- in return for
payment. So the whole tradecraft is somewhat suspicious and somewhat corrupt from the very
outset.
Note: Melvin Goodman is one of many senior government officials who question the government's
9/11 story. For his comments on this, click here. For other senior officials with similar sentiments,
click here.
The Opium War's Secret History

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/28/opinion/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html
In 1823 a 24-year-old Yankee, Warren Delano, sailed to Canton. Within seven years he was a
senior partner in Russell & Company. Delano's problem, as with all traders, European and
American, was that China had much to sell but declined to buy. The British struck upon an
ingenious way to reduce a huge trade deficit. Their merchants bribed Chinese officials to
allow entry of chests of opium from British-ruled India, though its importation had long
been banned by imperial decree. Nearly every American company followed suit. As addiction
became epidemic, and as the Chinese began paying with precious silver for the drug, their
Emperor finally in 1839 named an Imperial Commissioner to end the trade. Commissioner Lin Tsehsu proceeded to Canton, seized vast stocks of opium and dumped the chests in the sea. This ...
furnished the spark for the Opium War, initiated by Lord Palmerston, the British Prime Minister, and
waged with determination to obtain full compensation for the opium. The Celestial Empire was
humbled, forced to open five ports to foreign traders and to permit a British colony at Hong Kong.
Warren Delano returned to America rich. He eventually gave his daughter Sara in marriage to ...
the father of Franklin Roosevelt. The old China trader was close-mouthed about opium, as were
his partners in Russell & Company. It is not clear how much F.D.R. knew about this source of his
grandfather's wealth.
Note: So FDR's grandfather struck it rich by dealing opium in China. Note that Samuel Russell,
who founded Russell & Company, the most powerful opium trader of the time, was the cousin of
William Russell, who founded Yale's Skull and Bones society, which counted among its members
Presidents William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
The Unscientific F.B.I. Lab

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/17/opinion/the-unscientific-fbi-lab.html
A new report from [FBI] inspector general, Michael Bromwich [says] that much of the vaunted
laboratory's work was amateurish, and, worse, that lab officials who appeared at trials were overly
eager to help the prosecution. It discovered, among other things, substandard performances by
the laboratory's explosives, chemistry-toxicology and materials analysis units, forcing F.B.I. officials
to review several hundred past and current cases -- including the Oklahoma City bombing case -to determine how many might have been jeopardized by unprofessional work. The inquiry found
numerous instances in which untrained F.B.I. agents had been allowed to take part in scientific
work. In some cases lab reports were inadequately documented and exaggerated the evidence
against defendants. Supervisors provided only the most cursory oversight, giving their
subordinates freedom to reach unsupported findings, which then went unchallenged. Specifically,
the F.B.I. apparently offered cooked testimony in at least two major cases. In the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing case, an examiner in the explosives lab, David Williams, gave
inaccurate testimony that ''exceeded his expertise, was unscientific and speculative, was
based on improper nonscientific grounds and appeared to be tailored to correspond with
his estimate of the amount of explosive used in the bombing.'' That should have been cause
for Mr. Williams's dismissal. Instead he was assigned to the Oklahoma City bombing, where, the
inspector general found, he committed ''many of the same errors.''
Modern art was CIA 'weapon'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html
For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The
Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as
Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the
Cold War. The CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the
world for more than 20 years. This was a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the great majority
of Americans disliked or even despised modern art. Why did the CIA support them? Because in
the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of
the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into
the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete. The existence of this policy, rumoured
and disputed for many years, has now been confirmed for the first time by former CIA officials. The
decision to include culture and art in the US Cold War arsenal was taken as soon as the CIA was
founded in 1947. Dismayed at the appeal communism still had for many intellectuals and artists in
the West, the new agency set up a division, the Propaganda Assets Inventory, which at its
peak could influence more than 800 newspapers, magazines and public information
organisations. They joked that it was like a Wurlitzer jukebox: when the CIA pushed a
button it could hear whatever tune it wanted playing across the world. Unknown to the artists,
the new American art was secretly promoted under a policy known as the "long leash." [This]
centrepiece of the CIA campaign ... a vast jamboree of intellectuals, writers, historians, poets, and
artists ... was set up with CIA funds in 1950 and run by a CIA agent. At its height, it had offices in
35 countries and published more than two dozen magazines.
Note: Read the entire article at the link above to learn how the CIA secretly funnels money through
cooperative millionaires. To this day, the CIA has agents in key press positions to stop stories they
don't want or to promote their own pieces widely in the media. For more along these lines, see
concise summaries of deeply revealing media corruption news articles and intelligence agency
news articles, all from reliable major media sources.
Canada Will Pay '50s Test Victims

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9E0CE7DD173AF93AA25...
Canada has agreed to compensate victims of psychiatric experiments carried out mainly in the
1950s and financed in part by the Central Intelligence Agency. An institute at McGill University in
Montreal, headed by Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, a psychiatrist, ... was one of the centers where such
experiments were carried out. Now, the Canadian Government says the 80 or so patients who
underwent the so-called "psychic driving" treatment in Montreal ... can receive almost $80,000
each. The patients at the Allan Memorial Institute at McGill were put into a drugged sleep for
weeks or months, subjected to electroshock therapy until they were "de-patterned," knowing
neither who or where they were, and forced to listen repeatedly to recorded messages broadcast
from speakers on the wall or under their pillows. Linda Macdonald, 55 years old, an employment
counselor now in Vancouver, is one of those who sued for compensation. "I walked through those
doors with a husband on one arm and a guitar on the other and was a healthy person and
coherent," she said. She spent 86 days in the "sleep room" and was subjected to 109 shock
treatments and megadoses of barbiturates and other drugs. When she got out of the
experiment, she could not read or write, had to be toilet-trained and could not remember
her husband, her five children or any part of the first 26 years of her life. John Marks, a
former State Department official whose 1979 book, The Search For the Manchurian Candidate,
called attention to the experiments, said that a C.I.A. front called the Society for the Investigation of
Human Ecology funneled more than $60,000 to Dr. Cameron for the studies. Ottawa gave him
more than $200,000.
Note: Dr. Cameron was once President of the American and World Psychiatric Associations. For a
concise summary of the CIA's mind control experiments, click here.
The BCCI whitewash

1991-11-06, Baltimore Sun
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-11-06/news/1991310167_1_bcci-sununu-whi...
Relax, everybody -- the White House counsel has "investigated" the case of the departing
Sununu aide with no legal experience who was hired for $600,000 by a BCCI figure, and
rendered this verdict: Nobody did anything wrong. Influence peddling? An attempt by
intermediaries to obstruct justice? Forget it. Sununu's man agrees to give back the money;
case closed. Much relieved, the Republican Justice Department hastily announces it accepts the
predetermined result of the White House "inquiry" and will not investigate. To date, nobody has
been asked a single question under oath. Let's see what Sheik Kamal Adham, the ex-Saudi
spymaster at the center of the BCCI conspiracy, thought he would get by hiring the person closest
to Bush's chief of staff. Since late spring, Plato Cacheris, Kamal's legitimate criminal defense
lawyer, has been trying to get various prosecutors to ... come to a place of the sheik's choosing,
where he cannot be arrested and extradited, to listen to an unsworn proffer of evidence that will
deflect prosecution from him. Nothing doing, said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau,
the only lawman getting real results in the BCCI swindle; bring him in -- we'll get his story in front of
a grand jury. Then Sununu's right-hand man departs the White House and is immediately retained,
reportedly paid $136,000 in advance. Justice suddenly has a change of heart; though Ed Rogers'
hand doesn't show, David Eisenberg, an assistant U.S. attorney, is dispatched from Washington to
Cairo to meet Kamal on the sheik's terms.
Note: For more on the huge scandals of the powerful BCCI, click here. For lots more from reliable
sources on government corruption, click here.
Iran-Contra Hearing; North's Testimony: 'Fall Guy' and Foreign Policy

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/14/world/iran-contra-hearings-north-s-testimon...
REPRESENTATIVE JACK BROOKS, Democrat of Texas. Colonel North, in your work at the
N.S.C., were you not assigned, at one time, to work on plans for the continuity of government in
the event of a major disaster? SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE, Democrat of Hawaii. I believe that
question touches upon a highly sensitive and classified area so may I request that you not touch
upon that. MR. BROOKS. I was particularly concerned, Mr. Chairman, because I read in
Miami papers, and several others, that there had been a plan developed, by that same
agency, a contingency plan in the event of emergency, that would suspend the American
Constitution. And I was deeply concerned about it and wondered if that was the area in which he
had worked. I believe that it was, and I wanted to get his confirmation. MR. INOUYE. May I most
respectfully request that that matter not be touched upon, at this stage. If we wish to get into this,
I'm certain arrangements can be made for an executive session.
Note: Why was the chairman not allowing a discussion of the fact that plans were being made in
the event of an emergency for the suspension of the U.S. Constitution? To watch a two-minute
video which includes this testimony, click here.
Underwater Exploring Is Banned In Brazil

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/25/science/underwater-exploring-is-banned-in-b...
A dispute between the Brazilian Navy and an American marine archeologist has led Brazil to bar
the diver from entering the country and to place a ban on all underwater exploration. The dispute
involves Robert Marx, a Florida author and treasure hunter, who asserts that the Brazilian Navy
dumped a thick layer of silt on the remains of a Roman vessel that he discovered inside Rio de
Janeiro's bay. The reason he gave for the Navy's action was that proof of a Roman presence
would require Brazil to rewrite its recorded history, which has the Portuguese navigator
Pedro Alvares Cabral discovering the country in 1500. All ... permits for underwater exploration
and digging, a prolific field in Brazil, have been canceled as a result of the Marx controversy ...
Navy officials said. The story goes back to 1976 when lobster divers first found potsherds studded
with barnacles. Then a Brazilian diver brought up two complete jars with twin handles, tapering at
the bottom, the kind that ancient Mediterranean peoples widely used for storage and are known as
amphoras. According to Elizabeth Will, a professor of classics and specialist in ancient Roman
amphoras at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the jars are very similar to the ones
produced at Kouass, a Roman Empire colony that was a center for amphora-making on the
Atlantic coast of Morocco. Reached by telephone, Professor Will said of the fragments she had
studied: ''They look to be ancient and because of the profile, the thin-walled fabric and the shape
of the rims I suggested they belong to the third century A.D..''
Note: Many archeological finds which don't match accepted history have been suppressed and
covered up. For five revealing BBC articles showing more manipulation around this, click here. For
a compilation of 10 mysteries that hint at ancient civilizations which have largely been ignored,
click here.
Car Burnings and Assaults on Radicals Linked to F.B.I. Agents in Last 5

Years
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60716FA3D59157493C3A8178CD85...
Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation committed widespread acts of unauthorized
lawlessness including the burning of automobiles, assaults and illegal wiretapping, while
conducting internal security investigations in the last five years, law enforcement sources said.
Militant antiwar activists at Queens College in Flushing were one target of illegal and unauthorized
electronic surveillance. Agents placed illegal "wildcat" telephone taps and electronic bugs, the
sources said, ... because these were often the best methods of getting intelligence on militant
leftist activity. Agents would disguise the source of the information in their reports to make it
appear that it came from live informants. One source said, however, that he believed that
supervisory F.B.I. personnel were "aware" that information was coming from taps but did nothing
about it. Car burnings and assaults upon individuals in the radical left were efforts to disrupt
antiwar activity. The cars were set afire with "Molotov cocktails" made from glass bottles
filled with gasoline. This was done in such a manner as to appear to have been an attack by
another extremist group. Cars were also disabled to strand suspects during a surveillance.
Agents, the sources said, from time to time "roughed up" radical antiwar figures to frighten them or
to disrupt a demonstration or protest activity. At least one radical was kidnapped for the same
reason. One source said that the victim of a beating was never seriously hurt because agents did
not want to create a situation that might be traced to the bureau. The victim, this source said,
would not know he was attacked by bureau men.
Note: The above link requires a small payment to view the article on the Times website. To view it
free, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on intelligence
agency corruption, click here.
Flying Saucers
1952-09-07, CIA Website (declassified document)
http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp?pageNumber=2&txtSearch=flying+saucers&sort...
OSI [Office of Scientific Intelligence] has investigated the work currently being performed on flying
saucers. Since 1947, ATIC [Air Technical Intelligence Center] has received approximately 1500
official reports of sightings plus an enormous volume of letters, phone calls and press reports.
During the month of July 1952 alone, official reports totaled 250. Of the 1500 reports, Air Force
carries 20% as unexplained. A study should be instituted to determine what, if any, utilization could
be made of these phenomena by United States psychological warfare planners, and what, if any,
defenses should be planned in anticipation of Soviet attempts to utilize them. A national policy
should be established as to what should be told the public regarding the phenomena, in order to
minimize risk of panic. It is recommended that: a. The Director of Central Intelligence advise the
National Security Council of the security implications inherent in the flying saucer problem. b. CIA,
under its assigned responsibilities, and in cooperation with the psychological strategy
board, immediately investigate possible offensive or defensive utilization of the phenomena
for psychological warfare purposes both for and against the United States.
Note: To access this document on the CIA website, click on the link above and then click on the
first link listed, with the title "FLYING SAUCERS," or see a full copy with comments at this link.
Why was the CIA interested in using the UFO phenomenon for psychological warfare? How did
that play out? For lots more reliable, verifiable information on this intriguing topic, click here.
Media Lessons from Snowden Reporting: LA Times Editors Advocate

Prosecution of Sources
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/07/la-times-editors-advocate-impri...
Two years ago, the first story based on the Snowden archive was published in The
Guardian, revealing a program of domestic mass surveillance, which, at least in its original
form, ended this week. To commemorate that anniversary, Edward Snowden himself reflected in a
New York Times op-ed on the power of an informed public. The debate provoked by these
disclosures [examined] the role journalism ought to play in a democracy and the proper
relationship of journalists to those who wield the greatest political and economic power. Of all the
revelations over the last two years, one of the most illuminating and stunning has been the
reaction of many in the American media to Edward Snowden as a source. There was plenty of
journalistic support for the disclosures. But huge numbers of journalists went on the
warpath against transparency. The Los Angeles Times ... believes leaking is criminal and those
who do it belong in prison. The LA Times itself constantly publishes illegal leaks, though the ones it
publishes usually come from top government officials. Have the LA Times editors called for the
criminal prosecution of Leon Panetta, and John Brennan, and the endless number of senior
officials who leak not (as Snowden did) to inform the public but in order to propagandize them? Of
course not, and therein lies the key media lesson from all of this. These journalists are literally
agents of political power.
corruption in the intelligence community and the manipulation of public perception.
In the Fog of War, the U.S. Has Armed ISIS

2015-06-02, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/02/van-buren-iraq-idUSL1N0YO25X20150602
Iraqi security forces lost 2,300 Humvee armored vehicles when Islamic State overran the northern
city of Mosul in June 2014. Coupled with previous losses of American weapons, the conclusion is
simple: The United States is effectively supplying Islamic State with tools of war the militant group
cannot otherwise hope to acquire. Losses to Islamic State include at least 40 M1A1 main battle
tanks ... 74,000 machine guns, and as many as 52 M198 howitzer mobile gun systems. To help
replenish Iraq's motor pool, the U.S. State Department last year approved a sale to Iraq of 1,000
Humvees, along with their armor upgrades, machine guns and grenade launchers. The United
States previously donated 250 Mine Resistant Armored Personnel carriers (MRAPs) to Iraq, plus
unaccountable amounts of material left behind when American forces departed in 2011. The
United States is currently in the process of moving to Iraq 175 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks,
55,000 rounds of main tank-gun ammunition, $600 million in howitzers and trucks, $700 million
worth of Hellfire missiles and 2,000 AT-4 rockets. The Hellfires and AT-4's, anti-tank weapons,
are presumably going to be used to help destroy the American armor in the hands of
Islamic State. It's a surreal state of affairs in which American weaponry is being sent into
Iraq to destroy American weaponry previously sent into Iraq.
Note: Remember that many in power want perpetual war to keep the profits flowing. Read a
verifiable and carefully researched report on the covert origins of ISIS. Explore a powerful article
titled "Ex-US Intelligence Officials Confirm: Secret Pentagon Report Proves US Complicity In
Creation Of ISIS." For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war
Hastert's hush money was to cover up sexual misconduct with former

student
2015-06-01, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/29/politics/dennis-hastert-indictment-questions
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was paying a former student to keep quiet
about allegations of sexual abuse from the time when Hastert was a teacher and wrestling
coach in Illinois, two sources with knowledge of the federal government investigation told CNN on
Friday afternoon. Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Illinois between 1965 and
1981 before entering politics. Federal prosecutors indicted Hastert on Thursday for lying to
the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed person to "cover up past
misconduct." A federal law enforcement official confirmed to CNN early Friday evening that the
former student was a male and a minor when the alleged abuse took place. Federal law
enforcement officials also said that investigators decided not to pursue a possible extortion case in
the matter. Much remains unclear in the seven-page indictment federal officials lodged against the
former Republican House speaker. The indictment lists relevant facts as including Hastert's time
working as a teacher and coach in Yorkville for 16 years. But Hastert was not approached by
"Individual A" until 2010. From 2010 until 2014, Hastert first negotiated with and then made secret
payments to the unknown subject. Charges were not filed against Hastert until Thursday, a half
century after the first relevant date listed in the indictment.
Note: Watch powerful evidence in a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that
child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government. For more along these lines,
see concise summaries of deeply revealing sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable major
media sources.
Why NSA surveillance is worse than youve ever imagined

2015-05-11, Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/05/11/if-youre-not-outraged-about-...
Last summer ... I spent three days in Moscow hanging out with Edward Snowden for a Wired cover
story. He told me that what finally drove him to leave his country and become a whistleblower was
his conviction that the National Security Agency was conducting illegal surveillance on every
American. Thursday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ... ruled that the NSA
program that secretly intercepts the telephone metadata of every American who calls
whom and when was illegal. Its now up to Congress to vote on whether or not to modify the
law ... by June 1, when they need to reauthorize the Patriot Act. A PEW survey in March revealed
that 52 percent of the public is now concerned about government surveillance, while 46 percent is
not. There is now a sort of acceptance of highly intrusive surveillance as the new normal, [while]
the American public [remains] unaware of many of the agencys long list of abuses. It is little
wonder that only slightly more than half the public is concerned. For that reason, I agree with
Frederick A. O. Schwartz Jr., the former chief counsel of the Church Committee, which conducted
a yearlong probe into intelligence abuses in the mid-1970s, that we need a similarly thorough ...
investigation today. Now it is time for a new committee to examine our secret government closely
again, he wrote in a recent Nation magazine article, particularly for its actions in the post-9/11
period.
Note: The author of this excellent article is James Bamford, the former ABC News producer who
broke the story on Operation Northwoods and has written landmark books on the NSA. For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about intelligence
agency corruption and the erosion of privacy rights from reliable major media sources.
The Vindication of Edward Snowden

2015-05-11, The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/the-vindication-of-edward...
Edward Snowdens most famous leak has just been vindicated. Since June 2013, when he
revealed that the telephone calls of Americans are being logged en masse, his critics have
charged that he took it upon himself to expose a lawful secret. They insisted that Congress
authorized the phone dragnet when it passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act. A panel of judges on the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the program Snowden exposed was never
legal. The Patriot Act does not authorize it, contrary to the claims of George W. Bush, Barack
Obama, Michael Hayden, Keith Alexander, and James Clapper. Statutes to which the government
points have never been interpreted to authorize anything approaching the breadth of the sweeping
surveillance at issue here, Judge Gerard E. Lynch declared. Consider what this means. For many
years, the executive branch carried out a hugely consequential policy change that the
legislature never approved. Tens of millions of innocent U.S. citizens were thus subject to
invasions of privacy that no law authorized. Officials classified the program as a state secret,
keeping it out of Article III courts. By doing so, they prevented the judiciary from reviewing the
statutory legitimacy of NSA surveillance, subverting a core check in our system of government.
The consequence: An illegal program persisted for years. This is a perfect illustration of why secret
government programs are an abomination in our democracy.
government corruption and the erosion of privacy rights from reliable major media sources.
F.E.C. Cant Curb 2016 Election Abuse, Commission Chief Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/us/politics/fec-cant-curb-2016-election-abu...
The leader of the Federal Election Commission, the agency charged with regulating the way
political money is raised and spent, says she has largely given up hope of reining in abuses
in the 2016 presidential campaign. The likelihood of the laws being enforced is slim, Ann M.
Ravel, the chairwoman, said in an interview. People think the F.E.C. is dysfunctional. Its worse
than dysfunctional. Her unusually frank assessment reflects a worsening stalemate among the
agencys six commissioners. They are perpetually locked in 3-to-3 ties along party lines on key
votes because of a fundamental disagreement over the mandate of the commission, which was
created 40 years ago in response to the political corruption of Watergate. The F.E.C.s paralysis
comes at a particularly critical time because of the sea change brought about by the Supreme
Courts decision in 2010 in the Citizens United case, which freed corporations and unions to spend
unlimited funds in support of political candidates. Experts predict that the 2016 race could produce
a record fund-raising haul of as much as $10 billion, with the growth fueled by well-financed
outside groups. On their own, the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch have
promised to spend $889 million through their political network.
Note: Read about how Citizens United paved the way for billionaire oligarchs to become their own
political party. For more, see concise summaries of deeply revealing electoral process corruption
Former F.B.I. Agent Sues, Claiming Retaliation Over Misgivings in

Anthrax Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/us/ex-fbi-agent-claims-retaliation-for-diss...
When Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist, took a fatal overdose of Tylenol in 2008, the
government declared that he had been responsible for the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, which
killed five people and set off a nationwide panic, and closed the case. Now, a former senior F.B.I.
agent who ran the anthrax investigation for four years says that the bureau gathered a staggering
amount of exculpatory evidence regarding Dr. Ivins that remains secret. The former agent,
Richard L. Lambert, who spent 24 years at the F.B.I., says he believes it is possible that Dr. Ivins
was the anthrax mailer, but he does not think prosecutors could have convicted him had he lived to
face criminal charges. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Tennessee last Thursday, Mr. Lambert
accused the bureau of trying to railroad the prosecution of Ivins and, after his suicide, creating
an elaborate perception management campaign to bolster its claim that he was guilty. Mr.
Lamberts lawsuit accuses the bureau and the Justice Department of forcing his dismissal
from a job as senior counterintelligence officer ... in retaliation for his dissent on the
anthrax case. The anthrax letters were mailed to United States senators and news organizations
in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The bureaus investigation ... focused on a
former Army scientist and physician, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who was subsequently cleared and given
a $4.6 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit.
Note: There is more strong evidence that the anthrax scare was fabricated by inside sources.
Read an excellent article with more on this strange case.
Billion dollar lawsuit filed over study on sexually transmitted diseases

2015-04-02, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/billion-dollar-lawsuit-filed-study-on-sexually-tr...
More than 750 plaintiffs are suing the Johns Hopkins Hospital System Corp. over its role in a
series of medical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and 1950s during which subjects were
infected with venereal diseases. The lawsuit in Baltimore seeks $1 billion in damages for
individuals, spouses and children of people infected with syphilis, gonorrhea and other
sexually transmitted diseases through a U.S. government program between 1945 and 1956.
The suit claims Johns Hopkins officials had "substantial influence" over the studies, controlling
some advisory panels, and were involved in planning and authorizing the experiments. A Hopkins
spokesperson ... confirmed that faculty members took part in reviewing funding applications, but
said this did not warrant a lawsuit against the medical center. The statement expressed "profound
sympathy for individuals and families impacted by the deplorable 1940s syphilis study conducted
by the U.S. Government in Guatemala," and noted that the ethical standards for conducting
medical research have changed significantly in the decades since then. It's the latest in a series of
lawsuits over the studies. A federal judge in 2012 dismissed a lawsuit against the U.S. government
involving the same study.
Note: Explore an excellent list of dozens of studies over the years in which humans were used
unknowingly as guinea pigs in clear breach of ethical standards. Links are provided for verification
of each study. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news
articles about corruption in the medical industry and in government.
Child sex abuse: Judges, MPs, media entertainers, actors, police and
clergy implicated in Met Police corruption probe
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/child-sex-abuse-judges-mps-media-e...
The Metropolitan Police is being investigated over further allegations of corruption in
relation to child sex offences dating back to the 1970s, including the claim that evidence gathered
against MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, clergy and actors was dropped due to police
intervention. The fresh allegations are in addition to the 14 cases being investigated by the
Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), revealed earlier this month, dating from the
1970s to the 2000s. The three new investigations relate to allegations about police
suppressing evidence, hindering or halting investigations, and covering up offences due to
the involvement of members of parliament and police officers. One case addressed the
allegation that a child abuse investigation in central London, which gathered evidence against
MPs, judges, media entertainers, police, actors, clergy, and others, was dropped. It has been
claimed that two months after the file had been submitted to start proceedings against those
identified, an officer was called in by a senior Met officer and told to drop the case. The two further
allegations relate to a child abuse investigation conducted in the 1980s, with one relating directly to
police actions in the case. The IPCC said it was also assessing a further six referrals it had
received from the Met relating to similar matters.
Court Accepts DOJs State Secrets Claim to Protect Shadowy

Neocons: a New Low
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/26/new-low-obama-doj-federal-court...
An anti-Iranian group calling itself United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) ... is very likely a
front for some combination of the Israeli and U.S. intelligence services. When launched, NBC
described its mission as waging economic and psychological warfare against Iran. The group
was founded and is run and guided by a roster of ... neocon extremists such as Joe Lieberman,
former Bush Homeland Security adviser (and current CNN analyst) Fran Townsend, former CIA
Director James Woolsey, and former Mossad Director Meir Dagan. In May 2013, UANI launched a
name and shame campaign designed to publicly identify and malign any individuals or
entities enabling trade with Iran. One of the accused was the shipping company of Greek
billionaire Victor Restis, who ... sued UANI for defamation in a New York federal court. Then
something quite extraordinary happened: In September of last year, the U.S. government, which
was not a party, formally intervened in the lawsuit, and demanded that the court ... dismiss the
lawsuit against UANI before it could even start, on the ground that allowing the case to proceed
would damage national security. Why would such a group like this even possess state secrets? It
would be illegal to give them such material. The U.S. government provide no clue as to what the
supposedly endangered state secrets are. As a result of the DOJs protection, UANI cannot
be sued. This group of neocon extremists now has a license to defame anyone they want.
Stock market rigging is no longer a conspiracy theory

http://nypost.com/2015/03/25/us-stock-market-is-just-way-too-riggin-easy/
The stock market is rigged. With stock prices rushing far ahead of economic reality over
the last six or so years, more experts in the financial markets are coming to the same
conclusion. Ed Yardeni, a longtime Wall Street guru ... said flat out last week that the market was
being propped up. These markets are all rigged, and I dont say that critically. I just say that
factually, he asserted on CNBC. Yardenis claim is the most basic one: that the Federal Reserve
wont do anything that will upset Wall Street and, in fact, is doing all it can to help the stock market.
The Bank of Japan [has been] aggressively purchasing stock funds. The benefits, Japans central
bank believes, will then trickle down to the rest of the economy. One American exchange has
made intervention in rigging foreign governments easier and cheaper to accomplish. CME
Group, the Chicago exchange that trades options and commodities, had an incentive program
under which foreign central banks could buy stock market derivatives like the Standard & Poors
futures contracts at a discount. S&P futures contracts are the vehicle of choice for rigging the
market. Theres another kind of market rigging ... being done by companies themselves. Since
corporate profits and revenues arent growing enough to justify current high stock prices,
companies have been aggressively buying back massive quantities of their own shares. By doing
this, companies reduce the number of their shares owned by the public [to boost] the calculation of
profit-per-shares. Todays markets arent fair [and] stock prices are artificially inflated.
Note: Don't forget that Bernie Madoff was once the head of the NASDAQ exchange. When it
comes to international banking, it appears that almost everything is rigged. For more along these
lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about the systemically corrupt
financial industry.
US sets new record for denying federal files under Freedom of

Information Act
2015-03-18, The Guardian/Associated Press
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/18/us-new-record-denying-files-fr...
The US has set a new record for denying and censoring federal files under the Freedom of
Information Act, analysis by the Associated Press reveals. For the second consecutive year, the
Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access
to them under the open-government legislation. The government took longer to turn over files
when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn't find documents, and refused a
record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy. It also
acknowledged in nearly one in three cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records
were improper under the law - but only when it was challenged. Its backlog of unanswered
requests at year's end grew remarkably by 55% to more than 200,000. Citizens, journalists,
businesses and others made a record 714,231 requests for information. The US spent a record
$434m trying to keep up. The government responded to 647,142 requests, a 4% decrease over
the previous year. "What we discovered reaffirmed what we have seen all too frequently in recent
years," [The AP's chief executive, Gary] Pruitt wrote in a column published this week. "The
systems created to give citizens information about their government are badly broken and getting
worse all the time."
Note: It appears the the UK's Guardian was the only major media to pick up this AP article. Is this
a form of censorship? For more, read how the US government now blocks specific journalists from
accessing information, or see concise summaries of news articles about mass media manipulation.
Top cop in Britain questioned by his own detectives for role in alleged
cover-up of sex abuse claims against Tony Blair minister

2015-03-18, New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/top-uk-questioned-role-sex-abuse-coveru...
Top British detectives are questioning an unlikely suspect in a high-stakes child abuse
investigation: their boss. Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe is getting grilled
by his own detectives over an alleged police cover-up connected to former Prime Minister
Tony Blair's administration. Hogan-Howe was an Assistant Chief Constable for the Merseyside
Police in 1998, when the department uncovered claims that one of Blairs ministers was a
suspected pedophile. Hogan-Howe now says he does not recall details about the investigation
or any suspects, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police Service. But a source close
to the investigation [said] it is inconceivable that Hogan-Howe and his cohorts werent aware of
the accusations. "The senior investigating officer at the time would have been expected to have
reported to his senior officers the fact a serving government minister had come under suspicion,"
the source said. Even as he is apparently being questioned within his own department, the MPS
said in a statement that Hogan-Howe "absolutely refutes any suggestion he would have stopped or
inhibited a criminal investigation of the nature suggested, including politicians. It would be wrong to
suggest otherwise." MPS opened an investigation into the cover-up claims just two years ago. The
minister was one of several men suspected of sexually abusing children at a Brixton home in the
early '80s.
Note: It's quite interesting that few mainstream media in the UK or US have picked up this
important article. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news
articles about sexual abuse scandals and government corruption from reliable major media
sources.
Child sex abuse is 'woven into British society'

2015-03-14, BBC
Child sex abuse is "woven, covertly, into the fabric" of British society, Theresa May has warned.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the home secretary said the public were yet to grasp the full scale of
the problem. Her comments come after a new panel was announced for the parliamentary inquiry
into historical child abuse. Mrs May said the inquiry marked a "new beginning", but warned
allegations made so far were only the "tip of the iceberg". The inquiry was set up in July 2014 to
find out whether public bodies had covered up or neglected allegations of abuse, following claims
that a paedophile ring had operated in Westminster in the 1980s. Mrs May said: "We already
know the trail will lead into our schools and hospitals, our churches, our youth clubs and
many other institutions that should have been places of safety but instead became the
setting for the most appalling abuse. "However, what the country doesn't yet appreciate is
the true scale of that abuse." The inquiry will have statutory powers to compel witnesses to
appear to determine whether institutions took seriously their duty of care to protect children from
sexual abuse in England and Wales. Mrs May said she felt it was a "once-in-a-generation" chance
to uncover institutional abuse, which she called "the darkness in our midst".
lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about sexual abuse scandals from
Chilean accused of murder, torture taught 13 years for Pentagon

2015-03-12, Miami Herald (Miami's leading newspaper)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article13814051.html
A member of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochets brutal secret police whos been
accused of murder taught for more than a decade at the Pentagons premier university,
despite repeated complaints by his colleagues about his past. Jaime Garcia Covarrubias is
charged in criminal court in Santiago with being the mastermind in the execution-style slayings of
seven people in 1973, according to court documents. An accuser ... identified Garcia Covarrubias
as the person who sexually tortured him. Despite knowing of the allegations, State and Defense
department officials allowed Garcia Covarrubias to retain his visa and continue working at a school
affiliated with the National Defense University until last year. Human rights groups also question
the schools selection of a second professor, Colombias former top military commander. Some
Latin America experts said the hirings by the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense
Studies reflected a continuing inclination by the U.S government to overlook human rights
violations in Latin America, especially in countries where it funded efforts to quash leftists. Those
experts were especially troubled by Garcia Covarrubias long tenure at one of the nations most
renowned defense institutions. His case is one of 108 involving tortured, disappeared or murdered
supporters of the deposed elected president, Salvador Allende. More than 3,000 people died at the
hands of the regime. Despite very graphic torture accusations against Garcia Covarrubias,
U.S. officials are rallying behind him.
Note: The Pinochet regime successfully carried out an assassination in Washington D.C. in 1976
despite US Government foreknowledge of the plot. The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas, graduated more than 500 human
rights abusers. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing
Establishment child abuse: Council staff feared civil servant was

murdered for planning to expose colleagues
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/establishment-child-abuse-council-...
Police investigating a historic sex abuse ring in Westminster are attempting to uncover whether a
man was murdered in the Nineties because he planned to expose child abuse at a London council.
An unpublished internal investigation into abuse by staff within Lambeth council ... reveals claims
that a civil servant was planning to expose how council property was used to carry out sexual
assaults. Bulic Forsythe was beaten to death at his flat in 1993 after he reportedly told a
colleague that he knew about a sex ring operating at childrens homes. Police appealed for
help in tracking down three smartly dressed men who left the flat the day after the murder,
but the case remains unsolved. It was feared he was killed as a possible outcome for anyone
who asked too many questions. Other shocking allegations detailed in the document include
senior Lambeth civil servants using council premises to carry out rapes, with one female staff
member claiming she was raped alongside children and animals by senior council staff. Although
the report recommends a criminal investigation, its findings were not formally investigated by
police at the time. The revelations come after Labour MP John Mann last year called on police to
investigate the suspicious deaths of Forsythe and an unnamed whistleblower who was said to
have obtained videos of child sex parties. The inquiry was announced last summer in the wake of
a series of child-abuse scandals and claims a paedophile ring operated at Westminster in the
1980s.
Note: If you think this is only a problem in the UK, watch a revealing five-minute video presenting
solid evidence that Child Protective Services is involved in organized U.S. child sex trafficking
rings. See this webpage for more information. For more along these lines, see concise summaries
of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.
Utilities wage campaign against rooftop solar

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/utilities-sensing-threa...
Three years ago, the nations top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear
warnings about ... rooftop solar panels. According to a presentation prepared for the group,
Industry must prepare an action plan to address the challenges. Three years later, the industry
and its fossil-fuel supporters are waging a determined campaign to stop a home-solar
insurgency that is rattling the boardrooms of the countrys government-regulated electric
monopolies. Recently, the battle has shifted to public utility commissions, where industry backers
have mounted a ... successful push for fee hikes that could put solar panels out of reach for many
potential customers. In a closely watched case last month, an Arizona utility voted to impose a
monthly surcharge of about $50 for net metering, a common practice that allows solar customers
to earn credit for the surplus electricity they provide to the electric grid. Net metering makes home
solar affordable by sharply lowering electric bills to offset the $10,000 to $30,000 cost of rooftop
panels. A Wisconsin utilities commission approved a similar surcharge for solar users last year,
and a New Mexico regulator also is considering raising fees. In some states, industry officials [are
now] arguing that solar panels hurt the poor. Its really about utilities fear that solar customers are
taking away demand, said Angela Navarro, an energy expert with the Southern Environmental
Law Center.
Note: In Arizona, traditional utility companies are brazenly manipulating the law to attack solar
power installation companies. Meanwhile, the Rockefellers have stopped investing in fossil fuels.
Does this mean that the renewable energy revolution is now in full swing?
How Thatchers Government Covered Up a VIP Pedophile Ring

2015-03-06, The Daily Beast (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/06/britain-s-horrific-vip-pedop...
An inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse rings, murder, and cover-ups has been
launched by the British government. Victims [claim] they were systematically abused as
young boys at sex abuse parties attended by judges, politicians, intelligence officers, and
staff at the royal palaces. In the late 80s and early 90s, [Liz Davies] was a social worker ... with
an unusual problem: Teenage boys, usually so reluctant to seek help, would line up outside her
office on Hornsey Road waiting to come inside. She would later discover that the international
office of the Paedophile Information Exchange was just a few hundred yards from her desk, and
her patch was home to a host of prolific child attackers linked into a network of powerful abuse
rings that stretched from Westminster to Northern Ireland, Wales, and the island of Jersey in the
Channel. [By 1991] she had amassed evidence of abuse perpetrated against 61 victims. Council
officials [told] her to stop causing trouble. A year later she finally quit social services when she
says she discovered that the boys she had been trying to save were being sent back into the
Islington care home system only to suffer yet more sexual abuse. I was networking these children
into another network which was running within the care homes. I was handing over the most
vulnerable, sexually exploited children to more pedophiles, she said. Davies took a suitcase
stuffed with evidence, including graphic photographs, to the Metropolitan Police. She said the wellintentioned superintendent looked at her haul and mournfully confessed that powerful figures still
controlled what might be exposed. I wont be able to investigate here at Scotland Yard, he said.
Note: The above article provides a comprehensive history of attempts to expose a child abuse ring
that the Home Secretary, head of MI-6, and other top officials participated in and covered up. If you
think this is only a problem in the UK, watch a revealing five-minute video presenting solid
evidence that Child Protective Services is involved in organized U.S. child sex trafficking rings.
See this webpage for more information. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.
Report says procedures put a chilling effect on potential FBI

whistleblowers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/report-says-procedu...
Jane Turner loved being a FBI agent. But once she became a whistleblower, the FBI turned on
her. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) cites [Turner's] case in a report that will be the
focus of a Senate hearing Wednesday. Compared with other feds, FBI whistleblowers have less
protection against retaliation by management, the GAO says, and current procedures could
discourage whistleblowing. Anytime a whistleblower is punished for pointing out waste or
misconduct, it sends the signal to other employees that doing the right thing will be met with
potentially harsh repercussions, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary
Committee, told Federal Diary. Unfortunately, many who come to me express fear of reprisal for
raising the alarm and are even unclear of their rights as whistleblowers. In fact, one potential
witness for Wednesdays hearing backed out for fear of retaliation. Another problem the GAO
identified [is] the time it takes to resolve some complaints. In 2002, Turner, based in
Minneapolis, blew the whistle on colleagues who allegedly stole items from Ground Zero
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. How did her bosses respond? After making this
whistleblower disclosure, she was ... placed on leave, and given a notice of proposed
removal, the GAO reported. Like a tenacious FBI agent, Turner fought back and won. But not
until 2013, when the Justice Department ruled in her favor more than a decade after her
complaint.
Note: Jane Turner was one of several people that courageously stepped forward to expose the
cover-up of federal employee misconduct after 9/11. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing news articles about the 9/11 cover-up and government corruption
The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden

'black site'
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-american...
The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound. The facility, a
nondescript warehouse on Chicagos west side known as Homan Square, has long been the
scene of secretive work by special police units. Police practices at Homan Square [allegedly]
include: Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases; Beating by police, resulting in
head wounds; Shackling for prolonged periods; Denying attorneys access to the secure
facility; Holding people [as young as 15] without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours.
Unlike a precinct, no one taken to Homan Square is said to be booked. Jacob Church learned
about Homan Square the hard way. On May 16 2012, he and 11 others were taken there after
police infiltrated their protest against the Nato summit. After serving two and a half years in prison,
Church ... and his co-defendants were found not guilty in 2014 of terrorism-related offenses. Tracy
Siska, a criminologist and civil-rights activist with the Chicago Justice Project, said that Homan
Square, as well as the unrelated case of ex-Guantnamo interrogator and retired Chicago
detective Richard Zuley, showed the lines blurring between domestic law enforcement and
overseas military operations. The real danger in allowing practices like Guantnamo or Abu
Ghraib is the fact that they ... creep into domestic law enforcement, either with weaponry like with
the militarization of police, or interrogation practices. Thats how we ended up with a black site in
Chicago.
Note: Church was one of three young activists charged with 'terrorism' after police manufactured
evidence against peaceful Occupy Wall St protesters in Chicago in 2012. For more, read about the
increasing militarization of police in the U.S. after 9/11, or see concise summaries of deeply
revealing civil liberties news articles.
How Spies Stole the Keys to the Encryption Castle

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/19/great-sim-heist
American and British spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest
manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the
privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents
provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack
was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart
Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010
GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion
of the worlds cellular communications, including both voice and data. The company targeted by
the intelligence agencies, Gemalto, is a multinational firm incorporated in the Netherlands. With
these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without
seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments. Possessing the
keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless
providers network that the communications were intercepted.
Note: In an article that updates the story above, The Intercept reports that Gemalto has now
acknowledged this security breach, but is misrepresenting its significance to prevent client and
investor fears from harming the company's profitability. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing news articles about corruption in intelligence agencies and
government.
We dream about drones, said 13-year-old Yemeni before his death in a

CIA strike
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/drones-dream-yemeni-teenager-moh...
A 13-year-old boy killed in Yemen last month by a CIA drone strike had told the Guardian
just months earlier that he lived in constant fear of the death machines in the sky that had
already killed his father and brother. I see them every day and we are scared of them, said
Mohammed Tuaiman. He died two weeks ago. In 2011 an unmanned combat drone killed his
father and teenage brother as they were out herding the familys camels. The drone that would kill
Mohammed struck on 26 January in Hareeb, about an hour from his home. The drone hit the car
carrying the teenager, his brother-in-law Abdullah Khalid al-Zindani and a third man. I saw all the
bodies completely burned, like charcoal, Mohammeds older brother Maqded said. US
government officials told Reuters that the strike had been carried out by the CIA and had killed
three men believed to be al-Qaida militants. Maqdad said the family had been wrongly
associated with al-Qaida. Speaking from al-Zur the day after his brothers death, Meqdad said:
After our father died, al-Qaida came to us to offer support. But we are not with them. We will do
anything go to court, whatever in order to prove that [Mohammed] was not with al-Qaida.
When the Guardian interviewed Mohammed last September, he spoke of his anger towards the
US government: They tell us that these drones come from bases in Saudi Arabia and also from
bases in the Yemeni seas and America sends them to kill terrorists, but they always kill innocent
people. We dont know why they are killing us."
Note: How is it that the US gets away with killing so many innocent civilians and there is not an
uproar? For a possible answer, read what a top US general had to say in this article . For more,
read a summary of the revealing Los Angeles Times report "Living with death by drone".
HSBC files show how Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes and hide
millions
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/08/hsbc-files-expose-swiss-bank-...
HSBCs Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars
of assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent
domestic tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank account files. HSBC
was headed during the period covered in the files by Stephen Green now Lord Green who
served as the global banks chief executive, then group chairman until 2010 when he left to
become a trade minister in the House of Lords for David Camerons new government. The files
show how HSBC in Switzerland keenly marketed tax avoidance strategies to its wealthy
clients. The bank proactively contacted clients in 2005 to suggest ways to avoid a new tax
levied on the Swiss savings accounts of EU citizens, a measure brought in through a treaty
between Switzerland and the EU to tackle secret offshore accounts. The documents also show
HSBCs Swiss subsidiary providing banking services to relatives of dictators, people implicated in
African corruption scandals, arms industry figures and others. HSBC is already facing criminal
investigations and charges in France, Belgium, the US and Argentina as a result of the leak of the
files, but no legal action has been taken against it in Britain.
Note: Read lots more excellent information in a Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi. US Senator
Elizabeth Warren is working hard to bring justice in this case. HSBC was founded to service the
international drug trade following the 19th century opium war, and continues to launder money for
drug cartels and terrorists on a massive scale. Now we learn that HSBC also provides financial
services related to conflict diamonds, weapons trafficking, political corruption, and other organized
criminal activities. Perhaps these criminal bankers are tolerated because the global economy
might collapse without their cash.
CEO of Gallup calls jobless rate 'big lie' created by White House, Wall
Street, media
2015-02-05, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/05/ceo-venerable-gallup-calls-jobless...
The chairman of the venerable Gallup research and polling firm says the official U.S.
unemployment rate is really an underestimation and a big lie" perpetuated by the White House,
Wall Street and the media. What CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton revealed in his blog Tuesday
about how the Labor Department arrives at the monthly unemployment rate is no secret -including that Americans who have quit looking for work after four weeks are not included in the
survey. The department's current rate of 5.6 percent unemployment is the lowest since June 2008,
with President Obama using his State of the Union address and campaign-style stops across the
country to tout an economic recovery. There's no other way to say this, Clifton says. The official
unemployment rate amounts to a big lie. His arguments are similar to those made by
Washington Republicans after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the rate each month
during the height of the recession. However, Gallup is an 80-year-old, nonpartisan firm. Clifton
suggests the biggest misconception about the official rate is that it doesnt denote good full-time
jobs. When the media, talking heads, the White House and Wall Street start reporting the
truth -- the percent of Americans in good jobs; jobs that are full time and real -- then we will
quit wondering why Americans aren't feeling something that doesn't remotely reflect the
reality in their lives. And we will also quit wondering what hollowed out the middle class, he said.
Note: Read the article by Gallup CEO Jim Clifton showing that the US official unemployment rate
of 5.6% is very misleading. Gallup research finds 44% of US citizens available to work are not
getting enough work. Fox News was the only media source to report on this story without attacking
Clifton for his comments.
Why does Obama keep trade deal details secret?

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Why-does-Obama-keep-trade-deal-details-...
The trade rules of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership ... would cover nearly 40 percent of the
world economy. Access to the text of the proposed deal is highly restricted. At last months World
Economic Forum in Switzerland, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman defended the ...
refusal to release the full text of the proposed trade pact. It is incomprehensible to me that
leaders of major corporate interests who stand to gain enormous financial benefits from
this agreement are actively involved in the writing of the TPP, while at the same time, the
elected officials of this country, representing the American people, have little or no
knowledge of whats in it, wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent-Vt., in a letter to Froman last
month. Congressional lawmakers are permitted to view the text of the agreement only in the U.S.
trade representatives office, without their own staff members or experts present. They are not
allowed to take copies of the agreement back to Capitol Hill for deeper, independent evaluation.
Despite those restrictions, specific details of the agreements text have surfaced from unauthorized
leaks. One of the leaks showed the U.S. proposing to empower corporations to attempt to overturn
domestic regulations, while ... another leaked provision would help the pharmaceutical industry
inflate the price of medicines.
Note: For more, watch an excellent, two-minute video by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert
Reich on the TPP titled "The Worst Trade Deal You've Never Heard of," or read leaked draft texts
of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for yourself.
Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling convicted in leak case

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/jurors-tell-judge-they-cant-agree-i...
Former CIA officer [Jeffrey Sterling] was convicted Monday of providing classified
information about his work to a New York Times reporter. Guilty verdicts were read on all nine
criminal counts. The prosecution ... spawned a First Amendment confrontation between a Pulitzer
Prize-winning reporter and the Justice Department. It might be one of the greatest courtroom
successes of a presidential administration that has pursued more leak cases than all of its
predecessors combined. Other leak cases have resulted in pleas, at least one with terms favorable
to the defendant. Sterling ... faced charges under the Espionage Act. [He] was first accused in
2010 of giving classified information to New York Times reporter and author James Risen for his
2006 book, State of War. Sterling, who was fired in the early 2000s, had sued the agency
over alleged discrimination and also sparred with officials about publishing a memoir
describing some of his work. The trial itself was something of a spectacle, with CIA officers
testifying behind a retractable gray screen. The case against Sterling was largely circumstantial.
There were no recorded phone conversations or captured e-mail exchanges that show that he
leaked classified information to Risen. Defense attorneys posited several people other than
Sterling who could have served as Risens sources, and ... argued that some information in the
book could not have come from Sterling, because it addressed things that happened after he left
the CIA.
Note: James Risen tried to help Jeffrey Sterling expose CIA racism, and later wrote an unrelated
book exposing some questionable government practices. Now Sterling is going to prison for what
Risen wrote then. Risen's journalistic courage remains intact, and his latest book exposes major
government corruption related to the war on terror.
King Abdullah dead: We can't afford not to hold Saudi Arabia's royals to
account
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/king-abdullah-dead-we-cant-afford-not-to-...
What do you call the unelected leader of a state that beheads people in public, permits only one
faith and exports an extreme form of Islam to other countries? If he happens to be Abu Bakr al
Baghdadi, self-appointed caliph of Islamic State (Isis), the answer is one of the worlds most
wanted terrorists. If he is King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the proper form of address is Your
Majesty. Yesterday, the Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister turned up in Riyadh to pay their
respects to Salmans half-brother, King Abdullah, whose death was announced on Friday. Flags
flew at half-mast in Whitehall while David Cameron ... praised the deceased despots efforts
towards strengthening understanding between faiths. This is the same David Cameron who
marched in Paris two weeks ago in solidarity with the victims of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism.
Barack Obama ... found the time to praise the absolute monarch and hailed the US-Saudi
relationship as a force for stability and security in the Middle East. Few of the people hailing
Abdullah as a reformer said anything about [how] the Saudi royal family promoted the
puritanical ideology that created al-Qaeda and its offshoots, [and] sent Osama bin Laden
and other young Saudis to fight in Afghanistan, creating a worldwide jihadist movement.
Since then, Wahhabist ideology has inspired horrific attacks on civilians in the Middle East, Africa,
the US and a string of European capitals.
Note: Read how several current and former US government officials have been trying to expose
the Saudi government money behind terrorism. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing government corruption articles from reliable major media sources.
Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months for 'merely linking to hacked

material'
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/22/barrett-brown-trial-warns-d...
Journalist and former Anonymous member ... Barrett Brown was sentenced to 63 months in
prison by a federal judge in Dallas on Thursday. The judge also ordered him to pay more
than $890,000 in restitution and fines. An investigative journalist, essayist and satirist who has
written for the Onion, Vanity Fair and the Huffington Post, as well as for the Guardian, Brown
claims to have split with Anonymous in 2011. Brown also founded Project PM, a crowdsourced
investigative thinktank dedicated to looking into abuses by companies in the area of surveillance.
In September 2012, Brown was arrested by the FBI. In October 2012, after being held for two
weeks without charge, he was indicted on charges of making an online threat, retaliating against a
federal officer and conspiring to release personal information about a government employee. Two
months later, he was indicted on 12 further charges related to the hacking of private intelligence
contractor Stratfor in 2011. Jeremy Hammond, the hacker who actually carried out the Stratfor
breach, was sentenced to the maximum possible 10 years. Brown, who was accused of sharing a
link to the data Hammond obtained from the breach ... at one point faced a possible sentence of
105 years. He will reportedly be eligible for supervised release after one year, and once released
will have his computer equipment monitored. The $890,250 in restitution payments will go to
Stratfor and other companies targeted by Anonymous.
Note: Even after being targeted by a high level conspiracy, jailed on spurious charges, and forced
to pay nearly a million dollars to Stratfor for merely writing about the hack of their private spy
agency, Brown states that he remains committed to exposing corruption as a journalist from within
the US prison system.
Air Force UFO files land on Internet

2015-01-20, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/us/feat-air-force-ufo-project-blue-book
Nearly 130,000 pages of declassified Air Force files on UFO investigations and sightings are now
available in one place online. Declassified government records about UFOs have long existed on
microfilm in the National Archives in Washington, DC. Many of them also live on websites devoted
to the topic. But UFO enthusiast John Greenewald says his database, Project Blue Book
Collection, is the first to compile every single declassified document from the Blue Book
project -- headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio from 1947 to 1969 -- in
one place for anyone to search or download for free. The collection consists of files from
Project Blue Book, Project Sign and Project Grudge, the names given to official investigations into
unidentified flying objects by the United States military. Greenewald's ... says he's just driven by
curiosity. "I'm a history buff. I think this stuff should be accessible," he said. "It defied explanation,"
he said, "and 5,000 FOIAs later my curiosity hasn't gone away." The collection contains 10,000
PDFs, each representing a different case. The files include the details of some of the most famous
UFO cases, including the Exeter incident, the Kenneth Arnold sighting and the Mantell crash. Still,
Greenewald believes the contents are "just the tip of the iceberg." "It's all a puzzle," he said. "Just
when you think you've got all the pieces to make a picture, you realize it's only a piece of a bigger
puzzle."
Note: Explore Greenewald's revealing searchable archive of Air Force UFO files. For more along
these lines, see the excellent, reliable resources provided in our comprehensive UFO Information
Center.
Prison Dispatches from the War on Terror: Ex-CIA Officer John Kiriakou
Speaks
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/19/cia-agent-jailed-john-kiriakous...
John Kiriakou is the only CIA employee to go to prison in connection with the agencys
torture program. Not because he tortured anyone, but because he revealed information on
torture to a reporter. Kiriakou is the Central Intelligence Agency officer who told ABC News in
2007 that the CIA waterboarded suspected al-Qaeda prisoners after the September 11 attacks.
Kiriakou was sentenced in January 2013 to 30 months in prison. That sentence made him the
second CIA employee ever to be locked up under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The
first was Sharon Scranage, who in 1985 pled guilty to disclosing the identities of intelligence
agents in Ghana after giving classified information to a Ghanaian, reportedly her lover. Kiriakou is
not without support. His friend and former boss, Bruce Riedel, sent a letter to President Obama,
signed by other CIA officers, urging him to commute Kiriakous prison sentence. That did not
happen. A father of five children, Kiriakou says the CIA asked his wife to resign from her job
at the agency immediately following his arrest, and he is in major debt. "As part of this
conviction, I lost my pension. I had $770,000 saved in that pension. And its just gone. And I
still owe my lawyers almost a million dollars."
Note: Kiriakou himself was misled about the extent and effectiveness of the torture program, but
still felt the moral obligation to reveal its existence. The CIA spun his revelation into a pro-torture
media narrative, took his money, put him in prison, and fired his wife from her job. Are the many
ethical intelligence agents working for the U.S. able to trust their corrupt bosses after this? Watch
the powerful documentary "Secrets of the CIA" in which five CIA agents describe how their initial
pride at serving their nation turned to anguish and remorse, as they realized that they were
actually subverting democracy and killing innocent civilians.
Defense contractor pleads guilty in massive bribery case

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/navy-captain-enters-gui...
Malaysian defense contractor [Leonard Glenn Francis] pleaded guilty [to bribing] scores of
U.S. Navy officials [while] presiding over a decade-long corruption scheme. His Singapore-based
firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia ... bilked the service out of tens of millions of dollars. Five current
and former Navy officials have pleaded guilty so far. Francis, 50, agreed to forfeit $35 million in illgotten proceeds and could face up to 25 years in prison. [He also] provided evidence against two
more Navy officials who have yet to be charged: a lieutenant commander and a ... civilian official
[that] worked as a mole for Glenn Defense Marine. The Navy says that [Frances] was repeatedly
able to thwart criminal investigators by bribing a senior agent with the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service, who fed him sensitive files and helped to cover his tracks. A Navy captain,
Daniel Dusek, admitted to disclosing military secrets to Francis and his firm in exchange
for prostitutes, cash and visits to luxury hotels. Dusek provided classified information about
Navy ship schedules dozens of times. According to court records, in October 2010, Dusek [as
deputy director of operations for the 7th Fleet] persuaded the Navy to send an aircraft carrier, the
USS Abraham Lincoln, and its strike group to visit a port in Malaysia that was largely controlled by
Glenn Defense Marine. As a result, the company was able to easily inflate invoices and
overcharge the Navy.
Note: Frances bribed Naval officials to redirect an aircraft carrier, and avoided prosecution for
years by also bribing military investigators. If he could do this, and if Brent R. Wilkes could
persuade the #3 Official at the CIA to award him millions in suspicious agency contracts, what else
have corrupt government officials been bribed to do?
Prince Andrew sex allegations: Jeffrey Epstein 'the most dangerous

sexual predator America has ever seen', lawyer's letter claims
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/prince-andrew-sex-allegations-lawyers-lette...
The FBI allegedly possesses "secret documents" about the American billionaire [Jeffrey
Epstein] that could provide evidence for under-age "sex slave" accusations against him,
[which include] forcing a 17-year-old girl to have sex with Prince Andrew, Duke of York. FBI
documents are said to show that Epstein controlled under-age girls who could provide evidence
about the claims. In May last year, prosecutors surrendered 541 pages of correspondence with
Epsteins lawyers leading up to a 2008 non-prosecution agreement. A letter released by the court
last year showed Brad Edwards, [alleged victim Virginia] Robertss lawyer, telling the US attorneys
office that Epstein "may be the most dangerous sexual predator that the country has ever seen".
The letter continued: "The evidence suggests that for at least four years he was sexually abusing
as many as three to four girls a day. "He uses his extraordinary wealth and power to lure in poor,
underprivileged little girls and then also uses his wealth to shield himself from prosecution and
liability." Lawyers for Virginia Roberts ... have said that evidence against the billionaire was
covered up after lobbying by his political and social connections. Epstein pleaded guilty in
2008 to a single charge of soliciting prostitution.
Note: An FBI investigation has identified 40 female victims of Epstein's elite criminal enterprise.
For more along these lines, watch powerful evidence in a suppressed Discovery Channel
documentary showing that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government,
or read concise summaries of deeply revealing sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable
The greatest trick Obama ever pulled was convincing the world America
isn't still at war
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/obama-america-still-at-w...
The [recent] holiday headlines blared: End of War and Mission Ends and U.S. formally
ends the war in Afghanistan." Great news! Except: the fighting is as intense as it has ever been
since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, according to the Wall Street Journal. And about 10,000 troops
will remain there for the foreseeable future. Theyll continue to engage in combat regularly. This is
the new reality of war: As long as the White House doesnt admit the United States is at war, were
all supposed to pretend as if thats true. This ruse is not just the work of the president. Members of
Congress [are also] letting the public think were Definitely Not at War. Another place the United
States is Definitely Not at War? Pakistan, where, according to the Bureau of Investigative
Journalism, the US conducted multiple drone strikes between Christmas and New Years Eve,
killing at least nine people. Another six militants were reportedly killed in a drone strike in
Pakistan on Sunday. There was yet another American drone strike in Somalia on 30 December.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department quietly announced ... that, later this month, another 1,300
troops will deploy to Iraq in its ever-expanding undeclared war on Isis. The US continues to
launch airstrikes against Isis and various other groups in Syria as well. Legal experts across the
political spectrum believe this war is without precedent.
Note: Although 21st Century military combat operations may no longer be called war, war has
been called a racket since the era of General Smedley Butler, one of the most highly decorated US
generals ever. Read General Butler's eye-opening essay "War is a Racket." For more along these
lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war news articles from reliable major media
sources.
Florida congressman denied access to censored pages from 9/11 report

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article5114082.html
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee has denied [Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando], a
Florida congressman ... access to 28 classified pages from the 2002 report of Congress
Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 terrorist attacks. [Grayson] made his request at the suggestion of
House colleagues who have read them. The 28 pages concern ... the role of Saudi Arabia in
funding 9/11, according to former Florida Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the Joint Inquiry
and helped write the 28 pages. Graham has long called for declassifying those pages. House
Resolution 428 ... asks President Obama to release the 28 pages of the Joint Inquirys report.
In 2003, 46 senators including now Vice President Joe Biden, Sam Brownback, Hillary Rodham
Clinton and John Kerry wrote to President Bush asking him to declassify the pages. In a party
line vote, the House Intelligence Committee voted 8-4 on Dec. 1 to deny Democrat Grayson
access to the 28 pages. The same day, the committee unanimously approved requests to access
classified committee documents not necessarily the 28 pages by 11 other House members.
Grayson, an outspoken liberal and a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said his
denial was engineered by outgoing Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Chairman Rogers told the
committee that I had discussed classified information on the floor. I was discussing what was
reported in the newspaper, said Grayson. He clearly misled the committee.
Note: Alan Grayson questions the lies that intelligence agencies tell congress, and has made it
clear to the public how common such lies are. He is now being prevented from helping those who
are trying to expose the Saudi government money behind terrorism. For more along these lines,
read concise summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 investigation news from reliable major media
sources.
The Government Problem

Consider the new spending bill Congress and the president agreed to a few weeks ago. Under the
$1.1 trillion measure, government spending doesn't rise as a percent of the total economy. If the
economy grows as expected, government spending will actually shrink over the next year. The
problem with the legislation is who gets the goodies and who's stuck with the tab. Only about 12
percent of federal spending goes to individuals and families. An increasing portion goes to
corporate welfare. In addition to the provisions in the recent spending bill that reward Wall Street,
health insurers, the travel industry, food companies and defense contractors, other corporate
goodies have long been baked into the federal budget. Big agribusiness gets price supports.
Hedge-fund and private-equity managers get their own special "carried-interest" tax loophole. The
oil and gas industry gets its special tax subsidies. Big Pharma gets a particularly big benefit: a
prohibition on government using its vast bargaining power under Medicare and Medicaid to
negotiate low drug prices. The new spending legislation, just enacted, makes it easier for wealthy
individuals to write big checks to political parties. Much of government is no longer working for the
vast majority it's intended to serve. Unless or until we can reverse the vicious cycle of big
money getting political favors that makes big money even bigger, we can't get the
government we want and deserve.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government
corruption and income inequality news articles from reliable major media sources.
A Brief History of the CIA's Unpunished Spying on the Senate

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/a-brief-history-of-the-ci...
Last March, Senator Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA of spying on the Senate intelligence
committee as it labored to finalize its report on the torture of prisoners. CIA Director John Brennan
denied the charge. Nothing could be further from the truth, he said. We wouldnt do that. Thats
just beyond the scope of reason in terms of what wed do. His denial was publicly proved false.
"An internal investigation by the C.I.A. has found that its officers penetrated a computer
network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee in preparing its damning report on the
C.I.A.s detention and interrogation program," The New York Times reported. "The report ...
found that C.I.A. officers read the emails of the Senate investigators and sent a criminal referral to
the Justice Department based on false information." "A panel investigating the C.I.A.s search of a
computer network used by staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee ... will recommend
against punishing anyone," The New York Times reports. "The panel will make that
recommendation after the five C.I.A. officials who were singled out by the agencys inspector
general this year for improperly ordering and carrying out the computer searches staunchly
defended their actions, saying that they were ... done at the behest of John O. Brennan."
Secret CIA report: Drone strikes and targeted killings 'boost support for
terror groups'
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/secret-cia-report-drone-strikes-targeted-killings-bo...
Drone strikes and "targeted killings" of terror targets by the United States can be
counterproductive and bolster the support of extremist groups, the CIA has admitted in a
secret report released by WikiLeaks. The document, by the intelligence agency's Directorate of
Intelligence, said that despite the effectiveness of "high value targeting" (HVT), air strikes
and special forces operations had a negative impact by boosting the popular support of terror
organisations. The CIA report is dated 2009 and talks of operations conducted in countries such as
Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Yemen. Operations against terror targets "may increase
support for the insurgents, particularly if these strikes enhance insurgent leaders' lore, if noncombatants are killed in the attacks, if legitimate or semi-legitimate politicians aligned with the
insurgents are targeted, or if the government is already seen as overly repressive or violent," the
report said. "Senior Taliban leaders' use of sanctuary in Pakistan has also complicated the HVT
effort," it reveals. "Moreover, the Taliban has a high overall ability to replace lost leaders ...
especially at the middle levels." It speaks of drone strikes also having limited effect in Iraq.
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, US drone strikes have killed between 2,400
and 3,888 people in Pakistan in the years 2004 to 2014 and between 371 and 541 people in
Yemen in the years 2002 to 2014.
Note: This report proves that the CIA has been aware that drone strikes are ineffective since at
least 2009. If drones help terrorists, almost always miss their intended targets, and may be used to
target people in the US in the future, what are the real reasons for the US government's drone
program?
U.S. TV Provides Ample Platform for American Torturers, But None to

Their Victims
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/16/u-s-tv-media-gives-ample-platfo...
Ever since the torture report was released last week, U.S. television outlets have endlessly
featured American torturers and torture proponents. But there was one group that was almost
never heard from: the victims of their torture. The War on Terror generally has been reported
for 13 years and counting by completely silencing those whose lives are destroyed or
ended by U.S. crimes. In 2002, Maher [Arar], a Canadian citizen of Syrian descent who worked
as an engineer, was travelling back home to Ottawa when he was abducted by the U.S.
Government at JFK Airport, [secretly] interrogated for weeks, then rendered to Syria where the
U.S. arranged to have him brutally tortured ... for 10 months. He was completely innocent, [and
was] unceremoniously released back to his life in Canada as though nothing had happened. U.S.
courts refused even to hear his case, accepting the Obama DOJs claim that it was too secret to
safely adjudicate. The Canadian government ... publicly apologized for its role, and paid him $9
million. There are hundreds if not thousands of Maher Arars the U.S. media could easily and
powerfully interview. The detainees held without charges, tortured, and then
unceremoniously released from Guantanamo and Bagram are rarely if ever heard from on
U.S. television, even when the U.S. Government is forced to admit that they were guilty of
nothing.
government corruption that is supported by equally corrupt mass media.
Undercover CHP officer pulls gun at Oakland protest after outing

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Undercover-cops-outed-attacked-at-Oakla...
An undercover California Highway Patrol officer who was attempting to infiltrate a
demonstration against police brutality in Oakland pulled a gun on the protesters after he
and his partner were outed. "About 50 people were marching near Lake Merritt just after 11:30
p.m. Wednesday when some of the demonstrators began calling out two men who were walking
with the group," said [news photographer] Michael Short. Just as we turned up 27th Street, the
crowd started yelling at these two guys, saying they were undercover cops, Short said Thursday.
Somebody snatched a hat off the shorter guys head and he was fumbling around for it. A guy ran
up behind him, knocked him down on the ground. The crowd began surging on them. The other
taller guy... as the crowd started surging on them, he pulled out a gun. Chief Browne said the
officer also pulled out a badge ... though Short, other members of the media and protesters
reported that they did not see a badge. The officers, who Browne said he is not identifying, had
been trailing the crowd in an unmarked car and began following on foot. Short said the officers
were wearing street clothes and had their faces covered with bandannas. Browne
confirmed this and ... said it was common. Several protesters took to Twitter to say that the
officers had actually instigated acts of vandalism and were banging on windows alongside others.
Note: Here is proof that the police are infiltrating marches by protesters and wearing masks to
cover their identities. Often those promoting violence are using masks. Could the police in some
instances actually be provoking violence among protesters to discredit the movement?
10 Craziest Things in the Senate Report on Torture

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/10-craziest-things-in-the-senate-re...
The release of the Feinstein report [places] the end of the American "torture" regime in January of
2009. I'm not sure I'm buying that the U.S. government suddenly got religion about mistreatment of
terror suspects once Obama took office, particularly since this government massively accelerated
a drone-assassination program. Still, the end result [shows] that we approved behaviors far worse,
and far weirder, than was ever admitted to previously. CIA detainees were subjected to "rectal
rehydration" or rectal feeding ... to put them in a talking mood. The interrogators gave pet names
to all of their ... permitted techniques, as outlined in the report: (1) attention grasp, (2)
walling, (3) facial hold, (4) facial slap (insult slap), (5) cramped confinement, (6) wall
standing, (7) stress positions, (8) sleep deprivation, (9) insects placed in a confinement box,
and (10) the waterboard. A small confinement box ... had a width of 21 inches, a depth of 2.5
feet, and a height of 2.5 feet. They didn't just put people in these boxes. They [added] insects.
Detainees at COBALT were subjected to what was described as a "rough takedown" [wherein] five
CIA officers would scream at a detainee, drag him outside of his cell, cut his clothes off, and
secure him with Mylar tape. The detainee would then be hooded and [repeatedly] slapped and
punched. Gul Rahman was said to have died after one of these choreographed scare-scenes.
Ex-CIA Operative Says Prison Was Punishment for Whistleblowing on

Torture
2014-12-09, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/cia-operative-prison-punishment-whistlebl...
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou is the only CIA employee connected to its interrogation
program to go to prison. But he was prosecuted for providing information to reporters, not
for anything connected to ... torture. No other person connected to the program has been
charged with a crime, after the Justice Department said their actions had been approved legally
or that there was not sufficient admissible evidence in a couple cases of potential wrongdoing,
even in light of the death of two detainees in the early 2000s. Kiriakou was the first person with
direct knowledge of the CIA interrogation program to publicly reveal its existence, in an interview
with ABC News in 2007. He is now serving a nearly-three-year prison sentence for violating the
Intelligence Identities Protection Act, but he says thats only what the government wants people to
believe. In truth, this is my punishment for blowing the whistle on the CIAs illegal torture program
and for telling the public that torture was official U.S. government policy, Kiriakou said in a letter
last May from a prison in Loretto, Penn. In his groundbreaking interview with ABC News and later
with other news outlets, Kiriakou described the details of the program. In some cases, it turned out
that even Kiriakou ... was misled or kept in the dark about the extent of the program.
U.S. Government Has a Secret System for Stalling Patents

2014-12-03, Yahoo Tech
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/the-u-s-government-has-a-secret-system-for-1042496...
Entrepreneurs and established companies alike depend on the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office. Newly released documents reveal that the office, tasked with evaluating and
protecting the rights to intellectual property, has a covert system for delaying controversial
or inconvenient patents. Its a system that ... could function as a way to limit or stomp out
emerging companies. Before today, the program named the Sensitive Application Warning
System (SAWS) has been mentioned only anecdotally by examiners who work in or with the
office, and in a government memo that was leaked in March 2006. However, a new 50-page
document obtained by a law firms Freedom of Information Act request shows the sweeping scope
and conflicting interests of this particular set of rules. The law firm behind the request, Kilpatrick
Townsend & Stockton LLP, frequently represents major tech companies, including Apple, Google,
Twitter, and Oracle. For Thomas Franklin, a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend, applications that he
prosecutes typically issue as patents 22 months after filing. Any application that is categorized in
SAWS, however ... can be delayed for years. There is no official channel to notify an applicant
once her patent is placed in the system. Franklin told Yahoo Tech., Thats what piqued my interest
as a constitutional issue. Theres a secret program that theyre not supposed to talk about.
Note: When the government has a "property interest" in any patent application, it may be rejected,
stolen, or classified according to secret criteria. Among new energy technology researchers, it is
well known that the patent office can block patents of amazing inventions that could cost oil and
energy companies billions of dollars. Read this excellent summary for more on this.
Ohio Men Wrongly Convicted of Murder After 39 Years Released

2014-11-21, NBC News
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/ohio-men-wrongly-convicted-murder-af...
Two Ohio men wrongly accused of murder experienced freedom for the first time in nearly four
decades on Friday morning, but said they dont harbor bitterness over their unjust imprisonment. A
Cleveland judge on Wednesday had dropped all charges against Ricky Jackson, 57, and
Wiley Bridgeman, 60, allowing for the pairs release. Jackson was 19 when he was
convicted along with Bridgeman and Bridgemans brother, Ronnie, in the 1975 shooting
death and robbery of Harold Franks, a Cleveland-area money order salesman. Testimony from
a 12-year-old witness helped point to Jackson as the triggerman and led a jury to convict. The
witness, Edward Vernon, now 53, recanted his testimony last year, saying he was coerced by
detectives, according to Cuyahoga County court documents. Vernon wrote in a 2013 affidavit that
he never saw the murder take place, but he was told by detectives that if he didnt testify against
Jackson, his parents would be arrested. The Ohio Innocence Project, which took up the case, said
Jackson had been the longest-held U.S. prisoner to be exonerated. Jackson was originally
sentenced to death, but that sentence was vacated because of a paperwork error. The
Bridgeman brothers remained on death row until Ohio declared the death penalty unconstitutional
in 1978. One of them came within 20 days of execution before Ohio ruled the death penalty
unconstitutional said Mark Godsey, director of the Ohio Innocence Project.
Note: Watch an inspiring five-minute video of this beautiful man who was originally sentenced to
death based largely on the testimony of a 12 year old, who it turns out was coerced by police to
blame him. And how many have been wrongly executed that we will never know about? For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing civil liberties articles from reliable
Westminster child abuse claims: what do we know?

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/19/westminster-child-abuse-claims...
Police are investigating possible murders linked to Elm Guest House in south-west London after
claims of a cover-up. A number of allegations have been made. So far the only politician to have
been implicated is the Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who died in 2010, but other unnamed politicians
were also alleged to have been involved in a Westminster paedophile ring. Smith is alleged to
have abused boys at Knowl View residential school in Rochdale and at Elm Guest House, in
Barnes in south-west London, in the 1970s and 80s. Greater Manchester police are investigating
allegations of abuse by Smith at Knowl View, where Smith was a governor. Other MPs were said
to have attended the Elm Guest House. After claims made by the Labour MP Tom Watson in 2012,
the Metropolitan police launched Operation Fairbank into child abuse at the guesthouse. Watson
said there was clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to
parliament and No 10. A dossier of evidence of an alleged paedophile ring, involving
several MPs, including Smith, and other public figures, was handed to the Home Office in
1983, by the Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, who died in 1995. The 40-page dossier has since
been destroyed or lost, according to a Home Office review. At least three MPs were reported to
have been questioned in 1982 after a police raid on the guesthouse. It was reported at the time
that it was being used as a brothel where children as young as 10 were abused. Two children
living in the house were taken into care.
that child sexual abuse scandals also reach to the highest levels of government in the US. And
read an abundance of major media news articles showing rampant child sexual abuse at high
levels in many prominent organizations.
Government planes mimic cellphone towers to collect user data

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/14/government-planes-mimic-cellphon...
The US justice department is reportedly using electronic equipment on aircraft to simulate
cellphone towers so it can collect phone location and identifying information on a mass scale from
users on the ground below. The US Marshals Service has for seven years flown Cessna
aircraft ... that mimic cellular towers, permitting the collection of thousands of unique IDs
and location data from users. The planes operate from at least five metropolitan airports,
permitting a flying range covering most of the US population. [This] indiscriminate collection
would permit ... justice department agencies to avoid having to seek records from the phone
companies themselves, especially in criminal investigations where a court order may be required.
The legal basis for the previously undisclosed program is unclear. It is not reportedly a national
security or counterterrorism program. Michael German, a former FBI agent now with New York
University Law School, said: The governments attitude seems to be if it can, it should, without
regard to the violation of Americans rights, so long as nobody knows. This program is being kept
secret so that the thousands of innocent Americans whose data is being collected improperly wont
complain. We shouldnt have to just trust that the government will handle the data it intercepts
about our communications properly.
Note: For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing government
corruption and privacy news articles from reliable sources.
New Orleans Police Routinely Ignored Sex Crimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/us/new-orleans-police-special-crimes-unit-i...
A scathing examination of this citys Police Department has concluded that five detectives
tasked with investigating sex crimes failed to pursue hundreds of reported cases. It was a
persistent, systemic problem, said Howard Schwartz, the inspector generals lead investigator.
The report described how victims charges of sexual assault were ignored, referrals from medical
personnel were dismissed, and evidence was not processed; in some cases the detective would
mark down in a report that evidence had been sent to the state laboratory, though no records could
be found that the laboratory received anything. In one case, a 2-year-old was brought to the
emergency room on suspicion of having been the victim of a sexual assault and was found
to have a sexually transmitted disease. The detective did no follow-up and closed the case.
In another, a nurse collected DNA evidence from a victim in a rape kit, but the detective apparently
never submitted the kit for testing. That same detective, the report said, told at least three different
people that he or she did not believe that simple rape should be a crime. These findings are not
new to the New Orleans police force, which is under federal court supervision after having been
found to have a pattern of inefficient, abusive and corrupt police work.
corruption and sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable sources.
UK intelligence agencies spying on lawyers in sensitive security cases

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/06/intelligence-agencies-lawyer-cli...
The intelligence services have routinely been intercepting legally privileged communications ...
according to internal MI5, MI6 and GCHQ documents. The information obtained may even have
been exploited unlawfully and used by the agencies in the fighting of court cases in which
they themselves are involved, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) has been told. MP David
Davis, a former shadow home secretary, said past practice was to delete such material
immediately if it was ever picked up. 28 extracts of internal intelligence policies showing how
legally privileged material is handled by security officials were released to lawyers pursuing a claim
through the IPT. The claim has been brought by two Libyans, Abdel-Hakim Belhaj and Sami
Al Saadi. They were abducted in a joint MI6-CIA operation and ... tortured by Colonel
Muammar Gaddafis regime in 2004. Belhaj has been given permission to sue the
government for his mistreatment. Davis, who attended the hearing, said: In the past, when a
bug or intercept on a criminal accidentally picked up a conversation with the criminals lawyer, the
rule was that it was immediately deleted. Todays hearing shows that is no longer the case.
Agencies are clearly keeping records of legal privileged material, and have explicit policies to
handle it. In the case of MI5 that policy includes concealing ... that they have the material. This
change has been carried out without changing the law or telling parliament. This is an enormous
breach of defendants judicial rights.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing intelligence agency
corruption news articles from reliable sources.
Video emerges of 'Lockheed Martin scientist' claiming aliens are REAL

and that he worked at Area 51 on UFO technology
2014-10-30, Daily Mail (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2814013/Video-emerges-Lockheed...
A scientist who apparently worked in some capacity for Lockheed Martin has claimed aliens on
Earth are real and have made contact with Earth in a video posted shortly before his death. Boyd
Bushman apparently drew on his own personal experiences to reveal that extraterrestrials
were in Area 51. And in a bizarre interview he also claims anti-gravity is one of several
technologies being hidden by the government. The controversial video was apparently made
shortly before Mr Bushman died on 7 August 2014. He had several patents attributed to him that
were assigned to Lockheed Martin, and he was apparently also a senior scientist at the company although that claim is disputed. These patents include a magnetic drive, an light beam to find
objects, a thermally energised electrical power source and a heat radiation detection system. Was
Bushman delusional or telling the truth? Certainly, Bushman believed in what he was saying. As
long ago as 2008 he passed a polygraph test, during which he claimed he had worked on
antigravity projects, alien technologies and had even met and photographed an alien, and
examined at least eight different types of alien spacecraft. Bushman also revealed that he had
received death threats and that security personnel had attempted to discredit him and tried to keep
him from talking to the public.
Note: Read about some of Mr. Bushman's inventions while working at Lockheed on this webpage.
And don't miss the intriguing interview with him. For lots more verifiable evidence that UFOs are
real, see our UFO Information Center.
Too Big to Tax: Settlements Are Tax Write-Offs for Banks

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/07/giant-penalties-are-giant-tax-write-offs-w...
At the Justice Department, senior officials like to congratulate themselves on the headlinemaking, big bucks settlements they have imposed upon banks and lenders. Those
settlement figures are not quite what they seem, because settlements can be deducted from
tax liabilities. For nearly every dollar a bank or lender has pledged to pay ... up to 35 cents will
find its way back into bank coffers. Under Attorney General Eric Holder, whose agency has not
prosecuted a single major bank or executive in the aftermath of the 2008 meltdown, the Justice
Department has [allowed] windfall tax deductions [to be] set against the civil settlements imposed.
[These may] total more than $44 billion. Astonishingly, for an economic crisis estimated to have
cost the U.S. economy anywhere from $6 trillion to $14 trillion in lost output and value if not
twice that, according to a September 2013 study by the Dallas Federal Reserve bank tracking
the settlements and the deductions against taxes via government websites is almost impossible.
Theres [a] self-serving reason for the Justice Department to hike civil settlement payments while
allowing for most of the sum to be tax-deductible. The agency receives a cut of up to 3 percent of
its share of the total settlements for its Working Capital Fund, a slush fund common across major
government agencies. The Justice Departments slush fund ... signals an institutional interest in
getting big numbers.
Note: For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing articles about
widespread corruption in government and banking and finance.
US used Nazis as Cold War spies

2014-10-27, BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29795749
Declassified US records reveal the nation's intelligence chiefs used hundreds of Nazis as spies
and informants after World War Two. Academics studying the documents say America used at
least 1,000 ex-Nazis. Some had served at the highest levels of the Nazi Party, and were recruited
to work as spies for the US in Europe. Former SS officer Otto von Bolschwing reportedly wrote
policy papers on how to terrorise Jews, but was hired by the CIA to spy in Europe after World War
Two. The agency is said to have relocated him and his family to New York in the 1950s as a
reward for loyal service. Nazi collaborator Aleksandras Lileikis - linked to the massacres of
tens of thousands of Jews in Lithuania - was recruited by the US as a spy in East Germany
and later brought over to Boston. There is evidence the CIA even tried to intervene when Mr
Lileikis became the subject of a war crimes investigation. Records indicate long-time FBI
director J Edgar Hoover not only approved of the use of ex-Nazis as spies, he also dismissed the
horrific acts they had been involved in during the war as Soviet propaganda. The revelations come
one week after an Associated Press investigation found the US government had paid dozens of
suspected Nazi war criminals millions of dollars in Social Security benefits.
Note: Explore powerful evidence that the CIA secretly smuggled Nazi war criminals into the US to
teach them mind control techniques.
Stand Tall, America, We're No. 1!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-engelhardt/america-is-number-one_b_6034626....
Here's the beginning of a little post-9/11 list: six incontestable areas where America is #1.
Investment in our military and our national security state! No other country comes within a light
year of us! In 2011, the defense budgets of the next 13 countries combined didn't quite equal
ours and we've been dumping up to a trillion dollars yearly into the national security budget
since 9/11. We're #1 in "renditions" ("kidnappings")! Post-9/11, at least 136 "terror suspects"
(some certifiably innocent) were taken by the CIA and other American outfits off the streets of
global cities. We're #1 in knocking off wedding parties from the air! At least eight of them in three
countries! Bridal parties, brides and grooms, hundreds of wedding goers obliterated by American
air power! We're #1 in military bases on foreign soil! We have hundreds of them across the planet,
some the size of small American towns. We're number #1 in invading, occupying, and/or
bombing Muslim countries, 14 of them since 1980! I challenge you, find me another country
with such an accomplishment. We're number #1 in investing in militaries that won't "stand up"! At
least $25 billion for the Iraqi military alone (and you know how successful we were there, since it
recently collapsed, allowing us to rearm it and stand it up again). And that's nothing compared to
the Afghan military into which our country had poured $51 billion by 2011 and billions more
thereafter.
Note: For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing war news
articles from reliable sources.
Your Taxes Funding Nazi War Criminals' Retirement?

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nazi-war-criminal-social-security-benefits-ap-inv...
Dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in U.S. Social
Security benefits after being forced out of the United States. Among those receiving benefits
were armed SS troops who guarded the network of Nazi camps where millions of Jews
perished; a rocket scientist who used slave laborers to advance his research in the Third
Reich; and a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of
Jews in Poland. The deals allowed the Justice Department's former Nazi-hunting unit, the Office
of Special Investigations, to skirt lengthy deportation hearings. Social Security benefits became
tools, U.S. diplomatic officials said, to secure agreements. The Social Security Administration
expressed outrage in 1997 over the use of benefits. Austrian authorities were furious upon learning
after the fact about a deal made with Martin Bartesch, a former SS guard at the Mauthausen
concentration camp in Austria. "It was not upfront, it was not transparent, it was not a legitimate
process," said James Hergen, an assistant legal adviser at the State Department from 1982 until
2007. "This was not the way America should behave." Neal Sher, a former OSI director, said the
State Department cared more about diplomatic niceties than holding former members of Adolf
Hitler's war machine accountable.
Note: Explore powerful evidence that the CIA secretly smuggled Nazi war criminals into the US to
teach them mind control techniques.
Afghan Poppies Hit Record High Despite $7 Billion US Campaign

2014-10-20, NBC News
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/afghan-opium-poppies-hit-record-hi...
Opium poppy cultivation has hit an all-time high in Afghanistan despite a 10-year, $7.6
billion effort by the U.S. government to fight it, according to a new report. The Special
Inspector General for Afghanistan, who authored the report, warned Secretary of State John Kerry,
Attorney General Eric Holder and other top U.S. officials that the gap between expenditures and
results should make them rethink their approach. "Given the severity of the opium problem and its
potential to undermine U.S. objectives in Afghanistan," said Special Inspector General John Sopko
in a letter to the officials, "I strongly suggest that your departments consider the trends in opium
cultivation and the effectiveness of past counternarcotics efforts when planning future initiatives."
According to SIGAR's report, the value of the opium produced in Afghanistan reached $3
billion in 2013, a 50 percent increase from 2012, and is likely to increase still further in 2014.
Some of the increase is due to the use of affordable deep well technology over the past decade
to turn 200,000 hectares of former desert in southwestern Afghanistan into arable land. Some of
the land is now being used to grow opium poppies. Opium poppy cultivation is used to fund the
Taliban and other insurgent groups and stokes corruption, says the report.
Note: A 2002 news article shows that "the Taliban in July 2000, coupled with severe droughts last
year, reduced the country's opium yield by 91% in 2001." Yet once the allies defeated the Taliban,
opium production hit new records. Do you really think the plan was to eradicate opium? This huge
source of income is used to fund all kinds of secret projects. Read powerful evidence that the CIA
and US military are directly involved in the drug trade.
The Cost of Campaigns

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/us/the-cost-of-campaigns.html
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010 tossed aside decades of legislative
restrictions, freeing corporations and unions to spend as much as they wished. Six months ago,
the Supreme Court took its Citizens United decision further. In McCutcheon v. Federal Election
Commission, it struck down long standing caps on what an individual may contribute to all federal
candidates, collectively, in any two-year election cycle. With conservative justices dominant, the
court expanded the concept that money is equivalent to speech, protected by the First
Amendment. Corporations, it said, enjoy the same political rights as individuals. A study by
the Sunlight Foundation, an advocate for government transparency, found that 31,385 people
that is 1 percent of 1 percent of the United States population accounted for 28 percent of
all disclosed contributions in the 2012 elections. This year, an analysis by The New York
Times shows, more than half of broadcast advertising in the midterm elections has been paid for
by groups that reveal little or nothing about their donors. Overwhelmingly, the main beneficiaries
have been conservative organizations.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing election news
articles from reliable major media sources. For more along these lines, see the excellent, reliable
resources provided in our Elections Information Center.
Investigation Into Missing Iraqi Cash Ended in Lebanon Bunker

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/world/investigation-into-missing-iraqi-cash...
In 2003, caravans of trucks began to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on a
regular basis, unloading an unusual cargo pallets of shrink-wrapped $100 bills. The cash,
withdrawn from Iraqi government accounts held in the United States, was loaded onto Air Force C17 transport planes bound for Baghdad. Exactly what happened to that money after it arrived?
Finding the answer became first the job and then the obsession of Stuart W Bowen Jr. His
investigators finally had a breakthrough, discovering that $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion had
been stolen and moved to a bunker in rural Lebanon. Bowen kept the discovery and his
investigation of the cash-filled bunker ... secret. He has never publicly discussed it until now.
Billions of dollars have been taken out of Iraq over the last ten years illegally, he said. The money
... came from the Development Fund of Iraq, which was created by a United Nations resolution in
May 2003 to hold Iraqi oil revenue. An advantage of using the cash from the Development Fund
instead of money appropriated by Congress for Iraq was that there were not a lot of rules
governing its use, and no federal regulations or congressional oversight of what happened
to it. The CIA expressed little interest in pursuing the matter, and the FBI said it lacked
jurisdiction, Bowen recalled. An informant told [Bowen] about the bunker, which in addition to the
cash, was believed to also have held approximately $200 million in gold belonging to the Iraqi
government.
wartime deceptions and government secrecy from reliable major media sources.
Moral Courage & The Story of Sister Megan Rice

2014-10-01, Daily Good
http://www.dailygood.org/story/857/moral-courage-and-the-story-of-sister-mega...
The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oakridge, Tennessee, is supposed to be impregnable. But on
July 28th 2012, an 84 year-old nun called Sister Megan Rice broke through a series of highsecurity fences surrounding the plant and reached a uranium storage bunker at the center of
the complex. She was accompanied by Greg Boertje-Obed (57) and Michael Walli (63). The trio ...
sat down for a picnic. When the security guards arrived they offered them some bread. Two years
later, Rice, Walli and Boertje-Obed were sentenced to federal prison terms of between three and
five years, plus restitution in the amount of $53,000 for damage done to the plant - far in excess of
the estimates produced at their trial. When questioned about her actions at her trial by Judge Amul
Thapar, Rice told him that her actions were intended to draw attention to the US stockpile of
nuclear weapons that she and her co-defendants felt was illegal and immoral. They also
wanted to expose the ineffectiveness of the security systems that were supposed to protect these
weapons from theft or damage. We were acutely mindful of the widespread loss to humanity that
nuclear weapons have already caused, wrote Rice afterwards in a letter to her supporters, and
we realize that all life on earth could be exterminated through intentional, accidental or technical
error. Our action exposed the storage of weapons-making materials deliberately hidden from the
general public. All three defendants were found guilty of sabotage of the national defense. Just
before they were sentenced, Rice made a statement to the court which ended like this: We have
to speak, and were happy to die for that. To remain in prison for the rest of my life is the greatest
honor that you could give me. Please dont be lenient with me. It would be an honor for that to
happen.
Note: If you would like to receive copies of Sister Rices letters to her supporters, please email
nukeresister@igc.org. Mailing addresses for Sister Rice and her co-defendants can be found here
and here. You can also sign a petition requesting their pardon.
Syria Becomes the 7th Predominantly Muslim Country Bombed by 2009

Nobel Peace Laureate
2014-09-23, The Intercept With Glenn Greenwald
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/23/nobel-peace-prize-fact-day-syri...
The U.S. today began bombing targets inside Syria, in concert with its lovely and inspiring group of
five allied regimes: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan. That means
that Syria becomes the 7th predominantly Muslim country bombed by 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate
Barack Obamaafter Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Iraq. The utter lack of
interest in what possible legal authority Obama has to bomb Syria is telling indeed: Empires bomb
who they want, when they want, for whatever reason (indeed, recall that Obama bombed Libya
even after Congress explicitly voted against authorization to use force). It was just over a year ago
that Obama officials were insisting that bombing and attacking Assad was a moral and strategic
imperative. Instead, Obama is now bombing Assads enemies while politely informing his regime of
its targets in advance. It seems irrelevant on whom the U.S. wages war; what matters is that it
be at war, always and forever. Six weeks of bombing hasnt budged ISIS in Iraq, but it has
caused ISIS recruitment to soar. Thats all predictable: the U.S. has known for years that
what fuels and strengthens anti-American sentiment is exactly what they keep doing:
aggression in that region. They do all of this not despite triggering those outcomes, but because
of it. Continuously creating and strengthening enemies is a feature, not a bug. It is what justifies
the ongoing greasing of the profitable and power-vesting machine of Endless War. As the
disastrous Libya intervention should conclusively and permanently demonstrate, the U.S. does
not bomb countries for humanitarian objectives. Humanitarianism is the pretense, not the purpose.
Note: Read this powerful essay showing how the US has fed Islamic extremism in order to fill the
pockets of those who run the war machine. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing war news articles from reliable major media sources.
Whos Paying the Pro-War Pundits?

2014-09-16, The Nation Magazine
http://www.thenation.com/article/181601/whos-paying-pro-war-pundits#
Retired General Anthony Zinni [has demanded] up to 10,000 American boots on the ground to
battle ISIS. Retired General Jack [Keane has made] more vague demands, such as for offensive
air strikes and the deployment of more military advisers to the region. Many of these former
Pentagon officials [have a vested interest] as paid directors and advisers to some of the largest
military contractors in the world. Ramping up Americas military presence in Iraq and directly
entering the war in Syria, along with greater military spending more broadly, is a debatable solution
to a complex political and sectarian conflict. But those goals do unquestionably benefit one player
in this saga: Americas defense industry. Keane is a great example of this phenomenon. His think
tank, the Institute for the Study of War, ... has provided the data on ISIS used for multiple stories
by The New York Times, the BBC and other leading outlets. Keane has appeared on Fox News at
least nine times over the last two months to promote the idea that the best way to stop ISIS is
through military actionin particular, through air strikes deep into ISIS-held territory. Left unsaid
during his media appearances ... are Keanes other gigs: as special adviser to Academi, the
contractor formerly known as Blackwater; as a board member to tank and aircraft
manufacturer General Dynamics; a venture partner to SCP Partners, an investment firm
that partners with defense contractors, including XVionics, an operations management
decision support system company used in Air Force drone training; and as president of
his own consulting firm, GSI LLC. Retired General Anthony Zinni, perhaps the loudest advocate
of a large deployment of American soldiers into the region to fight IS, is a board member to BAE
Systems US subsidiary, and also works for several military-focused private equity firms.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war news articles from reliable
Snowden: New Zealands Prime Minister Isnt Telling the Truth About
Mass Surveillance
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/15/snowden-new-zealand-surveillance
Prime Minister John Key ... has denied that New Zealands spy agency GCSB engages in mass
surveillance, mostly as a means of convincing the country to enact a new law vesting the agency
with greater powers. Let me be clear: any statement that mass surveillance is not performed in
New Zealand, or that the internet communications are not comprehensively intercepted and
monitored, or that this is not intentionally and actively abetted by the GCSB, is categorically false.
If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched. At the NSA I routinely came across the
communications of New Zealanders in my work with a mass surveillance tool we share with
GCSB, called XKEYSCORE. It allows total, granular access to the database of communications
collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the
purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading
individuals private email, text messages, and internet traffic. I know this because it was my fulltime job in Hawaii, where I worked every day in an NSA facility with a top secret clearance. The
prime ministers claim to the public, that there is no and there never has been any mass
surveillance is false. The GCSB, whose operations he is responsible for, is directly involved in the
untargeted, bulk interception and algorithmic analysis of private communications sent via internet,
satellite, radio, and phone networks. It means they have the ability see every website you visit,
every text message you send, every call you make, every ticket you purchase, every
donation you make, and every book you order online. From Im headed to church to I
hate my boss to Shes in the hospital, the GCSB is there. Your words are intercepted,
stored, and analyzed by algorithms long before theyre ever read by your intended
recipient.
Note: New Zealand's prime minister has acknowledged that Snowden may be right, as reported in
this article. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government surveillance
Book review: Acid Test, on psychedelic drug therapy for PTSD

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-acid-test-on-lsd-as-therap...
LSD, ecstasy (MDMA) and other psychedelics are powerful, mind-altering drugs that, as described
by former Washington Post Magazine editor Tom Shroder, intrinsically [challenge] the rationalist,
materialist underpinnings of Western culture. For most of a century, our society has struggled to
come to grips with these profoundly threatening drugs, largely without success. Theyve all been
made illegal. For decades, the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement
Administration have strictly banned scientific investigations into their potential benefits which is
unfortunate, since these psychoactive drugs also seem able to do incredible good, particularly in
the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Every year, as many as 5 million
Americans suffer from its effects. Frequent consequences include depression, drug and alcohol
abuse, and a host of associated health problems. In both humanitarian and economic terms, the
costs are staggering. And PTSD stubbornly resists treatment. Psychoactive drugs such as LSD
and MDMA seem to bring powerful healing energies to bear on the underlying issues. But despite
a growing mountain of evidence supporting the therapeutic benefits delivered by these
drugs, government authorities have blocked scientific and therapeutic explorations of their
potential. Fortunately, the governments prohibitions may be loosening, thanks to a cadre
of psychedelic advocates who have steadfastly refused to surrender to the taboos. The
story of those people and their efforts to win scientific and therapeutic approval for psychedelic
drugs is the central thrust of Shroders strangely wonderful new book, Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy,
and the Power to Heal.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing mind-altering drugs news
The U.S. Governments Secret Plans to Spy for American Corporations

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/05/us-governments-plans-use-econom...
Throughout the last year, the U.S. government has repeatedly insisted that it does not engage in
economic and industrial espionage, in an effort to distinguish its own spying from Chinas
infiltrations of Google, Nortel, and other corporate targets. [But] the NSA was caught spying on
plainly financial targets such as the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras; economic summits; international
credit card and banking systems; the EU antitrust commissioner investigating Google, Microsoft,
and Intel; and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In response, the U.S. modified its
denial to acknowledge that it does engage in economic spying, but unlike China, the spying is
never done to benefit American corporations. But a secret 2009 report issued by [Director of
National Intelligence James Clapper's] office explicitly contemplates doing exactly that. The
document, the 2009 Quadrennial Intelligence Community Reviewprovided by NSA whistleblower
Edward Snowdenis a fascinating window into the mindset of Americas spies. One of the
principal threats raised in the report is a scenario in which the United States technological and
innovative edge slips in particular, that the technological capacity of foreign multinational
corporations could outstrip that of U.S. corporations. How could U.S. intelligence agencies
solve that problem? The report recommends a multi-pronged, systematic effort to gather
open source and proprietary information through overt means, clandestine penetration
(through physical and cyber means), and counterintelligence.
Guantanamo Defense Lawyer Resigns, Says U.S. Case Is 'Stacked'

2014-08-31, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/31/344576895/guantanamo-defense-lawyer-resigns-say...
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [is] facing a military commission at Guantanamo Bay and potentially the
death penalty. He was captured in 2003 but his case still hasn't gone to trial. Last week, Maj.
Jason Wright one of the lawyers defending Mohammed resigned from the Army. He has
accused the U.S. government of "abhorrent leadership" on human rights and due process
guarantees and says it is crafting a "show trial." For nearly three years, he served on Mohammed's
defense team. Wright formally resigned on Aug. 26. Wright [says] that it's hard to gain any client's
trust, but it was especially hard with Mohammed. His former client is one of six "high-value
detainees" being prosecuted at Guantanamo for offenses that could carry the death penalty. "All
six of these men have been tortured by the U.S. government," he says. Wright says Mohammed in
particular has faced a level of torture "beyond comprehension." He says his client was
waterboarded by the CIA 183 times and subjected to over a week of sleep deprivation; there
were threats that his family would be killed. "And those are just the declassified facts that
I'm able to actually speak about," Wright says. Wright wasn't allowed to discuss too many
details of the detainee abuse in court. "The CIA tortured these men. They've gone to extraordinary
lengths to try to keep that completely hidden from public view," Wright says. "So the statute that
Congress passed has a number of protections to ensure that no information about the U.S.
torture program will ever come out."
Note: Why hasn't this been covered by other major media in the US? For more on this, see
concise summaries of deeply revealing terrorism news articles from reliable major media sources.
Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls

2014-08-27, Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/mysterious-phony-cell-towers-could-b...
Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America [marketers of the Crytophone 500], points me to a map
that he and his customers have created, indicating 17 different phony cell towers known as
interceptors, detected by the CryptoPhone 500 around the United States during the month of July
alone. Interceptors look to a typical phone like an ordinary tower. Once the phone connects
with the interceptor, a variety of over-the-air attacks become possible, from
eavesdropping on calls and texts to pushing spyware to the device. Interceptor use in the
U.S. is much higher than people had anticipated, Goldsmith says. One of our customers took a
road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found 8 different interceptors on that trip. We even
found one at South Point Casino in Las Vegas. Who is running these interceptors and what are
they doing with the calls? Goldsmith says we cant be sure, but he has his suspicions. Are some
of them U.S. government interceptors? [asks] Goldsmith. Interceptors vary widely in expense
and sophistication but in a nutshell, they are radio-equipped computers with software that can
use arcane cellular network protocols and defeat the onboard encryption. For governments or
other entities able to afford a price tag of less than $100,000, says Goldsmith, high-quality
interceptors are quite realistic. Some interceptors are limited, only able to passively listen to either
outgoing or incoming calls. But full-featured devices like the VME Dominator, available only to
government agencies, can not only capture calls and texts, but even actively control the phone,
sending out spoof texts, for example.
Note: Do you think the government might have put up fake cell towers to nab more data? For
more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government surveillance news articles
The Surveillance Engine: How the NSA Built Its Own Secret Google
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/08/25/icreach-nsa-cia-secret-google-c...
The National Security Agency is secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government
agencies with a Google-like search engine built to share more than 850 billion records about
phone calls, emails, cellphone locations, and internet chats, according to classified documents
obtained by The Intercept. The documents provide the first definitive evidence that the NSA has for
years made massive amounts of surveillance data directly accessible to domestic law enforcement
agencies. ICREACH [as the search engine is called] contains information on the private
communications of foreigners and, it appears, millions of records on American citizens who have
not been accused of any wrongdoing. Details about its existence are contained in the archive of
materials provided to The Intercept by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Earlier revelations
sourced to the Snowden documents have exposed a multitude of NSA programs for collecting
large volumes of communications. The NSA has acknowledged that it shares some of its collected
data with domestic agencies like the FBI, but details about the method and scope of its sharing
have remained shrouded in secrecy. ICREACH has been accessible to more than 1,000
analysts at 23 U.S. government agencies that perform intelligence work, according to a
2010 memo. Information shared through ICREACH can be used to track peoples
movements, map out their networks of associates, help predict future actions, and
potentially reveal religious affiliations or political beliefs.
Cause of New Mexico nuclear waste accident remains a mystery

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nuclear-waste-accident-20140824-story.htm...
A 55-gallon drum of nuclear waste, buried in a salt shaft 2,150 feet under the New Mexico desert,
violently erupted late on Feb. 14 and spewed mounds of radioactive white foam. The flowing mass,
... laced with plutonium, went airborne, traveled up a ventilation duct to the surface and delivered
... radiation doses to 21 workers. The accident contaminated the nation's only dump for nuclear
weapons waste ... and gave the nation's elite ranks of nuclear chemists a mystery they still cannot
unravel. Six months after the accident, the exact chemical reaction that caused the drum to burst is
still not understood. Indeed, the Energy Department has been unable to precisely identify the
chemical composition of the waste in the drum. The accident at the facility near Carlsbad, N.M.,
known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is likely to cause at least an 18-month shutdown
and possibly a closure that could last several years. A preliminary Energy Department investigation
found more than 30 safety lapses at the plant, including technical shortcomings and failures in the
overall approach to safety. The accident raises tough questions about the Energy
Department's ability to safely manage the nation's stockpiles of deadly nuclear waste. "The
accident was a horrific comedy of errors," said James Conca, a scientific advisor and
expert on the WIPP. "This was the flagship of the Energy Department, the most successful
program it had. The ramifications of this are going to be huge. Heads will roll."
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing nuclear weapons dangers
The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie

2014-08-15, The Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-c...
The officers got the wrong man, but charged him anywaywith getting his blood on their
uniforms. Police in Ferguson, Missouri, once charged a man with destruction of property for
bleeding on their uniforms while four of them allegedly beat him. [A] 52-year-old welder named
Henry Davis ... had been arrested for an outstanding warrant that proved to actually be for another
man of the same surname, but a different middle name and Social Security number. The booking
officer had no other reason to hold Davis, who ended up in Ferguson only because he missed the
exit for St. Charles and then pulled off the highway because the rain was so heavy he could not
see to drive. The cop who had pulled up behind him must have run his license plate and assumed
he was that other Henry Davis. Davis said the cop approached his vehicle, grabbed his cellphone
from his hand, cuffed him and placed him in the back seat of the patrol car, without a word of
explanation. The booking officer ... proceeded to escort him to a one-man cell that already had a
man in it asleep on the lone bunk. Davis balked at being a second man in a one-man cell. The
booking officer summoned a number of fellow cops. One opened the cell door while another
suddenly charged, propelling Davis inside and slamming him against the back wall. [A] female
officer allegedly lifted Davis head as the cop who had initially pushed him into the cell reappeared.
He ran in and kicked me in the head, Davis recalled. Paramedics came. They said it was too
much blood. I had to go to the hospital. A federal magistrate ruled that the [police] perjury
about the property damage charges was too minor to constitute a violation of due
process and that Davis injuries were ... too minor to warrant a finding of excessive force.
Never mind that a CAT scan taken after the incident confirmed that he had suffered a concussion.
Note: If you are willing to know how bad it gets, read the entire article at the link above. Then read
an educational article on the skewed reporting of the New York Times on the Michael Brown
murder. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government surveillance
After A Traffic Stop, Teen Was 'Almost Another Dead Black Male'
2014-08-15, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/15/340419821/after-a-traffic-stop-teen-was-almost-...
Alex Landau, who is African-American, was adopted by a white couple as a child and grew up in
largely white, middle-class suburbs of Denver. "I thought that love would conquer all and skin color
really didn't matter," [his mother, Patsy] Hathaway [said, speaking to her son]. "I had to learn the
really hard way when they almost killed you." That was in 2009, when Landau, then a college
student, was stopped by Denver police officers and severely beaten. Landau was 19 at the time,
driving around Denver with a friend in the passenger seat. He noticed red and blue lights behind
him. The officer who pulled him over "explained I had made an illegal left turn, and to step out of
the car," Landau says. Landau thought he was safe. He wasn't in handcuffs, he says, and he'd
already been patted down. "Plus there's three officers on the scene. And I had never had a
negative interaction with police in my life. "So I ask them, 'Can I please see a warrant before you
continue the search?' " Landau says. "And they grab me and began to hit me in the face. I was hit
several times, and I remember gasping for air" and spitting blood, he says. "And then I hear an
officer shout out, 'He's reaching for a gun,' " he tells his mother. "I immediately started
yelling, 'No, I'm not. I'm not reaching for anything.' " Landau felt a gun against his head, he
says. "And I expected to be shot. And at that point I lost consciousness. ... It took 45
stitches to close up the lacerations in my face alone," Landau says. I was just another black
face in the streets, and I was almost another dead black male." In 2011, Alex was awarded a
$795,000 settlement by the City of Denver.
Note: Listen to the very moving three-minute audio of this white mother and her black son who
was nearly killed by police simply for being black. Then read an educational article on the skewed
reporting of the New York Times on the Michael Brown murder. For more on this, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing police corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Billionaire Found in Middle of Bribery Case Avoids U.S. Probe

2014-08-14, Bloomberg Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-08-14/billionaire-found-in-middle-of-br...
In January, a unit of Alcoa Inc., the biggest U.S. aluminum producer, pleaded guilty to foreign
bribery charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department. Alcoa also settled claims by the
Securities and Exchange Commission and agreed to pay a $384 million fine -- the fifth-largest
such penalty ever. The Alcoa subsidiary admitted to paying bribes to government officials in
Bahrain for more than a decade to win contracts to sell alumina, a compound essential in making
aluminum, to the Persian Gulf states processing plant. Not named and not charged in the case
was the person who made those payments, whom the Justice Department identified in court only
as Consultant A. In the thriving business of global bribery -- which the World Bank says
amounts to $1 trillion in illicit payments annually -- guilty pleas like the one by Alcoas unit
are rare. Rarer still are convictions against the people who actually arrange and deliver the
payments. Most of the time, these brokers arent even named. The Alcoa guilty plea -together with related cases in the U.K. and Norway -- provides an unusual window into the modus
operandi of the middlemen who shuttle between companies and governments striking deals.
Before the U.S. announced the fine against Alcoa, U.K. prosecutors in October 2011 charged
Victor Dahdaleh, a London-based businessman, with laundering money and making improper
payments to officials in Bahrain related to Alcoa contracts. Dahdaleh was acquitted in December
after the prosecution dropped its case. While the U.S. plea agreement doesnt identify Dahdaleh
as Consultant A, it does show that a company owned by Dahdaleh played a role in the Alcoa unit
payments to Alba.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing corporate corruption news
Campaign Mounts to Declassify 9/11 Reports References to Alleged

Saudi Involvement
2014-08-07, Vice News
https://news.vice.com/article/campaign-mounts-to-declassify-911-reports-refer...
Nearly 13 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the extent of Saudi involvement in the deaths of
almost 3,000 people remains unclear but according to members of Congress and the families of
victims, information about this has been suppressed ever since the publication of a 2002
congressional investigation into the plot. Prior to the release of the final report of the Joint Inquiry
into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11,
2001, the Bush administration classified a 28-page section in the name of national security. The 28
pages make up part four of the report, a section titled Finding, Discussion and Narrative
Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters. They are widely believed to implicate
Saudi officials or describe support from Saudi intelligence for the hijackers, 15 of whom were
Saudi citizens. Former Senator Bob Graham of Florida, who co-chaired the joint Senate-House
investigation, dispensed with the equivocation and told VICE News that the redactions are a cover
up. Ive said this since the first classification of the 28 pages, he remarked. Its become more
and more inexplicable as to why two administrations have denied the American people
information that would help them better understand what happened on 9/11. Graham said
that the 28 pages describe the financing of the attacks. Follow the money, he said. That
will illuminate other significant aspects of 9/11. The Saudi kingdom has always denied any
complicity in the attacks.
Note: Watch a video of Congressman Massie telling how shocked he was to read these 28 pages.
Why aren't the major media reporting this important news? For more on this, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 news articles from reliable major media sources.
WikiLeaks reveals Australian gagging order over political bribery

allegations
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/30/wikileaks-australia-super-injunc...
A sweeping [gag] order issued in Australia to block reporting of any bribery allegations involving
several international political leaders in the region has been exposed by WikiLeaks. The prohibition
emerged from a criminal case in the Australian courts and applies throughout the country. It was
issued by the criminal division of the supreme court of Victoria in Melbourne. The Australia-wide
[gag] order is a superinjunction, which means it also contains a clause insisting that the terms of
the order itself should remain secret. [It] states: "Subject to further order, there [shall] be no
disclosure, by publication or otherwise, of any information derived from or prepared for the
purposes of these proceedings including the terms of these orders." In a statement published with
the leak, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said the gagging order relates to a case that
"concerns the subsidiaries of the Australian central bank". He said it was the first blanket
suppression order of this nature in Australia since 1995. "With this order, the worst in living
memory, the Australian government is not just gagging the Australian press, it is blindfolding the
Australian public," said Assange, who is himself Australian. "This is not simply a question of the
Australian government failing to give this international corruption case the public scrutiny
it is due. Foreign minister Julie Bishop must explain why she is threatening every
Australian with imprisonment in an attempt to cover up an embarrassing corruption
scandal involving the Australian government".
Note: Very few media were even willing to report on the reasons for this gag order, which were
clearly to cover up corruption at the highest levels. See the CNN article for how no mention is even
made of what was revealed. It seems that the higher up the corruption goes, the more vehemently
courts rule to keep the investigations secret. Could there be a double standard here? For more on
this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government corruption news articles from reliable
Your chicken is about to get more full of feces

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/28/chicken-regulations-obam...
Most chickens spend the bulk of their short lives covered or standing in feces, ... and the way in
which they are dispatched in the modern era is so sordid that farm states are actually passing laws
to keep you from ever bearing witness to the slaughter. The one small hope for human health has
been that the US Department of Agriculture has inspectors to watch over [chicken] processing
plants and make sure we don't eat sick chickens or chickens covered in their own feces as they
make their way through the processing plant. That is, it's been the one hope until now. The USDA
is moving toward final approval of a rule that would replace most government inspectors with
untrained company employees, and to allow companies to slaughter chickens at a much faster
rate. The rule is called the "Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection", but advocates
like the Center for Food Safety and Food and Water Watch are calling it the "Filthy Chicken
Rule". "It's really letting the fox guard the chicken coop", says Tony Corbo of Food and
Water Watch. And there are already plenty of problems. The rule comes in the midst of a yearslong increase in the number of food-born illnesses, driven in part by a shortage of government
inspectors. Salmonella "is estimated to cause 1.2 million illnesses in the United States, with about
23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths" each year, according to a recent report by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The Secret Government Rulebook For Labeling You a Terrorist

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/07/23/blacklisted/
The Obama administration has quietly approved a substantial expansion of the terrorist watchlist
system, authorizing a secret process that requires neither concrete facts nor irrefutable
evidence to designate an American or foreigner as a terrorist. The March 2013 Watchlisting
Guidance, a 166-page document issued last year by the National Counterterrorism Center, spells
out the governments secret rules for putting individuals on its main terrorist database, as well as
the no fly list and the selectee list, which triggers enhanced screening at airports and border
crossings. The new guidelines allow individuals to be designated as representatives of
terror organizations without any evidence they are actually connected to such
organizations, and it gives a single White House official the unilateral authority to place
entire categories of people the government is tracking onto the no fly and selectee lists. It
broadens the authority of government officials to nominate people to the watchlists based on
what is vaguely described as fragmentary information. It also allows for dead people to be
watchlisted. The rulebook ... was developed behind closed doors by representatives of the nations
intelligence, military, and law-enforcement establishment, including the Pentagon, CIA, NSA, and
FBI. Emblazoned with the crests of 19 agencies, it offers the most complete and revealing look into
the secret history of the governments terror list policies to date.
The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/11/the-ultimate-goal-of-the...
William Binney is one of the highest-level whistleblowers [to] emerge from the NSA. He was a
leading code-breaker against the Soviet Union during the Cold War but resigned soon after
September 11, disgusted by Washingtons move towards mass surveillance. On 5 July he spoke at
a conference in London organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and revealed the
extent of the surveillance programs unleashed by the Bush and Obama administrations. At least
80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US, Binney said. This is no accident and allows the
US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are
recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores. Binney ... described a
future where surveillance is ubiquitous and government intrusion unlimited. The ultimate
goal of the NSA is total population control, Binney said. He praised the revelations and
bravery of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Unlike Snowden, Binney didnt take any
documents with him when he left the NSA. He now says that hard evidence of illegal spying would
have been invaluable. The latest Snowden leaks, featured in the Washington Post, detail private
conversations of average Americans with no connection to extremism. It shows that the NSA is not
just pursuing terrorism, as it claims, but ordinary citizens going about their daily communications.
The NSA is mass-collecting on everyone, Binney said, and its said to be about terrorism but
inside the US it has stopped zero attacks.
CIA employees quest to release information destroyed my entire

career
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-employees-quest-to-...
His CIA career included assignments in Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, but the most perilous posting
for Jeffrey Scudder turned out to be a two-year stint in a sleepy office that looks after the agencys
historical files. It was there that Scudder discovered a stack of articles, hundreds of histories of
long-dormant conflicts and operations that he concluded were still being stored in secret years
after they should have been shared with the public. To get them released, Scudder submitted a
request under the Freedom of Information Act a step that any citizen can take, but one that is
highly unusual for a CIA employee. Four years later, the CIA has released some of those articles
and withheld others. It also has forced Scudder out. His request set in motion a harrowing
sequence. He was confronted by supervisors and accused of mishandling classified
information while assembling his FOIA request. His house was raided by the FBI and his
familys computers seized. Stripped of his job and his security clearance, Scudder said he
agreed to retire last year after being told that if he refused, he risked losing much of his pension. I
submitted a FOIA and it basically destroyed my entire career, Scudder said. Scudders case ..
highlights the risks to workers who take on their powerful spy-agency employers. Scudders
actions appear to have posed no perceptible risk to national security, but he found himself in the
cross hairs of the CIA and FBI.
Leaders Get Immunity at New African Rights Court

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/leaders-immunity-african-rights...
Leaders at an African summit have voted to give themselves and their allies immunity from
prosecution for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide at a new African Court
of Justice and Human Rights. The continent ... has two sitting presidents and one ousted
president facing charges at the International Criminal Court. Amnesty International called it "a
backward step in the fight against impunity and a betrayal of victims of serious violations
of human rights." The decision came [on June 27] at an African Union summit vote in Equatorial
Guinea from which journalists were excluded, Amnesty International said. News of the vote was
imparted obliquely in a statement [on June 30] about the summit outcomes. A paragraph listing
legal instruments agreed at the meeting included the "Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on
the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights." That amendment bars the court
from prosecuting sitting African leaders and vaguely identified "senior officials." Forty-two African
and international civil society and rights groups had objected to the amendment, noting in an open
letter before the summit that the impunity violates international and domestic laws as well as the
constitution of the African Union.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war crimes news articles from
Court gave NSA broad leeway in surveillance, documents show

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/court-gave-nsa-broad-le...
A classified 2010 legal certification and other documents indicate the NSA has been given a far
more elastic authority than previously known, one that allows it to intercept through U.S.
companies not just the communications of its overseas targets but any communications about its
targets as well. The certification approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and
included among a set of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden lists
193 countries that would be of valid interest for U.S. intelligence. The certification also permitted
the agency to gather intelligence about entities including the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund, the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The documents
underscore the remarkable breadth of potential foreign intelligence collection. An affidavit in
support of the 2010 foreign-government certification said the NSA believes that foreigners who
will be targeted for collection possess, are expected to receive and/or are likely to
communicate foreign intelligence information concerning these foreign powers. That
language could allow for surveillance of academics, journalists and human rights
researchers. A Swiss academic who has information on the German governments position in the
run-up to an international trade negotiation, for instance, could be targeted if the government has
determined there is a foreign-intelligence need for that information. If a U.S. college professor emails the Swiss professors e-mail address or phone number to a colleague, the Americans e-mail
could be collected as well, under the programs court-approved rules.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing intelligence agency news
This Is Why Your Local Police Department Might Have a Tank

http://time.com/2907307/aclu-swat-local-police/
As the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have wound down, police departments have been obtaining
military equipment, vehicles and uniforms that have flowed directly from the Department of
Defense. According to a new report by the ACLU, the federal government has funneled $4.3 billion
of military property to law enforcement agencies since the late 1990s, including $450 million worth
in 2013. Five hundred law enforcement agencies have received Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
(MRAP) vehicles, built to withstand bomb blasts. More than 15,000 items of military protective
equipment and battle dress uniforms have been transferred. More Americans are becoming
aware of the militarization of policing, but the use of paramilitary tactics to fight the war on drugs
has been going on for a very long time, says the ACLUs Kara Dansky. As police departments
have added military gear, theyve also upped the number of SWAT deployments, especially for use
in drug warrants. Almost two-thirds of SWAT deployments between 2011 and 2012 were for drug
raids. Many of those units, says Kraska, base their strategy and tactics on military special
operations like Navy SEALs. When people refer to the militarization of police, its not in a
pejorative or judgmental sense, [Peter Kraska, a criminal justice professor at Eastern Kentucky
University] says. Contemporary police agencies have moved significantly along a
continuum culturally, materially, operationally, while using a Navy SEALs model. All of
those are clear indications that theyre moving away from a civilian model of policing.
The open source revolution is coming and it will conquer the 1% - ex

CIA spy
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jun/19/open-source-...
Robert David Steele, former Marine, CIA case officer, and US co-founder of the US Marine Corps
intelligence activity, is ... widely recognised as the leader of the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)
paradigm. In 1992, despite opposition from the CIA, he obtained Marine Corps permission to
organise a landmark international conference on open source intelligence the paradigm of
deriving information to support policy decisions not through secret activities, but from open public
sources available to all. The conference was such a success it brought in over 620 attendees from
the intelligence world. But the CIA ... ensured that Steele was prohibited from running a second
conference, [prompting] him to resign from his position as second-ranking civilian in Marine Corps
intelligence. Last month, Steele presented a startling paper at the Libtech conference in New York.
Drawing on principles set out in his latest book, The Open-Source Everything Manifesto ... he told
the audience that all the major preconditions for revolution set out in his 1976 graduate thesis
were now present in the United States and Britain. Steele's book ... connects up the increasing
corruption, inefficiency and unaccountability of the intelligence system and its political and
financial masters with escalating inequalities and environmental crises. But he also offers a
comprehensive vision of hope. "Sharing, not secrecy, is the means by which we ... can create a
nonzero win-win Earth that works for one hundred percent of humanity."
Note: Watch an excellent video showing Mr. Steele believes that most terrorist attacks are false
flag operations.
An expanding Koch network aims to spend $300 million to shape Senate

fight and 2016
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/an-expanding-koch-network-aims-to-spen...
The political network backed by the Koch brothers, already spending tens of millions of dollars this
year to boost Republicans chances of retaking the Senate, is expanding its national playbook as
part of a long-term strategy designed to strengthen conservatives heading into the 2016
presidential campaign. The effort, part of an overall budget that organizers expect to total nearly
$300 million this year, includes broadening outreach to veterans, viewed as an energized
constituency in the wake of the recent Veterans Affairs scandal, and messages tailored for Latinos
and young people, long considered core Democratic constituencies. The strategy for 2014
includes a new super PAC that can pour all its money into overt election activity. The plan
underscores the huge reach of the Koch-backed operation, a singular force in American
politics that has functioned outside the traditional campaign finance system. The Kochbacked network, a coalition of nonprofit organizations not required to disclose their donors, raised
$407 million in the 2012 cycle, a presidential election year in which outside spending increased
greatly on both sides of the aisle. This year, the network is likely to outstrip other organizations on
both the left and the right with spending on television ads and on-the-ground organizing. Its main
political organ, the free-market advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, has 240 full-time
employees in 32 states, more than double the size of its 2012 staff.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing elections news articles from
Lift Assange out of legal limbo
2014-06-17, USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/06/17/assange-wikileaks-espionage-...
A whistle-blower living in exile in Russia. A publisher seeking the asylum he has already been
granted while his sources are imprisoned. This isn't the cast of a summer blockbuster. It's a perfect
storm of real-life cases that make it clear that constitutional guarantees of a free press and
government accountability are rhetorical devices, not political realities. The whistle-blower is
Edward Snowden. This month marks the first anniversary of his disclosures of massive National
Security Agency surveillance. The publisher is Julian Assange. Thursday marks two years since
he sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Meanwhile, two of Assange's sources,
Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) and Jeremy Hammond, remain in prison
for providing WikiLeaks with confidential documents. Harassment, targeting and prosecution of
whistle-blowers, journalists and publishers have become a dangerous new normal one
we should refuse to accept, especially in a time when governments are becoming more
powerful and less accountable. It's time to end this assault, starting with granting Snowden
amnesty and withdrawing the threat of U.S. criminal prosecution of Assange. Similar harsh
treatment and excessive punishments haven't applied to the people in government who
perpetrated the crimes exposed by these whistle-blowers and published by WikiLeaks. In fact,
people such as national intelligence director James Clapper, who lied under oath to Congress,
have avoided consequences altogether.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing civil liberties news articles
Inside the Koch Brothers Secret Billionaire Summit

2014-06-17, The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/article/180267/exclusive-behind-koch-brothers-secret...
Charles and David Koch wrapped up their annual summer seminar on June 16. [Their] combined
net worth is more than $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The highly
secretive mega-donor conference, called American Courage: Our Commitment to a Free Society,
featured a whos who of Republican political elites. 300 individualsworth at least a billion each
were present. The explicit goal was to raise $500 million to take the Senate in the 2014 midterms
and another $500 million to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president. The Koch network
raised an estimated $407 million in the 2012 presidential election, according to an analysis by The
Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics. Intriguing in its ambiguity was the
Energy: Changing the Narrative session, presumably meant to change the narrative of climate
change to one of energy independence. The Kochs are investing large sums in a new energy
initiative with what looks like a deregulatory, pro-consumer spin to combat President Obamas
new regulations on carbon dioxide emissions and liberal billionaire Tom Steyers $100 million
commitment to fight climate change. It is not hard to see why the Kochs, as the owners of a
large carbon-based energy conglomerate with interests in oil, natural gas and coal, are
some of the most vocal climate deniers. In 2013, Forbes listed Koch Industries as the
second largest privately held company in the country. This conclave of billionaires is
determined to roll back Obamacare and carbon restrictions. In an America where money equals
speech, Koch is king.
Study asserts startling numbers of insider trading rogues

2014-06-17, CNBC
There is often a tip. Before many big mergers and acquisitions, word leaks out to select investors
who seek to covertly trade on the information. Stocks and options move in unusual ways that
aren't immediately clear. Then news of the deals crosses the ticker, surprising everyone except for
those already in the know. Sometimes the investor is found out and is prosecuted, sometimes not.
That's what everyone suspects, though until now the evidence has been largely anecdotal. Now, a
groundbreaking new study finally puts what we've instinctively thought into hard numbers and
the truth is worse than we imagined. A quarter of all public company deals may involve some
kind of insider trading, according to the study by two professors at the Stern School of Business
at New York University and one professor from McGill University. The study, perhaps the most
detailed and exhaustive of its kind, examined hundreds of transactions from 1996 through the end
of 2012. The professors examined stock option movements when an investor buys an option to
acquire a stock in the future at a set price as a way of determining whether unusual activity took
place in the 30 days before a deal's announcement. The professors are so confident in their
findings of pervasive insider trading that they determined statistically that the odds of the
trading "arising out of chance" were "about three in a trillion." But, the professors conclude,
the Securities and Exchange Commission litigated only "about 4.7 percent of the 1,859 ... deals
included in our sample."
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing financial corruption news
US Pushing Local Cops to Stay Mum on Surveillance

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-pushing-local-cops-stay-mum-surve...
The Obama administration has been quietly advising local police not to disclose details about
surveillance technology they are using to sweep up basic cellphone data from entire
neighborhoods. Citing security reasons, the U.S. has intervened in routine state public records
cases and criminal trials regarding use of the technology. This has resulted in police departments
withholding materials or heavily censoring documents in rare instances when they disclose any
[information] about the purchase and use of such powerful surveillance equipment. One well-
known type of this surveillance equipment is known as a Stingray. The equipment tricks
cellphones into identifying some of their owners' account information, like a unique
subscriber number, and transmitting data to police as if it were a phone company's tower.
That allows police to obtain cellphone information without having to ask for help from
service providers ... and can locate a phone without the user even making a call or sending
a text message. The Obama administration is asking agencies to withhold common information
about the equipment, such as how the technology is used and how to turn it on. "These extreme
secrecy efforts are in relation to very controversial, local government surveillance practices using
highly invasive technology," said Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the American Civil
Liberties Union, which has fought for the release of these types of records. "People should have
the facts about what the government is doing to them."
Guys, Your Smartphone Is Hurting Your Sperm

http://time.com/2850594/guys-your-smartphone-is-hurting-your-sperm/
Even while the debate over whether cell phones cause cancer rages on, researchers are starting
to explore other potentially harmful effects that the ubiquitous devices may have on our health.
Because they emit low-level electromagnetic radiation (EMR), its possible that they can disturb
normal cell functions and even sleep. And with male infertility on the rise, Fiona Mathews at the
University of Exeter, in England, and her colleagues decided to investigate what role cell phones
might play in that trend. In their new research, they analyzed 10 previous studies, seven of
which involved the study of sperm motility, concentration and viability in the lab, and three
that included male patients at fertility clinics. Overall, among the 1,492 samples, exposureto-cell-phone EMR lowered sperm motility by 8%, and viability by 9%. Exactly how much the
cell phones are contributing to lower-quality sperm isnt clear yet the researchers note that how
long the phones are kept in pockets, as well as how much EMR the phones emit (most are legally
required to stay below 2.0 W/kg) are also important things to consider when figuring out an
individuals risk. But the lab-dish studies do show that sperm are affected by the exposure, and
that provides enough reason to investigate the possibility that cell phones may be contributing to
lower-quality sperm and potentially some cases of infertility.
Note: Remember how for decades the tobacco industry claimed cigarettes caused no harm even
while they were hiding studies which proved the opposite. For more on this, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing health news articles from reliable major media sources.
War Gear Flows to Police Departments

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/us/war-gear-flows-to-police-departments.html
As President Obama ushers in the end of what he called Americas long season of war, the
former tools of combat M-16 rifles, grenade launchers, silencers and more are ending up in
local police departments, often with little public notice. During the Obama administration, according
to Pentagon data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns;
nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision
equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft. The equipment has been
added to the armories of police departments that already look and act like military units.
Police SWAT teams are now deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for
routine jobs. Police departments ... are adding more firepower and military gear than ever. Some,
especially in larger cities, have used federal grant money to buy armored cars and other tactical
gear. And the free surplus program remains a favorite of many police chiefs who say they could
otherwise not afford such equipment. The number of SWAT teams has skyrocketed since the
1980s, according to studies by Peter B. Kraska, an Eastern Kentucky University professor who has
been researching the issue for decades. Recruiting videos feature clips of officers storming into
homes with smoke grenades and firing automatic weapons. In Springdale, Ark., a police recruiting
video is dominated by SWAT clips, including officers throwing a flash grenade into a house and
creeping through a field in camouflage.
Vodafone: governments use secret cables to tap phones

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/10880208/Vodafone-gov...
Government agencies are able to listen to phone conversations live and even track the location of
citizens without warrants using secret cables connected directly to network equipment, admits
Vodafone today. The company said that secret wires have been connected to its network and
those belonging to competitors, giving government agencies the ability to tap in to phone and
broadband traffic. In many countries this is mandatory for all telecoms companies, it said.
Vodafone is today publishing its first Law Enforcement Disclosure Report which will describe
exactly how the governments it deals with are eavesdropping on citizens. It is calling for an end to
the use of direct access eavesdropping and transparency on the number of warrants issued
giving access to private data. Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, said:
"Vodafone is taking a commendable step by taking this issue on at an international scale. And they
are trying to identify the legal basis for governments' claimed powers. Governments around the
world are unashamedly abusing privacy by demanding access to communications and
data, and alarmingly, sometimes granting themselves direct access to the networks. Now
that Vodafone has been more open, the entire industry has cover to take the necessary next
step of pushing back. Pushing back against bad requests is a start, pushing back against bad
laws is the next step. The usefulness of transparency reports hinges on governments abiding by
the rule of law. We now know that these reports only provide a limited picture of what is going on.
Note: For more on government surveillance of the world's population, see the deeply revealing
IMF chief says banks haven't changed since financial crisis

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/27/imf-chief-lagarde-bankers-eth...
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, told an audience in London that
six years on from the deep financial crisis that engulfed the global economy, banks were resisting
reform and still too focused on excessive risk taking to secure their bonuses at the expense of
public trust. She said: "The behaviour of the financial sector has not changed fundamentally
in a number of dimensions since the crisis. The industry still prizes short-term profit over
long-term prudence, today's bonus over tomorrow's relationship. Some prominent firms
have even been mired in scandals that violate the most basic ethical norms - Libor and
foreign exchange rigging, money laundering, illegal foreclosure." Lagarde warned the toobig-to-fail problem among some of the world's largest financial institutions was still unresolved and
remained a major source of systematic risk, with implicit subsidies of $70bn (42bn) in the US, and
up to $300bn in the eurozone. Lagarde said international progress to reform the financial system
was too slow. Lagarde told [the] conference that rising inequality was also a barrier to growth, and
could undermine democracy and human rights. The issue has risen up the agenda in recent
months with the publication of the French economist Thomas Piketty's book, Capital in the TwentyFirst Century. "One of the leading economic stories of our time is rising income inequality, and the
dark shadow it casts across the global economy," Lagarde said.
Europe's Secret Success

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/opinion/krugman-europes-secret-success.html
European economies, France in particular, get very bad press in America. Our political discourse is
dominated by reverse Robin-Hoodism the belief that economic success depends on being nice
to the rich, who wont create jobs if they are heavily taxed, and nasty to ordinary workers, who
wont accept jobs unless they have no alternative. And according to this ideology, Europe with
its high taxes and generous welfare states does everything wrong. So Europes economic
system must be collapsing, and a lot of reporting simply states the postulated collapse as a fact.
The reality, however, is very different. Yes, Southern Europe is experiencing an economic crisis
thanks to [a money muddle caused by Europe's premature adoption of a single currency]. But
Northern European nations, France included, have done far better [than America]. French adults
in their prime working years (25 to 54) are substantially more likely to have jobs than their
U.S. counterparts. Frances prime-age employment rate overtook Americas early in the
Bush administration. Other European nations with big welfare states, like Sweden and the
Netherlands, do even better. On the core issue of providing jobs for people who really should be
working, at this point old Europe is beating us hands down despite social benefits and regulations
that, according to free-market ideologues, should be hugely job-destroying.
Note: For more on the collusion of the US government with financial corporations to maintain their
profitability, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
End Mass Incarceration Now

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/opinion/sunday/end-mass-incarceration-now.html
For more than a decade, researchers across multiple disciplines have been issuing reports on the
widespread societal and economic damage caused by Americas now-40-year experiment in
locking up vast numbers of its citizens. Several recent reports provide some of the most
comprehensive and compelling proof yet that the United States has gone past the point where the
numbers of people in prison can be justified by social benefits, and that mass incarceration itself
is a source of injustice. That is the central conclusion of a two-year, 444-page study prepared by
the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The report highlights many well-known
statistics: Since the early 1970s, the nations prison population has quadrupled to 2.2
million, making it the worlds biggest. That is five to 10 times the incarceration rate in other
democracies. A report by Human Rights Watch notes that ... in its embrace of incarceration, the
[US] seems to have forgotten just how severe a punishment it is. The severity is evident in the
devastation wrought on Americas poorest and least educated, destroying neighborhoods and
families. From 1980 to 2000, the number of children with fathers in prison rose from 350,000 to 2.1
million. Since race and poverty overlap so significantly, the weight of our criminal justice
experiment continues to fall overwhelmingly on communities of color, and particularly on young
black men. After prison, people are sent back to the impoverished places they came from, but are
blocked from re-entering society.
Note: For more on the prison-industrial complex in the US, see the deeply revealing reports from
Fine Line Seen in U.S. Spying on Companies

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/business/us-snooping-on-companies-cited-by-...
The National Security Agency has never said what it was seeking when it invaded the computers
of Petrobras, Brazils huge national oil company, but angry Brazilians have guesses: the
companys troves of data on Brazils offshore oil reserves, or perhaps its plans for allocating
licenses for exploration to foreign companies. Nor has the N.S.A. said what it intended when it got
deep into the computer systems of China Telecom, one of the largest providers of mobile phone
and Internet services in Chinese cities. But documents released by Edward J. Snowden, the
former agency contractor now in exile in Russia, leave little doubt that the main goal was to learn
about Chinese military units, whose members cannot resist texting on commercial networks. The
agencys interest in Huawei, the giant Chinese maker of Internet switching equipment, and Pacnet,
the Hong Kong-based operator of undersea fiber optic cables, is more obvious: Once inside those
companies proprietary technology, the N.S.A. would have access to millions of daily conversations
and emails that never touch American shores. The [US] government does not deny it routinely
spies to advance American economic advantage, which is part of its broad definition of
how it protects American national security. While the N.S.A. cannot spy on Airbus and give
the results to Boeing, it is free to spy on European or Asian trade negotiators and use the
results to help American trade officials and, by extension, ... American industries.
Londons silver price fix dies after nearly 120 years

2014-05-14, Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/db3188b8-db46-11e3-94ad-00144feabdc0.html
It was born in the late 19th century when a handful of London bullion dealers agreed to meet daily
under a cloud of cigar smoke to set the price for the devils metal. But now, after 117 years of
operation, the London silver fix an integral part of the citys $1.6tn-a-year silver market is on its
deathbed. The three banks that arrange silvers global benchmark said on [May 14] that prices
would be fixed for the final time at noon on August 14. The move comes on the heels of
increased scrutiny by European and US regulators into precious metals price-setting following the
Libor scandal and probe into possible forex market abuse. Deutsche Bank last month resigned its
seats on the silver and gold fixes, after failing to find buyers, leaving just HSBC and Bank of Nova
Scotia on the silver fix. The three banks said there would be discussions to explore whether the
market wishes to develop an alternative to the benchmark. The regulatory attention has
removed the lustre from the once-prestigious precious metals fixes, while legal action in
the US has been an additional deterrent for potential new members. US lawyers have filed
at least 20 class lawsuits alleging manipulation by the banks responsible for the gold fix.
The demise of the silver fix will raise questions about the future of the other precious metals
benchmarks platinum, palladium and, especially, gold. Following Deutsche Banks withdrawal,
the gold fix can continue to operate effectively with four member banks, but critics say the process
is old-fashioned and opaque, and needs to be overhauled.
U.S. alone in West on lack of paid maternity leave

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/U-S-alone-in-West-on-lack-of-paid-matern...
The United States is the only Western country - and one of only three in the world - that
does not provide some kind of monetary payment to new mothers who have taken
maternity leave from their jobs, a new U.N. study reports. Two other countries share the U.S.
position of providing "no cash benefits during maternity leave," according to the report, which was
released ... by the International Labor Organization: Oman, an absolute monarchy in the Persian
Gulf; and Papua New Guinea, a South Pacific nation where the U.S. State Department says
violence against women is so common that 60 percent of men in a U.N. study acknowledged
having committed a rape. The other 182 countries surveyed provide either a Social Security-like
government payment to women who have recently given birth or adopted a child or require
employers to continue at least a percentage of the worker's pay. In 70 countries, paid leave is also
provided for fathers, the report said, including Australia, which introduced 14 days of paid paternity
leave last year, and Norway, which expanded its paternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks. The United
States also provides for fewer weeks of maternity leave than what other Western countries
mandate, the report said. Under U.S. law, businesses are required to allow a new mother to take
as many as 12 weeks of unpaid leave. In New Zealand, the leave is 14 weeks; in Australia, it's 18
weeks. Switzerland has allowed women workers to take 18 weeks off since 2005; they're paid 80
percent of their salaries under a government program similar to Social Security in the United
States.
British Spy Chiefs Secretly Begged to Play in NSAs Data Pools

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/04/30/gchq-prism-nsa-fisa-uns...
Britains electronic surveillance agency, Government Communications Headquarters [GCHQ], has
long presented its collaboration with the National Security Agencys massive electronic spying
efforts as proportionate, carefully monitored, and well within the bounds of privacy laws. But
according to a top-secret document in the archive of material provided to The Intercept by NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden, GCHQ secretly coveted the NSAs vast troves of private
communications and sought unsupervised access to its data as recently as last year. The
document, dated April 2013, reveals that GCHQ requested broad new authority to tap into data
collected under a law that authorizes a variety of controversial NSA surveillance initiatives,
including the PRISM program. PRISM is a system used by the NSA and the FBI to obtain the
content of personal emails, chats, photos, videos, and other data processed by nine of the
worlds largest internet companies, including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook,
and Skype. The arrangement GCHQ proposed would also have provided the British agency with
greater access to millions of international phone calls and emails that the NSA siphons directly
from phone networks and the internet. The Snowden files do not indicate whether NSA granted
GCHQs request, but they do show that the NSA was supportive of the idea, and that GCHQ was
permitted extensive access to PRISM during the London Olympics in 2012. The request for the
broad access was communicated at leadership level.
Note: For more on the construction of a total surveillance state, see the deeply revealing reports
IG: Agency didnt report polygraph admissions of child molestations

2014-04-22, Washington Post blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/04/22/ig-agency-didnt...
The federal governments spy-satellite agency failed to alert authorities after some of its
employees and contractors admitted during polygraph tests to crimes including child molestation
and lying on security-clearance questionnaires, according to a watchdog. The intelligence
communitys inspector general released two reports ... saying the National Reconnaissance Office
did not refer some of the cases because of confusion about reporting expectations and
requirements. According to one of the reports, an Air Force lieutenant colonel admitted during a
2010 lie-detector test to touching a child in a sexual way and downloading child pornography on
his work computer. The NRO only reported that case to the Air Force division that oversees
security clearances instead of the Justice Department or the Air Forces special-investigations
office, the inspector general said. The NRO is not legally required to report certain state
crimes such as child molestation. Thirty individuals who took NRO lie-detector tests from
2009 through 2012 admitted to child abuse or using child pornography, according to the
report. The NRO failed to report three of those cases. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who
requested the review after a McClatchy news investigation raised concerns about the matter in
2012, said the NRO showed a complete lack of common sense in failing to require reporting of
serious state crimes of this sort.
Note: The NRO is the agency that was running a drill on the morning of 9/11 of an airplane
crashing into one of its Washington, DC buildings, as reported in this USA Today article. It has also
allegedly been involved in the UFO cover-up, as reported in this testimony.
NSA performed warrantless searches on Americans' calls and emails

Clapper
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/01/nsa-surveillance-loophole-americ...
US intelligence chiefs have confirmed that the National Security Agency has [performed]
warrantless searches on Americans communications. The NSA's collection programs are
ostensibly targeted at foreigners, but in August the Guardian revealed a secret rule change
allowing NSA analysts to search for Americans' details within the databases. Now, in a letter to
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the intelligence committee, the director of national
intelligence, James Clapper, has confirmed the use of this legal authority to search for data related
to US persons. The legal authority to perform the searches, revealed in top-secret NSA
documents provided ... by Edward Snowden, was denounced by Wyden as a backdoor search
loophole. Many of the NSA's most controversial programs collect information under the law
affected by the so-called loophole. These include Prism, which allows the agency to collect data
from Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo and other tech companies, and the agency's Upstream
program a huge network of internet cable taps. Confirmation that the NSA has searched for
Americans communications in its phone call and email databases complicates President Barack
Obamas initial defenses of the broad surveillance in June. Wyden and Udall [said] Todays
admission by the Director of National Intelligence is further proof that meaningful
surveillance reform must include closing the back-door searches loophole and requiring
the intelligence community to show probable cause before deliberately searching through
... the communications of individual Americans."
Der Spiegel: NSA Put Merkel on List of 122 Targeted Leaders

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/29/der-spiegel-nsa-ghcq-ha...
Secret documents newly disclosed by the German news magazine Der Spiegel ... shed more light
on how aggressively the National Security Agency and its British counterpart have targeted
Germany for surveillance. A series of classified files from the archive provided to reporters by NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden ... reveal that the NSA appears to have included Merkel in a
surveillance database alongside more than 100 other foreign leaders. The documents also confirm
for the first time that, in March 2013, the NSA obtained a top-secret court order against Germany
as part of U.S. government efforts to monitor communications related to the country. [A]
document, dated 2009, indicates that Merkel was targeted in a broader NSA surveillance
effort. She appears to have been placed in the NSAs so-called Target Knowledge Base
(TKB), which Der Spiegel described as the central agency database of individual targets. An
internal NSA description states that employees can use it to analyze complete profiles of
targeted people. But the NSAs surveillance of Germany has extended far beyond its leader. A
separate document from the NSAs Special Source Operations unit ... shows that the Obama
administration obtained a top-secret court order specifically permitting it to monitor
communications related to Germany. Special Source Operations is the NSA department that
manages what the agency describes as its corporate partnerships with major US companies,
including AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, and Google.
NSA surveillance program reaches into the past to retrieve, replay

phone calls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-surveillance-progra...
The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording 100
percent of a foreign countrys telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review
conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct
knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden. A senior
manager for the program compares it to a time machine one that can replay the voices from any
call without requiring that a person be identified in advance for surveillance. The voice interception
program, called MYSTIC, began in 2009. Its RETRO tool, short for retrospective retrieval, and
related projects reached full capacity against the first target nation in 2011. Planning documents
two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere. In the initial deployment, collection
systems are recording every single conversation nationwide, storing billions of them in a 30-day
rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones arrive, according to a classified summary.
Analysts listen to only a fraction of 1 percent of the calls, but the absolute numbers are high. Each
month, they send millions of voice clippings, or cuts, for processing and long-term storage. At the
request of U.S. officials, The Washington Post is withholding details that could be used to identify
the country where the system is being employed or other countries where its use was envisioned.
Note: Though technically it is illegal for the NSA to snoop on Americans without good cause, all
they have to do is to share this technology with another country like the UK, and then ask the UK
to do the snooping and send the results back to them, thereby circumventing the law. For more on
NSA surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available
here.
Malaysian investigators conclude missing airliner hijacked

"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-more-sinister-theor...
Malaysia's prime minister says the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 appears to be
"deliberate." The latest evidence suggests the plane didn't experience a catastrophic incident over
the South China Sea as was initially suspected. Prime Minister Najib Razak said the investigation
has refocused onto the crew and passengers aboard the missing plane. He added that ... all
possibilities are still being investigated. A Malaysian government official who is involved in the
investigation said investigators have concluded that one of the pilots or someone else with flying
experience hijacked the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. The official said that hijacking was no longer
a theory. "It is conclusive." A Malaysian official, who also declined to be identified because he is
not authorized to brief the media, said only a skilled aviator could navigate the plane the way it was
flown after its last confirmed location over the South China Sea. The official said it had been
established with a "more than 50 percent" degree of certainty that military radar had picked
up the missing plane after it dropped off civilian radar. Malaysian officials have said radar data
suggest it may have turned back and crossed back over the Malaysian peninsula westward, after
setting out toward the Chinese capital. The flight altered its course more than once after it lost
contact with ground control and that it made significant changes in altitude. Investigators say
there's further evidence suggesting the jet did not crash immediately after being lost on radar; a
transmitter on the plane tried for another four hours to ping satellites.
Note: Why is the military radar 50% certain? How could a transmitter on the plane ping for four
hours, yet no one on the plane made a phone call? Remember that after Flight 93 was hijacked on
9/11, many phone calls were made by passengers on the plane. There is an abundance of high
strangeness to this airplane's disappearance. For valuable speculation on the missing flight not
well covered in the major media, click here. For some very unusual radar evidence of its
disappearance, click here.
Scientists' hidden links to the GM food giants

2014-03-14, Daily Mail (One of the UK's largest-circulation newspapers)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581387/Scientists-hidden-links-GM-fo...
The authors of a study calling for GM crops to be fast-tracked into Britains farms and
kitchens all have links to the industry. The report was presented as the work of
independent scientists and was published on [March 13] by a government advisory body.
It was used to support a bid to speed up the development of the controversial crops in the UK, but
it has emerged that all five authors have a vested interest in promoting GM crops and food and
some are part-funded by the industry. Critics of GM [have] described the report as biased and
downright dangerous, and accused the biotech giants and the Government of mounting a crude
propaganda campaign to overturn public opposition. The academics behind the study were chosen
by the Council for Science and Technology, the body that advises the Prime Minister on science
policy issues. They include Professor Sir David Baulcombe, from Cambridge University, who works
as a consultant for GM firm Syngenta, which gives his department research funding. Syngenta is
behind a genetically modified maize or corn, called GA21, which could go into UK farms as early
as next spring, making it Britains first commercially grown GM crop. Also on the list is Professor
Jonathan Jones, of the Sainsbury Laboratory, which is at the centre of Britains GM research. It is
part-funded by former Labour science minister, Lord Sainsbury, who is one of the countrys biggest
supporters of the technology. Another co-author was Professor Jim Dunwell, of the University of
Reading. He was a founder member of CropGen, which describes its mission as to make the case
for GM crops and foods
media sources available here. For an excellent summary of the risks and dangers from GMO
foods, click here.
How the NSA Plans to Infect Millions of Computers with Malware

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millio...
Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability
to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level
of human oversight in the process. The classified files provided previously by NSA whistleblower
Edward Snowden contain new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency
has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware implants. The
clandestine initiative enables the NSA to break into targeted computers and to siphon out data
from foreign Internet and phone networks. The covert infrastructure that supports the hacking
efforts operates from the agencys headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, and from
eavesdropping bases in the United Kingdom and Japan. GCHQ, the British intelligence agency,
appears to have played an integral role in helping to develop the implants tactic. In some cases
the NSA has masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a
launching pad to infect a targets computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive. In others, it
has sent out spam emails laced with the malware, which can be tailored to covertly record
audio from a computers microphone and take snapshots with its webcam. The hacking systems
have also enabled the NSA to launch cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or
denying access to websites.
Note: For more on the realities of intelligence agency activities, see the deeply revealing reports
Snowden: Feinstein a Hypocrite for Blasting CIA Spying

2014-03-12, NBC News
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/cia-senate-snooping/snowden-feinstein-hypocr...
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden accused Sen. Dianne Feinstein of hypocrisy ... for
complaining about alleged CIA spying on U.S. senators while tolerating government spying on
private citizens. "It's clear the CIA was trying to play 'keep away' with documents relevant to an
investigation by their overseers in Congress, and that's a serious constitutional concern, said
Snowden in a statement to NBC News. But it's equally if not more concerning that we're seeing
another 'Merkel Effect,' where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of
millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it's a scandal when a
politician finds out the same thing happens to them." Snowden was ... referring to German
Chancellor Angela Merkels indignation at reports that the U.S. had listened in on her personal
conversations, but her failure to condemn the NSA for mass surveillance of communications of
German citizens. Both were revealed by the release of documents that Snowden took from NSA
computers and distributed to journalists.
U.S. Nuclear Agency Hid Concerns, Hailed Safety Record as Fukushima

Melted
2014-03-10, NBC News
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fukushima-anniversary/u-s-nuclear-agency-hid...
In the tense days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power
plant in Japan on March 11, 2011, staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission made a
concerted effort to play down the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis to Americas aging nuclear
plants, according to thousands of internal emails reviewed by NBC News. The emails, obtained via
the Freedom of Information Act, show that the campaign to reassure the public about Americas
nuclear industry came as the agencys own experts were questioning U.S. safety standards and
scrambling to determine whether new rules were needed to ensure that the meltdown occurring at
the Japanese plant could not occur here. At the end of that long first weekend of the crisis three
years ago, NRC Public Affairs Director Eliot Brenner thanked his staff for sticking to the talking
points that the team had been distributing to senior officials and the public. "While we know more
than these say," Brenner wrote, "we're sticking to this story for now." There are numerous
examples in the emails of apparent misdirection or concealment in the initial weeks after the
Japanese plant was devastated: When asked to help reporters explain what would happen during
the worst-case scenario -- a nuclear meltdown -- the agency declined to address the questions.
The emails pull back the curtain on the agencys efforts to protect the industry it is
supposed to regulate. The NRC officials didn't lie, but they didn't always tell the whole truth
either. When someone asked about a topic that might reflect negatively on the industry,
they changed the subject.
Note: For more on corruption in the nuclear power industry, see the deeply revealing reports from
I got 30 months in prison. Why does Leon Panetta get a pass?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kiriakou-panetta-whistleblowe...
The confirmation in December that former CIA Director Leon Panetta let classified information slip
to "Zero Dark Thirty" screenwriter Mark Boal during a speech at the agency headquarters should
result in a criminal espionage charge if there is any truth to Obama administration claims that it
isn't enforcing the Espionage Act only against political opponents. I'm one of the people the
Obama administration charged with criminal espionage, one of those whose lives were torn apart
by being accused, essentially, of betraying [their] country. The president and the attorney general
have used the Espionage Act against more people than all other administrations combined, but not
against real traitors and spies. The law has been applied selectively, often against whistleblowers and others who expose illegal, corrupt government actions. After I blew the whistle
on the CIA's waterboarding torture program in 2007, I was the subject of a years-long FBI
investigation. In 2012, the Justice Department charged me with "disclosing classified information
to journalists, including the name of a covert CIA officer and information revealing the role of
another CIA employee in classified activities." I had revealed no more than others who were never
charged, about activities ... that were hardly secret. I am serving a 30-month sentence. The
Espionage Act, the source of the most serious charges against me, was written and passed during
World War I and... is so outdated that it refers only to "national defense information" rather than
"classified information," because the classification system had not yet been invented.
Note: The author of this article, John Kiriakou, is a former CIA counter-terrorism officer and former
senior investigator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is incarcerated in the Federal
Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pa. You can read about his case at http://www.defendjohnk.com.
For more on the out-of-control activities of intelligence agencies, see the deeply revealing reports
Report: CIA spied on Senate committee staff

2014-03-05, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-cia-spied-on-senate-committee-staff/
As staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee gathered information to conduct oversight of the
CIA, the CIA was secretly monitoring them, according to reports from McClatchy [News] and the
New York Times. The committee staff was reviewing documents in a secure room at CIA
headquarters as part of its investigation into the CIA's now-defunct detention and interrogation
program, but the agency was secretly monitoring their work, according to reports. Complaints
about the spying have reportedly prompted the CIA inspector general -- the agency's internal
watchdog -- to look into the agency's behavior. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., seemed to reference the
surveillance in a letter to President Obama ... in which he urged the president to support the fullest
declassification of the committee's CIA report. "As you are aware, the C.I.A. has recently taken
unprecedented action against the committee in relation to the internal C.I.A. review, and I
find these actions to be incredibly troubling for the committee's oversight responsibilities
and for our democracy," Udall wrote. "It is essential that the Committee be able to do its
oversight work -- consistent with our constitutional principle of the separation of powers -- without
the CIA posing impediments or obstacles as it is today." Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., another
member of the intelligence committee, declared in a statement Wednesday, "The Senate
Intelligence Committee oversees the CIA, not the other way around."
Brain-Damaged UK Victims of Swine Flu Vaccine to Get 60 Million

Compensation
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/brain-damaged-uk-victims-swine-flu-vaccine-get-60-mi...
Patients who suffered brain damage as a result of taking a swine flu vaccine are to receive multimillion-pound payouts from the UK government. Following the swine flu outbreak of 2009, about
60 million people, most of them children, received the vaccine. It was subsequently revealed that
the vaccine, Pandemrix, can cause narcolepsy and cataplexy in about one in 16,000 people, and
many more are expected to come forward with the symptoms. Across Europe, more than 800
children are so far known to have been made ill by the vaccine. The Pandemrix vaccine was
manufactured by pharmaceuticals giant Glaxo Smith Kline, which refused to supply
governments unless it was indemnified against any claim for damage caused. "There's no
doubt in my mind whatsoever that Pandemrix increased the occurrence of narcolepsy onset in
children," Emmanuelle Mignot, a specialist in sleep disorder at Stanford University in the United
States told Reuters. Among those affected are NHS medical staff, many of whom are now unable
to do their jobs because of the symptoms brought on by the vaccine. They will be suing the
government for millions in lost earnings. However, the vast majority of patients affected - around
80% - are children. Despite a 2011 warning from the European Medicines Agency against using
the vaccine on those under 20 and a study indicating a 13-fold heightened risk of narcolepsy in
vaccinated children, GSK has refused to acknowledge a link.
Note: Read about people in other countries who were damaged by the vaccine on this webpage.
See powerful media reports suggesting that both the avian flu and swine flu were manipulated to
promote fear and boost pharmaceutical sales. And watch a powerful CBS video describing how
4,000 Americans in 1976 sued for neurological damages caused by a swine flu vaccine that they
agreed to take after falling for fear mongering about the flu by the government. 300 people
allegedly died from the vaccine. For more, see the excellent resources in our Health Information
Center.
Fed knew about Libor rigging in 2008

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/libor-scandal/10654977/Fed-knew-about-Libo...
The US Federal Reserve knew about Libor rigging three years before the financial scandal
exploded but did not take any firm action, documents have revealed. According to newly published
transcripts of the central banks meetings in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the collapse
of Lehman Brothers, a senior Fed official first flagged the issue at a policy meeting in April 2008.
William Dudley expressed fears that banks were being dishonest in the way they were
calculating the London interbank offered rate a global benchmark interest rate used as the
basis for trillions of pounds of loans and financial contracts. Three years after his remarks, it
emerged that traders at more than a dozen banks, including Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and
Barclays, had routinely been trying to fix the official Libor rate in order to boost their own bonuses
and profits. The transcript of the Feds April 2008 meeting raises questions about why the
central bank did not move to properly tackle the scandal. There was no official regulator for
Libor at the time, and officials at the US Federal Reserve tried to blame British authorities for
allowing the benchmark interest rate to get out of control in the first place. The Fed declined to
comment on the transcripts or why it had not taken firm action..
NSA monitored US law firm and overseas client

2014-02-16, Boston Globe/New York Times
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/02/16/eavesdropping-ensnared-law-...
The list of those caught up in the global surveillance net cast by the National Security Agency and
its overseas partners, from social media users to foreign heads of state, now includes another
entry: US lawyers. A top-secret document, obtained by former NSA contractor Edward J.
Snowden, shows that a US law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in
trade disputes with the United States. The disclosure offers a rare glimpse of a specific
instance of Americans ensnared by the eavesdroppers and is of particular interest because
US lawyers with clients overseas have expressed growing concern that their confidential
communications could be compromised by such surveillance. The government of Indonesia
had retained the law firm for help in trade talks, according to the February 2013 document. The
NSAs Australian counterpart, the Australian Signals Directorate, notified the agency that it was
conducting surveillance of the talks, including communications between Indonesian officials and
the US law firm, and offered to share information. The NSA is banned from targeting Americans,
including businesses, law firms, and other organizations based in the United States, for
surveillance without warrants, and intelligence officials have repeatedly said the NSA does not use
spy services of its partners in the so-called Five Eyes alliance Australia, Britain, Canada, and
New Zealand to skirt the law. The Australians told officials at an NSA liaison office in Canberra,
that information covered by attorney-client privilege may be included in the intelligence gathering.
Most attorney-client conversations do not get special protections under US law from NSA
eavesdropping.
Note: For more on intense deception perpetrated by the intelligence community, see the deeply
Bank of England 'knew about' forex markets price fixing

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/07/bank-england-forex-price-fixing
The Bank of England has been dragged into the mounting controversy over allegations of price
fixing in the 3tn-a-day foreign exchange markets after it emerged that a group of traders had told
the Bank they were exchanging information about their clients' position. The latest twist in the
unfolding saga ... puts the focus on a meeting between key officials at the central bank and leading
foreign exchange dealers in April 2012, when they discussed the way they handled trades ahead
of the crucial setting of a benchmark in the prices of major currencies. This benchmark is used to
price a wide variety of financial products and is the subject of regulators' attention amid allegations
that traders at rival banks were sharing information about their orders from clients to manipulate
the price. The Bank of England has previously released brief details of the April 2012 meeting, but
Bloomberg reported that a senior trader who attended the meeting had made notes showing
that officials did not believe it was improper to share customer orders. There had been a 15minute conversation on currency benchmarks during which traders said they used
chatrooms ... to trade ahead of the volatile period when the benchmarks were set. The Bank
would not provide any additional information. Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, told
MPs on the Treasury select committee ... that the allegations were "every bit as bad" as those
surrounding Libor. The chairman of that committee ... said the allegations were "extremely
serious". The scrutiny of the foreign exchange markets has put a fresh focus on dealers leaving
banks. More than 20 traders at banks around the world are said to have been suspended or left
roles in connection with the forex investigations.
Note: For more on huge financial manipulations and corruption, see the deeply revealing reports
Let Banks Fail Is Iceland Mantra as 2% Joblessness in Sight

2014-01-27, Washington Post/Bloomberg News
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-MZURR66S973B01-76OMQ0EAA8SI8FK...
Iceland let its banks fail in 2008 because they proved too big to save. Now, the island is finding
crisis-management decisions made half a decade ago have put it on a trajectory thats turned 2
percent unemployment into a realistic goal. While the euro area grapples with record joblessness,
led by more than 25 percent in Greece and Spain, only about 4 percent of Icelands labor force is
without work. Prime Minister Sigmundur D. Gunnlaugsson says even thats too high. The islands
sudden economic meltdown in October 2008 made international headlines as a debt-fueled
banking boom ended in a matter of weeks when funding markets froze. Policy makers
overseeing the $14 billion economy refused to back the banks, which subsequently
defaulted on $85 billion. The governments decision to protect state finances left it with the
means to continue social support programs that shielded Icelanders from penury during
the worst financial crisis in six decades. Of creditor claims against the banks, Gunnlaugsson
says this is not public debt and never will be. Successive Icelandic governments have forced
banks to write off mortgage debts to help households. The governments 2014 budget sets aside
about 43 percent of its spending for the Welfare Ministry, a level that is largely unchanged since
before the crisis. Inflation, which peaked at 19 percent in January 2009, ... was 4.2 percent in
December. To support households, Gunnlaugsson in November unveiled a plan to provide as
much as 7 percent of gross domestic product in mortgage debt relief. The government intends to
finance the plan, which the OECD has criticized as being too blunt, partly by raising taxes on
banks.
Note: Why is Iceland's major success in letting banks fail getting so little press coverage? For a
possible answer, click here. For more on government responses to the banking crisis and their
impacts on people, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available
here.
Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/us/politics/watchdog-report-says-nsa-progra...
An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agencys
program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only minimal benefits in counterterrorism
efforts, is illegal and should be shut down. The findings are laid out in a 238-page report [that
represents] the first major public statement by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board,
which Congress made an independent agency in 2007 and only recently became fully operational.
The Obama administration has portrayed the bulk collection program as useful and lawful. But in
its report, the board lays out what may be the most detailed critique of the governments oncesecret legal theory behind the program: that a law known as Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which
allows the F.B.I. to obtain business records deemed relevant to an investigation, can be
legitimately interpreted as authorizing the N.S.A. to collect all calling records in the country. The
program lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional
concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and
civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value, the report said. As a
result, the board recommends that the government end the program. The report also sheds
light on the history of the once-secret bulk collection program. It contains the first official
acknowledgment that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court produced no judicial opinion
detailing its legal rationale for the program until last August, even though it had been issuing
orders to phone companies for the records and to the N.S.A. for how it could handle them since
May 2006.
Note: The PCLOB report is titled "Report on the Telephone Records Program Conducted under
Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and on the Operations of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court," and is available here. For more on government attacks to privacy, see the
China's princelings storing riches in Caribbean offshore haven

http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/jan/21/china-british-vir...
More than a dozen family members of China's top political and military leaders are making
use of offshore companies based in the British Virgin Islands, leaked financial documents
reveal. The brother-in-law of China's current president, Xi Jinping, as well as the son and son-inlaw of former premier Wen Jiabao are among the political relations making use of the offshore
havens, financial records show. The documents also disclose the central role of major
Western banks and accountancy firms ... in the offshore world, acting as middlemen in the
establishing of companies. The Hong Kong office of Credit Suisse, for example, established the
BVI company Trend Gold Consultants for Wen Yunsong, the son of Wen Jiabao, during his father's
premiership while PwC and UBS performed similar services for hundreds of other wealthy
Chinese individuals. The disclosure of China's use of secretive financial structures is the latest
revelation from "Offshore Secrets", a two-year reporting effort led by the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which obtained more than 200 gigabytes of leaked financial data
from two companies in the British Virgin Islands, and shared the information with the Guardian and
other international news outlets. In all, the ICIJ data reveals more than 21,000 clients from
mainland China and Hong Kong have made use of offshore havens in the Caribbean. Between
$1tn and $4tn in untraced assets have left China since 2000, according to estimates.
Note: Read the ICIJ's full report of the latest offshore links. For more on financial corruption, see
the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
NSA collects millions of text messages daily in 'untargeted' global

sweep
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/nsa-collects-millions-text-messa...
The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from
across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit
card details, according to top-secret documents. The NSA program, codenamed Dishfire,
collects pretty much everything it can, according to GCHQ documents, rather than merely
storing the communications of existing surveillance targets. The NSA has made extensive use of
its vast text message database to extract information on peoples travel plans, contact books,
financial transactions and more including of individuals under no suspicion of illegal activity. On
average, each day the NSA was able to extract: More than 5 million missed-call alerts, for use in
contact-chaining analysis (working out someones social network from who they contact and when)
Details of 1.6 million border crossings a day, from network roaming alerts More than 110,000
names, from electronic business cards, which also included the ability to extract and save images.
Over 800,000 financial transactions, either through text-to-text payments or linking credit cards to
phone users The agency was also able to extract geolocation data from more than 76,000 text
messages a day, including from requests by people for route info and setting up meetings.
Agent: FBI key in border agent Terry slaying

2013-12-26, Arizona Republic (AZ's leading newspaper)
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/20131226fast-furious-agent-terry-killi...
A federal agent who exposed the Justice Departments flawed gun-trafficking investigation
known as Operation Fast and Furious says the FBI played a key role in events leading to
the 2010 murder near Nogales, Ariz., of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. John Dodson, a
special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, contends that the
bandits who killed Terry were working for FBI operatives and were sent to the border to do a drug
rip-off using intelligence from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. I dont think the
(FBI) assets were part of the rip-off crew, Dodson said. I think they were directing the rip
crew. Dodsons comments to The Arizona Republic amplify assertions he made in his recently
released book, The Unarmed Truth, about his role as a whistle-blower in the Fast and Furious
debacle. In his book, Dodson uses cautious language to characterize his account of circumstances
surrounding Terrys death, saying the information is based on firsthand knowledge, personal
opinion and press reports. He asserts that the DEA had information about, and may have
orchestrated, a large drug shipment through Peck Canyon that December night. He alleges that
DEA agents shared that intelligence with FBI counterparts, who advised criminal informants from
another cartel that the load would be theirs for the taking. Stealing such a shipment would
increase the clout of the FBI informants in the cartel organization they had penetrated, Dodson
wrote, and thus lead to better intel for them in the future.
Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer

As a key part of a campaign to embed encryption software that it could crack into widely used
computer products, the U.S. National Security Agency arranged a secret $10 million contract with
RSA, one of the most influential firms in the computer security industry. Documents leaked by
former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show that the NSA created and promulgated a flawed
formula for generating random numbers to create a "back door" in encryption products, the New
York Times reported in September. Reuters later reported that RSA became the most important
distributor of that formula by rolling it into a software tool called Bsafe that is used to enhance
security in personal computers and many other products. Undisclosed until now was that RSA
received $10 million in a deal that set the NSA formula as the preferred, or default, method for
number generation in the BSafe software, according to two sources familiar with the contract.
Although that sum might seem paltry, it represented more than a third of the revenue that the
relevant division at RSA had taken in during the entire previous year. The RSA deal shows one
way the NSA carried out what Snowden's documents describe as a key strategy for
enhancing surveillance: the systematic erosion of security tools. NSA documents released
in recent months called for using "commercial relationships" to advance that goal, but did
not name any security companies as collaborators.
Alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev believed in
'majestic mind control'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alleged-boston-marathon-bomb...
Suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev heard voices inside his head and had an
alter-ego, a report published in The Boston Globe claimed yesterday. Donald Larking, 67, who
attended the same Boston mosque as the suspected bomber, said Tsarnaev believed the voices
were part of a majestic mind control, which was a way of breaking down a person and
creating an alternative personality with which they must coexist." Larking also told the Globe
that Tsarnaev was torn between himself and an alter-ego. You can give a signal, a phrase
or a gesture, and bring out the alternate personality and make them do things, he said;
Tamerlan thought someone might have done that to him. According to the report, the voices
came to [Tsarnaev] at unexpected times, an internal rambling that he alone could hear. Alarmed,
he confided to his mother that the voice 'felt like two people inside of me. As he got older, the
voice became more authoritative, its bidding more insistent. Tamerlan confided in a close friend
that the voice had begun to issue orders and to require him to perform certain acts, though he
never told his friend specifically what those acts were. Tamerlan, 26, and his younger brother
Dzhokhar, 20, are alleged to have planted the two pressure cooker bombs that killed three and
injured more than 260 at the Boston Marathon in April. While Tamerlan was later killed in a
shootout with police, his brother was captured and now potentially faces the death penalty under
charges of terrorism.
Note: Many have long suspected that most mass murderers are mind control victims subject to top
secret mind control programs, like those revealed in declassified government documents on this
webpage. For the full investigative report in the Boston Globe, click here. For lots more verifiable
information on these mind control programs, click here.
Inside the Saudi 9/11 coverup

http://nypost.com/2013/12/15/inside-the-saudi-911-coverup/
After the 9/11 attacks, the public was told al Qaeda acted alone, with no state sponsors. But the
White House never let it see an entire section of Congress investigative report on 9/11 dealing
with specific sources of foreign support for the 19 hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudi nationals. It
was kept secret and remains so today. President Bush inexplicably censored 28 full pages of the
800-page report. The pages are completely blank. Some information already has leaked from the
classified section, which is based on both CIA and FBI documents, and it points back to Saudi
Arabia, a presumed ally. The Saudis deny any role in 9/11. The findings, if confirmed, would back
up open-source reporting showing the hijackers had, at a minimum, ties to several Saudi officials
and agents while they were preparing for their attacks inside the United States. Is the federal
government protecting the Saudis? Case agents [say] they were repeatedly called off
pursuing 9/11 leads back to the Saudi Embassy, which had curious sway over White House
and FBI responses to the attacks. Just days after Bush met with the Saudi ambassador in the
White House, the FBI evacuated from the United States dozens of Saudi officials, as well as
Osama bin Laden family members. [Ambassador Bandar ibn-Saud] made the request for
escorts directly to FBI headquarters on Sept. 13, 2001 just hours after he met with the
president.
Note: For verifiable evidence the bin Ladens were evacuated shortly after 9/11, click here. Why
are most media not reporting this important story? A search showed only one other major media
outlet in the US (Boston Globe at this link) that covered this news. The appearance of this article in
the most popular tabloid in New York is being interpreted by some observers as a sea change in
public attitudes to the tragedy of 9/11. Of course the most important question is whether there was
US government involvement in the attacks. For abundant evidence implying this, see the deeply
revealing reports available at our 9/11 Information Center.
9/11 Link To Saudi Arabia Is Topic Of 28 Redacted Pages In Government

Report; Congressmen Push For Release
http://www.ibtimes.com/911-link-saudi-arabia-topic-28-redacted-pages-governme...
[Since] Sept. 11, 2001, victims loved ones, injured survivors, and members of the media have all
tried without much success to discover the true nature of the relationship between the 19 hijackers
15 of them Saudi nationals and the Saudi Arabian government. Many news organizations
reported that some of the terrorists were linked to the Saudi royals and that they even may have
received financial support from them as well as from several mysterious, moneyed Saudi men
living in San Diego. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any connection. But earlier this year,
Reps. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., were given access to the 28
redacted pages of the [Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the
Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001] issued in late 2002, which have been thought to hold
some answers about the Saudi connection to the attack. Last week, Jones and Lynch introduced a
resolution that urges President Obama to declassify the 28 pages, which were originally classified
by President George W. Bush. It has never been fully explained why the pages were blacked out,
but President Bush stated in 2003 that releasing the pages would violate national security. Some
of the information has leaked out over the years ... that the 28 pages in fact clearly portray
that the Saudi government had at the very least an indirect role in supporting the terrorists
responsible for the 9/11 attack. In addition, these classified pages clarify somewhat the
links between the hijackers and at least one Saudi government worker living in San Diego.
Note: For more on the government cover-up of the truth behind 9/11, see the deeply revealing
New Yorker, Washington Post Passed On Seymour Hersh Syria Report

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/seymour-hersh-syria-report_n_4409674...
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh accused the Obama administration ... of having
cherry-picked intelligence regarding the Aug. 21 chemical attack in Syria that served as evidence
for an argument in favor of striking President Bashar Assad's government. Though President
Barack Obama eventually decided not to strike Syria, the administration made a public case for
war by saying that Assads regime was responsible for a poison gas attack in the outskirts of
Damascus. The U.N. later concluded the attack had involved the nerve agent sarin. In his piece -titled "Whose Sarin?" -- Hersh reported that al-Nusra, a jihadi group fighting in Syrias longrunning civil war, had also "mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of
manufacturing it in quantity. Therefore, he wrote, Obama did not tell the whole story
when stating with certainty that Assad had to be responsible, crossing a so-called "red
line" that would trigger U.S. retaliation. Hersh is a freelancer, but he's best known these days
for his work in The New Yorker, where he helped break the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004. In an
email, Hersh wrote that there was little interest for the story at The New Yorker. Hersh then took
the story to The Washington Post. Hersh wrote that he was told by email that Executive Editor
Marty Baron decided that the sourcing in the article did not meet the Post's standards. Hersh
[then] sent the Syria story to editors at the London Review of Books, LRB Senior Editor Christian
Lorentzen [said]. Lorentzen said the piece was not only edited, but thoroughly fact checked by a
former New Yorker fact checker who had worked with Hersh in the past.
Note: For more on government lies to provide pretexts for war, see the deeply revealing reports
EU fines banks record $2.3B over Libor

2013-12-04, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/04/news/companies/libor-europe-fines
The European Union has levied a record antitrust fine of 1.71 billion ($2.3 billion) on six European
and U.S. banks and brokers for rigging benchmark interest rates. Deutsche Bank was hit with the
single biggest penalty of 725.4 million for participating in illegal cartels to manipulate the Euro
Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, and London interbank offered rate, or Libor. "What is
shocking about the Libor and Euribor scandals is ... the collusion between banks who are
supposed to be competing with each other," said Joaquin Almunia, Europe's top antitrust
official. Other banks fined [were] Societe Generale (446 million), Royal Bank of Scotland (391
million), JP Morgan (79.9 million) and Citigroup (70 million). U.K.-based broker RP Martin was
fined 247,000 for facilitating one infringement. EU investigators said the Euribor cartel operated
for nearly three years between 2005 and 2008, as traders discussed submissions used to
calculate the benchmark rate, and compared trading and pricing strategies. They also discovered
illegal collusion in the setting of Libor in Japanese yen between 2007 and 2010. UBS and
Barclays, [which] have already been fined by regulators in the U.K. and U.S. for Libor rigging, were
spared further punishment because they cooperated with the European Commission investigation.
They dodged new fines of 2.5 billion and 690 million respectively. The scandal broke in the
middle of 2012 when Barclays admitted trying to manipulate Libor, which together with related
rates is used to price trillions of dollars of financial products around the world.
Note: Notice that no one is going to jail and no one is being personally fined for these incredibly
outrageous manipulations. For an analysis that argues the "record fines" are really just a "slap on
the wrist" for the big banks, click here. For more on financial corruption, see the deeply revealing
The lies behind this transatlantic trade deal

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/02/transatlantic-free-trade...
[The European Commission's] plans to create a single market incorporating Europe and the United
States, progressing so nicely when hardly anyone knew, have been blown wide open. All over
Europe people are asking why this is happening; why we were not consulted; for whom it is being
done. The Commission insists that its Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership should
include a toxic mechanism called investor-state dispute settlement. Where this has been forced
into other trade agreements, it has allowed big corporations to sue governments before secretive
arbitration panels composed of corporate lawyers, which bypass domestic courts and override the
will of parliaments. This mechanism could threaten almost any means by which governments
might seek to defend their citizens or protect the natural world. Already it is being used by
mining companies to sue governments trying to keep them out of protected areas; by
banks fighting financial regulation; by a nuclear company contesting Germany's decision to
switch off atomic power. No longer able to keep this process quiet, the European commission
has instead devised a strategy for lying to us. The message is that the trade deal is about
"delivering growth and jobs" and will not "undermine regulation and existing levels of protection in
areas like health, safety and the environment". Just one problem: it's not true. From the outset, the
transatlantic partnership has been driven by corporations and their lobby groups, who boast of
being able to "co-write" it.
Who Is Watching the Watch Lists?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/sunday-review/who-is-watching-the-watch-lis...
The federal governments main terrorist watch list has grown to at least 700,000 people, with little
scrutiny over how the determinations are made or the impact on those marked with the terrorist
label. The government refuses to confirm or deny whether someone is on the list, officially called
the Terrorist Screening Database, or divulge the criteria used to make the decisions. Even less is
known about the secondary watch lists that are derived from the main one, including the no-fly list
(used to prevent people from boarding aircraft), the selectee and expanded selectee lists (used to
flag travelers for extra screening at airport checkpoints), the TECS database (used to vet people
entering or leaving the United States), the Consular Lookout and Support System (used to screen
visa applications) and the known or suspected terrorists list (used by law enforcement in routine
police encounters). For people who have landed on these lists, the terrorist designation has
been difficult to challenge legally. The Terrorist Screening Center, which administers the
main terrorist watch list, declined to discuss its procedures, or to release current data
about the number of people on various watch lists, and how many of them are American
citizens.
Note: For more on government threats to civil liberties, see the deeply revealing reports from
Intel officials believe Snowden has 'doomsday' cache

http://news.msn.com/us/intel-officials-believe-snowden-has-doomsday-cache
British and U.S. intelligence officials say they are worried about a "doomsday" cache of highly
classified, heavily encrypted material they believe former National Security Agency contractor
Edward Snowden has stored on a data cloud. The cache contains documents generated by the
NSA and other agencies and includes names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel, seven
current and former U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the matter said. One source
described the cache of still unpublished material as Snowden's "insurance policy" against
arrest or physical harm. U.S. officials and other sources said only a small proportion of the
classified material Snowden downloaded during stints as a contract systems administrator for NSA
has been made public. Some Obama Administration officials have said privately that Snowden
downloaded enough material to fuel two more years of news stories. "The worst is yet to come,"
said one former U.S. official who follows the investigation closely. Snowden ... is believed to have
downloaded between 50,000 and 200,000 classified NSA and British government documents. [It is]
estimated that the total number of Snowden documents made public so far is over 500. Glenn
Greenwald, who met with Snowden in Hong Kong and was among the first to report on the leaked
documents for the Guardian newspaper, said the former NSA contractor had "taken extreme
precautions to make sure many different people around the world have these archives to insure
the stories will inevitably be published."
CIA turned some Guantanamo Bay prisoners into double agents against
al-Qaeda

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-turned-some-guantan...
In the early years after Sept. 11, 2001, the CIA turned some Guantanamo Bay prisoners into
double agents, sending them home to help the United States kill terrorists, current and former U.S.
officials said. The CIA promised the prisoners freedom, safety for their families and millions of
dollars from the agencys secret accounts. It was a gamble. Officials knew there was a chance
that some prisoners might quickly spurn their deal and kill Americans. Nearly a dozen
current and former U.S. officials described aspects of the program to the Associated Press.
Dozens of prisoners were evaluated, but only a handful, from a variety of countries, were turned
into spies who signed agreements to work for the CIA. Prisoners agreed to cooperate for a variety
of reasons, officials said. Some received assurances that the United States would resettle their
families. Another agreed to cooperate after the agency insinuated that it would harm his children, a
former official said, a threat similar to those interrogators made to self-proclaimed Sept. 11
mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. All were promised money. Exactly how much each
received remains unclear. But altogether, the government paid millions for their services,
officials said. The money came from a secret CIA account, code-named Pledge, that is used
to pay informants, officials said. Officials said the program ended in 2006 as the flow of detainees
to Guantanamo Bay slowed to a trickle. The last prisoner arrived there in 2008.
Note: There is no doubt that the CIA used mind control techniques to control and likely program
some of the prisoners. To read verifiable documentation on the U.S. governments secret mind
control programs, click here. For more on the realities of intelligence agency activities, see the
JPMorgan settlement is a payout to victims

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/JPMorgan-settlement-is-a-pay...
When the fires from the 2007-08 financial crisis were still being fought, JPMorgan Chase looked
like a winner. Not only was JPMorgan Chase able to scoop up former rivals Washington Mutual
and Bear Stearns for bargain basement prices, but its stock value shot up by nearly 31 percent
over the past 4 1/2 years. But this year has been a little less kind to JPMorgan Chase. On
[November 20) JPMorgan Chase agreed to a $13 billion settlement with the federal government
over selling toxic mortgage investments. It also admitted to wrongdoing in knowingly peddling the
instruments. Both settlements are for the "incomplete information" JPMorgan Chase gave to the
pension funds for their purchases of toxic securities during the years 2004 to 2008. Even for a
colossus such as JPMorgan Chase, $13 billion is a lot of money - about half of its annual profit.
Forcing JPMorgan to admit wrongdoing - a rare concession - may open the door to more
headaches for the company, especially because the government is continuing a criminal probe into
its mortgage prices. The scale of the devastation is still so enormous that the only question left
for the Justice Department to answer is why no one from any of the big banks has yet to go
to jail. Wall Street's wrongdoing was about more than a dollar cost - it was about the
widespread human suffering that remains with us today. Jail time would be more than
appropriate, but so far the banks have been able to pay their way out of it.
Note: Because JP Morgan Chase can write off $11 billion of the fine as tax deductible, the real fine
is actually reduced by $4 billion to about $7 billion, just one-third of Chase's $21 billion profit in the
year 2012. For more on financial fraud, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
Billionaires Received U.S. Farm Subsidies, Report Finds

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/us/billionaires-received-us-farm-subsidies-...
The federal government paid $11.3 million in taxpayer-funded farm subsidies from 1995 to 2012 to
50 billionaires or businesses in which they have some form of ownership, according to a report
released [on November 7] by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based research
organization. The billionaires who received the subsidies or owned companies that did include the
Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen; the investment titan Charles Schwab; and S. Truett Cathy,
owner of Chick-fil-A. The billionaires who got the subsidies have a collective net worth of
$316 billion, according to Forbes magazine. The Working Group said its findings were likely to
underestimate the total farm subsidies that went to the billionaires on the Forbes 400 list because
many of them also received crop insurance subsidies. The authors of the report said it is timely,
given that lawmakers are debating a House proposal that would cut nearly $40 billion over 10
years from the food stamp program, which helps provide food for nearly 47 million people. A
Senate provision would cut $4.5 billion over the same period. A report released [on November 6]
by the Center for American Progress ... found that food stamps kept about five million people
above the poverty line last year. The food stamp program was cut by about $5 billion on Nov. 1
when a provision in the 2009 stimulus bill that added funding for the program expired. The irony
is that farm subsidies are going to billionaires at the same time that there are proposals to
kick three to five million people off of food stamps, said Scott Faber, vice president for
government affairs at the Environmental Working Group.
The Biggest, Baddest Prison Profiteer of Them All

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-lava/the-biggest-baddest-priso_b_4219372....
"CCA" has become a dirty word. Kanye West cited it when rapping about America's class of "New
Slaves." Anonymous invoked it to describe a bad financial investment that undermines justice. And
for state after state, the word represents a failed approach to public safety. Profiting off mass
incarceration is a dirty business. Private prison company Corrections Corporation of America

[CCA] squanders taxpayer money and runs facilities rife with human rights abuses. All private
prison companies have corrupting incentives. One is to save money by cutting corners.
Another is to promote their bottom line. Although CCA isn't the only company with these
incentives, it has done more than any other corporation to [make] the private prison
industry into a behemoth plagued by abuse and neglect and profiting off our nation's overreliance on incarceration. CCA routinely shirks its responsibility to comply with basic standards.
In Idaho, CCA employees falsified nearly 4,800 hours of staffing records. In Ohio, auditors found
outrageous violations like prison without running water for toilets, in which prisoners had no choice
but to use plastic bags for defecation and cups for urination. And yet, CCA made $1.7 billion in just
the last year -- more than any other private prison company. The company pours money into both
lobbying and campaign contributions. From 2002 to 2012, CCA devoted more than $19 million to
lobbying Congress, and its PAC shelled out over $1.4 million to candidates for federal office during
the same time period.
Note: CCA is just one of the many powerful entities getting rich off mass incarceration. Meet the
other Prison Profiteers and take action to fight their abuses at PrisonProfiteers.org. For a video
exposing this craziness, click here. For more on corruption in the government-prison-industrial
complex, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
GCHQ and European spy agencies worked together on mass

surveillance
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/01/gchq-europe-spy-agencies-mass-...
The German, French, Spanish and Swedish intelligence services have all developed methods of
mass surveillance of internet and phone traffic over the past five years in close partnership with
Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency. The bulk monitoring is carried out through direct taps
into fibre optic cables and the development of covert relationships with
telecommunications companies. A loose but growing eavesdropping alliance has allowed
intelligence agencies from one country to cultivate ties with corporations from another to facilitate
the trawling of the web, according to GCHQ documents leaked by the former US intelligence
contractor Edward Snowden. The files also make clear that GCHQ played a leading role in
advising its European counterparts how to work around national laws intended to restrict
the surveillance power of intelligence agencies. US intelligence officials have insisted the mass
monitoring was carried out by the security agencies in the countries involved and shared with the
US. The Guardian revealed the existence of GCHQ's Tempora programme, in which the electronic
intelligence agency tapped directly into the transatlantic fibre optic cables to carry out bulk
surveillance. GCHQ officials expressed admiration for the technical capabilities of German
intelligence to do the same thing, [saying] the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) had "huge
technological potential and good access to the heart of the internet they are already seeing some
bearers running at 40Gbps and 100Gbps". Bearers is the GCHQ term for the fibre optic cables,
and gigabits per second (Gbps) measures the speed at which data runs through them.
Twenty-Six Countries Ban GMOsWhy Wont the US?

http://www.thenation.com/blog/176863/gmo-wars-global-battlefield
The 2013 World Food Prize was awarded to three chemical company executives, including
Monsanto executive vice president and chief technology officer, Robert Fraley, responsible for
development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The choice of Fraley was widely
protested, with eighty-one members of the prestigious World Future Council calling it an affront to
the growing international consensus on safe, ecological farming practices that have been
scientifically proven to promote nutrition and sustainability. The choice of Monsantos man
triggered accusations of prize buying. From 1999 to 2011, Monsanto donated $380,000 to the
World Food Prize Foundation, in addition to a $5 million contribution in 2008. For some, the award
to Monsanto is actually a sign of desperation on the part of the GMO establishment. The
arguments of the critics are making headway. Owing to concern about the dangers and
risks posed by genetically engineered organisms, many governments have instituted total
or partial bans on their cultivation, importation, and field-testing. A few years ago, there were
sixteen countries that had total or partial bans on GMOs. Now there are at least twenty-six,
including Switzerland, Australia, Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg,
Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Russia. Significant restrictions on GMOs exist in about
sixty other countries. Already, American rice farmers face strict limitations on their exports to the
European Union, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, and are banned altogether from Russia
and Bulgaria because unapproved genetically engineered rice escaped during open-field trials on
GMO rice.
Note: For more on the risks from GMO foods, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Canada should investigate Dick Cheney for war crimes

2013-10-29, Toronto Star (One of Canada's leading newspapers)
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/10/29/canada_should_investigat...
As vice-president of the United States, Dick Cheney was a key architect of a post-9/11 response
that featured waterboarding and other acts of torture, a global secret detention program where
people were held for years without charge, and extraordinary rendition, by which innocent men
such as Maher Arar were sent to countries like Syria to be tortured. His legacy of endless war
continues today. Dick Cheneys $500-a-person book tour appearance in Vancouver in September
2011 resulted in protests, with demonstrators calling for Cheney to be banned or prosecuted as a
war criminal. Instead of returning to Canada last year, Cheney cancelled a trip to Toronto, deeming
Canada too dangerous because of the likely demonstrators that would greet him. Its unclear why
Cheney now feels safe enough to venture north to Toronto. Bush was also met by hundreds of
protestors seeking his arrest when he spoke at a business forum in Surrey, British Columbia in
October 2011. In addition, with the support of the Canadian Centre for International Justice and the
New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, four men who were tortured at Guantnamo
initiated a private prosecution for torture against Bush. Canada is a signatory to the United
Nations Convention Against Torture. Under the Torture Convention, Canada is obligated to
investigate and prosecute known torturers present in its territory (or, when possible,
extradite them elsewhere for prosecution). Canada has incorporated this obligation into its
domestic criminal code.
Note: How amazing to read an article like this in one of Canada's most respected newspapers!
The times they are a-changin'!
New book reveals how much FBI, CIA knew about Oswald before
Kennedy assassination
2013-10-27, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57609489/new-book-reveals-how-much-fbi-c...
It has long been known that the Warren Commission ... was flawed in ways that led to generations
of conspiracy theories about what happened on Nov. 22, 1963. A [new] book from former New
York Times reporter Philip Shenon digs into exactly what the commission got wrong, both by
intentional concealment, or, in Shenon's view, extensive attempts by both the CIA and FBI to
withhold just how much they knew about Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. "Much of the
truth about the Kennedy assassination has still not been told, [and] much of the evidence
about the president's murder was covered up or destroyed - shredded, incinerated, or
erased - before it could reach the commission," Shenon writes in the prologue to A Cruel and
Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination, which draws its title from the first
sentence of the commission's report. Shenon tells the story of how Navy pathologist James
Humes threw his blood-stained notes from Kennedy's autopsy into the fire after he transcribed a
fresh copy of the report. He said that he wanted to keep the documents from falling into the hands
of "ghouls," and gave a similar rationale for ordering that the sheets that covered Kennedy's head
wounds in Dallas be laundered during the autopsy. The commission's investigators never even
saw the photos and X-rays from the autopsy. Shenon also points to the CIA as having taken great
steps to cover up their knowledge of Oswald's visit to Mexico City before the assassination.
Note: As the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination approaches see our powerful JFK
assassination information center and the best videos and news articles on the topic. For more on
political assassinations, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
Curbing antibiotics on farms taking too long: Our view

2013-10-27, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/10/27/antibiotics-farms-drug-resis...
Want to ensure that miracle drugs can no longer perform miracles? Then do what some physicians
and industrial livestock farmers have done for years: Overprescribe antibiotics to people, and use
them cavalierly in farm animals to promote growth or prevent infections before they even occur.
Last month, federal officials quantified that danger: At least 23,000 people die from antibioticresistant bacteria each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
which said that's a conservative figure. For more than four decades, scientists and
government health agencies have warned about the danger this poses for development of
drug-resistant bugs. Yet last week, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future reported
that little progress has been made on limiting the use of antibiotics on farms. The agriculture
industry maintains that the connection is murky between antibiotic use in animals and drug
resistance in people. On the other side of the debate is a long list of scientists, public health
officials and veterinarians whose views carry more sense and less self-interest. In 2011 alone, 1.9
million pounds of penicillins and 12.3 million pounds of tetracyclines were sold for use in food
animals. It's hard to believe that wouldn't have an effect. According to the CDC, humans can pick
up drug-resistant bugs through contact with animals or by eating contaminated food. But neither
Congress nor the FDA has acted to curtail the broad dangers. The well-financed agriculture
industry has won most rounds. And regulators have dragged their feet.
Note: For more on important health issues, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Civilian Deaths in Drone Strikes Cited in Report

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/world/asia/civilian-deaths-in-drone-strikes...
[In] Miram Shah, the frontier Pakistani town that has become a virtual test laboratory for drone
warfare, ... residents paint a portrait of extended terror and strain within a tribal society caught
between vicious militants and the American drones hunting them. Their claims of distress are now
being backed by a new Amnesty International investigation that found, among other points, that at
least 19 civilians in the surrounding area of North Waziristan had been killed in just two of the
drone attacks since January 2012 a time when the Obama administration has held that strikes
have been increasingly accurate and free of mistakes. Miram Shah ... has become a fearful and
paranoid town, dealt at least 13 drone strikes since 2008 more than any other urban
settlement in the world. Even when the missiles do not strike, buzzing drones hover day
and night, scanning the alleys and markets with roving high-resolution cameras. The
strikes in the area mostly occur in densely populated neighborhoods. The drones have hit a
bakery, a disused girls school and a money changers market, residents say. The constant
presence of circling drones and accompanying tension over when, or whom, they will strike
is a crushing psychological burden for many residents. Sales of sleeping tablets, antidepressants
and medicine to treat anxiety have soared, said Hajji Gulab Jan Dawar, a pharmacist in the town
bazaar. Women were particularly troubled, he said, but men also experienced problems. State
services have virtually collapsed. At the local hospital, corrupt officials are reselling supplies of
medicine and fuel in the town market, doctors said.
Note: For more on the illegal killing worldwide of innocent men, women, and children by missile
strikes from US drones, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
Edward Snowden is no traitor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-edward-snowden-is-no-tra...
What are we to make of Edward Snowden? I know what I once made of him. He was no real
whistleblower, I wrote, but ridiculously cinematic and narcissistic as well. As time has proved,
my judgments were just plain wrong. Whatever Snowden is, he is curiously modest and has bent
over backward to ensure that the information he has divulged has done as little damage as
possible. As a traitor, he lacks the requisite intent and menace. But traitor is what
Snowden has been roundly called. Harry Reid: I think Snowden is a traitor. John Boehner:
Hes a traitor. Rep. Peter King: This guy is a traitor; hes a defector. And Dick Cheney
not only denounced Snowden as a traitor but also suggested that he might have shared
information with the Chinese. This innuendo, as with Saddam Husseins weapons of mass
destruction, is more proof of Cheneys unerring determination to be cosmically wrong. The early
denunciations of Snowden now seem both over the top and beside the point. If he is a traitor, then
which side did he betray and to whom does he now owe allegiance? Snowden seems to have sold
out to no one. In fact, a knowledgeable source says that Snowden has not even sold his life story
and has rebuffed offers of cash for interviews. Maybe his most un-American act is passing up a
chance at easy money. Someone ought to look into this. Snowdens residency in Russia has been
forced upon him he had nowhere else to go. Snowden insists that neither the Russians nor,
before them, the Chinese have gotten their grubby hands on his top-secret material.
Privacy Fears Grow as Cities Increase Surveillance

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/technology/privacy-fears-as-surveillance-gr...
Federal grants of $7 million, initially intended to help thwart terror attacks at the port in Oakland,
Calif., are instead going to a police initiative that will collect and analyze reams of surveillance
data. The new system ... is the latest example of how cities are compiling and processing large
amounts of information, known as big data, for routine law enforcement. And the system
underscores how technology has enabled the tracking of people in many aspects of life. Like the
Oakland effort, other pushes to use new surveillance tools in law enforcement are supported with
federal dollars. The New York Police Department, aided by federal financing, has a big data
system that links 3,000 surveillance cameras with license plate readers, radiation sensors, criminal
databases and terror suspect lists. Police in Massachusetts have used federal money to buy
automated license plate scanners. And police in Texas have bought a drone with homeland
security money. [Critics] of the Oakland initiative, formally known as the Domain Awareness
Center, [say] the program, which will create a central repository of surveillance information,
will also gather data about the everyday movements and habits of law-abiding residents.
Oakland has a contract with the Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, to
build its system. That company has earned the bulk of its $12 billion in annual revenue from
military contracts.
Tax the rich? IMF sparks a mini revolution

2013-10-11, Yahoo!/Agence France Presse
http://news.yahoo.com/tax-rich-imf-sparks-mini-revolution-020128173.html;_ylt...
Tax the rich and better target the multinationals: The IMF has set off shockwaves this week in
Washington by suggesting countries fight budget deficits by raising taxes. Guardian of financial
orthodoxy, the International Monetary Fund, which is holding its annual meetings with the World
Bank this week in the US capital, typically calls for nations in difficulty to slash public spending to
reduce their deficits. But in its Fiscal Monitor report, subtitled "Taxing Times", the Fund advanced
the idea of taxing the highest-income people and their assets to reinforce the legitimacy of
spending cuts and fight against growing income inequalities. "Scope seems to exist in
many advanced economies to raise more revenue from the top of the income distribution,"
the IMF wrote, noting "steep cuts" in top rates since the early 1980s. According to IMF
estimates, taxing the rich even at the same rates during the 1980s would reap fiscal revenues
equal to 0.25 percent of economic output in the developed countries. "The gain could in some
cases, such as that of the United States, be more significant," around 1.5 percent of gross
domestic product, said the IMF report, which also singled out deficient taxation of multinational
companies. In the US alone, legal loopholes deprive the Treasury of roughly $60 billion in receipts,
the global lender said. The IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, kept up the sales pitch for a
more just fiscal policy. "It's clearly something finance ministers are interested in, it's something that
is necessary for the right balance of public finances," said Lagarde, a former French finance
minister.
Note: Yahoo! was the only major media in the US to pick up this eye-opening news, with the
possible exception of a Forbes article which shows how afraid they are of this development. For
more on financial corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
Pentagon unit held 'phony' ceremonies for MIAs, using planes that can't
fly
2013-10-10, NBC News
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/10/20889368-pentagon-unit-hel...
A unit of the U.S. Department of Defense has been holding so-called "arrival ceremonies" for
seven years, with an honor guard carrying flag-draped coffins off of a cargo plane as though they
held the remains of missing American service men and women returning that day from old
battlefields. After NBC News raised questions about the arrival ceremonies, the Pentagon
acknowledged Wednesday that no honored dead were in fact arriving, and that the planes
used in the ceremonies often couldn't even fly but were towed into position. The ceremonies
have been attended by veterans and families of MIAs, led to believe that they were witnessing the
return of Americans killed in World War II, Vietnam and Korea. The ceremonies also have been
known, at least among some of the military and civilian staff here, as The Big Lie. Photos behind
the scenes show that the flag-draped boxes had not just arrived on military planes. The Pentagon
insisted that the flag-draped cases do contain human remains recently recovered, just not ones
that arrived that day. The Pentagon statement did not explain why the rituals were called "arrival
ceremonies" if no one was arriving, or why the public had been told that remains removed that
morning from the lab were about to go to the lab to "begin the identification process."
Note: For a revealing book by Robert Kirkconnell, a 27-year USAF veteran who personally
witnessed heroin being smuggled in the bodies of dead GIs, click here. For more on military
corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Meet the Medical Company Making $1.4 Billion a Year Off Sick Prisoners
http://www.thenation.com/blog/176533/meet-medical-company-making-14-billion-y...
The healthcare provider Corizon makes an estimated $1.4 billion off sick prisoners every
year. With profits like those, you would think it was actually treating prisoners. But in states
that are using Corizon to provide healthcare in their prisonsand right now twenty-nine are
medical neglect and abuse run rampant. Corizons attitude toward the debilitating virus
Hepatitis C is especially alarming: They just dont treat it. Last year alone, no fewer than seven
sick prisoners died at Metro Corrections, a jail in Louisville, Kentucky, while on Corizons watch.
The company made headlines when six employees quit their jobs, according to local press, amid
an investigation by the jail that found that the workers may have contributed to two of the deaths.
This summer, it was announced that the contract between Corizon and the city would not be
renewed. The Nations Liliana Segura gives an overview of the massive scope of the crisis of
companies profiting off mass incarceration: With 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United
States, she writes, prisons are big business.
Note: For a video exposing this craziness, click here. Corizon is just one of the many powerful
entities getting rich off mass incarceration. Meet the other Prison Profiteers and take action to fight
their abuses at PrisonProfiteers.org. For more on corruption in the government-prison-industrial
Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2013/sep/27/seymour-hersh-obama-n...
[Seymour] Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the
1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American
journalism has to a terrorist", ... is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to
challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth. Don't even get him started
on the ... death of Osama bin Laden. "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie,
not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011. Hersh is
writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says
a recent report put out by an "independent" Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad
compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. "The Pakistanis put
out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable
American input. It's a bullshit report," he says hinting of revelations to come in his book. The
Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media,
the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him. He is certain that NSA whistleblower Edward
Snowden "changed the whole nature of the debate" about surveillance. "But I don't know if it's
going to mean anything in the long [run] because the polls I see in America the president can still
say to voters 'al-Qaida, al-Qaida' and the public will vote two to one for this kind of surveillance,
which is so idiotic," he says.
Note: For a powerful analysis by scholar David Ray Griffin of the years-long Osama bin Laden
psyop, arguing that bin Laden probably died in December 2001, see his book Osama Bin Laden:
Dead or Alive?. For more on media cover-ups of important realities, see the deeply revealing
FBI calls half of populace with 9/11 doubts potential terrorists

2013-09-19, Digital Journal
http://digitaljournal.com/article/358624
A Department of Justice memo [distributed by the FBI] instructs local police, under a program
named "Communities Against Terrorism," to consider anyone who harbors "conspiracy theories"
about 9/11 to be a potential terrorist. The memo thus adds 9/11-official-story skeptics to a
growing list of targets described by federal law enforcement [as] security threats, such as
those who express "libertarian philosophies," "Second Amendment-oriented views,"
interest in "self-sufficiency," "fears of Big Brother or big government," and "Declarations of
Constitutional rights and civil liberties." A newly released national poll shows that 48 percent of
Americans either have some doubts about the official account of 9/11, or do not believe it at all.
The FBI memo entitled "Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Sleepers" says that
people who should be 'considered suspicious' [for] possible involvement in "terrorist activity"
include those who hold the "attitude" described as "Conspiracy theories about Westerners." The
memo continues: "e.g. (sic) the CIA arranged for 9/11 to legitimize the invasion of foreign lands."
"Sleepers" refers to "sleeper cells," in FBI jargon, which are terrorists awaiting orders to be
activated into terrorist activity. According to the polling firm YouGov, 38% of Americans have some
doubts about the official account of 9/11, 10% do not believe it at all, and 12% are unsure about it.
Among well-known doubters of the official 9/11 account are many military officers, law enforcement
personnel, firefighters, and pilots.
Note: We don't normally use Digital Journal as a news source, but this article is too important to
not include, and no major media source is covering the story. For evidence that search engines are
actively blocking 9/11 truth videos, click here. For more on the questions raised about the official
explanation of the 9/11 events by highly respected professors and former government and military
officials, click here and here.
Report: Capitol Police thwarted from aiding at Navy Yard

2013-09-18, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/18/navy-yard-capitol-police...
The U.S. Capitol Police have launched an investigation into whether an elite tactical team was
abruptly recalled from responding to [the] Navy Yard shooting massacre before D.C. Metropolitan
Police officers confronted the shooter. Two Metropolitan Police officers entered the Navy Yard
without the Capitol Police team and one was wounded by the gunman, Aaron Alexis. The elite
Capitol Police Containment & Emergency Response Team [CERT] is based just a few blocks from
the Navy Yard. A law enforcement source told WUSA-TV the unit was less than 30 seconds from
the gate and responded as Metropolitan Police pleaded for help. A Capitol Police watch
commander "wouldn't let them go in and stop people from being slaughtered," one officer told the
Washington TV station. An officer told The Washington Post that the officers' union had filed a
complaint. The Capitol Police have launched an investigation into the allegation "We were
definitely the closest tactical team in the city," the unidentified officer told the newspaper. "
[The team] was at the scene very early on, within a couple of minutes. They were ordered to
disengage and turn back. For what reason, we don't know." The CERT, created in 1978,
consists of three "cells" two assault teams of at least six officers each, plus and a countersniper unit. Two teams were on duty [at the time of the shooting incident].
Note: How strange that the Capitol Police commander would order the CERT to go back to its
base in such a situation! Could there be more than just an error of judgement here?
Lawsuit asks FBI to release Sarasota 9/11 documents
2013-09-10, Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Sarasota FL's leading newspaper)

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130910/ARTICLE/130919971/-1/news?p=all...
Twelve years after the 9/11 attacks that included three hijacker pilots trained in Venice [FL], the
terrorists' alleged interaction with a high-echelon Saudi family that lived in Sarasota remains
shrouded in secrecy. But Sunshine law and Freedom of Information Act requests filed by an
independent South Florida news organization have chipped away at the FBI's position that
information related to the family remain secret. Broward Bulldog editor Dan Christensen and
former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham say the documents could shed light on how the locally trained
terrorists were managed and supported. Graham, former Florida governor and a co-chair of
[the] Congressional body that investigated the attacks, believes the FBI has covered up
Saudi support of the terrorists. The former senator wants more disclosure about what happened
in Sarasota because he feels it may add to a bigger, largely censored subject: Who financed and
supported the 9/11 terror attacks? "The FBI is aggressively resisting the release of any
additional documents," he said. "The question is, why are they doing this? What interest
does the FBI have in denying the existence of its own documents? Beyond that, they have
thrown a blanket of national security over virtually everything, and why are they doing that for an
event that occurred, soon to be, 12 years ago?" At the time of the 9/11 attacks, President George
W. Bush was visiting a school in Sarasota. Then came the revelation that three of the hijackers
learned to fly at Venice Airport.
Note: For lots more reliable information suggesting a major cover-up around the events of 9/11,
Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and

security
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security
US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption
relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online
transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward
Snowden. The files show that the National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have
broadly compromised the guarantees that internet companies have given consumers to reassure
them that their communications, online banking and medical records would be indecipherable to
criminals or governments. The agencies, the documents reveal, have adopted a battery of
methods in their systematic and ongoing assault on what they see as one of the biggest threats to
their ability to access huge swathes of internet traffic "the use of ubiquitous encryption across the
internet". Those methods include covert measures to ensure NSA control over setting of
international encryption standards, the use of supercomputers to break encryption with
"brute force", and the most closely guarded secret of all collaboration with technology
companies and internet service providers themselves. Through these covert partnerships, the
agencies have inserted secret vulnerabilities known as backdoors or trapdoors into commercial
encryption software. "Backdoors are fundamentally in conflict with good security," said Christopher
Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union.
"Backdoors expose all users of a backdoored system, not just intelligence agency targets, to
heightened risk of data compromise."
Note: For an excellent article in the New York Times on this, click here. For a guide from the
Guardian on "How to remain secure against NSA surveillance", click here.
Greg Palast: Potential Fed Chair Summers at Heart of Global Economic

Crisis
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18555-revealed-potential-fed-chair-summers...
Investigative journalist Greg Palast has obtained a secret memo authored by then deputy Treasury
secretary Larry Summers and his protg Timothy Geithner detailing their plans to roll back
financial regulation. In the piece, titled "The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial
Crisis", [Palast] writes: "The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak's fantasy: that in the late
1990s, the top U.S. Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to
rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in
Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to
this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears." [Palast:] This is really important right
now because Larry Summers is President Obama's top choice to become head of a Federal
Reserve Board. He would take Ben Bernanke's place. And what this memo is--they call it the "end
game memo". Geithner calls it the "end game". And what's the game being played? The memo
asks Summers to get back to the five biggest, most powerful bankers in the United States to act on
and determine what our policy should be for world governance of the banking system. Basically,
there were secret calls going between Larry Summers and the head of Bank of America, the
head of Goldman Sachs, the head of Citibank and Merrill, the five big boys, to find out what
should happen to the world financial policing order. And the answer was: smash it.
Summers was holding secret meetings with the big bankers to come up with a scheme to
eliminate financial regulation across the planet.
Note: Greg Palast is a New York Times-bestselling author and a freelance journalist for the British
Broadcasting Corporation as well as the British newspaper The Observer. He is one of the few
journalists uncovering the deepest layers of secrecy in our world. For a key past report of his on
elections corruption, click here.
U.S. spy networks successes, failures and objectives detailed in black

budget summary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-de...
U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national
security threats, according to the governments top-secret budget. The $52.6 billion black budget
for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward
Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public
scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending
since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by
the president and Congress. The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program
details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S.
intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees. Among the notable revelations in the
budget summary: Spending by the CIA has surged past that of every other spy agency, with
$14.7 billion in requested funding for 2013. The figure vastly exceeds outside estimates and
is nearly 50 percent above that of the National Security Agency, which conducts
eavesdropping operations and has long been considered the behemoth of the community.
The CIA and the NSA have begun aggressive new efforts to hack into foreign computer networks
to steal information or sabotage enemy systems, embracing what the budget refers to as
offensive cyber operations.
Note: For more on the realities of intelligence operations, see the deeply revealing reports from
NYPD's massive mosque spying operations revealed

2013-08-28, MSN/Associated Press
http://news.msn.com/us/nypds-massive-mosque-spying-operations-revealed
The New York Police Department has secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorism organizations,
a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on imams, often
without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Designating an entire mosque as a terrorism
enterprise means that anyone who attends prayer services there is a potential subject of an
investigation and fair game for surveillance. Since the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD has opened at
least a dozen "terrorism enterprise investigations" into mosques, according to interviews
and confidential police documents. Many TEIs stretch for years, allowing surveillance to
continue even though the NYPD has never criminally charged a mosque or Islamic
organization with operating as a terrorism enterprise. The documents show in detail how, in its
hunt for terrorists, the NYPD investigated countless innocent New York Muslims and put
information about them in secret police files. As a tactic, opening an enterprise investigation on a
mosque is so potentially invasive that while the NYPD conducted at least a dozen, the FBI never
did one, according to interviews with federal law enforcement officials. The revelations about the
NYPD's massive spying operations are in documents recently obtained by The Associated Press
and part of a new book, Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit... The book ... is
based on hundreds of previously unpublished police files and interviews with current and former
NYPD, CIA and FBI officials.
How to Charge $546 for Six Liters of Saltwater

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/health/exploring-salines-secret-costs.html?...
It is one of the most common components of emergency medicine: an intravenous bag of sterile
saltwater. Luckily for anyone who has ever needed an IV bag to replenish lost fluids or to receive
medication, it is also one of the least expensive. The average manufacturers price, according to
government data, has fluctuated in recent years from 44 cents to $1. Yet there is nothing either
cheap or simple about its ultimate cost, as [revealed by] the commercial path of IV bags from the
factory to the veins of more than 100 patients struck by a May 2012 outbreak of food poisoning in
upstate New York. Some of the patients bills would later include markups of 100 to 200 times the
manufacturers price, not counting separate charges for IV administration. And on other bills, a
bundled charge for IV therapy was almost 1,000 times the official cost of the solution. At
every step from manufacturer to patient, there are confidential deals among the major
players, including drug companies, purchasing organizations and distributors, and
insurers. These deals so obscure prices and profits that even participants cannot say what the
simplest component of care actually costs, let alone what it should cost. And that leaves taxpayers
and patients alike with an inflated bottom line and little or no way to challenge it. The real cost of a
bag of normal saline, like the true cost of medical supplies from gauze to heart implants,
disappears into an opaque realm of byzantine contracts, confidential rebates and fees that would
be considered illegal kickbacks in many other industries.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing medical corruption news
FBI director does not deny al-Awlaki may have been government asset
2013-08-23, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/23/did-us-government-try-to-recruit-r...
Newly declassified documents obtained [by] Judicial Watch, are raising questions over the U.S.
government's handling of Anwar al-Awlaki, and whether it [recruited] the radical American cleric as
an intelligence source in 2002. Director Robert Mueller did not dismiss the possibility. "I am
not personally familiar with any effort to recruit Anwar al-Awlaki as an asset -- that does not
mean to say there was not an effort at some level of the Bureau (FBI) or another agency to
do so," Mueller said. Fox's ongoing reporting ... shows that in 2002 he was released from
custody at JFK international airport -- despite an active warrant for his arrest -- with the okay of FBI
Agent Wade Ammerman. Within days of his re-entry, al-Awlaki showed up in Ammerman's
counter-terrorism investigation in Virginia into Ali al-Timimi, who is now serving a life sentence on
non-terrorism charges. None of the information about al-Awlaki's release from federal custody at
JFK, a sudden decision by the Justice Department in October 2002 to rescind an arrest warrant for
the cleric, nor the cleric's connection to Ammerman was provided to the defense during Timimis
2005 trial. Documents ... show the FBI Director was more deeply involved in the post-9/11
handling of al-Awlaki than previously known. One memo from Mueller to then-Attorney General
John Ashcroft on Oct. 3, 2002 -- seven days before the cleric re-entered the U.S. and was
detained at JFK -- is marked "Secret" and titled "Anwar Aulaqi: IT-UBL/AL-QAEDA." "Why would
al-Awlaki get the attention of the FBI Director? Why would a warrant for his arrest be pulled when
he's trying to reenter the country?" asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Note: Al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and was a US citizen, died in a U.S. drone attack in
Yemen nearly two years ago, the first American targeted for death by the CIA, by its own
admission. With the confirmation that he had been an intelligence asset for the US government as
early as 2002, his assassination takes on new significance. For more on the murky background of
Al-Awlaki, click here and here.
U.S. must protest Britain's press crackdowns

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/dotcommentary/article/U-S-must-protest-Brita...
It has been an infuriating few days for anyone who values the freedom of the press, as authorities
in the United Kingdom resorted to the tactics of tyrants and thugs to squelch reporting that they
simply don't like. In acts clearly calibrated for optimal intimidation, they have detained the
partner of a journalist, threatened to shut down a reporting operation that has prompted a
critical public debate over government spying and forced the destruction of a major
publication's hard drives. It's breathtaking in its audacity - and if it comes to light that the U.S.
government took any part in organizing, encouraging or supporting these acts, it will warrant
immediate congressional investigation. As it is, the accelerating assaults on investigative
journalism [indicate the need for] stronger protections for journalists and their sources. Using laws
designed to ferret out suspected terrorists to detain a person aiding acts of journalism is a cut-anddried abuse of government power, an act of intimidation that may well be illegal - and certainly
should be. It gives the lie to the naive but oft-repeated notion that if you've done no wrong, you
have nothing to fear. Such attacks on investigative journalism here and abroad appear to be
escalating. The Justice Department has been caught spying on reporters at the Associated Press,
and named a Fox News reporter a "co-conspirator" in a leak inquiry. Judges have threatened
reporters at both the New York Times and Fox News with jail time for refusing to disclose their
sources.
Note: For more on government attacks on civil liberties, see the deeply revealing reports from
Why are the JFK files still sealed after 50 years?

http://news.msn.com/us/why-are-the-jfk-files-still-sealed-after-50-years
Five decades after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot and long after official inquiries
ended, thousands of pages of investigative documents remain withheld from public view. The
contents of these files are partially known and intriguing and conspiracy buffs are not the
only ones seeking to open them for a closer look. Some serious researchers believe the off-limits
files could shed valuable new light on nagging mysteries of the assassination including what
U.S. intelligence agencies knew about accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald before Nov. 22,
1963. It turns out that several hundred of the still-classified pages concern a deceased CIA agent,
George Joannides, whose activities just before the assassination and, fascinatingly, during a
government investigation years later, have tantalized researchers for years. "This is not about
conspiracy, this is about transparency," said Jefferson Morley, a former Washington Post
reporter and author embroiled in a decade-long lawsuit against the CIA, seeking release of the
closed documents. "I think the CIA should obey the law. I don't think most people think that's
a crazy idea." But so far, the Joannides files and thousands more pages primarily from the CIA
remain off-limits at a National Archives center in College Park, Md. Anthony Summers, a British
author whose sequel to his JFK book Not In Your Lifetime will be released this year, [said] "By
withholding Joannides material, the agency continues to encourage the public to believe
they're covering up something more sinister."
Note: For more on the strange secrecy around Joannides and his checkered past, see the New
York Times article summarized here. For more on political assassinations, see the deeply
Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using
US-based companies
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/09/lavabit-shutdown-snowden...
A Texas-based encrypted email service recently revealed to be used by Edward Snowden Lavabit - announced yesterday it was shutting itself down in order to avoid complying with what it
perceives as unjust secret US court orders to provide government access to its users' content.
"After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations," the company's founder,
Ladar Levinson, wrote in a statement to users posted on the front page of its website. He said the
US directive forced on his company "a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes
against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting
down Lavabit." He chose the latter. CNET's Declan McCullagh ... speculates that Lavabit was
served "with [a] federal court order to intercept users' passwords" to allow ongoing monitoring of
emails; specifically: "the order can also be to install FedGov-created malware." After challenging
the order in district court and losing - all in a secret court proceeding, naturally - Lavabit shut itself
down to avoid compliance while it appeals to the Fourth Circuit. What is particularly creepy
about the Lavabit self-shutdown is that the company is gagged by law even from
discussing the legal challenges it has mounted and the court proceeding it has engaged. In
other words, the American owner of the company believes his Constitutional rights and those of his
customers are being violated by the US Government, but he is not allowed to talk about it. Lavabit
has been told that they would face serious criminal sanctions if they publicly discuss what is being
done to their company.
Note: For more on government and corporate privacy invasions, see the deeply revealing reports
Is The FDA Being Compromised By Pharma Payments?

2013-08-07, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2013/08/07/is-the-fda-being-comprom...
In ... the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics (JLME), Donald W. Light of the School of Public
Health, University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ, wrote an article entitled Risky Drugs: Why The
FDA Cannot Be Trusted. The bulk of his essay focuses not on his views about pharmas
competence but rather on his issues with the FDA. While I found a number of his comments
troubling, the following stood out. The ... article in JLME also presents systematic,
quantitative evidence that since the industry started making large contributions to the FDA
for reviewing its drugs, as it makes large contributions to Congressmen ... drugs approved
are significantly more likely to cause serious harm, hospitalizations, and deaths. This is a
pretty damning comment. Basically, Light is saying that pharma paid congressmen to sponsor
legislation that results in the FDA being beholden to pharma for funding for its work. Implicit in this
is that, as a result of these large contributions, the grateful FDA is rapidly approving medicines
that are harmful.
big pharma profiteers and government corruption.
CIA 'running arms smuggling team in Benghazi when consulate was

attacked'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/10218288...
The CIA has been subjecting operatives to monthly polygraph tests in an attempt to
suppress details of a reported US arms smuggling operation in Benghazi that was ongoing
when its ambassador was killed by a mob in the city last year, according to reports. Up to 35 CIA
operatives were working in the city during the attack last September on the US consulate that
resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, according to CNN.
The television network said that a CIA team was working in an annex near the consulate on a
project to supply missiles from Libyan armouries to Syrian rebels. Sources said that more
Americans were hurt in the assault ... than had been previously reported. CIA chiefs were actively
working to ensure the real nature of its operations in the city did not get out. So only the losses
suffered by the State Department in the city had been reported to Congress. Frank Wolf, a US
congressman who represents the district that contains CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is
one of 150 members of Congress for a new investigation into the failures in Benghazi. "I think it is
a form of a cover-up, and I think it's an attempt to push it under the rug," he said. "We should have
the people who were on the scene come in, testify under oath, do it publicly, and lay it out. And
there really isn't any national security issue involved with regards to that."
The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-31/the-public-private-surveillance-part...
Computers and networks inherently produce data, and our constant interactions with them allow
corporations to collect an enormous amount of intensely personal data about us as we go about
our daily lives. Sometimes we produce this data inadvertently simply by using our phones, credit
cards, computers and other devices. Sometimes we give corporations this data directly on Google,
Facebook, [or] Apples iCloud ... in exchange for whatever free or cheap service we receive from
the Internet in return. The NSA is also in the business of spying on everyone, and it has realized
its far easier to collect all the data from these corporations rather than from us directly. The result
is a corporate-government surveillance partnership, one that allows both the government
and corporations to get away with things they couldnt otherwise. There are two types of laws
in the U.S., each designed to constrain a different type of power: constitutional law, which places
limitations on government, and regulatory law, which constrains corporations. Historically, these
two areas have largely remained separate, but today each group has learned how to use the
others laws to bypass their own restrictions. The government uses corporations to get around
its limits, and corporations use the government to get around their limits. This partnership
manifests itself in various ways. The government uses corporations to circumvent its prohibitions
against eavesdropping domestically on its citizens. Corporations rely on the government to ensure
that they have unfettered use of the data they collect.
Against Their Will looks at children used for tests

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2013/07/07/book-review-against-their-wi...
Pop quiz: Name a state residential school where children were enrolled in medical experiments
over an almost 20-year period, in which they were unknowingly fed a steady diet of radioactive
isotopes, subjected to regular blood draws, and placed in solitary confinement if they refused to
cooperate. Answer: the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham [Mass.} during the mid 20th
century. Unfortunately, as Allen Hornblum, Judith Newman, and Gregory Dober painfully describe
in their chilling new book, Against Their Will: The Secret History of Medical Experimentation on
Children in Cold War America, Fernald was not the only institution in the country, or even in
the state, where children were conscripted into sometimes deadly medical experiments.
These were conducted by ambitious physicians and scientists whose belief in what they
were trying to accomplish often blinded them to the potentially horrific consequences of
their actions. Against Their Will opens with an overview of the eugenics movement in the United
States, which found sympathizers among many luminaries of American medicine in the 19th and
early 20th centuries. With its disdain for the disabled, who were considered genetically inferior, the
movement paved the way for use of defective children in research. The book then provides
multiple examples of medical experiments perpetrated on developmentally delayed and physically
disabled children at multiple institutions across the country over the course of decades, often
reading like case studies straight out of the 1947 Nazi doctors trial.
Note: For a long list of verifiable incidents where unknowing citizens were used as guinea pigs on
a massive scale, click here.
Bin Laden Records Kept in the Shadows

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/secret-move-bin-laden-records-shadow...
The top U.S. special operations commander, Adm. William McRaven, ordered military files about
the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout to be purged from Defense Department
computers and sent to the CIA, where they could be more easily shielded from ever being made
public. The secret move, described briefly in a draft report by the Pentagon's inspector general, set
off no alarms within the Obama administration even though it appears to have sidestepped federal
rules and perhaps also the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. The CIA, noting that the bin Laden
mission was overseen by then-CIA Director Leon Panetta before he became defense secretary,
said that the SEALs were effectively assigned to work temporarily for the CIA, which has
presidential authority to conduct covert operations. The records transfer was part of an effort by
McRaven to protect the names of the personnel involved in the raid, according to the inspector
general's draft report. But secretly moving the records allowed the Pentagon to tell The Associated
Press that it couldn't find any documents inside the Defense Department that AP had requested
more than two years ago, and would represent a new strategy for the U.S. government to shield
even its most sensitive activities from public scrutiny. "Welcome to the shell game in place of
open government," said Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a private
research institute at George Washington University. "Guess which shell the records are under.
If you guess the right shell, we might show them to you. It's ridiculous."
Note: For a powerful analysis of the strong evidence that Osama bin Laden most likely died in
Afghanistan in December 2001, long before he was "killed" by the SEALs raid in Pakistan, read
David Ray Griffin's Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? For more on government secrecy, see the
Sen. Warren Leads Charge to Break Up Big Banks

2013-07-07, CNBC
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000182337
CNBCs BRIAN SULLIVAN: Is there anyone else in the Senate that is a professor? ELIZABETH
WARREN: I don't think so. ... We had the big crash in 2008. What does everyone say about it?
They say too much concentration in financial services creates too big to fail. It puts us at bigger
risk. And what's happened since 2008? The four biggest financial institutions are now 30%
bigger than they were in 2008. The central premise behind a 21st century Glass-Steagall is
to say if you want to get out there and take risks, go ahead and do it. But ... you can't get
access to FDIC insured deposits when you do. That way ... at least one portion of our
banking sector stays safe. From 1797 to 1933, the American banking system crashed about
every 15 years. In 1933, we put good reforms in place, for which Glass-Steagall was the
centerpiece, and from 1933 to the early 1980s, thats a 50 year period, we didnt have any of that
none. We kept the system steady and secure. And it was only as we started deregulating, [you hit]
the S&L crisis, and what did we do? We deregulated some more. And then you hit long-term
capital management at the end of the 90s, and what did we do as a country? This country
continued to deregulate more. And then we hit the big crash in 2008. You are not going to defend
the proposition that regulation can never work, it did work. SULLIVAN: I didnt say regulation never
worked, Senator. By far and away, and I agree, there were fewer bank failures in that time after
Glass-Steagall. ELIZABETH WARREN: Fewer, as in, of the big ones, zero.
Note: Sen. Warren is one of the few bright lights in Congress. Watch this interview to see why. To
read about later censorship of this interview by NBC, click here.
In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of N.S.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/in-secret-court-vastly-broadens-powers-o...
In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nations surveillance court has created a secret body of
law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans.
The rulings, some nearly 100 pages long, reveal that the court has taken on a much more
expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important
judicial precedents, with almost no public scrutiny. The 11-member Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, was once mostly focused on approving caseby-case wiretapping orders. But since major changes in legislation and greater judicial
oversight of intelligence operations were instituted six years ago, it has quietly become
almost a parallel Supreme Court, serving as the ultimate arbiter on surveillance issues and
delivering opinions that will most likely shape intelligence practices for years to come. In one of the
courts most important decisions, the judges have expanded the use in terrorism cases of a legal
principle known as the special needs doctrine and carved out an exception to the Fourth
Amendments requirement of a warrant for searches and seizures. Unlike the Supreme Court, the
FISA court hears from only one side in the case the government and its findings are almost
never made public.
Note: For more on government secrecy, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mail.html?pagewanted...
Leslie James Pickering noticed something odd in his mail last September: a handwritten card,
apparently delivered by mistake, with instructions for postal workers to pay special attention to the
letters and packages sent to his home. Show all mail to supv supervisor for copying prior
to going out on the street, read the card. It included Mr. Pickerings name, address and the type of
mail that needed to be monitored. The word confidential was highlighted in green. It was a bit of
a shock to see it, said Mr. Pickering, who with his wife owns a small bookstore in Buffalo. More
than a decade ago, he was a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental
group labeled eco-terrorists by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As the world focuses on the
high-tech spying of the National Security Agency, the misplaced card offers a rare glimpse inside
the seemingly low-tech but prevalent snooping of the United States Postal Service. Mr. Pickering
was targeted by a longtime surveillance system called mail covers, a forerunner of a vastly
more expansive effort, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, in which Postal
Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in
the United States about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the
government saves the images. The Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program was created after
the anthrax attacks in late 2001. It enables the Postal Service to retrace the path of mail at the
request of law enforcement. No one disputes that it is sweeping.
Note: The exposure by whistleblower Edward Snowden of the NSA's massive domestic and global
spying operations seems to have triggered a series of other revelations about surveillance of the
US population, like this report on the US Postal Service's photographing all mail. Hardly a week
goes by without another major revelation, such as a new digital photo-ID database utilized by the
FBI and police forces, and the development by US police of a national DNA database on all
"potential suspects". Since very few US citizens are terrorists, what is the real purpose behind this
total surveillance?
Army reportedly blocking military access to Guardian coverage of NSA

leaks
2013-06-27, NBC News
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/27/19177709-army-reportedly-blocking-...
The Army is blocking all access to The Guardian newspaper's reports about the National Security
Agency's sweeping collection of data about Americans' email and phone communications, an
Army spokesman said Thursday. The Monterey (Calif.) Herald reported that employees at the
Presidio of Monterey, an Army public affairs base about 100 miles south of San Francisco, were
unable to gain access to The Guardian's articles on former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and
his professed leaks of classified information about the intelligence programs. Late Thursday, an
Army spokesman told The Herald by email that the newspaper's NSA reports were, in fact,
being blocked across the entire Army. He wrote that it's routine for the Defense Department
to take "network hygiene" action to prevent disclosure of classified information, The Herald
reported. "We make every effort to balance the need to preserve information access with
operational security," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "However there are strict
policies and directives in place regarding protecting and handling classified information."
Note: To read the full story in the Monterey Herald, click here. For the Guardian's coverage of this,
click here. Does the military have the right to censor its members' access to information?
What Airline Whistleblowers Have to Say About the New Theory on

Flight 800
http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/25/what-airline-whistleblowers-have-to-say-abou...
A cadre of six government and non-government experts who served the National Transportation
Safety Board when that independent federal agency investigated the explosion of a Boeing 747 off
the coast of Long Island in July 1996 ... are the protagonists of a new documentary, "TWA Flight
800". After four years of investigation, the NTSB claimed the cause of Flight 800's explosion
was a mechanical defect, but the new documentary, written and directed by journalist
Kristina Borjesson, claims the FBI, NTSB and other government agencies may have
covered up that the plane was brought down by a missile strike. Participants in the film have
called on the NTSB to reopen the case based on altered physical evidence, suppressed data, and
unexamined testimony from hundreds of eyewitnesses. [The] book Attention All Passengers: The
Airlines Dangerous Descentand How to Reclaim Our Skies ... published last year ... thanked
the brave men and women who are Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security
Administration, and airline whistleblowers. These whistleblowers confirmed such problems as
defective airline maintenance outsourcing, FAA oversight failures, TSA waste, and many other
important findings. After watching the documentary, I believe there are enough smoking guns to
warrant an unbiased reexamination. Last week one major news site was in near hysterics about
the documentary, employing the term conspiracy ten times. Kristina Borjesson ... wasnt
surprised, noting that reexamining hot topics discredits previous reporting.
Note: Kristina Borjesson is a long-time supporter of WantToKnow.info who has written a great
piece on Flight 800, which we have posted at this link. She's also the editor of what may be the
best book ever on media corruption and manipulation, Into the Buzzsaw. You can find an excellent
two-page summary of the book at this link. For the engaging trailer to this film, click here.
Rigged-Benchmark Probes Proliferate From Singapore to UK

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-06-16/rigged-benchmark-probes-prolifera...
The probe of Libor manipulation is proving to be the tip of the iceberg as inquiries into assets from
derivatives to foreign exchange show that if theres a chance to rig benchmark rates in world
markets, someone is usually willing to try. Singapores monetary authority last week censured 20
banks for attempting to fix interest rate levels in the island state and ordered them to set aside as
much as $9.6 billion. Britains markets regulator is looking into the $4.7 trillion-a-day currency
market after Bloomberg News reported that traders have manipulated key rates for more than a
decade, citing five dealers. Its happened time and again: all of these markets have been
influenced by major market-makers, which is a polite way of saying theyve been rigged,
Charles Geisst, a finance professor at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, said. While the
indexes under scrutiny are little known to the public, their influence extends to trillions of
dollars in securities and derivatives. Barclays, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland have been
fined about $2.5 billion in the past year for distorting the London interbank offered rate, which is
tied to $300 trillion worth of securities. Regulators are also probing ISDAfix, a measure used in the
$370 trillion interest-rate swaps market, as well as how some oil products prices are set. Inquiries
are broadening into the transparency of benchmarks whose levels can be determined by the same
people whose income they affect. In the case of Libor, traders who stood to profit worked with bank
employees responsible for submissions for the benchmark to rig the price.
Note: To read highly revealing major media articles showing just how crazy and unregulated the
derivatives market is, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on
financial corruption, click here.
NSA surveillance played little role in foiling terror plots, experts say
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/12/nsa-surveillance-data-terror-attack
Lawyers and intelligence experts with direct knowledge of two intercepted terrorist plots that the
Obama administration says confirm the value of the NSA's vast data-mining activities have
questioned whether the surveillance sweeps played a significant role, if any, in foiling the attacks.
The defence of the controversial data collection operations ... has been led by Dianne Feinstein,
chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, and her equivalent in the House, Mike Rogers.
The two politicians have attempted to justify the NSA's use of vast data sweeps such as Prism and
Boundless Informant by pointing to the arrests and convictions of would-be New York subway
bomber Najibullah Zazi in 2009 and David Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence for
his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. But court documents lodged in the US and UK, as well as
interviews with involved parties, suggest that data-mining through Prism and other NSA
programmes played a relatively minor role in the interception of the two plots. Conventional
surveillance techniques, in both cases including old-fashioned tip-offs from intelligence services in
Britain, appear to have initiated the investigations. The Headley case is a peculiar choice for the
administration to highlight as an example of the virtues of data-mining. The fact that the
Mumbai attacks occurred, with such devastating effect, in itself suggests that the NSA's
secret programmes were limited in their value as he was captured only after the event.
Headley ... had been an informant working for the Drug Enforcement Administration perhaps as
recently as 2005. There are suggestions that he might have then worked in some capacity for the
FBI or CIA.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the realities of
intelligence agency activity, click here.
Everything you need to know about the NSAs phone records scandal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/06/everything-you-nee...
The Guardian [has] released a classified court order requiring Verizon to turn over records of all
domestic phone calls to the National Security Agency. The revelation has led to a renewed debate
over the legality and policy merits of indiscriminate government surveillance of Americans. The
court order, issued by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, only sought metadata a
fancy word for information like what numbers you called, what time you made the calls, and how
long the calls were. The order does not seek the audio of calls. Of course, its possible the NSA
has other programs collecting the contents of calls. In 2006 a whistleblower reported the existence
of a secret, NSA-controlled room in an AT&T switching facility in San Francisco. So its possible
the NSA is using rooms like that to listen to everyones phone calls. But all we know for sure is that
the NSA has been requesting information about our phone calls. We only have proof of spying
on Verizon customers, but its hard to imagine the NSA limiting its surveillance program to
one company. There are probably similar orders in effect for AT&T and CenturyLink, the
other major telephone companies. The order includes hints that the NSA is also collecting
information from cellular customers. In addition to phone numbers and call times, the order
seeks information about the specific cell phone tower the customer used to connect to the network
during each call. Cellphones make calls using the closest tower. So if the NSA knows you made a
call using a specific tower, they can safely assume you were near that tower at the time of the call.
Note: For graphs and lots more on the Prism program, see the Guardian article at this link.
Technically, U.S. officials are not allowed to mine personal data from U.S. citizens. Yet if U.K.
authorities mine data on U.S. citizens, they can share it freely with officials in the U.S. and vice
versa. There is evidence that this happens quite frequently, thus circumventing privacy protections.
For an excellent article which goes deep into this issue, click here.
The week ahead: Bilderberg 2013 comes to the Grove hotel, Watford
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/02/week-ahead-bilderberg-2013-watford
On [June 6], a heady mix of politicians, bank bosses, billionaires, chief executives and European
royalty will swoop up the elegant drive of the Grove hotel, north of Watford, to begin the annual
Bilderberg conference. The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell will hop from his limo, delighted to be
spending three solid days in policy talks with the head of HSBC, the president of Dow Chemical,
his favourite European finance ministers and US intelligence chiefs. The conference is the
highlight of every plutocrat's year and has been since 1954. The only time Bilderberg skipped a
year was 1976, after the group's founding chairman, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, was
caught taking bribes from Lockheed Martin. It may seem odd, as our own lobbying scandal
unfolds, amid calls for a statutory register of lobbyists, that a bunch of our senior politicians will be
holed up for three days in luxurious privacy with the chairmen and CEOs of hedge funds, tech
corporations and vast multinational holding companies, with zero press oversight. Michael
Meacher, MP ... describes the conference as "an anti-democratic cabal of the leaders of western
market capitalism meeting in private to maintain their own power and influence outside the reach
of public scrutiny". The Bilderberg conference is paid for, in the UK, by an officially registered
charity: the Bilderberg Association (charity number 272706). The charity receives regular fivefigure sums from two kindly supporters of its benevolent aims: Goldman Sachs and BP.
The most recent documentary proof of this is from 2008, since when the charity has omitted
its donors' names from its accounts.
Note: For a list of this year's Bilderberg participants, which include 90-year-old Henry Kissinger,
click here. For lots more on secret societies from reliable sources, click here.
Gov't Probe Obtains Wide Swath of AP Phone Records

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/govt-obtains-wide-ap-phone-records-p...
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters
and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a
"massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. The
records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone
numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and
Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery.
In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to
AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The government would not say why it sought the
records. Officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is
conducting a criminal investigation into who may have provided information contained in a May 7,
2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen
that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for
the United States. Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure
of records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP switchboards numbers and
an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual.
click here.
Top economist Jeffrey Sachs says Wall Street is full of 'crooks' and
hasn't changed since the financial crash
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/top-economist-jeffrey-sachs-...
One of the world's most respected economists has said Wall St is full of "crooks" and hasn't
reformed its "pathological" culture since the financial crash. Professor Jeffrey Sachs told a highpowered audience at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve earlier this month that the lack of reform
was down to a docile president, a docile White House and a docile regulatory system that
absolutely cant find its voice. Sachs, from Columbia University, has twice been named one of
Time magazines 100 Most Influential People in the World, and is an adviser to the World
Bank and IMF. What has been revealed, in my view, is prima facie criminal behavior, he
said. Its financial fraud on a very large extent. Theres also a tremendous amount of
insider trading. We have a corrupt politics to the core, I am afraid to say, and . . . both parties
are up to their neck in this. This has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans." Sachs
described an environment of Wall Street influencing politicians with growing campaign
contributions. In the 2012 election cycle, political contributions by the securities and investment
sector hit $271.5 million, compared with $176 million in 2008, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics. I am going to put it very bluntly: I regard the moral environment as
pathological. They have no responsibility to pay taxes; they have no responsibility to their clients;
they have no responsibility to people, to counterparties in transactions, he said. They are tough,
greedy, aggressive and feel absolutely out of control in a quite literal sense, and they have gamed
the system to a remarkable extent.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on criminal practices of Wall
Street corporations, click here.
Billionaires Flee Havens as Trillions Pursued Offshore

2013-04-29, Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-04-29/billionaires-flee-as-tax-district...
Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, Russias 14th-richest person, and his wife, Elena Rybolovleva, have
been brawling for almost five years in at least seven countries over his $9.5 billion fortune. In a
divorce complaint originated in Geneva in 2008, Rybolovleva accused her husband of using a
multitude of third parties to create a network of offshore holding companies and trusts to place
assets -- including about $500 million in art, $36 million in jewelry and an $80 million yacht -beyond her reach. She has brought legal action against the 48-year-old Rybolovlev in the British
Virgin Islands, England, Wales, the U.S., Cyprus, Singapore and Switzerland, and is seeking $6
billion. The suits provide a window into the offshore structures and secrecy jurisdictions the worlds
richest people use to manage, preserve and conceal their assets. According to Tax Justice
Network, a U.K.-based organization that campaigns for transparency in the financial system,
wealthy individuals were hiding as much as $32 trillion offshore at the end of 2010. Fewer
than 100,000 people own $9.8 trillion of offshore assets. More than 30 percent of the worlds
200 richest people, who have a $2.8 trillion collective net worth ...control part of their
personal fortune through an offshore holding company or other domestic entity where the
assets are held indirectly. These structures often hide assets from tax authorities or provide legal
protection from government seizure and lawsuits.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on failure of governments to
regulate great accumulations of wealth, click here.
Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-fi...
Conspiracy theorists of the world, ... we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The world is
a rigged game. The world's largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.
You may have heard of the Libor scandal, in which ... perhaps as many as 16 ... banks have been
manipulating global interest rates, in the process [manipulating] the prices of upward of $500
trillion ... worth of financial instruments. Now Libor may have a twin brother. Word has leaked out
that the London-based firm ICAP, the world's largest broker of interest-rate swaps, is being
investigated by American authorities for behavior that sounds eerily reminiscent of the Libor mess.
Regulators are looking into whether or not a small group of brokers at ICAP may have
worked with up to 15 of the world's largest banks to manipulate ISDAfix, a benchmark
number used around the world to calculate the prices of interest-rate swaps. Interest-rate
swaps are a tool used by big cities, major corporations and sovereign governments to manage
their debt, and the scale of their use is almost unimaginably massive. [It's] a $379 trillion market,
meaning that any manipulation would affect a pile of assets about 100 times the size of the
United States federal budget. It should surprise no one that among the players implicated in this
scheme to fix the prices of interest-rate swaps are the same megabanks including Barclays,
UBS, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and the Royal Bank of Scotland that serve on the Libor
panel that sets global interest rates.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the criminal practices of
the financial industry, click here.
Congressman: Boston bombs triggered by remote control
2013-04-24, CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57581244/boston-marathon-bombs-possibly-t...
Two U.S. officials say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect [in the Boston Marathon
bombings], was unarmed when police captured him hiding inside a boat in a neighborhood
back yard. Authorities originally said they had exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar for more
than one hour Friday evening before they were able to subdue him. The officials tell The
Associated Press that no gun was found in the boat. Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said
earlier that shots were fired from inside the boat. Investigators also believe the brothers helped
finance their plot through drug sales. Sources say Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was unemployed,
made money selling marijuana. Police think the brothers killed a Massachusetts Institute of
Technology campus police officer for his weapon while they were the subjects of last week's
massive manhunt. The brothers only had one real gun and one pellet gun when they were on the
run Thursday. Investigators now believe that Officer Sean Collier was killed Thursday because the
two bombing suspects wanted to take his gun. Investigators believe because the officer's holster
had a locking system, they apparently couldn't get the gun out. Collier was shot in the head
execution-style while sitting in his patrol car. In his questioning in the hospital, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
said they were self-taught and self-radicalized.
Note: Don't these details released by investigators sound odd? If Dzhokhar was not armed, why
did authorities say they exchanged gunfire for an hour? And previous reports claimed Dzhokhar
was shot in the throat, so that he could not speak about his version of what happened. High
strangeness here. For powerful evidence from a respected researcher that the uncle of the Boston
bombers was a top CIA official, click here. This is evidence supporting the theory that the brothers
may have been CIA-controlled Manchurian Candidates. For more on this, click here.
When military law looks the other way

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/When-military-law-looks...
There are few cases that better illustrate why the military needs to create an independent office to
investigate rape than that of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson. Wilkerson, a fighter pilot, was sentenced to
a year in prison and dismissed from military service after being found guilty of aggravated sexual
assault by a jury of his peers. His commanding officer then threw out the conviction and reinstated
Wilkerson at full rank. Under the military code of justice ... the commanding officer's
discretion and bias may overrule legal decisions. In this case, Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, the
commander of the 3rd Air Force, declined to approve Wilkerson's conviction by a jury of senior
officers, all men. His decision suggests the Air Force doesn't take sexual assault seriously. Yet, an
estimated 19,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year in the military, although just 8
percent of sexual assaults are referred to military court, according to a Department of
Defense survey of active-duty members. That compares with 40 percent in the civilian court
system. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-[CA], last week reintroduced legislation that calls for overhauling
how the military justice system handles rape and sexual assault by taking prosecution, reporting,
oversight, investigation and victim care out of the chain of command and putting it in an
autonomous office housed in the military but staffed by both civilian and military personnel.
"Victims of rape and sexual assault should not have to choose between career-ending retaliation
and seeking judicial action against their attackers," said Speier.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on sexual abuse scandals,
click here.
Boston suspect was under FBI surveillance, mother says

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-explosions-boston-motherbre9...
One of the two ethnic Chechens suspected by U.S. officials of being behind the Boston Marathon
bombings had been under FBI surveillance for at least three years, his mother said. Zubeidat
Tsarnaeva told the English-language Russia Today state television station in a phone interview, a
recording of which was obtained by Reuters, that she believed her sons were innocent and had
been framed. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police and his 19-year-old
brother Dzhokhar was captured after a day-long manhunt. "He (Tamerlan) was controlled by the
FBI, like, for three to five years," she said, speaking in English. "They knew what my son
was doing, they knew what sites on the Internet he was going to," she said. Tsarnaeva
echoed the boys' father, Anzor, who said ... that he believed they had been framed.
Tsarnaeva suggested FBI officers had visited her home when she still lived in the United States
and told her that Tamerlan "was really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him. It is
really, really a hard thing to hear. And being a mother, what I can say is that I am really sure, I am,
like, 100 percent sure, that this is a set-up," she said. U.S. government officials have said the
brothers were not under surveillance as possible militants. But the FBI said in a statement on
Friday that in 2011 it interviewed Tamerlan at the request of a foreign government, which it did not
identify. The FBI statement was the first evidence that the family had come to security officials'
attention after they emigrated to the United States from Dagestan about a decade ago.
Note: For a sharp analysis of unanswered questions raised by the official account of the bombings
in Boston, click here. For the local NBC station report that bomb-sniffing dogs were present at the
finish line of the Boston Marathon before the bombs exploded, watch this video clip. And for a
Washington Times article raising more questions on the bombing, including government agents
seen at the scene with suspicious backpacks, click here.
Gitmo Is Killing Me
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html
Ive been detained at Guantnamo for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with
any crime. I have never received a trial. Last month, on March 15, I was sick in the prison hospital
and refused to be fed. A team from the E.R.F. (Extreme Reaction Force), a squad of eight military
police officers in riot gear, burst in. They tied my hands and feet to the bed. They forcibly inserted
an IV into my hand. I spent 26 hours in this state, tied to the bed. During this time I was not
permitted to go to the toilet. They inserted a catheter, which was painful, degrading and
unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray. I will never forget the first time they passed the
feeding tube up my nose. I cant describe how painful it is to be force-fed this way. As it was thrust
in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldnt. There was agony in my chest,
throat and stomach. I had never experienced such pain before. I would not wish this cruel
punishment upon anyone. I am still being force-fed. Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my
cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. When they come to force me into the chair, if I
refuse to be tied up, they call the E.R.F. team. So I have a choice. Either I can exercise my right
to protest my detention, and be beaten up, or I can submit to painful force-feeding. The only
reason I am still here is that President Obama refuses to send any detainees back to
Yemen. This makes no sense. I am a human being ... and I deserve to be treated like one.
Note: Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, has been a prisoner at Guantnamo Bay since 2002. For an
illuminating analysis of this situation by the Washington Post, click here.
Big banks 'more dangerous than ever', IMF's Christine Lagarde says
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9985280/Big-b...
Europe needs to recapitalise, restructure or shut down its banks as part of a vital clean-up of the
industry, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said as she warned
that the threat from worlds biggest lenders was more dangerous than ever. Speaking in New
York ahead of next weeks IMF Spring meeting, Ms Lagarde launched a broadside against the
financial services industry for resisting urgent reform. In too many cases from the United States
in 2008 to Cyprus today we have seen what happens when a banking sector chooses the quick
buck ..., backing a business model that ultimately destabilizes the economy. We simply cannot
have pre-crisis banking in a post-crisis world. We need reform, even in the face of intense
pushback from an industry sometimes reluctant to abandon lucrative lines of business.
Almost five years since Lehman Brothers collapsed, she claimed: The 'oversize banking
model of too-big-to-fail is more dangerous than ever. We must get to the root of the problem
with comprehensive and clear regulation. Regulators have forced banks to increase significantly
their loss-absorbing capital buffers since the crisis, but are still working on "resolution"
mechanisms that will allow giant lenders to fail without hitting the taxpayer and threatening
financial stability. Regulators must also work together, she added, amid evidence that some
countries are caving into pressure from the banking lobby.
here.
The extraordinary range of people using offshore hideaways

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/04/secrets-offshore-hideaways-laid-bare
The secret records obtained by ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] lay bare
an extraordinary range of people using offshore hideaways. They include ... families of despots,
Wall Street swindlers, eastern European and Indonesian billionaires, Russian executives, [and]
international arms dealers. The leaks illustrate how offshore financial secrecy has aggressively
spread around the globe. The records detail offshore holdings in more than 170 territories; this
represents the biggest stockpile of inside information about the offshore system ever obtained by a
media organisation. Eighty-six journalists from 46 countries used both hi-tech data crunching and
traditional reporting to sift through emails and account ledgers covering nearly 30 years.
"Everything is much more geared toward business," David Marchant, publisher of OffshoreAlert,
an online journal, said. "If you're dishonest, you can take advantage of that in a bad way." ICIJ's
15-month investigation found that ... the secrecy and lax oversight offered by the offshore
world appears to allow fraud, tax-dodging and political corruption to thrive. A study by
James S Henry, former chief economist at McKinsey & Company [and a board member of the Tax
Justice Network], estimates that wealthy individuals have $21-$32tn tucked away in offshore
havens roughly equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined.
Note: To learn more about how all of this incredibly revealing data was obtained and processed,
click here. For a powerfully revealing documentary showing how huge corporations park profits
offshore to avoid taxes, click here.
Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/03/offshore-secrets-offshore-tax-haven
Millions of internal records have leaked from Britain's offshore financial industry, exposing for the
first time the identities of thousands of holders of anonymous wealth from around the world, from
presidents to plutocrats, the daughter of a notorious dictator and a British millionaire accused of
concealing assets from his ex-wife. The leak of 2m emails and other documents, mainly from the
offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands, has the potential to cause a seismic shock worldwide
to the booming offshore trade. The naming project may be extremely damaging for confidence
among the world's wealthiest people, no longer certain that the size of their fortunes
remains hidden from governments and from their neighbours. As well as Britons hiding
wealth offshore, an extraordinary array of government officials and rich families across the world
are identified, from Canada, the US, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, China, Thailand and former
communist states. The Caribbean micro-state has incorporated more than a million such offshore
entities since it began marketing itself worldwide in the 1980s. Owners' true identities are never
revealed. Even the island's official financial regulators normally have no idea who is behind them.
The British Foreign Office depends on the BVI's company licensing revenue to subsidise this
residual outpost of empire, while lawyers and accountants in the City of London benefit from a
lucrative trade as intermediaries.
Note: For profiles of a few leading secret account holders, click here. For a powerfully revealing
documentary showing how huge corporations park profits offshore to avoid taxes, click here.
Overseas stashes complicate tax reform

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/bottomline/article/Overseas-stashes-compl...
According to a new report, most of the 30 companies listed on the Dow Jones industrial
average are paying a far lower proportion of their profits in federal taxes - at a time when
the Dow is reaching new highs - than they have in past decades. The main reason: not so
much those yawning tax loopholes, but the multinationals' ability to stash more of their money
overseas, where it's taxed at a lower rate and the feds can't touch it. Hewlett-Packard, according to
the analysis, experienced the steepest percentage reduction in federal taxes - 47 percent since
1969. Intel's share of income paid in taxes has fallen by 29.6 percent since 1973, and Cisco
Systems by 24.7 percent since 1989. U.S. multinationals ... often pay far less than the standard 35
percent corporate tax rate - a rate many of these companies are pushing to have significantly
lowered. In its year-end report, Intel recorded $13 billion in profit - a record - and said its tax rate
was approximately 29 percent. In 2010 HP paid $1.75 billion in income taxes on $9.4 billion of
pretax income, a tax rate of 18.6 percent. As a share of the nation's GDP, U.S. corporate income
tax has fallen by more than half, from 5.5 percent in 1946 to 2.6 percent in 2011.
Note: The statement about corporate income tax falling from 5.5 percent of GDP in 1946 to 2.6
percent in 2011 is quite misleading, making it appear that corporate taxes are a small percentage
of total income. It is much more accurate to compare the total annual amount of corporate taxes to
individuals' taxes. As this historical tax chart clearly shows, in 1946 corporate income tax
receipts were 74% of the amount received from individual income taxes. By 2011, corporate
taxes dropped to less than 17% of the amount paid in individual income taxes. That is a huge
percentage drop in corporate taxes.
The FBI's anticipatory prosecution of Muslims to criminalize speech

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/19/preemptive-prosecution-mu...
One of the major governmental abuses denounced by the 1976 final report of the Church
Committee was the FBI's domestic counter intelligence programs (COINTELPRO). Under that
program, the FBI targeted political groups and individuals it deemed subversive and dangerous ...
and infiltrated them with agents who, among other things, attempted to manipulate members into
agreeing to commit criminal acts so that the FBI could arrest and prosecute them. What made the
program so controversial was that the FBI was attempting to create and encourage crimes rather
than find actual criminals - all in order to punish those whose constitutionally protected political
activism the US government found threatening. Over the past decade, US Muslims have been
routinely targeted with precisely this same tactic of preemptive or anticipatory prosecution.
It's all designed to take people engaged in political and religious advocacy which the US
government dislikes ... and use paid informants to trick them into saying just enough to
turn them into criminals who are then prosecuted and imprisoned for decades. The same
pattern repeats itself over and over. The FBI ensnares some random Muslim in a garden-variety
criminal investigation involving financial fraud or drugs. Rather than prosecute him, the FBI puts
the Muslim criminal suspect on its payroll, sending him into Muslim communities and mosques in
order not only to spy on American Muslims, but to befriend them and then actively manipulate
them into saying just enough to make their prosecution possible.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on illegal activities of
New Pope Tied up in Argentina's 'Dirty War' Debate

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/papal-election-stirs-argentinas...
It's beyond dispute that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, [the new Pope], failed to openly confront the 19761983 military junta as it kidnapped and killed thousands of people in a "dirty war" to eliminate leftist
opponents. But human rights activists differ on how much responsibility Pope Francis personally
deserves for the Argentine church's dark history of supporting the murderous dictatorship. Some
leading Argentine human rights activists agree that Bergoglio, now 76, doesn't deserve to be
lumped together with other church figures who were closely aligned with the dictatorship. "Perhaps
he didn't have the courage of other priests, but he never collaborated with the dictatorship," Adolfo
Perez Esquivel, who won the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize for documenting the junta's atrocities, said.
But others say Bergoglio's rise through the Argentine church since then has put him in
many positions of power where he could have done more to atone for the sins of Catholic
officials who did actively conspire with the dictators. Some priests even worked inside
torture centers, and blessed those doing the killing. Bergoglio twice invoked his right under
Argentine law to refuse to appear in open court in trials involving torture and murder inside the
feared Navy Mechanics School and the theft of babies from detainees.
Note: An entire edition of Democracy Now! was devoted to the record of Bergoglio, including an
interview with the Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky. For more analysis, click here, here and
here.
Court Docs Reveal Blackwaters Secret CIA Past

2013-03-14, The Daily Beast/Newsweek
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/14/exclusive-erik-prince-on-bla...
Last month a three-year-long federal prosecution of Blackwater collapsed. The governments 15felony indictmenton such charges as conspiring to hide purchases of automatic rifles and other
weapons from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosivescould have led to years
of jail time for Blackwater personnel. In the end, however, the government got only misdemeanor
guilty pleas by two former executives, each of whom were sentenced to four months of house
arrest, three years probation, and a fine of $5,000. Prosecutors dropped charges against three
other executives named in the suit and abandoned the felony charges altogether. But the most
noteworthy thing about the largely failed prosecution wasnt the outcome. It was the tens of
thousands of pages of documentssome declassifiedthat the litigation left in its wake. These
documents illuminate Blackwaters defense strategy: to defeat the charges it was facing,
Blackwater built a case not only that it worked with the CIAwhich was already widely knownbut
that it was in many ways an extension of the agency itself. [CEO Erik] Prince [said] recently,
Blackwaters work with the CIA began when we provided specialized instructors and
facilities that the Agency lacked. In the years that followed, the company became a virtual
extension of the CIA because we were asked time and again to carry out dangerous
missions, which the Agency either could not or would not do in-house.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the growing privatization
of intelligence agency functions, click here.
U.S. to let spy agencies scour Americans' finances

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-13/business/chi-us-to-let-spy-agen...
The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a
massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the
country, according to a Treasury Department document. The proposed plan represents a major
step by U.S. intelligence agencies to spot and track down [targeted persons] by bringing together
financial databanks, criminal records and military intelligence. Financial institutions that operate in
the United States are required by law to file reports of "suspicious customer activity," such as large
money transfers or unusually structured bank accounts, to Treasury's Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The Federal Bureau of Investigation already has full access to the
database. However, intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the
National Security Agency, currently have to make case-by-case requests for information to
FinCEN. The Treasury plan would give spy agencies the ability to analyze more raw
financial data than they have ever had before. Financial institutions file more than 15 million
"suspicious activity reports" every year, according to Treasury. Banks, for instance, are
required to report all personal cash transactions exceeding $10,000.
agencies play, click here.
How the US public was defrauded by the hidden cost of the Iraq war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/11/us-public-defrauded-hidde...
When the US invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration estimated that it would
cost $50-60bn to overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish a functioning government. This
estimate was catastrophically wrong: the war in Iraq has cost $823.2bn between 2003 and
2011. Some estimates suggest that it may eventually cost as much as $3.7tn when ... the longterm costs of caring for the wounded and the families of those killed [are factored in]. The most
striking fact about the cost of the war in Iraq has been the extent to which it has been kept
"off the books" of the government's ledgers and hidden from the American people. This was
done by design. The most obvious way in which the true cost of this war was kept hidden was with
the use of supplemental appropriations to fund the occupation. By one estimate, 70% of the costs
of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008 were funded with supplemental or
emergency appropriations approved outside the Pentagon's annual budget. With the Iraq war
treated as an "off the books" expense, the Pentagon was allowed to keep spending on high-end
military equipment and cutting-edge technology. The Bush administration masked the cost of the
war with deficit spending to ensure that the American people would not face up to its costs while
President Bush was in office. [It] encouraged the American people to keep spending and "enjoy
life", while the government paid for the occupation of Iraq on a credit card they hoped never to
have to repay.
click here.
Three Democratic myths used to demean the Paul filibuster

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/10/paul-filibuster-drones-pr...
Commencing immediately upon the 9/11 attack, the US government ... has spent 12 straight years
inventing and implementing new theories of government power in the name of Terrorism. Every
year since 9/11 has ushered in increased authorities of exactly the type Americans are
inculcated to believe only exist in those other, non-free societies: ubiquitous surveillance,
impenetrable secrecy, and the power to imprison and even kill without charges or due
process. The Obama administration has already exercised the power to target even its own
citizens for execution far from any battlefield. [This] has prompted almost no institutional resistance
from the structures designed to check executive abuses: courts, the media, and Congress. Last
week's 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan's confirmation as CIA director by GOP Sen. Rand Paul
was one of the first ... Congressional efforts to dramatize and oppose just how radical these
Terrorism-justified powers have become. For the first time since the 9/11 attack, even lowly cable
news shows were forced ... to extensively discuss the government's extremist theories of power.
All of this put Democrats ... in a very uncomfortable position. The politician who took such a unique
stand in defense of these principles was not merely a Republican but a leading member of its
dreaded Tea Party wing. Some Democrats, to their credit, publicly supported Paul. But most
Democratic Senators ran away as fast as possible from having anything to do with the debate.
Paul was doing nothing more than voicing concerns that have long been voiced by leading civil
liberties groups such as the ACLU. But almost without exception, progressives who defend
Obama's Terrorism policies steadfastly ignore the fact that they are embracing policies that are
vehemently denounced by the ACLU.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the loss of civil liberties in
the US, click here.
Elizabeth Warren Wants HSBC Bankers Jailed for Money Laundering

2013-03-07, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/elizabeth-warren-wants-hsbc-bank...
Elizabeth Warren has a question: How much money does a bank have to launder before people go
to jail? Warren ... posed that question numerous times to financial regulators at a Senate Banking
Committee hearing [on] banks and money laundering. In December, U.S. Justice Department
officials announced that HSBC, Europes largest bank, would pay a $1.92 billion fine after
laundering $881 million for drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia. The two regulators, Under
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen and Federal Reserve Governor
Jerome H. Powell, deflected Warrens questions, saying that criminal prosecutions are for the
Justice Department to decide. An exasperated Warren said, as she wrapped up her questioning,
If youre caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good youre going to jail. If it
happens repeatedly, you may go to jail for the rest of your life. But evidently, if you launder
nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your
company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night every single
individual associated with this and I just think thats fundamentally wrong.
government and finance, click here.
The FBIs shameful recruitment of Nazi war criminals

2013-03-06, Reuters
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/03/06/the-fbis-shameful-recruitmen...
A trove of recently declassified documents leads to several inescapable conclusions about the
FBIs role in protecting both proven and alleged Nazi war criminals in America. First, there can be
no doubt that J. Edgar Hoover collected Nazis and Nazi collaborators like pennies from heaven.
Unlike the military and its highly structured Operation Paperclip with its specific targets,
systematic falsification of visa applications, and creation of bogus biographies Hoover had no
organized program to find, vet, and recruit alleged Nazis and Nazi collaborators as confidential
sources, informants, and unofficial spies in migr communities around the country. Each Nazi
collaborator that his agents stumbled upon, or learned about from the CIA, was both a
potential spy and a potential anticommunist leader. Once they were discovered, Hoover
sought them out, used them, and protected them. He had no interest in reporting alleged Nazi
war criminals to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the Justice Department, or the
State Department for possible deportation or extradition. He appeared smug in his simplistic
division of Americans into shadeless categories of bad guys and good guys, communists and
anticommunists. Hoover was careful about the number of former Nazis and Nazi collaborators he
placed on the FBI payroll. If Congress or its investigative arm, the Government Accountability
Office, ever insisted on a tally, he could say with a straight face that there were only a handful of
paid confidential sources and informants. But if one adds the war criminals he informally cultivated
and used, the number ranges well into the hundreds.
Note: This essay is adapted from Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America's Open-Door
Policy for Nazi War Criminals by Richard Rashke. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major
media sources on the games intelligence agencies play, click here.
President Could, In Theory, Order Drone Strike Inside U.S., Holder Says
2013-03-05, NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/05/173572444/president-could-in-t...
Attorney General Eric Holder has said in a letter to Sen. Rand Paul that the president could in an
"entirely hypothetical" situation authorize the military to use lethal force within U.S. territory. The
letter to Paul came in response to three inquiries the Kentucky Republican sent to John Brennan,
President Obama's nominee for CIA director. Paul's letters asked if it was legal for the U.S.
government to use lethal force, including in the form of drone strikes, on Americans inside the
country. Here's Holder's response, in part: "As members of this Administration have previously
indicated, the U.S. government has not carried out drone strikes in the United States and
has no intention of doing so. The question you have posed is therefore entirely
hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no President will ever have to confront. It
is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary
and appropriate for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of
the United States. For example, the President could conceivably have no choice but to authorize
the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances of a
catastrophic attack like the ones suffered on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001."
the US, click here.
FBI's apparent entrapment of San Jose man continues its track record
2013-02-27, San Jose Mercury News (Silicon Valley's leading newspaper)
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_22665506/fadi-saba-fbis-apparent-entrap...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a track record of attacking the undesirables of the time. In
the early part of the 20th century, immigrants from Italy were the focus; in the 1940s, it was
Japanese-Americans; in the 1950s, it was Americans who questioned U.S. foreign policy; in the
1960s, civil rights activists. Today, it's ... the Arab. It's the South Asian. And often, the FBI uses
entrapment to create a terror case out of thin air and then claim to have foiled it. San Jose
resident Matthew Llaneza, who converted to Islam in 2011, is accused of attempting to bomb a
bank building in Oakland. However, many feel that the FBI used entrapment, which, in criminal law,
is a legal defense. It is the act by law enforcement officers of inducing or encouraging a person to
commit a crime when the potential criminal is not otherwise predisposed to committing the crime.
Over the past several years, the FBI has repeatedly manufactured terror plots by targeting
vulnerable members of the Arab, South Asian and Muslim communities. The target is
usually an individual or a small group of people with a troubled past, psychological issues
or financial problems. Llaneza's is a classic case of entrapment. [It] closely follows the pattern.
[He] has a history of psychological problems. This presumed inability to make sound judgment is
perfect for entrapment. His bombing plot seems to first emerge in a conversation with law
enforcement, and his history of mental illness indicates he didn't have the capacity to commit acts
of terror on his own.
agencies play, click here.
Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on

Americans
2013-02-04, NBC News
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16843014-exclusive-justice-de...
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing
of American citizens if they are believed to be senior operational leaders of al-Qaida or an
associated force -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to
attack the U.S. The 16-page memo ... provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one
of the Obama administrations most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased
use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens.
In March, Attorney General Eric Holder specifically endorsed the constitutionality of targeted
killings of Americans, saying they could be justified if government officials determine the target
poses an imminent threat of violent attack. But the confidential Justice Department white paper
introduces a ... broader concept of imminence than actual intelligence about any ongoing plot
against the U.S. homeland. The condition that an operational leader present an imminent
threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have
clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the
immediate future, the memo states. Instead, it says, an informed, high-level official of the U.S.
government may determine that the targeted American has been recently involved in activities
posing a threat of a violent attack and there is no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or
abandoned such activities. The memo does not define recently or activities.
Note: To read the entire 'white paper' on drone strikes on Americans, click here. For detailed
analysis by a distinguished lawyer, click here.
Police spies stole identities of dead children

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/03/police-spies-identities-dead-children
Britain's largest police force stole the identities of an estimated 80 dead children and
issued fake passports in their names for use by undercover police officers. The
Metropolitan police secretly authorised the practice for covert officers infiltrating protest
groups without consulting or informing the children's parents. Over three decades generations of
police officers trawled through national birth and death records in search of suitable matches.
Undercover officers created aliases based on the details of the dead children and were issued with
accompanying identity records such as driving licences and national insurance numbers. Some of
the police officers spent up to 10 years pretending to be people who had died. The technique of
using dead children as aliases has remained classified intelligence for several decades, although it
was fictionalised in Frederick Forsyth's novel The Day of the Jackal. As a result, police have
internally nicknamed the process of searching for suitable identities as the "jackal run". One former
undercover agent compared an operation on which he was deployed to the methods used by the
Stasi. The practice was introduced 40 years ago by police to lend credibility to the backstory of
covert operatives spying on protesters, and to guard against the possibility that campaigners would
discover their true identities. Since then dozens of SDS [Special Demonstration Squad] officers,
including those who posed as anti-capitalists, animal rights activists and violent far-right
campaigners, have used the identities of dead children.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on police corruption, click
here.
Why Police Lie Under Oath

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/why-police-officers-lie-unde...
Are police officers necessarily more trustworthy than alleged criminals? I think not. Not just
because the police have a special inclination toward confabulation, but because, disturbingly, they
have an incentive to lie. In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldnt be trusted any more
than any other witness, perhaps less so. That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement
officials have put the matter more bluntly. Peter Keane, a former San Francisco Police
commissioner, wrote [that] Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is
commonplace. One of the dirty little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is
undercover narcotics officers intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the
American justice system that strikes directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of
doing business in courtrooms everywhere in America. The New York City Police Department
is not exempt from this critique. New York City officers have been found to engage in patterns of
deceit in cases involving charges as minor as trespass. Jeannette Rucker, the chief of
arraignments for the Bronx district attorney, explained in a letter that it had become apparent that
the police were arresting people even when there was convincing evidence that they were
innocent. To justify the arrests, Ms. Rucker claimed, police officers provided false written
statements, and in depositions, the arresting officers gave false testimony.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on police and prisons
Justice for the PayPal WikiLeaks protesters: why DDoS is free speech
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/22/paypal-wikileaks-proteste...
In December 2010, the hacktivist collective Anonymous voiced their displeasure with PayPal, over
that company's part in the banking blockade of Wikileaks. A reported 10,000 protesters around the
world took to the internet with a protest method known as DDoS (distributed denial of service)
the functional equivalent of repeatedly hitting the refresh button on a computer. With enough
people refreshing enough times, the site is flooded with traffic, slowed, or even temporarily
knocked offline. No damage is done to the site or its backing computer system; and when the
protest is over, the site resumes business as usual. This is not "hacking". It is protest, and it is
speech. Or it was until the United States government decided to serve 42 warrants and indict 14
protesters. While protest charges have typically been seen as tantamount to nuisance crimes, like
trespassing or loitering, these were different. The 14 PayPal defendants, some of whom were
teenagers when the protest occurred, find themselves looking at 15 years in federal prison
for exercising their free speech rights; for redressing their grievances to PayPal, a major
corporation; for standing up for what they believed was right. Instead of being handed a $50
fine, as one would face for traditional protest crimes such as a sit-in, the PayPal defendants'
freedoms are in real jeopardy. Since the PayPal prosecution, there have been no DDoS protests
on that scale. Speech has been chilled. Supreme court Justice William O Douglas said:
"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one
un-American act that could most easily defeat us."
Fiscal Footnote: Big Senate Gift to Drug Maker

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/us/medicare-pricing-delay-is-political-win-...
Just two weeks after pleading guilty in a major federal fraud case, Amgen, the worlds largest
biotechnology firm, scored a largely unnoticed coup on Capitol Hill: Lawmakers inserted a
paragraph into the fiscal cliff bill that did not mention the company by name but strongly favored
one of its drugs. The language buried in Section 632 of the law delays a set of Medicare price
restraints on a class of drugs that includes Sensipar, a lucrative Amgen pill used by kidney dialysis
patients. The provision gives Amgen an additional two years to sell Sensipar without government
controls. The news was so welcome that the companys chief executive quickly relayed it to
investment analysts. But it is projected to cost Medicare up to $500 million over that period.
Amgen, which has a small army of 74 lobbyists in the capital, was the only company to
argue aggressively for the delay, according to several Congressional aides of both parties.
Supporters of the delay, primarily leaders of the Senate Finance Committee who have long
benefited from Amgens political largess, said it was necessary to allow regulators to prepare
properly for the pricing change.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on collusion and corruption
between government and the pharmaceutical industry, click here.
The ability to persuade people that the US opposes tyranny is a

testament to the potency of propaganda
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/12/us-saudi-arabia-libya-fre...
The most significant problem in political discourse is not that people embrace destructive beliefs
after issues are rationally debated. It's that the potency of propaganda, by design, often precludes
such debates from taking place. Consider how often one hears the claim that the US is committed
to spreading democracy and opposing tyranny in the Middle East. The single most repressive
regime in that region is also America's closest ally: while Saudi [Arabian] leaders have exploited
the rhetoric of the Arab Spring to undermine leaders its dislikes (primarily in Syria and Iran), its
only direct action was to send its troops into Bahrain "to stave off a popular revolt and prop up the
Bahraini monarchy" and use "its influence in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the alliance of
autocratic Persian Gulf states, to pull together support for the beleaguered royal houses of
Morocco and Jordan." The US has been there every step of the way with its close Saudi allies
in strengthening these same tyrannies. As the Bahraini regime has systematically killed,
tortured, and imprisoned its own citizens for the crime of demanding democracy, the
Obama administration has repeatedly armed it and trumpeted the regime as "a vital US
partner in defense initiatives" and "a Major Non-NATO Ally". The US continues to be a close
partner of the Yemeni dictator ("elected" as the only candidate allowed on the ballot). And it stands
as steadfastly as ever behind the Gulf State monarchies of Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar as, to
varying degrees, they repress democratic movements and imprison dissidents.
Why Americans are dying earlier than their international peers
2013-01-09, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/09/health/international-health-report/index.html
Despite spending more per person on health care than any other country, Americans are getting
sicker and dying younger than our international peers -- a problem persisting across all ages and
both genders. [The National Research Council and Institute Of Medicine] panel released its report,
titled "U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health," on [January 9]. "Our
panel was unprepared for the gravity of the finding we uncovered," chair Steven Woolf wrote in the
report's preface. Data from 2007 show Americans' life expectancy is 3.7 years shorter for men and
5.2 years shorter for women than in the leading nations -- Switzerland for men and Japan for
women. As of 2011, 27 countries had higher life expectancies at birth than the United States. "The
tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries," the report
states, "but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are
demonstrably unnecessary." The report outlines nine health areas where the United States lags
behind other rich nations, including infant mortality, homicides, teen pregnancy, drug-related
deaths, obesity and disabilities. And our children are less likely than children in peer countries to
reach their fifth birthday. "Many of these conditions have a particularly profound effect on young
people, reducing the odds that Americans will live to age 50," the report states.
Note: For a much deeper analysis of the reasons behind this, see Dr. Mercola's insightful
comments at this link.
The coming drone attack on America

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/21/coming-drone-attack-america
With the importation of what will be tens of thousands of drones, by both US military and
by commercial interests, into US airspace, with a specific mandate to engage in
surveillance and with the capacity for weaponization which is due to begin in earnest at
the start of the new year it means that the police state is now officially here. In February of
this year, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act, with its provision to deploy fleets of
drones domestically. Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, notes that
this followed a major lobbying effort, "a huge push by the defense sector" to promote the use of
drones in American skies: 30,000 of them are expected to be in use by 2020, some as small as
hummingbirds. Others will be as big as passenger planes. Business-friendly media stress their
planned abundant use by corporations: police in Seattle have already deployed them. An
unclassified US Air Force document reported by CBS News expands on this unprecedented and
unconstitutional step one that formally brings the military into the role of controlling domestic
populations on US soil. This document accompanies a major federal push for drone deployment
this year in the United States, accompanied by federal policies to encourage law enforcement
agencies to obtain and use them locally, as well as by federal support for their commercial
deployment. That is to say: now HSBC, Chase, Halliburton etc can have their very own fleets of
domestic surveillance drones.
Sweeping Torture Under the Rug

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/sweeping-torture-under-the-rug/
In Strasbourg, France, a 17-judge panel of the European Court of Human Rights ruled
unanimously on Thursday that U.S. intelligence did in fact kidnap a German citizen in Macedonia.
The court said he was locked in a hotel room for 23 days, then handed over to a C.I.A. rendition
team at an airport, where he was severely beaten, sodomized, shackled and hooded. Later he
was sent to Afghanistan and illegally detained for months. The German citizen, Khaled el-Masri,
had no connection to terrorism, unless you count the fact that U.S. officials were seeking an Al
Qaeda operative with a similar name. The court ordered Macedonia to pay Mr. Masri $78,000 in
damages. He has been refused a day in American courts on flimsy claims of national secrets (that
the names of the men who broke the law brutalizing him might be revealed). No official has been
held accountable for his illegal detention and torture or for that matter for the similar beastly
treatment of other prisoners. The detention camp in Guantanamo Bay remains open, an indelible
stain on the American justice system. There is no plausible reason to keep the prison open. There
has been no official accounting of the Bush administrations detention policies, and
perhaps there never will be because in 2009, when he took office, President Obama
decided to sweep that whole period of lawlessness and brutality under the rug. Disclosure
did not suit his political agenda. He wanted, we were all told ad nauseam, to look forward and
not back. The torturers, and the men who gave orders to torture, have been absolved of
responsibility.
Obamacare architect leaves White House for pharmaceutical industry

job
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/05/obamacare-fowler-lobbyist...
When the legislation that became known as "Obamacare" was first drafted, the key legislator was
the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, whose committee took
the lead in drafting the legislation. As Baucus himself repeatedly boasted, the architect of that
legislation was Elizabeth Fowler, his chief health policy counsel; indeed,... it was Fowler who
actually drafted it. What was most amazing about all of that was that, before joining Baucus' office
as the point person for the health care bill, Fowler was the Vice President for Public Policy and
External Affairs (i.e. informal lobbying) at WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurance provider
(before going to WellPoint, as well as after, Fowler had worked as Baucus' top health care aide).
And when that health care bill was drafted, the person whom Fowler replaced as chief health
counsel in Baucus' office, Michelle Easton, was lobbying for WellPoint as a principal at Tarplin,
Downs, and Young. Whatever one's views on Obamacare were and are, the bill's mandate that
everyone purchase the products of the private health insurance industry, unaccompanied
by any public alternative, was a huge gift to that industry. More amazingly still, when the
Obama White House needed someone to oversee implementation of Obamacare after the bill
passed, it chose . . . Liz Fowler. She then became Special Assistant to the President for
Healthcare and Economic Policy at the National Economic Council.
click here.
U.S. overseeing mysterious construction project in Israel

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-overseeing-mysteriou...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground
facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named Site 911, at an Israeli Air Force base
near Tel Aviv. Only U.S. construction firms are being allowed to bid on the contract and proposals
are due Dec. 3, according to the latest Corps of Engineers notice. Site 911 is the latest in a long
history of military construction projects the United States has undertaken for the IDF under the
U.S. Foreign Military Sales program. The 1998 Wye River Memorandum between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority has led to about $500 million in U.S. construction of military facilities for the
Israelis, most of them initially in an undeveloped part of the Negev Desert. Over the years, the
Corps has built underground hangers for Israeli fighter-bombers, facilities for handling
nuclear weapons (though Israel does not admit having such weapons), command centers,
training bases, intelligence facilities and simulators. Site 911 ... appears to be one of the
largest projects. Each of the first three underground floors is to be roughly 41,000 square feet,
according to the Corps notice. The lower two floors are much smaller and hold equipment. The
purpose of Site 911 is far less clear.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government secrecy,
click here.
What tyrants fear most: social media

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-27/news/sns-201211271500--tms--amv...
Most of the world's dictators share a common fear, and it's not of the United States, NATO, the
United Nations or any outside entity. No, the force that most threatens them is social media.
Originally designed as enhanced online chat forums for young Americans, Facebook, Twitter,
blogs and the rest have spread around the world and are now being used as cudgels
against authoritarian leaders in places like Vietnam, Russia, Belarus and Bahrain. In those
states and so many others, the leaders are attacking tweeters and bloggers as if they were
armed revolutionaries. And the repression is spreading. In India ... a 21-year-old medical
student posted a mildly critical comment about a Hindu political figure who'd just died. Within 24
hours, police arrested her and a friend who had "liked" the student's Facebook post and charged
them with engaging in hateful, offensive speech -- this in one of the world's strongest democracies.
Recently, Ecuador's Supreme Court turned down an extradition request from Belarus for a blogger
who fled there after the government charged him with fraud. Alexander Barankov had been
blogging about widespread government corruption. Iran, not surprisingly, is even tougher. Bloggers
are given long prison terms or sentenced to death, charged with "enmity against God" and
subverting national security. But the sad truth is, the dictators whose people are the most
repressed -- locked in abject poverty -- don't have to worry about the social-media problem.
Push to step up domestic use of drones

2012-11-27, San Francisco Chronicle (SF's leading newspapers)
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Push-to-step-up-domestic-use-of-drones-4...
Are unmanned aircraft, known to have difficulty avoiding collisions, safe to use in America's
crowded airspace? And would their widespread use for surveillance result in unconstitutional
invasions of privacy? Experts say neither question has been answered satisfactorily. Yet the
federal government is rushing to open America's skies to tens of thousands of the drones - pushed
to do so by a law championed by manufacturers of the unmanned aircraft. The 60-member House
of Representatives' "drone caucus" - officially, the House Unmanned Systems Caucus - has
helped push that agenda. And over the last four years, caucus members have drawn nearly
$8 million in drone-related campaign contributions. Domestic use of drones began with limited
aerial patrols of the nation's borders by Customs and Border Patrol authorities. But the industry
and its allies pushed for more, leading to provisions in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act,
signed into law on Feb. 14 of this year. The law requires the FAA to fully integrate the unmanned
aerial vehicles into national airspace by September 2015. The FAA has predicted that 30,000
drones could be flying in the United States in less than 20 years. House members from
California, Texas, Virginia and New York on the bipartisan "drone caucus" received the lion's share
of the funds channeled to lawmakers from dozens of firms that are members of the Association for
Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on drone killings and other
war crimes committed by the US in its wars of aggression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, click
here.
Obama: a GOP president should have rules limiting the kill list
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/26/obama-drones-kill-list-fr...
For the last four years, Barack Obama has not only asserted, but aggressively exercised,
the power to target for execution anyone he wants, including US citizens, anywhere in the
world. He has vigorously resisted not only legal limits on this assassination power, but
even efforts to bring some minimal transparency to the execution orders he issues. This
claimed power has resulted in four straight years of air bombings in multiple Muslim countries in
which no war has been declared using drones, cruise missiles and cluster bombs ending the
lives of more than 2,500 people, almost always far away from any actual battlefield. They are
typically targeted while riding in cars, at work, at home, and even while rescuing or attending
funerals for others whom Obama has targeted. A substantial portion ... have been civilians,
including dozens of children. President Obama was recently convinced that some limits and a real
legal framework might be needed to govern the exercise of this assassination power. What was it
that prompted Obama finally to reach this conclusion? It was the fear that he might lose the
election, which meant that a Big, Bad Republican would wield these powers, rather than a
benevolent, trustworthy, noble Democrat - i.e., himself. The core premise is that the political world
is shaped by a clean battle of Good v. Evil. The side of Good is the Democratic Party; the side of
Evil is the GOP. All political truths are ascertainable through this Manichean prism. It is genuinely
inconceivable that a leader as noble, kind and wise as Barack Obama would abuse his
assassination and detention powers.
Note: If any other nation were using drones to kill terrorists in the U.S. or Europe, there would be a
huge public uproar. Why do people care so little about these indiscriminate killings elsewhere? For
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on drone killings and other war crimes
committed by the US in its wars of aggression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, click here.
US battles Iraq and Afghanistan over detention without charges

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/iraq-afghanistan-daqduq-i...
For several decades, the US government - in annual "human rights" reports issued by the State
Department (reports mandated by the US Congress) - has formally condemned nations around the
globe for the practice of indefinite detention: imprisoning people without charges or any fixed
sentence. [The] 2011 report condemned numerous nations for indefinite detention, including Libya
("abuse and lack of review in detention"), Uzbekistan ("arbitrary arrest and detention"), Syria
("arbitrary arrest and detention"), and Iran ("Authorities held detainees, at times incommunicado,
often for weeks or months without charge or trial"). In Afghanistan and Iraq, the US government
is engaged in a fierce and protracted battle over the fundamental right to be free of
indefinite detention. Specifically, the US is demanding that the governments of those two
nations cease extending this right to their citizens. The US has long been demanding that the
Afghan government continue the American practice of indefinite detention without charges, and
still presses this demand even after the top Afghan court in September ruled that such detentions
violate Afghan law. Human rights workers in Afghanistan have long pointed out that America's
practice of imprisoning Afghans without charges is a major source of anti-American sentiment in
the country.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on war crimes carried out by
the US in its illegal wars of aggression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, click here.
FBI's abuse of the surveillance state is the real scandal needing

investigation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/13/petraeus-surveillance-sta...
The Petraeus scandal is receiving intense media scrutiny. Several of the emerging revelations are
genuinely valuable, particularly those involving the conduct of the FBI and the reach of the US
surveillance state. The FBI investigation began when Jill Kelley - a Tampa socialite friendly with
Petraeus (and apparently very friendly with Gen. John Allen, the four-star U.S. commander of the
war in Afghanistan) - received a half-dozen or so anonymous emails that she found vaguely
threatening. She then informed a friend of hers who was an FBI agent, and a major FBI
investigation was then launched that set out to determine the identity of the anonymous emailer.
What is most striking is how sweeping, probing and invasive the FBI's investigation then
became, all without any evidence of any actual crime - or the need for any search warrant.
The FBI traced all of [Paula] Broadwell's physical locations, learned of all the accounts she uses,
ended up reading all of her emails, investigated the identity of her anonymous lover (who turned
out to be Petraeus), and then possibly read his emails as well. They also discovered "alleged
inappropriate communication" to Kelley from Gen. Allen, who is not only the top commander in
Afghanistan but was also just nominated by President Obama to be the Commander of US
European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (a nomination now "on hold"). This
is a surveillance state run amok. It also highlights how any remnants of internet anonymity
have been all but obliterated by the union between the state and technology companies.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government surveillance,
click here.
CNN claims Iran shot at a US drone, revealing the news network's

mindset
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/08/cnn-iran-drones-gulf
Barbara Starr, CNN's Pentagon reporter (more accurately known as: the Pentagon's reporter at
CNN), has an exciting exclusive today. Exclusively relying upon "three senior officials" in the
Obama administration (all anonymous, needless to say), ... the CNN report on this incident is
revealing indeed. Every paragraph - literally - contains nothing but mindless summaries of the
claims of US government officials. There is not an iota of skepticism about any of the
assertions, including how this incident happened, what the drone was doing at the time, or
where it took place. Most notably, CNN does not even bother with the pretense of trying to
include the claims of the Iranian government about what happened. There is no indication
that the self-described news outlet even made an effort to contact Tehran to obtain their rendition
of these events or even confirmation that it occurred. It simply regurgitates the accusations of
anonymous US officials that Iran, with no provocation, out of the blue decided to shoot at a US
drone in international airspace. (Although CNN does not mention it, last December Iran shot down
a US drone which, it claims (and the US does not deny) was in Iranian air space). That CNN's
prime mission is to serve the US government is hardly news. [The Christian Science Monitor,
however, noted]: "There was no way to independently confirm the Pentagon's account, and correct
facts have not always been initially forthcoming in past US-Iran incidents in the Persian Gulf." It
then detailed several historical events when the US government's claims about Iran were proven
to be false.
Note: Iran denies that the drone was in international airspace, as claimed by the US. For more on
this, click here.
Trans-Pacific Partnership: The biggest trade deal youve never heard of

2012-10-23, Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/23/everything_you_wanted_to_know_about_the_trans...
A huge but little-known trade agreement could transform America's foreign relations. The TransPacific Partnership [could] be the most significant foreign and domestic policy initiative of the
Obama administration. More than any other policy, the trends the TPP represents could restructure
American foreign relations, and potentially the economy itself. On the core question of these trade
agreements, the parties basically agree. The Trans-Pacific Partnership ... would be the largest
one since the 1995 World Trade Organization. It would link Australia, Brunei, Chile,
Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico and Canada into a free trade
zone similar to that of NAFTA. The subject matter being negotiated extends far beyond
traditional trade matters. TPPs 29 chapters would set binding rules on everything from servicesector regulation, investment, patents and copyrights, government procurement, financial
regulation, and labor and environmental standards, as well as trade in industrial goods and
agriculture. As with other such agreements, Congress must vote to approve it, most likely under a
Fast Track provision that prohibits any amendments and limits debate. The public has no
access to the text [of the agreement]. Congress has extremely limited access. Trade, though
constitutionally a congressional prerogative, is now firmly in the hands of the executive branch.
And trade negotiations have become a venue for rewriting wide swaths of domestic non-trade
policy traditionally determined by Congress and state legislatures.
click here.
Kids in solitary confinement: America's official child abuse

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/10/children-solitary-confine...
Thousands of teenagers, some as young as 14 or 15, are routinely subjected by US prisons to
[the] psychological torture [of solitary confinement]. One teen who participated in the Human
Rights watch report wrote that being in isolation felt like 'a slow death from the inside out'. Molly J
said of her time in solitary confinement: "[I felt] doomed, like I was being banished. Like you
have the plague or that you are the worst thing on earth. I guess [I wanted to] feel like I was
part of the human race not like some animal." Molly was just 16 years old when she was placed
in isolation in an adult jail in Michigan. She described her cell as being "a box": "There was a bed
the slab. It was concrete There was a stainless steel toilet/sink combo The door was solid,
without a food slot or window There was no window at all." Molly remained in solitary for several
months, locked down alone in her cell for at least 22 hours a day. No other nation in the
developed world routinely tortures its children in this manner. And torture is indeed the word
brought to mind by a shocking report released today by Human Rights Watch and the American
Civil Liberties Union. Growing Up Locked Down documents, for the first time, the widespread use
of solitary confinement on youth under the age of 18 in prisons and jails across the country, and
the deep and permanent harm it causes to kids caught up in the adult criminal justice system.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the injustices rampant in
prisons, click here.
Mexico orders HPV vaccinations for all 5th-grade girls, saying it will end
threat of cervical cancer
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/03/3032961/mexico-orders-hpv-vaccinations....
Mexico on [October 3] launched a massive program to vaccinate fifth-grade girls against human
papillomavirus, making it one of the few nations in the world with a universal campaign against the
sexually transmitted virus. One million schoolgirls ages 11 or 12 will receive the HPV vaccination
this week, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said. Another 200,000 girls who arent in school also
will be given the vaccine. Mexico becomes one of the few countries in the world to follow in the
footsteps of Greece, which in 2007 made the HPV vaccination mandatory for girls entering seventh
grade. All fifth-grade girls will be given an initial shot, then a second shot six months later.
A third and final dose will be given to girls in ninth grade. Mexico began an obligatory
vaccination program of schoolchildren and pregnant women in 1991, and currently
[administers] 14 types of vaccines, Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski said. During
weeklong periods three times a year, thousands of doctors and nurses spread across the country
to schools and rural clinics to administer the free vaccinations.
Note: Once again the pharmaceutical companies are persuading governments to force the public
to take their questionable vaccines. For an excellent report endorsed by dozens of respected
doctors and nurses on the serious risks and dangers of vaccines, click here. Read about a key
scientific study which showed that monkeys given standard human vaccines developed autism
symptoms, at this link. For powerful evidence presented in major media articles that some
vaccines are much more dangerous than the health industry will acknowledge, click here.
Why the US demonises Venezuela's democracy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/03/why-us-dcemonises-venezue...
On 30 May, Dan Rather, one of America's best-known journalists, referred to [Venezuelan
president Hugo] Chvez as "the dictator" a term that few, if any, political scientists familiar with
the country would countenance. Here is what Jimmy Carter said about Venezuela's "dictatorship" a
few weeks ago: "As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say that the
election process in Venezuela is the best in the world." Carter won a Nobel prize for his work
through the election-monitoring Carter Center, which has observed and certified past Venezuelan
elections. The opposition will probably lose this election ... because the living standards of the
majority of Venezuelans have dramatically improved under Chvez. Since 2004, when the
government gained control over the oil industry and the economy had recovered from the
devastating, extra-legal attempts to overthrow it (including the 2002 US-backed military
coup), poverty has been cut in half and extreme poverty by 70%. And this measures only
cash income. Millions have access to healthcare for the first time, and college enrolment has
doubled, with free tuition for many students. Inequality has also been considerably reduced. By
contrast, the two decades that preceded Chvez amount to one of the worst economic failures in
Latin America, with real income per person actually falling by 14% between 1980 and 1998. In
Washington, democracy has a simple definition: does a government do what the state department
wants it to do?
Note: For a powerful movie which shows how much our media distorts our perception of global
events, watch "The Revolution Will Not be Televised" about Venezuela and Hugo Chavez at this
link. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on mass media corruption,
click here.
Drone strikes in Pakistan have killed many civilians, study says

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/24/world/la-fg-drone-study-20120925
Far more civilians have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas than U.S.
counter-terrorism officials have acknowledged, a new study by human rights researchers at
Stanford University and New York University contends. The report, "Living Under Drones," also
concludes that the classified CIA program has ... turned the Pakistani public against U.S. policy in
the volatile region. "Real people are suffering real harm" but are largely ignored in government or
news media discussions of drone attacks, said James Cavallaro of Stanford, one of the study's
authors. Cavallaro said the study was intended to challenge official accounts of the drones as
precise instruments of high-tech warfare with few adverse consequences. The study concludes
that only about 2% of drone casualties are top militant leaders. The study authors did not estimate
overall civilian casualties because of limited data, Cavallaro said. But it cites estimates by the
Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has reported extensively on drone strikes, of 474
to 884 civilian deaths since 2004, including 176 children. In April, Obama's top counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, described civilian casualties from drone strikes as
"exceedingly rare." The study challenges official versions of three attacks between 2009 and
2011, including a drone strike on March 17, 2011, that killed an estimated 42 people.
Note: Imagine the uproar if another country killed innocent civilians in the US while using drones to
kill terrorists in the country. Visit the Living Under Drones website here. For a Democracy Now!
report on the results of this study click here. For more analysis click here and here.
To Catch Government Workers With Ties to Child Porn, Call the IRS
2012-09-19, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2012/09/19/to-catch-government-workers-w...
There is a national crisis of federal employees engaged in the child porn industry and a related
epidemic at the state level. Two states, Vermont and Maine, ... appear to be running stateprotected child trafficking rings, with evidence of cops, judges, lawyers, clergy and government
employees covering for each other. This kind of racketeering creates powerful, and extremely
profitable, pedophile rings. Money drives the crime. Half of all global child porn is produced in
America. Estimates of the global profits from child porn range from $3-20 billion. The Department
of Justice (DOJ)s Child Exploitation and Obscenities unit has been, by many accounts, totally
disabled under. With so many police, judges, clergy, state and federal employees across
America involved in the child porn industry Americans should be able to turn to the IRSs
Whistleblower program. Richard Weber, Chief of IRSs Criminal Division in Washington DC,
is one point of contact. Apparently, the IRS cares about trafficked children. Child trafficking and
porn are the fastest growing crimes in America. With billions being laundered in black money it
makes solid economic sense for the IRS to focus on the child porn industry. The IRS should be
given substantial resources to compensate for DOJs disgraceful failure.
Note: If you are ready to see how investigations into a massive child sex abuse ring have led to
the highest levels of government, watch the suppressed Discovery Channel documentary
"Conspiracy of Silence," available here. For more on sexual abuse scandals, see the deeply
Gaeton Fonzi, Investigator of Kennedy Assassination, Dies at 76

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/us/gaeton-fonzi-76-investigated-kennedy-ass...
Gaeton Fonzi was one of the most relentless investigators on the House Select Committee on
Assassinations in the late 1970s, remembered by former colleagues with [awe at] his pursuit of the
full story behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Mr. Fonzi was also the staff
member most publicly dismayed by the committees final report, which concluded in 1979 that the
president was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. Of course it was a conspiracy,
said Mr. Fonzi, a journalist recruited mainly on the strength of scathing magazine critiques he had
written about the Warren Commission and its conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone
in killing the president in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. But who were the conspirators? What was
their motive? How could the committee close its doors without the answers? Mr. Fonzi ...
nailed those questions to the committees locked doors, figuratively, in a long article he wrote
the next year for Washingtonian magazine and in a 1993 book, The Last Investigation. In both, he
chronicled the near-blanket refusal of government intelligence agencies, especially the C.I.A., to
provide the committee with documents it requested. And he accused committee leaders of folding
under pressure from Congressional budget hawks, political advisers and the intelligence
agencies themselves just as promising new leads were emerging. Is it unrealistic to desire,
for something as important as the assassination of a president, an investigation unbound
by political, financial or time restrictions? he asked.
Note: For the government report stating that Kennedy's assassination was like the result of a
conspiracy and other revealing reports from reliable major media sources on political
assassinations, click here.
Once-jailed banker gets $104 million whistleblower payout

2012-09-11, NBC News
http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/11/13804631-once-jailed-banker-ge...
Attorneys for jailed former Swiss banker Bradley Birkenfeld announced [on September 11] that the
IRS will pay him $104 million as a whistleblower reward for information he turned over to the US
government. The information Birkenfeld revealed detailed the inner workings of the secretive
private wealth management division of the Swiss bank UBS, where the American-born Birkenfeld
helped his US clients evade taxes by hiding wealth overseas. Tuesday's announcement
represents an astonishing turn of fortune for Birkenfeld, who was released from federal prison in
August after serving 31 months on charges relating to his efforts to help a wealthy client avoid
taxes. Birkenfeld attorney Stephen Kohn said the information the former Swiss banker turned over
to the IRS led directly to the $780 million fine paid to the US by his former employer, UBS, as well
as leading over 35,000 taxpayers to participate in amnesty programs to voluntarily repatriate their
illegal offshore accounts. That resulted in the collection of over $5 billion dollars in back
taxes, fines and penalties that otherwise would have remained outside the reach of the
government. Birkenfeld's disclosures also led to the first cracks in the legendarily secretive
Swiss banking system, and ultimately the Swiss government changed its tax treaty with the
United States. UBS turned over the names of more than than 4,900 U.S. taxpayers who held
illegal offshore accounts. Investigations into those accounts are ongoing.
financial corporations and government regulators, click here.
The modern US army: unfit for service?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/31/us-army-racism-iraq-afghanistan
Gone are the days of the all-American army hero. These days, the US military is more like a
sanctuary for racists, gang members and the chronically unfit. In the relatively halcyon days of
the first Gulf war in 1990, the US military blocked the enlistment of felons. It spurned men
and women with low IQs or those without a high school diploma. It would either block the
enlistment of or kick out neo-Nazis and gang members. It would treat or discharge
alcoholics, drug abusers and the mentally ill. No more. Many of the wars' worst atrocities are
linked directly to the loosening of enlistment regulations on criminals, racist extremists, and gang
members, among others. By 2005, the US had 150,000 troops deployed in Iraq and 19,500 in
Afghanistan. But the military wasn't prepared in any way for this kind of extended deployment. The
slim forces needed fattening up and what followed constituted a complete re-evaluation of who
was qualified to serve. Information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act ... found the
number of convicted criminals enlisting in the US military had nearly doubled in two years, from
824 in 2004 to 1,605 in 2006. A total of 4,230 convicted felons were enlisted, including those guilty
of rape and murder. On top of this, 43,977 soldiers signed up who had been found guilty of a
serious misdemeanour, which includes assault. Another 58,561 had drug-related convictions, but
all were handed a gun and sent off to the Middle East. [And] since its inception, the leaders of the
white supremacist movement have encouraged their members to enlist. They see it as a way for
their followers to receive combat and weapons training, courtesy of the US government.
Note: Extracted from Irregular Army: How The US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members,
And Criminals To Fight The War On Terror, by Matt Kennard. For deeply revealing reports from
reliable major media sources on military corruption, click here.
SEAL's book contradicts official report

http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/SEAL-s-book-contradicts-official-report-3...
A Navy SEAL's firsthand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden pulls back the veil on the
secret operations conducted almost nightly by elite American forces against terrorist suspects.
Former SEAL Matt Bissonnette's account contradicted in key details the account of the raid
presented by administration officials in the days after the May 2011 raid in Abbotabad, Pakistan.
Bissonnette wrote that the SEALs spotted bin Laden at the top of a darkened hallway and
shot him in the head even though they could not tell whether he was armed. Administration
officials have described the SEALs shooting bin Laden only after he ducked back into a
bedroom because they assumed he might be reaching for a weapon. Bissonnette wrote the
book, No Easy Day, under the pseudonym Mark Owen, as one of the men in the room when they
killed bin Laden. In [one] scene, a terrified mother clutches her child and a young girl identifies the
dead man as Osama bin Laden. The SEAL author says he did "not disclose confidential or
sensitive information that would compromise national security in any way."
Note: Isn't it interesting that the SEAL team "spotted bin Laden at the top of a darkened hallway
and shot him in the head." If it was a darkened hallway, how did they know it was bin Laden? The
articles states "a young girl identifies the dead man as Osama bin Laden." Is that really how they
ID'd this guy? And why did they then dump his body into the ocean, so that there could never be
definitive proof that the body was indeed bin Laden? So many questions remain. For more
evidence bin Laden was not killed by SEALs, click here.
Freedom of Choice Includes the Right to Know

2012-08-26, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (One of Seattle's leading newspapers)
http://blog.seattlepi.com/timigustafsonrd/2012/08/26/freedom-of-choice-includ...
In California ... voters will decide in the November election whether consumers should have the
right to know what goes in their food. Proposition 37, if it passes, will require food manufacturers to
disclose whether their products contain genetically modified organisms (GMO). It is estimated
that 40 to 70 percent of foods currently sold in grocery stores in California contain some
genetically altered ingredients. The [FDA] does not require safety studies, and no long-term
research on potential health effects has been conducted yet, although there are reports of
preliminary studies that have linked GMOs to allergies and other health risks. Proposition 37
does not intend to impose any bans. Its simply saying: Lets give consumers information so we
can choose for ourselves whether or not we want to eat genetically engineered foods. Consumers
in 50 other countries including all of Europe, Japan, China and Russia all have this right,
argued Grant Lundberg, the CEO of Lundberg Family Farms, and Kathryn Phillips, Director of the
Sierra Club California. Having started as a grassroots movement, Proposition 37 has a good
chance of succeeding. A whopping 65 percent of registered voters in California say they support
the measure. But so far, less than 3 million dollars have been raised by the organizers. Opponents,
mainly chemical and food-processing companies, including Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, Dow, Nestle,
Coca Cola and Pepsico, have raised more than nine times as much. Ignoring facts and keeping
information secret is not a sustainable strategy in the long run. Californias Right-to-Know
movement could morph into something like that with the potential of spreading across the whole
country.
Note: This article neglects to mention scientific studies which have shown that lab animals got
very sick and some even died after being fed GM food. For a well researched and footnoted paper
on this, click here. For a great collection of past major media articles revealing the serious risks
and dangers of genetically modified foods, click here.
USDA panel gets altered-crops pay plan

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/USDA-panel-gets-altered-crops-pay-plan-...
California voters this fall will decide a ballot measure that would require labeling of foods
containing genetically engineered material. But the Department of Agriculture is already tied in
knots over how to deal with the contamination of organic and conventional foods by biotech crops.
On [August 27], a USDA advisory panel will consider a draft plan to compensate farmers whose
crops have been contaminated by pollen, seeds or other stray genetically engineered material.
The meeting is expected to be contentious, pitting the biotechnology and organic industries against
each other. The draft report acknowledged the difficulty of preventing such material from
accidentally entering the food supply and concerns that the purity of traditional seeds may be
threatened. It also cited fears on both sides that official action to address contamination could send
a signal to U.S. consumers and export markets in Europe, Japan and elsewhere that the purity and
even safety of U.S. crops are suspect. Bioengineered crops dominate U.S. commodities,
including 90 percent of U.S. corn. In some states, penetration is all but complete, including
99 percent of the Arkansas cotton crop. Most processed foods contain genetically
engineered material. The organic industry said biotech companies should be responsible for
containing their own genes and that contamination threatens the right of farmers to choose how to
farm.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the dangers of
genetically-modified foods, click here. For more on the California ballot measure to require GM
labelling called the "right to know," click here.
Man Who Armed Black Panthers Was FBI Informant

2012-08-20, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48721445/ns/local_news-san_francisco_bay_area_ca/...
The man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and weapons training which
preceded fatal shootouts with Oakland police in the turbulent 1960s was an undercover FBI
informer, according to a former bureau agent and an FBI report. One of the Bay Areas most
prominent radical activists of the era, Richard Masato Aoki was known as a fierce militant who
touted his street-fighting abilities. He was a member of several radical groups before joining and
arming the Panthers. But unbeknownst to his fellow activists, Aoki had served as an FBI
intelligence informant, covertly filing reports on a wide range of Bay Area political groups,
according to the bureau agent who recruited him, [Burney Threadgill Jr.]. Aokis work for the FBI ...
was uncovered and verified during research for the book, Subversives: The FBIs War on Student
Radicals, and Reagans Rise to Power. The FBI ... released records about Aoki in response to a
Freedom of Information Act request. A Nov. 16, 1967, intelligence report on the Black Panthers
lists Aoki as an informant with the code number T-2. Aoki gave the Panthers some of their
first guns. As [Bobby] Seale recalled in his memoir, Seize the Time, the group approached
Aoki, a Third World brother we knew, a Japanese radical cat. He had guns .357
Magnums, 22s, 9mms, what have you. In early 1967, Aoki joined the Black Panther Party and
gave them more guns, Seale wrote. Aoki also gave Panther recruits weapons training.
Note: For a Democracy Now! video report on the discovery that Aoki was an FBI infiltrator,
informer and provocateur, click here. This is more solid evidence that elements within government
have consistently instigated violence within progressive movements in order to discredit them.
Sadly, this policy appears to continue up to the present.
The new totalitarianism of surveillance technology

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/15/new-totalitarianism-surve...
Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to unveil a
major new police surveillance infrastructure, developed by Microsoft. The Domain Awareness
System links existing police databases with live video feeds, including cameras using vehicle
license plate recognition software. No mention was made of whether the system plans to use or
already uses facial recognition software. But, at present, there is no law to prevent US
government and law enforcement agencies from building facial recognition databases. And we
know from industry newsletters that the US military, law enforcement, and the department of
homeland security are betting heavily on facial recognition technology. As PC World notes,
Facebook itself is a market leader in the technology but military and security agencies are close
behind. According to Homeland Security Newswire, billions of dollars are being invested in the
development and manufacture of various biometric technologies capable of detecting and
identifying anyone, anywhere in the world via iris-scanning systems, already in use; footscanning technology (really); voice pattern ID software, and so on. What is very obvious is that
this technology will not be applied merely to people under arrest, or to people under
surveillance in accordance with the fourth amendment. No, the "targets" here [include]
everyone. In the name of "national security", the capacity is being built to identify, track and
document any citizen constantly and continuously.
Why Goldman Sachs, Other Wall Street Titans Are Not Being Prosecuted
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/14/why-goldman-sachs-other-wall...
On [August 9] the Department of Justice announced it will not prosecute Goldman Sachs or any of
its employees in a financial-fraud probe. Despite the Obama administrations promises to
clean up Wall Street in the wake of Americas worst financial crisis, there has not been a
single criminal charge filed by the federal government against any top executive of the elite
financial institutions. Why is that? In a word: cronyism. Take Goldman Sachs, for example. In
2008, Goldman Sachs employees were among Barack Obamas top campaign contributors, giving
a combined $1,013,091. [Attorney General] Eric Holders former law firm, Covington & Burling,
also counts Goldman Sachs as one of its clients. Furthermore, in April 2011, when the Senate
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a scathing report detailing Goldmans
suspicious Abacus deal, several Goldman executives and their families began flooding Obama
campaign coffers with donations, some giving the maximum $35,800. The individuals the DOJs
Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force has placed in its prosecutorial crosshairs seem
shockingly small compared with the Wall Street titans the Obama administration promised to bring
to justice. To be sure, financial fraud of any kind is wrong and should be prosecuted. But locking up
pygmies is hardly the kind of financial-fraud crackdown Americans expected in the wake of the
largest financial crisis in U.S. history. Increasingly, there appear to be two sets of rules: one for the
average citizen, and another for the connected cronies who rule the inside game.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on financial corporations'
control over government, see our Banking Bailout archive here.
Modified food will be on voters' menu

2012-08-10, Houston Chronicle (One of Houston's leading newspapers)
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Modified-food-will-be-on-voters-menu-37...
In November, voters will decide whether to make California the first state in the nation to
require labels on most genetically modified food products. At least 18 states, including
California, have tried to pass similar laws through their legislatures and failed. This time, however,
the measure made it to the statewide ballot with 1 million citizen signatures; recent polls
show Proposition 37 winning by a significant margin. Food activists across the country are
watching the California battle closely, with opponents of genetic modification hoping to make the
proposition a model for other states. Supporters of the law, including organic trade groups and
environmentalists, say consumers have a right to know if the food they're eating contains
genetically modified material - particularly when the long-term health effects are unclear. Seventy
percent to 80 percent of processed foods sold in the U.S. are made with genetically engineered
ingredients, including corn, soybeans, sugar beets and cotton oil. If the California measure passes,
processed genetically engineered food products would include the words "Partially produced with
genetic engineering" on the front or back label. For whole foods such as sweet corn or salmon,
grocers would be required to have a sign on the shelf. Alcohol, most meat, eggs and dairy
products would be exempt. Jeffrey Smith, the executive director of the Institute for Responsible
Technology based in Iowa, said "Based on the evidence - damage to virtually every organ
evaluated and immune and gastrointestinal problems - labels are needed."
Note: If you read this entire article, you will detect a clear bias against GMO labelling. It quotes a
UCLA professor stating, "There is not one credible scientist working on this that would call it
unsafe." Yet the article fails to mention the many scientists who have provided solid evidence that
GMOs are unsafe. For a powerful essay showing the grave risks and dangers of GMOs, click here.
For a New York Times article listing several scientists who raised serious questions about GMOs,
click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on genetically modified
foods, click here.
Top official admits FBI had al-Awlaki in custody before letting him go in
2002
2012-08-01, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/01/top-official-admits-fbi-had-al-awl...
The FBI, for the first time, has admitted publicly that it knew the radical Muslim cleric Anwar alAwlaki was returning to the U.S. in October 2002 and that an FBI agent discussed the American's
return with a U.S. attorney before he was detained and then abruptly released from federal
custody. Al-Awlaki, who would become the first American targeted for death by the CIA, eventually
was killed last September in Yemen by a U.S. drone strike. Mark Giuliano, the FBI's assistant
director for national security, testified [on August 1] that the FBI knew in advance that he was
making his way back to the United States. Al-Awlaki was detained at New York City's JFK airport
because a customs database flagged him based on an outstanding arrest warrant. Former FBI
agents say there are only likely two explanations: The bureau let the cleric into the country to track
him for intelligence, or the bureau wanted to work with him as a friendly contact. The FBI has
never explained why it let al-Awlaki walk free at a time when dozens of young Muslim men
were being held in detention centers on material witness warrants in the wake of the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks. Al-Awlaki was under a full FBI investigation by the Washington office
when he was invited to lunch at an executive dining room at the Pentagon in February 2002.
FDA spied on whistle-blowing scientists

2012-07-14, San Francisco Chronicle/New York Times
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/FDA-spied-on-whistle-blowing-scientists-...
A wide-ranging surveillance operation by the Food and Drug Administration against a
group of its own scientists utilized an enemies list of sorts as it secretly captured
thousands of e-mails that the disgruntled scientists sent privately to members of Congress,
lawyers, labor officials, journalists and even President Obama, previously undisclosed records
show. What began as a narrow investigation into the possible leaking of confidential agency
information by five scientists quickly grew in mid-2010 into a much broader campaign to counter
outside critics of the agency's medical review process, according to the cache of more than 80,000
pages of computer documents generated by the surveillance effort. Moving to quell what one
memo called the "collaboration" of the FDA's opponents, the surveillance operation identified 21
agency employees, congressional officials, outside medical researchers and journalists thought to
be working together to put out negative and "defamatory" information about the agency. The
agency, using so-called spy software designed to help employers monitor workers,
captured screen images from the government laptops of the five scientists as they were
being used at work or at home. The extraordinary surveillance effort grew out of a bitter, yearslong dispute between the scientists and their bosses at the FDA over the scientists' claims that
faulty review procedures at the agency had led to the approval of medical imaging devices for
mammograms and colonoscopies that exposed patients to dangerous levels of radiation.
Note: For lots more from reliable major media sources on government corruption, click here.
FBI to review thousands of old cases for flawed evidence

2012-07-12, NBC News
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/12/12708918-fbi-to-review-thousands-o...
The Justice Department is going through thousands of cases from the days before DNA testing to
see whether the government exaggerated the significance of the FBI's hair analysis. The review,
the largest in U.S. history, will focus on work by FBI Laboratory hair and fiber examiners since at
least 1985, the Washington Post reported. A reporter at the Post had been working on a story
about Donald Gates, a D.C. man released after DNA evidence proved his innocence, when he
learned about Frederic Whitehurst, an FBI lab chemist who blew the whistle on the FBI Laboratory
in the mid-1990s. Whitehurst said he watched colleagues contaminate evidence and, in court,
overstate the significance of their matches. When Whitehurst, a chemist with a doctoral degree
from Duke, arrived at the FBI crime lab in 1986, the first thing he noticed was that the place was,
as he called it, a pigsty. The equipment was outdated and there was a film of black soot coating
the counters a dust from the vents that the agents called black rain. After the first World
Trade Center bombing, Whitehurst testified that supervisors pressured him to concoct
misleading scientific reports. When he refused to testify that a urea nitrate bomb had been
the source of the explosion, the FBI found another lab technician to testify. He learned that
an agent had, for the previous nine years, rewritten his scientific reports to support the
prosecution.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on intelligence agency
Court Papers Undercut Ratings Agencies' Defense

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/business/documents-seem-to-endanger-ratings...
For years, the ratings agencies have contended that the grades they assign debt securities are
independent opinions and therefore entitled to First Amendment protections, like those afforded
journalists. But newly released documents in a class-action case ... cast doubt on the
independence of the two largest agencies, Moodys Investors Service and Standard & Poors. The
case, filed in 2008 by a group of 15 institutional investors against Morgan Stanley and the two
agencies, involves a British-based debt issuer called Cheyne Finance. Cheyne collapsed in August
2007 under a load of troubled mortgage securities. Even though Cheynes portfolio was bulging
with residential mortgage securities, some of its debt received the agencies highest ratings, a
grade equal to that assigned to United States Treasury securities. When the primary analyst at
S.& P. notified Morgan Stanley that some of the Cheyne securities would most likely receive
a BBB rating, not the A grade that the firm had wanted, the agency received a blistering email from a Morgan Stanley executive. S.& P. subsequently raised the grade to A. After the
institutions that bought Cheynes debt sued Morgan Stanley and the ratings agencies, Moodys
and S.& P. immediately mounted a First Amendment defense. But Shira A. Scheindlin, the federal
judge overseeing the matter ... argued that the ratings were not opinions but were
misrepresentations that were possibly a result of fraud or negligence.
here.
A court of, by and for the 1%

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/roberts-court-is-still-a-conservative-...
Nearly 70 percent of voters think super PACs should be outlawed, and more than half
strongly do. We can hardly believe that the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch
will spend more this year than John McCains entire presidential campaign raised in 2008.
We cant stand the constant flood of negative ads on every channel or the ominous anonymity of
the interests behind them. The Roberts Court sees all this and refuses to acknowledge that it
give[s] rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. Fortunately, if on the question of
campaign finance the Supreme Court is immune to the court of public opinion, progressives are
fighting through other avenues to transform todays corrupt system into one that is fair, transparent
and participatory. In [the] state of New York, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a
path-breaking investigation of tax-exempt groups that might be fraudulently funneling funds into
politics, including a charitable foundation affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is partnering with Protect Our Democracy ... to apply
the same successful, grass-roots pressure they used in getting same-sex marriage passed to our
campaign finance system. They have joined with citizen activists who are looking to New York
Citys successful, multiple-match public financing system. A Brennan Center for Justice study
showed that this system promoted diversity among candidates and donors and reduced the
influence of corporate money.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on problems with US elections, click here.
The Fate Of A World Bank Whistle-Blower

2012-06-27, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2012/06/27/the-sad-fate-of-a-world-b...
The World Bank is a place where whistle-blowers are shunned, persecuted and bootednot always
in that order. Consider John Kim, a top staffer in the banks IT department, who in 2007
leaked damaging documents ... after he determined that there were no internal institutional
avenues to honestly deal with wrongdoing. Sometimes you have to betray your country in
order to save it, Kim says. In return bank investigators probed his phone records and e-mails, and
allegedly hacked into his personal AOL account. After determining he was behind the leaks the
bank put him on administrative leave for two years before firing him on Christmas Eve
2010. With nowhere to turn Kim was guided into the offices of the Washington, D.C.-based
Government Accountability Projectthe only game in town for public-sector leakers. [They] helped
Kim file an internal case for wrongful termination (World Bank staffers have no recourse to U.S.
courts) and in a landmark ruling a five-judge tribunal eventually ordered the bank to reinstate him
last May. Despite the decision, the bank retired him in September after 29 years of service.
Note: For the video of another major World Bank whistleblower, Karen Hudes, click here. For
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on financial corruption, click here.
Obama claims executive privilege; Holder held in contempt

2012-06-20, USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/obama-team-fast-...
A Republican-run House committee voted today to cite Attorney General Eric Holder for contempt
after President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents in the "Fast and Furious"
operation. The "decision to invoke executive privilege implies that White House officials were either
involved in the Fast and Furious operation or the cover-up that followed," said Michael Steel, a
spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The administration has always insisted
that wasn't the case. Agents involved in Operation Fast and Furious lost track of some
weapons. Two guns were later found at the scene of the killing of a U.S. border patrol agent,
Brian Terry. In a statement issue by their attorney, Terry's parents condemned the Obama
administration for invoking executive privilege. "Our son, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was
killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from this failed Justice
Department gun trafficking investigation," said Josephine Terry and Kent Terry Sr. "For more than
18 months we have been asking our federal government for justice and accountability." The Terrys
also said that "our son lost his life protecting this nation, and it is very disappointing that we are
now faced with an administration that seems more concerned with protecting themselves rather
than revealing the truth behind Operation Fast and Furious." The investigation into the operation
was spurred after Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, inquired into whistle-blower allegations that the
government had allowed the transfer of illegally purchased weapons.
Note: For more about the Fast and Furious ATF operation that provided US guns to criminal
gangs, see this news summary from a reliable major media source.
Jamie Dimon, welfare recipient
2012-06-19, MSN
http://money.msn.com/investing/jamie-dimon-welfare-recipient-bloomberg.aspx
When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testified in the U.S. House today, he presented himself
as a champion of free-market capitalism in opposition to an overweening government. His position
would be more convincing if his bank weren't such a beneficiary of corporate welfare. JPMorgan
receives a government subsidy worth about $14 billion a year, according to research published by
the International Monetary Fund. The money helps the bank pay big salaries and bonuses. More
important, it distorts markets, fueling crises such as the recent subprime-lending disaster and the
sovereign-debt debacle that is now threatening to destroy the euro and sink the global economy. In
recent decades, governments and central banks around the world have developed a consistent
pattern of behavior when trouble strikes banks that are large or interconnected enough to threaten
the broader economy: They step in to ensure that all the bank's creditors, not just depositors, are
paid in full. With each new banking crisis, the value of the implicit subsidy grows. JPMorgan's
share of the subsidy is $14 billion a year, or about 77% of its net income for the past four
quarters. In other words, U.S. taxpayers helped foot the bill for the multibillion-dollar
trading loss that is the focus of today's hearing. When Dimon pushes back against capital
requirements or the Volcker rule, it's worth remembering that he's pushing for a form of corporate
welfare that, left unchecked, could lead to a crisis too big for the government to contain.
Note: For more vitally important information on this, explore the excellent, reliable information in
our Banking Corruption Information Center available here. For other key major media articles
showing blatant financial corruption, click here.
Opportunistic countries ready to cash in on Afghanistan

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-12/news/sns-201206121330--tms--amv...
Even before NATO forces begin leaving Afghanistan, [other countries are] trying to win access to
the nation's vast natural resources after Western troops leave. Chief among them are China, Iran
and India. For example, in Beijing late last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Chinese
President Hu Jintao signed a deal allowing China to pursue mineral resources, energy
development and agricultural opportunities. Over the past decade, China has given the Afghan
government $246 million in aid -- while spending $3.5 billion to develop a cooper mine there. India
... has won rights to mine iron ore. And Iran ... is promising copious aid and assistance after NATO
leaves. Underlying all of this is the discovery that Afghanistan holds at least $1 trillion in
untapped natural resources, including oil, cobalt, iron ore, gold and precious metals,
among them lithium, used to power batteries. An internal Pentagon memo, now widely
quoted, calls Afghanistan "the Saudi Arabia of lithium."
The crime of punishment at Pelican Bay State Prison

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/30/EDO81OPJ9O.DTL
For the past 16 years, I have spent at least 22 1/2 hours of every day completely isolated within a
tiny, windowless cell in the Security Housing Unit at California's Pelican Bay State Prison in
Crescent City. Eighteen years ago, I committed the crime that brought me here: burgling an
unoccupied dwelling. Under the state's "three strikes" law, I was sentenced to between 25 years
and life in prison. The circumstances of my case are not unique; in fact, about a third of Pelican
Bay's 3,400 prisoners are in solitary confinement; more than 500 have been there for 10 years,
including 78 who have been here for more than 20 years. Unless you have lived it, you cannot
imagine what it feels like to be by yourself, between four cold walls, with little concept of time, no
one to confide in, and only a pillow for comfort - for years on end. It is a living tomb. I eat alone and
exercise alone in a small, dank, cement enclosure known as the "dog-pen."I have not been
allowed physical contact with any of my loved ones since 1995. I have developed severe insomnia,
I suffer frequent headaches, and I feel helpless and hopeless. In short, I am being psychologically
tortured. Now fellow SHU inmates and I have joined together with the Center for Constitutional
Rights in a federal lawsuit that challenges this treatment as unconstitutional. I understand I broke
the law, and I have lost liberties because of that. But no one, no matter what they've done,
should be denied fundamental human rights, especially when that denial comes in the form
of such torture. Our Constitution protects everyone living under it; fundamental rights must
not be left at the prison door.
Note: For more on the unbridled cruelty and corruption of the prison-industrial complex, click here.
Secret Kill List Proves a Test of Obamas Principles and Will

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda....
Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret "nominations" process to designate
terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical. Mr. Obama ...
insisted on approving every new name on an expanding "kill list," poring over terrorist suspects'
biographies. When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises -- but his family is
with him -- it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation. In interviews
with The New York Times, three dozen of his current and former advisers described Mr. Obama's
evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally
overseeing the shadow war. They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative dealmaking required to close the detention facility at Guantnamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal
action without hand-wringing. When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is
usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign ... even when it comes to killing an
American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was "an easy one."
Beside the president at every step is his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, who is
variously compared by colleagues to a dogged police detective, tracking terrorists from his
cavelike office in the White House basement, or a priest whose blessing has become
indispensable to Mr. Obama, echoing the president's attempt to apply the "just war" theories of
Christian philosophers to a brutal modern conflict.
Note: For further analysis of Obamas role in the selection of drone missile targets, click here.
America's murderous drone campaign is fuelling terror

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/29/americas-drone-campaign-t...
From Pakistan to Somalia, CIA-controlled pilotless aircraft rain down Hellfire missiles on an everexpanding hit list of terrorist suspects they have already killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
civilians in the process. At least 15 drone strikes have been launched in Yemen this month, as
many as in the whole of the past decade, killing dozens; while in Pakistan, a string of US attacks
has been launched against supposed "militant" targets in the past week, incinerating up to 35
people and hitting a mosque and a bakery. But then Predators and Reapers are Barack Obama's
weapons of choice and coercion, deployed only on the territory of troublesome US allies, such as
Pakistan and Yemen and the drone war is Obama's war. In his first two years in office, the US
president more than tripled the number of attacks in Pakistan alone. Since 2004, between 2,464
and 3,145 people are reported to have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan, of whom up to
828 were civilians (535 under Obama) and 175 children. Some Pakistani estimates put the civilian
death toll much higher plausibly, given the tendency to claim as "militants" victims later
demonstrated to be nothing of the sort. The US president insisted recently that the civilian
death toll was not a "huge number". These killings are, in reality, summary executions and
widely regarded as potential war crimes by international lawyers. The CIA's now retired
counsel, John Rizzo, who authorised drone attacks, himself talked about having been
involved in "murder".
Note: For a deep analysis of how killer drone technology and the concept of remote war have
altered the balance of options available to our political and military leaders and made the political
cost of military intervention much lower than it had previously been, click here.
FBI Investigates Media Leaks in Yemen Bomb Plot

2012-05-16, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/fbi-investigates-media-leaks-in-...
FBI director Robert S. Mueller III today disclosed that the FBI is investigating leaks to the news
media about the recently disrupted plot by Al Qaedas Yemen affiliate to smuggle a bomb designed
to be concealed in underwear onto a U.S. bound jet. The plans for the attack, which featured a
more sophisticated version of the device the underwear bomber of Christmas 2009 was arrested
with, were first revealed by the AP. But a day later, it was revealed that the individual at the
center of the plot was a double agent working for Britains MI-6 secret intelligence service
and the CIA along with Saudi Arabian intelligence assets. We have initiated an
investigation into this leak, Mueller testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on
Wednesday. Justice Department officials and an FBI spokesman declined to comment on the
nature of the investigation. The CIA also declined comment. Matthew Olsen, director of the
National Counterterrorism Center, addressed the issue of media leaks relating to the plot and
called it devastating.
Note: Yes, it's devastating to the image of the FBI to be caught aiding terrorist plots. Now why isn't
the government investigating why the FBI is doing such things? For lots more from reliable sources
on the games intelligence agencies play, click here.
The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/15/carlos-texas-innocent-man-death
Antonin Scalia, one of the nine justices on the US supreme court, made a bold statement. There
has not been, he said, "a single case not one in which it is clear that a person was executed for
a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred the innocent's name would be
shouted from the rooftops." It is now clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not
commit, and his name Carlos DeLuna is being shouted from the rooftops of the Columbia
Human Rights Law Review. Carlos DeLuna was arrested, aged 20, on 4 February 1983 for the
brutal murder of a young woman, Wanda Lopez. From the moment of his arrest until the day of his
death by lethal injection six years later, DeLuna consistently protested he was innocent. The
august journal has cleared its entire spring edition, doubling its normal size to 436 pages, to carry
an extraordinary investigation by a Columbia law school professor and his students. The book sets
out in precise and shocking detail how an innocent man was sent to his death on 8 December
1989, courtesy of the state of Texas. Los Tocayos Carlos: An Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution, is
based on six years of intensive detective work by Professor James Liebman and 12 students.
What they discovered stunned even Liebman, who, as an expert in America's use of capital
punishment, was well versed in its flaws. "It was a house of cards. We found that
everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he says.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the built-in injustices and corruption within the
prison-industrial complex, click here.
'Underwear bomber' was working for the CIA

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/09/underwear-bomber-working-for-cia
A would-be "underwear bomber" involved in a plot to attack a US-based jet was in fact working as
an undercover informer with Saudi intelligence and the CIA, it has emerged. The revelation is the
latest twist in an increasingly bizarre story about the disruption of an apparent attempt by al-Qaida
to strike at a high-profile American target using a sophisticated device hidden in the clothing of an
attacker. The news that the individual at the heart of the bomb plot was in fact an informer for US
intelligence is likely to raise just as many questions as it answers. Citing US and Yemeni
officials, Associated Press reported that the unnamed informant was working under cover
for the Saudis and the CIA when he was given the bomb, which was of a new non-metallic
type aimed at getting past airport security. The informant then turned the device over to his
handlers and has left Yemen, the officials told the news agency.
Note: For more on this bizarre news, see the CBS report at this link. Isn't it amazing how many
terrorist groups have undercover FBI and CIA agents involved in actually pushing plots forward?
One has to wonder how far the plots would go without prompting by intelligence insiders. For a
powerful BBC documentary suggesting that terrorism is pushed and sold by politicians for a
deeper agenda, click here.
Rape victims say military labels them 'crazy'

2012-04-14, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/health/military-sexual-assaults-personality-dis...
Stephanie Schroeder joined the U.S. Marine Corps not long after 9/11. A year and a half later, the
Marines diagnosed her with a personality disorder and deemed her psychologically unfit for the
Corps. Anna Moore enlisted in the Army after 9/11 and planned to make a career of it. She was
diagnosed with a personality disorder and dismissed from the Army. Jenny McClendon was
serving as a sonar operator on a Navy destroyer when she received her personality disorder
diagnosis. These women joined different branches of the military but they share a common
experience: Each received the psychiatric diagnosis and military discharge after reporting a
sexual assault. CNN has interviewed women in all branches of the armed forces, including
the Coast Guard, who tell stories that follow a similar pattern -- a sexual assault, a
command dismissive of the allegations and a psychiatric discharge. Despite the Defense
Department's "zero tolerance" policy, there were 3,191 military sexual assaults reported in 2011.
Given that most sexual assaults are not reported, the Pentagon estimates the actual number was
probably closer to 19,000. Anu Bhagwati, a former company commander in the Marines and
executive director of Service Women's Action Network, a veterans advocacy group, says she sees
a pattern of the military using psychiatric diagnoses to get rid of women who report sexual
assaults. From 2001 to 2010, the military discharged more than 31,000 service members because
of personality disorder, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act
request by the Vietnam Veterans of America.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on sexual abuse in institutional settings, click
here.
CDC: U.S. kids with autism up 78% in past decade

2012-03-29, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/29/health/autism
The number of children with autism in the United States continues to rise, according to a new
report released ... by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest data estimate that
1 in 88 American children has some form of autism spectrum disorder. That's a 78% increase
compared to a decade ago, according to the report. In 2000 and 2002, the autism estimate was
about 1 in 150 children. Two years later 1 in 125 8-year-olds had autism. In 2006, the number
was 1 in 110, and the newest data -- from 2008 -- suggests 1 in 88 children have autism.
Boys with autism continue to outnumber girls 5-to-1, according to the CDC report. It estimates
that 1 in 54 boys in the United States have autism. A child or adult with an autistic spectrum
disorder might: --Repeat actions over and over --Not look at objects when another person points to
them --Avoid eye contact and want to be alone --Prefer not to be held or cuddled or might cuddle
only when they want to --Appear to be unaware when other people talk to them but respond to
other sounds.
Note: Children with autistic characteristics were extremely rare until just the last 50 years or so,
when vaccines first started. For dozens of major media articles showing a link between autism and
vaccines, click here. For an MSNBC article featuring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. showing a very strong
correlation between vaccines and autism, click here.
Pope's visit to Mexico refocuses attention on narco-church relations

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/22/popes-visit-mexico-narco-church
Photographs of a plaque thanking [a drug cartel] kingpin for building [a] new modernist
church with a 20-metre high metal cross ... caused a scandal when they were published in a
national newspaper in October 2010. The scandal has faded but the plaque remains an
uncomfortable reminder of the influence of the drugs culture in the Mexican Catholic
church. Narco-church relations are nothing new. In 1993 the leaders of the Tijuana cartel held a
secret meeting with the papal nuncio in Mexico City as part of an effort to distance themselves
from a chaotic shootout that had killed a cardinal. The meeting was brokered by a Tijuana priest
who had received bountiful donations over the years. Pope Benedict [expressed] concern about
such relations at the start of his papacy. But while the bishops have since periodically stressed that
drug money can never be purified ... they have done little else. While the pope is expected to talk
about the violence battering Mexico during his three-day visit ... observers believe he is unlikely to
make more than a passing reference to corrosion of the church itself. In the meantime one cartel
has sought to take propagandistic advantage of the visit. Banners signed by the Knights Templar
cartel hung up around Guanajauto on Sunday welcomed the pope and promised to refrain from
"acts of war" during his visit. That same cartel was suspected to be responsible for the appearance
of 10 severed heads outside a slaughterhouse in another state on the same day.
MF Global Still Set to Pay Bonuses

Three top executives of MF Global Holdings Ltd. when it collapsed could get bonuses of as much
as several hundred thousand dollars each under a plan by a trustee overseeing the securities
firm's bankruptcy case. Louis Freeh, the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director now in
charge of unwinding what is left of the New York company, is expected to ask a bankruptcy-court
judge as soon as this month to approve performance-related payouts for the chief operating officer,
finance chief and general counsel at MF Global. Under the expected pay plan, the three
executives and as many as 20 other MF Global employees working for Mr. Freeh would get the
bonuses only if they hit specified targets such as increasing the value of MF Global's estate for
creditors. The bonus plan could face fierce resistance. One reason: Criminal and civil
investigators are scrutinizing the role of top executives and others at MF Global in money
transfers that resulted in a $1.6 billion shortfall in customer accounts. So far, many hedge
funds, farmers and other investors who bought and sold through MF Global have gotten about 72
cents out of every $1 held by the firm when it collapsed. Hopes for additional recoveries have
dimmed as the probe grinds on. Neal Wolkoff, a former executive at the New York Mercantile
Exchange who now works as a consultant, said it "is shocking" that Messrs. Abelow and
Steenkamp still work at MF Global and could earn bonuses "because it represents a conflict of
interest."
Note: For an abundance of major media articles revealing major financial manipulations, click
here.
Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/why-an-mri-costs-1080-in-am...
There is a simple reason health care in the United States costs more than it does anywhere else:
The prices are higher. In 2009, Americans spent $7,960 per person on health care. Our neighbors
in Canada spent $4,808. The Germans spent $4,218. The French, $3,978. If we had the perperson costs of any of those countries, Americas deficits would vanish. There are many possible
explanations for why Americans pay so much more. It could be that were sicker. Or that we go to
the doctor more frequently. But health researchers have largely discarded these theories.
Americans dont see the doctor more often or stay longer in the hospital than residents of other
countries. Quite the opposite, actually. We spend less time in the hospital than Germans and see
the doctor less often than the Canadians. The International Federation of Health Plans ... surveyed
its members on the prices paid for 23 medical services and products in different countries, asking
after everything from a routine doctors visit to a dose of Lipitor to coronary bypass surgery. And in
22 of 23 cases, Americans are paying higher prices than residents of other developed
countries. Usually, were paying quite a bit more. In America, ... its a free-for-all. Providers
largely charge what they can get away with, often offering different prices to different
insurers, and an even higher price to the uninsured.
Note: And why are the prices higher in the U.S.? Could it be that the U.S. is the only developed
nation that doesn't have nationalized health care, so that profit is no longer a motive in caring for
people's health? For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption in
the medical industry, click here.
Japan Leader Points to Disaster Response Failures

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/japan-leader-points-disaster-respons...
Japan's prime minister acknowledged Saturday the government failed in its response to
last year's earthquake and tsunami, being too slow in relaying key information and
believing too much in "a myth of safety" about nuclear power. "We can no longer make the
excuse that what was unpredictable and outside our imagination has happened," Prime Minister
Yoshihiko Noda said. "Crisis management requires us to imagine what may be outside our
imagination." Noda was speaking to reporters at his official residence ahead of the anniversary of
the March 11 disaster that killed nearly 20,000 people in northeastern Japan and set off the worst
nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. The phrase "soteigai," or "outside our imagination," was used
repeatedly by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that ran the plant, as the reason why it was not
prepared for the giant tsunami that hit after the magnitude-9.0 quake. Although some scholars had
warned about such tsunami risks, both the utility and regulators did little and kept backup
generators in basements where they could be flooded. Japan has also drawn criticism as having
been slow with information about the meltdowns and about radiation leaks into the air and the
ocean. "We can say in hindsight that the government, business and scholars had all been seeped
in a myth of safety," Noda said of the oversights in the accident. "The responsibility must be
shared."
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the corruption in the nuclear power industry, click
here.
Saudi Arabia May Be Tied to 9/11, 2 Ex-Senators Say

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/graham-and-kerrey-see-possible-saudi-9-1...
For more than a decade, questions have lingered about the possible role of the Saudi government
in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, even as the royal kingdom has made itself a crucial
counterterrorism partner in the eyes of American diplomats. Now, in sworn statements that seem
likely to reignite the debate, two former senators who were privy to top secret information on the
Saudis' activities say they believe that the Saudi government might have played a direct role in the
terrorist attacks. "I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the
terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia,"
former Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, said in an affidavit filed as part of a lawsuit
brought against the Saudi government and dozens of institutions in the country by families of Sept.
11 victims and others. Mr. Graham led a joint 2002 Congressional inquiry into the attacks. His
former Senate colleague, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a Democrat who served on the separate 9/11
Commission, said in a sworn affidavit of his own in the case that "significant questions remain
unanswered" about the role of Saudi institutions. "Evidence relating to the plausible involvement of
possible Saudi government agents in the September 11th attacks has never been fully pursued,"
Mr. Kerrey said. Their affidavits ... are part of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that has wound its way
through federal courts since 2002.
Note: Much evidence exists implicating not only Saudi Arabia, but also Pakistan, Israel and the UK
in the 9/11 attacks. Could the purpose behind these high-profile claims from former US senators
be to create a "limited hangout" to deflect attention from the real perpetrators, traitors in high
positions within the US government? As WantToKnow team member Prof. David Ray Griffin has
exhaustively demonstrated, almost all of the evidence for "Islamic hijackers" vanishes on close
examination. For more serious questions on 9/11, click here.
Cop-cadet sex case has precedents

2012-03-01, Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Associated Press
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/AP-ENTERPRISE-Cop-cadet-sex-case-has-pr...
When an on-duty police officer was shot and killed by a colleague a month ago, residents of [Santa
Maria, CA, an] agricultural community north of Santa Barbara were horrified. Outrage grew when
they learned the shooting occurred as fellow officers tried to arrest the policeman on suspicion he
was having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in the city's "Police Explorers" program. But
inappropriate relationships between officers and youths in the junior police program aren't all that
rare. No organization keeps statistics but an Associated Press examination of news accounts
during the 21 years since the Explorers was spun off from the Boy Scouts of America found
at least 97 cases involving officers accused of sexual assault on minor girls, and
sometimes boys, in the program. And that's likely a fraction of all such incidents, said Samuel
Walker, a University of Nebraska-Omaha criminal justice professor and expert on police
misconduct and accountability. Most relationships never become public because a youth is unlikely
to report it and even if fellow officers are aware, they're reluctant to do anything. "More often than
not other officers know that something wrong is going on and they don't report it," Walker said.
"Police departments are like villages: everybody gossips and everybody knows." The Explorer
program is run by Learning for Life, a subsidiary of Boy Scouts of America.
Note: When a Chilean friend of this website's founder was facing a serious traffic ticket which
could have gotten her kicked out of the country, the police officer offered to let her go if she would
have sex with him later. She accepted but then managed to escape. She never reported the
incident. This type of sexual abuse by authorities is likely much more common than most people
would imagine. For more powerful evidence of this, click here and here.
Icelandic Anger Brings Debt Forgiveness in Best Recovery Story
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-28/icelandic-anger-brings-debt-forgi...
Icelanders who pelted parliament with rocks in 2009 demanding their leaders and bankers answer
for the countrys economic and financial collapse are reaping the benefits of their anger. Since the
end of 2008, the islands banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic
product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population, according to a report
published this month by the Icelandic Financial Services Association. You could safely say that
Iceland holds the world record in household debt relief, said Lars Christensen, chief
emerging markets economist at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. Iceland followed the textbook
example of what is required in a crisis. Any economist would agree with that. Most polls now show
Icelanders dont want to join the European Union, where the debt crisis is in its third year. The
islands households were helped by an agreement between the government and the banks,
which are still partly controlled by the state, to forgive debt exceeding 110 percent of home
values. On top of that, a Supreme Court ruling in June 2010 found loans indexed to foreign
currencies were illegal, meaning households no longer need to cover krona losses.
Note: The amazing story of the Icelandic people demanding bank reform is one of the most
underreported stories in recent years. Why isn't this all over the news? To see what top journalists
say about news censorship, click here. For blatant manipulations of the big banks reported in the
major media, click here.
Almost year after tsunami, Fukushima nuclear plant in shambles,

running on makeshift equipment
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/investigation-finds-japan-wi...
Japans tsunami-hit Fukushima power plant remains fragile nearly a year after it suffered multiple
meltdowns, its chief said [on February 28], with makeshift equipment some mended with tape
keeping crucial systems running. An independent report, meanwhile, revealed that the
government downplayed the full danger in the days after the March 11 disaster and secretly
considered evacuating Tokyo. Journalists given a tour of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on Tuesday
... saw crumpled trucks and equipment still lying on the ground. A power pylon that collapsed in the
tsunami, cutting electricity to the plants vital cooling system and setting off the crisis, remained a
mangled mess. The equipment that serves as the lifeline of the cooling system is shockingly
feeble-looking. Plastic hoses cracked by freezing temperatures have been mended with
tape. A set of three pumps sits on the back of a pickup truck. Along with the pumps, the
plant now has 1,000 tanks to store more than 160,000 tons of contaminated water. The Unit 3
reactor, whose roof was blown off by a hydrogen explosion, resembles an ashtray filled with a
heap of cigarette butts. Officials say radiation hot spots remain inside the plant and minimizing
exposure to them is a challenge.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the corruption in the nuclear power industry, click
here.
Rothschild loses libel case, and reveals secret world of money and
politics
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rothschild-loses-libel-case-an...
Nathaniel Rothschild, scion of the banking dynasty and friend of seemingly everyone in the
spheres of finance, business and politics, ... has lost his libel case against the Daily Mail, which he
sued for "substantial damages" over its account of his and [Lord] Mandelson's extraordinary trip to
Russia in January 2005. Mr Rothschild claimed he was subjected to "sustained and unjustified"
attacks in the May 2010 article, which portrayed him as a "puppet master", dangling his friend Lord
Mandelson in front of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to ease the passage of colossal
business deals. It began on Mr Rothschild's private jet from the World Economic Forum in Davos
to Moscow, where they met Mr Deripaska, the aluminium plant manager who became the richest
oligarch of them all, and continued on Mr Deripaska's private jet to his chalet in Siberia. The judge
rejected the notion that Mr Rothschild and Mr Mandelson had flown out as friends, not business
associates, and said Mr Rothschild's behaviour had in part been "inappropriate". "That conduct
foreseeably brought Lord Mandelson's public office and personal integrity into disrepute," the judge
said. That leading politicians, bankers and businessmen associate with each other in
fashions that blur the boundaries between work and pleasure is a secret too great to be
maintained with any success, but it doesn't make the details, on the rare occasions they
actually emerge, any more palatable.
and here.
88 million out of work and not looking for a job

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/08/BUIQ1N3RH8.DTL
88 million. That's how many working-age Americans don't have a job and aren't trying to find one.
The increase in people dropping out of the labor market altogether skews the otherwise-positive
unemployment numbers released last week. While the jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent in
January - a three-year low - it doesn't [take into account] this army of nonworking
Americans. The percentage of people participating in the labor market dropped to 63.7
percent last month, the lowest level since May 1983.
Note: This one small article reveals an astounding statistic the media and government are all but
ignoring. The actual rate of jobless Americans is well over 30%. The U.S. government definition of
unemployed covers only those who "do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4
weeks, and are currently available for work."
In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/asia/army-colonel-challenges-pentagon...
Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis ... returned [from Afghanistan] in October of last year with a fervent
conviction that the war was going disastrously and that senior military leaders had not
leveled with the American public. Late last month, Colonel Davis, 48, began an unusual
one-man campaign of military truth-telling. He wrote two reports, one unclassified and the other
classified, summarizing his observations on the candor gap with respect to Afghanistan. He briefed
four members of Congress and a dozen staff members, spoke with a reporter for The New York
Times, sent his reports to the Defense Departments inspector general and only then informed
his chain of command that he had done so. How many more men must die in support of a mission
that is not succeeding? Colonel Davis asks in an article summarizing his views titled "Truth, Lies
and Afghanistan: How Military Leaders Have Let Us Down." Colonel Davis says his experience
has caused him to doubt reports of progress in the war from numerous military leaders, including
David H. Petraeus, who commanded the troops in Afghanistan before becoming the director of the
Central Intelligence Agency in June.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the realities of the various wars, click here.
JFK mistress Mimi Alford reveals new details in book

2012-02-05, BBC News
A book by a former mistress of President John F Kennedy has revealed new details of their
relationship. Extracts in the US media of Once Upon A Secret by Mimi Alford recount the affair she
had with the president whilst an intern at the White House. The previewed parts of the book
contain graphic details of the president's milieu, including tales of drug use. Excerpts
published in the New York Post also describe how Ms Alford - then 19-year-old Mimi Beardsley lost her virginity to the president in 1962, after she had been invited to swim at the White House
pool. The affair went on to last 18 months. The relationship apparently continued even after Ms
Alford left Washington, and she claims to have slept with Mr Kennedy just days before he was
assassinated. Ms Alford, now 69, also recalls consoling Mr Kennedy after the death of his baby
son Patrick. "There was a stack of condolence letters on the floor next to his chair, and he picked
each one up and read it aloud to me. Occasionally, tears rolling down his cheeks, he would write
something on one of the letters, probably notes for a reply. But mostly he just read them and cried.
I did, too," Ms Alford writes. Ms Alford's decision to write the memoir came after being exposed in
"a tabloid frenzy" in 2003 when a Kennedy biographer had referred to "a 19-year-old... White
House intern" as one his affairs, according to her publisher, Random House.
Note: If you want to understand how sex and power can corrupt even great men, read the full New
York Post article at this link.
Insurance profits soar after health care overhaul

2012-01-06, San Francisco Chronicle/Bloomberg News
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/05/BUUH1MLB31.DTL
Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health care overhaul,
saying it would raise costs and disrupt coverage. Instead, profit margins at the companies widened
to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows. Insurers led
by WellPoint ... recorded their highest combined quarterly net income of the past decade after the
law was signed in 2010, said Peter Gosselin, the study author. "The industry that was the
loudest, most persistent critic of this law, the industry whose analysts and executives
predicted it would suffer immensely because of the law, has thrived," Gosselin said. Health
insurers contributed $86.2 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the law after
Obama administration officials criticized the [corporations'] plans for enriching themselves by
raising customer premiums. Companies are changing their business focus to gain from provisions
in the law that will expand the size of Medicaid, the $401 billion government health plan for the
poor.
Note: Is it surprising that health insurance companies are raking in big profits from the new health
care legislation?
The NDAA's historic assault on American liberty

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/02/ndaa-historic-...
President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing
him to indefinitely detain citizens. Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in
the history of our country. It was a continuation of the dishonest treatment of the issue by the White
House since the law first came to light. The White House told citizens that the president would
not sign the NDAA because of the provision. [But] sponsor Senator Carl Levin ... went to
the floor and disclosed that it was the White House [that] insisted that there be no
exception for citizens in the indefinite detention provision. The almost complete failure of
the mainstream media to cover this issue is shocking. Reporters continue to mouth the claim
that this law only codifies what is already the law. That is not true. The administration has fought
any challenges to indefinite detention to prevent a true court review. Moreover, most experts agree
that such indefinite detention of citizens violates the constitution. The White House conducted a
misinformation campaign to secure this power while portraying the president as some type of
reluctant absolute ruler, or, as Obama maintains, a reluctant president with dictatorial powers. Most
Democratic members joined their Republican colleagues in voting for this un-American measure.
Some Montana citizens are moving to force the removal of these members who, they insist,
betrayed their oaths of office and their constituents.
Note: For important analyses of the implications of Obama's signing of the NDAA legislation, click
here, here and here.
Decades later, a Cold War secret is revealed

http://articles.boston.com/2011-12-25/news/30557217_1_satellites-pacific-ocea...
At one point in the 1970s there were more than 1,000 people in the Danbury area working on The
Secret. And though they worked long hours under intense deadlines, sometimes missing family
holidays and anniversaries, they could tell no one not even their wives and children what
they did. They were engineers, scientists, draftsmen and inventors. It was dubbed Big Bird and it
was considered the most successful space spy satellite program of the Cold War era. From 1971
to 1986 a total of 20 satellites were launched, each containing 60 miles of film and sophisticated
cameras that orbited the earth snapping vast, panoramic photographs of the Soviet Union, China
and other potential foes. The film was shot back through the earths atmosphere in buckets that
parachuted over the Pacific Ocean, where C-130 Air Force planes snagged them with grappling
hooks. The scale, ambition and sheer ingenuity of Hexagon KH-9 was breathtaking. So too is the
human tale of the 45-year-old secret that many took to their graves. Hexagon was declassified in
September. The question became, how do you hide an elephant? a National
Reconnaissance Office report stated at the time. It decided on a simple response: What
elephant? Employees were told to ignore any questions from the media, and never confirm
the slightest detail about what they worked on.
Note: This is another excellent example of how government is able to keep huge projects secret,
and how top secret military technology is often decades ahead of anything which has been publicly
revealed. Note that even the existence of the National Reconnaissance Office, founded in 1960,
was completely denied until it's existence was declassified in 1992. Does government lie to us?
Without a doubt.
Japan releases ambitious 40-year roadmap to fully close crippled

Fukushima nuclear plant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-releases-new-40-year-p...
Japans government [has said] that it could take 40 years to clean up and fully decommission [the
Fukushima reactors]. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start removing spent fuel rods
within two to three years from their pools. After that is completed, TEPCO will start removing the
melted fuel, most of which is believed to have fallen to the bottom of the core or even down to the
bottom of the larger, beaker-shaped containment vessel, a process that is expected to begin in
10 years and [be] completed 25 years from now. Completely decommissioning the plant
would require five to 10 more years after the fuel debris removal, making the entire process
up to 40 years. The process still requires the development of robots and technology that can do
much of the work remotely because of extremely high radiation levels inside the reactor buildings.
The operator and the government would also have to ensure a stable supply of workers and save
them from exceeding exposure limits while keeping the long process going. They also have to
figure out ways to access each containment vessel and assess the extent of damage, as well as
locate holes and cracks through which cooling water is leaking and flooding the area. Another
problem is huge volume of radioactive waste and debris that will come out of the plant during its
dismantling process. Officials said they have not decided what to do with them and that part is not
covered by the 40-year roadmap.
Note: For lots more on corporate and government corruption from reliable sources, click here and
here.
Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor

Disaster Fallout
2011-12-19, Sacramento Bee (the leading newspaper of California's capitol)
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/19/4132989/medical-journal-article-14000.html
An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from
the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the
December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peerreviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.
Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S.
deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess
deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths
after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one. The 2010-2011 increase for
infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the
preceding 14 weeks. The IJHS article [is] available online ... at http://www.radiation.org. Internist
and toxicologist Janette Sherman, MD, said: "Based on our continuing research, the actual death
count [in the US] may be as high as 18,000, with influenza and pneumonia, which were up five-fold
in the period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen across all ages, but we continue to
find that infants are hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying, they have
undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for
adults."
Note: To read the report (in pdf format) on excess mortality in the US already caused by the
Fukushima meltdowns, click here.
Military given go-ahead to detain US terrorist suspects without trial

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/15/americans-face-guantanamo-detenti...
Barack Obama has abandoned a commitment to veto a new security law that allows the military to
indefinitely detain without trial American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be
shipped to Guantnamo Bay. Human rights groups accused the president of deserting his
principles and disregarding the long-established principle that the military is not used in domestic
policing. The legislation has also been strongly criticised by libertarians on the right angered at the
stripping of individual rights for the duration of "a war that appears to have no end". The law ...
effectively extends the battlefield in the "war on terror" to the US and applies the
established principle that combatants in any war are subject to military detention. The law's
critics describe it as a draconian piece of legislation that extends the reach of detention
without trial to include US citizens arrested in their own country. "It's something so radical
that it would have been considered crazy had it been pushed by the Bush administration," said
Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. "It establishes precisely the kind of system that the
United States has consistently urged other countries not to adopt. At a time when the United
States is urging Egypt, for example, to scrap its emergency law and military courts, this is not
consistent."
Note: The implications of the passage of this bill to authorize the US military to carry out domestic
arrest and imprisonment of US citizens have hardly been reported on by the major media. The
defense authorization bill undermines protections established by the Bill of Rights and the Posse
Comitatus Act against use of US military forces in domestic control and arrest. For further analysis
of the implications of this legislation, click here and here.
Critics: 'Tough' Sheriff Botched Sex-Crime Cases

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/critics-tough-sheriff-botched-sex-crime-ca...
More than 400 sex-crimes reported to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office during a threeyear period ending in 2007 including dozens of alleged child molestations ... were
inadequately investigated and in some instances were not worked at all, according to current and
former police officers familiar with the cases. Many of the victims, said a retired El Mirage police
official who reviewed the files, were children of illegal immigrants. The botched sex-crimes
investigations have served as an embarrassment to a department whose sheriff is the selfdescribed "America's Toughest Sheriff" and a national hero to conservatives on the immigration
issue. Bill Louis, then-assistant El Mirage police chief who reviewed the files after the sheriff's
contract ended, believes the decision to ignore the cases was made deliberately by supervisors in
Arpaio's office and not by individual investigators. "I know the investigators. I just cannot
believe they would wholesale discount these cases. No way," Louis said. "The direction had
to come (from) up the food chain." Louis said he believes whoever made the decision knew that
illegal immigrants who are often transient and fear the police were unlikely to complain about
the quality of investigations.
Note: For powerful evidence from a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that
child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government, click here.
Reactor Core Melted Fully, Japan Says

Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear-power complex came closer to a catastrophic meltdown than
previously indicated by its operator [which on November 30] described how one reactor's molten
nuclear core likely burned through its primary containment chamber and then ate as far as threequarters of the way through the concrete in a secondary vessel. The [new] assessmentoffered
by Japan's government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., ... marked Japan's most sobering reckoning
to date of the nuclear disaster sparked by the country's March 11 earthquake and tsunami. But it
came nearly six months after U.S. and international nuclear experts and regulators had reached
similar conclusions. For the first time, Tokyo Electric ... said that nuclear-fuel rods in the
complex's No. 1 reactor had likely melted completely, burning through their so-called
pressure vessel and then boring through concrete at the bottom of a second containment
vessel. That brought the fuel closer than previously believed to breaching the containment
vessel and foundation and continuing to burn through the ground below a scenario
sometimes described as the "China Syndrome." The findings are the latest reminder of how
much remains unknown about the extent of the mid-March Fukushima Daiichi accident.
Note: For further information on the developing understanding of the severity of the meltdowns at
Fukushima, see these reports at The Guardian and The New York Times. For key reports from
major media sources on corporate and government corruption, click here and here.
Congress, legislate thyself on insider trading

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-28/opinion/30453157_1_insider-trading-laws...
It ought to be illegal for members of Congress to buy and sell based on inside information
... but it is not illegal because Congress has exempted itself from insider-trading laws. In 2006,
when Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., introduced the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge or STOCK - Act to prohibit members of Congress and their staff from trading stocks based on
nonpublic information, her bill attracted only 14 co-sponsors. Peter Schweizer, a fellow at
Stanford's Hoover Institution, believes that some in Congress see the public trust as a "venture
opportunity" that allows them to leverage information not available to the general public.
Slaughter's STOCK Act would not stop members or staffers from dabbling in the markets. The
legislation, however, would make Capitol Hill insiders subject to prosecution if they buy or sell
securities based on nonpublic information. It also would cut into K Street's latest boutique business
practice - "political intelligence" - that allows lobbyists to gather inside financial information which
they can give to hedge-fund clients.
Note: Congress exempts itself from all kinds of laws which apply to the remainder of US citizens. If
you don't believe this, read the Time magazine article at this link. It's time for a change.
The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth...
The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of
our political class's venality. US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of
unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities
across the nation this past week. But just when Americans thought we had the picture was this
crazy police and mayoral overkill, on a municipal level, in many different cities? the picture
darkened. The New York Times reported that "New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked,
shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers" covering protests. In
New York, a state supreme court justice and a New York City council member were beaten up; in
Berkeley, California, one of our greatest national poets, Robert Hass, was beaten with batons. The
Mayor of Oakland acknowledged that the Department of Homeland Security had participated in an
18-city mayor conference call advising mayors on "how to suppress" Occupy protests. I noticed
that rightwing pundits and politicians on the TV shows on which I was appearing were all
on-message against OWS. Journalist Chris Hayes reported on a leaked memo that revealed
lobbyists vying for an $850,000 contract to smear Occupy. Message coordination of this
kind is impossible without a full-court press at the top. As the puzzle pieces fit together,
they began to show coordination against OWS at the highest national levels.
elites, click here.
G20 case reveals 'largest ever' police spy operation

2011-11-22, CBC News (Canada's Public Broadcasting Channel)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/22/g20-police-operation.html
Police organizations across the country co-operated to spy on community organizations and
activists in what the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] called one of the largest domestic
intelligence operations in Canadian history, documents reveal. Information about the extensive
police surveillance in advance of last year's G8 and G20 meetings in southern Ontario comes from
evidence presented in the case of 17 people accused of orchestrating street turmoil during the
summits. Two undercover police officers ... spent 18 months infiltrating southern Ontario
community groups ahead of the June 26-27, 2010, gathering of world leaders. They were part
of a much larger so-called joint intelligence group (JIG) operation [which] employed more than 500
people at its peak. "The 2010 G8 summit in Huntsville ... will likely be subject to actions taken by
criminal extremists motivated by a variety of radical ideologies," reads a JIG report. "The
important commonality is that these ideologies ... place these individuals and/or
organizations at odds with the status quo and the current distribution of power in society."
The RCMP-led intelligence team made a series of presentations to private-sector corporations,
including one to "energy sector stakeholders" in November 2011. Other corporations that received
intelligence from police included Canadas major banks, telecom firms, airlines, downtown property
companies and other businesses seen to be vulnerable to the effects of summit protests.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on government attacks on civil liberties, click here.
News Organizations Complain About Treatment During Protests

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/news-organizations-complain-...
A cross-section of 13 news organizations in New York City lodged complaints ... about the New
York Police Departments treatment of journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Separately, ten press clubs, unions and other groups that represent journalists called for an
investigation and said they had formed a coalition to monitor police behavior going forward. [The]
actions were prompted by a rash of incidents on Nov. 15, when police officers impeded and even
arrested reporters during and after the evictions of Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti
Park, the birthplace of the two-month-old movement. The news organizations said in a joint
letter to the Police Department that officers had clearly violated their own procedures by
threatening, arresting and injuring reporters and photographers. The letter said there were
numerous inappropriate, if not unconstitutional, actions and abuses by the police against
both credentialed and noncredentialed journalists in the last few days. The letter was written by
George Freeman, vice president and assistant general counsel for The New York Times Company,
and signed by representatives for The Associated Press, The New York Post, The Daily News,
Thomson Reuters, Dow Jones & Company, and three local television stations, WABC, WCBS and
WNBC. It was also signed by representatives for the National Press Photographers Association,
New York Press Photographers Association, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and
the New York Press Club.
elites, click here.
Retired Supreme Court Judge shoved up against a wall and threatened

by NYPD at Occupy Wall Street clashes
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063716/You-want-arrested-lady-The-re...
A retired New York Supreme Court judge has claimed she was manhandled by a policeman after
watching him beat a woman at the Zuccotti Park raids. Karen Smith was working as a legal
observer when she saw a distressed woman pushed to the ground and beaten by an officer,
she said. When she demanded he [stop], the unidentified cop pushed her against a wall and
threatened her with arrest. Ms Smith had attended the raids ... to note down the names of people
arrested as the Occupy Wall Street camp was cleared. She was wearing a fluorescent green
baseball cap bearing the words 'National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer' to show she was not
taking part in the protests. Ms Smith, who was also carrying a pad and pen, said the incident
happened at around 1.30am on Tuesday at Dey Street and Broadway Street in New York City.
Speaking to Democracy Now, she described the scene as a paramilitary operation if there ever
was one. It was what we call a stealth eviction, she added. Ms Smith explained her son had
participated in Occupy Wall Street and she had been very concerned about his safety.
Note: We don't normally use the UK's Daily Mail as a reliable source, but as no other major media
are reporting this story, we felt it warranted inclusion. The judge gives her own testimony in a video
near the bottom of the article.
OTC derivatives market activity in the first half of 2011

2011-11-16, Bank for International Settlements (Intergovernmental organization of
central banks)
http://www.bis.org/press/p111116a.htm
After an increase of only 3% in the second half of 2010, total notional amounts outstanding of
over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives rose by 18% in the first half of 2011, reaching $708
trillion by the end of June 2011.
Note: The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an intergovernmental organization of central
banks which "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for
central banks." It is not accountable to any national government. Their accounting shows a total
global derivatives market controlled by the banks of over $700 trillion. That's $100,000 for every
man, woman, and child on the planet. As reported in Reuters, the derivatives market is largely
unregulated. Do you think there is any manipulation going on here? BIS helps the bankers to work
together to keep their hidden power.
Fake terror plots, paid informants: the tactics of FBI 'entrapment'

questioned
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/16/fbi-entrapment-fake-terror-plots
In May, 2009, David Williams was arrested ... and hit with a 25-year jail sentence. Williams and
three other struggling ... men beset by drug, criminal and mental health issues were convicted of
an Islamic terrorist plot to blow up Jewish synagogues and shoot down military jets with missiles.
Even more shocking was that the organisation, money, weapons and motivation for this plot
did not come from real Islamic terrorists. It came from the FBI, and an informant paid to
pose as a terrorist mastermind paying big bucks for help in carrying out an attack. Lawyers
for the so-called Newburgh Four have now launched an appeal that will be held early next year.
Advocates hope the case offers the best chance of exposing the issue of FBI "entrapment" in
terror cases. "We have as close to a legal entrapment case as I have ever seen," said Susanne
Brody, who represents another Newburgh defendant, Onta Williams. "The target, the motive, the
ideology and the plot were all led by the FBI," said Karen Greenberg, a law professor at Fordham
University in New York, who specialises in studying the new FBI tactics. But the issue is one that
stretches far beyond Newburgh. Critics say the FBI is running a sting operation across America,
targeting to a large extent the Muslim community by luring people into fake terror plots.
Note: For a powerful BBC documentary showing clearly that much of the war on terror is a
fabrication to forward a political agenda, watch Power of Nightmares at this link. For many reports
from major media sources on the fake terror behind the "global war on terror", click here.
Cost, need questioned in $433-million smallpox drug deal

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-smallpox-20111113,0,4293...
Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy
an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work. Senior
officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies
Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest
men. Siga ... was the only company asked to submit a proposal. The contract calls for Siga
to deliver 1.7 million doses of the drug for the nation's biodefense stockpile. The price of
approximately $255 per dose is well above what the government's specialists had earlier
said was reasonable. Once feared for its grotesque pustules and 30% death rate, smallpox was
eradicated worldwide as of 1978 and is known to exist only in the locked freezers of a Russian
scientific institute and the U.S. government. There is no credible evidence that any other country or
a terrorist group possesses smallpox. If there were an attack, the government could draw on $1
billion worth of smallpox vaccine it already owns to inoculate the entire U.S. population and quickly
treat people exposed to the virus. The vaccine, which costs the government $3 per dose, can
reliably prevent death when given within four days of exposure.
Note: This is pure and blatant corruption to pad the pockers of Siga and those involved. For key
reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here. For more on corrupt drug
companies, click here.
Graham: Still no FBI records on Sarasota 9/11 probe

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/10/2496033/graham-still-no-fbi-records-on....
In September, news about a previously unknown FBI investigation into possible ties between 9/11
hijackers and a Saudi family living near Sarasota led the agency to deny there was any connection
and assert that it made all of its files available to congressional investigators a decade ago. But
two months later, the FBI has been unable or unwilling to substantiate that it disclosed any
information regarding its Sarasota investigation to Congress, says former Florida U.S. Sen. Bob
Graham. He has long contended the FBI stonewalled Congress about what it knows about
possible Saudi support for the 9/11 hijackers. The FBI investigation began shortly after 9/11
when residents of the gated community of Prestancia, south of Sarasota, called to report the
abrupt departure from their luxury home of a Saudi family about two weeks before [9/11]. The most
important information came when the FBI examined gatehouse security logs and photographs of
license plates, according to then-homeowners association administrator Larry Berberich and a
counterterrorism agent involved in the investigation. They said the security records revealed
that the home was visited by vehicles used by 9/11 terrorist leader Mohamed Atta and
fellow hijacker-pilot Ziad Jarrah.
Note: For key questions about the official account of 9/11 raised by respected government officials
and academics, click here and here.
Did You Hear the One About the Bankers?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/friedman-did-you-hear-the-on...
Citigroup had to pay a $285 million fine to settle a case in which, with one hand, Citibank
sold a package of toxic mortgage-backed securities to unsuspecting customers
securities that it knew were likely to go bust and, with the other hand, shorted the same
securities that is, bet millions of dollars that they would go bust. It doesnt get any more
immoral than this. James Stewart, a business columnist for The [New York] Times, noted that
Citigroups flimflam made Goldman Sachs mortgage traders look like Boy Scouts. This gets to
the core of why all the anti-Wall Street groups around the globe are resonating. Our financial
industry has grown so large and rich it has corrupted our real institutions through political
donations. Our Congress today is a forum for legalized bribery. One consumer group using
information from Opensecrets.org calculates that the financial services industry, including real
estate, spent $2.3 billion on federal campaign contributions from 1990 to 2010, which was more
than the health care, energy, defense, agriculture and transportation industries combined. Why are
there 61 members on the House Committee on Financial Services? So many congressmen want
to be in a position to sell votes to Wall Street.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the collusion between financial interests and
government, click here.
Ex-Abramoff associate Ring sentenced to 20 months in 1 of scandals

harshest punishments

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-abramoff-associate-faces-possib...
A former lobbyist who was a rising star under Jack Abramoffs tutelage was sentenced ... to nearly
two years in prison for giving public officials meals and event tickets. Kevin Ring argued up until
his emotional sentencing hearing that he was operating in a corrupt Washington environment
controlled by people with money and that he did not break the law. U.S. District [Judge] Ellen
Segal Huvelle said Rings conduct was not nearly as egregious as ringleader Abramoff or some of
the others involved in a scandal that resulted in stricter lobbying rules in Washington. But the judge
gave Ring a sentence of 20 months, one of the stiffest terms among the 21 defendants in the
investigation. Most others involved cooperated with prosecutors and got plea deals that
avoided prison. Huvelle said she did not consider Rings conduct [nearly as] bad as that of
Abramoff and his business partner, Michael Scanlon, who bilked their American Indian tribal clients
out of $20 million in fees, or former Rep. Bob Ney, who accepted golf and gambling trips, tickets to
sporting events, free meals and campaign donations. But Abramoff, Scanlon and Ney all
reached plea agreements with prosecutors that helped cut their sentences while Ring
fought at trial. His sentence ranks with theirs Abramoff got 48 months, Ney 30 months
and Scanlon also was sentenced to 20 months.
Note: A petty thief steals three times for a total value of a few thousand dollars and by the "three
strikes" law ends up in jail for life. Abramoff, along with his assistants, successfully corrupt U.S.
Senators and Congress members and serve less than four years in jail. Many get off with no jail
time. Is the US justice system biased towards the rich?
U.S. airstrike that killed American teen in Yemen raises legal, ethical
questions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-airstrike-that-kille...
One week after a U.S. military airstrike killed a 16-year-old American citizen in Yemen, no one in
the Obama administration, Pentagon or Congress has taken responsibility for his death, or even
publicly acknowledged that it happened. The absence of official accountability for the demise
of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a Denver native and the son of [Anwar al-Awlaki], deepens the
legal and ethical murkiness of the Obama administrations campaign to kill alleged enemies
of the state outside of traditional war zones. Officials throughout the U.S. government ... have
refused to answer questions for the record about how or why Awlaki was killed Oct. 14 in a remote
part of Yemen, along with eight other people. The official silence about the death of the American
teenager contrasts with the Obama administrations eagerness to trumpet another airstrike in
Yemen two weeks earlier. In that case, armed drones controlled by the CIA killed the teens father,
Anwar al-Awlaki. [A] U.S. official said the airstrike was launched by the militarys secretive Joint
Special Operations Command, or JSOC. The younger Awlaki was the third U.S. citizen killed by
the U.S. government in Yemen in recent weeks.
Note: For deep background on reasons why the US government may have wanted to eliminate
Anwar al-Awlaki and his son, click here.
Questions Linger Over Why CIA Operative Is at NYPD

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/cia-nypd-depends-14750628
Working inside the New York Police Department is one of the CIA's most experienced
clandestine operatives. He arrived in July as the special assistant to the deputy commissioner of
intelligence. While his title is clear, his job responsibilities are not. Federal and city officials have
offered differing explanations for why this top CIA officer was assigned to a municipal police
department. The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically, and its unusual partnership
with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation. The last
time a CIA officer worked so closely with the NYPD, beginning in the months after the 9/11 attacks,
he became the architect of aggressive police programs that monitored Muslim neighborhoods.
With that earlier help from this CIA official, the police put entire communities under a microscope
based on ethnicity rather than allegations of wrongdoing. On Monday, New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg defended the arrangement. "If the CIA can help us I'm all for getting any information
they have and then letting the police department use it," he said. All of this has troubled
lawmakers, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, who has said the CIA has "no business or authority in domestic spying, or in advising
the NYPD how to conduct local surveillance."
Note: While it is quite amazing that this information was reported in the major media, well-informed
people have known that CIA operatives are secretly inserted in police stations across the US. They
are also deployed in key positions in every major media outlet in the U.S. and many around the
world, where they can stop reporting of information which reveals too much. To read the
fascinating accounts of two award-winning journalist providing clear evidence of this, click here.
'Occupy Wall Street' -- It's Not What They're for, But What They're
Against
2011-10-14, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/10/14/understanding-occupy-wall-street/
Critics of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement complain that the protesters dont have a
policy agenda and, therefore, dont stand for anything. They're wrong. The key isnt what
protesters are for but rather what theyre against -- the gaping inequality that has poisoned our
economy, our politics and our nation. In America today, 400 people have more wealth than the
bottom 150 million combined. Thats not because 150 million Americans are pathetically
lazy or even unlucky. In fact, Americans have been working harder than ever -- productivity
has risen in the last several decades. Big business profits and CEO bonuses have also
gone up. Worker salaries, however, have declined. Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters
[want] an end to the crony capitalist system now in place, that makes it easier for the rich and
powerful to get even more rich and powerful while making it increasingly hard for the rest of us to
get by. The question is not how Occupy Wall Street protesters can find that gross discrepancy
immoral. The question is why every one of us isnt protesting with them. According to polls, most
Americans support the 99% movement, even if theyre not taking to the streets.
Note: For lots more on the reasons why people all over the world are occupying their city centers,
check out our "Banking Bailout" news articles.
Can Liberals and Libertarians Find Common Ground?

2011-10-12, Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/sites/benzingainsights/2011/10/12/can-liberals-and-libe...
The Occupy Wall Street movement has the potential to turn into a political firestorm. We have
become so divided as a nation that it is very difficult to prognosticate if anything good will come out
of these protests from a political perspective. Lets examine a number of issues that have been
raised by Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party and liberals and libertarians and see where
there is agreement. Get Corporate Money Out Of Politics This is the issue that really kick
started Occupy Wall Street. Americans are sick and tired of mega-corporations and Wall Street
banks being in bed with our politicians in Washington D.C. End the Federal Reserve The
Federal Reserve is directly responsible for the Too Big To Fail banking cartel, the U.S. debt, the
perpetual deficits, and ... the Fed has also robbed the poor and working class blind as a result of
their inflationary policies. End The Wars The American people are fed up with these conflicts,
and even large percentages of the military believe that the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan were
not worth fighting in the first place. It is time for our troops to come home. End The Drug War The drug war is an absolute failed policy. The U.S. incarcerates a higher percentage of its
population than any country on Earth, yet we call ourselves The Home of the Free. Repeal The
Patriot Act The assault on our civil liberties in the wake of 9/11 has been swift and draconian.
These are the types of things that go on in totalitarian states, and now, apparently the United
States as well.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the reasons why people worldwide are
occupying the financial centers of their cities, check out our "Banking Bailout" news articles.
Goldman Sachs let off paying 10m interest on failed tax avoidance
scheme
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/oct/11/goldman-sachs-interest-tax-avo...
Britain's tax authorities have given Goldman Sachs an unusual and generous Christmas present,
leaked documents reveal. In a secret London meeting last December with the head of Revenue,
the wealthy Wall Street banking firm was forgiven 10m interest on a failed tax avoidance scheme.
HM Revenue and Customs sources admit privately that the interest-free deal is "a cock-up" by
officials, but refuse to say who was responsible. Documents leaked to Private Eye magazine
and published in full by the Guardian record that Britain's top tax official, HMRC's
permanent secretary Dave Hartnett, personally shook hands on a secret settlement last
December. Hartnett also refused to give the facts about Goldman Sachs to MP Jesse Norman on
the Treasury committee last month, claiming disclosure would be illegal. He also refuses to brief
ministers on the details. The 10m Christmas gift for Goldman was the culmination of a prolonged
attempt by the US firm to avoid paying national insurance on huge bonuses for its bankers working
in London. The sum was pocket change to Goldman, whose employees received $15.3bn (9.5bn)
in pay and bonuses last year.
here.
World facing worst financial crisis in history, Bank of England Governor

says
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8812260/World-facing-worst...
The world is facing the worst financial crisis since at least the 1930s if not ever, the Governor of
the Bank of England said last night. Sir Mervyn King was speaking after the decision by the Banks
Monetary Policy Committee to put 75billion of newly created money into the economy in a
desperate effort to stave off a new credit crisis and a UK recession. Economists said the Banks
decision to resume its quantitative easing [QE] showed it was increasingly fearful for the economy,
and predicted more such moves ahead. Sir Mervyn said the Bank had been driven by growing
signs of a global economic disaster. This is the most serious financial crisis weve seen, at least
since the 1930s, if not ever. Were having to deal with very unusual circumstances, but to act
calmly to this and to do the right thing. Announcing its decision, the Bank said that the
eurozone debt crisis was creating severe strains in bank funding markets and financial
markets. Financial experts said the committees actions would be a Titanic disaster for
pensioners, savers and workers approaching retirement. Under QE, the Bank electronically
creates new money which it then uses to buy assets such as government bonds, or gilts, from
banks. By increasing the demand for gilts, QE pushes down the interest rate yields paid to holders
of these and other bonds. Critics of the policy say it pushes up inflation and drives down sterling.
Note: For lots more on the global financial crisis from reliable sources, click here.
Secret panel can put Americans on 'kill list'

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44794516/ns/today-today_news/t/secret-panel-can...
American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of
senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.
There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White
House's National Security Council. Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out
the rules by which it is supposed to operate. The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki ... to
the target list. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month. The White House is
portraying the killing of Awlaki as a demonstration of President Barack Obama's toughness toward
militants who threaten the United States. But the process that led to Awlaki's killing has drawn
fierce criticism from both the political left and right. Obama, who ran for president
denouncing predecessor George W. Bush's expansive use of executive power in his "war
on terrorism," is being attacked in some quarters for using similar tactics. They include
secret legal justifications and undisclosed intelligence assessments. Liberals criticized the
drone attack on an American citizen as extra-judicial murder. Conservatives criticized Obama for
refusing to release a Justice Department legal opinion that reportedly justified killing Awlaki.
Note: State assassination of a citizen without due process would seem to be the ultimate attack on
civil liberties. For lots more on such threats from reliable sources, click here.
Can U.S. legally kill a citizen overseas without due process?

2011-09-30, MSNBC
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/30/8063632-can-us-legally-kill...
Is it legal for the federal government to kill a U.S. citizen overseas, someone who has never been
charged or convicted of a crime? Civil liberties groups are condemning the killing of Anwar alAwlaki, but many legal scholars say it is justified. No U.S. court has ever weighed in on the
question, because judges consider these sorts of issues exclusively matters for the president.
Anwar al-Awlaki's father, Nasser, with the help of the ACLU, sued President Barack Obama,
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and CIA Director Leon Panetta a year ago, when it became clear
that the U.S. was targeting the younger al-Awlaki. But U.S. District Judge John Bates threw the
case out, ruling that federal courts were in no position to evaluate whether someone was a terrorist
whose activities threatened national security and against whom the use of deadly force could be
justified. The ACLU lawyer who handled the case, Jameel Jaffer, said Friday that the U.S. program
that targeted al-Awlaki was a violation of both U.S. and international law. "The government's
authority to use lethal force against its own citizens should be limited to circumstances in
which the threat to life is concrete, specific and imminent. It is a mistake to invest the
president, any president, with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems
to present a threat to the country," Jaffer said.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the illegal prosecution of the "Global War on Terror",
click here.
Bolivian anti-drugs cop jailed for cocaine trafficking
2011-09-23, BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15039500
The former chief of Bolivia's anti-narcotics police has been jailed by an American court for cocaine
trafficking. A Miami federal judge imposed the 14-year sentence on Rene Sanabria, 54. Gen
Sanabria was head of Bolivia's anti-drug agency until 2009, and was an intelligence adviser
to the government at the time of his arrest. He pleaded guilty in June to taking part in a
conspiracy to ship hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Bolivia to Chile and then on to
Miami. The court heard the plot was set up by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as
an undercover sting operation. Sanabria was detained in Panama and taken to the United States
by DEA agents for trial. He had served for 32 years in Bolivia's police force. The charge carries a
required minimum 10-year sentence. But US District Judge Ursula Ungaro said he was giving
Sanabria a higher sentence because of his leadership role, and to send an anti-corruption
message to other government officials.
Note: So the former chief of anti-narcotics was dealing drugs. What does this say about the war on
drugs? For powerful evidence from award-winning reporters that elements within the CIA and DEA
are involved in the drug trade, click here.
Tony Blair 'visited Libya to lobby for JP Morgan'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8772418/Tony-Blair-visite...
Tony Blair used visits to Libya after he left office to lobby for business for the American investment
bank JP Morgan. New questions over Tony Blair's ties to Col Muammar Gaddafi and his role in the
release of the Lockerbie bomber have emerged from documents discovered in Tripoli. A senior
executive with the Libyan Investment Authority, the $70 billion fund used to invest the country's oil
money abroad, said Mr Blair was one of three prominent western businessmen who regularly dealt
with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the former leader. Saif al-Islam and his close aides oversaw the
activities of the fund, and often directed its officials on where they should make its investments, he
said. The executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials were told the "ideas" they
were ordered to pursue came from Mr Blair as well as one other British businessman and a former
American diplomat. "Tony Blair's visits were purely lobby visits for banking deals with JP
Morgan," he said. Documents found by The Sunday Telegraph published this weekend
showed Mr Blair had made at least three visits to Tripoli, twice in the lead-up to the release
of the alleged Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Megrahi in 2008 and 2009 and once last year.
On the first two occasions he was flown to the country on planes arranged by Col Gaddafi.
Note: For a two-page summary of US Marine Corps General Smedley Butler's explanation of the
profiteering behind modern wars, click here. For key reports on corporate and government
corruption from major media sources, click here and here.
National Archives sits on 9/11 Commission records

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/08/us-sept11-archive-idUSTRE7872QI2011...
Ten years after [the 9/11 attacks], the vast majority of the 9/11 Commission's investigative records
remain sealed at the National Archives in Washington, even though the commission had directed
the archives to make most of the material public in 2009. The National Archives' failure to release
the material presents a hurdle for historians and others seeking to plumb one of the most dramatic
events in modern American history. Matt Fulgham, assistant director of the archives' center for
legislative affairs..., said that more than a third of the material has been reviewed for possible
release. But many of those documents have been withheld or heavily redacted, and the released
material includes documents that already were in the public domain, such as press articles.
Commission items still not public include a 30-page summary of an April 29, 2004 interview
by all 10 commissioners with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney,
conducted in the White House's Oval Office. This was the only time the two were formally
questioned about the events surrounding the attacks. The information could shed light on
public accounts the two men have given in recent weeks of their actions around the time of the
attacks. The still-sealed documents contain source material on subjects ranging from actions by
President Bush on the day of the attacks to ... vast amounts of information on al Qaeda and U.S.
intelligence efforts in the years preceding the attacks.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy from major media sources, click here.
Secret trial revelations prompt US-Israeli diplomatic storm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/secret-trial-revelations-pro...
A court case against a translator who leaked US government secrets was conducted in secret
because it centred on the revelation that the FBI had eavesdropped on Israeli embassy phone
calls, it was revealed yesterday. The extraordinary limitations in place for the prosecution of
Shamai Leibowitz, who was sentenced to 20 months in prison for disseminating classified
information, meant that even the judge sentencing him did not know what he was supposed
to have leaked. "All I know is that it's a serious case," Judge Alexander Williams said last year. "I
don't know what was divulged other than some documents, and how it compromised things, I have
no idea." But now Richard Silverstein, the blogger to whom Leibowitz passed his information, has
come forward to defend his source. Leibowitz passed him about 200 pages of verbatim records of
phone calls and conversations between embassy officials, saying that he believed the documents
revealed Israeli officials trying unlawfully to influence US policy and edging towards
military action against Iran. There has been dismay among civil liberties and open government
advocates who point to pledges made by Mr Obama before his election to seek new transparency
in Washington. Instead, his administration has launched a record number of prosecutions under
the Espionage Act five including the Leibowitz case. Previously, there had been only four such
prosecutions opened by all previous administrations.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy from reliable sources, click here.
Why the Fukushima disaster is worse than Chernobyl

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/why-the-fukushima-disaster-is-wo...
The triple meltdown and its aftermath at the Fukushima nuclear power plant [have] elevated Japan
into unknown, and unknowable, terrain. Across the northeast, millions of people are living with its
consequences and searching for a consensus on a safe radiation level that does not exist. Experts
give bewilderingly different assessments of its dangers. Some scientists say Fukushima is worse
than the 1986 Chernobyl accident, with which it shares a maximum level-7 rating on the sliding
scale of nuclear disasters. Chris Busby, a professor at the University of Ulster ... said the
disaster would result in more than 1 million deaths. "Fukushima is still boiling its
radionuclides all over Japan," he said. "Chernobyl went up in one go. So Fukushima is
worse." Slowly, steadily, and often well behind the curve, the government has worsened its
prognosis of the disaster. Last Friday, scientists affiliated with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety
Agency said the plant had released 15,000 terabecquerels of cancer-causing Cesium, equivalent
to about 168 times the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the event that ushered in the nuclear
age. [But] Professor Busby says the release is at least 72,000 times worse than Hiroshima.
Note: For key reports on corporate and government corruption from major media sources, click
here and here.
The explosive truth behind Fukushima's meltdown

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-explosive-truth-behind-fukus...
It is one of the mysteries of Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis: How much damage did the 11 March
earthquake inflict on the Fukushima Daiichi reactors before the tsunami hit? The stakes are high: if
the earthquake structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then every
similar reactor in Japan may have to be shut down. Throughout the months of lies and
misinformation, one story has stuck: it was the earthquake that knocked out the plant's electric
power, halting cooling to its six reactors. The tsunami then washed out the plant's back-up
generators 40 minutes later, shutting down all cooling and starting the chain of events that would
cause the world's first triple meltdown. But what if recirculation pipes and cooling pipes burst
after the earthquake before the tidal wave reached the facilities; before the electricity went
out? This would surprise few people familiar with the 40-year-old reactor one, the
grandfather of the nuclear reactors still operating in Japan. Problems with the fractured,
deteriorating, poorly repaired pipes and the cooling system had been pointed out for years. In
September 2002, Tepco admitted covering up data about cracks in critical circulation pipes.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on corporate and government corruption,
New leukemia treatment exceeds 'wildest expectations'

2011-08-10, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/ns/health-cancer/t/new-leukemia-treatmen...
Doctors have treated only three leukemia patients, but the sensational results from a single shot
could be one of the most significant advances in cancer research in decades. Doctors at the
University of Pennsylvania say the treatment made the most common type of leukemia
completely disappear in two of the patients and reduced it by 70 percent in the third. In each
of the patients as much as five pounds of cancerous tissue completely melted away in a few
weeks, and a year later it is still gone. The results of the preliminary test exceeded our wildest
expectations, says immunologist Dr. Carl June a member of the Abramson Cancer Center's
research team. Chemotherapy and radiation can hold this form of leukemia at bay for years, but
until now the only cure has been a bone marrow transplant. A bone marrow transplant requires a
suitable match, works only about half the time, and often brings on severe, life-threatening side
effects such as pain and infection. So why has this remarkable treatment been tried so far on
only three patients? Both the National Cancer Institute and several pharmaceutical
companies declined to pay for the research. Neither applicants nor funders discuss the reasons
an application is turned down.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on hopeful new cancer treatments, click here.
How Paul Stephenson and PM fell out over hacking scandal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/david-cameron-paul-stephenson-hac...
David Cameron flew abroad last night for a long-arranged trip to Africa leaving behind the carnage
inside Britain's most important police force, tumult inside the news organisation with which he has
closest links, and open disdain from his deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, over his appointment of
Andy Coulson to No 10. The "firestorm" he himself described is still raging, and as the body count
rises in the form of arrests or resignations, he looks increasingly exposed. Every day as the crisis
continues, his judgment, and that of the chancellor, George Osborne, in appointing the former
editor of the News of the World Andy Coulson as his director of communications looks increasingly
inexplicable. The problems Cameron faces come from all directions. There is no evidence that the
Conservative party either in the Home Office or in the London mayoralty of Boris Johnson took
seriously the suggestion, repeatedly raised by Labour, that the connections between News
International and the Met were unhealthy. Thirdly, the record of meetings between Cameron
and News International executives released on Friday does not reveal a modernising prime
minister governing in the national interest, but a victim of a vested interest. His meetings
with News International executives in a year exceed those with all other news organisations
put together. Not a single figure from the BBC was granted an audience.
here and here.
Scotland Yard Chief Quits Over Hacking in Britain

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/world/europe/18hacking.html
Britains top police official resigned on [July 17], the latest casualty of the phone-hacking
scandal engulfing British public life, just hours after Rebekah Brooks, the former chief
executive of Rupert Murdochs News International, was arrested on suspicion of illegally
intercepting phone calls and bribing the police. The official, Sir Paul Stephenson,
commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, commonly known as the Met or Scotland Yard,
said that he had decided to step down [but] that he had done nothing wrong and that he would not
lose sleep over my personal integrity. The commissioners resignation came as the London
political establishment was still digesting the stunning news about the arrest of Ms. Brooks who
apparently was surprised herself. A consummate networker who has always been assiduously
courted by politicians and whose friends include Prime Minister David Cameron, Ms. Brooks, 43, is
the 10th and by far the most powerful person to be arrested so far in the phone-hacking scandal.
The arrest was a shock to the News Corporation, the parent company of News International, and
the other properties in Mr. Murdochs media empire, which is reeling from the traumas of last week:
the forced withdrawal of its cherished $12 billion takeover bid for British Sky Broadcasting and the
resignations not only of Ms. Brooks but also of Les Hinton, a longtime Murdoch ally and friend who
was the chairman of Dow Jones and the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Note: For lots more on media and government corruption click here and here.
Hemingway, Hounded by the Feds

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/opinion/02hotchner.html
Early one morning, 50 years ago today, while his wife, Mary, slept upstairs, Ernest Hemingway
went into the vestibule of his Ketchum, Idaho, house, selected his favorite shotgun from the rack,
inserted shells into its chambers and ended his life. There were many differing explanations at the
time: that he had terminal cancer or money problems, that it was an accident, that hed quarreled
with Mary. None were true. As his friends knew, hed been suffering from depression and paranoia
for the last year of his life. This man, who had stood his ground against charging water buffaloes,
who had flown missions over Germany, who had refused to accept the prevailing style of writing
but, enduring rejection and poverty, had insisted on writing in his own unique way, this man, my
deepest friend, was afraid afraid that the F.B.I. was after him. Decades later, in response to a
Freedom of Information petition, the F.B.I. released its Hemingway file. It revealed that beginning in
the 1940s J. Edgar Hoover had placed Ernest under surveillance because he was suspicious of
Ernests activities in Cuba. Over the following years, agents filed reports on him and tapped his
phones. In the years since, I have tried to reconcile Ernests fear of the F.B.I., which I
regretfully misjudged, with the reality of the F.B.I. file. I now believe he truly sensed the
surveillance, and that it substantially contributed to his anguish and his suicide.
Note: The view that FBI harassment contributed to Hemingway's suicide is similar to the
conclusion of many observers that the FBI hounded microbiologist Bruce Ivins to death by
investigating him for involvement in the anthrax attacks that occurred just after 9/11. For an
important analysis of the reality of the anthrax attacks by Prof. Graeme MacQueen of McMaster
University, which makes it clear they could not have been carried out by a "lone nut" as claimed by
the FBI, click here.
A little house of secrets on the Great Plains

2011-06-28, MSN/Reuters News
The secretive business havens of Cyprus and the Cayman Islands face a potent rival: Cheyenne,
Wyoming. At a single address in this sleepy city of 60,000 people, more than 2,000 companies are
registered. The building, 2710 Thomes Avenue, isn't a shimmering skyscraper filled with A-list
corporations. It's a 1,700-square-foot brick house with a manicured lawn, a few blocks from the
State Capitol. A Reuters investigation has found the house at 2710 Thomes Avenue serves as a
little Cayman Island on the Great Plains. It is the headquarters for Wyoming Corporate Services, a
business-incorporation specialist that establishes firms which can be used as "shell" companies,
paper entities able to hide assets. Wyoming Corporate Services will help clients create a company,
and more: set up a bank account for it; add a lawyer as a corporate director to invoke attorneyclient privilege; even appoint stand-in directors and officers as high as CEO. Among its offerings
is a variety of shell known as a "shelf" company, which comes with years of regulatory
filings behind it, lending a greater feeling of solidity. All the activity at 2710 Thomes is part
of a little-noticed industry in the U.S.: the mass production of paper businesses. Scores of
mass incorporators like Wyoming Corporate Services have set up shop.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on corporate corruption, click here.
NC Forced Sterilization Victims Voice Grief, Pain

There is nothing the state of North Carolina can do, Elaine Riddick says, to make up for forcing her
to be sterilized when she was 14 years old. "They cut me open like I was a hog," [she said]. About
7,600 people were sterilized under North Carolina's eugenics program. Roughly 85 percent of
the victims were women or girls. Unlike most states, North Carolina ramped up its sterilizations
after World War II, despite associations between eugenics and Nazi Germany, which took
eugenics to even more horrifying lengths. Around 70 percent of all North Carolina's sterilizations
were performed after the war, peaking in the 1950s, according to state records. Nationwide, there
were more than 60,000 known victims of sterilization programs, with perhaps another
40,000 sterilized through "unofficial" channels like hospitals or local health departments
working on their own initiative. Eugenics was aimed at creating a better society by filtering out
people considered undesirable, ranging from criminals to those imprecisely designated as "feebleminded." People as young as 10 in North Carolina were sterilized for not getting along with
schoolmates, being promiscuous or running afoul of local social workers or doctors. "Where did all
this come from? This came from doctors, medical practitioners, professors, not guys in pickup
trucks wearing white sheets," said Edwin Black, author of the eugenics history War Against the
Weak.
Nuke plant averts shutdown from swelled Missouri

The bloated Missouri River rose to within 18 inches of forcing the shutdown of a nuclear power
plant in southeast Nebraska but stopped and ebbed slightly [on June 20], after several levees in
northern Missouri failed to hold back the surging waterway. The river has to hit 902 feet above sea
level at Brownville before officials will shut down the Cooper Nuclear Plant, which sits at 903 feet,
Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker said. Becker said the river rose to 900.56
feet at Brownville on Sunday, then dropped to 900.4 feet later in the day and remained at that level
Monday morning. The Cooper Nuclear Plant is operating at full capacity Monday, Becker
said. The Columbus-based utility sent a "notification of unusual event" to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission when the river rose to 899 feet early Sunday morning. The
declaration is the least serious of four emergency notifications established by the federal
commission. The Cooper Nuclear Station is one of two plants along the Missouri River in eastern
Nebraska. The Fort Calhoun Station, operated by the Omaha Public Power District, is about 20
miles north of Omaha. It issued a similar alert to the regulatory commission June 6.
Note: This same plant narrowly avoided a shutdown just a couple weeks prior due to an electrical
fire. For the AP article on this, click here. On Monday, June 27, floodwaters collapsed a berm
protecting the plant and flooded a building onsite. Authorities, however, still claim there are no
dangers.
Nuclear fuel has melted through base of Fukushima plant

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8565020/Nuclear-fuel-has-melted-through-base-...
The nuclear fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant has melted
through the base of the pressure vessels and is pooling in the outer containment vessels,
according to a report by the Japanese government. The findings of the report, which has been
given to the International Atomic Energy Agency, were revealed by the Yomiuri newspaper,
which described a "melt-through" as being "far worse than a core meltdown" and "the
worst possibility in a nuclear accident." Water that was pumped into the pressure vessels to
cool the fuel rods, becoming highly radioactive in the process, has been confirmed to have leaked
out of the containment vessels and outside the buildings that house the reactors. Elevated levels
of radiation have been confirmed in the ocean off the plant. The radiation will also have
contaminated the soil and plant and animal life around the facility, making the task of cleaning up
more difficult and expensive, as well as taking longer. The pressure vessel of the No. 1 reactor is
now believed to have suffered damage just five hours after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Melt-downs of the fuel in the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors followed over the following days with the
molten fuel collecting at the bottom of the pressure vessels before burning through and into the
external steel containment vessels.
Note: The UK Telegraph has been consistently reporting the bad news about the Fukushima
catastrophe, but many other major media outlets have not kept the spotlight on this vital issue.
Could that be because they are protecting the nuclear industry and its plans for expansion from the
fallout of public opinion?
Senators sound alarm over Patriot Act extension

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politicsnow/la-pn-patriot-act-alarm-201106...
When two senators warned that the Patriot Act is being interpreted in a secret way that would
alarm Americans if they knew the details, civil liberties activists could only speculate about what
they meant. The activists' fear: that the government is using the anti-terrorism law to collect vast
troves of personal information, including cellphone records, on Americans who have no link to
terrorism. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, both Democrats, proclaimed
that the Patriot Act's surveillance powers are being used far more expansively than most
Americans realize. "Today the American people do not know how their government
interprets the language of the Patriot Act," Wyden said. "Someday they are going to find
out, and a lot of them are going to be stunned. Some of them will undoubtedly ask their
senators: 'Did you know what this law actually did? Why didn't you know? Wasn't it your job to
know, before you voted on it?'" The warnings by two lawmakers with access to secret
information underscore the extent to which government surveillance is shielded from view,
in an age when nearly every American leaves a digital trail through the Internet and mobile
devices. A clue about Wyden's concerns may be found in a separate bill he is proposing, to forbid
the government from tracking, without a court order, the location of Americans through the GPS
signals given out by their cellphones.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on government surveillance and other threats to
privacy and civil liberties, click here and here.
Tepco confirms meltdowns at 2 more Fukushima reactors

2011-05-24, MSNBC/Reuters News
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43145372/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
The operator of the nuclear power plant at the center of a radiation scare after being disabled by
Japan's earthquake and tsunami confirmed ... that there had been meltdowns of fuel rods at three
of its reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Co said meltdowns of fuel rods at three reactors at the
Fukushima Daiichi plant occurred early in the crisis triggered by the March 11 disaster. The
government and outside experts had said previously that fuel rods at three of the plant's six
reactors had likely melted early in the crisis, but the utility, also known as Tepco, had only
confirmed a meltdown at the No.1 reactor. Tepco officials said a review since early May of data
from the plant concluded the same happened to reactors No.2 and 3. Some analysts said the
delay in confirming the meltdowns at Fukushima suggested the utility feared touching off a
panic by disclosing the severity of the accident earlier. "Now people are used to the
situation. Nothing is resolved, but normal business has resumed in places like Tokyo," said
Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Tokyo's Sophia University. Nakano said that by
confirming the meltdowns now, Tepco may be hoping the news will have less impact.
Note: Very few major media have given TEPCO's confirmation of the world's worst fears about the
severity of the Fukushima nuclear disaster the attention it deserves. Are the major media burying
this story because of the potential harm it will do to plans for the expansion of the nuclear power
industry?
Latest target in FDA war on raw milk

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/22/MNVN1JH966.DTL
Pennsylvania Amish farmer Dan Allgyer has become a cause celebre for raw milk drinkers as the
target of a Food and Drug Administration campaign - using sting operations and guns-drawn raids
usually reserved for terrorists and drug lords - to eliminate unpasteurized milk. Such milk, also
known as raw or fresh milk, is legal in California and considered essential to Europe's finest
cheeses, creams and butters. Allgyer is the latest to feel the force of a yearslong Food and Drug
Administration campaign against raw milk that has focused on tiny farms and consumer co-ops.
Raw milk drinkers say cooking milk diminishes its flavor and nutrients. They said similar
sterilization standards, if applied across the American diet, would ban sushi, medium-rare steaks,
oysters on the shell and most raw fruits and vegetables. The Food Safety and Modernization Act
approved by Congress last year and signed by President Obama in January has vastly enhanced
the agency's powers. Starting July 3, the agency can confiscate any food at any farm that it deems
unsafe or mislabeled. Throughout Europe, uncooked milk is the norm, dispensed in vending
machines in Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and the Netherlands. It is healthy,
adherents say, because it contains fat that is not broken down by homogenization and is
free of antibiotics and hormones, because cows are raised in small herds on pastures.
Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8509502/Nuclear-meltdown...
One of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant did suffer a nuclear meltdown,
Japanese officials admitted for the first time today, describing a pool of molten fuel at the bottom of
the reactor's containment vessel. Engineers from the Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco)
entered the No.1 reactor at the end of last week for the first time and saw the top five feet or
so of the core's 13ft-long fuel rods had been exposed to the air and melted down. Now the
company is worried that the molten pool of radioactive fuel may have burned a hole
through the bottom of the containment vessel, causing water to leak. Tepco has not clarified
what other barriers there are to stop radioactive fuel leaking if the steel containment vessel has
been breached. Greenpeace said the situation could escalate rapidly if "the lava melts through the
vessel". However, an initial plan to flood the entire reactor core with water to keep its temperature
from rising has now been abandoned because it might exacerbate the leak. Tepco said ... that it
had sealed a leak of radioactive water from the No.3 reactor after water was reportedly discovered
to be flowing into the ocean. A similar leak had discharged radioactive water into the sea in April
from the No.2 reactor. Greenpeace said significant amounts of radioactive material had been
released into the sea and that samples of seaweed taken from as far as 40 miles of the Fukushima
plant had been found to contain radiation well above legal limits.
Note: Why hasn't the Japanese government's admission of the meltdown of nuclear reactors at
Fukushima been more widely reported in the press? Are the major media burying this story
because of the potential harm it will do to plans for the expansion of the nuclear power industry?
Study: US Quietly Paid Families For Vaccine-Linked Autism Cases

2011-05-11, CBS Los Angeles
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/05/11/study-us-quietly-paid-families-for-...
Federal health officials may have only recently called autism a national health emergency, but a
new study released [on May 11] showed the U.S. has been quietly compensating families with
autism for nearly two decades. The report from SafeMinds.org a group that believes
scientific evidence has linked autism to vaccinations alleges that a fund set up by the U.S.
government to compensate those injured by vaccines has paid out claims to dozens of
families of autistic kids. The study conducted by the Pace Environmental Law Review revealed
that since the late 1980s, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) has paid
money for 83 cases involving autism out of approximately 1,300 cases of vaccine injury that
resulted in childhood brain injury. In that same time period, federal officials have maintained that
autism which now affects an estimated one in 110 individuals is still rare and has publicly
conceded to only one vaccine-induced autism case involving nine-year-old Hannah Poling. The
studys authors stand behind the findings and warn they are only the tip of the iceberg. Currently,
there are over 5,000 vaccine court cases pending that claim autism as a result of vaccine injury.
Note: For more information from major media sources on the dangers of vaccines, click here. And
for a fascinating study suggesting that vaccines are much less effective than is publicly
acknowledged, click here.
Exxon Leads Defense of Oil Tax Breaks Democrats Want to Repeal

2011-05-11, San Francisco Chronicle/Bloomberg
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/05/11/bloomberg1376-LL1...
Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rex W. Tillerson and four counterparts defended $21
billion in U.S. tax breaks that Democrats are seeking to recapture to reduce the federal deficit.
Senate Democrats are proposing to raise oil and gas taxes by about $2 billion a year for 10 years,
arguing that widening deficits are a threat to the economy and sacrifice is required. College
students are giving up federal help, and so should the companies, said Senator Charles
Schumer, a New York Democrat. "We have to choose priorities and right now we have a huge
budget deficit," Schumer said to ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva. "Do you think that your
subsidy is more important than the financial aid that we give to students to go to college?" To build
their case, Democrats have cited rising gasoline prices and quarterly earnings reports that
put the five companies on pace to generate more than $125 billion in profits this year, which
would be a record. The Democrats' proposal would raise about $13 billion by blocking the five
largest oil and gas companies from receiving a domestic-manufacturing deduction for exploration
and extraction in the U.S. The Senate Democrats' proposal would generate $6.5 billion by
curtailing the oil companies' ability to claim tax credits for royalty payments made to foreign
governments.
Note: We are paying near-record prices for gas, while the oil companines are making record
profits, just as they did when gas prices spiked several years ago. So why are oil companies still
getting tax breaks?
Report of bin Ladens death spurs questions from conspiracy theorists

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/report-of-bin-ladens-death-spur...
While much of America celebrated the dramatic killing of Osama bin Laden, the Sept. 11
conspiracy theorists still had questions. For them and a growing number of skeptics, the plot only
thickened. Could the public trust bin Ladens DNA samples? Why was [his body disposed of] in an
undisclosed location in the northern Arabian Sea? This has not put a single of the 9/11 questions
to bed, said Steven Jones, a retired Brigham Young University physics professor and contributor
to the 9/11 Truth Movement. I dont know how you can have closure, when there are hundreds of
contradictions to the stories that you were told. The story doesnt end here because we are told bin
Laden is dead, said Mike Berger, who works with 911Truth.org, an organization founded to
examine facts around the attack. Alex Jones, a radio personality out of Austin, who gives voice to
the 9/11 Truth Movement and runs the Web site Infowars.com, sent out a Web headline, Red
Alert. Inside Sources: Bin Laden Corpse Has Been on Ice for Nearly a Decade. He lists FBI
officials and counterintelligence leaders from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have said
for years that bin Laden was dead. Former Council on Foreign Relations member Steve R.
Pieczenik even told Jones on the air in 2002 that bin Laden had been dead for months.
Note: For intriguing BBC News reports from 2010 and 2007 which claim bin Laden was already
dead at that time, click here and here. WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin's book
establishing the likelihood that Osama bin Laden died in December 2001, Osama bin Laden: Dead
or Alive?, is available here.
Osama Bin Laden never charged for 9/11

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/140099/20110502/osama-bin-laden-never-charged...
Osama Bin Laden's death is being celebrated, and everyone seems to repeat the old conspiracy
theory that he was indeed the mastermind behind the terror attacks of 9/11. But that was never
proven, and there is not even evidence hinting at such a connection according to the FBI. Osama
Bin Laden was never formally charged, because the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation didn't
deliver the necessary evidence to the Department of Justice. Read ... what Rex Tomb, FBI Director
of Investigative Publicity, stated in 2006 about the FBI's position: The FBI gathers evidence. Once
evidence is gathered, it is turned over to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice
then decides whether it has enough evidence to present to a federal grand jury. In the case of the
1998 United States Embassies being bombed, bin Laden has been formally indicted and
charged by a grand jury. He has not been formally indicted and charged in connection with
9/11 because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11." The connection
between Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks was made by the Bush-Cheney administration, [on] the
morning of the attacks, before the first tower even collapsed. Nearly ten years later, after intensive
investigation, a government commission, two wars and the interrogation under torture of some 750
people detained in Guantanamo Bay without charges, no hard evidence could be found that would
confirm the initial allegation.
Note: The International Business Times is an online global business newspaper, published in
thirteen editions in twelve countries across eight languages. It is among the top-ten online
business newspapers in the world. WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin's book
establishing the likelihood that Osama bin Laden died in December 2001, Osama bin Laden: Dead
or Alive?, is available here.
World's media tricked by fake bin Laden photo

2011-05-02, New Zealand Herald (New Zealand's leading newspaper)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10723030
An image of Osama bin Laden after his death yesterday has been revealed as a fake. The photo,
which shows a bloodied bin Laden with a gun wound to the head, is the photo-shopped
combination of two images - one of the al Qaeda founder alive in 1998 and another of an unnamed
corpse. The image has reportedly been circulating for two years, but that did not stop the
image being picked up by media across the world in the wake of the terrorist's death. Britain's
Daily Mail, Times of London, Telegraph, Sun and Daily Mirror ... all used the image of their
websites' front pages, the Guardian reported, although they were quickly taken down. Associated
Press had placed the image on its wires, but soon retracted the photo as it could not verify its
authenticity. The picture appears to have first been published by the Middle East online newspaper
themedialine.org on April 29, 2009, although the site's editor then said they could not ascertain
whether it was genuine. A US official revealed the body was photographed before being
buried at sea, although no images have been released by the Obama administration. It is not
clear whether photos of bin Laden's body will be released.
Note: How did this photo become accepted by the media? And why was bin Laden's body buried
at sea? Could it be that those involved did not want anyone to be able to investigate whether the
body was indeed that of bin Laden? For two BBC reports suggesting that bin Laden may already
have been dead, click here and here.
Former Miss USA: I was 'molested' by the TSA

2011-04-29, USA Today
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/04/susie-castillo-dallas-fort-wo...
Weeks after generating an uproar for the aggressive screening of a six-year-old child in New
Orleans, the TSA is again facing criticism for an enhanced pat-down. Former Miss USA Susie
Castillo says she was "molested" by a TSA screener at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after
declining to go through a body scanner due to radiation concerns. According to a detailed account
from the Dallas Morning News, Castillo wrote "My private area was grazed four times!" on a
complaint card after the screening. Castillo immediately shot a tearful video recounting the episode
more explicitly and posted it on YouTube. The Boston Herald quotes from the video: "That's why
I'm crying, that's why I'm so upset. They're making me choose to either get molested,
because that's what I feel like, or go through this machine that's completely unhealthy and
dangerous." TSA spokesman Luis Casanova defended the screening procedure. "Everything [the
screener] did was according to protocol," Casanova said.
Note: For key articles on increasing reductions of civil liberties by governments, click here.
SF Chronicle video prompts White House threat

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/28/MNA51J994T.DTL
The White House threatened [on April 28] to exclude The San Francisco Chronicle from
pooled coverage of its events in the Bay Area after the paper posted a video of a protest at
a San Francisco fundraiser for President Obama last week, Chronicle Editor Ward Bushee
said. White House guidelines governing press coverage of such events are too restrictive, Bushee
said, and the newspaper was within its rights to film the protest and post the video. Chronicle
senior political reporter Carla Marinucci was invited by the White House to cover the Obama
fundraiser on April 21. About 200 donors paying $5,000 to $38,500 each attended the event at the
St. Regis Hotel in the city, a day after Obama visited Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley
touting the proliferation of "new media" breaking the confines of traditional journalism. At the St.
Regis event, a group of protesters who paid collectively $76,000 to attend the fundraiser
interrupted Obama with a song complaining about the administration's treatment of Pfc. Bradley
Manning, the soldier who allegedly leaked U.S. classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.
Note: This is an excellent example of how politicians can control the press. Top reporters are
under threat of losing their connections to top officials if they report anything negative about them.
Are CFL Light Bulbs Eco-Friendly or Human Hazards?

2011-04-28, Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/cfl-light-bulbs-eco-friendly-human-hazards-205800837.html
Via the Clean Energy Act of 2007, the new "go-green" eco-friendly standards are set to thrust
mandatory use of CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) upon American citizens by the year 2013
or 2014. Some reports say the mercury-filled CFLs are harmful to humans. Are CFL bulbs ecofriendly but human hazards? What about the economy of cleaning up the the new bulbs, and the
erosion of our American "choices"? Information has circulated that CFLs will be dangerous to
humans due to mercury content. It seems to have started with a 2007 claim by a family who was
gung-ho to "go green." They installed CFLs in their home but broke one, resulting in
various illnesses for a child and a $2,000 clean-up process that could only be done by
experts. According to EPA guidelines [in 2007] there were 16 steps to cleaning up a broken,
mercury-filled CFL bulb and then cleaning up the cleaning materials used. According to the
EPA website today, there are only eight steps. The process appears toned down. The EPA claims
that breakage of one bulb is not dangerous to occupants. Clean-up doesn't have to cost $2,000.
Energy Star, a division of the EPA, ... acknowledges certain health and environmental hazards,
stating "we must be responsible in cleaning up." They offer several sheets of directions, including
this: Humans must leave the premises for three hours after removing a broken bulb.
Livestrong.com is a leading go-to health and wellness website. Its research about CFLs shows that
prolonged exposure to fluorescent lighting causes migraines, eye strain and other eye discomfort.
Note: For a CBS affiliate report confirming these hazards, click here.
U.S. to continue Pakistan strikes despite protests

2011-04-23, San Francisco Chronicle/Los Angeles Times
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2011/04/23/MN921J5V20.DTL
A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan region killed at least 25 people on [April 22],
sending a clear sign that Washington's use of drones against militants along the Afghan border will
continue despite rising opposition from Islamabad's top civilian and military leaders. The strike in
the village of Spinwam came two days after Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, held tense talks with Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani amid a pall of
mistrust that has weakened relations between Washington and Islamabad in recent months.
Pakistan intensified its criticism of the drone campaign after a March 17 strike killed more than 40
people in the North Waziristan village of Datta Khel. Pakistani military leaders said that missile
strike killed civilian tribal elders meeting to discuss a dispute over local mining rights, though the
U.S. maintains that the people killed were militants. The Datta Khel strike came a day after the
release of Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor whose arrest in connection with the shooting deaths
of two Pakistanis brought relations between Washington and Islamabad to one of their lowest
points in years. Officials in North Waziristan said [the April 22] strike killed 18 suspected militants,
though seven of the dead were civilians - three women and four children. Four missiles were fired,
two of which struck a guest house with the suspected militants, the officials said. The other two
missiles hit another building where the women and children were.
Note: Imagine if another country were flying unmanned flights in the US and killing US citizens
who they suspected were terrorists along with innocent civilians as collateral damage. There would
be an uproar. Why isn't anyone talking about the legality of a foreign country killing citizens of
another country without any judicial process at all, especially when the government of the invaded
country opposes the attacks?
Senate panel concludes Goldman Sachs profited from financial crisis

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-crisis-probe-20110414,0,6709903.story
A Senate panel has concluded that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. profited from the financial
crisis by betting billions against the subprime mortgage market, then deceived investors
and Congress about the firm's conduct. Some of the findings in the report by the Senate's
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will be referred to the Justice Department and the
Securities and Exchange Commission for possible criminal or civil action, said Sen. Carl Levin (DMich.), the panel's chairman. The giant investment bank was just one focus of the subcommittee's
probe into Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. The 639-page report based on internal
memos, emails and interviews with employees of financial firms and regulators casts broad
blame, saying the crisis was caused by "conflicts of interest, heedless risk-taking and failures of
federal oversight." Among the culprits cited by the panel are Washington Mutual, a major mortgage
lender that failed in 2008, as well as the Office of Thrift Supervision, a federal bank regulator, and
credit rating firms. Asked if he was disappointed that no Wall Street figures had gone to jail in
connection with the crisis, Levin responded, "There's still time."
Note: For many key reports from major media sources illuminating how major financial
corporations knowingly brought about the global financial crisis and profited from it, click here.
Mortgage paperwork mess: Next housing shock?

It's bizarre but, it turns out, Wall Street cut corners when it created those mortgage-backed
investments that triggered the financial collapse. Now that banks want to evict people, they're
unwinding these exotic investments to find, that often, the legal documents behind the
mortgages aren't there. Caught in a jam of their own making, some companies appear to be
resorting to forgery and phony paperwork to throw people - down on their luck - out of their
homes. This past January in Los Angeles, 37,000 homeowners facing foreclosure showed up to
an event to beg their bank for lower payments on their mortgage. In February in Miami, 12,000
people showed up to a similar event. For many that's when the real surprise comes in: these same
banks have fouled up all of their own paperwork to a historic degree. There were a million
foreclosures last year. And there will be another million this year - those lawsuits are forcing open
those bundled, mortgage-backed securities that Wall Street cooked up in the mid 2000s, and
exposing a lack of ownership documents all across the country. Banks are defensive because all
50 state attorneys general want to punish them: the states are seeking about $20 billion in
damages for what they say is the irresponsible, perhaps criminal way, that some mortgage
companies handled what is, for most folks, the most important investment of their lives.
Note: To watch the amazing 14-minute video of this article, click here. Learn how banks paid a
company which hired people off the streets to pretend they were bank vice presidents and sign
thousands of documents fraudulently. For lots more from reliable sources on the criminal practices
of mortgage lenders, click here.
Ultrasound at $59,490 Is Outrage in Aetna Claim Against Doctors

2011-03-24, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-24/ultrasound-at-59-490-is-outrage-i...
Aetna Inc. is suing six New Jersey doctors over medical bills it calls unconscionable,
including $56,980 for a bedside consultation and $59,490 for an ultrasound that typically
costs $74. The lawsuits could help determine what pricing limits insurers can impose on out-ofnetwork physicians who dont have contracts with health plans that spell out how much a service
or procedure can cost. One defendant billed $30,000 for a Caesarean birth, and another raised his
fee for seeing a critically ill patient in a hospital to $9,000 in 2008 from $500 the year before, the
insurer alleges in the suits. Aetna tried in 2007 to impose caps on some out-of-network payments,
prompting doctor complaints to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. The
agency sided with the doctors, fined the company $2.5 million, and ordered it to pay out-of-network
practitioners enough so that patients wouldnt be asked to pay balances other than co-pays. In
2009, Aetna, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Cigna Corp. and WellPoint Inc. were accused by the New
York attorney general of underpaying out-of-network physicians by manipulating a database used
to calculate payments. They paid a total of $90 million in settlements without admitting
wrongdoing. UnitedHealthcare agreed that year to pay $350 million to settle a lawsuit by the
American Medical Association over the same issues. Similar AMA lawsuits against Aetna, Cigna
and Wellpoint are pending.
Note: Is the American health care system out of control? For lots more from reliable sources on
corporate corruption, click here.
War on drugs has failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS and BBC
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8393838/War-on-drugs-has...
The "war on drugs" has failed and should be abandoned in favour of evidence-based policies that
treat addiction as a health problem, according to prominent public figures including former heads
of MI5 and the Crown Prosecution Service. Leading peers including prominent Tories say that
despite governments worldwide drawing up tough laws against dealers and users over the past 50
years, illegal drugs have become more accessible. Vast amounts of money have been
wasted on unsuccessful crackdowns, while criminals have made fortunes importing drugs
into this country. The increasing use of the most harmful drugs such as heroin has also led
to enormous health problems, according to the group. The MPs and members of the House of
Lords, who have formed a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform, are calling
for new policies to be drawn up on the basis of scientific evidence. It could lead to calls for the
British government to decriminalise drugs, or at least for the police and Crown Prosecution Service
not to jail people for possession of small amounts of banned substances.
Note: If you examine topics on which the government has declared war, what is being fought
against often increases instead of decreasing. Could it be that the best way to deal with serious
problems is not to wage war?
ATF gunwalking scandal: Second agent speaks out
2011-03-21, CBS News

South of El Paso, Texas, on Mexico's side of the border, lies Juarez - the most dangerous city in
the world. ATF [U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] Special Agent Rene
Jaquez has been stationed there for the past year, trying to keep U.S. guns from being trafficked
into Mexico. "That's what we do as an agency," Jaquez said. "ATF's primary mission is to make
sure that we curtail gun trafficking." That's why Jaquez tells CBS News he was so alarmed to hear
his own agency may have done the opposite: encouraged U.S. gun dealers to sell to suspected
traffickers for Mexico's drug cartels. Apparently, ATF hoped that letting weapons "walk" onto the
street - to see where they'd end up - would help them take down a cartel. Jaquez is so opposed to
the strategy, he's speaking out. "You don't let guns walk. I've never let a gun walk." Yet ATF agents
told us they were ordered to let thousands of weapons walk. But ATF wasn't working alone on the
case known as "Fast and Furious." Documents show ATF had conference calls with "DHS"
(Homeland Security). "USMS" (U.S. Marshals) and DEA. An "ICE," or Customs agent, was
on ATF's Fast and Furious team. They were advised by an "AUSA," or Assistant U.S.
Attorney under the Justice Department. Jaquez says he's left wondering whether runaway
violence in Mexico can be partly blamed on the agency tasked with stopping it.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
U.S. Declines to Give Details on Radiation

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608504576208840531837916-sea...
U.S. government officials, in private sessions on Capitol Hill [on Friday, March 18], repeatedly
declined to give details of radiation measurements at the stricken Japanese nuclear complex,
saying the situation is shrouded in a "fog of war." Separately, the Obama administration said ...
"miniscule quantities" of radiation from the Japanese nuclear accident were detected Friday at a
monitoring station in Sacramento, Calif., a day after similar traces of radiation were detected in
Washington state. The administration said the levels of the radioactive isotope xenon 133 were
approximately equivalent to one-millionth the dose received from the sun, rocks or other natural
sources. The Obama administration's reluctance to detail in public what it is learning from
radiation-detection operations around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi complex in Japan ...
comes after statements Wednesday by the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission that painted a grimmer picture of the nuclear crisis than Japanese officials
had offered, and suggested that the U.S. didn't trust the information coming from the Japanese
government.
Note: Shouldn't the title be something more like "U.S. Refuses to Give Radiation Details for Fear
of Industry Repercussions"? How sad that money often continues to trump public health in matters
like this.
The Michigan Monarchy Legislates Financial Martial Law -- Nation

Yawns
2011-03-18, Forbes blog
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/03/18/the-michigan-monarchy-legislates...
This week, the Michigan legislature passed and the governor signed into law a bill that would
permit Governor Rick Snyder to push aside elected city officials and replace them with emergency
financial managers in any municipality or school district facing financial difficulties. The law would
include virtually every town and city in the state as those cities that arent bankrupt already soon
will be once the governors proposed budget which cuts billions in aid to municipalities and
school districts is approved by the legislature. One of the most shocking, Draconian, democracydestroying measures in the history of this country has became law and the nation has seemingly
slept through it. The new law, described by one of the GOP legislators sponsoring the bill as
financial martial law, empowers the governors appointees [referred to as Emergency
Financial Managers] to fire duly elected local officials, cancel labor contracts and even
dissolve entire communities and school districts. This is about so much more than collective
bargaining agreements and unions. This law gives an appointee of the governor which, by the
way, may be a corporation the authority to dismiss any or all of a municipalitys elected
government officials.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports by major media sources on the collusion between
government and financial powers against the public interest, click here.
Bungling, cover-ups define Japanese nuclear industry

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42129558/ns/business-world_business
Behind Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy
relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses. Leaks of radioactive
steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents
that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all. In one case,
workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine,
so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died.
"Everything is a secret," said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who
now lives in California. "There's not enough transparency in the industry." In 1989 Sugaoka
received an order that horrified him: edit out footage showing cracks in plant steam pipes in video
being submitted to regulators. Sugaoka alerted his superiors in the Tokyo Electric Power Co., but
nothing happened for years. He decided to go public in 2000. Three Tepco executives lost their
jobs. The legacy of scandals and cover-ups over Japan's half-century reliance on nuclear power
has strained its credibility with the public. That mistrust has been renewed this past week with the
crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. The vagueness and scarcity of details offered by the
government and Tepco and news that seems to grow worse each day are fueling public
anger and frustration.
here.
Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-netw...
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by
using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American
propaganda. A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central
Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia,
to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US
serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world. Critics are
likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online
conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not
correspond with its own objectives. The discovery that the US military is developing false online
personalities known to users of social media as "sock puppets" could also encourage other
governments, private companies and non-government organisations to do the same. Once
developed, the software could allow US service personnel, working around the clock in one
location, to respond to emerging online conversations with any number of co-ordinated
messages, blogposts, chatroom posts and other interventions.
Note: The Pentagon claims that the "fake persona" software will not be used on social networks in
the United States, because that would break laws against using propaganda on US citizens. How
much credence should be given to this assurance?
'World's largest paedophile ring' uncovered

2011-03-16, BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12762333
International police led by a UK team say they shut down the largest internet paedophile ring yet
discovered. The global forum had 70,000 followers at its height, leading to 4,000 intelligence
reports being sent to police across 30 countries. The operation has so far identified 670
suspects and 230 abused children. Detectives say 184 people have been arrested - 121 of
them were in the UK. Some 60 children have been protected in the UK. The three-year
investigation, Operation Rescue, was led by investigators from the UK's Child Exploitation and
Online Protection Centre (Ceop). The members of the network went into a private channel,
boylover.net, and then used its secret systems to share films and images of abused children, said
Rob Wainwright, director of European police agency Europol. In the UK, the 240 suspects include
police officers, teachers and a karate teacher. One of the suspects in the UK is a woman. The
internet has proved to be fertile territory for people with a sexual interest in children. Taking
advantage of the anonymity modern computer technology provides, paedophiles download and
exchange vile images of abuse unaware of the reality of the suffering.
Note: For powerful evidence that this kind of abuse is much more widespread than believed, and
even goes to the highest level of government, click here.
Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit

In Protest
2011-03-15, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge...
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric
resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor
design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating
accident. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since
Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s. "The problems we identified
in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the
dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh [said]. "The impact
loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the
containment apart and create an uncontrolled release." Questions persisted for decades about the
ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling
power. In 1986, for instance, Harold Denton, then the director of NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, spoke critically about the design during an industry conference. Today that design is
being put to the ultimate test in Japan.
here.
Scotland Yard officers in 'false arrest' investigation

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8380815/Scotland-Yard-officers-in-fals...
Three Metropolitan Police officers are under investigation after they were alleged to have
inadvertently recorded themselves arranging to falsely arrest a protester during the student fees
demonstrations. The officers, who have not been named, are alleged to have conspired to arrest a
20-year-old man who had broken through the police cordon during the protests at Parliament
Square in December. The man was chased and caught and, it is alleged, was then struck in the
face with a police riot shield which chipped his tooth. The officers are then alleged to have
discussed how to arrest the man and are believed to have concocted a story in which they
claimed the man had threatened to cause criminal damage to a nearby building. However
one of the officers was wearing sound recording equipment which recorded the chase and
arrest of the man and the subsequent conversation between the officers. The officers have
each been served with letters telling them that they are now being investigated for gross
misconduct and criminal matters believed to be assault and false arrest. A total of 113 complaints
were received by the IPCC about police officers behaviour during the four demonstrations. One of
them concerns 20-year-old student Alfie Meadows, who needed brain surgery after he was
allegedly struck on the head during a protest in December.
Note: For lots more on government corruption, click here.
Oranges and Sunshine: an illuminating true-life drama

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oranges-and-sunshine/oranges-sunshine-emily-watson-...
How could more than 130,000 children be shipped from Britain to Australia and other
Commonwealth countries, often without their parents' knowledge, and the world not know about it?
[This is] the chilling poser at the heart of Jim Loach's debut film, Oranges and Sunshine, which
centres on a policy that saw children from poor and struggling families sent halfway across the
world to a promised new life. Instead, many endured virtual slave labour and, in some extreme
cases, serial abuse. In the film, we follow Margaret [as] she gradually uncovers the devastating
effects that the deportation has had on its victims. In Australia, Margaret's efforts amass evidence
that defenceless children, in the care of the Roman Catholic Christian Brotherhood, have been
physically and sexually abused by members of the order. However, Margaret is seen as a
troublemaker, an outsider stirring up long-forgotten memories. Back in the UK, charities
and government officials are refusing to accept responsibility for sending the children
abroad. She receives death threats. Margaret eventually finds personal solace as her efforts
finally come to fruition. Families are brought back together after decades apart, and the now
grown-up children are able to establish their true identities. Finally, in 2009-10, after many years of
official denial and vacillation, there are full public apologies from the Australian and British
governments. Loach's film intelligently explores a grave injustice. The title, Oranges and Sunshine,
refers to the inviting picture of a new life sold to the children in advance of their long journey to the
other side of the world. It is a shattering, yet inspiring story.
Note: For more on this huge scandal of child abduction and abuse, click here. For another scandal
of major child abuse based in Australia that has yet to be fully exposed, click here. For more on
child sexual abuse, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available
here.
Financial meltdown culprits seem too big to jail

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/06/EDPG1I481K.DTL
What's wrong with this picture: Years have passed since Wall Street's financial meltdown. Due to
the crisis, the economy tanked, the mortgage market has yet to recover, and millions of jobs were
lost. Many of those jobs losses will be permanent. The only person who went to jail for any of this
was Bernie Madoff. When he accepted his Academy Award for the documentary "Inside Job,"
Berkeley filmmaker Charles Ferguson reminded Americans that the lack of criminal prosecutions
for the financial crisis is, simply, "wrong." No matter what kinds of logical, legal explanations that
the Justice Department has trotted out to explain why all of these senior financial executives are
too big to jail, it's outrageous that there has not been and will not be any comeuppance for the men
who plunged the American economy into chaos. The fact that some of these executives have or
will receive some financial punishment in civil court is of little consequence - if ruining the economy
isn't worth a little jail time, then what is? The Obama administration has not made it a priority
to prosecute financial executives. Its reticence to punish was prominently on display last
month, when the Justice Department decided not to prosecute Angelo Mozilo, the former
CEO of Countrywide Financial. Mozilo left an e-mail trail detailing his feelings about
Countrywide's "toxic" mortgage products and negotiated a $67.5 million payout in a civil suit that
was brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the feds don't go after
him, it's unlikely that they'll go after anyone else. It's a bitter contrast to the 1980s savings-andloan crisis, when the federal government threw enormous resources at criminal prosecutions and
sent even well-connected executives, like Charles Keating, to jail.
Note: For other highly revealing major media articles showing just how much control big bankers
have over government, click here.
Are America's Best Days Behind Us?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2056610-1,00.html
Most Americans operate on the assumption that the U.S. is still No. 1. But is it? Yes, the U.S.
remains the world's largest economy, and we have the largest military by far, the most dynamic
technology companies and a highly entrepreneurial climate. But ... the decisions that created
today's growth decisions about education, infrastructure and the like were made decades
ago. The following rankings come from various lists, but they all tell the same story. Our 15-yearolds rank 17th in the world in science and 25th in math. We rank 12th among developed
countries in college graduation (down from No. 1 for decades). We come in 79th in
elementary-school enrollment. Our infrastructure is ranked 23rd in the world, well behind that of
every other major advanced economy. American health numbers are stunning for a rich country:
based on studies by the OECD and the World Health Organization, we're 27th in life expectancy,
18th in diabetes and first in obesity. Only a few decades ago, the U.S. stood tall in such rankings.
No more. There are some areas in which we are still clearly No. 1, but they're not ones we usually
brag about. We have the most guns. We have the most crime among rich countries. And, of
course, we have by far the largest amount of debt in the world. Reducing funds for things like
education, scientific research, air-traffic control, NASA, infrastructure and alternative energy will
not produce much in savings, and it will hurt the economy's long-term growth. It would happen at
the very moment that countries from Germany to South Korea to China are making large
investments in education, science, technology and infrastructure.
Note: In discussing how the U.S. can reduce it's staggering debt, this article, like almost every
major media article, fails to even mention the possibility of cutting our huge military budget. For
why this is, click here.
UFO files reveal 'Rendlesham incident' papers missing

2011-03-02, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12613690
Intelligence papers on a reported UFO sighting known as the "Rendlesham incident" have gone
missing, files from the National Archives reveal. The missing files relate to a report of mysterious
lights from US servicemen at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk in 1980. The disappearance came to
light with the release of 8,000 previously classified documents on UFOs. Officials found a "huge"
gap where defence intelligence files relating to the case should be, the papers show. The incident
took place near the fence of RAF Woodbridge - at that time being used by the US Air Force. A
group of servicemen reported seeing strange lights in the trees near the base and after
investigating found marks on the ground and damage to vegetation. The files reveal the MoD
received a request for its own records of the incident in 2000, but when officials looked they
discovered a "huge" gap where defence intelligence files relating to it should be. But it is not the
only gap in the official record. In 2002 the MoD received a request for information from Lord HillNorton. He wanted to know about reports of a UFO sighting made by HMS Manchester while on
exercise in the 1990s. It emerged in the file that HMS Manchester's log for one of the periods
was lost overboard after "a gust of wind".
Note: Something major is missing from this article, too. The servicemen at Rendlesham not only
found marks, they saw a craft up close. One man even touched the vehicle. These military men
have all gone on record with their experience and all claim a cover-up. For an intriguing
documentary on this landmark case, click here. For other key information and documents on the
Rendlesham incident, click here. For a two-page summary of testimony from top military and
government officials on their personal involvement with UFOs, click here.
The figure in the new budget proposal nobody in power wants you to
notice
2011-03-01, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/01/opinion/main20038078.shtml
Normally, in media accounts, you hear about the Pentagon budget and the war-fighting
supplementary funds passed by Congress for our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. That already
gets you into a startling price range -- close to $700 billion for 2012 -- but that's barely more than
half of it. If Americans were ever presented with the real bill for the total U.S. national
security budget, it would actually add up to more than $1.2 trillion a year. Take that in for a
moment. It's true; you won't find that figure in your daily newspaper or on your nightly newscast,
but it's no misprint. It's the real thing when it comes to your tax dollars. The simplest way to
grasp just how Americans could pay such a staggering amount annually for "security" is to go
through what we know about the U.S. national security budget, step by step, and add it all up.
[Click here for details] Still, don't for a second think that $1.2 trillion is the actual grand total for
what the U.S. government spends on national security. Former Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld once famously spoke of the world's "known unknowns." Explaining the phrase this way:
"That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know." It's a concept that couldn't apply
better to the budget he once oversaw. American taxpayers should know just what they are paying
for.
Note: When discussing budget cuts, why is it we never hear about cuts to the massive national
security budget? Donald Rumsfeld also once admitted that the Pentagon couldn't track $2.3 trillion
in transactions, as reported by CBS News in this video clip. For lots more on the rampant
corruption of military funds, click here. And for a top US general revealing how bankers and
industry tycoons rake in profits from war, click here.
Military to investigate claim that psy-ops team was used to influence

U.S. senators
The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan intends to order an investigation into whether a
three-star general responsible for training Afghan security forces inappropriately used members of
a psychological operations team to influence visiting U.S. senators into providing more funding for
the war. The U.S. command in Kabul issued a statement Thursday saying Gen. David H. Petraeus
"is preparing to order an investigation to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding the
issue." The investigation stems from an article published ... on the Web site of Rolling Stone
magazine alleging that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the head of the U.S. and NATO training
operation for Afghan forces, used an "information operations" team to "manipulate visiting
American senators" and other visitors, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Adm. Mike Mullen. The article is based on the claims of a lieutenant colonel who served on a
psychological operations team in Afghanistan last year and who alleges he was subjected to
retribution when he resisted the assignment.
Note: To read Rolling Stone's fascinating report on how the US military used a secret program to
pressure Senators to support the war, click here.
U.S. Gov't Software Creates 'Fake People' to Spread Message via Social
Networking
2011-02-19, Fox News
http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/02/19/us-gov-t-software-creates-fake-p...
The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software
to manage "fake people" on social media sites. Private security firms employeed by the
government have used the accounts to create the illusion of consensus on controversial
issues. The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would
help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. According to the
contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number
of false signals to convince users that the poster is in fact a real person. A single user could
manage unique background information and status updates for up to 10 fake people from a single
computer. The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different
methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to
make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world. The document
describes how they would 'friend' real people on Facebook as a way to convey government
messages.
Note: To read the government contract for "Persona Management" software, click here.
Iraqi Says He Made Up Tale of Biological Weapons Before War

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/world/middleeast/16curveball.html
The Iraqi defector whose claims that Saddam Husseins government had biological weapons
became part of the Bush administrations justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq has admitted
that he fabricated his story. The defector, Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, who was code-named
Curveball by the Central Intelligence Agency and German intelligence officials, told the British
newspaper The Guardian on [February 15] that he had concocted his tale that Iraq was hiding
mobile bioweapons laboratories. The strange case of Curveball has become one of the most
infamous episodes in the Bush administrations case for war. Mr. Janabis claim about the
mobile laboratories was featured prominently in Secretary of State Colin L. Powells
address to the United Nations in February 2003, when he laid out the administrations case that
Mr. Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. The United States invaded Iraq in March
2003, and eventually determined that Iraq did not have any such weapons. It later became clear
that the Bush administration had relied heavily on bogus information from unreliable exiles like Mr.
Janabi.
Note: For background information on "Curveball" in the runup to the Iraq war, click here.
The Day Part of the Internet Died: Egypt Goes Dark

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=12783053
About a half-hour past midnight [on January 28] in Egypt, the Internet went dead. Almost
simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the Internet into and out of Egypt went dark as
protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President
Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said. Egypt has apparently done what many
technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: It
unplugged itself entirely from the Internet to try and silence dissent. Experts say it's unlikely
that what's happened in Egypt could happen in the United States because the U.S. has numerous
Internet providers and ways of connecting to the Internet. Coordinating a simultaneous shutdown
would be a massive undertaking. But the idea of a single "kill switch" to turn the Internet on and off
has seduced some American lawmakers, who have pushed for the power to shutter the Internet in
a national emergency. The Internet blackout in Egypt shows that a country with strong control over
its Internet providers apparently can force all of them to pull their plugs at once. It also sets a
precedent for other countries grappling with paralyzing political protests though censoring the
Internet and tampering with traffic to quash protests is nothing new.
Note: For information on how a Israeli company bought out by Boeing facilitated the shutdown of
the Internet in Egypt, click here. And to learn about a bill being proposed which would give the US
president power over an Internet "kill switch," click here.
Former Spy With Agenda Operates a Private C.I.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/23clarridge.html
Duane R. [Dewey] Clarridge parted company with the Central Intelligence Agency more than two
decades ago, but from poolside at his home near San Diego, he still runs a network of spies. Over
the past two years, he has fielded operatives in the mountains of Pakistan and the desert badlands
of Afghanistan. Since the United States military cut off his funding in May, he has relied on likeminded private donors to pay his agents to continue gathering information about militant fighters
[and] Taliban leaders. Mr. Clarridge, 78, ... was indicted on charges of lying to Congress in the
Iran-contra scandal and later pardoned. His dispatches an amalgam of fact, rumor, analysis and
uncorroborated reports have been sent to military officials who, until last spring at least, found
some credible enough to be used in planning strikes against militants in Afghanistan. They are
also fed to conservative commentators, including Oliver L. North, a compatriot from the Iran-contra
days and now a Fox News analyst, and Brad Thor, an author of military thrillers and a frequent
guest of Glenn Beck. Mr. Clarridges operation ... is a startling demonstration of how private
citizens can exploit the chaos of combat zones and rivalries inside the American
government to carry out their own agenda. It also shows how the outsourcing of military
and intelligence operations has spawned legally murky clandestine operations.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on the role of private contractors in the illegal US wars
of aggression in Afganistan and Iraq, click here.
Undercover police cleared 'to have sex with activists'

2011-01-22, The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/22/undercover-police-cleared-sex-activists
Undercover police officers routinely adopted a tactic of "promiscuity" with the blessing of senior
commanders, according to a former agent who worked in a secretive unit of the Metropolitan police
for four years. The former undercover policeman claims that sexual relationships with activists
were sanctioned for both men and women officers infiltrating anarchist, leftwing and
environmental groups. Sex was a tool to help officers blend in, the officer claimed, and was
widely used as a technique to glean intelligence. He said undercover officers, particularly those
infiltrating environmental and leftwing groups, viewed having sex with a large number of partners
"as part of the job". His comments contradict claims last week from the Association of Chief Police
Officers that operatives were absolutely forbidden to sleep with activists. The claims follow the
unmasking of undercover PC Mark Kennedy, who had sexual relationships with several women
during the seven years he spent infiltrating a ring of environmental activists. Another two covert
officers have been named in the past fortnight who also had sex with the protesters they were sent
to spy on, fuelling allegations that senior officers had authorised sleeping around as a legitimate
means of gathering intelligence.
Note: For a comprehensive overview of the still-ongoing revelations about police provocateur Mark
Kennedy and his cohorts in the UK police infiltration of environmental and related activist groups,
click here.
The state's pedlars of fear must be brought to account

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/11/police-reform-mark-stone-...
[Mark] Kennedy moved from undercover agent to agent provocateur. He worked for a murky
organisation called the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU). With a budget of 5m this
operates as a branch of the National Domestic Extremism Unit (NDEU) which, in turn, works
alongside the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit (NETCU). Ask where this stands,
and you will be told it reports to the Association of Chief Police Officers' Terrorism and Allied
Matters Committee, codenamed Acpo(TAM). Kennedy's bosses in the NPOIU work for Acpo, but
this is not what it seems. It is not, as its name suggests, the police officers' staff club, nor is it a
public body of any sort. [ACPO] is a private company, incorporated in 1997. It is subcontracted by Whitehall to operate the police end of the government's counterterrorism and
"anti-extremism" strategies. It is thus alongside MI5, but even less accountable. It now runs
its own police forces under a police chief boss, Sir Hugh Orde, like a British FBI. It trades on
its own account, generating revenue by selling data from the police national computer for 70 an
item (cost of retrieval, 60p). It owns an estate of 80 flats in central London. As a private company,
Acpo need not accede to Freedom of Information requests and presumably could distribute its
profit to its own board. The whole operation is reminiscent of the deals set up by the Pentagon with
private firms to run the Iraq and Afghan wars, free of publicity or accountability.
Note: For further information on the amazing undercover career of UK agent provocateur Mark
Kennedy, click here and here and here.
When Insurers Put Profits Between Doctor and Patient

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/health/views/06chen.html
In articles, interviews, op-eds and testimony on Capitol Hill, Wendell Potter has described the dark
underbelly of the health care insurance industry unkept promises of care, canceled coverage of
those who get sick and fearmongering campaigns designed to quash any change that might
adversely affect profits. He should know what he is talking about. For 20 years, Mr. Potter was
the head of corporate communications at two major insurers, first at Humana and then at
Cigna. Now Mr. Potter has written a fascinating book that details the methods he and his
colleagues used to manipulate public opinion and describes his transformation from the
idealistic son of working-class parents in eastern Tennessee to top insurance company executive,
to vocal critic and industry watchdog. Using little of the fiery rhetoric or lurid prose that usually
marks corporate exposs or memoirs of redemption, the book, Deadly Spin ... is an evenhanded
yet riveting account of the inner workings of the health care insurance industry, a cautionary tale
that doctors and patients would be wise not to miss. Mr. Potter [describes] the myth-making he did,
interspersing descriptions of front groups, paid spies and jiggered studies with a deft retelling of
the convoluted (and usually eye-glazing) history of health care insurance policies.
Note: Mr. Potter has written a powerful condemnation of health care industry practices at this link.
For other major media articles on this courageous whistleblower, click here. And for other highly
informative reports on important health issues, click here.
Terrorist watch list: One tip now enough to put name in database
A year after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials say they
have made it easier to add individuals' names to a terrorist watch list. The failure to put Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab on the watch list last year renewed concerns that the government's system
to screen out potential terrorists was flawed. Even though Abdulmutallab's father had told U.S.
officials of his son's radicalization in Yemen, government rules dictated that a single-source tip was
insufficient to include a person's name on the watch list. Since then, senior counterterrorism
officials say they have altered their criteria so that a single-source tip, as long as it is deemed
credible, can lead to a name being placed on the watch list. But civil liberties groups argue that
the government's new criteria, which went into effect over the summer, have made it even
more likely that individuals who pose no threat will be swept up in the nation's security
apparatus, leading to potential violations of their privacy and making it difficult for them to
travel. "They are secret lists with no way for people to petition to get off or even to know if they're
on," said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. The list, which
stands at 440,000 people, [is now] about 5 percent larger than last year.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on growing threats to civil liberties, click here.
C.I.A. Secrets Could Surface in Swiss Nuclear Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/world/europe/24nukes.html
A seven-year effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to hide its relationship with a Swiss family
who once acted as moles inside the worlds most successful atomic black market hit a turning
point on [December 23] when a Swiss magistrate recommended charging the men with trafficking
in technology and information for making nuclear arms. The prospect of a prosecution, and a
public trial, threatens to expose some of the C.I.A.s deepest secrets if defense lawyers try
to protect their clients by revealing how they operated on the agencys behalf. The three
men Friedrich Tinner and his two sons, Urs and Marco helped run the atomic
smuggling ring of A. Q. Khan, an architect of Pakistans nuclear bomb program, officials in
several countries have said. In return for millions of dollars, according to former Bush
administration officials, the Tinners secretly worked for the C.I.A. as well, not only providing
information about the Khan networks manufacturing and sales efforts, which stretched from Iran to
Libya to North Korea, but also helping the agency introduce flaws into the equipment sent to some
of those countries. A trial ... could also expose in court a tale of C.I.A. break-ins in Switzerland, and
of a still unexplained decision by the agency not to seize electronic copies of a number of nuclear
bomb designs found on the computers of the Tinner family. Ultimately, copies of those blueprints
were found around the globe on the computers of members of the Khan network.
Note: This report establishes yet another connection between a secret nuclear materials network
linking both Khan and US government officials, parts of which were divulged by FBI whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds, who identified moles working with Khan in both the US State Department and the
Pentagon. For more on these highly suspicious networks, click here.
Monitoring America
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/monitoring-ame...
Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic
intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state
homeland security offices and military criminal investigators. The system, by far the largest and
most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes
information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been
accused of any wrongdoing. The months-long investigation [by The Washington Post], based on
nearly 100 interviews and 1,000 documents, found that: * Technologies and techniques honed for
use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement
agencies in America. * The FBI is building a database with the names and certain personal
information, such as employment history, of thousands of U.S. citizens and residents whom a local
police officer or a fellow citizen believed to be acting suspiciously. * Law enforcement agencies
have hired as trainers self-described experts whose extremist views on Islam and terrorism are
considered inaccurate and counterproductive by the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies. * The
Department of Homeland Security sends its state and local partners intelligence reports with little
meaningful guidance, and state reports have sometimes inappropriately reported on lawful
meetings.
Note: This report is part of a series, "Top Secret America," by The Washington Post. For more,
click here.
State Budgets: The Day of Reckoning

2010-12-19, CBS News
There is [a] financial crisis looming involving state and local governments. In the two years since
the "great recession" wrecked their economies and shriveled their income, the states have
collectively spent nearly a half a trillion dollars more than they collected in taxes. There is
also a trillion-dollar hole in their public pension funds. The states have been getting by on
billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds, but the day of reckoning is at hand. The debt crisis
[could] cost a million public employees their jobs and require another big bailout package that no
one in Washington wants to talk about. "The most alarming thing about the state issue is the level
of complacency," Meredith Whitney, one of the most respected financial analysts on Wall Street. "It
has tentacles as wide as anything I've seen. I think next to housing this is the single most
important issue in the United States, and certainly the largest threat to the U.S. economy," she
[said]. California, which faces a $19 billion budget deficit next year, has a credit rating approaching
junk status. It now spends more money on public employee pensions than it does on the state
university system, which had to increase its tuition by 32 percent. Arizona is so desperate it sold
off the state capitol, Supreme Court building and legislative chambers to a group of investors
and now leases the buildings from their new owner. The state also eliminated Medicaid funding for
most organ transplants.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the devastating consequences for Main Street
of the criminal bailout of Wall Street, click here.
Senate panel ban seen as double standard

Gordon R. England's appointment to a top Pentagon post in 2006 came at a high price. The
Senate committee overseeing his confirmation demanded that he give up lucrative stocks and
options he held in companies that do business with the military. England said he took a big hit
on his taxes and lost out on more than $1 million in potential profits that year when he
divested himself of interests in companies that included General Dynamics. If he had been
a senator, he would not have had to sell anything. The Senate Armed Services Committee
prohibits its staff and presidential appointees requiring Senate confirmation from owning stocks or
bonds in 48,096 companies that have Defense Department contracts. But the senators who sit on
the influential panel are allowed to own any assets they want. And they have owned millions in
interests in these firms. The committee's prohibition is designed to prevent high-ranking Pentagon
officials from using inside information to enrich themselves or members of their immediate family.
But panel members have access to much of the same inside information, because they receive
classified briefings from high-ranking defense officials about policy, contracts and plans for combat
strategies and weapons systems. "I think Congress should live by the rules they impose on other
people," said England, who served as deputy defense secretary under George W. Bush until 2009.
Note: Congress is amost always exempt from it's own rules, as further described in this powerful
Time magazine article. This is one major source of rampant corruption in US government. For
more on government corruption, click here.
Brooksley Born foresaw disaster but was silenced

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/05/BUHC1GLHFA.DTL
There's a brief scene in "Inside Job," the locally produced documentary on the Great Financial
Meltdown, in which a colleague of the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in
1997 describes how "blood drained from her face" after receiving a phoned-in tongue-lashing from
deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. The target of Summers' wrath was Brooksley Born, ...
the first female president of the Stanford Law Review and a recognized legal expert in the area of
complex financial instruments. Her crime: Born had the temerity to push for regulation of the
increasingly wild trading in derivatives, which, as we learned a decade later, helped bring
the U.S. economy, and much of the world's, to its knees. Summers, with 13 bankers in his
office, told Born to get off it "in a very grueling fashion," said the colleague. The story is told
in much more detail in All the Devils are Here, the latest, but eminently worthwhile, book on the
roots of the crisis, by Bethany McLean and ... Joe Nocera. It makes for dispiriting, even appalling,
reading. Responding to growing evidence of manipulation and fraud in unregulated derivatives
trading - "the hippopotamus under the rug," as Born and others referred to it - Born suggested the
commission should perhaps be given some sort of oversight. She had a 33-page policy paper
drawn up, full of questions and suggestions, like, for example, whether establishing a public
exchange for derivatives might not be a bad idea. Responding to the policy paper, Summers,
"screaming at her," according to the book, told Born the bankers sitting in his office "threatened to
move their derivatives business to London," if she didn't stop.
Note: For key reports on financial fraud from reliable sources, click here.
WikiLeaks' War on Secrecy: Truth's Consequences

WikiLeaks' publication starting Nov. 28 of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables was the largest
unauthorized release of contemporary classified information in history. It contained 11,000
documents marked secret. The WikiLeaks revelations could change history. The number of
documents and other communications [classified as secret] has skyrocketed nearly 10 times, from
5,685,462 in 1996 to 54,651,765 in 2009. Governments are calling more things secret when they
are really not. The number of people with access to that Everest of information has grown too. In
its deep investigation of American secrecy earlier this year, the Washington Post found that some
854,000 people inside and out of government had top-secret clearance, the highest classification.
[Julian Assange] has launched a crusade predicated on the idea that nearly all information should
be free and that confidentiality in government affairs is an affront to the governed. In the process,
he has published everything from a video of U.S. troops killing civilians in Iraq to the documents
behind the so-called Climategate scandal. "When trusted insiders no longer have faith in the
judgment of government regarding secrets, then they start to substitute their own judgment," says
William J. Bosanko, head of the Information Security Oversight Office. "The world is moving
irreversibly in the direction of openness, and those who learn to operate with fewer secrets
will ultimately have the advantage over those who futilely cling to a past in which millions
of secrets can be protected," says a former intelligence-community official.
Note: For an abundance of major media articles showing the problems with excessive secrecy,
click here.
Senator Bernie Sanders on the War Between the Shrinking Middle Class
and the Wealthy
2010-11-30, U.S. Senate Testimony
http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=c8f26b05-01e7-429f-a5e0-a9a6bd1a0f40
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, there is a war going on in this country, and I am not referring to the
wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. I am talking about a war being waged by some of the wealthiest and
most powerful people in this country against the working families of the United States of America,
against the disappearing and shrinking middle class of our country. The reality is, many of the
Nation's billionaires are on the warpath. They want more, more, more. Their greed has no end,
and apparently there is very little concern for our country or for the people of this country if it gets
in the way of the accumulation of more and more wealth and more and more power. The
percentage of income going to the top 1 percent has nearly tripled since the 1970s. In the mid1970s, the top 1 percent earned about 8 percent of all income. In the 1980s, that figure jumped to
14 percent. In the late 1990s, that 1 percent earned about 19 percent. And today, as the middle
class collapses, the top 1 percent earns 23 1/2 percent of all income--more than the bottom
50 percent. Today, if you can believe it, the top one-tenth of 1 percent earns about 12 cents
of every dollar earned in America.
Note: To see a video of this amazing speech by courageous Senator Bernie Sanders
(Independent), click here.
Why does the FBI Orchestrate Fake Terror Plots?

2010-11-30, Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22175
The latest one snared Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American teenager in Portland, Oregon. The
Associated Press report by William Mall and Nedra Pickler (11-27-10) ... makes it clear that it was
a plot orchestrated by federal agents. Two sentences into the news report we have this: "The
bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the [FBI] agents and the public was never in danger,
authorities said." The teenager was supplied with a fake bomb and a fake detonator. Documents
released by US Attorney Dwight Holton "show the sting operation began in June." Obviously, the
targeted Portland teenager was not hot to trot. The FBI had to work on him for six months. The
reporters compare "the Portland sting" to the recent arrest in Virginia of Faroque Ahmed who was
ensnared in a "bombing plot that was a ruse conducted over the past six months by federal
officials." Think about this. The FBI did a year's work in order to convince two people to
participate in fake plots. When the US government has to go to such lengths to create
"terrorists" out of hapless people, an undeclared agenda is being served. What could this
agenda be? The answer is many agendas. One agenda is to justify wars of aggression that are
war crimes under the Nuremberg standard created by the US government itself. Another agenda is
to create a police state. A police state can control people who object to their impoverishment for
the benefit of the superrich much more easily than can a democracy endowed with constitutional
civil liberties. Another agenda is to get rich. Terror plots, whether real or orchestrated, have created
a market for security.
Note: Though the source of this article is not considered major media, the writer, Paul Craig
Roberts, served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, earning
fame as a co-founder of Reaganomics. He is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street
Journal, Business Week, and Scripps-Howard News Service. Roberts has been a critic of both
Democratic and Republican administrations.
Winning the Class War

2010-11-27, The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/opinion/27herbert.html
The class war that no one wants to talk about continues unabated. Even as millions of out-of-work
and otherwise struggling Americans are tightening their belts for the holidays, the nations elite are
lacing up their dancing shoes and partying like royalty as the millions and billions keep rolling in.
Recessions are for the little people, not for the corporate chiefs and the titans of Wall Street
who are at the heart of the American aristocracy. They have waged economic warfare
against everybody else and are winning big time. The ranks of the poor may be swelling and
families forced out of their foreclosed homes may be enduring a nightmarish holiday season, but
American companies have just experienced their most profitable quarter ever. The corporate fat
cats are becoming alarmingly rotund. Their profits have surged over the past seven quarters at a
pace that is among the fastest ever seen, and they can barely contain their glee. On the same day
that The Times ran its article about [record corporate] profits, it ran a piece on the front page that
carried the headline: With a Swagger, Wallets Out, Wall Street Dares to Celebrate. Anyone who
thinks there is something beneficial in this vast disconnect between the fortunes of the American
elite and those of the struggling masses is just silly. Its not even good for the elite. The rich may
think that the public wont ever turn against them. But to hold that belief, you have to ignore the
turbulent history of the 1930s.
Note: For many reports from reliable souces on corporate profiteering, click here.
In Hunt for Nazis, an Incomplete History

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/14/us/14documents.html
A secret internal history of the Justice Departments Nazi-hunting unit, the Office of Special
Investigations, chronicles numerous hidden chapters in the offices 31-year-existence. But a
heavily redacted version of the report turned over by the Justice Department in response to a
lawsuit deletes more than 1,000 passages in the report, including many of the most intriguing
references. Here is a sampling of the original passages in the unredacted report, obtained by the
New York Times, as compared with the deleted versions. The full report details how the United
States became a safe haven for some Nazis, with some American officials actively
working to help persecutors gain entry to the United States and conceal their identities and
crimes. But the redacted version prepared by the Justice Department omits many of the
central elements of these cases. The redacted report omits the debate within the CIA in 1953
over what Otto von Bolschwing, a Nazi associate of Adolph Eichmann who became a CIA asset,
should tell immigration officials or others in the United States if confronted about his Nazi past. It
also deletes references to what American officials knew about his atrocities, including the assertion
from a Justice Department officials that he might be guilty of acts more heinous than anyone else
currently under investigation. [many additional examples follow]
Note: This suppressed report contains clear evidence that top Nazi war criminals were given
aliases and allowed to escape prosecution by elements both outside and inside of government.
For even more powerful evidence from released US government documents that top government
leaders felt the need for mind control techniques developed by the Nazi's warranted secretly
protecting and eventually working with some of the most heartless of the Nazis, click here.
No charges for destroying CIA interrogation videos

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40091824/ns/us_news-security/40091824
A special prosecutor cleared CIA employees ... of any criminal charges for destroying videotapes
that showed waterboarding of terror suspects, even though two sources close to the case say a
key witness was never questioned. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that
special counsel John Durham never issued a grand jury subpoena for testimony from Jose
Rodriguez, the CIA's former top clandestine officer, who approved the destruction of the
tapes. Rodriguez' lawyer, Bob Bennett, had made clear that his client would not testify without a
grant of immunity. But Durham's failure to call Rodriguez, or even question him as a witness,
surprised one lawyer close to the case, indicating it could raise questions about the special
counsel's claim that he had conducted a "thorough" investigation. The decision not to prosecute
anyone in the videotape destruction came five years to the day after the CIA destroyed its cache of
92 videos of two al-Qaida operatives, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri, being subjected to
waterboarding, which evokes the sensation of drowning. The deadline for prosecuting someone
under most federal laws is five years. Jamell Jaffer, a lawyer for the ACLU, criticized the decision.
"The problem here is not just the destruction of the tapes, but what the tapes depicted
interrogators using barbaric methods endorsed at the highest levels of the government."
Note: It appears that the courts are not willing to put a stop to the increasing criminality and
usurpations of power of the National Security State. For abundant documentation from major
media sources of the illegalities and atrocities committed by US intelligence and military in the
GWOT, click here.
D.E.A. Deployed Mumbai Plotter Despite Warning

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/asia/08terror.html
American authorities sent David C. Headley, a small-time drug dealer and sometime
informant, to work for them in Pakistan months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite a
warning that he sympathized with radical Islamic groups. Not long after Mr. Headley arrived
there, he began training with terrorists, eventually playing a key role in the 2008 attacks that
left 164 people dead in Mumbai. The October 2001 warning was dismissed, the authorities said,
as the ire of a jilted girlfriend and for lack of proof. Less than a month later, those concerns did not
come up when a federal court in New York granted Mr. Headley an early release from probation so
that he could be sent to work for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in Pakistan. It
is unclear what Mr. Headley was supposed to do in Pakistan for the Americans. Two of the former
drug dealers ex-wives had gone to American authorities between 2005 and 2008, before the
Mumbai attacks, to say they feared he was plotting with terrorists. Combined with the earlier
warning from the former girlfriend, three of the women in Mr. Headleys life reported his ties to
terrorists, only to have those warnings dismissed. An examination of Mr. Headleys story
shows that his government ties ran far deeper and longer than previously known. One senior
American official knowledgeable about the case said he believed that Mr. Headley was a D.E.A.
informant until at least 2003, meaning that he was talking to American agencies even as he was
learning to deal with explosives and small arms in terrorist training camps.
Note: This story certainly raises the question whether the Mumbai attacks were not in fact a falseflag operation. For many reports from reliable sources that reveal similar ties between government
agencies running clandestine operations and terrorist attacks, click here.
Humiliate, strip, threaten: UK military interrogation manuals discovered

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/25/uk-military-interrogation-manuals
The British military has been training interrogators in techniques that include threats, sensory
deprivation and enforced nakedness in an apparent breach of the Geneva conventions. Training
materials drawn up secretly in recent years tell interrogators they should aim to provoke
humiliation, insecurity, disorientation, exhaustion, anxiety and fear in the prisoners they are
questioning, and suggest ways in which this can be achieved. A manual prepared in April
2008 suggests that "Cpers" captured personnel be kept in conditions of physical discomfort
and intimidated. Sensory deprivation is lawful, it adds, if there are "valid operational reasons". It
also urges enforced nakedness. More recent training material says blindfolds, earmuffs and plastic
handcuffs are essential equipment for military interrogators, and says that while prisoners should
be allowed to sleep or rest for eight hours in each 24, they need be permitted only four hours
unbroken sleep. It also suggests that interrogators tell prisoners they will be held incommunicado
unless they answer questions. The 1949 Geneva conventions prohibit any "physical or moral
coercion", in particular any coercion employed to obtain information. All the British classified
training material was produced after the death of Baha Mousa, the Iraqi hotel receptionist tortured
to death by British troops in Basra in September 2003.
Note: For a survey of historic and contemporary uses of torture, click here. For more disturbing
information on how Nazi torture techniques were eventually used by the CIA for mind control, click
here.
17,000 doctors cash in drug company money, report finds

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39742328/ns/health-health_care/
More than 17,000 doctors and other health care providers have taken money from seven major
drug companies to talk to other doctors about their products, a joint investigation by news
organizations and non-profit groups found. More than 380 of the doctors, nurses, pharmacists
and other professionals took in more than $100,000 in 2009 and 2010, according to the
investigation. The report said far more doctors are likely to have taken such payments, but it
documented these based on information from seven drugmakers. The investigation by journalism
group ProPublica, Consumer Reports magazine, NPR radio and [other] publications showed
doctors were sometimes urged to recommend "off-label" prescriptions of drugs, meaning using
them for conditions they are not approved for. "Tens of thousands of U.S. physicians are paid
to spread the word about pharma's favored pills and to advise the companies about research
and marketing," the group says in its report. "This investigation begins to pull back the shroud on
these activities," Dr. John Santa, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, said in
a statement. "The amount of money involved is astounding, and the ProPublica report's account of
the background of some of the physicians is disturbing."
Note: This important report is available here. For more on corporate corruption, click here.
WikiLeaks and 9/11: What if?

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/15/opinion/la-oe-rowley-wikileaks-20101015
If WikiLeaks had been around in 2001, could the events of 9/11 have been prevented? The idea is
worth considering. There were a lot of us in the run-up to Sept. 11 who had seen warning signs
that something devastating might be in the planning stages. One of us, Coleen Rowley, was a
special agent/legal counsel at the FBI's Minneapolis division and worked closely with those who
arrested would-be terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui on an immigration violation less than a month
before the World Trade Center was destroyed. Following up on a tip from flight school instructors
who had become suspicious of the French Moroccan who claimed to want to fly a jet as an "ego
boost," Special Agent Harry Samit and an INS colleague had detained Moussaoui. A foreign
intelligence service promptly reported that he had connections with a foreign terrorist group, but
FBI officials in Washington inexplicably turned down Samit's request for authority to search
Moussaoui's laptop computer and personal effects. Later, testifying at Moussaoui's trial,
Samit testified that he believed the behavior of his FBI superiors in Washington constituted
"criminal negligence." WikiLeaks might have provided a pressure valve for those agents who
were terribly worried about what might happen and frustrated by their superiors' seeming
indifference.
Note: For questions raised about the official account of 9/11 by many courageous professionals,
Wall Street Pay: A Record $144 Billion

Compensation on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive
year, as more than three dozen top banks and securities firms will pay $144 billion in salary
and benefits ... a 4% increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009. Compensation was
expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms. Overall, Wall Street is expected to pay 32.1% of its
revenue to employees, the same as last year, but below the 36% in 2007. Profits, which were
depressed by losses in the past two years, have bounced back from the 2008 crisis. But the
estimated 2010 profit of $61.3 billion for the firms surveyed still falls about 20% short from the
record $82 billion in 2006. Over that same period, compensation across the firms in the survey
increased 23%. "Until focus of these institutions changes from revenue generation to long-term
shareholder value, we will see these outrageous pay packages and compensation levels," said
Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance.
Note: For many key reports from reliable sources on Wall Street's profiteering, click here.
Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks

Chris Miller nearly doubled his $3,500 stock investment in a renewable-energy firm in 2008. It was
a perfectly legal bet, but he's no ordinary investor. Mr. Miller is the top energy-policy adviser to
Nevada Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who helped pass legislation that wound
up benefiting the firm. Mr. Miller isn't the only Congressional staffer making such stock bets. At
least 72 aides on both sides of the aisle traded shares of companies that their bosses help
oversee, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering
trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers for 2008 and 2009. The Journal analysis showed that an aide
to a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee bought Bank of America Corp. stock
before results of last year's government stress tests eased investor concerns about the health of
the banking industry. A top aide to the House Speaker profited by trading shares of Freddie Mac
and Fannie Mae in a brokerage account with her husband two days before the government
authorized emergency funding for the companies. The aides identified by the Journal say they
didn't profit by making trades based on any information gathered in the halls of Congress. Even if
they had done so, it would be legal, because insider-trading laws don't apply to Congress.
Unlike many Executive Branch employees, lawmakers and aides don't have restrictions on
their stock holdings and ownership interests in companies they oversee.
Note: Why is Congress exempt from so many of its own laws? Who is willing to start a movement
to stop this? For lots more on government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Witnesses in Defense Dept. Report Suggest Cover-Up of 9/11 Findings

2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
A document obtained and witnesses interviewed by Fox News raise new questions over whether
there was an effort by the Defense Department to cover up a pre-9/11 military intelligence program
known as "Able Danger." At least five witnesses questioned by the Defense Department's
Inspector General told Fox News that their statements were distorted by investigators in the final
IG's report -- or it left out key information, backing up assertions that lead hijacker Mohammed Atta
was identified a year before 9/11. Lt. Col Tony Shaffer, an operative involved with Able Danger
[and author of Operation Dark Heart, a recent book which discussed the Able Danger operation,
and all copies of which were destroyed by the Pentagon] said, "My last interview was very, very
hostile." When asked why the IG's report was so aggressive in its denials of his claims and those
of other witnesses -- that the data mining project had identified Atta as a threat to the U.S. before
9/11 -- Shaffer said [the] Defense Department was worried about taking some of the blame
for 9/11. Specifically, the Defense Intelligence Agency ... wanted the removal of references
to a meeting between Shaffer and the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip
Zelikow, removed. Shaffer alleges that in that meeting, which took place in Afghanistan, the
commission was told about Able Danger and the identification of Atta before the attacks. Shaffer,
who was undercover at the time, said there was "stunned silence" at the meeting. No mention of
this was made in the final 9/11 Commission report.
Note: Able Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged 9/11
hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media reports on the intense
controversy around this program (which is likely why Shaffer's book is being burned by the
Pentagon), click here. For a highly revealing Fox News interview with Col. Shaffer on these major
deceptions, click here.
CIA hired Karzai brother before 9/11, Woodward says

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/09/cia_hired_karzai_brother_befo...
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of Afghanistans president and boss of the strategically
important Kandahar province, has been on the CIA payroll for over a decade, Bob Woodward
writes in his new book, Obamas Wars. By the fall of 2008, Woodward says, Ahmed Wali Karzai
had been on the CIA payroll for years, beginning before 9/11. He had belonged to the CIA's
small network of paid agents and informants inside Afghanistan. In addition, the CIA paid
him money through his half-brother, the president. Hamid Karzai was plucked from obscurity
and installed as president after U.S.-backed Afghan forces chased the Taliban from power
following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There have been many accounts of his brothers relationship
with the CIA over the years, leaving the impression that he is a CIA agent, i.e., a controlled asset
of the spy agency. But Woodwards account of the CIAs relationship with Karzai, who has also
been accused repeatedly -- but not charged with -- protecting the illicit opium trade, is more
nuanced. He was not in any sense a controlled agent who always responded to U.S. and CIA
requests and pressure, Woodward writes. He was his own man, playing all sides against the
others -- the United States, the drug dealers, the Taliban and even his brother if necessary.
Note: What this article fails to mention is that President Karzai was also an employee of the major
oil company Unocal, as reported in this Chicago Tribune article.
Civil Rights Photographer Unmasked as Informer

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/us/14photographer.html
That photo of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. riding one of the first desegregated buses in
Montgomery, Ala.? He took it. The well-known image of black sanitation workers carrying I Am a
Man signs in Memphis? His. He was there in Room 306 of the Lorraine Hotel, Dr. Kings
room, on the night he was assassinated. But now an unsettling asterisk must be added to
the legacy of Ernest C. Withers, one of the most celebrated photographers of the civil rights
era: He was a paid F.B.I. informer. On [September 12], The Commercial Appeal in Memphis
published the results of a two-year investigation that showed Mr. Withers, who died in 2007 at age
85, had collaborated closely with two F.B.I. agents in the 1960s to keep tabs on the civil rights
movement. From at least 1968 to 1970, Mr. Withers, who was black, provided photographs,
biographical information and scheduling details to two F.B.I. agents in the bureaus Memphis
domestic surveillance program, Howell Lowe and William H. Lawrence, according to numerous
reports summarizing their meetings. The reports were obtained by the newspaper under the
Freedom of Information Act and posted on its Web site. While he was growing close to top civil
rights leaders, Mr. Withers was also meeting regularly with the F.B.I. agents, disclosing details
about plans for marches and political beliefs of the leaders, even personal information like the
leaders car tag numbers.
Note: For a fascinating CNN interview with civil rights leader and former Atlanta mayor Andrew
Young on this issue, click here. For key reports from reliable sources raising unanswered
questions about the assassination of Martin Luther King and other major US political leaders, click
here.
US soldiers killed Afghan civilians for sport

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civilians-fingers
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and
shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies. Five of the soldiers
are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in
separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a
recruit who exposed the murders. In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge
from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker
infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. According to investigators
and legal documents, discussion of killing Afghan civilians began after the arrival of Staff Sergeant
Calvin Gibbs at forward operating base Ramrod last November. Other soldiers told the army's
criminal investigation command that Gibbs boasted of the things he got away with while serving in
Iraq and said how easy it would be to "toss a grenade at someone and kill them". Investigators
said Gibbs, 25, hatched a plan with another soldier, Jeremy Morlock, 22, and other members of the
unit to form a "kill team". The Army Times reported that a least one of the soldiers collected the
fingers of the victims as souvenirs and that some of them posed for photographs with the bodies.
Note: For analysis of this latest report of US military atrocities in Afghanistan, click here and here.
For an analysis of how this and other US atrocities in Afghanistan have been systematically
suppressed by the US media, click here. For a powerful analysis of "Why America Cannot Win the
War in Afghanistan" by a former high-ranking Pakistani general, Hamid Gul, click here.
German journalist's fight for secret govt files on Nazi Adolf Eichmann
heads back to court
2010-09-08, Fox News/AP
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/07/german-journalists-fight-secret-govt-...
Germanys intelligence service has turned over thousands of files on top Nazi Adolf Eichmanns
whereabouts after World War II to a journalist who sued for them. But with so many passages
blacked out and pages missing, shes taking the matter back to court. An attorney for freelance
reporter Gabriele Weber said ... he was confident that she would win greater access eventually,
even though Chancellor Angela Merkels office has argued that some Eichmann files should stay
secret. Last week, Weber went to see the government files on the man known as the architect of
the Holocaust for coordinating the Nazis genocide policy. She was surprised to find some 1,000
pages missing, despite a federal courts order in April that the intelligence agency, the BND, could
not keep all of the documents secret. Of the pages she did receive, much of the information was
blacked out. Weber hopes the files will shed more light on missing pieces of the [Eichmann]
puzzle. Who helped him escape? How much did Germany know about where he was? Is
there more to the story of his capture?
Note: Why are these documents from over 60 years ago still being censored? Could it be that the
Vatican and allies were secretly working together to allow key German leaders to escape? For lots
more on this learn about Operation Paperclip here and here.
Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child

pornography
2010-09-03, Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100903/us_yblog_upshot/pentagon-declin...
A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child
pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense
Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit
cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated
only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show. The cases turned up during a
2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn
payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card
information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child
pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses
with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions. In a related inquiry, the
Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against
military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to
be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of
defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program
manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened
investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in
prosecuting just a handful.
US, UK Roles in Iran's Mass Executions

2010-08-31, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/08/sources-say-cia-...
With Mir Hossein Mousavi as the de facto leader of the opposition movement, the mass executions
of the 1980s have become a hot topic among Iranians and Iran watchers, including many readers
of this site. Mousavi was prime minister in that decade. Though this article was first published in
1986, it lends a new perspective to the issue, at least with respect to the thousands of executions
that took place in the early 1980s. The CIA's assistance to Ayatollah Khomeini, which apparently
prompted the executions, is not a well-known fact: The Reagan administration's secret overtures
and arms shipments to Iran are part of a seven-year-long pattern of covert Central Intelligence
Agency operations -- some dating back to the Carter administration -- that were designed both to
curry favor with the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and support Iranian exiles who seek to
overthrow it, according to informed sources. In 1983, for example, the CIA participated in a
secret operation to provide a list of Soviet KGB agents and collaborators operating in Iran
to the Khomeini regime, which then executed up to 200 suspects. Khomeini also expelled 18
Soviet diplomats, imprisoned the Tudeh party leaders and publicly thanked God for "the miracle"
leading to the arrests of the "treasonous leaders." At the same time, secret presidential intelligence
orders, called "findings," authorized the CIA to support Iranian exiles opposed to the Khomeini
regime, the sources said.
Karzai Aide in Corruption Inquiry Is Tied to C.I.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/asia/26kabul.html
The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the center of a politically sensitive corruption
investigation is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American
officials. Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council,
appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and
Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether
providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace,
or both. Mr. Salehis relationship with the C.I.A. underscores deep contradictions at the heart
of the Obama administrations policy in Afghanistan, with American officials
simultaneously demanding that Mr. Karzai root out the corruption that pervades his
government while sometimes subsidizing the very people suspected of perpetrating it.
Other prominent Afghans who American officials have said were on the C.I.A.s payroll include the
presidents half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, suspected by investigators of playing a role in
Afghanistans booming opium trade. Over the course of the nine-year-old war, the C.I.A. has
enmeshed itself in the inner workings of Afghanistans national security establishment. From 2002
until just last year, the C.I.A. paid the entire budget of Afghanistans spy service, the National
Directorate of Security.
Note: For key reports on the corruption and profiteering that are the real fuels for war, click here.
Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD?

2010-08-23, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10996838
Nearly 60 years ago, a French town was hit by a sudden outbreak of hallucinations, which left five
people dead and many seriously ill. On 16 August 1951, postman Leon Armunier was doing his
rounds in the southern French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit when he was suddenly overwhelmed by
nausea and wild hallucinations. "It was terrible. I had the sensation of shrinking and shrinking, and
the fire and the serpents coiling around my arms," he remembers. Leon, now 87, fell off his bike
and was taken to the hospital in Avignon. Over the coming days, dozens of other people in the
town fell prey to similar symptoms. Doctors at the time concluded that bread at one of the town's
bakeries had become contaminated by ergot, a poisonous fungus that occurs naturally on rye.
That view remained largely unchallenged until 2009, when an American investigative journalist,
Hank Albarelli, revealed a CIA document labelled: "Re: Pont-Saint-Esprit and F.Olson Files. SO
Span/France Operation file, inclusive Olson. Intel files. Hand carry to Belin - tell him to see to it that
these are buried." F. Olson is Frank Olson, a CIA scientist who, at the time of the Pont St
Esprit incident, led research for the agency into the drug LSD. David Belin, meanwhile, was
executive director of the Rockefeller Commission created by the White House in 1975 to
investigate abuses carried out worldwide by the CIA. Albarelli believes the Pont-Saint-Esprit
and F. Olson Files, mentioned in the document, would show - if they had not been "buried" - that
the CIA was experimenting on the townspeople, by dosing them with LSD.
Note: Frank Olson later had his drink spiked with LSD and allegedly committed suicide shortly
thereafter. Yet many believe he was "suicided" as he was having misgivings about his involvement
in this program and considering spilling the beans, as reported in this news article. For an overview
of CIA mind-control experimentation, click here.
Probe finds hundreds of cases of mishandled evidence in N. Carolina

2010-08-18, Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/18/2159656/probe-finds-hundreds-of-cases.html
The North Carolina justice system shook [on August 18] as an audit commissioned by state
Attorney General Roy Cooper revealed that the State Bureau of Investigation withheld or distorted
evidence in more than 200 cases at the expense of potentially innocent men and women. The full
impact of the disclosure will reverberate for years to come as prosecutors and defense attorneys
re-examine cases as much as two decades old to figure out whether these errors robbed
defendants of justice. Some of the injustices can be addressed as attorneys bring old cases
back to court. For others, it's too late. Three of the defendants in [corrupt] cases have been
executed. Two former FBI agents, Chris Swecker and Mike Wolf, examined more than 15,000
cases at the invitation of Cooper, a Democrat who has been attorney general since 2001. The
exoneration of Greg Taylor, a Wake County man imprisoned 17 years for a murder he didn't
commit, prompted the review. SBI analyst Duane Deaver admitted in February that he failed to
report tests indicating a substance on Taylor's SUV was not blood. Swecker's findings, he said,
signal potential violations of the U.S. Constitution and North Carolina laws by withholding
information favorable to defendants.
Note: Three innocent individuals were likely executed in this one US state. How many more are
there like this around the world?
Plaintiff who challenged FBI's national security letters reveals concerns

For six years, Nicholas Merrill has lived in a surreal world of half-truths, where he could not tell
even his fiancee, his closest friends or his mother that he is "John Doe" -- the man who filed the
first-ever court challenge to the FBI's ability to obtain personal data on Americans without judicial
approval. No one knew he was the plaintiff challenging the FBI's authority to issue "national
security letters," as they are known, and its ability to impose a gag on the recipient. Now, following
the partial lifting of his gag order 11 days ago as a result of an FBI settlement, Merrill can speak
openly for the first time about the experience, although he cannot disclose the full scope of the
data demanded. "One of the most dangerous and troubling things about the FBI's national
security letter powers is how much it has been shrouded in secrecy," said Melissa Goodman,
a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who helped Merrill sue the government in April
2004 and was one of only a handful of people outside the FBI -- all lawyers -- who knew Merrill had
received a letter. The FBI between 2003 and 2006 issued more than 192,500 letters -- an average
of almost 50,000 a year. The Justice Department inspector general in 2007 faulted the bureau for
failing to adequately justify the issuance of such letters.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the erosion of civil liberties by government,
click here.
U.S. regulators lack data on health risks of most chemicals

This summer, when Kellogg recalled 28 million boxes of Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops and
Honey Smacks, the company blamed elevated levels of a chemical in the packaging. Dozens of
consumers reported a strange taste and odor, and some complained of nausea and diarrhea.
Federal regulators, who are charged with ensuring the safety of food and consumer products, are
in the dark about the suspected chemical, 2-methylnaphthalene. The [FDA and EPA have] no
scientific data on its impact on human health. The cereal recall hints at a larger issue: huge
gaps in the government's knowledge about chemicals in everyday consumer products,
from furniture to clothing to children's products. Under current laws, the government has
little or no information about the health risks posed by most of the 80,000 chemicals on the
U.S. market today. The information gap is hardly new. When the Toxic Substances Control Act
was passed in 1976, it exempted from regulation about 62,000 chemicals that were in commercial
use -- including 2-methylnaphthalene. In addition, chemicals developed since the law's passage do
not have to be tested for safety. Instead, companies are asked to volunteer information on the
health effects of their compounds.
Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah 'worse than Hiroshima'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assaul...
Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was
bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that
were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study. Iraqi doctors in
Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious
birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they
were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops
and insurgents. Their claims have been supported by a survey showing a four-fold increase in all
cancers and a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s. Infant mortality in the city is more
than four times higher than in neighbouring Jordan and eight times higher than in Kuwait. Dr Chris
Busby, ... one of the authors of the survey of 4,800 individuals in Fallujah, said ... "to produce an
effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the
attacks happened". US Marines first besieged and bombarded Fallujah, 30 miles west of
Baghdad, in April 2004 after four employees of the American security company Blackwater were
killed and their bodies burned. After an eight-month stand-off, the Marines stormed the city in
November using artillery and aerial bombing against rebel positions. US forces later admitted that
they had employed white phosphorus as well as other munitions.
Note: For many reports from major media sources of the horrific impacts of the US wars of
aggression in the Middle East and Central Asia, click here.
Inquiry into Ian Tomlinson's death at a G20 protest in London prompts

more questions than answers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/22/ian-tomlinson-story-justice-denied
When Ian Tomlinson's widow watched video footage of his last moments alive for the first time on
a laptop 16 months ago, she was speechless. Julia Tomlinson had been told by police her
husband had died of natural causes as he tried to get home through the G20 protest in London,
and there was nothing suspicious about the death. But as she watched [video] footage ...a different
story unfolded. Tomlinson, hands in pockets, was walking away from police. An officer who was
not displaying his badge number, and whose face was concealed behind a balaclava, lunged at
her husband from behind and, without provocation, struck him on the leg and pushed him to the
ground. The police disregard for Tomlinson was [evident] on footage of the aftermath of the attack,
which left him lying on the ground in front of a line of riot police shortly after 7.25pm on 1 April.
None of the officers went to the aid of the 47-year-old, who was clearly in distress. Looking
disoriented, Tomlinson then stumbled 100 yards down the road before collapsing and dying. The
initial police response was to accuse protesters of wrongdoing. Within four hours, Scotland Yard
had released a statement saying officers had gone to the victim's aid and called an ambulance,
and were attempting to save his life with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the following days, City
of London police, which was investigating the death, would receive information from
witnesses that suggested Tomlinson might have been assaulted by an officer. His family
were not told about this, and were advised instead that he had died after being caught up in
a fracas prompted by anarchist demonstrators attacking police.
Note: This excellent article shows all too clearly how police departments will lie and severely
manipulate evidence to defend their own, even when they know they are in the wrong.
27,000 Abandoned Gulf Oil Wells May Be Leaking

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an
environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one - not industry, not government
- is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows. The oldest of
these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing
jobs are already failing. The AP investigation uncovered particular concern with 3,500 of the
neglected wells - those characterized in federal government records as "temporarily abandoned."
More than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About
three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year,
and many since the 1950s and 1960s - even though sealing procedures for temporary
abandonment are not as stringent as those for permanent closures. As a forceful reminder of the
potential harm, the well beneath BP's Deepwater Horizon rig was being sealed with cement
for temporary abandonment when it blew April 20, leading to one of the worst
environmental disasters in the nation's history. BP alone has abandoned about 600 wells in
the Gulf, according to government data.
Note: For lots more on government and corporate corruption, click here and here.
Insider Trading Inside the Beltway

2010-07-02, UCLA School of Law
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1633123
A 2004 study of the results of stock trading by United States Senators during the 1990s found that
Senators on average beat the market by 12% a year. In sharp contrast, U.S. households on
average underperformed the market by 1.4% a year and even corporate insiders on average beat
the market by only about 6% a year during that period. A reasonable inference is that some
Senators had access to and were using material nonpublic information about the
companies in whose stock they trade. Under current law, it is unlikely that Members of
Congress can be held liable for insider trading. The proposed Stop Trading on Congressional
Knowledge Act addresses that problem by instructing the Securities and Exchange Commission to
adopt rules intended to prohibit such trading. This article analyzes present law to determine
whether Members of Congress, Congressional employees, and other federal government
employees can be held liable for trading on the basis of material nonpublic information. It argues
that there is no public policy rationale for permitting such trading and that doing so creates
perverse legislative incentives and opens the door to corruption. The article explains that the
Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution is no barrier to legislative and regulatory
restrictions on Congressional insider trading.
Note: Do you think that these highly successful investors in the US Senate might have a vested
interest in protecting the existing financial and legal structure that makes their profits possible and
protects them from criminal charges?
Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/world/middleeast/24saudi.html
Documents gathered by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims provide new evidence of
extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal
family, but the material may never find its way into court because of legal and diplomatic obstacles.
The case has put the Obama administration in the middle of a political and legal dispute,
with the Justice Department siding with the Saudis in court last month in seeking to kill
further legal action. Adding to the intrigue, classified American intelligence documents related to
Saudi finances were leaked anonymously to lawyers for the families. The Justice Department had
the lawyers copies destroyed and now wants to prevent a judge from even looking at the material.
Two federal judges and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals have already ruled against the 7,630
people represented in the lawsuit, made up of survivors of the attacks and family members of
those killed, throwing out the suit on the ground that the families cannot bring legal action in the
United States against a sovereign nation and its leaders. The Supreme Court is expected to
decide this week whether to hear an appeal, but the families prospects dimmed last month when
the Justice Department sided with the Saudis in their immunity claim and urged the court not to
consider the appeal.
Note: For many questions about the relationship between powerful Saudis, the US government
and the events of 9/11, click here.
Lawmakers Negotiating Bank Bill Hold Industry Stocks

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-17/lawmakers-negotiating-bank-bill-h...
Lawmakers writing the biggest overhaul of financial regulations since the Great Depression
may have a stake in the outcome. Eight of 11 senators and six of 22 House members on a
conference committee writing the final legislation own stocks in financial companies
affected by the legislation, disclosure statements released yesterday show. One senator and
nine representatives who also sit on the committee got extensions of the filing deadline and
havent yet disclosed their holdings. Its always a concern that personal interests
influence legislation, said Lisa Gilbert, a lobbyist for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a
Boston-based organization pushing for stronger financial regulations. Senator Judd Gregg of New
Hampshire reported Bank of America stock holdings and a savings account valued between $1
million and $5 million. The 43 negotiators are trying to iron out differences between the House and
Senate versions of the legislation as they respond to an economic crisis that forced the U.S. to
provide $700 billion in bailout funds for New York-based Citigroup Inc. ... Bank of America Corp.
and other banks.
Note: For abundant reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
Obama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12leak.html
Hired in 2001 by the National Security Agency to help it catch up with the e-mail and cellphone
revolution, Thomas A. Drake became convinced that the governments eavesdroppers were
squandering hundreds of millions of dollars on failed programs. He contacted a reporter for The
Baltimore Sun. Today, because of that decision, Mr. Drake, 53, ... faces years in prison on 10
felony charges involving the mishandling of classified information and obstruction of justice. The
indictment of Mr. Drake was the latest evidence that the Obama administration is proving more
aggressive than the Bush administration in seeking to punish unauthorized leaks. In 17 months in
office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak
prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp
political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush. Mr. Drake was charged in April; in
May, an F.B.I. translator was sentenced to 20 months in prison for providing classified documents
to a blogger; this week, the Pentagon confirmed the arrest of a 22-year-old Army intelligence
analyst suspected of passing a classified video of an American military helicopter shooting
Baghdad civilians to the Web site Wikileaks.org.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
Army Leak Suspect Is Arrested

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/world/08leaks.html
The Department of Defense announced that Specialist [Bradley] Manning, of Potomac, Md.,
had been arrested and was under investigation [for leaking a video of a US helicopter attack
on civilians in Baghdad to a whistleblower website, Wikileaks]. The leak of the helicopter
video, which Wikileaks titled Collateral Murder, caused serious consternation at the
Pentagon, where senior officials are increasingly concerned about technology that makes it easier
to anonymously post documents, photographs and videos online. But opponents of the Iraq war
have said that the video provided irrefutable evidence of a military blunder, and that it should not
have been classified. The episode also drew wide attention to Wikileaks, a once-fringe Web site
that aims to bring to light secret information about governments and corporations. It was founded
three years ago by Julian Assange, an Australian activist and journalist, and has published
documents about toxic dumping in Africa, protocols from Guantnamo Bay and e-mail messages
from Sarah Palins personal account.
Note: In case the above video disappears, click here to view it on one of our websites. The only
reason this event made news is because the two cameramen killed were Reuters staff. US forces
then fired on an unarmed van with children in it, which was attempting to bring the dead and
wounded out of the combat zone. How many innocent civilians are killed like this and never make
the news? Please spread this important video and help others to wake up and work together to
stop the cruelty of some of the US forces. The Pentagon is working hard to shut down Wikileaks,
the organization which secured this powerful video.
U.S. 'secret war' expands globally as Special Operations forces take

larger role
The Obama administration has significantly expanded a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda
and other radical groups, according to senior military and administration officials. Special
Operations forces have grown both in number and budget, and are deployed in 75 countries,
compared with about 60 at the beginning of last year. In addition to units that have spent years in
the Philippines and Colombia, teams are operating in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East,
Africa and Central Asia. Plans exist for preemptive or retaliatory strikes in numerous places around
the world. Obama, one senior military official said, has allowed "things that the previous
administration did not." Special Operations commanders have also become a far more
regular presence at the White House than they were under George W. Bush's
administration. The Special Operations capabilities requested by the White House go beyond
unilateral strikes and include the training of local counterterrorism forces and joint operations with
them. Obama has made such forces a far more integrated part of his global security strategy. He
has asked for a 5.7 percent increase in the Special Operations budget for fiscal 2011, for a total of
$6.3 billion, plus an additional $3.5 billion in 2010 contingency funding.
Note: For an analysis, click here. For lots more from reliable sources about the war crimes
committed ongoingly by the US military and Special Forces worldwide, click here.
Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-activists-autopsy-r...
Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid
flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they
were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range. Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi
Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head,
according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, [Yalcin Buyuk]. The
results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest,
hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five
times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the
back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of
the head or in the back. The new information about the manner and intensity of the killings
undermines Israel's insistence that its soldiers opened fire only in self defence and in response to
attacks by the activists. "Given the very disturbing evidence which contradicts the line from
the Israeli media and suggests that Israelis have been very selective in the way they have
addressed this, there is now an overwhelming need for an international inquiry," said
Andrew Slaughter MP, a member of the all party group on Britain and Palestine.
Report condemns swine flu experts' ties to big pharma

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/04/swine-flu-experts-big-pharmace...
Scientists who drew up the key World Health Organisation guidelines advising governments to
stockpile drugs in the event of a flu pandemic had previously been paid by drug companies which
stood to profit. An investigation by the British Medical Journal and the Bureau of Investigative
Journalism, the not-for-profit reporting unit, shows that WHO guidance issued in 2004 was
authored by three scientists who had previously received payment for other work from
Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), manufacturer of Relenza.
Pharmaceutical companies banked more than $7bn (4.8bn) as governments stockpiled
drugs. "The tentacles of drug company influence are in all levels in the decision-making process,"
said Paul Flynn, the Labour MP who sits on the council's health committee. Although the experts
consulted made no secret of industry ties in other settings, declaring them in research papers and
at universities, the WHO itself did not publicly disclose any of these in its seminal 2004 guidance.
Note: For wide coverage from reliable sourcesof the swine and avian flu "fake pandemics"
designed for corporate profit, click here.
Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons
Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid
regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of [Israel's] possession of nuclear
weapons. The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in
1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon
Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three
sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the
two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to
remain secret. The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha PolakowSuransky ... provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of
"ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence. The Israeli authorities tried
to stop South Africa's post-apartheid government declassifying the documents at PolakowSuransky's request.
Note: A New York Times article states that Isreal has strongly denied this story. Yet even this
articles states, "Israel has a longstanding policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor
denying that it has nuclear weapons, though it is widely believed to have developed a large
arsenal."
Former Fed chief Volcker backs change in system

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/19/BU101DHAMC.DTL
The United States must curb consumption and credit and boost production and savings, but its
citizens and leaders so far lack the will to change, economist Paul Volcker said. Volcker, 82, an
adviser to the Obama administration, ... said the United States spiraled toward the Great
Recession through an excess of debt that subsidized an appetite for consumer goods, many of
them imported. The chief bugaboo, in Volcker's view, was a runaway financial sector that ...
became a factory to make money by manipulating money. He said under-regulated
financiers made big profits and bonuses by swapping derivatives and other exotic
instruments that produced few of the widespread benefits - like better jobs and wages - that
normally flow from investment. Now that this financial house of cards has collapsed, Volcker said,
U.S. and world leaders must figure out how to stop powerful mega-banks and hedge funds from
engaging in the same shenanigans that forced taxpayers to bail them out to prevent further
catastrophe. "The central issue with which we have been grappling is the doctrine of 'too big to
fail,' " Volcker said, alluding to how the United States bailed out institutions like insurer AIG to
prevent their collapse from further damaging the economy.
Note: For a great collection of reports from major media sources on the hidden realities of the Wall
Street crisis and the government bailout of big finance, click here.
Norway Builds the World's Most Humane Prison

Ten years and 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner ($252 million) in the making, [Halden Fengsel,
Norway's newest prison,] is spread over 75 acres (30 hectares) of gently sloping forest in
southeastern Norway. The facility boasts amenities like a sound studio, jogging trails and a
freestanding two-bedroom house where inmates can host their families during overnight visits. The
scent of orange sorbet emanates from the "kitchen laboratory" where inmates take cooking
courses. "In the Norwegian prison system, there's a focus on human rights and respect," says Are
Hoidal, the prison's governor. "We don't see any of this as unusual." Halden ... embodies the
guiding principles of the country's penal system: that repressive prisons do not work and that
treating prisoners humanely boosts their chances of reintegrating into society. "When they arrive,
many of them are in bad shape," Hoidal says, noting that Halden houses drug dealers, murderers
and rapists, among others. "We want to build them up, give them confidence through education
and work and have them leave as better people." Within two years of their release, 20% of
Norway's prisoners end up back in jail. In the U.K. and the U.S., the figure hovers between
50% and 60%.
Regulator Deferred to Oil Industry on Rig Safety

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08agency.html
Federal regulators warned offshore rig operators more than a decade ago that they needed to
install backup systems to control the giant undersea valves known as blowout preventers, used to
cut off the flow of oil from a well in an emergency. The warnings were repeated in 2004 and 2009.
Yet the Minerals Management Service, the Interior Department agency charged both with
regulating the oil industry and collecting royalties from it, never took steps to address the issue
comprehensively, relying instead on industry assurances that it was on top of the problem, a
review of documents shows. In the intervening years, numerous blowout preventers and their
control systems have failed, though none as catastrophically as those on the well the Deepwater
Horizon drilling rig was preparing when it blew up on April 20, leaving tens of thousands of gallons
of oil a day spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Agency records show that from 2001 to 2007,
there were 1,443 serious drilling accidents in offshore operations, leading to 41 deaths, 302
injuries and 356 oil spills. Yet the federal agency continues to allow the industry largely to
police itself. Critics say that, then and now, the minerals service has been crippled by this
dependence on industry and by a climate of regulatory indulgence.
Note: For lots more from reliable souces on government corruption and collusion with industries it
is supposed to be regulating, click here.
Americans 'Bombarded' with Cancer Causes

Americans are being "bombarded" with chemicals, gases and radiation that can cause cancer, and
the federal government must do far more to protect them, presidential cancer advisers said. The
panel said many avoidable cancers were also caused by pollution, radon from the soil and medical
imaging scans. Since so little is known about the possible risks of cell phones, people would be
prudent to wear headsets and make calls quickly ... the panel advised. "The panel was particularly
concerned to find that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly
underestimated," they wrote in the report. It is the first time the panel has taken such a sharp turn
into what had long been disputed territory whether pollution, cell phones and even household
objects, such as water bottles, can cause cancer. Cancer is the No. 2 killer of Americans, after
heart disease. "The incidence of some cancers, including some most common among children, is
increasing for unexplained reasons," the report reads. "With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the
market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily
lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential
environmental carcinogens is widespread," it adds.
Note: To read the President's Cancer Panel report, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, click
here. For many other important reports from major media sources on potential cancer cures and
treatments, click here.
CIA drones have broader list of targets

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/05/world/la-fg-drone-targets-20100506
The CIA received secret permission to attack a wider range of targets, including suspected
militants whose names are not known, as part of a dramatic expansion of its campaign of drone
strikes in Pakistan's border region. The expanded authority, approved two years ago by the
Bush administration and continued by President Obama, permits the agency to rely on
what officials describe as "pattern of life" analysis ... to target suspected militants, even
when their full identities are not known, the officials said. Previously, the CIA was restricted in
most cases to killing only individuals whose names were on an approved list. Instead of just a few
dozen attacks per year, CIA-operated unmanned aircraft now carry out multiple missile strikes
each week against safe houses, training camps and other hiding places used by militants in the
tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. "There are a lot of ethical questions here about whether we know
who the targets are," said Loch Johnson, an intelligence scholar at the University of Georgia and a
former congressional aide. President Bush secretly decided in his last year in office to expand the
program. Obama has continued and even streamlined the process, so that CIA Director Leon E.
Panetta can sign off on many attacks without notifying the White House beforehand, an official
said.
Note: How can the CIA be allowed to kill people whose names aren't even known? Why are they
allowed to kill anyone without some form of judicial process? For more on this secret and
expanding CIA assassination program, click here. For analysis, click here.
'Goldman Conspiracy' must kill reforms

2010-05-04, MarketWatch (a Wall Street Journal Digital Network website)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-conspiracy-must-kill-bank-reform-201...
Capitalism is dead. The economy has a new Invisible Hand, the Goldman Conspiracy of Wall
Street bankers. This transfer of power happened suddenly. As recently as late 2008 the Invisible
Hand was on life support, near death. Suddenly, miraculously the Treasury secretary, Goldman's
former CEO, transferred the power into a new Invisible Hand of God, the free-market ideology of
Reaganomics ... a power absolutely essential to the survival of Wall Street's mega-bonus culture.
Yes, that's why the Goldman Conspiracy must kill financial reforms ... why they will kill effective
reform with the backroom support of Obama. This was predicted back in late 2008, even before
the bailouts, back when we thought Reaganomics dead. Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein
warned: "Free market ideology has always been a servant to the interests of capital ... During
boom times it's profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows
speculative bubbles ... When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance and goes
dormant while big government rides to the rescue," then a neo-Reaganomics "ideology will come
roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail
out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis," setting up a new
bubble, bigger meltdown, and the Great Depression 2 the world narrowly avoided in 2008.
Note: For a wealth of key reporting on the hidden realities of the Wall Street's shadowy operations,
click here.
Goldman's White House connections raise eyebrows

2010-04-21, Miami Herald/McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/21/1591442/goldmans-connections-to-white.html
While Goldman Sachs' lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over
potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman's chief executive visited the White House at
least four times. White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to
Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential
campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman's employees and their relatives. He
also met twice with Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers. Meanwhile, however,
Goldman is retaining former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig as a member of its legal
team. In addition, when he worked as an investment banker in Chicago a decade ago, White
House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel advised one client who also retained Goldman as an adviser
on the same $8.2 billion deal. Goldman's connections to the White House and the Obama
administration are raising eyebrows at a time when Washington and Wall Street are dueling over
how to overhaul regulation of the financial world. Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota
political scientist, said that "almost everything that the White House has done has been haunted by
the personnel and the money of Goldman ... as well as the suspicion that the White House,
particularly early on, was pulling its punches out of deference to Goldman and its war chest."
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the corrupt relationship between the biggest
financial firms and government, click here.
How did Big Finance grow so powerful that its hijinks nearly brought
down the global economy?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04162010/watch.html
Why is it so hard to hold Wall Street accountable? Even as we speak the banking industry and
corporate America are fighting against financial reform with all the money and influence at their
disposal. Their effort is to preserve a system that would enable them to ransack the country once
again. What can ordinary Americans do? That's the question I want to put to my guests, Simon
Johnson and James Kwak. They have written this new book, 13 Bankers: The Wall Street
Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. It's a must read - already a best seller -- and it couldn't
have come at a better time. This book could change the debate over financial reform by tipping it in
favor of the public. Together James Kwak and Simon Johnson run the indispensable economic
website BaselineScenario.com. [Moyers:] Let me get to the blunt conclusion you reach in your
book. You say that two years after the devastating financial crisis of '08 our country is still
at the mercy of an oligarchy that is bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to regulation
than ever. Correct? SIMON JOHNSON: Absolutely correct, Bill. The big banks became
stronger as a result of the bailout. That may seem extraordinary, but it's really true. They're
turning that increased economic clout into more political power. And they're using that political
power to go out and take the same sort of risks that got us into disaster in September 2008.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on the hidden methods used by
financial corporations to manipulate the world economy and gain huge profits at the expense of
taxpayers, click here.
C.I.A. Document Details Destruction of Tapes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/us/16tapes.html
Porter J. Goss, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in 2005 approved of the
decision by one of his top aides to destroy dozens of videotapes documenting the brutal
interrogation of two detainees, according to an internal C.I.A. document released [on April 15].
Shortly after the tapes were destroyed at the order of Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the head
of the C.I.A.s clandestine service, Mr. Goss told Mr. Rodriguez that he agreed with
the decision, according to the document. He even joked after Mr. Rodriguez offered to
take the heat for destroying the tapes. PG laughed and said that actually, it would be
he, PG, who would take the heat, according to one document. A number of documents
released Thursday provide the most detailed glimpse yet of the deliberations inside the C.I.A.
surrounding the destroyed tapes, and of the concern among officials at the spy agency that the
decision might put the C.I.A. in legal jeopardy. The documents detailing those deliberations,
including two e-mail messages from a C.I.A. official whose name has been excised, were released
as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
According to one of the e-mail messages released Thursday, Mr. Rodriguez told Mr. Goss that the
tapes ... would make the C.I.A. look terrible; it would be devastating to us.
Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/science/earth/13trash.html
The lawyers and engineers who dwell in an elegant enclave here are at peace with the hulking
neighbor just over the back fence: a vast energy plant that burns thousands of tons of household
garbage and industrial waste, round the clock. Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new
type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from
mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago. In that time,
such plants have become both the mainstay of garbage disposal and a crucial fuel source across
Denmark, from wealthy exurbs like Horsholm to Copenhagens downtown area. Their use has not
only reduced the countrys energy costs and reliance on oil and gas, but also benefited the
environment, diminishing the use of landfills and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The
plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces
and backyard barbecues than from incineration. Across Europe, there are about 400 plants,
with Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands leading the pack in expanding them and building
new ones. By contrast, no new waste-to-energy plants are being planned or built in the United
States, the Environmental Protection Agency says even though the federal government and 24
states now classify waste that is burned this way for energy as a renewable fuel, in many cases
eligible for subsidies.
Note: Why isn't the US implementing this clean technology? For lots more from major media
sources on promising new clean energy developments, click here.
Kissinger Blocked Demarche On International Assassinations To

Condor States
2010-04-10, The National Security Archive, George Washington University
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB312/index.htm
Only five days before a car bomb planted by agents of the Pinochet regime rocked downtown
Washington D.C. on September 21, 1976, [assassinating Chilean exile diplomat Orlando Letelier
and his assistant Ronni Moffitt,] Secretary of State Henry Kissinger rescinded instructions sent to,
but never implemented by, U.S. ambassadors in the Southern Cone to warn military leaders there
against orchestrating "a series of international murders," declassified documents obtained and
posted by the National Security Archive revealed today. The instructions effectively ended efforts
by senior State Department officials to deliver a diplomatic demarche, approved by Kissinger only
three weeks earlier, to express "our deep concern" over "plans for the assassination of
subversives, politicians, and prominent figures both within the national borders of certain Southern
Cone countries and abroad." "The September 16th cable is the missing piece of the historical
puzzle on Kissinger's role in the action, and inaction, of the U.S. government after learning
of Condor assassination plots," according to Peter Kornbluh, the Archive's senior analyst on
Chile and author of the book, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and
Accountability. "We know now what happened: The State Department initiated a timely effort
to thwart a 'Murder Inc' in the Southern Cone, and Kissinger, without explanation, aborted
it," Kornbluh said.
Note: George H.W. Bush was head of the CIA when Orlando Letelier was assassinated just a few
blocks away from the director's office. For the full text of the documents click on the link above. For
an analysis, click here.
Inquiry puts spotlight on U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan

2010-04-09, Chicago Tribune/Los Angeles Times
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-afghan-special-forces9-2...
In nearly nine years of warfare in Afghanistan, U.S. Special Forces have done their fighting in the
shadows, governed by rules largely of their own making. Now, these elite and secretive troops,
their actions long shielded from public scrutiny, are the focus of a high-profile investigation that
could shed unprecedented light on their methods and tactics. American and Afghan officials are
probing a possible attempted coverup in the deaths of five Afghan civilians in February in a raid
carried out by U.S. Special Forces accompanied by Afghan troops. Three of those killed were
women and among the charges is that the bodies were tampered with by coalition forces to
conceal the cause of death. Special Forces are inextricably linked to one of the most
contentious issues between the Afghan government and Western forces: civilian deaths
and injuries. Special Forces account for a disproportionate share of civilian casualties
caused by Western troops ... though there are no precise figures because so many of their
missions are deemed secret. In mountain villages and desert hamlets, the Special Forces inspire
dread among Afghans, who tend to speak of them in whispers. Their strikes are usually swift and
violent, most often taking place in the dead of night.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on US military atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq, click
here.
What's driving up oil prices again? Wall Street, of course

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/04/1562726/whats-driving-up-oil-prices-aga...
Oil consumption has fallen, demand from U.S. motorists for gasoline is flat at best and refiners that
turn crude into fuel are operating well below capacity. Yet oil prices keep marching toward $90 a
barrel, pushing gasoline toward $3 a gallon in many markets, and prompting American drivers to
ask, "What gives?" Blame it on the same folks who brought you $140 oil and $4 gasoline in 2008:
Wall Street speculators. Experts attribute much of the recent rise in prices to flows of speculative
money into oil markets. Rising oil and gasoline prices are deja vu all over again for Michael
Masters. The hedge fund manager has crusaded for legislation that would prevent so much
speculative money in the oil markets. Wall Street is "gaming" the price of oil, he warns. "If
you're a bank, and you know there is going to be a large amount of investor inflows into the
commodities market, you are going to position yourself ahead of them. You want to be a seller at a
higher price," explained Masters, noting that large Wall Street banks invest for themselves in these
markets even as they also broker the oil investments of others. What's abundantly clear, he and
others argue, is that an oil contract's price today has little to do with the supply of and
demand for oil.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the hidden realities and destructive impacts of Wall
Street speculation, click here.
Millions of H1N1 vaccine doses may be tossed

Despite months of dire warnings and millions in taxpayer dollars, less than half of the 229 million
doses of H1N1 vaccine the government bought to fight the pandemic have been administered -leaving an estimated 71.5 million doses that must be discarded if they are not used before they
expire. Between 81 million and 91 million doses of swine flu vaccine were injected into peoples'
arms or squirted up their noses through the end of February, according to federal officials, leaving
about 138 million doses unused. An estimated 60 million of those will be donated to poor countries
or saved for possible future use. But doses already in vials and syringes will be thrown away if not
used before their expiration dates pass. The prospect of millions of doses of the onceprecious vaccine being discarded is the latest twist in the $1.6 billion program -- the most
ambitious immunization campaign in U.S. history. The government-led effort produced a
vaccine in record time, but unexpected production problems delayed delivery of the bulk of
supplies until after the second wave of infections had peaked.
Note: Yet the pharmaceutical companies get to keep the huge profits from the vaccines, paid for
by the taxpayers. For key reports from major media sources on the government and
pharmaceutical corporation corruption involving bird and swine flu vaccines, click here.
Scientist: FDA suppressed imaging safety concerns

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6936643.html
A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said [on March 30 that] his job was eliminated
after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.
Dr. Julian Nicholas said at a public hearing that he and other FDA staffers "were pressured to
change their scientific opinion," after they opposed the approval of a CT scanner for routine colon
cancer screening. Nicholas said that he objected to exposing otherwise healthy patients to the
cancer risks of radiation. After FDA officials pushed ahead with plans to clear the device, Nicholas,
now a physician at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said he and eight other staffers raised their
concerns with the division's top director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren last September. "Scientific and
regulatory review process for medical devices was being distorted by managers who were
not following the laws," Nicholas said. A month later Nicholas' position was terminated, he
said.
Russian appeal of 'weather control'

2010-03-26, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8587725.stm
Some might think that controlling the weather sounds a bit like science fiction. But military pilot
Alexander Akimenkov doesn't think so. He has seeded clouds over Moscow on important state
holidays for many years. He says the Russians use two different methods to try to drive the rain
away. "Either there's a special machine that spits out silver iodide, dry ice or cement into the
clouds, or a hatch opens and a guy with a shovel seeds the clouds manually," he explains. "As
soon as the chemicals touch the cloud, a hole appears. It becomes bigger and bigger, and it either
rains right there and then or, if the clouds aren't very dense, they disperse without any
precipitation." The Russian government has used rain prevention methods since Soviet
times, seeding clouds for major celebrations three times a year - Victory Day, City Day and,
more recently, Russia Day. There are also private companies that for some $6,000 per hour say
they can guarantee sunshine on your wedding day - or for any other private party. But when
Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov suggested the technique could shift the winter snow outside the
capital - and therefore save more than $10m in snow-clearing costs - many felt the city authorities
were going a bit too far.
Note: Weather modification may be much more advanced and frequently used than most would
suspect. For a great resource on weather modification with links to dozens of key documents, click
here.
Amid Nanotech's Dazzling Promise, Health Risks Grow

2010-03-24, AOL News
http://www.aolnews.com/nanotech/article/amid-nanotechs-dazzling-promise-healt...
For almost two years, molecular biologist Bndicte Trouiller doused the drinking water of scores
of lab mice with nano-titanium dioxide, the most common nanomaterial used in consumer products
today. Halfway through, Trouiller became alarmed: Consuming the nano-titanium dioxide was
damaging or destroying the animals' DNA and chromosomes. The biological havoc continued
as she repeated the studies again and again. It was a significant finding: The degrees of DNA
damage and genetic instability that [she] documented can be "linked to all the big killers of man,
namely cancer, heart disease, neurological disease and aging," says Professor Robert Schiestl, a
genetic toxicologist who ran the lab at UCLA's School of Public Health where Trouiller did her
research. Nano-titanium dioxide is so pervasive that the Environmental Working Group says it has
calculated that close to 10,000 over-the-counter products use it in one form or another. Other
public health specialists put the number even higher. It's "in everything from medicine capsules
and nutritional supplements, to food icing and additives, to skin creams, oils and
toothpaste," Schiestl says.
Note: For a treasure trove of key reports on health issues, click here.
A little secret about Obama's transparency

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/21/nation/la-na-ticket21-2010mar21
The Democratic administration of Barack Obama, who denounced his predecessor, George W.
Bush, as the most secretive in history, is now denying more Freedom of Information Act requests
than the Republican did. Transparency and openness were so important to the new president that
on his first full day in office, he dispatched a much-publicized memo saying: "All agencies should
adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles
embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open government. The presumption of disclosure
should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA." One of the exemptions allowed to deny
Freedom of Information requests has been used by the Obama administration 70,779 times in its
first year; the same exemption was used 47,395 times in Bush's final budget year. An Associated
Press examination of 17 major agencies' handling of FOIA requests found denials 466,872
times, an increase of nearly 50% from the 2008 fiscal year under Bush.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
Crackdown on dangerous dogs to make microchips compulsory for all

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/09/dangerous-dogs-microchips-insurance
All dogs are to be compulsorily microchipped so that their owners can be more easily
traced under a crackdown on dangerous dogs. Under the scheme a microchip the size of a
grain of rice is injected under the skin of the dog between its shoulder blades. The chip contains a
unique code number, the dog's name, age, breed and health as well as the owner's name, address
and phone number. When the chip is "read" by a handheld scanner the code number is revealed
and the details can be checked on a national database. The measures will be set out by the home
secretary, Alan Johnson, who will point to rising public concern that "status dogs" are being used
by some irresponsible owners to intimidate communities or as a weapon by gangs. If the scheme
were made compulsory owners would face a fine for failing to microchip their dogs.
Note: Once all dogs are required to be microchipped, what will come next? To be informed of
some disturbing plans to microchip all of us, click here. For lots more on microchipping from
reliable sources, click here.
MoD to destroy future UFO reports

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mod-to-destroy-future-ufo-repo...
The Ministry of Defence will destroy all future UFO reports it receives so it does not have to
make them public, a previously secret memo reveals. Britain's official UFO investigation unit
and hotline were closed down at the start of December. Since then reports of strange sights in the
skies sent to the MoD have been kept for 30 days before being thrown out, the newly released
policy document shows. This stance was adopted so defence officials would not have to publish
the information in response to freedom of information (FoI) requests or pass it to the National
Archives. The MoD recorded 634 UFO sightings in 2009, the second highest annual total after
1978, when there were 750, according to UFO expert Dr David Clarke. This compares with an
average of about 150 reports a year over the past decade. The document includes as an annex a
printout from the US Department of Defence website explaining that the American government
stopped collecting reports of UFO sightings in December 1969.
click here.
Head of IMF Proposes New Reserve Currency

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9958995
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested [that] the
organization might one day be called on to provide countries with a global reserve currency that
would serve as an alternative to the U.S. dollar. "That day has not yet come, but I think it is
intellectually healthy to explore these kinds of ideas now," he said in a speech on the future
mandate of the 186-nation Washington-based lending organization. Strauss-Kahn said such an
asset could be similar to but distinctly different from the IMF's special drawing rights, or SDRs, the
accounting unit that countries use to hold funds within the IMF. It is based on a basket of major
currencies. He said having other alternatives to the dollar "would limit the extent to which the
international monetary system as a whole depends on the policies and conditions of a
single, albeit dominant, country." Several countries, including China and Russia, have called for
an alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities behind the world
financial and economic crisis, click here.
Banks Bet Greece Defaults on Debt They Helped Hide

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/business/global/25swaps.html
Bets by some of the same banks that helped Greece shroud its mounting debts may actually now
be pushing the nation closer to the brink of financial ruin. Echoing the kind of trades that nearly
toppled the American International Group, the increasingly popular insurance against the risk of a
Greek default is making it harder for Athens to raise the money it needs to pay its bills, according
to traders and money managers. These contracts, known as credit-default swaps, effectively let
banks and hedge funds wager on the financial equivalent of a four-alarm fire: a default by a
company or, in the case of Greece, an entire country. If Greece reneges on its debts, traders who
own these swaps stand to profit. Its like buying fire insurance on your neighbors house
you create an incentive to burn down the house, said Philip Gisdakis, head of credit strategy
at UniCredit in Munich. As Greeces financial condition has worsened, undermining the euro, the
role of Goldman Sachs and other major banks in masking the true extent of the countrys problems
has drawn criticism from European leaders. But even before that issue became apparent, a littleknown company backed by Goldman, JP Morgan Chase and about a dozen other banks had
created an index that enabled market players to bet on whether Greece and other European
nations would go bust.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the realities of the global financial crisis, click here.
UFO files: MoD documents record mystery illnesses and alien residue
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/7254648/UFO-files...
Flying Toblerones, mysterious illnesses and silky-white substances are among hundreds of close
encounters described in previously top-secret files released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
More than 6,000 pages of material spanning from 1994 to 2000 holds hundreds of other-worldly
experiences with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and apparent aliens across Britain. Aircraft of
all shapes and sizes have been witnessed flying over a wide range of locations. One man told
police he was physically sick and developed a ''skin condition'' after an eerie ''tube of light''
enveloped his car in Ebbw Vale, in Wales, at 10.40pm on January 27 1997. Other highlights
include: -- A man arrived at his Birmingham home at 4am on March 20, 1997, to discover an
illuminated blue triangle hovering over his garden. The craft shot off leaving behind a ''silky-white''
substance on the tree-tops, which he collected in a jam-jar. -- A UFO sighted by Boston and
Skegness police, in Lincolnshire, was captured on film. The police reported the sighting to
the coastguard, who in turn alerted ships in North Sea - where a crew saw more UFOs. -- A
letter from senior MoD official Ralph Noyes in which he describes seeing a film of UFOs captured
by RAF fighter pilots in 1956. Mr Noyes claims the footage was shown at a secret underground
screening arranged for Air Defence staff at the MoD Main Building in 1970.
click here. And for an excellent database compiled by a British police officer of intriguing UFO
sightings reported by police, click here.
Former NY police commissioner sentenced to prison

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, once selected to the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, was sentenced ... to four years in prison for tax evasion and lying to White
House officials. Kerik, 54, who as head of the city's police worked closely with former Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, pleaded guilty to the federal
charges in November. A former police detective, and once Giuliani's driver, Kerik headed the
New York City jail system before taking charge of the police department in 2000. His career began
to unravel during background checks when President George W. Bush nominated him in 2004 to
become Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik withdrew, but his legal troubles later embarrassed
Giuliani in his unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Along with
pleading guilty to lying and evading taxes, Kerik admitted receiving apartment renovations from a
construction firm suspected of organized crime ties and helping the company win city contracts.
The four-year sentence imposed ... exceeded the sentencing guidelines of less than three years,
as laid out in Kerik's plea deal, but fell far short of the maximum possible term of 61 years.
Note: The NY City chief of police at the time of 9/11 is now in jail. The former head of the
NASDAQ stock exchange, Bernie Madoff, is now in jail. Do you think there is corruption at the
highest levels of government? How many more have engaged in gross corruption and gotten away
with it? To see how deep it goes, click here.
License to Kill? Intelligence Chief Says U.S. Can Take Out American
Terrorists
2010-02-03, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/license-kill-intelligence-chief-us-american-te...
The director of national intelligence affirmed rather bluntly today that the U.S. intelligence
community has authority to target American citizens for assassination if they present a
direct terrorist threat to the United States. "We take direct actions against terrorists in the
intelligence community; if we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific
permission to do that," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence
Committee. "Whether that American is involved in a group that is trying to attack us, whether that
American ... is a threat to other Americans. Those are the factors involved." Blair explained.
According to U.S. officials, only a handful of Americans would be eligible for targeting by U.S.
intelligence or military operations. The DNI said that Internet and social media sites have become
critical to terrorism recruitment efforts. "The homegrown radicalization of people in the United
States is a relatively new thing." Blair said U.S. intelligence was rapidly working to counter the
emerging problem.
Note: To read a valuable commentary on Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair's claimed
"war exception" to the Constitution, permitting assassination of American citizens by the US
military and intelligence services without judicial review or legal process of any kind, click here. For
the views of several legal experts, click here.
U.S. citizen in CIA's cross hairs

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/31/world/la-fg-cia-awlaki31-2010jan31
The CIA sequence for a Predator strike ends with a missile but begins with a memo. Usually no
more than two or three pages long, it bears the name of a suspected terrorist, the latest
intelligence on his activities, and a case for why he should be added to a list of people the agency
is trying to kill. No U.S. citizen has ever been on the CIA's target list. But that is expected to
change as CIA analysts compile a case against a Muslim cleric who was born in New Mexico but
now resides in Yemen. He is a U.S. citizen and until recently was mainly known as a preacher
espousing radical Islamic views. Awlaki's status as a U.S. citizen requires special
consideration, according to former officials familiar with the criteria for the CIA's targeted
killing program. But while Awlaki has not yet been placed on the CIA list, the officials said it
is all but certain that he will be. The CIA has carried out Predator attacks in Yemen since at least
2002, when a drone strike killed six suspected Al Qaeda operatives traveling in a vehicle across
desert terrain. The agency knew that one of the operatives was an American, Kamal Derwish, who
was among those killed. Derwish was never on the CIA's target list, officials said, and the strike
was aimed at a senior Al Qaeda operative.
Note: As the last few sentences of this long report indicate, assassination of their own citizens by
US military and intelligence agencies has been going on for years. For many key reports from
reliable sources on assassination as state policy, click here.
Drug firms 'drove swine flu pandemic warning to recoup billions spent
on research'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246370/Drug-firms-drove-swine-flu-pa...
Drug companies manipulated the World Health Organisation into downgrading its definition of a
pandemic so they could cash in on a swine flu outbreak, it is claimed. An inquiry heard
yesterday that the WHO allegedly softened its criteria for declaring a H1N1 flu pandemic
last spring - just weeks before announcing there was a worldwide outbreak. Critics said the
decision was driven by pharmaceutical companies desperate to recoup the billions of pounds they
had invested in researching and developing pandemic vaccines after the bird flu scares in 2006
and 2007. As a result, millions of people have been vaccinated against a mild illness, and money
that could have been used to prevent and treat major killers such as heart disease has been
squandered. The claims, which emerged during the first of several Council of Europe hearings into
the handling of the swine flu pandemic, were strongly rejected by the WHO. Following the
organisation's declaration of a pandemic, the Department of Health warned of 65,000 deaths, set
up a special advice line and website, and suspended normal rules so anti-flu drugs could be given
without prescription. But with just 250 or so deaths in Britain and 14,000 worldwide, the WHO is
being asked to account for its actions.
Note: For lots more on the swine flu "false pandemic" from reliable sources, click here.
Iraq invasion had no 'legal basis in international law'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/7078079/Chilcot-inq...
The invasion of Iraq had no "legal basis in international law", the senior government lawyer Sir
Michael Wood has told the Chilcot inquiry. Sir Michael ... was the most senior legal adviser at the
Foreign Office at the time of the invasion. "I considered that the use of force against Iraq in
March 2003 was contrary to international law," he said in a written statement. "In my
opinion, that use of force had not been authorised by the (United Nations) Security Council,
and had no other basis in international law." Jack Straw, then the foreign secretary, rejected
advice that the war would be unlawful, the inquiry heard. Sir Michael wrote to Mr Straw on January
24, 2003 to express concerns about comments [Straw] made to then-US vice president Dick
Cheney. Mr Straw told Mr Cheney that Britain would "prefer" a second resolution but it would be
"OK" if they tried and failed to get one "a la Kosovo". Sir Michael commented that this was
"completely wrong from a legal point of view". Sir Michael said this was "probably the first and only
occasion" that a minister rejected his legal advice in this way.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the real reasons behind the invasion of Iraq,
click here.
1,000 Architects & Engineers Call for a Real 9/11 Investigation

2010-01-25, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth
http://www.ae911truth.org/info/152
AE911Truth will hold a press conference on Friday, February 19, at 11:00 AM at the Marines
Memorial Club and Hotel in San Francisco. We will announce and honor the milestone of our
achievement of obtaining 1,000 architects and engineers petitioning for a real investigation
into the destruction of the 3 World Trade Center skyscrapers. The press conference will
include a large-screen scrolling display of all 1,000 A/E's; statements by Richard Gage, AIA,
founder of AE911Truth and several petition signers; and a short ten-minute presentation of "9/11:
Blueprint for Truth" the explosive evidence for the engineered destruction of the 3 World Trade
Center skyscrapers. A press kit including the AE911Truth DVD will be made available to all
attendees. We will also be inviting various leaders in the 9/11 Truth movement to this milestone
event. We are working with We Are Change and other 9/11 Truth organizations to deliver hardcopy
petition evidence press kits to every member of Congress. Join us on February 19 in San
Francisco to honor this remarkable achievement and meet some of those who have made
AE911Truth one of the most respected voices in the 9/11 Truth movement.
Note: For a powerful 10-minute video clip by the founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth,
click here. WantToKnow team member, Dr. David Ray Griffin, and Dr. Steven Jones will deliver
keynote speeches at the press conference luncheon at noon.
Swine flu taskforce's links to vaccine giant: More than half the experts
fighting the 'pandemic' have ties to drug firms
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243034/Swine-flu-taskforces-links-va...
More than half the scientists on the swine flu taskforce advising the [UK] Government have ties to
drug companies. Eleven of the 20 members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies
(SAGE) have done work for the pharmaceutical industry or are linked to it through their
universities. Many have declared interests in GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine maker expected to be
the biggest beneficiary of the pandemic. The disclosure of the register of interests comes just days
after a health expert branded the swine flu outbreak a 'false pandemic' driven by the drug
companies which stood to profit. The Government is now trying to offload up to 1billion worth of
unwanted swine flu vaccine. Last July, the Department of Health warned of up 65,000 deaths,
with 350 a day at the pandemic's peak. But the death toll now stands at just 251. SAGE was
created to give Ministers recommendations on how to control and treat the virus. Official
documents show some members are linked to vaccine manufacturer Baxter and to Roche, which
makes Tamiflu. GSK, Baxter and Roche stand to make up to 1.5billion between them from
Government contracts related to swine flu.
Note: For lots more on the Swine Flu "false pandemic," click here.
WHO to Study H1N1 Response Amid False Pandemic Debate

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-12/who-to-review-swine-flu-response-...
The World Health Organization said it plans to conduct a review of its response to swine flu as
policymakers in Europe prepare for an urgent debate on the influenza pandemic. Yesterday, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said false pandemics, a threat to health will be
a major theme of its next plenary session. Health authorities worldwide are assessing whether
their response to swine flu is justified by its threat as cases retreat in the U.S. and Western
Europe. The new H1N1 virus, which has targeted children and younger adults, has so far resulted
in fewer deaths than attributed to seasonal strains, which kills mostly the frail elderly. Council of
Europe parliamentarian Wolfgang Wodarg said last week he and several colleagues had
called for a commission of inquiry into a false pandemic and the way it was handled at
national and European levels, claiming pressure from pharmaceutical firms. The WHO
moved to the top level of its six-step pandemic alert in June after the discovery of swine flu in
Mexico and the U.S. in April.
Note: BusinessWeek deleted this article days after posting it. Could someone have pressured
them to do this? If you click the above link, the article is gone, though you can still see a promo
here and read it on BusinessWeek in the Google cache available here. For a link to the article on
the Bloomberg website, click here. For revealing reports of the corruption surrounding the swine flu
and previous health scares, click here.
What happened to Obamas government transparency pledge?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0109/What-happened-to-Oba...
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama promised transparency in government. Specifically,
Obama said, well have [healthcare reform] negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so the people can
see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who is making arguments on
behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. But now, the White House seems to be
pulling back from that pledge. The House and Senate each of which have passed versions of
healthcare reform were putting the final bill together behind closed doors according to an
agreement by top Democrats. Not so fast, cry Republicans, who are feeling left out even though
their general approach on the issue has been just say no. The negotiations are obviously
being done in secret and the American people really just want to know what they are trying
to hide, said Rep. Tom Price, (R) of Georgia.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
The future of brain-controlled devices

2010-01-04, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/30/brain.controlled.computers/index.html
Researchers are already using brain-computer interfaces to aid the disabled, treat diseases like
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and provide therapy for depression and post-traumatic stress
disorder. Work is under way on devices that may eventually let you communicate with friends
telepathically, give you superhuman hearing and vision or even let you download data directly into
your brain, a la "The Matrix." Researchers are practically giddy over the prospects. "We don't know
what the limits are yet," says Melody Moore Jackson, director of Georgia Tech University's
BrainLab. At the root of all this technology is the 3-pound generator we all carry in our head. It
produces electricity at the microvolt level. But the signals are strong enough to move robots,
wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs -- with the help of an external processor. One of the more
controversial uses under development is telepathy. It would require at least two people to be
implanted with electrodes that send and receive signals. DARPA, the Pentagon's technology
research division, is currently working on an initiative called "Silent Talk," which would let
soldiers on secret missions communicate with their thoughts alone. This stealth component
is attractive, but naysayers fear that such soldiers could become manipulated for evil means.
Note: Remember that secret military research such as that undertaken by DARPA is often years
ahead of capabilities publicly acknowledged.
Fewer Law Enforcement Officers Died on Job in 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/28/us/politics/AP-US-Police-Fatalitie...
Law enforcement deaths this year dropped to their lowest level since 1959, while the
decade of the 2000s was among the safest for officers -- despite the deadliest single day for
police on Sept. 11, 2001. Through Dec. 27, the report by the National Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial Fund found [the following]. 124 officers were killed this year, compared to 133 in 2008.
The 2009 total represents the fewest line-of-duty deaths since 108 a half-century ago. Firearms
deaths rose to 48, nine more than in 2008. However, the 39 fatalities in 2008 represented the
lowest annual figure in more than five decades. One female officer was killed in 2009, compared
with 13 the previous year. There was no explanation for the decline. An average of 162 officers a
year died in the 2000s, compared with 160 in the 1990s, 190 in the 1980s and 228 in the 1970s -the deadliest decade for U.S. law enforcement. Seventy-two officers died on Sept. 11.
Note: Why wasn't this article titled something like "Law Enforcement Deaths Lowest in 50 Years"?
Why is this inspiring news given so little attention? Did you know that violent crime nationwide in
the US has decreased by 50% in the last 15 years? Click here to read about this. Why is news that
inspires fear given such prominence while inspiring news gets so little notice? For a possible
answer, click here.
Advisers on Vaccines Often Have Conflicts

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/health/policy/18cdc.html
A new report finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a poor job of screening
medical experts for financial conflicts when it hired them to advise the agency on vaccine safety.
Most of the experts who served on advisory panels in 2007 to evaluate vaccines for flu and
cervical cancer had potential conflicts that were never resolved, the report said. Some were
legally barred from considering the issues but did so anyway. In the report ... Daniel R.
Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, found that the
centers failed nearly every time to ensure that the experts adequately filled out forms confirming
they were not being paid by companies with an interest in their decisions. The report found that 64
percent of the advisers had potential conflicts of interest that were never identified or were left
unresolved by the centers. Thirteen percent failed to have an appropriate conflicts form on file at
the agency at all, which should have barred their participation in the meetings entirely, Mr.
Levinson found. And 3 percent voted on matters that ethics officers had already barred them from
considering.
here.
Release of secret reports delayed

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/11/29/declassifica...
President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and
intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year. The
missed deadline spells trouble for the White Houses promises to introduce an era of government
openness, say advocates, who believe that releasing historical information enforces a key check
on government behavior. They cite as an example the abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency
during the Cold War, including domestic spying and assassinations of foreign officials, that were
publicly outlined in a set of agency documents known as the "family jewels." The White House has
given the agencies ... an extension beyond Dec. 31 of an undetermined length - possibly years. It
will be the third such extension: Clinton granted one in 2000 and Bush granted one in 2003. The
documents, dating from World War II to the early 1980s, cover the gamut of foreign relations,
intelligence activities, and military operations. The records in question are held by the Central
Intelligence Agency; the National Security Agency; the departments of Justice, State, Defense,
and Energy; and other security and intelligence agencies. None of the agencies involved
responded to requests for comment. Steven Aftergood, a specialist on government secrecy at the
Federation of American Scientists in Washington [said] "If binding deadlines can be extended
more or less at will, then any new declassification requirements will be similarly subject to
doubt or defiance."
Note: These documents are all more than 25 years old. Why can't the public know what their
government is trying to hide from them? For lots more on government secrecy, click here.
Was 9/11 a conspiracy? Truthers' make their case

2009-11-26, The Globe and Mail (One of Toronto's leading newspapers)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/was-911-a-conspiracy-truthers-make-t...
Though rarely shown on TV these days ... 9/11 footage is replayed more than once in "The
Unofficial Story" [on the CBC News program the fifth estate]. The documentary follows up on some
fairly startling public-opinion polls of late. To wit: More than half of all Americans believe the Bush
administration had advance knowledge of 9/11, and did nothing to stop it; slightly more than onethird of the Canadian population believes likewise. The number of people who believe the U.S.
government was involved in the attacks appears to be growing, says fifth estate veteran Bob
McKeown, who helms the report. Most of them believe there are still questions that have
gone unanswered. Among the group's more prominent proponents is Richard Gage, a wellregarded architect interviewed by McKeown in the program. Gage is fervent in his belief that the
destruction was intentional, and was not accomplished with airplanes, but with explosives. Also
speaking out for the Truthers movement is academic and Nobel Peace Prize nominee David Ray
Griffin who questions the lack of NORAD response after the first plane struck the tower and
Canadian professor Kee Dewdney, who insists the fabled on-board struggle between hijackers and
passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 could only be a hoax. The really interesting thing to me is
that you cannot get these people to speculate, observes McKeown. They will say, That is not my
job.'
Note: Watch this first-ever North American major media network news documentary on the 9/11
truth movement by clicking here. And for what may be the best ever documentary on 9/11 for
opening people's eyes, click here.
In House, Many Spoke With One Voice: Lobbyists

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15health.html
In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of
many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident. Statements by more than a
dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working
for Genentech, one of the worlds largest biotechnology companies. E-mail messages
obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and
another for Republicans. The lobbyists ... were remarkably successful in getting the statements
printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.
Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked
up some of its talking points 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, an unusual bipartisan coup for
lobbyists. In an interview, Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said: I
regret that the language was the same. I did not know it was. He said he got his statement from
his staff and did not know where they got the information from. In recent years, Genentech
s political action committee and lobbyists for Roche and Genentech have made campaign
contributions to many House members. And company employees have been among the hosts at
fund-raisers for some of those lawmakers.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Swine flu skepticism demands deft response

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5A52FU20091112
European scientists and health authorities are facing angry questions about why H1N1 flu has not
caused death and destruction on the scale first feared, and they need to respond deftly to ensure
public support. Accusations are flying in British and French media that the pandemic has
been "hyped" by medical researchers to further their own cause, boost research grants and
line the pockets of drug companies. Britain's Independent newspaper this week asked
"Pandemic? What Pandemic?." France's Le Parisien newspaper ran the headline: "Swine flu:
why the French distrust the vaccine" and noted a gap between the predicted impact of H1N1 and
the less dramatic reality. "Dangerous liaisons between certain experts, the labs and the
government, the obscurity of the contracts between the state and the pharma firms have added to
the doubt." In Britain, health authorities' original worst-case scenario -- which said as many as
65,000 could die from H1N1 -- has twice been revised down and the prediction is now for around
1,000 deaths, way below the average annual toll of 4,000 to 8,000 deaths from seasonal winter flu.
Note: It's quite interesting and telling that a thorough Internet seach showed that no major media
picked up this article from Reuters News Agency
Who's in Big Brother's Database?

2009-11-05, New York Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23231
On a remote edge of Utah's dry and arid high desert ... hard-hatted construction workers with topsecret clearances are preparing to build [a] mammoth $2 billion structure. It's being built by the
ultra-secret National Security Agency ... to house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and
[electronic data trails of all kinds]. The NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this
one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome. Just how much
information will be stored in these windowless cybertemples? A recent report prepared by the
MITRE Corporation, a Pentagon think tank, [states] "Sensor data volume could potentially increase
to the level of Yottabytes [10-to-the-24th-power bytes] by 2015." Once vacuumed up and stored
in these near-infinite "libraries," the data are then analyzed by powerful infoweapons,
supercomputers running complex algorithmic programs, to determine who among us may
be or may one day become a terrorist. Emerging [after 9/11] as the most powerful chief
the spy world has ever known was the director of the NSA. He is in charge of an organization three
times the size of the CIA and empowered in 2008 by Congress to spy on Americans to an
unprecedented degree. These new centers in Utah, Texas, and possibly elsewhere will likely
become the centralized repositories for the data intercepted by the NSA in America's version of the
"big brother database."
Note: James Bamford, the author of this review of a new book on the history of the NSA, has
himself written three important books on the agency. For many revealing reports from reliable
sources on the developing capacity by government and corporate surveillance to construct a "Big
Brother" states, click here.
TARP on steroids
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/30/EDTG1ACEDE.DTL
It was 9/29/08 - a moment when a rare blast of populist democracy briefly singed the economic
terrorists who hold the Capitol hostage. It had been a dark and stormy month of financial collapse,
culminating in an attempted power grab. Pushed by his fellow Wall Street Ponzi schemers,
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - a former Goldman Sachs CEO - was threatening
Armageddon unless Congress ratified his ... decree for a no-strings-attached bank bailout. Today,
the episode seems merely to have set minimum standards for chicanery. As evidenced by two
little-noticed sections of the Obama administration's Wall Street "reform" bill, presidents and their
bank benefactors are back to thinking they can pilfer whatever they want by burying their demands
in the esoterica of lengthier bills. Finding this latest giveaway means digging all the way down to
sections 1109 and 1604 of the White House's mammoth proposal. At a recent hearing, Rep. Brad
Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles County), called the language "TARP on steroids,"
noting the provisions would deliberately let the executive branch enact even bigger, more
unregulated bailouts than ever - and by unilateral fiat. TARP on Steroids includes no specific
oversight or executive pay constraints. TARP on Steroids allows taxpayer cash to go only to the
behemoths (which, not coincidentally, tend to make the biggest campaign contributions). TARP on
Steroids would let [the Treasury Secretary] spend as much as he wants.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the continuing Wall Street bailout, click
here.
Gulf-trotting Tony Blair cashes in on his war contacts

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6879436.ece
Tony Blair has been cashing in on his contacts from the Iraq conflict and his role as Middle East
peace envoy for a private business venture expected to earn him more than 5m a year. The
former prime minister has sold his political and economic expertise to two countries, Kuwait and
the United Arab Emirates, via his fledgling private consultancy. He also represents the investment
bank JP Morgan in the region. Blair has been ... amassing a fortune from the American lecture
circuit. By offering himself to the Arab states as a statesman for hire, he could comfortably double
his annual earnings. His consultancy, the London-based Tony Blair Associates (TBA), emulates
the New York partnership Kissinger Associates, which was founded by Henry Kissinger, the former
national security adviser to President Nixon. Peter Brierley, 59, of Batley, West Yorkshire, whose
28-year-old son Shaun was killed near the Kuwait-Iraq border in 2003 and who refused to shake
Blairs hand at a memorial service this month, said: This beggars belief. Its absolutely
scandalous that hes now trying to make money from his contacts in the region. Its money
from the blood and lives of the soldiers who died in Iraq. His fees for talks, along with
contracts with JP Morgan and Zurich Financial Services, are estimated to put his earnings
excluding [a big] book deal well in excess of 5m a year.
Do-nothing committees at state Capitol

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/12/EDUN1A3LQ7.DTL
It's always interesting to look behind the curtain at the state Capitol and marvel at the California
Legislature's ingenuity at spending our money or avoiding accountability. It's just too bad this
creative brilliance could not be applied to addressing fiscal crises or solving the state's water
problems. The latest little outrage came in the scrutiny of the Legislature's 77 select committees by
Chronicle staff writers Wyatt Buchanan and Matthew Yi. What they found was that 32 of these
committees have paid staffers, with a combined payroll of $4.3 million. It may not be a lot of money
in the context of a state that keeps encountering deficits in the tens of billions, but it does seem to
represent a bit of clever accounting. To put it in plain terms: It's a way for elected officials to pad
their staffs. For example, state Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, has six people working for him who
are paid through three select committees. Total number of hearings those committees have held
this year: zero. Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, chairs two select committees ... with four paid
staff members. Total number of hearings this year: zero. Californians who are not so immersed
in the culture of the Legislature might wonder why it needs 77 select committees in addition
to the standing committees that are assigned to cover areas such as transportation, energy
and myriad other issues. At least 19 of the 32 with paid staff have not met at all this year.
In Harsh Reports on S.E.C.s Fraud Failures, a Watchdog Urges

Sweeping Changes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/business/30sec.html
The Securities and Exchange Commissions independent watchdog called for a sweeping
overhaul of the agencys investigation and enforcement practices on Tuesday, after a
blistering report on the S.E.C.s failure to detect Bernard L. Madoffs extensive Ponzi
scheme. Two reports, released by the S.E.C.s inspector general, H. David Kotz, recommended
dozens of changes in the way the agency evaluates tips, trains investigators and documents
examinations of securities firms. The first report, which covers the S.E.C.s inspections and
examinations office, outlines 37 improvements that would revamp nearly every aspect of the
divisions operations, including how investigators follow up on tips and creating step-by-step
procedures in identifying potential violations of securities laws. Mr. Kotz also issued 21
recommendations to the S.E.C.s division of enforcement, including the start of a formal process
for handling complaints and improving working relationships within the division. One measure
would mandate that tips and complaints be reviewed by at least two individuals experienced in the
subject before taking further action. The proposed changes come after Mr. Kotzs office completed
an exhaustive investigation this month of the S.E.C.s failure to detect the Madoff fraud despite
many warnings and a flood of complaints from credible sources. At nearly every turn, the
investigation found, the agency had failed to properly examine Mr. Madoffs firm and had not
adequately followed up on tips from as far back as 1992 that could have unearthed the estimated
$65 billion scheme.
Note: For a treasure trove of key revelations on the realities behind the Wall Street crash and
bailout, click here. Contact your political representatives urging them to support these
recommendations.
Health Care Workers Protest Mandatory H1N1 Vaccination

2009-09-29, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/29/taking_liberties/entry5349581.shtml
Health care workers are planning to take to the streets Tuesday at a rally in front of the Albany,
N.Y. state capitol to protest mandatory vaccination. The rally is intended to call for "freedom of
choice in vaccination and health care" and to protest mandatory vaccination for influenza and the
H1N1 swine flu. "This vaccine has not been clinically tested to the same degree as the regular flu
vaccine," Tara Accavallo, a registered nurse on Long Island, told Newsday. "If something happens
to me, if I get seriously injured from this vaccine, who's going to help me?" While physicians,
nurses, and medical technicians may not be known for their willingness to march on state capitols,
a recent New York Department of Health requirement has sparked an unusually intense response.
The August 13 regulations say that all health care workers who "could potentially expose patients"
must be vaccinated for influenza by November 30 unless it would be "detrimental" to the recipient's
health. This raises an obvious and important question: Under what circumstances can
government officials order mandatory vaccination? And could the general public be
ordered to roll up their sleeves for injections, even if there might be side effects beyond a
sore arm or mild fever? The concern in New York also comes as skepticism of vaccination in
general seems to be on the rise.
Note: For more on this protest, click here. Note that the U.S. government has granted immunity
from lawsuits to the drug companies manufacturing the vaccines. So who will be responsible if
there is a repeat of the 1976 swine flu vaccination campaign, where hundreds died and thousands
were paralyzed by the vaccines?
State lifts limit on mercury preservative in swine-flu shots

2009-09-25, Seattle Times (Seattle's leading newspaper)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2009938638_vaccine25m.html
In preparation for swine-flu vaccinations next month, Washington's Health Department ...
temporarily suspended a rule that limits the amount of a mercury preservative [called
Thimerosal] in vaccines given to pregnant women and children under the age of 3.
Thimerosal has been eliminated from most vaccines in the United States, but it will be
added to the bulk of the swine-flu vaccine. A vocal minority believes the compound could be
linked to autism. About 15 percent of the vaccine supply will be mercury-free. Thimerosal will be
added to the vaccine because it is being produced in vials that contain enough medication for 10
shots. The mercury compound kills bacteria, lowering the risk that the drug will be contaminated by
needles used to withdraw separate doses. "Every time you introduce a needle, you run a risk of
introducing a potential contaminant," said Dr. Tony Marfin, state epidemiologist for infectious
disease. Mercury-free vaccine will be produced in single-dose vials. Nasal sprays do not contain
mercury but are not recommended for children under the age of 2 and pregnant women, because
they contain live, weakened virus. The law limiting the mercury preservative will be suspended for
six months and applies only to the swine-flu vaccines. Once common in vaccines, thimerosal has
been largely phased out in most wealthy nations. Children's vaccines in the United States are
almost exclusively mercury-free, single-dose injections. After 1976's mass vaccination against a
different swine-flu strain, about 500 people developed a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre
Syndrome (GBS), and some died. Scientists still haven't figured out why.
Note: To watch a vitally important 10-minute clip from CBS's 60 Minutes revealing government
complicity in the deaths of 300 Americans and permanent paralysis of thousands more from the
vaccine during the 1976 swine flu scare, click here. This is the most revealing clip by far on the
swine flu that we've seen. For much more information on the dangers of thimerosal in vaccines,
click here.
Patriot Act Provisions Get Obama Support

2009-09-15, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-supports-extending-patriot-act/story?id=...
The Justice Department has indicated that the Obama administration is in support of renewing
[three] controversial sections of the USA Patriot Act that expire later this year. The provisions that
will expire in December include Section 206, that allows "roving" wiretaps so FBI agents can tap
multiple phones or computers (with court authorization) that a specific person (target) may use.
Another expiring provision, Section 215, is the so-called "library provision," which allows
investigators to obtain [library, medical, business, banking and other] records with approval from
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. And the final provision which was nicknamed the
"Lone Wolf" authorization, allows intelligence gathering of people not suspected of being part of a
foreign government or known terrorist organization. Critics of the Patriot Act protested loudly
that the FBI could obtain individuals' library records under the legislation. [But] section 215
is much more expansive than reviewing a suspected terrorist's summer reading list. [It]
allows the FBI to obtain any business record, "any tangible things," like credit card and
bank statements and also allows access to medical and mental health records. The provision
has been used to obtain communication and subscriber information to help set up surveillance and
monitoring of computers and telephones.
Note: The American Library Association, the national organization of professional librarians, was
the first and strongest defender of civil liberties after the passage of the PATRIOT Act. For a
discussion of the concerns of professional librarians over this decision by the Obama
administration, click here.
Has Osama Bin Laden been dead for seven years - and are the U.S. and
Britain covering it up to continue war on terror?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212851/Has-Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-seve...
[President] Barack Obama has launched a fresh operation to find [Osama bin Laden]. Working
with the Pakistani Army, elite squads of U.S. and British special forces were sent into Waziristan
this summer to 'hunt and kill' the shadowy figure intelligence officers still call 'the principal target' of
the war on terror. This new offensive is, of course, based on the premise that the 9/11 terrorist is
alive. Yet what if he isn't? What if he has been dead for years, and the British and U.S.
intelligence services are actually playing a game of double bluff? What if everything we
have seen or heard of him on video and audio tapes since the early days after 9/11 is a fake
- and that he is being kept 'alive' by the Western allies to stir up support for the war on
terror? Incredibly, this is the breathtaking theory that is gaining credence among political
commentators, respected academics and even terror experts. Still more questions have been
raised with the publication in America and Britain of a book called Osama Bin Laden: Dead or
Alive? Written by political analyst and philosopher Professor David Ray Griffin, ... it is provoking
shock waves - for it goes into far more detail about his supposed death and suggests there has
been a cover-up by the West. The book claims that Bin Laden died of kidney failure, or a linked
complaint, on December 13, 2001, while living in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains close to the
border with Waziristan. His burial took place within 24 hours, in line with Muslim religious rules,
and in an unmarked grave, which is a Wahhabi custom. The author insists that the many Bin
Laden tapes made since that date have been concocted by the West to make the world believe
Bin Laden is alive. Could it be that, for years, he's just been smoke and mirrors?
Note: Hundreds of scholars, officials and professionals have raised questions about bin Laden, Al
Qaeda, and other aspects of the official conspiracy about the events of 9/11. Click here and here
to read their concerns.
Diebold Exits US Voting-Machine Business

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090903-714997.html
Diebold Inc. has sold its money-losing U.S. election-systems business, just seven years after
acquiring it amid hopes of rising demand for voting technology upgrades in the wake of the 2000
presidential election fiasco. Diebold [said] it sold the voting-machine unit to privately held Election
Systems & Software Inc. for $5 million, about one-fifth of what it paid in 2002. "There were
assumptions we made in that space that didn't materialize," Diebold spokesman Mike Jacobsen
said. Diebold, which was the industry's biggest maker of electronic voting machines heading into
the 2004 presidential election, was in the spotlight as concerns increased about the reliability and
security of the electronic systems. Diebold also suffered from a perception problem when the
company's then-Chief Executive Walden O'Dell very publicly supported and fundraised for
President George W. Bush in his re-election campaign.
Note: This article fails to mention that the merger of Diebold and ES&S creates a major monopoly
on US voting machines in the hands of companies owned by staunch conservatives. For more vital
information on this and the suspicious death of the principal witness related to Karl Rove in an key
Ohio elections case, click here.
'Moon rock' given to Holland by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is fake
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/6105902/Moon-rock-given-to-Holl...
A moon rock given to the Dutch prime minister by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 has turned
out to be a fake. Curators at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum ... discovered that the "lunar rock",
valued at 308,000, was in fact petrified wood. Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the
investigation, said the museum would continue to keep the stone as a curiosity. "It's a good story,
with some questions that are still unanswered," she said. "We can laugh about it." The rock was
given to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour by Neil Armstrong, Michael
Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin following their moon mission 50 years ago. J. William Middendorf,
the former American ambassador to the Netherlands, made the presentation to Mr Drees and the
rock was then donated to the Rijksmuseum after his death in 1988. "I do remember that Drees was
very interested in the little piece of stone. But that it's not real, I don't know anything about that," Mr
Middendorf said. Nasa gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in
1969 and the 1970s. The United States Embassy in The Hague is carrying out an investigation into
the affair. Researchers [from] Amsterdam's Free University were able to tell at a glance that the
rock was unlikely to be from the moon, a conclusion that was borne out by tests. "It's a
nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone," said Frank Beunk, a geologist involved in the
investigation.
Note: High strangeness alert! Why would NASA and Apollo astronauts be giving out fake
moonstones? And how could it be that NASA lost the original videos of the first lunar landings?
Fed Urges Secrecy on Banks in Bailout Programs

The U.S. Federal Reserve asked a federal judge not to enforce her order that it reveal the names
of the banks that have participated in its emergency lending programs and the sums they received,
saying such disclosure would threaten the companies and the economy. The central bank filed its
request ... two days after Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan
ruled in favor of Bloomberg News, which had sought information under the federal
Freedom of Information Act. Preska said the Fed failed to show that revealing the names
would stigmatize the banks and result in "imminent competitive harm." Underlying this case
and a similar one involving News Corp's Fox News Network is a question of how much the public
has a right to know about how the government is bailing out a financial system in a crisis. The case
arose when two Bloomberg reporters submitted FOIA requests about actions the Fed took to shore
up the financial system in 2007 and early 2008, including an expansion of lending programs and
the sale of Bear Stearns Cos to JPMorgan.
Note: Don't tax payers have a right to know to which bankds the trillions of tax dollars are going in
the bank bailout? For lots more on government secrecy, click here.
Secret process benefits pet projects

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6587768.html
A sleepy Montana checkpoint along the Canadian border that sees about three travelers a day will
get $15 million under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan. A government priority list
ranked the project as marginal, but two powerful Democratic senators persuaded the
administration to make it happen. Despite Obama's promises that the stimulus plan would be
transparent and free of politics, the government is handing out $720 million for border
upgrades under a process that is both secretive and susceptible to political influence. It
wasn't supposed to be that way. In 2004, Congress ordered Homeland Security to create a list,
updated annually, of the most important repairs at checkpoints nationwide. But the Obama
administration continued a Bush administration practice of considering other, more subjective
factors when deciding which projects get money. The results: A border station in Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's home state of Arizona is getting $199 million, five times
more than any other border station. A checkpoint in Laredo, Texas, which serves more than
55,000 travelers and 4,200 trucks a day, is rated among the government's highest priorities but
was passed over for stimulus money. The Westhope, N.D., checkpoint, which serves about 73
people a day and is among the lowest-priority projects, is set to get nearly $15 million for
renovations. The Whitetail project, which involves building a border station the size and cost of a
Hollywood mansion, benefited from two key allies, Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester.
Healthy people with swine flu should not be given Tamiflu, says WHO
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/6066444/Healthy-people-with-swine...
Healthy people who catch swine flu but show only mild symptoms should not be given
Tamiflu, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. The advice contradicts British
policy on the issue, which has seen hundreds of thousands of doses of the antiviral given
to people with the virus. Today's advice, published on the WHO website, said most patients were
experiencing typical flu symptoms and would get better within a week. It said Tamiflu (also called
oseltamivir) and another antiviral Relenza (also called zanamivir) should not be given to healthy
people who have only mild symptoms. The latest WHO advice, from a panel of international
experts, comes as new figures show that 45,986 courses of antivirals were given to patients in
England in the week ending August 18. In the previous week, 90,363 courses of antivirals were
given out. There have been fears that mass use of Tamiflu will encourage the virus to become
resistant to the antiviral. Researchers have also expressed concern over the side effects of the
drug, including sickness, nightmares and insomnia in children. A team from Oxford University said
earlier this month children with mild symptoms should not be given the antiviral to combat swine flu
and urged the Department of Health to urgently rethink its policy.
Note: To read an article showing Tamiflu and Relenza may not be safe for children, click here. For
other incisive articles revealing major manipulations involving the swine flu, click here.
California's Prison Crisis: Be Very Afraid

To some criminal-justice experts the violence that erupted [at a prison] located about 40 miles east
of Los Angeles, was an inevitable consequence of a state prison system long hobbled by massive
overcrowding, program cuts and understaffed facilities. And given the state's ongoing budget woes
with $1.2 billion in cuts mandated to the prison budget the situation is likely to only get worse.
"Overcrowding is the first issue," says Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime
and Delinquency. "You're talking about hundreds of men moved into triple bunks in what used to
be gyms and cafeterias. They're not even cells. They're just empty places where we're shoving
people." In addition to overcrowding, the state's corrections efforts are the nation's most
expensive and one of the least effective. The state spends $10 billion annually, or
$49,000 per inmate for a year in custody, according to statistics from the nonpartisan policyadvising group Legislative Analyst's Office. Yet, California's recidivism rate is 70%, one of the
worst in the country.
Note: At $49,000 per year per inmate, do you think there might be a better way to rehabilitate
these people?
Oliver Stone: JFK and the Unspeakable

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/oliver-stone/jfk-and-the-unspeakable_b_243924.html
The murder of President Kennedy was a seminal event for me and for millions of Americans. It
changed the course of history. It was a crushing blow to our country and to millions of people
around the world. Today, ... profound doubts persist about how President Kennedy was killed and
why. My film "JFK" was a metaphor for all those doubts, suspicions and unanswered questions.
Now an extraordinary new book offers the best account I have read of this tragedy and its
significance. That book is James Douglass's JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It
Matters. In his beautifully written and exhaustively researched treatment, Douglass lays out the
"motive" for Kennedy's assassination. Simply, he traces a process of steady conversion by
Kennedy from his origins as a traditional Cold Warrior to his determination to pull the world
back from the edge of destruction. Many of these steps are well known, such as Kennedy's
disillusionment with the CIA after the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion, and his refusal to follow the
reckless recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis. But
many of his steps remain unfamiliar: Kennedy's back-channel dialogue with Khrushchev and their
shared pursuit of common ground; his secret opening to dialogue with Fidel Castro (ongoing the
very week of his assassination); and his determination to pull out of Vietnam after his probable reelection in 1964. All of these steps caused him to be regarded as a virtual traitor by elements
of the military-intelligence community. These were the forces that planned and carried out
his assassination.
Note: For more on this important book, click here. For an excellent collection of the best
information, videos, books, and essays on the John F. Kennedy assassination, click here.
A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic

2009-07-21, Der Spiegel (Germany's leading news magazine)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,637119,00.html
In an interview with SPIEGEL, epidemiologist Tom Jefferson speaks about dangerous fearmongering, misguided, money-driven research and why we should all be washing our hands a lot
more often. SPIEGEL: Do you consider the swine flu to be particularly worrisome? Jefferson:
There are some people who make predictions year after year, and they get worse and worse.
None of them so far have come about, and these people are still there making these predictions.
Sometimes you get the feeling that there is a whole industry almost waiting for a pandemic to
occur. SPIEGEL: Who do you mean? Jefferson: The WHO and public health officials, virologists
and the pharmaceutical companies. They've built this machine around the impending pandemic.
And there's a lot of money involved, and influence, and careers, and entire institutions! And all it
took was one of these influenza viruses to mutate to start the machine grinding. SPIEGEL: Do you
think the WHO declared a pandemic prematurely? Jefferson: Don't you think there's something
noteworthy about the fact that the WHO has changed its definition of pandemic? The old
definition was a new virus, which went around quickly, for which you didn't have immunity,
and which created a high morbidity and mortality rate. Now the last two have been dropped,
and that's how swine flu has been categorized as a pandemic.
Note: For lots more on the Swine Flu "false pandemic," click here.
Swine flu vaccine rushed through safety checks

2009-07-13, Times of London (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6694046.ece
A swine flu vaccine will be fast-tracked for use in Britain within five days once it is developed, and
130 million doses are on order. The Department of Health expects to have enough vaccine this
year to give it to half the population. Further supplies will be available if needed. Each person will
need two doses of the vaccine, unless one single jab is found to provide high rates of immunity.
The first doses specific to the H1N1 swine flu virus are set to arrive in September and could be
given regulatory approval in less than a week. The move came after the first British patient without
underlying health problems died from swine flu, taking the number of swine flu-linked deaths in
Britain to 15. Peter Holden, the British Medical Associations lead negotiator on swine flu, said that
... although swine flu was not generally causing serious illness in patients, health officials
were eager to start a mass vaccination campaign, starting first on groups that were
susceptible to infection or prone to complications. It is likely that the elderly would be given a
seasonal flu jab to guard against other circulating flu strains as happens every year as well
as the swine flu vaccination. The high-risk groups will be done at GPs surgeries. People are still
making decisions over this, but we want to get cracking before we get a second wave, which is
traditionally far more virulent, Dr Holden said. It takes several weeks or months to make flu
vaccines, which are cultured using chicken eggs. The European Medicines Agency said the fasttracked approval procedure has involved trials of a mock-up vaccine and that the speed would
not compromise patient safety. The vaccines are authorised with a detailed risk management
plan, the agency said.
Important Note: Don't be fooled by this media propaganda. The same rushed attitude is what led
to hundreds of deaths from the swine flu vaccine in 1976. Click here for a powerful CBS 60
Minutes video showing how a huge vaccine propaganda campaign by the government led to these
deaths. And a recent article in The Scotsman quotes a spokesperson for the Scottish government
saying "We have said that a vaccine is being worked on and the plan is to vaccinate everybody."
Remember that the media is beholden to pharmaceutical companies for billions of dollars in
advertising income. For lots more powerful information on this vital topic, click here.
Ignore the health scare professionals: you won't die of swine flu
2009-07-12, The Telegraph blogs (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100002999/ignore-the-health-sc...
Swine flu is a nasty disease, but no nastier than other strains of influenza. True, it has killed
hundreds of people in Mexico; but even there, other variants of flu virus have been far more lethal.
Why, then, the urgent need to inoculate the entire British population? Perhaps Im being overly
cynical, but I cant help wondering whether were being pushed into a wrong-headed course of
action by the health scare industry. Were told that Tamiflu needs to be taken at once, without a
moments delay meaning that anyone with a sniffle is likely to start glugging the stuff. Were also
told that the virus may mutate, meaning conveniently that well soon need a new variety of
medicine. In any case, these flu vaccines have short shelf lives. Good news for the drug
manufacturers and their lobbyists; bad news for the taxpayer. Ministers must suspect that
the danger is being exaggerated. Yet they would rather spend gazillions than run the
slightest risk of being accused of not having done enough. And, needless to say, there isnt a
medical advisory body in the world that will say: Actually, minister, considering everything in the
round, the danger posed by this virus is minor, and we recommend the disbandment of this panel.
You may think I am being unconscionably flippant. But back in April, when newspapers were filling
their pages with science fiction scenarios of a deadly epidemic, I suggested that, taking everything
together, we werent going to die of swine flu. Who has the better track record so far: the Big
Pharma doom mongers, or this blog?
Kelly's Book of Secrets

2009-07-05, Daily Express (One of the UK's largest-circulation newspapers)
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/111971/Kelly-s-book-of-secrets
Weapons inspector David Kelly was writing a book exposing highly damaging government secrets
before his mysterious death. He was intending to reveal that he warned Prime Minister Tony Blair
there were no weapons of mass destruction anywhere in Iraq weeks before the British and
American invasion. He had several discussions with a publisher in Oxford and was seeking advice
on how far he could go without breaking the law on secrets. Following his death, his computers
were seized and it is still not known if any rough draft was discovered by investigators and, if so,
what happened to the material. Dr Kelly was also intending to lift the lid on a potentially
bigger scandal, his own secret dealings in germ warfare with the apartheid regime in South
Africa. US television investigators have spent four years preparing a 90-minute
documentary, Anthrax War, suggesting there is a global black market in anthrax and
exposing the mystery suicides of five government germ warfare scientists from around
the world. Director Bob Coen said: The deeper you look into the murky world of governments
and germ warfare, the more worrying it becomes. We have proved there is a black market in
anthrax. David Kelly was of particular interest to us because he was a world expert on anthrax and
he was involved in some degree with assisting the secret germ warfare programme in apartheid
South Africa. Dr Kelly was found dead in woods near his Oxfordshire home on July 17 2003. His
apparent suicide came two days after he was interrogated in the Commons over his behind-thescenes role in exposing the flaws in the sexed-up Number 10 dossier which justified Britain going
to war with Iraq. Conspiracy theorists have claimed he was murdered.
Note: For more on the CBC documentary Anthrax War, click here. And to read about the strange
deaths of 13 renowned microbiologists in the space of less than five months, click here.
Senate Bill Would Fine People More Than $1,000 for Refusing Health
Care Coverage
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/02/senate-democrats-trim-cost-health-...
Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than
$1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to
fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. The Congressional Budget Office estimated
the fines will raise around $36 billion over 10 years. Senate aides said the penalties would be
modeled on the approach taken by Massachusetts, which now imposes a fine of about $1,000 a
year on individuals who refuse to get coverage. Under the federal legislation, families would pay
higher penalties than individuals. In a revamped health care system envisioned by lawmakers,
people would be required to carry health insurance just like motorists must get auto coverage now.
The government would provide subsidies for the poor and many middle-class families, but those
who still refuse to sign up would face penalties. Called "shared responsibility payments," the
fines would be set at least half the cost of basic medical coverage, according to the
legislation. The goal is to nudge people to sign up for coverage when they are healthy, not
wait until they get sick. The legislation would exempt certain hardship cases from fines. The
fines would be collected through the income tax system. Obama wants a bill this year that would
provide coverage to the nearly 50 million Americans who lack it and reduce medical costs. In a
statement, Obama welcomed the legislation, saying it "reflects many of the principles I've laid out."
The government's costs would be covered by a combination of higher taxes and cuts in projected
Medicare and Medicaid spending.
Note: How can Congress even consider forcing people to buy insurance with threat of a major
fine? What happened to the country of freedom and liberty? And is the people or the HMOs who
benefit here?
Pentagon Exam Calls Protests 'Low-Level Terrorism,' Angering Activists

2009-06-17, Fox News
A written exam administered by the Pentagon labels "protests" as a form of low-level terrorism
enraging civil liberties advocates and activist groups who say it shows blatant disregard of the First
Amendment. The written exam, given as part of Department of Defense employees routine
training, includes a multiple-choice question that asks: Which of the following is an example
of low-level terrorism? Attacking the Pentagon IEDs Hate crimes against racial
groups Protests. The correct answer, according to the exam, is "Protests." Its part of a
pattern of equating dissent and protest with terrorism," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the
American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained a copy of the question after a Defense Department
employee who was taking the test printed the screen on his or her computer terminal. "It
undermines the core constitutional values the Department of Defense is supposed to be
defending, Brick said, referring to the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. She said the
ACLU has asked the Defense Department to remove the question and send out a correction to all
employees who took the exam. There were other employees who were unhappy with it and
disturbed by it, Brick said. Anti-war protesters, who say they have been targets of federal
surveillance for years, were livid when they were told about the exam question. Thats illegal,
said George Martin, national co-chairman of United for Peace and Justice. Protest in terms of
legal dissent has to be recognized, especially by the authorities. Its not terrorism or a lack of
patriotism. We care enough to be active in our government.
Note: For lots more on the continually-escalating government threats to civil liberties, click here.
How MI5 blackmails British Muslims

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-how-mi5-blackmails-b...
Five Muslim community workers have accused MI5 of waging a campaign of blackmail and
harassment in an attempt to recruit them as informants. The men claim they were given a choice
of working for the Security Service or face detention and harassment in the UK and overseas.
They have made official complaints to the police, to the body which oversees the work of the
Security Service and to their local MP Frank Dobson. Now they have decided to speak publicly
about their experiences in the hope that publicity will stop similar tactics being used in the future.
Three of the men say they were detained at foreign airports on the orders of MI5 after leaving
Britain on family holidays last year. After they were sent back to the UK, they were interviewed by
MI5 officers who, they say, falsely accused them of links to Islamic extremism. On each occasion
the agents said they would lift the travel restrictions and threat of detention in return for their cooperation. When the men refused some of them received what they say were intimidating phone
calls and threats. Two other Muslim men say they were approached by MI5 at their homes
after police officers posed as postmen. Each of the five men, aged between 19 and 25, was
warned that if he did not help the security services he would be considered a terror
suspect. A sixth man was held by MI5 for three hours after returning from his honeymoon in Saudi
Arabia. He too claims he was threatened with travel restrictions if he tried to leave the UK."
Note: For lots more on the "war on terror" from reliable sources, click here.
666: Goldman's latest bonus bears the mark of the beast

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/666-goldmans...
Something strange is afoot when Popbitch provider of a weekly email beloved of students,
stuffed full of celebrity tittle-tattle and links to the silliest miscellany of the web breaks off from
such glorious trivia to encourage readers to support GoldmanSachs666.com, a deadly serious
website measuring the political tentacles of the mighty investment bank. The credit-market
catastrophe that has plunged the world into recession is everywhere stirring new ways of thinking
about how banking relates to the wider world, but nowhere more so than among a generation
coming into political consciousness in these searing times. Something is brewing, some argue,
that could make the "regulatory-financial complex" something to rail against in the same way that
the military-industrial complex was in the Cold War. This should worry Goldman Sachs. More so
than any other firm, it exists at the intersection of politics and high finance. "It was listening to the
news coming out of AIG that got me fired up," says Mike Morgan, founder of
GoldmanSachs666.com. "While politicians were screaming about $165m paid out to AIG
executives in bonuses, $180bn was walking out the door." The Federal Reserve and the thentreasury secretary, Hank Paulson, decided to funnel public funds to AIG, and its counterparties
were paid in full. You don't have to scratch far into the internet to find conspiracy theories:
Mr Paulson was chief executive of Goldman before going into government; he appointed
Edward Liddy, formerly of Goldman, to run AIG; Goldman was AIG's biggest counterparty,
receiving $12.9bn from AIG after the bailout.
Note: For lots more on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
How to Deal with Swine Flu: Heeding the Mistakes of 1976

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1894129,00.html
In February 1976, an outbreak of swine flu struck Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey, killing a 19year-old private and infecting hundreds of soldiers. Concerned that the U.S. was on the verge of a
devastating epidemic, President Gerald Ford ordered a nationwide vaccination program at a cost
of $135 million (some $500 million in today's money). Within weeks, reports surfaced of people
developing Guillain-Barr syndrome, a paralyzing nerve disease that can be caused by the
vaccine. By April, more than 30 people had died of the condition. Facing protests, federal officials
abruptly canceled the program on Dec. 16. The epidemic failed to materialize. Medical historians
and epidemiologists say ... the decisions made in the wake of the '76 outbreak and the public's
response to them provide a cautionary tale for public health officials, who may soon have to
consider whether to institute draconian measures to combat the disease. "I think 1976 provides an
example of how not to handle a flu outbreak," says Hugh Pennington, an emeritus professor of
virology at Britain's University of Aberdeen. Despite modern advances in microbiology, today's
health officials still make decisions in a "cloud of uncertainty," Pennington says. "At the
moment, our understanding of the current outbreak is similarly limited. For example, we
don't yet understand why people are dying in Mexico but not elsewhere." Howard Markel,
director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and a historical
consultant to the CDC on flu pandemics, says the most vexing decision facing health officials is
when to institute mass vaccination programs.
Note: To watch two short commercials made in 1976 showing clear scare tactics, click here. Only
one person died from the actual flu in this 1976 "epidemic," yet more than 30 died of the flu
vaccine. To explore the serious risks of vaccines reported in the media, click here. For lots more on
bird and swine flu scares, click here.
Control of Cybersecurity Becomes Divisive Issue

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us/politics/17cyber.html?partner=rss&emc=rs...
The National Security Agency has been campaigning to lead the governments rapidly growing
cybersecurity programs, raising privacy and civil liberties concerns among some officials who fear
that the move could give the spy agency too much control over government computer networks.
The security agencys interest in taking over the dominant role has met resistance, including the
resignation of the Homeland Security Department official who was until last month in charge of
coordinating cybersecurity efforts throughout the government. Rod Beckstrom, who resigned in
March as director of the National Cyber Security Center at the Homeland Security Department,
said ... that he feared that the N.S.A.s push for a greater role in guarding the governments
computer systems could give it the power to collect and analyze every e-mail message, text
message and Google search conducted by every employee in every federal agency. Mr.
Beckstrom said he believed that an intelligence service that is supposed to focus on foreign targets
should not be given so much control over the flow of information within the United States
government. To detect threats against the computer infrastructure including hackers, viruses
and intrusions by foreign agents and terrorists cybersecurity guardians must have virtually
unlimited access to networks. Mr. Beckstrom argues that those responsibilities should be divided
among agencies. I have very serious concerns about the concentration of too much power in one
agency, he said. Power over information is so important, and it is so difficult to monitor, that we
need to have checks and balances.
Note: For further disturbing reports from reliable sources on government efforts to establish total
surveillance systems, click here.
Why Creditors Should Suffer, Too

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/business/economy/05view.html?partner=rss&em...
The Obama administrations proposals to reform financial regulation sound ambitious enough as
they aim to bring companies like A.I.G. under a broader umbrella of government rule-making and
scrutiny. But there is a big hole in these proposals, as there has already been in the governments
approach to bailing out failing financial companies. Even as they focus on firms deemed too big to
fail, the new proposals immunize the creditors and counterparties of such firms by
protecting them from their own lending and trading mistakes. This pattern has been evident
for months, with the government aiding creditors and counterparties every step of the way.
Yet this has not been explained openly to the American public. In truth, its not the shareholders of
the American International Group who benefited most from its bailout; they were mostly wiped out.
The great beneficiaries have been the creditors and counterparties at the other end of A.I.G.s
derivatives deals firms like Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Socit Gnrale,
Barclays and UBS. These firms engaged in deals that A.I.G. could not make good on. The bailout,
and the regulatory regime outlined by Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, would give firms
like these every incentive to make similar deals down the road. In both the bailouts and in the new
proposals, the government is effectively neutralizing creditors as a force for financial safety. This
suggests a scary possibility that the next regulatory regime could end up even worse than the
last.
Big Bonuses at Fannie and Freddie Draw Fire

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/business/04bonus.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&p...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two troubled companies at the heart of the nations mortgage
market, are set to pay their employees retention bonuses totaling $210 million, despite calls from
lawmakers to cancel the payments. The bonuses, which were made public on Friday, were
defended by the companies federal regulator, James B. Lockhart, who said he intended to let
them proceed. In a letter sent last week to Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, Mr.
Lockhart disclosed that 7,600 Fannie and Freddie workers were scheduled to receive payouts
aimed at retaining those employees most critical to keep and difficult to replace. Under the plan,
213 employees will receive retention bonuses worth more than $100,000 this year, and one
Freddie Mac executive will receive $1.3 million. Those figures drew sharp rebukes from Mr.
Grassley and other lawmakers, who noted that Fannie and Freddie had received pledges of $400
billion from taxpayers to offset huge losses since they were seized by the government in
September. Similar bonuses paid by the American International Group, which was also bailed out
by taxpayers, incited fiery attacks from the White House and legislators when they were revealed
last month. Its hard to see any common sense in management decisions that award
hundreds of millions in bonuses when their organizations lost more than $100 billion in a
year, Mr. Grassley said in a statement. Its an insult that the bonuses were made with an
infusion of cash from taxpayers.
Note: For many revealing reports on the realities behind the Wall Street bailouts, click here.
Obamas Ersatz Capitalism

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/opinion/01stiglitz.html?partner=rss&emc=rss...
The Obama administrations $500 billion or more proposal to deal with Americas ailing banks has
been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a winwin-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win and taxpayers lose. Treasury hopes to get us
out of the mess by replicating the flawed system that the private sector used to bring the world
crashing down, with a proposal marked by overleveraging in the public sector, excessive
complexity, poor incentives and a lack of transparency. In theory, the administrations plan is based
on letting the market determine the prices of the banks toxic assets including outstanding
house loans and securities based on those loans. The reality, though, is that the market will not be
pricing the toxic assets themselves, but options on those assets. The two have little to do with
each other. The government plan in effect involves insuring almost all losses. Since the private
investors are spared most losses, then they primarily value their potential gains. This is exactly
the same as being given an option. Under the plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,
the government would provide about 92 percent of the money to buy the asset but would
stand to receive only 50 percent of any gains, and would absorb almost all of the losses.
Some partnership! What the Obama administration is doing is far worse than nationalization: it is
ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a partnership in which
one partner robs the other.
Note: The author of this analysis, Joseph E. Stiglitz, is a professor of economics at Columbia
University. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997, and was
awarded the Nobel prize in economics in 2001. For many revealing reports on the realities behind
the Wall Street bailouts, click here.
Canada blocks outspoken British MP

2009-03-20, Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/605682
Canadian officials have denied outspoken anti-war British MP George Galloway entry into Canada
on grounds he poses a threat to national security. Alykhan Velshi, a spokesperson for Immigration
Minister Jason Kenney, said today Galloway has openly supported Hamas, classified as a terrorist
group in Canada, as well as other terrorists. Galloway, who was expected to begin a Canadian
speaking tour in Toronto on March 30, called the ban outrageous. Galloway said his supposed
support for Hamas amounted to leading an aid convoy into Gaza to break the "illegal siege"
following the month-long Israeli incursion in January. "I led a convoy of 110 British vehicles,
more than 300 British citizens, to break the illegal siege of Gaza just a few days ago. Most
people in the world think that feeding people under siege is something to be commended
rather than something to get you banned," he told the Star in a telephone interview from his
London office. He noted that when news he was being denied entry to visit Canada first appeared
in the British press, it was supposedly because he had expressed opposition to the NATO-led
Afghan war. Some critics have called the government's decision to bar Galloway an attack on free
speech. Galloway was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 for urging British soldiers not to fight
in Iraq. He formed his own party, Respect, and won re-election to the Commons in 2005.
A.I.G. Planning Huge Bonuses After $170 Billion Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15AIG.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pag...
The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer
bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in
bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to
the brink of collapse last year. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were
unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the
bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them.
The payments to A.I.G.s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously
scheduled bonuses for the companys senior executives and 6,400 employees across the
sprawling corporation. The payment of so much money at a company at the heart of the financial
collapse that sent the broader economy into a tailspin almost certainly will fuel a popular backlash
against the governments efforts to prop up Wall Street. A.I.G., nearly 80 percent of which is now
owned by the government, defended its bonuses, arguing that they were promised last year before
the crisis and cannot be legally canceled. Of all the financial institutions that have been propped up
by taxpayer dollars, none has received more money than A.I.G.. The bonuses will be paid to
executives at A.I.G.s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars worth of
credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by
subprime mortgages. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more
than $3 million in bonuses.
Note: For many revelations of the amazing realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Some Banks, Feeling Chained, Want to Return Bailout Money

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/business/economy/11bailout.html?partner=rss...
Financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions
and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners. They must let shareholders vote on executive
pay packages. They must slash dividends, cancel employee training and morale-building
exercises, and withdraw job offers to foreign citizens. As public outrage swells over the rapidly
growing cost of bailing out financial institutions, the Obama administration and lawmakers are
attaching more and more strings to rescue funds. The conditions are necessary to prevent Wall
Street executives from paying lavish bonuses and buying corporate jets, some experts say.
Some bankers say the conditions have become so onerous that they want to return the
bailout money. The list includes small banks ... as well as giants like Goldman Sachs and
Wells Fargo. They say they plan to return the money as quickly as possible or as soon as
regulators set up a process to accept the refunds. A senior Treasury official involved in the bailout
effort said the administration was carefully trying not to do anything that could harm the banks and
was giving financial incentives to modify mortgages. But by keeping weak banks operating, the
markets continue to sink and taxpayer costs are mounting, outside experts said. The current
policy is likely to result in weaker banks, Mr. Seidman said. And keeping insolvent banks in
operation does not benefit the system.
Note: Could it be that that the main reason top bank executives are now talking about giving
money back is that don't want to give up their lavish bonuses and corporate jets? What about all
the talk about how the whole world would go to pot if they didn't get this bailout money? Somehow
this is not surprising.
Wars, Endless Wars

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/opinion/03herbert.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&...
The U.S. economy is in free fall, the banking system is in a state of complete collapse and
Americans all across the country are downsizing their standards of living. The nation as weve
known it is fading before our very eyes, but were still pouring billions of dollars into wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq with missions we are still unable to define. Even as the U.S. begins plans to
reduce troop commitments in Iraq, it is sending thousands of additional troops into Afghanistan.
The strategic purpose of this escalation, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged, is not
at all clear. We invaded Afghanistan more than seven years ago. We dont even have an
escalation strategy, much less an exit strategy. An honest assessment of the situation ...
would lead inexorably to such terms as fiasco and quagmire. Instead of cutting our losses,
we appear to be doubling down. As for Iraq, President Obama announced last week that
substantial troop withdrawals will take place over the next year and a half and that U.S. combat
operations would cease by the end of August 2010. But, he said, a large contingent of American
troops, perhaps as many as 50,000, would still remain in Iraq for a period of transition. Thats a
large number of troops, and the cost of keeping them there will be huge. I can easily imagine a
scenario in which Afghanistan and Iraq both heat up and the U.S., caught in an extended
economic disaster at home, undermines its fragile recovery efforts in the same way that societies
have undermined themselves since the dawn of time with endless warfare.
Note: The strategic purpose of keeping the wars going is well known by the bankers and power
elite. A top U.S. general revealed it all in a powerful book, of which we have a two-page summary
available here. For revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Iraq and Afghan
wars, click here.
A 'fraud' bigger than Madoff

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1...
In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to
investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn ... in a US -directed
effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be
clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it
may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme.
"I believe the real looting of Iraq after the invasion was by US officials and contractors, and
not by people from the slums of Baghdad," said one US businessman active in Iraq since
2003. Iraqi leaders are convinced that the theft or waste of huge sums of US and Iraqi government
money could have happened only if senior US officials were themselves involved in the corruption.
American federal investigators are now starting an inquiry into the actions of senior US officers
involved in the programme to rebuild Iraq. In the expanded inquiry by federal agencies, the
evidence of a ... US businessman called Dale C Stoffel who was murdered after leaving the US
base at Taiji north of Baghdad in 2004 is being re-examined. Before he was killed, Mr Stoffel, an
arms dealer and contractor, was granted limited immunity from prosecution after he had provided
information that a network of bribery linking companies and US officials awarding contracts
existed within the US-run Green Zone in Baghdad. He said bribes of tens of thousands of dollars
were regularly delivered in pizza boxes sent to US contracting officers.
Note: To read a former Marine Corps general's exposure of the high-level criminality and
profiteering that is the real purpose behind war, click here. For many powerful revelations from
reliable sources of government corruption, click here.
Bush Sought 'Way' To Invade Iraq?

[Former Treasury Secretary Paul] O'Neill - who is known for speaking his mind - talks for the first
time about his two years inside the Bush administration. His story is the centerpiece of a new book
being published this week about the way the Bush White House is run. Entitled The Price of
Loyalty, the book by [Ron Suskind,] former Wall Street Journal reporter, draws on interviews with
high-level officials who gave the author their personal accounts of meetings with the president,
their notes and documents. But the main source of the book was Paul O'Neill. What happened at
President Bush's very first National Security Council meeting is one of O'Neill's most startling
revelations. "From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad
person and that he needed to go," says O'Neill, who adds that going after Saddam was topic
"A" 10 days after the inauguration - eight months before Sept. 11. "From the very first
instance, it was about Iraq. It was about what we can do to change this regime," says
Suskind. "Day one, these things were laid and sealed." As treasury secretary, O'Neill was a
permanent member of the National Security Council. He says in the book he was surprised at the
meeting that questions such as "Why Saddam?" and "Why now?" were never asked. "It was all
about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying 'Go find me a way to do
this,'" says O'Neill.
Note: Most wars in the 20th Century were started by false-flag operations; could 9/11 have been
yet another one, on a scale large enough to launch a "global" and "endless" war? For an overview,
click here.
New Bank Bailout Could Cost $2 Trillion

Government officials seeking to revamp the U.S. financial bailout have discussed spending
another $1 trillion to $2 trillion to help restore banks to health, according to people familiar with the
matter. President Barack Obama's new administration is wrestling with how to stem the continuing
loss of confidence in the financial system, as it divides up the remaining $350 billion from the $700
billion Troubled Asset Relief Program launched last fall. The potential size of rescue efforts being
discussed suggests the administration may need to ask Congress for more funds. The
administration is expected to take a series of steps, including relieving banks of bad loans and
distressed securities. The so-called "bad bank" that would buy these assets could be seeded
with $100 billion to $200 billion from the TARP funds, with the rest of the money -- as much
as $1 trillion to $2 trillion -- raised by selling government-backed debt or borrowing from
the Federal Reserve. The administration is also seeking more effective ways to pump money into
banks, and is considering buying common shares in the banks. Government purchases so far
have been of preferred shares, in an effort to both protect taxpayers and avoid diluting existing
shareholders' stakes. Given the weakened state of the banking industry, with bank share prices
low and their capital needs high, economists say the government probably can't avoid owning at
least some banks for a temporary period.
Note: Note that the U.S. government has to borrow from the Federal Reserve, which most people
don't realize is privately owned by the richest banks. For more on this, click here. The $2 trillion of
taxpayer money for Wall Street's toxic assets revealed here is in addition to over $7 trillion already
committed according to CNN and others. Wouldn't government debt of this magnitude threaten a
broad range of government services and risk seriously weakening the dollar? For many other
revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Execs of bailed-out banks got $1.6B last year, AP finds

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2008-12-21-bank-execs-bail...
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in
salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals. The
rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent
them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to
lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages. Benefits
included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home
security, country club memberships and professional money management. The total amount
given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that
have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines. The AP compiled total
compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the
findings: Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home
nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company's top five executives received a total of
$242 million. The New York-based company on Dec. 16 reported its first quarterly loss since it
went public in 1999. It received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28. John A. Thain, chief
executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses with $83 million in earnings last
year. Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28.
Note: For many reports on the realities of the Wall Street bailout from reliable sources, click here.
The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere. It's time to stop the mission

creep.
We no longer have a civilian-led government. The most unnerving legacy of the Bush
administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of
aspects of civilian government. Our Constitution is at risk. President-elect Barack Obama's
selections of James L. Jones, a retired four-star Marine general, to be his national security adviser
and, it appears, retired Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair to be his director of national intelligence ...
could complete the silent military coup d'etat that has been steadily gaining ground below the radar
screen of most Americans and the media. While serving the State Department in several senior
capacities over the past four years, I witnessed firsthand the quiet, de facto military takeover of
much of the U.S. government. The first assault on civilian government occurred in faraway places - Iraq and Afghanistan. As military officers sought to take over the role played by civilian
development experts abroad, Pentagon bureaucrats quietly populated the National Security
Council and the State Department with their own personnel ... to ensure that the Defense
Department could keep an eye on its rival agencies. The encroachment within America's borders
continued with the military's increased involvement in domestic surveillance and its attempts to
usurp the role of the federal courts in reviewing detainee cases. The Pentagon also resisted
ceding any authority over its extensive intelligence operations to the ... director of national
intelligence. Now the Pentagon has drawn up plans to deploy 20,000 U.S. soldiers inside our
borders by 2011.
Note: The author of this piece, Thomas A. Schweich, served the Bush administration as
ambassador for counter-narcotics in Afghanistan and deputy assistant secretary of state for
international law enforcement affairs.
Illinois governor seems to be growing stronger

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/21/BAG314QRPO.DTL
I got a call from Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich the other day. The first thing I said to him was, "You
know, this call is probably being taped." Blagojevich said he had read my column in The Chronicle
last week, in which I raised questions about the "pay to play" charges being leveled against him in
connection with his pending appointment of someone to fill Barack Obama's now-empty U.S.
Senate seat. I think he liked how I raised questions about the timing and manner of U.S. Attorney
Patrick Fitzgerald's decision to charge him over what appears to be little more than loose
conversations he had with his staff. I wouldn't bet on him stepping aside anytime soon. If anything,
his hand is getting stronger by the day. I can't go into details, but my impression is that the whole
mess started because the governor had been considering appointing a political rival,
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, to the Senate so she wouldn't be able to run against
him when he went up for re-election in 2010. Apparently, Obama's people weren't happy
about the idea of Madigan coming to Washington, and there were some pretty heated
conversations between Blagojevich and Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, which I understand
will burn your ears off. It was pretty clear that Blagojevich is going to hang tough, especially after
the Illinois Supreme Court shot down Madigan's request that he be forced from office because he
supposedly can't carry out his duties. It is also pretty clear that despite all the screaming over his
appearing to be "selling" the seat in return for political favors or financial considerations, his fellow
Democrats are not going to strip him of his power to appoint someone to replace Obama.
Note: The author of this article is insider Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco and powerbroking speaker of California's assembly for 15 years. For an alleged transcript of the actual
conversation between Blagojevich and Rahm Emanuel, click here. If this is true, watch for some
big shifts.
House Arrest for Madoff in $7 Million Apartment

2008-12-17, abcnews.com
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=6480363
Bernard Madoff, accused of the largest fraud in U.S. history, will be allowed to remain in his $7
million Park Avenue apartment instead of being sent to jail, under terms of an agreement
announced today by federal prosecutors. Madoff was unable to meet the bond conditions set last
week by a federal magistrate which required him to get four people to sign his personal
recognizance bond. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, only Madoff's wife and brothers were
willing to sign the document. But instead of ordering him held in jail, prosecutors agreed to
home detention with electronic monitoring. Madoff and his luxury apartment on
Manhattan's upper east side will be fitted with an electronic monitoring device by the
court's pre-trial services and Madoff will be under a curfew of between 7 p.m. through 9
a.m. Madoff's wife agreed to post the mansions in her name in Palm Beach, Florida and in
Montauk on New York's Long Island. The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman said
today the agency has found "no evidence of wrongdoing by any SEC personnel" in connection with
Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme and that the SEC intends to get to the bottom of where
it may have gone wrong. "I was very concerned to learn this week that credible allegations about
Mr. Madoff had been made over nearly a decade and yet never referred to the commission for
action," Commissioner Christopher Cox said at a press conference. Yesterday, Cox acknowledged
what amounted to a generational failure on the part of the SEC to discover any hint of Madoff's
scheme, despite allegations dating back to 1999.
Note: Why is the criminal responsible for the largest single banking scandal in history given house
arrest rather than jail before his trial? Isn't it remarkable that the hands-off treatment Madoff
received over the years from the SEC seems to be continuing from the Federal prosecutors? For
more on Wall Street corruption, click here.
Why AIG Gets Billions, GM Gets Scorn

2008-12-12, U.S. News & World Report blog
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2008/12/12/why-aig-gets-billions-gm-get...
AIG, the huge insurance company, has so far gotten $173 billion worth of federal aid, because
traders at one small division made bets on exotic securities that were so calamitous they
threatened to bring down the whole company. So far, the amount of money the feds have pledged
to this one firm equals nearly one-third of the nations defense budget. General Motors,
Americas biggest automaker, has asked for a $10 billion federal loan, equal to oneseventeenth of what AIG has gotten and Congress has said no. There were no rogue
traders at GM, and the companys problems have intensified in plain view, over several months,
instead of coming from out of nowhere in a single, cataclysmic episode. Make sense? Doesnt to
me. So maybe if we look at each company a bit more closely, it will be clearer why the government
favors companies like AIG over ones like GM. Does have AIG have friends in high places? You
could say that. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
both support the AIG bailout, and theyve steered money to the company without Congressional
approval. GMs most important friends in Washington have been the Michigan Congressional
delegation, which obviously doesnt have the clout it used to. Paulson has actually argued against
using part of the huge $700 billion financial bailout fund to help the automakers, because they
cant pass a viability test proving theyll stay in business long enough to pay back the loans. But
AIG hasnt passed a viability test either, and without federal help theres little doubt it would be in
bankruptcy.
Note: At least someone is asking the right questions! For many highly revealing reports from
reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff arrested over '$50 billion Ponzi
scheme'
Shock and panic spread through the country clubs of Palm Beach and Long Island after Bernard L
Madoff, a trading powerbroker for over four decades, allegedly confessed to a massive fraud that
will cost his wealthy investors at least $50 billion, perhaps the largest swindle in Wall Street history.
Mr Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq stock chairman, was apparently turned in by his two sons and
arrested on Thursday morning at his Manhattan apartment by the FBI. The FBI claims that three
senior employees of Mr Madoff's investment firm - once a towering presence on Wall Street turned up at his apartment on Wednesday to ask questions about the company's solvency. Two of
them are believed to be his sons, Andrew and Mark, who have worked for their father for two
decades. Mr Madoff told them that he was "finished", that he had "absolutely nothing", and
that "it's all just one big lie". He said the investment arm of his firm was "basically a giant
Ponzi scheme," and that it had been insolvent for years. A Ponzi scheme, named after the
swindler Charles Ponzi, is a fraudulent investment operation that pays abnormally high returns to
investors paid from money put into the scheme by subsequent investors, rather from real profits
generated by share trading. The FBI complaint states that Mr Madoff told his sons he believed the
losses from his scheme could exceed $50 billion. If that is the case, his fraud would be far greater
than past Ponzi schemes and easily the greatest swindle perpetrated by one man.
Note: If a former Nasdaq chairman was committing this kind of blatant fraud while still the
chairman of Nasdaq, what does it say about the level of corruption on Wall Street? For a treasure
trove of reports from reliable sources exposing the realities of the Wall Street corruption, click here.
Canadian leader suspends Parliament to stay in power

2008-12-04, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/12/04/canada.crisis/index.html
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's governor general has
allowed him to suspend Parliament, postponing a no-confidence vote from his opponents that he
was likely to lose. Harper called on his opponents to work with his government on measures to aid
the nation's economy when Parliament returns on January 26. Had Governor General Michaelle
Jean -- who represents Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as head of state -- denied Harper's request,
Monday's vote would have likely brought down Harper's government, less than two months after
his Conservative Party strengthened its minority position in federal elections. The Liberal Party and
the leftist New Democratic Party announced plans earlier this week to form a governing coalition
with the support of the Bloc Quebecois, which supports independence for French-speaking
Quebec. "For the first time in the history of Canada, the prime minister of Canada is running
away from the parliament of Canada," said [Liberal Party Leader Stephane] Dion, accusing the
premier of placing "partisan politics ahead of the interest of all Canadians." New Democratic Party
leader Jack Layton said Harper had used a "maneuver to escape accountability." "He refuses to
face the people of Canada through their elected representatives," he said. "The prime
minister is choosing to protect his own job rather than focusing on the jobs of Canadians
who are being thrown out of work today."
Note: What gives Canada's governor general the right to suspend parliament? The governor
general is the representative of the queen of England. Few know that the queen has this power
over all commonwealth nations. Canada is not truly independent of England, nor are the other
commonwealth nations, including Australia. For more intriguing information on this, click here.
One Mans Military-Industrial-Media Complex

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30general.html?partner=rss&emc=r...
Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network
news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps
as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque
world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit
hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are sometimes
oblivious to possible conflicts of interest. Few illustrate the submerged complexities of this world
better than Barry McCaffrey. General McCaffrey, 66, has long been a force in Washingtons power
elite. A consummate networker, he cultivated politicians and journalists of all stripes as drug czar in
the Clinton cabinet, and his ties run deep to a new generation of generals, some of whom he
taught at West Point or commanded in the Persian Gulf war. But it was 9/11 that thrust General
McCaffrey to the forefront of the national security debate. In the years since he has made
nearly 1,000 appearances on NBC and its cable sisters, delivering crisp sound bites in a
blunt, hyperbolic style. He commands up to $25,000 for speeches, his commentary regularly
turns up in The Wall Street Journal, and he has been quoted or cited in thousands of news articles,
including dozens in The New York Times. His influence is such that President Bush and
Congressional leaders from both parties have invited him for war consultations. At the same time,
General McCaffrey has immersed himself in businesses that have grown with the fight against
terrorism.
Note: This in-depth article on the "military-industrial-media complex" is worth reading in its entirety.
For lots more on war profiteering from reliable sources, click here.
FDA Draws Fire Over Chemicals In Baby Formula

Public health groups, consumer advocates and members of Congress blasted the Food and Drug
Administration yesterday for failing to act after discovering trace amounts of the industrial chemical
melamine in baby formula sold in the United States. "This FDA, this Bush administration,
instead of protecting the public health, is protecting industry," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (DConn.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the FDA budget. "We're
talking about babies, about the most vulnerable. This really makes me angry." The FDA
found melamine and cyanuric acid, a related chemical, in samples of baby formula made by major
U.S. manufacturers. Melamine can cause kidney and bladder stones and, in worst cases, kidney
failure and death. If melamine and cyanuric acid combine, they can form round yellow crystals that
can also damage kidneys and destroy renal function. Melamine was found in Good Start Supreme
Infant Formula With Iron made by Nestle, and cyanuric acid was detected in Enfamil Lipil With Iron
infant formula powder made by Mead Johnson. The FDA has been testing hundreds of food
products for melamine in the aftermath of a scandal this year involving Chinese infant formula
tainted with melamine. Chinese manufacturers deliberately added the chemical to watered-down
formula to make it appear to contain higher levels of protein. More than 50,000 Asian infants were
hospitalized, and at least four died.
Note: For many reports on government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aatlky_cH.tY
The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans
from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Fed
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would
comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking
system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs
that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is
going or what securities the banks are pledging in return. Bloomberg News has requested
details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal
lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure. The Fed made the loans under terms of 11
programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months. The Fed's lending is significant because
the central bank has stepped into a rescue role that was also the purpose of the $700 billion
Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, bailout plan -- without safeguards put into the TARP
legislation by Congress. Total Fed lending topped $2 trillion for the first time last week and has
risen by 140 percent, or $1.172 trillion, in the seven weeks since Fed governors relaxed the
collateral standards on Sept. 14. The nation's biggest banks, Citigroup, Bank of America Corp.,
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, declined to
comment on whether they have borrowed money from the Fed. They received $120 billion in
capital from the TARP, which was signed into law Oct. 3.
Note: For many revealing and reliable reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
State off course on 'personal genomics'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/02/INUO12K51K.DTL
California officials recently ordered two "personal genomics" firms to cease and desist operations
within the state. The companies eventually were allowed to continue operations - with a few more
regulatory conditions - but why did the state demand that they shut down in the first place? Why
would a state that regards itself as progressive and high-tech act to censor what we can know
about ourselves? Though regulators may shut down unscrupulous firms, the services offered by
Navigenics and 23andMe meet the highest standards of accuracy, validity and reliability. The
laboratories employed by both companies are fully licensed and trusted by researchers around the
world. These companies give individuals the ability to take a "snapshot" of their DNA. The state
objected, determining that doctors are gatekeepers of the human body, and Californians need a
prescription to access their genetic blueprint. Doctors have a powerful lobby in Sacramento,
and these technologies directly threaten their profits. Personal genomics aims to empower
the individual, not line the pockets of an elite medical establishment. This establishment
believes that individuals cannot be trusted with their own genetic information. The genome
is vast, complicated and poorly understood, the argument goes, and therefore customers could be
inundated with raw information of little or no practical use. Forbidding us from looking at our genes
because we don't yet understand them, however, is contrary to science, innovation and human
nature.
Note: For revealing reports of government corruption from reliable, verifiable sources, click here.
Known Unknowns: Uncoventional

2008-11-01, U.S. Army Website, Strategic Studies Institute
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB890.pdf
Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to
reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security. Deliberate
employment of weapons of mass destruction or other catastrophic capabilities, unforeseen
economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or
insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters
are all paths to disruptive domestic shock. An American government and defense establishment
lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or
most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at
home. Already predisposed to defer to the primacy of civilian authorities in instances of domestic
security and divest all but the most extreme demands in areas like civil support and consequence
management, DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the
disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility.
Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against
hostile groups inside the United States. Further, DoD would be, by necessity, an essential
enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or
disturbance.
Note: For an analysis which deconstructs the opaque military jargon in which this revealing
strategic document is written, click here. Use of military forces to maintain domestic order has
been forbidden since 1878 by the Posse Comitatus Act. The Pentagon appears to be planning to
abrogate this key support of civil liberties.
This Bailout Doesnt Pay Dividends

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/opinion/21stein.html?partner=rssuserland&em...
Secretary Paulson [has been] described as playing the role of the Godfather, making the banks [a
bailout] offer they could not refuse. But in one important respect, he was more Santa Claus than
Vito Corleone: the agreement allowed the banks to continue paying dividends to common
shareholders. These dividends, if they are paid at current levels, will redirect more than $25 billion
of the $125 billion to shareholders in the next year alone. A significant fraction of [the bailout]
money will wind up in shareholders pockets and thus be unavailable to plug the large
capital hole on the banks balance sheets. The officers and directors of the nine banks will
be among the leading beneficiaries of the dividend payout. Their personal take of the
dividends will amount to approximately $250 million in the first year. Why would the banks
want to maintain large dividend payouts when theyve had such a hard time borrowing, are starved
of cash, and the credit markets believe that they run a significant risk of defaulting? Shouldnt
these distressed banks be marshalling all of the financial resources available to them to ensure
their viability? Heres why: Each dollar paid out as a dividend today is a dollar that cannot be
seized by creditors in the event of bankruptcy. For a distressed company, dividends are not in the
interest of the enterprise as a whole (shareholders and lenders taken together), but only in the
interest of shareholders. They are an attempt by shareholders to beat creditors out the door. The
government should close the door by putting an immediate stop to the dividend payouts of any
banks receiving direct federal support.
Note: Is the fox guarding the hen house? For many revealing, reliable reports on the banking
bailout, click here.
Wall Street's 'Disaster Capitalism for Dummies'

2008-10-21, MarketWatch.com (owned by Dow Jones)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/14-reasons-main-street-loses/story.aspx...
Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president. Why? The real "game
changer" already happened. Democracy has been replaced by Wall Street's new "disaster
capitalism." That's the big game-changer historians will remember about 2008, masterminded by
Wall Street's ultimate "Trojan Horse," Hank Paulson. Congress simply handed over voting power
and the keys to trillions in the Treasury to Wall Street's new "Disaster Capitalists" who now control
"democracy." We let it happen. In one generation America has been transformed from a
democracy into a strange new form of government, "Disaster Capitalism." Three decades of
influence peddling in Washington ... accelerated under Reaganomics and went into hyperspeed
under Bushonomics, both totally committed to a new disaster capitalism run privately by Wall
Street and Corporate America. No-bid contracts in wars and hurricanes. A housing-credit bubble -while secretly planning for a meltdown. Finally, the coup de grace: Along came the housing-credit
crisis, as planned. Press and public saw a negative, a crisis. Disaster capitalists saw a huge
opportunity. Yes, opportunity for big bucks and control of America. This end game was
planned for years in secret war rooms on Wall Street, in Corporate America, in Washington
and the Forbes 400. Naomi Klein summarizes the game in Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster
Capitalism. This "new economy" generates enormous profits feeding off other peoples' misery:
Wars, terror attacks, natural catastrophes, poverty, trade sanctions, subprime housing meltdowns
and all kinds of economic, financial and political disasters.
Note: The author of this highly critical commentary, Paul B. Farrell, is a well-known writer on
finance and investment and a long-time columnist at The Wall Street Journal's sister-site
MarketWatch.
Bruce Ivins Wasn't the Anthrax Culprit

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121789293570011775.html
Over the past week the media was gripped by the news that the FBI was about to charge Bruce
Ivins, a leading anthrax expert, as the man responsible for the anthrax letter attacks in
September/October 2001. But despite the seemingly powerful narrative that Ivins committed
suicide because investigators were closing in, this is still far from a shut case. The FBI needs to
explain why it zeroed in on Ivins, how he could have made the anthrax mailed to lawmakers and
the media, and how he (or anyone else) could have pulled off the attacks, acting alone. The
spores could not have been produced at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases, where Ivins worked, without many other people being aware of it.
Furthermore, the equipment to make such a product does not exist at the institute. The
product contained essentially pure spores. The particle size was 1.5 to 3 microns in diameter.
There are several methods used to produce anthrax that small. But most of them require milling
the spores to a size small enough that it can be inhaled into the lower reaches of the lungs. In this
case, however, the anthrax spores were not milled. They were also tailored to make them
potentially more dangerous. The spores were coated with a polyglass which tightly bound
hydrophilic silica to each particle. Each particle was given a weak electric charge, thereby causing
the particles to repel each other at the molecular level. This made it easier for the spores to float in
the air, and increased their retention in the lungs. In short, the potential lethality of anthrax in this
case far exceeds that of any powdered product found in the now extinct U.S. Biological Warfare
Program.
Pentagon Auditors Pressured To Favor Contractors, GAO Says

Auditors at a Pentagon oversight agency were pressured by supervisors to skew their reports on
major defense contractors to make them look more favorable instead of exposing wrongdoing and
charges of overbilling, according to an 80-page report released yesterday by the Government
Accountability Office. The Defense Contract Audit Agency, which oversees contractors for the
Defense Department, "improperly influenced the audit scope, conclusions and opinions" of reviews
of contractor performance, the GAO said, creating a "serious independence issue." The report
does not name the projects or the contractors involved, but staff members on the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee who were briefed on the findings cited
seven contractors, some of whom are among the biggest in the defense industry: Boeing, Northrop
Grumman, Fluor, Parker Hannifin, Sparta, SRS Technologies and a subsidiary of L3
Communications. Supervisors at DCAA attempted to intimidate auditors, prevented them
from speaking with GAO investigators and created a "generally abusive work environment,"
the report said. It cited incidents of "verbal admonishments, reassignments and threats of
disciplinary action" against workers who "raised questions about management guidance." The
GAO said it launched the two-year inquiry after complaints on a fraud hotline. Its investigators
conducted more than 100 interviews of 50 people involved in audits between 2003 and 2007.
Note: For eye-opening reports on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
General Accuses White House of War Crimes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/18/BL2008061801546....
The two-star general who led an Army investigation into the horrific detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib
has accused the Bush administration of war crimes and is calling for accountability. In his 2004
report on Abu Ghraib, then-Major General Anthony Taguba concluded that "numerous incidents of
sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees." He called the
abuse "systemic and illegal." And, as Seymour M. Hersh reported in The New Yorker, he was
rewarded for his honesty by being forced into retirement. Now, in a preface to a Physicians for
Human Rights report based on medical examinations of former detainees, Taguba adds an
epilogue to his own investigation. The new report, he writes, "tells the largely untold human story
of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under
him authorized a systematic regime of torture. This story is not only written in words: It is
scrawled for the rest of these individual's lives on their bodies and minds. The profiles of
these eleven former detainees, none of whom were ever charged with a crime or told why they
were detained, are tragic and brutal rebuttals to those who claim that torture is ever justified. In
order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government
policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of
Military Justice were disregarded. The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately
ignored. There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war
crimes."
Note: For many revealing reports on the brutal realities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, click
here.
Guantanamo: Policy goals trumped law

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/574074.html
The framework under which detainees were imprisoned for years without charges at Guantanamo
and in many cases abused in Afghanistan wasn't the product of American military policy or the
fault of a few rogue soldiers. It was largely the work of five White House, Pentagon and Justice
Department lawyers who, following the orders of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney,
reinterpreted or tossed out the U.S. and international laws that govern the treatment of prisoners in
wartime, according to former U.S. defense and Bush administration officials. The Supreme Court
now has struck down many of their legal interpretations. The quintet of lawyers, who called
themselves the War Council," drafted legal opinions that circumvented the military's code
of justice, the federal court system and America's international treaties in order to prevent
anyone ... from being held accountable for activities that at other times have been
considered war crimes. The international conventions ... to which [the US is] a party, were
abandoned in secret meetings among the five men in one another's offices: ... David Addington,
the ... longtime legal adviser and now chief of staff to Cheney [whose] primary motive, according to
several former administration and defense officials, was to push for an expansion of presidential
power that Congress or the courts couldn't check; Alberto Gonzales, first the White House counsel
and then the attorney general; William J. Haynes II, the former Pentagon general counsel; former
Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, [and] Timothy E. Flanigan, a former deputy to Gonzales.
Note: Virtually no major media other than the Herald picked up this key story.
Documents indicate U.S. hid terror suspects from Red Cross

The U.S. military hid the locations of ... detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the
scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate
committee released. "We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC is around. It is
better not to expose them to any controversial techniques," Lt. Col. Diane Beaver, a military
lawyer, said during an October 2002 meeting at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Her comments were
recorded in minutes of the meeting. At that same meeting, Beaver also appeared to confirm that
U.S. officials at another detention facility Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan were using sleep
deprivation to "break" detainees. "True, but officially it is not happening," she is quoted as having
said. [Another] person at the meeting, Jonathan Fredman, the chief counsel for the CIA's
Counterterrorism Center, disclosed that detainees were moved routinely to avoid the scrutiny of
the ICRC, which keeps tabs on prisoners in conflicts around the world. "In the past when the ICRC
has made a big deal about certain detainees, the DOD (Defense Department) has 'moved' them
away from the attention of the ICRC," Fredman said. The document, along with two dozen others,
shows that top administration officials pushed relentlessly for tougher interrogation
methods. Fredman of the CIA also appeared to be advocating the use of techniques harsher
than those authorized by military field guides. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong,"
the minutes report Fredman saying at one point.
Note: For many revealing reports on the brutal realities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, click
here.
Army Overseer Tells of Ouster Over KBR Stir

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/washington/17contractor.html?partner=rssuse...
The Army official who managed the Pentagons largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted
from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable
charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other
services to American troops. The official, Charles M. Smith, was the senior civilian overseeing
the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. Speaking out for the
first time, Mr. Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004 after informing KBR officials that
the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi
operations. Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than
$1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. They had
a gigantic amount of costs they couldnt justify, he said in an interview. But he was suddenly
replaced, he said, and his successors after taking the unusual step of hiring an outside
contractor to consider KBRs claims approved most of the payments he had tried to block. Mr.
Smiths account fills in important gaps about the Pentagons handling of the KBR contract, which
has cost more than $20 billion so far and has come under fierce criticism from lawmakers. Mr.
Smith ... is giving his account just as the Pentagon has recently awarded KBR part of a 10-year,
$150 billion contract in Iraq.
Note: For a summary of US Marine Corps General Smedley Butler's book on war profiteering,
click here.
Was Press a War Enabler? 2 Offer a Nod From Inside

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/washington/30press.html?partner=rssuserland...
In his new memoir, What Happened, Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary,
said the national news media neglected their watchdog role in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq,
calling reporters complicit enablers of the Bush administrations push for war. Surprisingly, some
prominent journalists have agreed. Katie Couric, the anchor of CBS Evening News, said ... that
she had felt pressure from government officials and corporate executives to cast the war in a
positive light. Speaking on The Early Show on CBS, Ms. Couric said the lack of skepticism
shown by journalists about the Bush administrations case for war amounted to one of the most
embarrassing chapters in American journalism.She also said she sensed pressure from the
corporations who own where we work and from the government itself to really squash any
kind of dissent or any kind of questioning of it. At the time, Ms. Couric was a host of Today
on NBC. Another broadcast journalist also weighed in. Jessica Yellin, who worked for MSNBC in
2003 and now reports for CNN, said ... that journalists had been under enormous pressure
from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that
was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation. For five years, antiwar activists and
media critics have claimed that the national news media failed to keep the White House
accountable before the invasion. Greg Mitchell, the author of So Wrong for So Long, a book about
press and presidential failures on the war, argues that some media organizations have yet to come
to terms with their role.
Note: For a powerful overview of the media cover-up by top, award-winning journalists, click here.
Lou Dobbs Tonight: NAFTA Superhighway

2008-05-28, CNN News
[News anchor LOU DOBBS:] Open borders advocates are refusing to acknowledge rising
evidence of plans for a NAFTA superhighway. Many in the mainstream media absolutely
refuse to acknowledge the reality. The plans could be a major step toward that North
American Union of the United States, Canada and Mexico. BILL TUCKER, CNN
Correspondent: There is no NAFTA superhighway. Not officially. In Texas planning a development
is under way for what are officially called transportation corridors. The Trans Texas Corridor, I-69, a
combination of rail lines, utility lines, car and truck lanes, [is planned] to be as wide as three
football fields laid end to end. It will be financed by a private foreign company ... who will then own
the lease on the road and the revenue generated by the tolls. Texas may use eminent domain to
lay claim to some of the land needed to build it. For an imaginary road there's a lot of money and
effort involved [and] some very real opposition. TERRI HALL, TEXASTURF.ORG: There's just no
doubt that this is happening. We've been to the public hearings. We've seen the presentations.
We've seen the documents. We waded through them and there's a whole lot more groups besides
just ours. And we've got Farm Bureau, Sierra Club, a whole host of groups from the left and the
right. TUCKER: In Kansas a resolution opposing the superhighway overwhelmingly passed the
State House.
Note: To watch a video of this Lou Dobbs Tonight segment, click here.
They Rule the World

David Rothkopf's Superclass [can be viewed] as a map of how the world really works. Rothkopf, a
former managing director of Kissinger Associates and an international trade official in the Clinton
Administration, has identified roughly 6,000 individuals who have "the ability to regularly influence
the lives of millions of people in multiple countries worldwide" ... with a growing allegiance ... to
each other rather than to any particular nation. Rothkopf [cites] the Pareto principle of distribution,
or the "80/20 rule," whereby 20 percent of the causes of anything are responsible for 80 percent of
the consequences. That means 20 percent of the money-makers make 80 percent of the
money and 20 percent of the politicians make 80 percent of the important decisions. That
20 percent belongs to the superclass. Superclass ... is as much about who is not part of the
superclass as who is. As I read Rothkopf's chronicles of elite gatherings -- Davos, Bilderberg, the
Bohemian Grove (all male), Fathers and Sons (all male) -- I was repeatedly struck by the near
absence of women. When Rothkopf summarizes "how to become a member of the superclass,"
his first rule is "be born a man." Only 6 percent of the superclass is female. Superclass is written in
part as a consciousness-raising exercise for members of the superclass themselves. Rothkopf
worries that "the world they are making" is deeply unequal and ultimately unstable. But it's likely to
take more than exhortation. In the words of former Navy Secretary John Lehman, "Power corrupts.
Absolute power is kind of neat." Why would the superclass want to give it up?
Note: The website www.theyrule.net allows visitors to trace the connections between individuals
who serve on the boards of top corporations, universities, think thanks, foundations and other elite
institutions. For lots more on secret societies, click here.
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?ex=1366344000&en...
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over
Guantnamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded the gulag of our times by
Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights
experts and calls were mounting for its closure. The administrations communications experts
responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of
the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully
orchestrated tour of Guantnamo. To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity,
presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as military analysts whose long
service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing
issues of the post-Sept. 11 world. Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a
Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate
favorable news coverage of the administrations wartime performance. The effort, which
began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological
and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to
military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those
business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers. But collectively, the men on the
plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either
as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants.
Note: This excellent article should be read in its entirety. For a related video presentation, click
here. For an analysis, click here.
Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation'

2008-04-09, ABC News
http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/Story?id=4583256
In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush
administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda
suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News. The
so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined"
interrogation techniques -- using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one
method at a time -- on [captives] who proved difficult to break, sources said. The high-level
discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources
said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of
times CIA agents could use a specific tactic. The advisers were members of the National Security
Council's Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise
President Bush on issues of national security policy. At the time, the Principals Committee
included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA
Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Rice chaired the meetings, which
took place in the White House Situation Room and were typically attended by most of the
principals or their deputies. According to multiple sources, it was members of the Principals
Committee that not only discussed specific plans and specific interrogation methods, but approved
them. The Principals also approved interrogations that combined different methods, pushing the
limits of international law and even the Justice Department's own legal approval in the [infamous]
2002 memo.
9/11 Commission Chief's Ties to White House

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/they-knew-but-did-nothing/2008/03/07/1204780...
The members of Mike Hurley's [9/11 Commisson investigative] team were ... alarmed by the
revelations, week by week, month by month, of how close the commission's chief director, Philip
Zelikow, was to Rice and others at the White House. They learned early on about Zelikow's
work on the Bush transition team in 2000 and early 2001, and about how much antipathy
there was between him and ["Counterterrorism Czar"] Richard Clarke. They heard the
stories about Zelikow's role in developing the "pre-emptive war" strategy at the White
House in 2002. Zelikow's friendships with Rice and others were a particular problem for Warren
Bass, since Rice and Clarke were at the heart of his part of the investigation. It was clear to some
members of team that they could not have an open discussion in front of Zelikow about Rice and
her performance as National Security Adviser. For Hurley's team, there was a reverse problem
with Clarke. It was easy to talk about Clarke in Zelikow's presence, as long as the conversation
centred on Clarke's failings at the NSC and his purported dishonesty. Long before Bass had seen
Clarke's files, Zelikow made it clear to the team's investigators that Clarke should not be believed,
that his testimony would be suspect. He argued that Clarke was a braggart who would try to
rewrite history to justify his errors and slander his enemies, Rice in particular.
Note: This critique of the close ties to the White House of Philip Zelikow, Executive Director of the
9/11 Commission, is an excerpt from Philip Shenon's new book, The Commission: The
Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation. For an even deeper analysis of the Commission's
failings, read WantToKnow.info team member David Ray Griffin's book, The 9/11 Commission
Report: Omissions and Distortions.
The three trillion dollar war

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/articl...
The Bush Administration was wrong about the benefits of the war and it was wrong about the costs
of the war. The president and his advisers [forecast] a quick, inexpensive conflict. Instead, we have
a war that is costing more than anyone could have imagined. The cost of direct US military
operations - not even including long-term costs such as taking care of wounded veterans - already
exceeds the cost of the 12-year war in Vietnam and is more than double the cost of the Korean
War. And, even in the best case scenario, these costs are projected to be almost ten times the
cost of the first Gulf War, almost a third more than the cost of the Vietnam War, and twice that of
the First World War. The only war in our history which cost more was the Second World War, when
16.3 million U.S. troops fought in a campaign lasting four years, at a total cost (in 2007 dollars,
after adjusting for inflation) of about $5 trillion. Most Americans have yet to feel these costs. The
price in blood has been paid by our voluntary military and by hired contractors. The price in
treasure has, in a sense, been financed entirely by borrowing. Taxes have not been raised
to pay for it - in fact, taxes on the rich have actually fallen. Deficit spending gives the
illusion that the laws of economics can be repealed, that we can have both guns and butter.
But of course the laws are not repealed. The costs of the war are real even if they have been
deferred, possibly to another generation. From the unhealthy brew of emergency funding, multiple
sets of books, and chronic underestimates of the resources required to prosecute the war, we have
attempted to identify how much we have been spending - and how much we will, in the end, likely
have to spend. The figure we arrive at is more than $3 trillion. Our calculations are based on
conservative assumptions.
Note: For many reports from major media sources which reveal massive war profiteering, click
here.
U.S. Payments To Pakistan Face New Scrutiny

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/20/ST2008022002819...
Once a month, Pakistan's Defense Ministry delivers 15 to 20 pages of spreadsheets to the U.S.
Embassy in Islamabad. They list costs for feeding, clothing, billeting and maintaining 80,000 to
100,000 Pakistani troops in the volatile tribal area along the Afghan border. No receipts are
attached. In response, the Defense Department has disbursed about $80 million monthly, or
roughly $1 billion a year for the past six years, in one of the most generous U.S. military
support programs worldwide. But vague accounting, disputed expenses and suspicions
about overbilling have recently made these payments to Pakistan highly controversial -even within the U.S. government. Questions have already been raised about where the money
went and what the Bush administration got in return. In perhaps the most disputed series of
payments, Pakistan received about $80 million a month in 2006 and 2007 for military operations
during cease-fires with pro-Taliban tribal elders along the border, including a 10-month truce in
which troops returned to their barracks. U.S. officials say the payments to Pakistan -- which over
the past six years have totaled $5.7 billion -- were cheap compared with expenditures on Iraq,
where the United States now spends at least $1 billion a week on military operations alone.
Congressional officials and others are concerned that the administration has been so eager to
prop up Musharraf that it overlooked U.S. foreign aid and accounting standards. A congressional
oversight subcommittee is also set to begin an investigation next month, while the Government
Accountability Office plans to finish its own inquiry in April.
U.S. Officials Divulge Reports On Confidential U.N. Audits

The Bush administration has been posting hundreds of highly confidential U.N. audits and
investigation reports on a U.S. government Web site, opening the United Nations' inner workings
and some of its more colorful scandals to unusual public scrutiny. Together, the nearly 500
documents and thousands of pages constitute a trove of U.N. secrets stretching back over five
years, including allegations of bribes paid for tsunami relief projects in Indonesia, of sexual
harassment in Gaza and a revelation that a U.N. anti-drug official ran a presidential campaign
while receiving a U.N. paycheck. The pages also document a spree of alleged criminal activities,
including a bribery scheme at the airport in Pristina, Kosovo, gold trading by U.N. peacekeepers in
Congo, and the theft and resale of food rations by Ukrainian pilots serving the United Nations in
Liberia. Mark D. Wallace, the U.S. representative for U.N. management and reform, has posted
477 documents. Most of the names of those targeted in the reports have been redacted by the
United Nations, but the identities are easily deciphered. For years, the United Nations has
guarded the confidentiality of its audits, saying they are meant as constructive criticism for
managers. Their disclosure by the United States has generated a mixed reaction from U.N.
officials: One said it was ironic that an administration that has placed such a premium on
secrecy would be so transparent about the United Nations.
Note: For many reliable reports on increasing government secrecy, click here.
How the spooks took over the news

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/how-the-spooks-took-over-the-news-780...
On the morning of 9 February 2004, The New York Times carried an exclusive and alarming story.
The paper's Baghdad correspondent, Dexter Filkins, reported that US officials had obtained a 17page letter, believed to have been written by the notorious terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi to the
"inner circle" of al-Qa'ida's leadership, urging them to accept that the best way to beat US forces in
Iraq was effectively to start a civil war. The story went on to news agency wires and, within 24
hours, it was running around the world. There is very good reason to believe that that letter was a
fake and a significant one because there is equally good reason to believe that it was one
product among many from a new machinery of propaganda which has been created by the
United States and its allies since the terrorist attacks of September 2001. For the first time
in human history, there is a concerted strategy to manipulate global perception. And the
mass media are operating as its compliant assistants, failing both to resist it and to expose it. The
sheer ease with which this machinery has been able to do its work reflects a creeping structural
weakness which now afflicts the production of our news. The "Zarqawi letter" which made it on to
the front page of The New York Times in February 2004 was one of a sequence of highly suspect
documents which were said to have been written either by or to Zarqawi and which were fed into
news media. This material is being generated, in part, by intelligence agencies who continue to
work without effective oversight; and also by a new ... structure of "strategic communications"
which was originally designed ... in the Pentagon and Nato.
Note: This article is an edited excerpt from investigative journalist Nick Davies' new book, Flat
Earth News: an award-winning reporter exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the
global media. To read about or purchase it, click here. For a highly revealing two-page summary of
20 award-winning journalists describing how huge stories they tried to report were shut down by
corporate media ownership, click here.
Dallas hospital room where JFK died now stored in Kansas

2008-02-07, Dallas Morning News (Dallas' leading newspaper)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/020708dnmet...
A piece of JFK assassination history now lies buried in the most unlikely of places: a former
limestone quarry in Kansas. It is the end at least for now in the long and sometimes strange
journey of Parkland Memorial Hospital Trauma Room No. 1, where President John F. Kennedy
died on Nov. 22, 1963. The entire room was purchased by the federal government 35 years ago,
when Parkland officials decided to modernize their emergency facilities. It was dismantled and the
contents all of them, the examination table, clocks, floor tiling, lockers, trash cans, surgical
instruments, gloves, cotton balls, even a towel dispenser were placed in a locked vault in a Fort
Worth warehouse run by the National Archives and Records Administration. The artifacts lay
undisturbed there until September, when they were moved to an archives facility in Lenexa, Kan.,
a suburb of Kansas City, Mo. "It's in a secure location," Reed Whitaker, the agency's Central
Plains Region administrator, confirmed last week. And in a comment guaranteed to get the
conspiracy theorists going, he added: "Basically, it's not to be examined, not to be shown
to the press, not to be photographed, not to be exhibited to the public." Under the sale
agreement between Parkland and the federal government, archives officials agreed to close the
trauma room and its contents to the public, saying that they wanted to shield the pieces from
exploitation. A formal request in 2000 from The Dallas Morning News to view and photograph the
artifacts was summarily rejected.
Note: For a treasure trove of revealing stories from reliable sources on major assassinations, click
here.
Rule by fear or rule by law?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/04/ED5OUPQJ7.DTL
Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has
assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and
noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of "an
emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."
Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with
Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed
locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several
companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles,
ostensibly to transport detainees. According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the
KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal
the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists." What kind of "new programs"
require the construction and refurbishment of detention facilities in nearly every state of the union
with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people? The 2007 National Defense Authorization
Act (NDAA) ... gives the executive the power to invoke martial law. The Military Commissions Act
of 2006 ... allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who ... speaks out against the
government's policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens and noncitizens alike. What could
the government be contemplating that leads it to make contingency plans to detain without
recourse millions of its own citizens?
Note: This important warning from former U.S. Congressman Dan Hamburg and Lewis Seiler
should be read in its entirety. For more chilling reports on serious threats to our civil liberties, click
here.
Stimulus Plan a Scam to Benefit the Rich

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/03/IN8LUO095.DTL
Congress is about to sell us the biggest fraud in American history. It's been highly touted as an
economic stimulus bill that will help millions of Americans. As part of the bill, Congress is set to
rush through an increase in the mortgage loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and
Federal Housing Administration insurance, too) - from $417,000 to $729,750 - the first step toward
a massive financial disaster in which taxpayers will end up paying through the nose. Now, thanks
to Congress, junk bond investors will be able to pawn off their bad debt to Fannie and
Freddie. This shift will certainly doom Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so don't be surprised if
we, the taxpayers, have to bail out poor Fannie and Freddie - to the tune of more than $1
trillion. The irony here is that the collapse in housing prices could make Fannie insolvent even
without raising the loan limit. Increasing Fannie's limit is like going on a spending spree with your
credit cards because you know you are going to file for bankruptcy in a few months. Only here the
taxpayer is left holding the bag. Our children will pay interest on this debt in perpetuity. It is our
debt. It is inescapable. In the coming months, Fannie and Freddie will buy up mortgages based on
old, fraudulent appraisals and on loans with bogus inflated incomes. Unfortunately, many of these
loans will still default. Expansion of Fannie and Freddie's reckless lending is exactly what
Congress wants because it's plausibly deniable. Teary-eyed lawmakers can take to the airwaves a
year from now and declare: "We had no idea Fannie could go under, but we can't cut and run now.
Those same lawmakers won't mention the fact that they get paid far more by real estate lobbyists
than they do from our Treasury.
Note: The author wrote this article seven months before the collapse of Fannie Mae and eight
months before the huge banking bailout. For more news articles suggestion major manipulations to
transfer public tax monies to the banking sector, click here.
FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics

The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of
peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities
to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. Digital images of faces, fingerprints and
palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it
receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to
rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and
talk, to ... identify [people]. The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions
about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who
worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. "It's going to
be an essential component of tracking," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology
and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's enabling the Always On
Surveillance Society." The FBI's biometric database ... communicates with the Terrorist
Screening Center's database of suspects and the National Crime Information Center database,
which is the FBI's master criminal database of felons, fugitives and terrorism suspects. At the West
Virginia University Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) ... researchers are
working on capturing images of people's irises at distances of up to 15 feet, and of faces from as
far away as 200 yards. Soon, those researchers will do biometric research for the FBI. Covert irisand face-image capture is several years away, but it is of great interest to government agencies.
Note: For many important major-media reports on threats to privacy, click here.
Senator Reveals Secret Bush Legal Opinions

2007-12-07, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/07/politics/main3591448.shtml
A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said ... President Bush is standing by "feverish
legal theories" to justify actions which are unconstitutional. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.,
made the comments on the Senate floor during debate. Whitehouse said that ... he had examined
"highly classified secret legal opinions" issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal
Counsel [OLC]. Whitehouse recounted that, "Sitting in that secure room, as a lawyer, as a former
U.S. Attorney, legal counsel to Rhode Islands Governor, and State Attorney General, I was
increasingly dismayed and amazed as I read on." Whitehouse related three OLC legal opinions
which he got declassified: "An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no
constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to
depart from the terms of a previous executive order."; ... "The President ... can determine
whether an action is a lawful exercise of the Presidents authority"; [and] "The Department
of Justice is bound by the Presidents legal determinations." "Imagine a general counsel to a
major U.S. corporation telling his board of directors, 'In this company the counsels office is bound
by the CEOs legal determinations,'" Whitehouse said. "The board ought to throw that lawyer out its malpractice, probably even unethical." We are a nation of laws, not of men. This nation was
founded in rejection of the royalist principles that ... 'The King can do no wrong'."
Note: To hear the revealing Senate speech on this vital topic by Senator Whitehouse, a member of
the Senate Intelligence Committee, click here. For Whitehouse's comments on this topic on his
Senate website, click here.
Symington: I saw a UFO in the Arizona sky
2007-11-09, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/09/simington.ufocommentary/
In 1997, during my second term as governor of Arizona, I saw something that defied logic and
challenged my reality. I witnessed a massive delta-shaped craft silently navigate over Squaw
Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking. As a pilot and a
former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any manmade object I'd ever seen. The incident was witnessed by hundreds -- if not thousands -- of
people in Arizona, and my office was besieged with phone calls from very concerned Arizonians.
The growing hysteria intensified when the story broke nationally. I decided to lighten the mood of
the state by calling a press conference where my chief of staff arrived in an alien costume. We
managed to lessen the sense of panic but, at the same time, upset many of my constituents. I
would now like to set the record straight. I never meant to ridicule anyone. My office did make
inquiries as to the origin of the craft, but to this day they remain unanswered. Eventually the Air
Force claimed responsibility stating that they dropped flares. This is indicative of the attitude from
official channels. We get explanations that fly in the face of the facts. Explanations like weather
balloons, swamp gas and military flares. I was never happy with the Air Force's silly explanation. I
now know that I am not alone. There are many high-ranking military, aviation and government
officials who share my concerns. While on active duty, they have either witnessed a UFO incident
or have conducted an official investigation into UFO cases relevant to aviation safety and national
security. By speaking out with me, these people are putting their reputations on the line.
Investigations need to be re-opened, documents need to be unsealed and the idea of an open
dialogue can no longer be shunned.
Note: For a two-page summary of UFO testimony by top government and military officials, click
here.
U.S. Medical Schools, Drug Makers Share Strong Ties

More than half of department chairs at U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals have financial
ties with the drug industry, a new study finds. "There is not a single aspect of medicine in which the
drug companies do not have substantial and deep relationships, [including] doctors-in-training,
resident physicians, researchers, physicians-in-practice, the people who review drugs for the
federal government and the people who review studies," said lead researcher Eric Campbell,
associate professor at the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and
Harvard Medical School in Boston. "Drug companies have relationships with everyone," he
continued. "They're involved in every aspect of medicine. Someone has to decide which of these is
OK." The study, the first to examine the extent of these institutional relationships, is published in
the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "I think the paper is a very
valuable contribution, in that it provides what's probably the first comprehensive documentation of
the extent of relationships that involve department chairs, and department chairs are certainly the
key agents of overseeing and maintaining the day-to-day operations of a medical school or
teaching hospital," said Dr. David Korn ... at the Association of American Medical Colleges in
Washington, D.C. The issue of medicine's ties to industry has been a hot one of late. One study
found that third-year medical students get, on average, one gift or attend one activity sponsored by
a drug maker each week. "Now it's up to the policymakers and people who run medical
schools," said Campbell. "They need to come up with some rules and they need to be new
rules. I believe there's very little reasonable justification for why drug companies should be
involved in the education of medical students."
Note: For a powerful overview of medical corruption, click here.
CIA director investigating watchdog

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/12/MNP1SOQI9.DTL
CIA Director Michael Hayden has mounted a highly unusual challenge to his agency's chief
watchdog, ordering an internal investigation of an inspector general who has issued a series of
reports sharply critical of top CIA officials. Hayden is seeking to rein in an inspector general who
has used the office to bring ... scrutiny upon CIA figures from former Director George Tenet to
undercover operatives running secret overseas prison sites. The investigation is focused on ... CIA
Inspector General John Helgerson and his office, particularly whether they were fair and impartial
in their scrutiny of the agency's terrorist detention and interrogation programs. Officials said that
the investigation also will span other subjects and that it already has expanded since its start
months ago. U.S. intelligence officials concerned about the inquiry said it is unprecedented
and could threaten the independence of the inspector general position. The investigation
"could at least lead to appearances he's trying to interfere with the IG, or intimidate the IG,
or get the IG to back off," one U.S. official familiar with the investigation said. Frederick Hitz, who
served as the CIA's inspector general from 1990 to 1998, said the move will be perceived as an
attempt by Hayden "to call off the dogs." "What it would lead to is an undercutting of the inspector
general's authority and his ability to investigate allegations of wrongdoing," Hitz said. "The rank
and file will become aware of it, and it will undercut the inspector general's ability to get the truth
from them." Hayden has been a staunch defender of the Bush administration's counterterrorism
programs.
Note: What does it say about an agency when they accuse their own internal investigator of being
corrupt?
New revelations in attack on American spy ship

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-liberty_tuesoct02-story.html#page=1
Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for
heroism: "I'm angry! I'm seething with anger! Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!" Lockwood
was aboard the USS Liberty, a super-secret spy ship on station in the eastern Mediterranean,
when four Israeli fighter jets flew out of the afternoon sun to strafe and bomb the virtually
defenseless vessel on June 8, 1967, the fourth day of what would become known as the Six-Day
War. Four decades later, many of the more than two dozen Liberty survivors located and
interviewed by the Tribune cannot talk about the attack without shouting or weeping. Their anger
has been stoked by the declassification of government documents and the recollections of former
military personnel. In declassifying the most recent and largest batch of materials last June 8, the
40th anniversary of the attack, the NSA ... acknowledged that the attack had "become the center of
considerable controversy." It was not the agency's intention, it said, "to prove or disprove any one
set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material." Air Force
Capt. Richard Block was ... monitoring Middle Eastern communications [on June 8, 1967]. "Some
of the pilots did not want to attack," Block said. "The pilots said, 'This is an American ship. Do
you still want us to attack?'" And ground control came back and said, 'Yes, follow orders.'"
Note: The Jerusalem Post has now confirmed that Israel knew the USS Liberty was American.
Watch the powerfully incriminating documentary "The Day Israel Attacked America" about the
1967 intentional attack on the USS Liberty which was virtually erased from all historical accounts.
New revelations in attack on American spy ship

http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/tuesday/chi-lib...
Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for
heroism, ordained Baptist minister, is shouting into the phone. "I'm angry! I'm seething with anger!
Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!" Lockwood was aboard the USS Liberty, a super-secret
spy ship on station in the eastern Mediterranean, when four Israeli fighter jets flew out of the
afternoon sun to strafe and bomb the virtually defenseless vessel on June 8, 1967, the fourth day
of what would become known as the Six-Day War. Four decades later, many of the more than two
dozen Liberty survivors located and interviewed by The Tribune cannot talk about the attack
without shouting or weeping. Their anger has been stoked by the declassification of government
documents and the recollections of former military personnel, including some quoted in this article
for the first time, which strengthen doubts about the U.S. National Security Agency's position
that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots -communications, according to those who remember seeing them, that showed the Israelis
knew they were attacking an American naval vessel. The documents also suggest that the U.S.
government, anxious to spare Israel's reputation and preserve its alliance with the U.S., closed the
case with what even some of its participants now say was a hasty and seriously flawed
investigation. In declassifying the most recent and largest batch of materials last June 8, the 40th
anniversary of the attack, the NSA, this country's chief U.S. electronic-intelligence-gatherer and
code-breaker, acknowledged that the attack had "become the center of considerable controversy
and debate." It was not the agency's intention, it said, "to prove or disprove any one set of
conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material," available at
http://www.nsa.gov/liberty.
Note: For photos, a BBC documentary, and more excellent information on this major cover-up,
click here.
Report Assails F.D.A. Oversight of Clinical Trials

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/health/policy/28fda.html?ex=1348632000&en=d...
The Food and Drug Administration does very little to ensure the safety of the millions of people
who participate in clinical trials, a federal investigator has found. The inspector general of the
Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel R. Levinson, said federal health officials did not
know how many clinical trials were being conducted, audited fewer than 1 percent of the testing
sites and, on the rare occasions when inspectors did appear, generally showed up long after the
tests had been completed. The F.D.A. has 200 inspectors, some of whom audit clinical trials part
time, to police an estimated 350,000 testing sites. Even when those inspectors found serious
problems in human trials, top drug officials in Washington downgraded their findings 68 percent of
the time, the report found. Among the remaining cases, the agency almost never followed up with
inspections to determine whether the corrective actions that the agency demanded had occurred.
In many ways, rats and mice get greater protection as research subjects in the United
States than do humans, said Arthur L. Caplan, chairman of the department of medical ethics at
the University of Pennsylvania. Animal research centers have to register with the federal
government, keep track of subject numbers, have unannounced spot inspections and
address problems speedily or risk closing, none of which is true in human research, Mr.
Caplan said. Because no one collects the data systematically, there is no way to tell how safe the
nations clinical research is or ever has been. The drug agency oversees just the safety of trials by
companies seeking approval to sell drugs or devices. Using an entirely different set of rules, the
Office for Human Research Protections oversees trials financed by the federal government.
Privately financed noncommercial trials have no federal oversight.
Note: For further information on corruption in the health care industry, click here.
It's all Friedman's doing

2007-09-09, Toronto Star (Toronto's leading newspaper)
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/254550
[Naomi Klein in her new book The Shock Doctrine] argues persuasively that over the last 40 years,
no single thinker has shaped the economic and political policies of corporate CEOs, military
dictators, presidents, prime ministers and bankers more than [Milton] Friedman. His thesis was
simple: The job of governments is to facilitate the free flow of capital across national borders by
removing any impediments to trade [and establishing] a drastic regimen of market deregulation,
free trade treaties, spending cuts to social programs, the breaking of labour unions and mass
privatization of publicly owned resources and industries ... chiefly through the careful manipulation
of collective crises such as wars, military coups, natural disasters and economic recessions and
depressions. For Friedman's ideas to be implemented, a nation's existing economy and civic
society must first be reduced to a state of tabula rasa before being rebuilt according to the
[Chicago School] model. [Klein contends] that this capitalist doctrine also has its roots in a series
of mind-control experiments performed on often unwilling patients by psychiatrist Ewan Cameron,
working out of McGill University in the late 1950s. He imposed a sustained regimen of sensory
deprivation, isolation, enforced sleep and a cocktail of LSD, PCP, insulin and barbiturates [and] a
barrage of electroshock therapy. The CIA, which paid for Cameron's experiments, modified
these techniques for use in prisoner-interrogation sessions. The results were so good that
the CIA taught the methods to the Latin American security forces in charge of
reprogramming anyone who dared resist the devastating free market "reforms" that swept
through South and Central America after Augusto Pinochet's successful, Chicago-School inspired
(and CIA-sponsored) coup of populist leader Salvador Allende in 1973.
Special Note: For an incredibly revealing interview on the role of the Milton Friedman and the
Chicago school of economists in promoting radical change against democracy by using states of
public shock to push through unwanted changes, don't miss the powerful talk with Naomi Klein
available here.
BeliefWatch: Reincarnate
http://www.newsweek.com/2007/08/15/beliefwatch-reincarnate.html
In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet
from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State
Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly
stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize
management of reincarnation." But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the
influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's
Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan
country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the
law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose
soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering. "It
will be a very hot issue," says Paul Harrison, a Buddhism scholar at Stanford. "The Dalai Lama
has been the prime symbol of unity and national identity in Tibet, and so it's quite likely the battle
for his incarnation will be a lot more important than the others."
U.S. Military May Implant Chips In Troops' Brains
2007-08-02, KUTV (CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah)

http://www.kutv.com/local_story_215001119.html
Imagine a day when the U.S. government implants microchips inside the brains of U.S. soldiers.
Well you don't have to think too far into the future. The defense department is studying the idea
now. The chip would be the size of a grain of rice. How far is too far when it comes to privacy? The
department of defense recently awarded $1.6 million to Clemson University to develop an
implantable biochip. It would go into the brain using a new gel that prevents the human body from
rejecting it. The overall idea is to improve the quality and speed of care for fallen soldiers. "It's just
crazy. To me, it's like a bad sci-fi movie," says Yelena Slattery [from] the website
www.WeThePeopleWillNotBeChipped.com. Slattery says, "Soldiers can't choose not to get
certain things done because they become government property once they sign up. When
does it end? When does it become an infringement on a person's privacy?" Once the chip
is in, she says, could those soldiers be put on surveillance, even when they're off-duty? A
spokesman for veterans of foreign wars also urged caution. Joe Davis said, "If you have a chip
that's holding a gigabyte, or 10 gigs, like an iPod, what kind of information is going to be on there?
How could this be used against you if you were taken captive?"
Note: For a treasure trove of recent and reliable information on the increasing penetration of
microchips into our lives, click here.
Are UFOs Real?

2007-07-13, CNN
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0707/13/lkl.02.html
LARRY KING: A return to Roswell, New Mexico, where the UFO controversy began 60 years
ago with the man who says his father showed him debris from an alien spacecraft. Dr. Jesse
Marcel ... was shown UFO debris by his father, Major Jesse Marcel. Tell us about your dad. DR.
JESSE MARCEL, JR.: He was the base intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group, which is the
bomb group that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan that won the war. KING: They were based at
Roswell? MARCEL: They were. As the intelligence officer, his job was to investigate unusual
events. He found a large area of strange looking debris. This was not remains of a weather
balloon. He picked up a certain representative portion of the debris, brought it in to Roswell. KING:
Julie Shuster ... your father was ... Walter Haut. He was public information officer. JULIE
SHUSTER: My father ... issued the press release [which] basically said ... we have in our
possession a flying saucer. And he used the words "not of this Earth." KING: Julie, did your father
go to his grave believing? SHUSTER: Yes. He was very firm in the fact that he said it was not of
this Earth. FIFE SYMINGTON, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARIZONA: I saw the Phoenix Lights
along with hundreds if not thousands of people. To my astonishment this large sort of deltashaped, wedge-shaped, craft moved silently over the valley ... dramatically large, very distinctive
leading edge with some enormous lights. I was absolutely stunned. It was definitely not an
airplane. And it was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don't fly in formation. We have
a lot of evidence, a lot of photographs, a lot of news media coverage of it. You can't just [say]
everybody in Phoenix was hallucinating.
Note: Isn't it interesting that Roswell happened to be the military base for what at the time was the
only nuclear-equipped jet squadron in the world? For Dr. Marcel's book The Roswell Legacy, click
here. This interview also includes Dr. Stanton Friedman, a nuclear physicist who has spent many
years studying Roswell and has little doubt that the military covered up the incident. Note that CNN
fails to mention in the entire interview that Friedman is a respected nuclear physicist who worked
numerous years with top corporations in this capacity. For lots more reliable, verifiable information
on this intriguing topic, see our UFO Information Center.
Who Runs the CIA? Outsiders for Hire.

The most intriguing secrets of the "war on terror" have nothing to do with al-Qaeda and its fellow
travelers. They're about the mammoth private spying industry that all but runs U.S. intelligence
operations today. In April, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell was poised to publicize
a year-long examination of outsourcing by U.S. intelligence agencies. But the report was
inexplicably delayed -- and suddenly classified a national secret. What McConnell doesn't want
you to know is that the private spy industry has succeeded where no foreign government has: It
has penetrated the CIA and is running the show. Over the past five years (some say almost a
decade), there has been a revolution in the intelligence community toward wide-scale outsourcing.
Private companies now perform key intelligence-agency functions, to the tune ... of more than $42
billion a year. Intelligence professionals [say] that more than 50 percent of the National
Clandestine Service (NCS) -- the heart, brains and soul of the CIA -- has been outsourced to
private firms such as Abraxas, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. These
firms recruit spies, create non-official cover identities and control the movements of CIA
case officers. They also provide case officers and watch officers at crisis centers and regional
desk officers who control clandestine operations worldwide. As The Los Angeles Times first
reported last October, more than half the workforce in two key CIA stations -- Baghdad and
Islamabad, Pakistan -- is made up of industrial contractors, or "green badgers," in CIA parlance.
Intelligence insiders say that entire branches of the NCS have been outsourced to private industry.
Judges OK warrantless monitoring of Web use

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/07/BAGMNQSJDA1.DTL
Federal agents do not need a search warrant to monitor a suspect's computer use and determine
the e-mail addresses and Web pages the suspect is contacting, a federal appeals court ruled
Friday. In a drug case from San Diego County, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco likened computer surveillance to the "pen register" devices that officers use to pinpoint
the phone numbers a suspect dials, without listening to the phone calls themselves. In Friday's
ruling, the court said computer users should know that they lose privacy protections with e-mail
and Web site addresses when they are communicated to the company whose equipment carries
the messages. The search is no more intrusive than officers' examination of a list of phone
numbers or the outside of a mailed package, neither of which requires a warrant, Judge Raymond
Fisher said in the 3-0 ruling. Defense lawyer Michael Crowley disagreed. His client, Dennis Alba,
was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of operating a laboratory in Escondido
that manufactured the drug ecstasy. Some of the evidence against Alba came from agents'
tracking of his computer use. The court upheld his conviction and sentence. Expert evidence in
Alba's case showed that the Web addresses obtained by federal agents included page numbers
that allowed the agents to determine what someone read online, Crowley said. The ruling
"further erodes our privacy," the attorney said. "The great political marketplace of ideas is
the Internet, and the government has unbridled access to it."
Note: So now every email you send and read can be monitored legally. Why didn't this make news
headlines?
Congress Scrutinizes Spending At CDC

2007-07-02, CBS News
The Center for Disease Control's main mission is to prevent disease, and the agency has been
credited with some terrific strides in public health. But a startling analysis from Congress says the
CDC is squandering hundreds of millions of ... tax dollars. To talk about fat in the CDC budget, you
can start 2,000 miles away in Hollywood, where CDC pays a liaison to help TV dramas and soap
operas write accurate medical plots. The service is free of charge to Tinseltown moguls, through
the generosity of $1.7 million of ... tax dollars. There's the new $109 million headquarters filled
with nearly $10 million in furniture, which the report says works out to $12,000 per person
in the building. A top Democrat, Sen. Thomas Harkin, gets his name on the new $106 million
communications and visitors center, complete with waterfalls, plasma TV's and more. The
$200,000 fitness center rivals the most posh private clubs with $30,000 saunas, "quiet rooms" and
"zero gravity chairs" complete with "mood-enhancing light shows" for stressed out employees. As
for disease prevention, your money's being spent there too, but too often with disappointing
results, says the report. The CDC spent $5 billion over seven years on AIDS prevention, but the
infection rate didn't drop a bit. After it spent $269 million tax dollars on an effort to eliminate
syphilis, syphilis rates went up 68 percent.
Note: For key reports on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Project Mockingbird: Spying on Reporters

http://washington.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/project-mockingbird
The C.I.A. monitoring of journalists in 1963, 1971 and 1972, including wiretapping their phones
and setting up observation posts across the street from their offices to track their comings and
goings and their visitors, was a practice that the White House itself employed during the Nixon
administration. The description of Project Mockingbird [details] C.I.A. wiretapping of two
Washington reporters (unnamed) from March 12, 1963 to June 15, 1963. As with other
questionable or illegal C.I.A. activities that were endorsed by top government officials, this account
shows that spying on reporters was approved at the highest levels of the Kennedy administration.
According to the transcripts of the tapes that President John F. Kennedy secretly recorded in
the Oval Office, shortly after 6 p.m. on August 22,1962, JFK and Director of Central
Intelligence John McCone discussed a plan for the CIA to wiretap members of the
Washington press corps. The president told McCone to set up a domestic task force to stop
the flow of secrets from the government to the newspapers. The order violated the agencys
charter, which specifically prohibits domestic spying. By ordering the director of central intelligence
to conduct a program of domestic surveillance, Kennedy set a precedent that Presidents Johnson,
Nixon, and George W. Bush would follow.
Note: This fascinating report discusses only a limited aspect of Operation Mockingbird, which
included as well the placing of CIA agents in news organizations in decision-making positions for
purposes of propaganda and information control.
Nuking Iran: The Republican Agenda?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/06/nuking_iran_the_republica...
At the Republican debate, almost all the candidates said that they would not rule out a nuclear
attack on Iran as a means to prevent it from getting its own nuclear weapons. Only one [candidate]
would say that attacking Iran -- indeed even threatening to nuke Iran -- is not the right strategy.
"We have to come to our senses about this issue of war and preemption," he said. The audience
applauded, but he didn't get much support from his fellow candidates. Rep. Duncan Hunter of
California was the starkest: "I would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons if there was no
other way to preempt those particular centrifuges," he said. Former New York Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani ... added that "you can't rule out anything and you shouldn't take any option off the table."
Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore also [stated] "all options are on the table" with regard to Iranian
nuclear weapons. Said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: "I wouldn't take any options off
the table." After the debate, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who did not particpate,
added his name to the list of candidates who would consider a preemptive attack against Iran.
Only Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the "Dennis the Menace" of his party, said he opposed a
nuclear strike on moral grounds and because he believed Iran "has done no harm to us
directly and is no threat to our national security." The Iraq war and the war against terrorism
are the central battles of our time, these candidates say. They all profess their faith in God and the
United States, and speak of a moral struggle between good and evil, between the United States
and "radical Islam." Yet they are not willing to say that nuclear weapons have no place in modern
confrontations.
Note: For what a top US general has to say about war manipulations, click here.
RUDY, INTERRUPTED
2007-05-29, MSNBC
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/29/206666.aspx
On what should [have been] a happy day of fundraising in the four boroughs of New York City ...
for Rudy Giuliani's 63rd birthday, a few protestors ruined his first event. At City Island's Sea Shore
Restaurant in the Bronx, a young woman named Sabrina approached the Mayor with a prepared
question, reading it word for word off of a notepad. "You reported to Peter Jennings on 9/11 that
the World Trade Center towers were going to collapse. No steel structure in history has ever
collapsed due to fire. How come the people in the buildings weren't notified and who else knew
about this? How do you sleep at night?" Matthew Lepaceak, who stood on the other side of
Giuliani, joined in. "But you said on ABC video with Peter Jennings in an interview that you were
aware the towers were going to collapse in advance. Who told you the towers were going to
collapse in advance, sir?" During this time, Giuliani had an incredulous look on his face,
completely caught off guard. The statement they were referring to is from a phoner Giuliani had
with Jennings. "We set up headquarters at 75 Barclay Street which was right there with the
police commissioner and the fire commissioner, the head of emergency management, and
we were operating out of there when we were told the World Traded Center was going to
collapse." After being interrupted again, Giuliani responded with an explanation. "Our
understanding was that over a long period of time, the way other buildings collapse, the towers
could collapse. Meaning over a seven-, eight-, nine-, ten-hour period. No one that I knew of had
any idea that they would implode. That was a complete surprise."
Note: To view a video clip of Rudy Giuliani describing how he was told of the Towers' collapse
ahead of time, click here. To watch him deny what he said on this clip, watch this one. When so
many have said no one could have predicted the fall of the towers, how is it that Giuliani knew
otherwise -- and then denied ever knowing it?
Pentagon restricting testimony in Congress

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/05/10/pentagon_res...
The Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions on who can testify before Congress,
reserving the right to bar lower-ranking officers, enlisted soldiers, and career bureaucrats
from appearing before oversight committees or having their remarks transcribed. The
guidelines, described in an April 19 memo to the staff director of the House Armed Services
Committee, adds that all field-level officers and enlisted personnel must be "deemed appropriate"
by the Department of Defense before they can participate in personal briefings for members of
Congress or their staffs. In addition, according to the memo, the proceedings must not be
recorded. Any officers who are allowed to testify must be accompanied by an official from the
administration. Veterans of the legislative process -- who say they have never heard of such
guidelines before -- maintain that the Pentagon has no authority to set such ground rules. A
Pentagon spokesman confirmed that the guidelines are new. The memo has fueled complaints
that the Bush administration is trying to restrict access to information about the war in Iraq. [A]
special House oversight panel, according to aides, has written at least 10 letters to the Pentagon
since February seeking information and has received only one official reply. Nor has the Pentagon
fully complied with repeated requests for all the monthly assessments of Iraqi security forces.
Note: When the military begins to control the legislative, democracy begins to shift towards
dictatorship. And for reliable information how the Pentagon cannot account for hundreds of billions
of dollars, click here.
20-year seal put on Columbine depositions

2007-04-03, Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5580190
The depositions of the parents of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold will be
kept under seal in the National Archives for 20 years, a federal judge ruled Monday. No one,
including violence prevention experts, will be able to see them until they are unsealed, U.S.
District Judge Lewis Babcock ruled. They will be kept permanently in the National Archives, where
they are considered to be of historical value. The depositions of the parents took place in 2003 in
connection with a lawsuit filed by the families of five slain Columbine High School students. Brian
Rohrbough, the father of slain student Daniel Rohrbough, said he was angered by the ruling.
Rohrbough, who watched as attorneys interviewed the parents during the deposition sessions,
said there is nothing in them that would cause any harm. Instead, their release could prevent
further school shootings, he said. Rohrbough is under court order not to divulge details. "There is
no rational reason to lock them up," Rohrbough said. "It's just the idea that it would be OK in 20
years, and can't be OK today."
Note: Why all the secrecy? Could it be to hide evidence showing it could have been stopped?
A monstrous war crime

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2044345,00.html
Our collective failure has been to take our political leaders at their word. This week the BBC
reported that the government's own scientists advised ministers that the Johns Hopkins study on
Iraq civilian mortality was accurate and reliable. Published in the Lancet ...it estimated that 650,000
Iraqi civilians had died since the American and British led invasion in March 2003. Immediately
after publication, the prime minister's official spokesman said that the Lancet's study "was not one
we believe to be anywhere near accurate". The foreign secretary ... said that the Lancet figures
were "extrapolated" and a "leap". President Bush said: "I don't consider it a credible report".
Scientists at the UK's Department for International Development thought differently. They
concluded that the study's methods were "tried and tested". Indeed, the Johns Hopkins approach
would likely lead to an "underestimation of mortality". The Ministry of Defence's chief scientific
adviser ... recommended "caution in publicly criticising the study". When these recommendations
went to the prime minister's advisers, they were horrified. Tony Blair was advised to say: "The
overriding message is that there are no accurate or reliable figures of deaths in Iraq". At a time
when we are celebrating our enlightened abolition of slavery 200 years ago, we are continuing to
commit one of the worst international abuses of human rights of the past half-century. Two
hundred years from now, the Iraq war will be mourned as the moment when Britain violated
its delicate democratic constitution and joined the ranks of nations that use extreme preemptive killing as a tactic of foreign policy.
Note: This article is written by Richard Horton, the editor of the highly esteemed British medical
journal Lancet.
[N.Y.] City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/nyregion/25infiltrate.html?ex=1332475200&en...
For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New
York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert
observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and
interviews. From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police
officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists. They
made friends, shared meals, swapped e-mail messages and then filed daily reports with the
departments Intelligence Division. In hundreds of reports stamped N.Y.P.D. Secret, the
Intelligence Division chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent
intention of breaking the law. These included members of street theater companies, church
groups and antiwar organizations. Three New York City elected officials were cited in the reports.
In at least some cases, intelligence on what appeared to be lawful activity was shared with police
departments in other cities. In addition to sharing information with other police departments, New
York undercover officers were active themselves in at least 15 places outside New York
including California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montreal,
New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C. and in Europe.
To date, as the boundaries of the departments expanded powers continue to be debated, police
officials have provided only glimpses of its intelligence-gathering.
My National Security Letter Gag Order

The Justice Department's inspector general revealed on March 9 that the FBI has been
systematically abusing one of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act: the
expanded power to issue "national security letters." It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn
that between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this
provision. It did not, however, come as any surprise to me. Three years ago, I received a national
security letter (NSL) in my capacity as the president of a small Internet access and consulting
business. The letter ordered me to provide sensitive information about one of my clients. There
was no indication that a judge had reviewed or approved the letter, and it turned out that none had.
The letter came with a gag provision that prohibited me from telling anyone, including my client,
that the FBI was seeking this information. Based on the context of the demand -- a context that the
FBI still won't let me discuss publicly -- I suspected that the FBI was abusing its power. Living
under the gag order has been stressful and surreal. Under the threat of criminal
prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case -- including the mere fact
that I received an NSL -- from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my
attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers
related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I
am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in
the eye and lie. At some point -- a point we passed long ago -- the secrecy itself becomes a threat
to our democracy.
Indebted
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20070317-113251-1533r.htm
The U.S. current-account deficit is the broadest measure of America's activity in international trade
and global finance. It totaled $857 billion last year, the Commerce Department reported last week.
For the fifth year in a row, the nation's current-account deficit set a record. As Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke testified last year before Congress: "The immediate implication [of the
nation's soaring current-account deficit] is that the U.S. economy is consuming more than it's
producing, and the difference is being made up by imports from abroad, which in turn is being
financed by borrowing from abroad." Last year's current-account deficit meant that Americans
effectively borrowed $3.3 billion every single working day to fund the gap between their spending
and their income. The accumulation of ever larger current-account deficits over the past
quarter century has played an indispensable role in transforming the United States from the
world's largest creditor nation into the planet's biggest debtor nation. Specifically, in 1982,
America's net international investment position was a positive $236 billion. That meant that
foreigners owed us nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars more than we owed them. At the end of
2005 (the latest year for which data are available), the net international investment position of the
United States was a negative $2.55 trillion. In other words, we owed foreigners more than $2.5
trillion than they owed us. Since 1994 alone, America's net international investment position has
deteriorated by more than $2.4 trillion.
Note: The Washington Times was the only media source to report on this highly important story.
Why? For a possible answer, click here. For more underreported, yet massive government
Myths and misconceptions of the AIDS pandemic

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/03/11/...
Many myths and misconceptions about the AIDS pandemic are spread by the Joint United Nations
Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other mainstream AIDS agencies and activists. UNAIDS
continues to perpetuate the fallacy that only aggressive HIV/AIDS prevention programs ... can
prevent the eruption of heterosexual HIV epidemics. More than two decades of observation and
analysis point to far different conclusions -- there are no "next waves" of HIV epidemics just around
the corner. UNAIDS and most AIDS activists reject this analysis. However, all available
epidemiologic data show that only the highest risk sexual behavior ... drives HIV epidemics among
heterosexuals. Most AIDS activists claim, without any supporting data, that high HIV prevalence in
groups of men who have sex with men or injecting drug users will inevitably "bridge" over to the
rest of the population and lead to "generalized" HIV epidemics. This entrenched myth persists
even though there is little, if any, HIV spread into any "general" population. Global and regional
HIV rates have remained stable or have been decreasing during the past decade. HIV has
remained concentrated in groups with the riskiest behavior. HIV is incapable of epidemic spread
among the vast majority of heterosexuals. Most of the public, policymakers and media have no
inkling that the UNAIDS working assumption is inconsistent with established facts. Scarce health
resources in countries with low HIV prevalence should be targeted primarily at those who are at
the highest HIV risk, instead of being misdirected to the wider public.
Call to reopen Oklahoma bomb case

2007-03-02, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/6275147.stm
The FBI man in charge of collecting evidence from the government building destroyed by the
Oklahoma bomb has called for the case to be reopened. Former deputy assistant director Danny
Coulson ... said a federal grand jury is now needed to find out what really happened. He argues
this is the only way to prove whether other people were involved in the bombing in a wider
conspiracy beyond Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Mr Coulson spent 31 years in the FBI.
Between 1991 and 1997 he was the deputy assistant director of the Criminal Division of the FBI in
Washington, responsible for all violent crime cases in the United States. Mr Coulson said there
were some "very strong indicators" that other people were involved with Timothy McVeigh. The
FBI interviewed 24 people who claimed to have seen McVeigh in Oklahoma City with
someone else on the morning of the attack, yet the only known accomplice of McVeigh,
Terry Nichols, was at home in Kansas over 200 miles away on that day. The FBI's
investigation concluded that the eyewitnesses were unreliable. However, Danny Coulson says they
were "extremely credible" and had no reason to make it up. "If only one person had seen it, or two
of three, but 24?" he said. "I know FBI headquarters told [agents] to close down the investigation in
Elohim City which has some very significant connections to Mr McVeigh. "Never in my career did I
have FBI headquarters tell me not to investigate something." Last December a US Congressional
report found no conclusive evidence of a wider conspiracy, but the report concluded that
"questions remain unanswered and mysteries remain unsolved."
Note: Don't miss a highly revealing four-minute video-clip showing live media coverage of the
Oklahoma City bomb available here. The official story is that one truck with a huge bomb was
parked in front of the Oklahoma City federal building and only Timothy McVeigh and his partner
were involved. The news footage proves that others must have been involved, as multiple
unexploded bombs were recovered from points inside the building. Yet none of this was
questioned in later testimony.
Carlyle Changes Its Stripes

2007-02-12, BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_07/b4021001.htm
In the two decades since private equity firms first stormed the business world, they've been called
a lot of things, from raiders to barbarians. But only [the Carlyle Group] has been tagged in the
popular imagination with warmongering, treason, and acting as cold-eyed architects of government
conspiracies. Carlyle, founded 20 years ago in the shadow of Washington's power centers, long
went about its business far from the public eye. Its ranks were larded with the politically
connected, including former Presidents, Cabinet members, even former British Prime
Minister John Major. It used its partners' collective relationships to build a lucrative business
buying, transforming, and selling companies -- particularly defense companies that did business
with governments. Carlyle's radical makeover has turned the firm into the biggest fund-raising
juggernaut the private equity world has ever seen. By the end of this year it expects to have an
unprecedented $85 billion in investor commitments under management, up sixfold from 2001 and
more than any other firm. [Founder David] Rubenstein sees the total swelling to as much as $300
billion by 2012. Make no mistake -- Carlyle is already massive. It owns nearly 200 companies that
generate a combined $68 billion in revenue and employ 200,000 people. Last year it bought a new
company approximately once every three days and sold one almost once a week -- all while
dabbling in increasingly esoteric investments. Since its founding in 1987 it has generated
annualized after-fee returns of 26%, compared with the industry average in the mid-teens.
Note: With former presidents including George H.W. Bush and many other top world politicians
helping to sway huge military contracts, could this be considered a form of insider trading? Those
26% yearly returns are placing our tax monies in the hands of individuals and companies that are
already among the wealthiest in the world. For lots more on manipulation of your tax money, click
here. And for a Washington Post article showing Osama Bin Laden's brother met with George
H.W. Bush at a Carlyle meeting one day before 9/11, click here.
House Panel Questions Monitoring of Cash Shipped to Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/washington/07bremer.html?ex=1328504400&en=a...
A House committee report on Tuesday questioned whether some of the billions of dollars in cash
shipped to Iraq after the American invasion mostly in huge, shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills
might have ended up with the insurgent groups now battling American troops. Democrats
sharply questioned the former American civilian administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, about lax
management of the nearly $12 billion in cash shipped to Iraq between May 2003 and June 2004.
Mr. Bremer defended his performance as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, noting
that the United States had to bring tons of American dollars into Iraq because the country had no
functioning banking system. Government auditors have repeatedly criticized the American and
Iraqi governments for failing to monitor the money once it reached Iraq. We have no way of
knowing if the cash that was shipped into the Green Zone ended up in enemy hands, [Committee
Chairman Henry Waxman] said. We owe it to the American people to do everything we can to find
out where the $12 billion went. Mr. Waxman, whose panel is pursuing investigations of fraud and
abuse by the federal government and its contractors in Iraq, said he found it remarkable that the
Bush administration had decided to send billions of dollars of American currency into Iraq so
quickly after the United States occupied the country. The committee calculated that the $12
billion in cash, most of it in the stacks of $100 bills, weighed 363 tons and had to been
flown in on wooden pallets aboard giant C-130 military cargo planes. Who in their right
mind would send 360 tons of cash into a war zone? Mr. Waxman said.
Note: Think about Bremer's assertion that Iraq needed U.S. dollars as the banking system had
collapsed. Banking systems have collapsed in numerous countries in the last century, yet that has
never stopped the country from functioning, nor has the U.S. ever offered to send huge amounts of
cash to help out in the past.
How US lost billions in Wild West gamble to rebuild Iraq

2007-01-26, London Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article720217.ece
An audit of US reconstruction spending in Iraq has uncovered spectacular misuse of tens of
millions of dollars in cash, including bundles of money stashed in filing cabinets, a US soldier who
gambled away thousands, and stacks of newly minted notes distributed without receipts. The audit
... by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction describes a country in the months
after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein awash with dollars, and a Wild West atmosphere where
even multimillion-dollar contracts were paid for in cash. The findings come after a report last
year by the inspector general which stated that nearly $9 billion (5 billion) of Iraqs oil
revenue disbursed by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority ... cannot be accounted
for. The huge sums in cash were paid out with little or no supervision, and often without
any paperwork. In one case, a US soldier gambled away more than $40,000 while accompanying
the Iraqi Olympic boxing team to the Philippines. In others, one contracting officer kept
approximately $2 million in cash in a safe in his office bathroom, the report says, while a paying
agent kept approximately $678,000 in cash in an unlocked footlocker. More than 160 vehicles
worth about $3.3 million could not be traced because there was no proper documentation. Another
project, a $473,000 contract to install an internet service in Ramadi, was cancelled because
officials could not oversee it. But the contractor had already been paid.
Note: With all of the computers the military and contractors brought into Iraq, shouldn't it be
possible to track these monies? Shouldn't we as taxpayers demand accountability?
Doctor, Musician Join Fight Against Fluoride

2007-01-25, WSMV-TV (Nashville, TN NBC affiliate)
http://www.wsmv.com/health/10845643/detail.html
Fluoride has become a controversial additive to our drinking water. While no one denies it can
prevent cavities with topical application, a growing number of people, cities and countries have
decided that ingesting unknown quantities of fluoride is a bad idea. One of Tennessee's own top
health risk scientists is asking Gov. Phil Bredesen to stop adding fluoride to the water. Dr. Kathy
Thiessen makes a living assessing health risks and has worked for the Center for Disease Control
and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. The deliberate exposure to
uncontrolled and unmonitored intake of fluoride is unwise at best and probably harmful to a
substantial number of people, Thiessen said. Thiessen joins Tennessee lawmaker and medical
doctor Joey Hensley as the most prominent Tennessee voices against fluoride. Chris White is a
musician with the band Loft, but his other passion is removing fluoride from Gallatin's water supply.
All parties point to the American Dental Association recommending that mothers stop using
fluoridated water for baby formula as an obvious sign that fluoride is obviously not for everyone,
he said.
Note: This article fails to mention a key recent study showing "about 28 percent of the children in
the low-fluoride area scored as bright, normal or higher intelligence compared to only 8 percent in
the 'high' fluoride area. In the high-fluoride city, 15 percent had scores indicating mental retardation
and only 6 percent in the low-fluoride city." For a truly awesome, revealing interview with a BBC
producer on the major deceptions around and dangers of fluoride in water, click here. For more on
this key topic from Dr. Mercola, click here. And for the top website on the risks and dangers of
flouride in water, click here.
Prosecutor: Ohio County Rigged Recount

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2806718
Three county elections workers conspired to avoid a more thorough recount of ballots in the 2004
presidential election, a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements of their trial Thursday.
Witnesses testified that, two days before a planned recount, selected ballots were counted so the
result would be determined. "The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for
political reasons, but rigged nonetheless," Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. "They did this so they
could spend a day rather than weeks or months" on the recount, he said. Defense attorneys said
in their opening statements that the workers in Cuyahoga County didn't do anything out of
the ordinary. "They just were doing it the way they were always doing it," said defense attorney
Roger Synenberg, representing Kathleen Dreamer, a ballot manager. Charged with various counts
each of election misconduct or interference are Jacqueline Maiden, the Cuyahoga County Board of
Elections' coordinator, who was the board's third-highest ranking employee when she was indicted
last March; Rosie Grier, assistant manager of the board's ballot department; and Dreamer. Baxter
said testimony in the case will show that instead of conducting a random count, the workers chose
sample precincts for the Dec. 16, 2004, recount that did not have questionable results to ensure
that no discrepancies would emerge. "This was a very hush operation," Baxter said. There were
allegations in several counties of similar presorting of ballots for the recounts that state law
says are to be random.
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information on elections manipulations, click here.
Molecule offers cancer hope

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/171898
In results that "astounded" scientists, an inexpensive molecule known as DCA was shown
to shrink lung, breast and brain tumours in both animal and human tissue experiments. The
study was published yesterday in the journal Cancer Cell. "I think DCA can be selective for cancer
because it attacks a fundamental process of cancer that is unique to cancer cells," said Dr.
Evangelos Michelakis, a professor at the Edmonton university's medical school and one of the
study's key authors. The molecule appears to repair damaged mitochondria in cancer cells. "When
a cell is getting too old or doesn't function properly, the mitochondria are going to induce the cell
death," lead study author Sebastien Bonnet said yesterday. Bonnet says DCA or dichloroacetate
appears to reverse the mitochondrial changes in a wide range of cancers. "One of the really
exciting things about this compound is that it might be able to treat many different forms of cancer
because all forms of cancer suppress mitochondrial function," Michelakis said. Bonnet says DCA
may also provide an effective cancer treatment because its small size allows easy absorption into
the body, ensuring it can reach areas that other drugs cannot, such as brain tumours. Because it's
been used to combat other ailments ... DCA has been shown to have few toxic effects on the body.
Its previous use means it can be immediately tested on humans. Unlike other cancer drugs, DCA
did not appear to have any negative effect on normal cells. It could provide an extremely
inexpensive cancer therapy because it's not patented. But ... the lack of a patent could lead to
an unwillingness on the part of pharmaceutical companies to fund expensive clinical trials.
Note: Even these scientists realize that though this discovery could be a huge benefit to mankind,
because the drug companies will lose profits, they almost certainly will not fund studies. Expensive
AIDS drugs with promising results, on the other hand, are rushed through the studies to market.
For more reliable, verifiable information on how hugely beneficial health advances are shut down
to keep profits high, click here and here.
Victim owed compensation in CIA case, judge told

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070111.BRAINWASH11/TPStory...
Patients were put in isolation, tied down or drugged, and subjected to hours and hours of taped
recordings meant to brainwash them at the behest of the Central Intelligence Agency. They were
subjected to massive electroshocks, experimental drugs and LSD, most of them unwilling and
unknowingly part of the U.S. spy agency's experimentation. Now it's time for the federal
government to compensate those victims, lawyer Alan Stein argued. Mr. Stein is seeking court
approval for a class-action lawsuit on behalf of his client, Janine Huard, one of the hundreds of
patients of Ewen Cameron to be subjected to the Cold War-era experiments. "She never knew ...
that she was being used by Dr. Cameron and his staff as a guinea pig," Mr. Stein told the court.
The CIA ... recruited Dr. Cameron to experiment with mind-control techniques beginning in 1950.
The experiments ... were jointly funded by the CIA and the Canadian government. They were part
of a larger CIA program called MK-ULTRA, which also saw LSD administered to U.S. prison
inmates and patrons of brothels without their knowledge. Ms. Huard was one of nine Canadian
victims who received nearly $67,000 (U.S.) from the CIA in 1988 to compensate her for her
suffering. But her claim for compensation from the federal government ... was rejected three times.
In 1994, 77 patients were awarded $100,000 each from the federal government, but more
than 250 others were denied compensation because they were not "totally depatterned."
Note: What this article fails to mention is that Dr. Cameron was also the president of both the
American Psychicatric Association and the World Psychiatric Association. For more reliable
information, click here.
FBI Chided for OKC Bomb Investigation

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2749903
A two-year congressional inquiry into the Oklahoma City bombing concludes that the FBI
didn't fully investigate whether other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols with the deadly 1995 attack, allowing questions to linger a decade later. The House
International Relations investigative subcommittee [declared that] there is no conclusive evidence

of a foreign connection to the attack, but that far too many unanswered questions remain. The
report also sharply criticizes the FBI for failing to be curious enough to pursue credible information
that foreign or U.S. citizens may have had contact with Nichols or McVeigh and could have
assisted their plot. "We did our best with limited resources, and I think we moved the
understanding of this issue forward a couple of notches even though important questions remain
unanswered," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the subcommittee chairman, said in an interview
with The Associated Press. Rohrabacher's subcommittee saved its sharpest words for the Justice
Department, saying officials there exhibited a mindset of thwarting congressional oversight and did
not assist the investigation fully.
Note: Should you choose to explore the deadly Oklahoma City bombing, you will find that there
are many strange inconsistencies suggesting a major cover-up. If you are interested in more, you
might start here.
Does Israel have the bomb or not? Olmert: Yes, we do.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15archive/&entry_id=11779
For decades, Israel coyly has refused to confirm or deny what, since 1986, the whole world has
known for sure: that is that the Jewish state is the one country in the Middle East that has a welldeveloped, nuclear arsenal. It was 20 years ago that Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at
Israel's Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev Desert, informed Britain's Sunday Times about the
weapons program, leading "defense analysts to rank the country as the [world's] sixth largest
nuclear power." Vanunu was jailed for 18 years for revealing state secrets. Israel calls its refusal to
deny or confirm the existence of its nuclear arms its "nuclear ambiguity" policy. Why? Explains the
Times (U.K.): "For many years, Israel was the only country outside the five declared nuclear
powers to have built an atomic weapon ... It wanted its enemies in the region to know that it
had nuclear capability if threatened. But it also wanted to keep the existence secret so that
it did not fall [a]foul of international action designed to halt the proliferation of nuclear
weapons, particularly strict U.S. laws which could have jeopardized billions of dollars in
annual aid." The Jerusalem Post notes that "Nuclear ambiguity was a comfortable arrangement
for both Israeli and U.S. administrations, designed to allow Israel to get on with whatever it was
doing ... without too much international pressure, and [to allow] the U.S. to not seem too
hypocritical by not demanding its Middle East ally sign the [Non-proliferation Treaty]. Ambiguity
might have worked for four decades, but ... it is now hopelessly outdated."
Note: The media has been quite reluctant to discuss these issues openly. Could it be they fear
people might question the amount of U.S. aid? Israel's population is 6.5 million. Official U.S. yearly
foreign aid to Israel has been about $2.5 to 3.0 billion for many years. If you do the math, U.S.
taxpayers are giving every man, woman, and child in Israel about $400/year -- over ten times the
per capita rate paid to any other country. That's quite a yearly gift! A Christian Science Monitor
article says if all forms of aid are considered, the figures are even higher.
Vehicle mileage estimates get real

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fuel12dec12,0,1026595.story
That 55-mile-per-gallon hybrid car you've been eyeing may end up being a 44-mpg hybrid. The
federal Environmental Protection Agency announced a new system Monday for evaluating fuel
economy that will lower mileage estimates for most vehicles. On average, vehicles rated under the
2008 method will post a 12% drop in city gasoline mileage and an 8% decline in highway mileage.
With the new testing requirements, the EPA is attempting to come up with estimates that more
closely reflect the real-world mileage motorists can expect when they purchase a vehicle. Under
the current system ... actual mileage is often far lower than the posted EPA ratings. Hybrids
will be hit harder because the new test eliminates some of the all-electric driving that helped them
produce impressive results. A recent study ... found that the average mileage for passenger cars
and light trucks was about 14% less than EPA estimates. The mileage for gas-electric hybrids
probably will be 20% to 30% lower than present estimates for city driving and 10% to 20% lower
on the highway. These vehicles quickly lose their all-electric advantage when operated in cold
weather or quickly accelerated. The new EPA mileage estimates won't harm automakers' ability to
meet federal rules requiring an industrywide average fuel economy of 27.5 miles per gallon for
cars and 21 mpg for sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans.
Note: The government could easily mandate higher gas mileage, but has not significantly raised
the bar in almost 20 years. Why? The current average mileage for all cars is less than the mileage
of the 1908 Model T. With all of the incredibly technological advances in other fields, how is this
possible? For more on this vital topic, click here and here. Toyota came out with a hybrid that got
100 mpg in 2002. For what happened to it, click here. And to learn how a Toyota Prius can be
converted to get 100 miles per gallon, click here.
The 9/11 Truth Movement's Dangers

2006-12-10, CBS News/The Nation
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/08/opinion/main2242387.shtml
Tens of millions of Americans really believe their government was complicit in the murder of 3,000
of their fellow citizens. The government these Americans suspect of complicity in 9/11 has
acquired a justified reputation for deception: weapons of mass destruction, secret prisons, illegal
wiretapping. The Truth Movement's recent growth can be largely attributed to the Internetdistributed documentary "Loose Change." It's been viewed over the Internet millions of times.
Complementing "Loose Change" are the more highbrow offerings of a handful of writers and
scholars, many of whom are associated with Scholars for 9/11 Truth. Two of these academics,
retired theologian David Ray Griffin and retired Brigham Young University physics professor
Steven Jones, have written books and articles that serve as the movement's canon. The Truth
Movement's relationship to the truth may be tenuous, but that it is a movement is no longer in
doubt. For the Administration, "conspiracy" is a tremendously useful term, and can be applied even
in the most seemingly bizarre conditions to declare an inquiry or criticism out of bounds. Of
course, the ommission report was something of a whitewash Bush would only be
interviewed in the presence of Dick Cheney, the commission was denied access to other
key witnesses, and ... a meeting convened by George Tenet the summer before the attacks
to warn Condoleezza Rice about al Qaeda's plotting ... was nowhere mentioned in the
report. It's hard to blame people for thinking we're not getting the whole story. For six years, the
government has prevaricated and the press has largely failed to point out this simple truth.
Note: Though this article belittles the 9/11 movement, there is abundant evidence to support the
claim that the 9/11 Commission was a whitewash and the attacks may have been orchestrated.
Sweeping Changes Expected in Voting by 2008 Election

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/washington/08voting.html?ex=1323234000&en=3...
By the 2008 presidential election, voters around the country are likely to see sweeping changes in
how they cast their ballots and how those ballots are counted. New federal guidelines, along with
legislation given a strong chance to pass in Congress next year, will probably combine to make the
paperless voting machines obsolete. Motivated in part by voting problems during the midterm
elections last month, the changes are a result of a growing skepticism among local and state
election officials, federal legislators and the scientific community about the reliability and security of
the paperless touch-screen machines used by about 30 percent of American voters. Various forms
of vote-counting software used around the country ... will for the first time be inspected by federal
authorities, and the code could be made public. Last year, New Mexico spent $14 million to
replace its touch screens. Other states are spending millions more to retrofit the machines to add
paper trails. Because some printers malfunctioned last month, election commissioners in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, said last week that they were considering
scrapping their new $17 million system of touch-screen machines. Under changes approved by
the Election Assistance Commission yesterday, voting machine manufacturers would have
to make their crucial software code available to federal inspectors. The code is now
checked mainly by private testing laboratories paid by the manufacturers.
Note: How is it possible that the government allowed voting machine companies to keep their
software secret even from the government? We may never know how many votes were
manipulated. For more, click here.
9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's
initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort
to mislead the commission and the public. Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated
referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Staff members and some
commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause
to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to
Congress and to the commission. Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican
governor who led the commission [said], "It was just so far from the truth." In an article scheduled
to be on newsstands today, Vanity Fair magazine reports aspects of the commission debate...and
publishes lengthy excerpts from military audiotapes recorded on Sept. 11. ABC News aired
excerpts last night. For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA
provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media
appearances. Authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been
scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down
United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington. In fact, the commission reported a year later,
audiotapes from NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that the
military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights.
Note: Why didn't they report this in the media when the 9/11 report was issued?
U.S. signs deal to stockpile anti-bird-flu drug

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/01/MNGDMJNKP21.DTL&h...
Federal health authorities have signed a two-year deal to help states buy more than half a
billion dollars worth of the antiviral drug Tamiflu as a hedge against a pandemic of deadly
avian influenza, but there is a catch: States will have to pay for three-quarters of it. Under terms
of the deal negotiated with Roche by the Department of Health and Human Services, the states
can order up to 31 million packets of Tamiflu -- each containing a 10-pill course of treatment -- for a
total cost of $596 million over the next two years. The Bush administration announced late Friday
that it had contracted with Swiss drugmaker Roche Laboratories Inc. to supply Tamiflu for
stockpiles in all 50 states. The federal government, meanwhile, plans to build its own centralized
stockpile. The plan is to have enough antiviral drug in state and federal warehouses by December
2008 to treat 81 million people. Tamiflu is considered by scientists to be the first line of defense
against the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The disease is currently confined primarily to chickens, ducks
and some wild waterfowl, but researchers fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily
among humans.
Note: No mention is made here that Donald Rumsfeld has already made millions from sales of
Tamiflu, and that he was on the board of the company that developed the drug. Many top
researchers also believe there is little chance of avian flu mutating. Why are we spending
hundreds of millions of dollars to combat a virus which has not even mutated yet? To verify these
and other vital facts, see http://www.WantToKnow.info/avianflu
Ex-security officials rake it in

2006-06-18, Seattle Times/New York Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003068930_homeland18.html
Dozens of members of the Bush administration's domestic-security team...are collecting bigger
paychecks in different roles: working on behalf of companies that sell security products, many
directly to the federal agencies the officials once helped run. At least 90 officials at the Department
of Homeland Security or the White House Office of Homeland Security...are executives,
consultants or lobbyists for companies that collectively do billions of dollars' worth of domesticsecurity business. Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge...stands to profit now that Savi
Technology, a maker of radio-frequency-identification equipment that the department pushed while
he was secretary, is being bought by Lockheed Martin. He was appointed to the Savi board three
months after resigning from the department. Former Homeland Security undersecretary Asa
Hutchinson...the biggest potential for profit among Hutchinson's ventures appears to come from
his role as an investor in Fortress America Acquisition. Hutchinson, before the [company's]
stock was sold publicly, bought 200,000 shares for $25,000. At Friday's trading price the
stock was worth more than $1.2 million. More than two-thirds of the department's most
senior executives in its first years have moved through the revolving door. Federal law
prohibits senior executive-branch officials from lobbying former government colleagues or
subordinates for at least a year after leaving public service. But by exploiting loopholes in the
law...it is often easy for former officials to do just that.
Robbery, not reconstruction, in Iraq

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/04/18/r...
We have heard various individual cases of overcharging and fraud by American firms in the
reconstruction of Iraq. A year ago, an audit by the inspector general found no evidence of work
done or goods delivered on 154 of 198 contracts. Sixty cases of potential swindles are under
investigation. Halliburton and its hundreds of millions of dollars of overcharges or baseless costs
are well known. But millions more were taken by companies that promised to build or restore
libraries or police facilities, or deliver trucks and construction equipment. US government
investigators can account for only a third of the $1.5 billion given by the CPA to the interim
government and it appears that a substantial portion of the $8 billion given to Iraqi ministries went
to "ghost employees." Because of the way the United States set things up after the invasion,
contractors are immune from prosecution by Iraqis. This is robbery, not reconstruction. It has been
three years and all Iraq has become is a "free-fraud zone," according to one of the attorneys for
whistleblowers in Iraqi swindles. Recently, the Army found that Halliburton had $263 million of
exaggerated or unexplainable costs on a $2.4 billion no-bid contract, yet still paid
Halliburton $253 million of the $263 million.
Senators: White House Stalls Katrina Probe

2006-01-24, ABC/Associated Press
The White House is crippling a Senate inquiry into the government's sluggish response to
Hurricane Katrina by barring administration officials from answering questions and failing to hand
over documents, senators leading the investigation said Tuesday. In some cases, staff at the
White House and other federal agencies have refused to be interviewed by congressional
investigators, said the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee. In addition, agency officials won't answer seemingly
innocuous questions about times and dates of meetings and telephone calls with the White House,
the senators said. A White House spokesman said the administration is committed to working with
separate Senate and House investigations of the Katrina response but wants to protect the
confidentiality of presidential advisers. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the committee's Republican
chair, said "We are entitled to know if someone from the Department of Homeland Security calls
someone at the White House during this whole crisis period." She added, "It is completely
inappropriate" for the White House to bar agency officials from talking to the Senate committee.
Pentagon rolls out stealth PR

2005-12-14, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-14-pentagon-pr_x.htm
A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing proAmerican messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the
source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says. Run by psychological warfare
experts at the U.S. Special Operations Command, the media campaign is being designed to
counter terrorist ideology and sway foreign audiences to support American policies. The program
will operate throughout the world, including in allied nations and in countries where the
United States is not involved in armed conflict. The three companies handling the campaign
include the Lincoln Group, the company being investigated by the Pentagon for paying Iraqi
newspapers to run pro-U.S. stories. (Related story: Contracts for pro-U.S. propaganda) It's legal
for the government to plant propaganda in other countries but not in the USA.
Project Paperclip: Dark side of the Moon

2005-11-21, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4443934.stm
Sixty years ago the US hired Nazi scientists to lead pioneering projects, such as the race to
conquer space. These men provided the US with cutting-edge technology which still leads the way
today, but at a cost. Major-General Hugh Knerr, deputy commander of the US Air Force in Europe,
wrote: "Occupation of German scientific and industrial establishments has revealed the fact that
we have been alarmingly backward in many fields of research. "If we do not take the opportunity to
seize the apparatus and the brains that developed it...we will remain several years behind." Thus
began Project Paperclip, the US operation which saw von Braun and more than 700 others spirited
out of Germany from under the noses of the US's allies. Its aim was simple: "To exploit German
scientists for American research and to deny these intellectual resources to the Soviet Union."
President Truman authorised Paperclip in August 1945 and, on 18 November, the first Germans
reached America. All of these men were cleared to work for the US, their alleged crimes
covered up and their backgrounds bleached by a military which saw winning the Cold War,
and not upholding justice, as its first priority.
To Fill His Shoes, Mr. Bernanke, Learn to Dance

In his 18 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan has occasionally drawn criticism,
but no one disputes his technical prowess or sniffs at his track record of low inflation and steady,
almost uninterrupted growth. Enter Ben S. Bernanke, President Bush's nominee to take
Greenspan's place. The former Princeton economics professor is currently the chairman of the
president's Council of Economic Advisers. The following are excerpts from [a speech] by Ben S.
Bernanke. "On Milton Friedman's Ninetieth Birthday," Nov. 8, 2002: "I first read 'A Monetary History
of the United States' early in my graduate school years at M.I.T. I was hooked, and I have been a
student of monetary economics and economic history ever since. Friedman and [his co-author
Anna J.] Schwartz made the case that the economic collapse of 1929-33 was the product of the
nation's monetary mechanism gone wrong. What I take from their work is the idea that monetary
forces, particularly if unleashed in a destabilizing direction, can be extremely powerful. "I would
like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it.
We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again."
Note: The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board admits here that the Federal Reserve caused
the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve is owned by powerful private banks. It was created in
1913 largely in secrecy and fought by many who understood the dangers involved. For more
reliable information on this, click here.
AIDS Drug Maker to Pay $704M in Settlement

Serono Laboratories agreed Monday to pay $704 million and plead guilty to federal conspiracy
charges that it increased the market for the AIDS drug Serostim by offering kickbacks to doctors
and manipulating a test for AIDS patients. Eighty-five percent of prescriptions written for Serostim,
accounting for roughly $615 million in sales, were unnecessary. The cost of many of those
prescriptions, $21,000 for 12 weeks of treatment, was paid by Medicaid, the joint federal-state
health program for the poor, and other government insurance plans. Serono offered doctors free
trips to the south of France in return for agreeing to write up to 30 new prescriptions for
Serostim. The company also conspired to introduce a test for AIDS wasting, despite not
having FDA approval. The test diagnosed AIDS wasting even without weight loss. Monday's
settlement is the latest in a series of whistleblower claims that have resulted in more than $3 billion
in payments from drug companies in recent years.
Note: For lots more on this vital topic: http://www.WantToKnow.info/healthcoverup
Senators Accuse Pentagon of Obstructing Inquiry on Sept. 11 Plot

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
Senators from both parties accused the Defense Department on Wednesday of obstructing
an investigation into whether a highly classified intelligence program known as Able
Danger did indeed identify Mohamed Atta and other future hijackers as potential threats
well before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The complaints came after the Pentagon
blocked several witnesses from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a public
hearing on Wednesday. The only testimony provided by the Defense Department came from a
senior official who would say only that he did not know whether the claims were true. But members
of the panel, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said they regarded as
credible assertions by current and former officers in the program. The officers have said they were
prevented by the Pentagon from sharing information about Mr. Atta and others with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. The Pentagon has acknowledged that at least five members of Able
Danger have said they recall a chart produced in 2000 that identified Mr. Atta, who became the
lead hijacker in the Sept. 11 plot, as a potential terrorist.
Going (Down) by the Book

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/17/opinion/17tierney.html?ex=1284609600&en=7a8...
When the Federal Emergency Management Agency's paperwork slowed the evacuation of
patients from the airport, Acadian's frustrated medics waited with empty helicopters. "At one point I
had 10 helicopters on the ground waiting to go," said Marc Creswell, an Acadian medic, "but FEMA
kept stonewalling us with paperwork. Meanwhile, every 30 or 40 minutes someone was dying."
The company sent in outside doctors and nurses. FEMA rejected the help because the doctors
and nurses weren't certified members of a National Disaster Medical Team. "When the doctors
asked why they couldn't help these critically ill people lying there unattended," Mr. Creswell
recalled, "the FEMA people kept saying, 'You're not federalized.' "
Rove leak is just part of larger scandal

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0715/p09s02-cods.html
The underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was
misled into that war. In 2002 President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for
a casus belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very much until a dubious
Italian intelligence report ... provided reason to speculate that Iraq might be trying to buy so-called
yellowcake uranium from the African country of Niger. the CIA sent Joseph Wilson, an old Africa
hand, to Niger to investigate. Mr. Wilson spent eight days talking to everyone in Niger possibly
involved and came back to report no sign of an Iraqi bid for uranium. Ignoring Wilson's report,
Cheney talked on TV about Iraq's nuclear potential. And the president himself, in his 2003 State of
the Union address no less, pronounced: "The British government has learned that Saddam
Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Wilson directly challenged
the administration with a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed headlined, "What I didn't find in
Africa," and making clear his belief that the president deliberately manipulated intelligence in order
to justify an invasion. Three days later, Bob Novak's column appeared giving Wilson's wife's
name, Valerie Plame, and the fact she was an undercover CIA officer. Enough is known to
surmise that the leaks of Rove, or others deputized by him, amounted to retaliation against
someone who had the temerity to challenge the president of the United States. The role of Rove
and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the effort to delude America
into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to justify a war.
No Boundaries
2005-06-09, CNN News
A panel sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations wants the United States to focus
not on the defense of our own borders, but rather create what effectively would be a
common border that includes Mexico and Canada. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN
CORRESPONDENT: On Capitol Hill, testimony [is] calling for Americans to start thinking like
citizens of North America and treat the U.S., Mexico and Canada like one big country. That's the
view in a report called "Building a North American Community." It envisions a common border
around the U.S., Mexico and Canada in just five years, a border pass for residents of the three
countries, and a freer flow of goods and people. [Task force member Robert] PASTOR: What we
hope to accomplish by 2010 is a common external tariff which will mean that goods can move
easily across the border. We want a common security perimeter around all of North America.
ROMANS: Security experts say folding Mexico and Canada into the U.S. is a grave breach of that
sovereignty. [The report calls for] temporary migrant worker programs expanded with full mobility
of labor between the three countries in the next five years. The idea here is to make North America
more like the European Union. [CNN Anchor Lou] DOBBS: Americans must think that our political
and academic elites have gone utterly mad at a time when three-and-a-half years, approaching
four years after September 11, we still don't have border security. And this group of elites is talking
about not defending our borders, finally, but rather creating new ones. It's astonishing.
Note: This agenda is being promoted in key political forums with practically no media reporting.
For one of the few media articles reporting on this important topic, click here.
Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html?ex=12756240...
It is no secret that the gap between the rich and the poor has grown, but the extent to which the
richest are leaving everyone else behind is not widely known. The people at the top of America's
money pyramid have so prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of
the population. They have even left behind people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
The share of the nation's income earned by those in this uppermost category has more than
doubled since 1980, to 7.4 percent in 2002. The share of income earned by the rest of the top 10
percent rose far less, and the share earned by the bottom 90 percent fell. Under the Bush tax
cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the
last year for which the government will release such data - now pay ... taxes amounting to
virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000. From
1950 to 1970 ... for every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent, those in the top 0.01
percent earned an additional $162. From 1990 to 2002, for every extra dollar earned by those in
the bottom 90 percent, each taxpayer at the top brought in an extra $18,000. An Internal Revenue
Service study found that the only taxpayers whose share of taxes declined in 2001 and 2002 were
those in the top 0.1 percent. Some of the wealthiest Americans, including Warren E. Buffett,
George Soros and Ted Turner, have warned that such a concentration of wealth can turn a
meritocracy into an aristocracy and ultimately stifle economic growth.
Lab habits: Do depressed lab rats dictate international drug policy?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jun/02/farout
The predominant model of drug addiction views it as a disease: humans and animals will use
heroin or cocaine for as long as they are available. When the drugs run out, they will seek a fresh
supply; the drugs, not the users, are in control. These conclusions, repeated frequently by
politicians and the media, are based on experiments carried out almost exclusively on animals,
usually rats and monkeys, housed in metal cages and experiencing a particularly poor quality of
life. What would happen, wondered psychologist Dr Bruce Alexander, then of British Columbia's
Simon Fraser University, if these animals were instead provided with a comfortable, stimulating
environment? In 1981, Alexander built a 200sq ft home for lab rats. Rat Park, as it became known,
was kept clean and temperate, while the rats were supplied with plenty of food and toys, along with
places to dig, rest and mate. Try as he might, Alexander could not make junkies out of his
rats. Even after being force-fed morphine for two months, when given the option, they
chose plain water, despite experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms. He laced the morphine
with sugar, but still they ignored it. Only when he added Naloxone, an opiate inhibitor, to the
sugared morphine water, did they drink it. Alexander simultaneously monitored rats kept in
"normal" lab conditions: they consistently chose the morphine drip over plain water, sometimes
consuming 16-20 times more than the Rat Parkers. Alexander's findings - that deprived rats seek
solace in opiates, while contented rats avoid them - dramatically contradict our currently held
beliefs about addiction. Nobody seemed to care. Rejected by Science and Nature, Alexander's
paper was published in the obscure Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, where it was
summarily ignored. Two decades later, Rat Park sits empty; addiction remains a disease and the
war on drugs continues.
Note: Is it possible the powers that be want us to believe addiction is much worse than it really is?
Court Dismisses FBI Contractor's Suit Against U.S.

A federal appeals court rejected a fired FBI contractor's bid to revive her lawsuit against the
government. Sibel Edmonds said she was fired from her job as a wiretap translator because she
told superiors she suspected that a co-worker was leaking information to targets of an ongoing FBI
investigation. The FBI said it fired her because she committed security violations and disrupted the
office. The Justice Department's inspector general said Edmonds's allegations about a
coworker "raised serious concerns that, if true, could potentially have extremely damaging
consequences for the FBI."
Note: This article doesn't even mention 9/11, yet Ms. Edmonds has stated publicly that her
testimony would put top government officials behind bars for their role in blocking information
which could have stopped the 9/11 attacks. For more eye-opening information, click here and here.
Read Ms. Edmond's open letter to the chairman of the 9/11 Commission to find out what key
people in government don't want you to know about her testimony. See also her excellent website
http://www.justacitizen.com
She was also instrumental in forming a National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition.
The ricin ring that never was

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/attacks/comment/0,1320,1459178,00.html
Colin Powell does not need more humiliation. But yesterday a London jury brought down another
section of the case he made for war - that Iraq and Osama bin Laden were supporting and
directing terrorist poison cells throughout Europe, including a London ricin ring. Yesterday's
verdicts on five defendants ... make clear there was no ricin ring. Nor did the "ricin ring"
make or have ricin. Not that the government shared that news with us. The public record for the
past three fear-inducing years has been that ricin was found in the Wood Green flat occupied by
some of yesterday's acquitted defendants. It wasn't. [Found there] were the internal documents of
the supposed al-Qaida cell planning the "big one" in Britain. But the recipes were untested and
unoriginal, borrowed from US sources. Moreover, ricin is not a weapon of mass destruction. It
is a poison which has only ever been used for one-on-one killings. All the information roads
led west, not to Kabul but to California and the US midwest. The recipes for ricin now seen on the
internet were invented 20 years ago by survivalist Kurt Saxon. The chemical lists found in London
were an exact copy of pages on an internet site in Palo Alto, California. But it seems this
information was not shared with the then home secretary, David Blunkett, who was still whipping
up fear two weeks later. The most ironic twist was an attempt to introduce an "al- Qaida manual"
into the case. To show that the Jihad manual was written in the 1980s ... was easy. The ricin recipe
it contained was a direct translation from a 1988 US book called the Poisoner's Handbook. We
have all been victims of this mass deception.
Note: As the above link no longer functions, click here for the full article. According to a post on
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky's excellent Center for Research on Globalization website and other
inside sources, the British government ordered the above article removed from the website
within a week of its publication. Someone doesn't want us knowing how we are manipulated into
fear. For more on this, click here.
Halliburton operates in Iran despite sanctions

in January, Halliburton won a contract to drill at a huge Iranian gas field called Pars, which an
Iranian government spokesman said "served the interests" of Iran. "I am baffled that any American
company would want to have employees operating in Iran," says Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "I
would think they'd be ashamed." Halliburton says the operation videotaped by NBC News is
entirely legal. It's run by a subsidiary called "Halliburton Products and Services Limited," based
outside the U.S. In fact, the law allows foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations to do business in
Iran under strict conditions. Other U.S. oil services companies, like Weatherford and Baker
Hughes, also are in Iran. And foreign subsidiaries of NBC's parent company, General
Electric, have sold equipment to Iran. For Halliburton to have done this legally, the foreign
subsidiary operating in Iran must be independent of the main operation in Texas. Yet, when an
NBC producer approached managers in Iran, he was sent to company officials in Dubai. But they
said only Halliburton headquarters in Houston could talk about operations in Iran.
Lost in Translation: How Bush Interpreter Got Through Security

2005-02-22, Wall Street Journal (Article on website founder Fred Burks)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110901231065260117,00.html?mod=todays_us_p...
Frederick Burks believes in UFOs, communes with dolphins, [and] runs a Web site that promotes
conspiracy theories about U.S. complicity in the 9/11 attacks. And, until last October, he had the
ear of the world's most powerful man ... George W. Bush. When President Bush traveled to Bali for
a meeting with President Megawati in October 2003 ... [Karen] Brooks, then the National Security
Council's Indonesia expert, says she personally requested that he get the job because he was so
good and "Megawati loved him." Now Mr. Burks has popped up in Jakarta as a star witness for the
defense in the terrorism trial of a fundamentalist Islamic cleric. Speaking to the Jakarta court in
fluent Indonesian, Mr. Burks described a secret 2002 meeting between a U.S. presidential envoy
and Indonesia's then president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Mr. Burks's testimony, delivered last
month in a south Jakarta court, turned the former White House interpreter ... into a national
celebrity here in Indonesia. While working as Mr. Bush's Indonesian-language interpreter, Mr.
Burks set up several Web sites, including momentoflove.org, weboflove.org and WantToKnow.info.
After 9/11, he began collecting and then posting documents he believes show that parts of
the U.S. government knew an attack was coming and may even have been complicit in its
execution. "I'm sometimes labeled a conspiracy theorist, but I'm not," he says. "I'm someone who
can handle dark energy, the really ugly things that are going on behind the scenes, without getting
too upset."
Note: This article surprisingly was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The above link
requires payment to read the full article. To read it free and learn much more, click here.
C.I.A. Said to Rebuff Congress on Nazi Files

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/international/europe/30nazis.html?ex=126482...
The Central Intelligence Agency is refusing to provide hundreds of thousands of pages of
documents sought by a government working group under a 1998 law that requires full disclosure of
classified records related to Nazi war criminals. Some made public last year showed a closer
relationship between the United States government and Nazi war criminals than had previously
been understood, including the C.I.A.'s recruitment of war criminal suspects or Nazi collaborators.
For nearly three years, the C.I.A. has interpreted the 1998 law narrowly and rebuffed requests for
additional records. The dispute has not previously been made public. The American government
worked closely with Nazi war criminals and collaborators, allowing many of them to live in
the United States after World War II. Historians who have studied the documents made public so
far have said that at least five associates of the Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, the architect of
Hitler's campaign to exterminate Jews, had worked for the CIA. The records also indicate that the
CIA tried to recruit two dozen more war criminals or Nazi collaborators. Among former Nazis who
were given refuge in the United States was Wernher von Braun, the German scientist who
developed the V-2 rocket in World War II for the Nazis and played a major role in the development
of the American space program.
Note: Operation Paperclip involved secretly importing hundreds of Nazi scientists into the U.S. and
providing them with aliases and influential work in U.S. government and intelligence services.
Some of them were known experts in mind control techniques. For more reliable information, click
here.
AIDS drug therapy connected to death

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/2949734.html
Joyce Ann Hafford died without ever holding the son she had tried to save from contracting AIDS
by taking an experimental drug regimen administered by government-funded researchers during
her pregnancy. But even before her stunned family could grieve, the 33-year-old's death was
reverberating among the government's top scientists in Washington. They quickly realized the
drugs the HIV-positive woman from Memphis, Tenn., was taking likely caused the liver failure that
killed her. Hafford's family members say they were never told NIH had concluded that the
experimental drug regimen likely caused her death until the Associated Press gave them
copies of NIH's internal case documents this month. They were left to believe Hafford had
died from AIDS complications. "They tried to make it sound like she was just sick. They never
connected it to the drug," said Rubbie King, Hafford's sister. NIH officials acknowledge that
experimental drugs, most likely nevirapine, caused her death. The study during which Hafford died
recently led researchers to conclude that nevirapine poses risks when taken over time by certain
pregnant women. The family says Hafford seemed unaware of the liver risks. They even kept the
bottle of nevirapine showing it had no safety warnings.
Note: If you want to understand just how corrupt and deceitful medical research doctors can be,
read the stunning article on this case at this link. This article mentions the little-known fact that "a
majority of HIV-positive tests, when retested, come back indeterminate or negative. In many cases,
different results emerge from the same blood tested in different labs."
US seizes independent media sites

2004-10-11, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3732718.stm
The FBI has shut down some 20 sites which were part of an alternative media network known as
Indymedia. A US court order forced the firm hosting the material to hand over two servers in the
UK used by the group. Indymedia says it is a news source for the anti-globalisation movement and
other social justice issues. The reasons behind the seizure are unclear but the FBI has reportedly
said the action was taken at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities. The servers affected were
run by Rackspace, a US web hosting company with offices in London. It said it had received a
court order from the US authorities last Thursday to hand over the computer equipment at its UK
hosting facility. The reasons behind the action against the Indymedia websites are unclear. The
group said the servers affected had hosted the sites of more then 20 local collectives and audio
streams for several radio stations, as well as several other projects. The seizure has sparked off
protests from journalist groups. "The constitution does not permit the government unilaterally
to cut off the speech of an independent media outlet, especially without providing a reason
or even allowing Indymedia the information necessary to contest the seizure," said EFF
[Electronic Frontier Foundation] Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl.
Note: This important news was not covered by any major U.S. media. Why? Is it a coincidence
that these websites were taken down shortly after they started promoting a video clip showing
President Bush may have been using an electronic hearing aid during the presidential election
debates with John Kerry? Website founder Fred Burks had personal experience suggesting Bush
may have used electronic feeds in high-level meetings while Burks worked as a language
interpreter for him. For more, click here.
How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html
George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of
companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. Newly
discovered files in the US National Archives [confirm] that a firm of which Prescott Bush
was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism. His business
dealings...continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the
Enemy Act. There has been a steady internet chatter about the "Bush/Nazi" connection, much of it
inaccurate and unfair. But the new documents, many of which were only declassified last year,
show that even after America had entered the war...he worked for and profited from companies
closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler's rise to power. Remarkably,
little of Bush's dealings with Germany has received public scrutiny, partly because of the secret
status of the documentation involving him. But now [a] multibillion dollar legal action for damages
by two Holocaust survivors against the Bush family, and the imminent publication of three books
on the subject are threatening to make Prescott Bush's business history an uncomfortable issue
for his grandson. Three sets of archives spell out Prescott Bush's involvement. All three are readily
available, thanks to the efficient US archive system. Like his son, George, and grandson, George
W, he went to Yale where he was, again like his descendants, a member of the secretive and
influential Skull and Bones student society.
On the Voting Machine Makers' Tab

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/opinion/12sun2.html?ex=1252728000&en=dda931...
Some of electronic voting's loudest defenders have been state and local election officials. Many of
those same officials have financial ties to voting machine companies. Former secretaries of state
from Florida and Georgia have signed on as lobbyists for Election Systems and Software
and Diebold Election Systems. When Bill Jones left office as California's secretary of state in
2003, he quickly became a consultant to Sequoia Voting Systems. His assistant secretary of state
took a full-time job there. The list goes on. Even while in office, many election officials are happy to
accept voting machine companies' largess. Forty-three percent of the budget of the National
Association of Secretaries of State comes from voting machine companies and other vendors.
State governments in a growing number of states...have pushed through much-needed laws that
require electronic voting machines to produce paper records. But these groups have faced intense
opposition from election officials [who] argued that voter-verifiable paper trails...are impractical.
While they may sincerely think that electronic voting machines are so trustworthy that there is no
need for a paper record of votes, their views have to be regarded with suspicion until their conflicts
are addressed.
Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-turley14aug14.story
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy
combatants" has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional
menace. Ashcroft's plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order
the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional
rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants. Ashcroft hopes to use
his self-made "enemy combatant" stamp for any citizen whom he deems to be part of a wider
terrorist conspiracy. Aides have indicated that a "high-level committee" will recommend which
citizens are to be stripped of their constitutional rights and sent to Ashcroft's new camps. Few
would have imagined any attorney general seeking to reestablish such camps for citizens. We
have learned from painful experience that unchecked authority, once tasted, easily becomes
insatiable. We are only now getting a full vision of Ashcroft's America. Ashcroft seems to dream of
a country secured from itself, neatly contained and controlled by his judgment of loyalty. For more
than 200 years, security and liberty have been viewed as coexistent values. Ashcroft and his aides
appear to view this relationship as lineal, where security must precede liberty. Every generation
has its test of principle in which people of good faith can no longer remain silent in the face of
authoritarian ambition. If we cannot join together to fight the abomination of American camps, we
have already lost what we are defending.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. This aritcle was written by Jonathan Turley, a professor of
constitutional law at George Washington University. Though Ashcroft resigned, the laws he crafted
remain in place.
Scientists 'kept body parts of 1953 nerve gas victim'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3343201/Scientists-kept-body-parts-of-19...
Government scientists secretly removed body parts from a national serviceman who died after
taking part in nerve gas experiments, a new inquest has been told. Up to 200 separate samples
were taken from 20-year-old Ronald Maddison's brain, spinal cord, heart and skin - without his
family's permission - days after he died at Porton Down, Wiltshire, the government top-secret
chemical warfare research base, in 1953. The body parts have since been used in a number of
experiments by scientists researching the effects of toxic chemical agents on human tissue. The
original inquest, held in secret in 1953, found that Leading Aircraftman Maddison's death was
accidental, but the new inquest will examine fresh evidence and decide whether the original verdict
still stands. Mr Maddison ... was among hundreds of national servicemen who volunteered in
the 1950s and '60s to take part in tests at Porton Down in the belief that they were helping
scientists find a cure for the common cold. The airman died less than an hour after 200mg
of the highly toxic Sarin nerve agent was placed on layers of cloth on the inside of his arm.
The Truth About the Drug Companies (Book Review)

The combined profits for the ten drug companies in the Fortune 500 ($35.9 billion) were more than
the profits for all the other 490 businesses put together ($33.7 billion). Over the past two decades
the pharmaceutical industry has moved very far from its original high purpose of
discovering and producing useful new drugs. Now primarily a marketing machine to sell
drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution
that might stand in its way, including the US Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers,
and the medical profession itself. The great majority of "new" drugs are not new at all but
merely variations of older drugs already on the market. Of the 78 drugs approved by the FDA in
2002, only 17 contained new active ingredients, and only seven of these were classified by the
FDA as improvements over older drugs. [The] market would collapse virtually overnight if the FDA
made approval of new drugs contingent on their being better in some important way than older
drugs already on the market. Many medical schools and teaching hospitals set up "technology
transfer" offices to ... capitalize on faculty discoveries. Medical school faculty entered into ...
lucrative financial arrangements with drug companies, as did their parent institutions. One of the
results has been a growing pro-industry bias in medical researchexactly where such bias doesn't
belong. The industry ... fought the state of Maine all the way to the US Supreme Court, which in
2003 upheld Maine's right to bargain with drug companies for lower prices. This industry is taking
us for a ride, and there will be no real reform without an aroused and determined public to make it
happen.
Note: The above book and book review was written by Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor in chief of
the prestigious The New England Journal of Medicine. For more reliable information on the health
US Justice System Is 'Broken,' Lawyers Say

2004-06-24, The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-punish24jun24,1,72496...
The American criminal justice system relies too heavily on imprisoning people and needs to
consider more effective alternatives, according to a study released Wednesday by the American
Bar Assn., the nation's largest lawyers' organization. "For more than 20 years, we've gotten
tougher on crime," said Dennis W. Archer, a former Detroit mayor and the group's current
president. "We can no longer sit by as more and more people particularly in minority
communities are sent away for longer and longer periods of time while we make it more and
more difficult for them to return to society after they serve their time. The system is broken. We
need to fix it." Both the number of incarcerated Americans and the cost of locking them up are
massive, the report said, and have been escalating significantly in recent years. Between 1974
and 2002, the number of inmates in federal and state prisons rose six-fold. By 2002, 476 out
of every 100,000 Americans were imprisoned. In 1982, the states and federal government
spent $9 billion on jails and prisons. By 1999, the figure had risen to $49 billion. Based on
trends, a black male born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of being imprisoned during his lifetime, while
the chances for a Latino male are 1 in 6, and for a white male, 1 in 17. The report contains
numerous reform proposals. Among them: the repeal of mandatory minimum sentencing laws;
more funding for substance abuse and mental health programs; assistance for prisoners
reentering society; [and] task forces to study racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice
system.
Note: If above link fails, click here. The prison-industrial complex attracts huge profits and strongly
supports laws like "three strikes" where third time offenders are automatically imprisoned for life,
even for petty crime.
State take from corporate income falls

Individual Californians are shouldering an increasing percentage of the state's general fund, while
the share of revenue from corporate income taxes has declined, according to a new analysis by a
think tank in Sacramento. "Over time, the burden of paying for public services has, in a fairly
dramatic way, shifted from businesses to individuals,'' said Jean Ross, director of the nonprofit
California Budget Project in Sacramento. Ross went back more than 40 years to track how much
the state derived from its three main revenue sources: personal income tax, sales tax and
corporate income tax. Over time, income taxes paid by individuals have risen to fill half of the
state's coffers, while corporate income taxes have fallen to about 10 percent of the take. Dan
Bucks, executive director of the Multistate Tax Commission, said the decline in corporate taxes as
a share of state coffers is occurring in all 47 states that levy some form of business or corporate
tax. "Our data indicate that ... corporate income taxes were 9.7 percent of state revenues in 1980
and 4.9 percent in 2002,'' he said. Personal income taxes -- levied in more than 40 states -- have
also risen nationwide "in a virtually straight line,'' he said. Corporations have gotten better at
sheltering income from both federal and state taxes. For instance, the General Accounting
Office, watchdog agency of Congress, recently reported that more than 60 percent of U.S.
corporations paid no federal taxes from 1996 through 2000.
'I saw papers that show US knew al-Qa'ida would attack cities with
aeroplanes'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/i-saw-papers-that-show-us-kn...
A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided
information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior
officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes
happened. She said the claim [made by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice] that there
was no such information was "an outrageous lie". Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three
hours in a closed session with the commission's investigators providing information that was
circulating within the FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft
was just months away and the terrorists were in place. The Bush administration, meanwhile, has
sought to silence her and has obtained a gagging order from a court by citing the rarely used
"state secrets privilege". Mrs Edmonds, 33, says she gave her evidence to the commission in a
specially constructed "secure" room at its offices in Washington on 11 February. She was hired as
a translator for the FBI's Washington field office on 13 September 2001, just two days after the alQa'ida attacks. Her job was to translate documents and recordings from FBI wire-taps. She said
said it was clear there was sufficient information during the spring and summer of 2001 to indicate
terrorists were planning an attack.
Note: Watch the amazing, well documented documentary "Kill the Messenger" on courageous
9/11 whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, the most gagged citizen in U.S. history, who exposes the 9/11
Commission Report as irreparably flawed. For more along these lines, read concise summaries of
deeply revealing 9/11 investigation news from reliable major media sources.
The mysterious lab off New York's shore

2004-04-02, CNN News
http://articles.cnn.com/2004-04-02/entertainment/lab.257_1_plum-island-lab-ge...
Oops. That's the word that comes to mind when reading Michael Carroll's thoroughly nervewracking book, "Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory" ...
about the federal germ facility on Plum Island. The island [is] home to some of the deadliest
microbes festering on the planet. According to Carroll's book, the island -- and laboratory -- are
also home to slipshod construction, poor safeguards, and lax security. "Lab 257" claims errors at
the facility caused Lyme disease outbreaks and health problems for the local population -claims disputed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which ran the facility until recently. Carroll
[said] that the point of the book was to expose the potential hazards of a poorly run institution; he
has nothing against better-run, more secure institutions. "You have to know how things interact,
germs, bacteria, etc. You [just] don't need to create millions of them to know how to create them
and make them more virulent. Like other government scientific facilities, it's had an aura of
mystery: Plum Island earns a mention in "The Silence of the Lambs," and thriller writer Nelson
DeMille set a novel there. Much of Carroll's research was done through interviews with nearby
residents, as well as documents and reports. While the government was "cooperative at the
outset," Carroll said ... he was later denied access to the facility. Carroll isn't the first to offer
criticism. In 2002, after a power outage on the island, New York's WABC-TV did a story on
whether containment procedures worked; several employees questioned the lab's safety. In
2003, the General Accounting Office listed security problems on the island, partially prompted by a
whistleblower, Jim McCoy, who protested the management of a private concern.
Note: At the northernmost tip of Long Island, Plum island sits directly across from the town of
Lyme, Conn., famous as the epicenter of the Lyme disease outbreak. For a powerful, multiple
award-winning film showing shocking ignorance and even political corruption on the part of the
medical community about the Lyme disease epidemic spreading across the US and even around
the world, click here. It shows evidence that Lyme may be even the cause of many cases of ALS,
Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease.
9/11 panel to get access to withheld data

http://articles.boston.com/2003-11-13/news/29196061_1_commission-ashley-snee-...
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reached an agreement with the
White House yesterday to gain restricted access to years of classified presidential briefings. A fourperson subcommittee that will have varying degrees of access to the documents known as
Presidential Daily Briefs from the Bush and Clinton administrations. But the accord includes
numerous restrictions limiting what parts of briefings can be seen and what parts can later be
shared with the rest of the bipartisan panel. The limitations prompted angry condemnations
yesterday from two Democratic commissioners -- former Georgia senator Max Cleland and former
Indiana representative Timothy Roemer -- who have argued that the commission should be more
aggressive in seeking sensitive materials from the Bush administration. Cleland called the
agreement "unconscionable" and said it "was deliberately compromised by the president of the
United States" in order to limit the panel's work. "If this decision stands, I as a member of the
commission cannot look any American in the eye, especially family members of victims,
and say the commission had full access," he said. "This investigation is now compromised.
This is `The Gong Show'; this isn't protection of national security."
Note: Cleland later resigned from the commission. For the questions of other highly-respected
former government officials who are disatisfied with the truthfulness of the 9/11 Commission
Report, click here.
Cosmic bolt probed in shuttle disaster

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/07/CAMERA.TMP
Federal scientists are looking for evidence that a bolt of electricity in the upper atmosphere might
have doomed the space shuttle Columbia as it streaked over California. Investigators are
combing records from a network of ultra-sensitive instruments that might have detected a
faint thunderclap in the upper atmosphere at the same time a photograph taken by a San
Francisco astronomer appears to show a purplish bolt of lightning striking the shuttle. Los
Alamos National Laboratories physicist Mark Stanley said that "we've seen very strong ionization
in sprites" indicating that there were enough air molecules ionized to cause heating and an
accompanying pulse -- a celestial thunderclap, as it were. NASA administrators confirmed
Thursday that the photograph ... is being evaluated by Columbia crash investigators. The
astronomer, who has asked that his name not be used, has declined to release the digital image to
the media. [A] family of "transient" electrical effects occup[ies] this part of the sky, including sprites,
which leap from the ionosphere to the tops of thunderheads. Ironically, an experiment of Israeli
astronaut Ilan Ramon, aboard the doomed Columbia, was among the last fully funded work
conducted on sprites. Scientists have observed interaction between a blue jet and a meteor. And in
December 1999, Los Alamos National Laboratories researcher David Suszcynsky and colleagues,
including Lyons, published an account of a meteor that apparently triggered a sprite.
Note: For a second article with the subtitle "Mysterious purple streak is shown hitting Columbia 7
minutes before it disintegrated," click here. Though this most bizarre news suggested another
possible reason for the crash of the shuttle Columbia, it was virtually ignored throughout the official
investigation. Why?
Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html
Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population,
that is more than $5,700 per person. This is an estimate by Thomas Stauffer, a consulting
economist in Washington. Mr. Stauffer has tallied the total cost to the US of its backing of Israel in
its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians. The bill adds up to more than twice the cost of
the Vietnam War. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. It has been getting $3 billion
a year for years. Israel has been given $240 billion since 1973, Stauffer reckons. In addition, the
US has given Egypt $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion in foreign aid in return for signing peace
treaties with Israel. Stauffer wonders if Americans are aware of the full bill for supporting Israel
since some costs, if not hidden, are little known. Other US help includes: Israel buys discounted,
serviceable "excess" US military equipment. Stauffer says these discounts amount to "several
billion dollars" over recent years. Israel uses roughly 40 percent of its $1.8 billion per year in
military aid, ostensibly earmarked for purchase of US weapons, to buy Israeli-made hardware. It
also has won the right to require the Defense Department or US defense contractors to buy Israelimade equipment or subsystems, paying 50 to 60 cents on every defense dollar the US gives to
Israel. US help ... has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up
almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. US defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel
requirements and the extra competition subsidized by US taxpayers. Stauffer [has] been assisted
in this research by a number of mostly retired military or diplomatic officials who do not go public
for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic.
Note: Israel has a population of 6.5 million. Yearly foreign aid to Israel has generally varied
between $2.5 to 3.0 billion for many years (it's difficult to locate these figures on U.S. government
websites). If you do the math, U.S. taxpayers are giving every man, woman, and child, in Israel
about $400/year -- over ten times the per capita rate paid to any other country. That's quite a tax
break, especially considering they are not Americans.
FBI Chief Acknowledges 9/11 Errors

2002-05-30, CBS News
FBI Director Robert Mueller, acknowledging serious lapses in how the FBI mishandled some
information prior to Sept. 11, suggested for the first time that investigators might have detected the
terrorist plot if they had pursued leads more diligently. Mueller's acknowledgment came amid two
new disclosures of what could be missed hints about Sept. 11. The first was a warning from
another agency to the FBI that a Middle Eastern country was seeking to buy commercial
flight simulators. The second was a memo from an Oklahoma City FBI agent who reported
observing large numbers of Middle Eastern pilots and flight students in his area. Neither
memo apparently drew much attention at the time. Mueller's remarks came after his
announcement of a broad reorganization of the FBI, partly because of its failure to predict the
attacks. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced loosened restrictions on domestic spying,
handing the FBI authority to monitor Internet sites and libraries. The American Civil Liberties Union
has criticized the loosening of restrictions on domestic spying, saying they could renew abuses of
the past. Mueller, who took over as FBI director just days before Sept. 11, is the first senior official
in the Bush administration to say that counterterrorism investigators might have detected and
averted the attacks if they had recognized what they were collecting.
Note: Yet no one in the US government was held accountable for these failures.
Bush Opposes 9/11 Query Panel

2002-05-15, CBS News
President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe ... to voice his opposition to
establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings
before Sept. 11. Mr. Bush said the matter should be dealt with by congressional intelligence
committees. Mr. Bush said the investigation should be confined to Congress because it deals with
sensitive information that could reveal sources and methods of intelligence. Mr. Bush's comments
come after a two-day hearing on Capitol Hill with FBI director Robert Mueller and the agent who
wrote the so-called "Phoenix memo" last summer warning about ... Arab students training at U.S.
aviation schools. Current and former government officials, who are familiar with Williams' memo
and debriefings, told the AP the counterterrorism agent from Phoenix had ascertained that several
Arab students training at Arizona flight school held anti-American views. Williams identified several
Arab students at Arizona aviation schools, including one school in Prescott, who were seeking
training in aviation engineering, flight lessons and airport operations. He had ascertained that at
least one of the students had also made inquiries about airport security operations, the officials
said.
Note: For many questions raised by highly-respected former government officials about the
investigation that was, after four years, finally authorized, click here.
Live rats driven by remote control

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,708454,00.html
Scientists have turned living rats into remote-controlled, pleasure-driven robots which can be
guided up ladders, through ruins and into minefields at the click of a laptop key. The project ... is
funded by the US military's research arm. Animals have often been used by humans in combat
and in search and rescue, but not under direct computer-to-brain electronic control. The advent of
surgically altered roborats marks the crossing of a new boundary in the mechanisation, and
potential militarisation, of nature. In 10 sessions the rats learned that if they ran forward and turned
left or right on cue, they would be "rewarded" with a buzz of electrically delivered pleasure. Once
trained they would move instantaneously and accurately as directed, for up to an hour at a time.
The rats could be steered up ladders, along narrow ledges and down ramps, up trees, and into
collapsed piles of concrete rubble. Roborats fitted with cameras or other sensors could be
used as search and rescue aids. In theory, be put to some unpleasant uses, such as
assassination. [For] surveillance ... you could apply this to birds ... if you could fit birds with
sensors and cameras. Michael Reiss, professor of science education at London's Institute of
Education and a leading bioethics thinker ... said he was uneasy about humankind "subverting the
autonomy" of animals. "There is a part of me that is not entirely happy with the idea of our
subverting a sentient animal's own aspirations and wish to lead a life of its own."
Note: Remember that secret military projects are almost always at least a decade in advance of
anything you read in the media. For lots more on this little-known subject, click here.
U.S. Forces Out Head of Chemical Arms Agency

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E0D91E3FF930A15757C0A9649C...
The United States succeeded today in ousting the director of the global agency charged with
ridding the world of chemical weapons after an intense diplomatic campaign that made a number
of countries uncomfortable. Jos M. Bustani, a Brazilian diplomat who was unanimously re-elected
last year as the director general of the 145-nation Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons, was voted out of office today after refusing repeated demands by the United States that
he step down. ''I clearly made some people in Washington very uncomfortable because I was too
independent,'' Mr. Bustani said afterward. ''They want somebody more obedient.'' Diplomats said
... it had opened the door further for other international bodies to come under attack. The United
States, which is responsible for 22 percent of the agency's budget, had threatened to cut off
funding until Mr. Bustani left. ''I think a lot of people swallowed this because they thought it
was better for Bustani to be removed than have the U.S. pull out and see the organization
collapse,'' said one European diplomat at the meeting. The firing of Mr. Bustani follows the
removal last week of Robert Watson, a British-born climatologist who had been outspoken on the
threat of global warming, as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He
was removed after pressure from Washington and at least one American oil company.
Note: If Bustani had not been removed, it is very likely that the accusations of WMD in Iraq would
never have stood, and the war would not have happened. For a powerful two-page essay by a
highly decorated U.S. general alleging that war is a racket orchestrated to line the pockets of the
Chemical Coup d'etat

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4394862,00.html
The US wants to depose the diplomat who could take away its pretext for war with Iraq. On
Sunday, the US government will launch an international coup. It has been planned for a
month. It will be executed quietly, and most of us won't know what is happening until it's too late. It
is seeking to overthrow 60 years of multilateralism in favour of a global regime built on force. The
coup begins with its attempt ... to unseat the man in charge of ridding the world of chemical
weapons. If it succeeds, this will be the first time that the head of a multilateral agency will have
been deposed in this manner. The coup will also shut down the peaceful options for dealing with
the chemical weapons Iraq may possess, helping to ensure that war then becomes the only means
of destroying them. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) enforces
the chemical weapons convention. Its director-general is a workaholic Brazilian diplomat called
Jose Bustani. He has, arguably, done more in the past five years to promote world peace than
anyone else on earth. His inspectors have overseen the destruction of 2 million chemical weapons
and two-thirds of the world's chemical weapon facilities. In May 2000, as a tribute to his
extraordinary record, Bustani was re-elected unanimously by the member states for a second fiveyear term. Last year Colin Powell wrote to him to thank him for his "very impressive" work. But now
everything has changed. [But now] the man celebrated for his achievements has been denounced
as an enemy of the people. In January, with no prior warning or explanation, the US state
department asked the Brazilian government to recall him.
Note: The "coup" was successful. The New York Times, though reporting few of the details above,
stated six days after the above article, "Jos M. Bustani ... was voted out of office today after
refusing repeated demands by the United States that he step down because of his 'management
style.'" For why this highly revealing story received no media coverage in the U.S., click
here. For a top U.S. general's comments, click here.
US grants N Korea nuclear funds

2002-04-02, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1908571.stm
The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an
agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was
being misused. In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's
requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any
weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors. President Bush argued that the
decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States". The head of the
Non-proliferation Policy Education Centre in Washington, a critic of the Agreed Framework, has
warned that even when the new reactors are completed they may not be tamper-proof. "These
reactors are like all reactors, They have the potential to make weapons. So you might end up
supplying the worst nuclear violator with the means to acquire the very weapons we're trying to
prevent it acquiring," Henry Sokolski told the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Note: Though this article is from 2002, one must ask why on earth President Bush would waive
the requirement for inspectors who would ensure no nuclear weapons development? Wasn't this
one of three countries he had already labeled as the axis of evil? For answers to these questions,
click here.
From U.S., the ABC's of Jihad

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A5339-2002Mar22
In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan
schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of
covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation. The primers, which were filled with talk
of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the
Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books,
though the radical movement scratched out human faces in keeping with its strict fundamentalist
code. What seemed like a good idea in the context of the Cold War is being criticized by
humanitarian workers as a crude tool that steeped a generation in violence. Many of the 4 million
texts being trucked into Afghanistan, and millions more on the way, still feature Koranic verses and
teach Muslim tenets. The White House defends the religious content, saying that Islamic
principles permeate Afghan culture and that the books "are fully in compliance with U.S.
law and policy." Legal experts, however, question whether the books violate a
constitutional ban on using tax dollars to promote religion.
Note: The author doesn't mention that these US-produced books are also openly promoting
violence and war. Of course, that is not against the law, while using US tax money to promote
religion is.
Planning for Terror but Failing to Act

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/30/national/30TERR.html
An extensive review of the nation's antiterrorism efforts shows that for years before Sept. 11, ... top
leaders never reacted as if they believed the country was as vulnerable as it proved to be that
morning. Dozens of interviews with current and former officials demonstrate that even as the threat
of terrorism mounted through eight years of the Clinton administration and eight months of
President Bush, the government did not marshal its full forces against it. The rising threat of the
Islamic jihad movement was first detected by United States investigators after the 1993 bombing of
the World Trade Center. The inquiry into that attack revealed a weakness in the immigration
system used by one of the terrorists, but that hole was never plugged, and it was exploited by one
of the Sept. 11 hijackers. On at least three occasions between 1998 and 2000, the C.I.A. told
the White House it had learned where Mr. bin Laden was and where he might soon be. Each
time, Mr. Clinton approved the strike. Each time, George Tenet, the director of central
intelligence, called the president to say that the information was not reliable enough to be
used in an attack, a former senior Clinton administration official said."
Note: For many unanswered questions about the official explanation of what happened before and
on 9/11 raised by highly credible officials and professionals, click here and here.
America's pipe dream

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/23/afghanistan.terrorism11
The invasion of Afghanistan is ... a late colonial adventure. Afghanistan [is] indispensable to the
regional control and transport of oil in central Asia. Its northern neighbours ... contain reserves
which could be critical to future global supply. In 1998, Dick Cheney, now US vice-president but
then chief executive of a major oil services company, remarked: "I cannot think of a time when we
have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian." But
the oil and gas there is worthless until it is moved. The only route which makes both
political and economic sense is through Afghanistan. Pipelines through Afghanistan would
allow the US both to pursue its aim of "diversifying energy supply" and to penetrate the
world's most lucrative markets. Growth in European oil consumption is slow and competition is
intense. In south Asia, by contrast, demand is booming and competitors are scarce. Pumping oil
south and selling it in Pakistan and India, in other words, is far more profitable than pumping it
west and selling it in Europe. As the author Ahmed Rashid has documented, in 1995 the US oil
company Unocal started negotiating to build oil and gas pipelines from Turkmenistan, through
Afghanistan and into Pakistani ports on the Arabian sea. The company's scheme required a single
administration in Afghanistan, which would guarantee safe passage for its goods.
Note: Is it unusual that the president installed by the U.S. in Afghanistan once worked for Unocal?
Many details of the attempts by the US government to pressure the Taliban into going along with
Unocal's pipeline dream are revealed in Ahmed Rashid's book Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and
Fundamentalism in Central Asia.
Warnings: Earlier Hijackings Offered Signals That Were Missed

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/03/us/a-nation-challenged-warnings-earlier-hij...
Over and over since Sept. 11, aviation and security officials have said they were shocked that
terrorists had hijacked airliners and crashed them into landmark buildings. ''This is a whole new
world for us,'' Jane F. Garvey, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said
in testimony before a House subcommittee on Sept. 20. But the record shows that for her
and others, there were numerous warnings. In 1994, two jetliners were hijacked by people who
wanted to crash them into buildings, one of them by an Islamic militant group. And the 2000 edition
of the F.A.A.'s annual report on Criminal Acts Against Aviation, published this year, said that
although Osama bin Laden ''is not known to have attacked civil aviation, he has both the
motivation and the wherewithal to do so." The previous year's edition of that report said that an
exiled Islamic leader in Britain proclaimed in August 1998 that Mr. bin Laden would ''bring down an
airliner, or hijack an airliner to humiliate the United States.'' The authorities appeared to draw no
lessons from the two attacks in 1994.
Note: For many unanswered questions about the official explanation of what happened before and
on 9/11 raised by highly credible officials and professionals, click here and here.
Scarred Steel Holds Clues, And Remedies

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/02/science/scarred-steel-holds-clues-and-remed...
On his first night in the city to collect scientific data on the collapsed World Trade Center buildings,
Dr. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl looked out the window of his room at the Tribeca Grand Hotel and
saw a flatbed truck parked outside. By chance, trucks hauling steel from the trade center site
paused there for an hour or two before proceeding to the docks, where the steel was loaded onto
barges. Dr. Astaneh-Asl, a professor of structural engineering at the University of California at
Berkeley, ... went downstairs for a closer look. Over the next few nights, he cataloged 30 to 40 of
the mighty beams and columns as trucks stopped in front of the hotel. ''I've found quite a number
of interesting items,'' he said. Dr. Astaneh-Asl hopes to conduct what is, in essence, an autopsy of
the buildings felled by the terrorist attacks, to understand precisely how they fell apart. One piece
Dr. Astaneh-Asl saw was a charred horizontal I-beam from 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story
skyscraper that collapsed from fire eight hours after the attacks. The beam ... had clearly
endured searing temperatures. Parts of the flat top of the I, once five-eighths of an inch
thick, had vaporized. Dr. Astaneh-Asl and other engineers had assumed that the estimated
310,000 tons of steel columns and beams were being taken to Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island
with the rest of the debris, to be sifted by investigators. But because the steel provides no clues to
the criminal investigation, New York City started sending it to recyclers.
Note: Normal fire cannot vaporize steel, so Dr. Astaneh-Asl's finding clearly contradicts the official
story. For an abundance of powerful evidence presented by respected architects and engineers
that World Trade Center 7 was brought down by explosives, click here.
New documents show the monkey virus is present in more recent polio
vaccine
A monkey virus linked to human cancers may have contaminated the oral polio vaccine for years
after the U.S. government ordered manufacturers to remove it. The Chronicle reported last week
that the simian virus SV40 had contaminated early polio vaccine given to millions of Americans.
When health officials discovered in 1961 that SV40 caused malignant tumors in lab animals, they
ordered the virus eliminated from all future vaccine. But internal memos from Lederle Laboratories,
the chief producer of polio vaccine in the United States, indicate SV40 may not have been
completely removed. According to one memo, SV40 was found in three of 15 lots of the oral
vaccine seven months after the federal directive was issued in March 1961. Lederle released the
contaminated vaccine to the public anyway, the memo shows. Scientists discovered SV40 in the
Salk polio vaccine in 1960. By then as many as 30 million Americans had been given
injections of the SV40-tainted polio vaccine, which was first licensed in 1955. In recent years
more than 60 scientific studies have found SV40 in rare human brain, bone and lung-related
cancers, the same kinds of tumors the virus caused in laboratory animals. Some scientists believe
SV40 may play a role in causing those cancers. The Lederle documents, which were obtained by
Philadelphia attorney Stanley Kops in litigation not related to SV40, raise the possibility the virus
might have been transmitted by contaminated oral vaccine, licensed for production in 1962.
Note: There are numerous major problems with how vaccines are monitored and developed, yet
the media largely fails to address this major issue. For many powerful reports from reliable sources
on the dangers of vaccines, click here. For lots more, click here and here.
Coruscating criticism of the free market ideology of the IMF

2001-04-27, BBC News
GREG PALAST: Protesters say that what we have here is a conspiracy - the World Bank, IMF and
World Trade Organisation don't help the poor of the world, they crush them. Well, the bosses are
here today, let's ask them. Joseph Stiglitz was chief economist of the World Bank - he should
know. He was in the meetings when the World Bank and IMF met to decide the fate of nations.
JOSEPH STIGLITZ: They were making the countries worse off. They'll take a strong position on
petty larceny and petty theft, but on grand larceny, they'll look the other way. PALAST: The insider
says there's a "one-size-fits-all" plan. Every nation gets the same exact four-step
programme to the free market paradise. Step one - freedom for hot money. Step two freedom to increase prices. Step three - free trade for all. Step four, where it all begins,
freedom to privatise everything. Insiders saw how it worked in Russia. JOSEPH STIGLITZ:
That was the extreme case. You turned over these assets to these oligarchs at a time when the
government didn't have enough money to pay pensions to old people. It turned over billions of
dollars to a few oligarchs for a fraction of the value of those assets. When it comes to corruption in
Russia, they were willing to turn the other way. The IMF and the US Treasury actually almost
encouraged it.
Note: To watch the eight-minute video of this BBC clip, click here. For a powerful summary of John
Perkins book describing this process in detail, click here. Perkins say he was hired to use the big
international banks' money to corrupt dictators and enrich the coffers of the biggest multinational
corporations.
Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report

2001-03-29, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/program/overview.html
Twenty-three years to the day after he went to work with vinyl chloride and other toxic chemicals at
a plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Dan Ross died of a rare brain cancer. He was 46 years old,
convinced that his job had killed him. His wife, Elaine, sued her husband's former employer and,
over the next decade, the process of legal discovery led deeper and deeper into the inner
chambers of the chemical industry and its Washington trade association. Hundreds of thousands
of pages of documents were unearthed. In TRADE SECRETS: A MOYERS REPORT, journalist Bill
Moyers and producer Sherry Jones investigated the Ross archive secrets the chemical industry
never intended the public to see and discovered a shocking story. The confidential papers reveal
the industry's early knowledge of vinyl chloride's dangerous effects, as well as the industry's long
silence on the subject. The program also reports a much larger story. Buried in the thousands of
pages of documents minutes from board meetings, reports from industry scientists, internal
memoranda is a never-before-told account of a campaign to limit the regulation of toxic
chemicals and any liability for their effects, at the same that the companies work to
withhold vital information about risks from workers, the government and the public. Over
the last five decades, more than 75,000 chemicals have been produced, turned into consumer
products or released into the environment. Today, every man, woman and child has synthetic
chemicals in their bodies. No child is born free of them. Are they safe? Does anyone know?
Note: This article also mentions that even though Moyers never lived near a chemical plant, tests
showed that his body contained a chemical soup of 84 industrial chemicals, including 31 different
types of PCBs, 13 different dioxins, and pesticides such as DDT. Why are these chemicals so
poorly studied and the dangerous effects hidden from us? For lots more from reliable sources on
Colorful Outsider Is Named No. 3 at the CIA

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16570-2001Mar16.html
A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a ... former investment banker ... was named yesterday executive director
of the CIA, bringing a fast-paced management style to the agency's No. 3 job. Central Intelligence
Agency Director George J. Tenet announced the appointment, saying he treasures Krongard's
"wise counsel and 'no-nonsense' business-like views." Krongard, 64, former head of Alex. Brown &
Co., an investment bank based in Baltimore, joined the agency three years ago as a counselor to
Tenet. He switched careers shortly after helping engineer the $2.5 billion merger of Alex. Brown
and Bankers Trust New York Corp., gaining $71 million in Bankers Trust stock. Few of his former
colleagues were surprised by his decision to trade a $4 million salary and stock options for the far
less remunerative job of Tenet's consigliere. A graduate of Princeton and the University of
Maryland Law School, Krongard has a fondness for extreme military-style activities. Even as a
banking executive, he trained with police SWAT teams for recreation and worked out with a kung
fu master. He maintained a shooting range on the park-like grounds of his home on the northern
edge of Baltimore. In an interview yesterday, Krongard described his past duties as those of a
"minister without portfolio" whom senior managers felt comfortable talking to about "sticky
subjects." But Krongard exhibited the requisite secretiveness when asked to explain his
interest in intelligence and how he came to land a job in Tenet's inner circle. If you go back
to the CIA's origins during World War II in the Office of Strategic Services, he explained,
"the whole OSS was really nothing but Wall Street bankers and lawyers."
Note: Buzzy Krongard was the executive director of the CIA on 9/11. His past ties to the
investment firm which placed most of the extraordinarily high volume of "put options" on United
and American Airlines stocks the week before the attacks is one of many strange "coincidences"
unexplained by the official story of what happened on that horrific day. For more on this, click here.
To read the entire article free of charge, click here.
Who pulls the strings?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/10/extract1
So this is how it works. A tiny, shoe-string central office in Holland decides each year which
country will host the next meeting. Each country has two steering committee members. They call
up Bilderberg-friendly global corporations, such as Xerox or Heinz or Fiat or Barclays or Nokia,
which donate the hundreds of thousands of pounds needed. They do not accept unsolicited
donations from non-Bilderberg corporations. Nobody can buy their way into a Bilderberg meeting,
although many corporations have tried. Then they decide who to invite - who seems to be a
"Bilderberg person". The notion of a Bilderberg person hasn't changed since the earliest days,
back in 1954. The guests are expressly asked not to give interviews to journalists. There are two
morning sessions and two afternoon sessions. While furiously denying that they secretly ruled the
world, my Bilderberg interviewees did admit to me that international affairs had, from time to time,
been influenced by these sessions. This is how Denis Healey described a Bilderberg person to
me: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly
unfair. Bilderberg is a way of bringing together politicians, industrialists, financiers and
journalists. Politics should involve people who aren't politicians."
Note: For lots more on the highly secretive Bilderberg meeting from two later BBC News article,
click here. For many other revealing articles from major media reports on secret societies and
secret meetings of the most rich and powerful people in our world, click here.
WikiLeaks cables recount how U.S. pressured allies

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/06/IN251HEQIP.DTL
They have received little attention in the United States, but a set of WikiLeaks disclosures of
confidential documents has caused an uproar in Europe by showing that U.S. officials pressured
Germany and Spain to derail criminal investigations of Americans. More than 2,500 State
Department cables ... include accounts of three cases that shed new light on U.S. responses to
allegations of wrongdoing: -- The case of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen seized in Macedonia
in 2003 by officers who mistook him for an al Qaeda agent with a similar name. He said they
turned him over to U.S. authorities, who flew him in shackles, a blindfold and a diaper to a prison in
Afghanistan, where they beat him, injected him with drugs and interrogated him. The CIA analyst
who advocated el-Masri's abduction and argued against releasing him even after
colleagues reported the mistaken identity has been promoted to run the agency's al Qaeda
unit and regularly briefs CIA Director Leon Panetta. -- The case of four Spanish residents who
said they were tortured by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay before being released without
charges. -- The case of Jose Couso, a Spanish cameraman who was one of two journalists killed
in April 2003 by a U.S. artillery shell at a hotel in Baghdad. A U.S. military investigation concluded
that troops were responding to reports of rocket attacks from the building, but journalists on the
scene have said the hotel was a well-known media headquarters and was not the source of any
hostile fire. A May 2007 WikiLeaks cable quoted then-U.S. Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre as saying
that "behind the scenes we have fought tooth and nail to make the charges disappear." The
Obama administration has refused to discuss the content of the State Department documents or of
previous WikiLeaks disclosures about Iraq and Afghanistan.
Note: As mentioned in the full article, all three of these cases were dismissed or derailed due to
intense pressure by the US on the legal systems of the countries involved. For many other reliable
reports of manipulation around the war on terrorism, click here.
Steal a bottle of shampoo, go to prison for life

1998-12-30, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper
http://articles.sfgate.com/1998-12-30/opinion/17739678_1_third-strike-califor...
Welcome to the macabre world of California's Three Strikes Law, where 25 to life for the theft of a
disposable camera is not an aberration. The Department of Corrections projects that by 2002, 1
out of every 4 California prisoners will be a "second or third striker." CDC statistics show that as of
March 31 [1998], there were 4,076 prisoners serving third-strike sentences, but fewer than half
were imprisoned for convictions for "crimes against persons." According to the Legislative
Analyst's Office, almost half of the "third strike" offenses were nonviolent or nonserious felonies,
and the most common "second strikes" were drug possession, petty theft and burglary.
Prosecutors use the law viciously, frequently against petty, nonviolent offenders. It does not matter
that the conviction was from another state, or even another country. Perhaps most significantly,
the third strike can be any felony; it does not need to be a "violent" or "serious" one. Thus,
offenses such as petty theft can bring a life sentence. While many states have three strikes,
only California's is so uncompromising. Moreover, it is not working. According to the Justice Policy
Institute, between 1994 and 1995, violent crime in states without three strikes fell three times
faster than in states with such laws. RAND, a respected policy analysis institution, found that a
graduation incentive program is five times more effective at reducing crime than three strikes.
Note: Remember that the prison-industrial complex is a huge money-making machine for certain
connected individuals and corporations. For key reports on government corruption from reliable
sources, click here.
WWII War Crimes List in 1996 Puzzles Japan

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-12-13/news/mn-8706_1_wwii-war-crimes
Why has the United States decided to crack down on suspected Japanese war criminals 50 years
after granting them immunity from prosecution? Japanese scratched their heads last week at the
unexpected announcement that the U.S. Justice Department had included former members of an
infamous bacterial warfare research unit on a "watch list" of 16 suspected Japanese World War II
war criminals prohibited from entering the United States. The United States has been aware of the
identities of the Unit 731 leaders and of their gruesome experiments on human subjects since the
end of the war. Details of Unit 731 atrocities have appeared in the Western and Japanese media
for more than a decade. In secret laboratories in occupied China, Unit 731 researchers tested
poison gas and biological weapons on prisoners; froze and defrosted victims' limbs to
study frostbite; and vivisected humans without anesthetic. After the war, the United States
concluded that the results of these experiments were "of the highest intelligence value."
Fearful that those results would fall into Soviet hands, the U.S. occupation authorities gave the
head of Japan's bacterial warfare program, Dr. Shiro Ishii, and his colleagues immunity from
prosecution ... in exchange for their secret data. Many of Ishii's colleagues went on to
distinguished careers in postwar Japan, holding posts in the National Institute of Health, serving as
medical school deans and laboratory heads.
Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025

1996-08-00, US Air Force Air University
http://csat.au.af.mil/2025/volume3/vol3ch15.pdf
In 2025, US aerospace forces can own the weather by capitalizing on emerging technologies and
focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications. Such a capability offers
the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. Weathermodification is a force multiplier with tremendous power that could be exploited across the
full spectrum of war-fighting environments. From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting
those of the enemy via small-scale tailoring of natural weather patterns complete dominance of
global communications and counter-space control, weather-modification offers war fighter a widerange of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary. But, while offensive weather
modification efforts would certainly be undertaken by US forces with great caution and trepidation,
it is clear that we cannot afford to allow an adversary to obtain an exclusive weather-modification
capability.
Note: The above quote is taken from pages 6 and 35, the executive summary and conclusion of
the above US Air Force study. For a highly revealing article suggesting elements within
government have much more control over the weather than is thought, click here.
The Flu Pandemic

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/29/magazine/the-flu-pandemic.html
The existence of the influenza vaccine ... may give us a sense of false security when it comes to
the possibility of a pandemic outbreak of influenza. In fact, the flu vaccine must be reformulated
each year to keep pace with the newest variants of this fast-mutating virus. The recipe for making
the flu vaccine is simple. Take the current year's variant of the influenza virus, throw it into a stew
with a strain of virus that leads to rapid proliferation. Incorporate the fast-growing strain into its own
genes and start replicating it. From there, it's an easy matter to take those plentiful viruses and
attenuate them for a flu vaccine. But the scientists who must determine what virus will cause
the next year's illness run a high chance of being wrong. Some observers have put the
odds of success at no better than 50-50. Even when they are right, the vaccine lasts only as
long as that year's strain. Experts thought they saw big-league trouble coming in February 1976,
when a few cases of severe swine flu broke out among young military recruits in Fort Dix, N.J. One
of them, Pvt. David Lewis, 19, died. Lewis and four others were shown to be infected with the
same H1N1 influenza virus as was responsible for the 1918 pandemic. But the swine-flu pandemic
never materialized. In retrospect, some critics now say 40 million Americans were vaccinated for
nothing. In fact, the only real illness to result from the swine flu adventure was caused by the
vaccine: about one thousand people developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, a serious paralytic
disease that could be traced directly to an immunological response to the inoculation.
Note: This article also discusses how new, intensified farming techniques for chickens, pigs, and
ducks are the prime breeding ground for viruses which spread around the world. A powerful CBS
60 Minutes clip on the 1976 swine flu scare is available here. The intrepid 60 Minutes team
shows how greed and blatant corruption led to the death of hundreds and paralysis of thousands
as a direct result of the vaccine developed that year, while only one person died from the flu. For
lots more, click here.
Secrets by the thousands

http://www.harpers.org/archive/1946/10/0032777
Someone wrote to Wright Field recently, saying he understood this country had got together quite
a collection of enemy war secrets, that many were now on public sale, and could he, please, be
sent everything on German jet engines. 'The Army Air Forces' answered: "Sorry but that would
be fifty tons." Moreover, that fifty tons was just a small portion. Wright Field is working from a
documents "mother lode" of fifteen hundred tons. It is estimated that over a million separate items
... very likely contain practically all the scientific, industrial, and military secrets of Germany. What
did we find? The head of the communications unit ... showed me then what had been two of the
most closely-guarded technical secrets of the war: the infra-red device which the Germans
invented for seeing at night, and the remarkable diminutive generator which operated it. The
diminutive generator five inches across stepped up current from an ordinary flashlight battery
to 15,000 volts. It had a walnut-sized motor which spun a rotor at 10,000 rpm. The generator
then ran 3,000 hours! "As for medical secrets in this collection," one Army-surgeon has
remarked, "some of them will save American medicine years of research; some of them are
revolutionary like, for instance, the German technique for treatment after prolonged and usually
fatal exposure to cold." This discovery ... reversed everything medical science thought about the
subject. And in aeronautics and guided missiles [the secrets] proved to be downright
alarming. Army Air Force experts declare publicly that in rocket power and guided missiles
the Nazis were ahead of us by at least ten years.
Note: To read the entire fascinating article, click here. To verify this article on the Harper's
Magazine website, click here. How can the Nazi technology have been so far superior to that of
the allies? For the riveting testimony of numerous military officers on the back engineering of UFO
technologies, click here.
Major Questions Remain Unanswered in Boston Killing of Alleged ISIS

Beheading Plotter
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/10/major-questions-remain-unanswer...
Last week in the Boston area, a 26-year-old black Muslim man was shot and killed by
agents of the FBI and Boston Police Department. A surveillance video ... was finally released
on Monday. Its virtually impossible to know what happened from this highly touted video, other
than the fact that [Usaamah] Rahim appears to have been walking peacefully when he was
approached by multiple individuals, wearing no police uniforms, in a threatening, military-style
formation. Rahims family issued a statement detailing the numerous questions raised by the
video. Early reports claimed that there was a third conspirator beyond Rahim and [his nephew and
accused co-conspirator David] Wright. The FBI affidavit filed against Wright repeatedly references
a third person who plotted with Rahim and Wright and met with them. Yet there has been no
further mention of this third person, and apparently no arrest of him. Why not? Is that third person
an FBI informant? Is this yet another case where the director and prime mover of a scary terror
plot is in fact the FBI itself. What basis exists for the highly inflammatory claim that Rahim was
linked to or inspired by ISIS? He was not only wary of being set up by the FBI, but
specifically said he was preaching AGAINST violence and terrorism. As AP noted, on social
media Rahim spoke out against the kind of violence Islamic State extremists are fomenting across
the Middle East, and made none of the violent calls to arms many supporters of armed extremist
groups espouse on social media.
the erosion of civil liberties and the manipulation of public perception.
When Its O.K. to Pay for a Story

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/opinion/when-its-ok-to-pay-for-a-story.html...
Last week, WikiLeaks disturbed many journalists with an initiative to crowd-source a
$100,000 bounty on the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. In traditional
newsrooms, the idea of offering a cash incentive for the leaking of confidential documents
is anathema. But WikiLeaks ... leaves us no choice but to reconsider this prohibition. The
TPP exceeds agreements like Nafta in scope and scale and involves far-reaching foreign policy
decisions. Its measures will touch the lives of every citizen in the 12 countries expected to sign the
pact. Chapters already leaked suggest that the deal restricts fair use of copyrighted material,
expands medical patents and weakens public policies that govern net neutrality. Members of
Congress can read the text in a secure room but cannot discuss its contents publicly.
Representatives from about 600 private corporations are said to have access to the document. Yet
the public is excluded. WikiLeaks has arrived at a flawed solution to a very real problem. We have
reached a point in the evolution of global democracy at which secrecy and transparency are
grotesquely imbalanced. Right now, the bounty may be the best shot we have at transforming the
TPP process from a back-room deal to an open debate. But we need a better system to
discourage unjustified secrecy, to protect sources and to encourage public-interest whistleblowing.
Note: The Trans-Pacific Partnership may be a pending disaster. But we do not know for sure,
because its contents remain secret. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing news articles about corruption in government and in the corporate world.
Canada 'cultural genocide' against First Nation

2015-06-03, BBC News
A study has found rules that required Canadian aboriginals to attend state-funded church
schools were responsible for "cultural genocide". The report released on Tuesday found that
First Nation children were often physically and sexually abused. "They were stripped of their selfrespect and they were stripped of their identity," said Murray Sinclair, one of the study's authors.
More than 130 residential schools operated across Canada. The Canadian government forced
more than 150,000 First Nation children to attend these schools from the 19th Century until
the mid-1990s. The schools sought to integrate the children into mainstream Canadian society,
but in doing so rid them of their native culture. The policies have been cited as a major factor in an
epidemic of substance abuse on reservations. Students said they were beaten for speaking their
native language and were separated from their parents and customs. Prime Minister Stephen
Harper issued a historic apology in parliament in 2008, acknowledging the physical and sexual
abuse that took place in the schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which wrote the
report, was created in 2006 as part of a $5bn (3.3bn) class action settlement between the
government, churches and the 90,000 surviving First Nation students. The report issued 94
recommendations including an investigation into missing and murdered aboriginal women and an
apology from Pope Francis on behalf of the Catholic Church.
see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sex abuse scandals and violations of
basic civil rights.
WikiLeaks releases documents related to controversial US trade pact

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/03/wikileaks-documents-trade-in-ser...
WikiLeaks on Wednesday released 17 different documents related to the Trade in Services
Agreement (Tisa), a controversial pact currently being hashed out between the US and 23
other countries most of them in Europe and South America. The document dump comes at a
tense moment in the negotiations over a series of trade deals. President Barack Obama has
clashed with his own party over the deals as critics have worried about the impact on jobs and civil
liberties. Unions, which fear heavy job losses once long-standing trade protections are dismantled,
reacted with dismay following publication of the previously hidden documents. Rosa Pavanelli,
general secretary of the Public Services International union, said: It is outrageous that our
democratically elected governments will not tell us the laws they are making. What has our
democracy come to when the community must rely on Wikileaks to find out what our governments
are doing on our behalf? Nick Dearden, director of the charity Global Justice Now ... said: These
leaks reinforce the concerns of campaigners about the threat that TISA poses to vital public
services. There is no mandate for such a far-reaching programme. Its a dark day for democracy
when we are dependent on leaks like this for the general public to be informed of the radical
restructuring of regulatory frameworks that our governments are proposing.
Note: According to an investigation by The Guardian, it cost about $1,148,971 to "fast-track" the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), another secret trade deal. How much are corrupt corporations
paying to corrupt politicians to purchase their favor for TISA?
CIA sex abuse and torture went beyond Senate report disclosures,
detainee says
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/cia-sexual-abuse-torture-majid...
The US Central Intelligence Agency used a wider array of sexual abuse and other forms of torture
than was disclosed in a Senate report last year, according to a Guantnamo Bay detainee turned
government cooperating witness. Majid Khan said interrogators poured ice water on his genitals,
twice videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his private parts none of which was
described in the Senate report. Khans is the first publicly released account from a high-value alQaida detainee who experienced [these] enhanced interrogation techniques. The 35-year-old
Khan ... is awaiting sentencing after [confessing] to delivering $50,000 to al-Qaida operatives in
Indonesia. Khan was captured in Pakistan and held at an unidentified CIA black site from 2003 to
2006, according to the Senate report. In the interviews with his lawyers, Khan described a carnivallike atmosphere of abuse when he arrived at the CIA detention facility. He said that he experienced
excruciating pain when hung naked from poles and that guards repeatedly held his head under ice
water. In a July 2003 session, Khan said, CIA guards hooded and hung him from a metal pole for
several days and repeatedly poured ice water on his mouth, nose and genitals. When a doctor
arrived to check his condition, Khan begged for help. Instead, Khan said, the doctor
instructed the guards to again hang him from the metal bar. After hanging from the pole for
24 hours, Khan was forced to write a confession while being videotaped naked.
Note: For more, read about the 10 Craziest Things in the Senate Report on Torture and many
other questionable intelligence agency practices.
Rand Paul calls for release of 9/11 documents

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/02/rand-paul-cal...
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), fresh off a fight over the Patriot Act, has turned his attention to
another national security battle: declassifying 28 pages of a 2002 Senate inquiry into the
cause of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Paul is sponsoring the "Transparency for the Families of
9/11 Victims and Survivors Act," which would require President Obama to declassify and make
public the pages. The issue is a politically charged one, with some claiming the pages will show
that Saudi Arabia financed the attacks. Paul appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference with a
bipartisan group of House sponsors, including Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Walter Jones (RN.C.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), and Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.). The group were
flanked by members of the group 9/11 Families United for Justice Against Terrorism. Paul pointed
out that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, saying that information that has been
reported over the years "does raise question about their (the government's) support" and if it was
provided to the hijackers. "We cannot let page after page of blanked out documents to be
obscured by a veil, leaving these family members to wonder if there is additional information
surrounding these horrible acts," Paul said. "The 28 pages in the report of over 800 pages go to
the question of who financed 9/11and they point a strong finger at Saudi Arabia," Graham
said.
Note: Rand Paul joins several prominent current and former US politicians that are working to
expose the Saudi government money behind terrorism by declassifying this material. Explore the
statements of over 3,000 respected government officials, professors, military officers, architects,
engineers who have gone on the record raising serious questions about the 9/11 official story. For
more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 investigation news
Questions about arms deals for Clinton Foundation donors

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Questions-about-arms-deals-for-Cli...
Federal law designates the secretary of state as responsible for the continuous supervision and
general direction of sales of arms, military hardware and services to foreign countries. In practice,
that meant that [Hillary] Clinton was charged with rejecting or approving weapons deals
and when it came to Clinton Foundation donors, Hillary Clintons State Department did a
whole lot of approving. While Clinton was secretary of state, her department approved $165
billion worth of commercial arms sales to Clinton Foundation donors. That figure ... is almost
double the value of arms sales to those countries during the same period of President George W.
Bushs second term. The Clinton-led State Department also authorized $151 billion of separate
Pentagon-brokered deals for 16 of the countries that gave to the Clinton Foundation. That was a
143 percent increase in completed sales to those nations over the same time frame during the
Bush administration. The 143 percent increase in U.S. arms sales to Clinton Foundation donors
compares to an 80 percent increase in such sales to all countries over the same time period.
American military contractors and their affiliates that donated to the Clinton Foundation and in
some cases, helped finance speaking fees to Bill Clinton also got in on the action. Those firms
and their subsidiaries were listed as contractors in $163 billion worth of arms deals authorized by
the Clinton State Department.
Note: If you can not access this article at the link above, it is also available here. If you look at war
and global politics from the point of view of war profiteering, you can see why despite popular
opposition to war, it never stops. Read an excellent essay by a top US general exposing how war
is a racket.
Heres how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP

bill
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/27/corporations-paid-us-senators...
The controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is reaching its climax and as Congress hotly
debates the biggest trade deal in a generation, its backers have turned on the cash spigot in the
hopes of getting it passed. TPP passed another crucial vote ... to give Barack Obama the authority
to speed the bill through Congress. The presidents own supporters, senior economists and a host
of activists have lobbied against a pact they argue will favor big business but harm US jobs, fail to
secure better conditions for workers overseas and undermine free speech. Fast-tracking the TPP,
meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or
amendments, was only possible after lots of corporate money exchanged hands with
senators. This chart shows all donations that corporate members of the US Business Coalition for
TPP made to US Senate campaigns between January and March 2015, when fast-tracking the
TPP was being debated in the Senate. Out of the total $1,148,971 given, an average of
$17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 yea votes. The average Republican member received
$19,673.28 from corporate TPP supporters. The average Democrat received $9,689.23 from those
same donors. Almost 100% of the Republicans in the US Senate voted for fast-track.
Note: The above article shows how much it costs to purchase the favor of corrupt politicians in the
U.S.. For legislation like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it costs about $1,148,971.
UN Officials Let Child Sex Abuse Claims Linger

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officials-follow-sex-abuse-claims-months-3...
For months, the U.N.'s top human rights officials knew about allegations of child sexual abuse by
French soldiers in Central African Republic. But they didn't follow up because they assumed
French authorities were handling it ... even as France pressed the U.N. for more information about
the case. The deputy high commissioner for human rights also says that her colleague who first
informed French authorities last July did it because he didn't think the recently created U.N.
peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic would act on the allegations. A year after the
U.N. first heard allegations from children as young as 9 that French soldiers had sexually
abused them, sometimes in exchange for food, it seems that the only person who has been
punished is the U.N. staffer who told French authorities. The Paris prosecutor's office this
month, however, blamed the U.N. "hierarchy" for taking more than six months to supply answers to
its questions. The U.N. finally handed over written answers on April 29, the Paris prosecutor's
office said the same day that the Guardian newspaper first made the French and U.N. inquiries
public. French soldiers had been tasked with protecting civilians in Central African Republic from
vicious violence between Christians and Muslims. Thousands of scared people had crammed into
a camp for displaced people. Residents have told the AP that soldiers offered cookies, other food
or bottles of water in exchange for sodomy or oral sex. It is still not clear where the accused
soldiers are now.
NSA Planned to Hijack Google App Store to Hack Smartphones

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/21/nsa-five-eyes-google-samsung-ap...
The National Security Agency and its closest allies planned to hijack data links to Google and
Samsung app stores to infect smartphones with spyware, a top-secret document reveals. The
surveillance project was launched by a joint electronic eavesdropping unit called the Network
Tradecraft Advancement Team, which includes spies from each of the countries in the Five Eyes
alliance the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. The topsecret document, obtained from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden ... outlines a series of tactics
that the NSA and its counterparts in the Five Eyes were [using, which included] a method to hack
and hijack phone users connections to app stores so that they would be able to send malicious
implants to targeted devices. The implants could then be used to collect data from the phones
without their users noticing. The agencies ... were also keen to find ways to hijack [app stores]
as a way of sending selective misinformation to the targets handsets as part of so-called
effects operations that are used to spread propaganda or confuse adversaries. Moreover,
the agencies wanted to gain access to companies app store servers so they could secretly use
them for harvesting information about phone users. The revelations are the latest to highlight
tactics adopted by the Five Eyes agencies. Last year, The Intercept reported that the NSA ... was
shown to have masqueraded as a Facebook server in order to hack into computers.
corruption in the intelligence community and the manipulation of public perception.
Fossil fuels subsidised by $10m a minute, says IMF

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-gett...
Fossil fuel companies are benefitting from global subsidies of $5.3tn (3.4tn) a year,
equivalent to $10m a minute every day, according to a startling new estimate by the
International Monetary Fund. The IMF ... says the figure is an extremely robust estimate of the
true cost of fossil fuels. The $5.3tn subsidy estimated for 2015 is greater than the total health
spending of all the worlds governments. The vast sum is largely due to polluters not paying
the costs imposed on governments by the burning of coal, oil and gas. The biggest single
source of air pollution is coal-fired power stations and China, with its large population and heavy
reliance on coal power, provides $2.3tn of the annual subsidies. The next biggest fossil fuel
subsidies are in the US ($700bn), Russia ($335bn), India ($277bn) and Japan ($157bn), with the
European Union collectively allowing $330bn in subsidies to fossil fuels. Subsidy reforms are
beginning in dozens of countries including Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco and Thailand. In
India, subsidies for diesel ended in October 2014. Coal use has also begun to fall in China for the
first time this century. Shelagh Whitley, a subsidies expert at the Overseas Development Institute,
said: Our research shows that many of the energy subsidies highlighted by the IMF go toward
finding new reserves of oil, gas and coal, which we know must be left in the ground if we are to
avoid catastrophic, irreversible climate change.
Note: The additional cost of suppressing new energy technologies does not appear to have been
included in these IMF estimates.
US taxpayers subsidising world's biggest fossil fuel companies

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/12/us-taxpayers-subsidising-w...
The worlds biggest and most profitable fossil fuel companies are receiving huge and rising
subsidies from US taxpayers, a practice slammed as absurd by a presidential candidate given
the threat of climate change. A Guardian investigation of three specific projects, run by Shell,
ExxonMobil and Marathon Petroleum, has revealed that the subsidies were all granted by
politicians who received significant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.
At a time when scientists tell us we need to reduce carbon pollution to prevent catastrophic
climate change, it is absurd to provide massive taxpayer subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies
already enormous profits, said senator Bernie Sanders, who announced on 30 April he is running
for president. Sanders, with representative Keith Ellison, recently proposed an End Polluter
Welfare Act, which they say would cut $135bn of US subsidies for fossil fuel companies over the
next decade. Between 2010 and 2014, the oil, coal, gas, utility, and natural resource extraction
industries spent $1.8bn on lobbying, according to Sanders and Ellison. Globally in 2013, the most
recent figures available, the coal, oil and gas industries benefited from subsidies of $550bn, four
times those given to renewable energy. In 2009, President Barack Obama called on the G20 to
eliminate fossil fuel subsidies but since then US federal subsidies have risen by 45%. Every single
well, pipeline, refinery, coal and gas plant in the country is heavily subsidised.
Note: The purchase of corrupt government officials by corporate profiteers prevents renewable
energy solutions from reaching their potential.
Revealed: FBI violated its own rules while spying on Keystone XL

opponents
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/12/revealed-fbi-spied-keystone-xl...
The FBI breached its own internal rules when it spied on campaigners against the Keystone
XL pipeline, failing to get approval before it cultivated informants and opened files on individuals
protesting against the construction of the pipeline in Texas. Internal agency documents show for
the first time how FBI agents have been closely monitoring anti-Keystone activists, in violation of
guidelines designed to prevent the agency from becoming unduly involved in sensitive political
issues. The hugely contentious Keystone XL pipeline, which is awaiting approval from the Obama
administration, would transport tar sands oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf coast. It has been
strongly opposed for years by a coalition of environmental groups ... who have been monitored by
federal law enforcement agencies. Mike German, a former FBI agent ... said [the documents]
indicated the agency had opened a category of investigation that is known in agency parlance as
an assessment. Introduced as part of an expansion of FBI powers after 9/11, assessments
allow agents to open intrusive investigations into individuals or groups, even if they have
no reason to believe they are breaking the law. German ... said the documents also raised
questions over collusion between law enforcement and TransCanada. These documents suggest
the FBI interprets its national security mandate as protecting private industry from political
criticism, he said.
intelligence agency corruption and the erosion of civil liberties from reliable major media sources.
Who is writing the TPP?

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/05/11/elizabeth-warren-and-rosa-delau...
Congress is in an intense debate over trade bills that will shape the course of the US economy for
decades. Modern trade agreements are often less about trade and more about giant
multinational corporations finding new ways to rig the economic system to benefit themselves. The
president argues that the TPP is about who will write the rules for 40 percent of the worlds
economy the United States or China. But who is writing the TPP? The text has been classified
and the public isnt permitted to see it, but 28 trade advisory committees have been intimately
involved in the negotiations. Of the 566 committee members, 480, or 85 percent, are senior
corporate executives or representatives from industry lobbying groups. Many of the
advisory committees are made up entirely of industry representatives. A rigged process
leads to a rigged outcome. By definition, massive trade deals like the TPP override domestic laws
written, debated, and passed by Congress. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has testified before
Congress that trade negotiations involve pressure to lower standards on financial regulations and
other public interest laws, and that President Obama has resisted that pressure. But Obama will
soon leave office, and he cannot bind a future president. This legislation risks giving a future
president a powerful tool to undermine public interest regulations under the guise of promoting
commerce.
Note: US senator Elizabeth Warren and US representative Rosa DeLauro wrote the above article,
which further clarifies why the Trans-Pacific Partnership may be a pending disaster. For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about corruption in
government and in the corporate world.
New report questions story behind killing of Osama bin Laden

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/11/new-report-questions-story...
Four years after the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of US Navy Seals in
Abottabad, Pakistan, a new report ... by journalist Seymour Hersh questions the Obama
administrations account of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The report claims that, among
the lies, the biggest was the idea that the raid in May 2011 that killed bin Laden was an allAmerican event. "The most blatant lie was that Pakistans two most senior military leaders
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, chief of the army staff, and General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, director
general of the ISI were never informed of the US mission," the report says. The report also says
that Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been holding bin Laden as a prisoner since
2006, and that the US learned about the Al Qaeda leaders location through a former senior
Pakistani intelligence officer, who gave the information in return for the reward being offered by
American officials. The White House has said bin Laden was found through tracking his couriers.
Hershs primary US source for his story is "a retired senior intelligence official who was
knowledgeable about the initial intelligence about bin Ladens presence in Abbottabad." White
House spokesman Josh Earnest ... dismissed the Hersh piece, saying it was "riddled with
inaccuracies." Hersh, a longtime contributor to The New Yorker, is an award-winning journalist who
has won numerous prizes for his investigative reporting, including the Pulitzer Prize.
Note: There are many big problems with the official story of the killing of bin Laden. For starters,
read the review on the London Review of Books website. For more, see this ABC News article, this
BBC article and this AP article.
Families of Navy SEALs killed in 2011 attack say government is to blame

2015-05-10, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/10/families-fallen-navy-seals-in-2011...
The families of Navy SEAL Team 6 members killed in a disastrous August 2011 helicopter
crash in Afghanistan blamed the government for the tragedy, during an emotional press
conference. Speaking at the National Press Club, [they] claimed President Obama turned the
SEALs group into a Taliban target after the administration revealed they had conducted the bin
Laden raid. Doug Hamburger, whose son Patrick was killed, called the incident an ambush that
could have been prevented. Were very concerned that the administration had disclosed that the
Navy SEALs had carried out a successful attack on bin Ladens compound resulting in his death.
Never before in the history of our county (had) a sitting president released that type of information
to the public, Hamburger said. In all, 38 people died that night after the chopper was shot down by
a Taliban-owned rocket-propelled grenade or RPG over the Wardak Province on Aug. 6, 2011.
Charles Strange, whose son Michael, 25, died in the attack said Obama personally
promised him a thorough investigation of what happened but has failed to deliver. Strange
also blamed top military brass for sending the troops into a situation they were allegedly illequipped and unprepared to handle. Karen Vaughn says she wants to know why her son Aaron
and his team were not using special operations aircraft. The night her son Aaron died, he was in a
helicopter that was built in the 1960s and last retrofitted in 1985.
Note: How strange that the day the most military deaths happened in Afghanistan included the
deaths of most of those on the team which allegedly killed bin Laden. Could this have been to
keep them from revealing secrets to the public about the killing? For two BBC reports suggesting
that bin Laden may already have been dead, see this webpage and this one. Why would bin
Laden's body be buried at sea? Could it be to prevent a proof of identity?
Chicago OKs $5.5M in Reparations for Police Torture Victims

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chicago-approves-55m-package-police-tortur...
Chicago's leaders took a step Wednesday typically reserved for nations trying to make
amends for slavery or genocide, agreeing to pay $5.5 million in reparations to the mostly
African-American victims of the city's notorious police torture scandal and to teach schoolchildren
about one of the most shameful chapters of Chicago's history. Chicago has already spent more
than $100 million settling and losing lawsuits related to the torture of suspects by detectives under
the command of disgraced former police commander Jon Burge from the 1970s through the early
1990s. The city council's backing of the new ordinance marks the first time a U.S. city has
awarded survivors of racially motivated police torture the reparations they are due under
international law, according to Amnesty International. "It is a powerful word and it was meant to
be a powerful word. That was intentional," Alderman Joe Moore said of the decision to describe it
as reparations. "This stain cannot be removed from our city's history, but it can be used as a
lesson in what not to do," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who stressed that Chicago had to do more
than just pay the victims if it is to really get beyond this stain on its history.
Note: Jon Burge tortured false confessions out of as many as 120 prisoners, and according to the
Chicago Reader, may have learned how to do this while serving as a soldier in Vietnam. Chicago
police maintain hidden interrogation sites where brutal treatment of suspects is used to obtain
criminal confessions. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news
articles about civil liberties and government corruption from reliable major media sources.
South Yorkshire Police warned twice of Rotherham child abuse but did
not act, as commissioner claims girls were seen as 'willing'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/south-yorkshire-police-warned-...
Senior members of South Yorkshire police were warned twice of the serious child abuse
being carried out in Rotherham around a decade before it was discovered 1,400 children
had been raped, trafficked and groomed over a period of 16 years but no action was taken
at the time. The Sheffield Star has obtained reports from 2003 and 2006 detailing the organised
child sexual exploitation being carried out in Rotherham and Sheffield. Dr Angie Heal, the author of
the reports, stated at the time it was very evident that significant abuse was taking place in
Sheffield and Rotherham, in 2003, and in 2006 found that that the perpetrators of sexual abuse
had been able to carry on with impunity. The reports were sent to both South Yorkshire Police
district commanders, chief superintendents and CID and community safety superintendents at the
time, but no action was taken. As the news of the warnings emerge, South Yorkshires current
police and crime commissioner has [stated], We saw these girls not as victims but as
troublesome young people out of control, and willing participants. We saw it as child
prostitution rather than child abuse, and I think that was broadly accepted and thats why it all went
wrong. Dr Heal told the Sheffield Star that child sexual exploitation had been put in the too hard
to deal with tray and a senior police officer informed her at the time that burglary and car crime
were policing priorities set by the government.
Pentagon Accused of Withholding Information About Sex Crimes

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/apnewsbreak-pentagon-accused-withhol...
In a scathing critique of the Defense Department's efforts to curb sexual assaults, a U.S. senator
warned Monday that the true scope of sex-related violence in the military communities is "vastly
underreported" and that victims continue to struggle for justice. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.,
said in a report that the Pentagon refused to provide her with all the information she requested
about sexual assaults at several major bases. The material she did receive revealed that the
spouses of service members and civilian women who live or work near military facilities are
especially vulnerable to being sexually assaulted. Yet they "remain in the shadows"
because neither is counted in Defense Department surveys to determine the prevalence of
sexual assaults, the report said. In its annual report on sexual assaults in the military released
Friday, the Defense Department reported progress in staunching the epidemic of sexual assaults.
It estimated that sex crimes are decreasing and more victims are choosing to report them a sign
there is more confidence offenders will be held accountable. To Gillibrand ... the case files
contradict the Pentagon's assertion that military commanders will be tough on service members
accused of sex crimes.
Note: The cases described in Sen. Gillibrand's report reveal a pattern of widespread sexual abuse
around U.S. military bases that is routinely covered up. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing news articles about sexual abuse scandals and military corruption
Women in Military Cite Retaliation After Assault Complaints

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/02/us/women-in-military-cite-retaliation-after...
Nearly two-thirds of women in the military who filed sexual assault complaints last year
said they faced retaliation, according to a Pentagon report released on Friday. The study found
that the number of sexual assaults in the military declined last year, echoing the conclusion of a
Defense Department report released in December. Even as sexual assaults were reported to
have declined, the Pentagon said that more service members filed assault complaints, and
that about a third of attacks were now being reported. Despite our efforts to date, the fight against
sexual assault is far from over, [Defense Secretary Ashton B.] Carter wrote in a memo that was
released with the new study. I am concerned that far too many of those who report the crime
perceive some kind of retaliation. Using the standard of unwanted sexual contact, the Pentagon
estimated that just under 19,000 service members were assaulted last year, a drop of about 27
percent from 2012. The number of attacks actually reported last year was 6,131, an 11 percent
increase over the previous year and a 70 percent jump over 2012.
sexual abuse scandals and military corruption from reliable major media sources.
White House admits: we didn't know who drone strike was aiming to kill
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/23/drone-strike-al-qaida-targets-wh...
The targets of the deadly drone strikes that killed two hostages and two suspected American
members of al-Qaida were al-Qaida compounds rather than specific terrorist suspects, the White
House disclosed on Thursday. The lack of specificity suggests that despite a much-publicized
2013 policy change by Barack Obama restricting drone killings by, among other things,
requiring near certainty that the terrorist target is present, the US continues to launch
lethal operations without the necessity of knowing who specifically it seeks to kill. Josh
Earnest, the White House spokesman, acknowledged that the January deaths of hostages Warren
Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto might prompt the tightening of targeting standards. Earnest
[confirmed that] the two US civilians killed, longtime English-language propagandist Adam Gadahn
and Ahmed Farouq of al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent, were not high-value targets marked
for death. In a May 2013 speech, Obama indicated that drone strikes were only permissible when
the administration possessed near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured, the highest
standard we can set. Human-rights observers see little indication, two years after Obamas
speech, that the US meets its own stated standards. Reprieve, looking at US drone strikes in
Yemen and Pakistan, concluded last year that the US killed nearly 1,150 people while targeting 41
individuals.
Scientists find radioactive WWII aircraft carrier off San Francisco coast
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_27931161/scientists-find-radioact...
In a ghostly reminder of the Bay Area's nuclear heritage, scientists announced Thursday they have
captured the first clear images of a radioactivity-polluted World War II aircraft carrier that rests on
the ocean floor 30 miles off the coast of Half Moon Bay. The USS Independence saw combat at
Wake Island and other decisive battles against Japan in 1944 and 1945 and was later blasted with
radiation in two South Pacific nuclear tests. The Navy deliberately sank the contaminated ship in
1951 south of the Farallon Islands. The rediscovery of the USS Independence offers a
fascinating glimpse into American military history and raises old questions about the safety
of the Farallon Islands Radioactive Waste Dump ... where the federal government dumped
nearly 48,000 barrels of low-level radioactive waste between 1946 and 1970. The
Independence was sunk on Jan. 26, 1951, and came to rest 2,600 feet below the ocean surface.
The Navy withheld the location of the wreck for decades, but the U.S. Geological Survey found its
likely resting place while mapping the sea floor in 1990. Retired judge and state legislator Quentin
Kopp, who many years ago demanded research into the Navy's disposal of radioactive material off
Northern California before 1970, said Thursday that the question of whether the waste posed a risk
to humans and wildlife was never resolved.
Note: A CNN article and a CBS article fail to mention anything about the Farallon Islands
Radioactive Waste Dump and CNN doesn't even mention radioactive material on the ship. Neither
mentions the many drums of radioactive material are buried within the ship. Do you think the
media is complicit in hiding key information regarding public health? For verifiable information that
this happens much more than people think, read this two-page summary.
The shroud of secrecy around US drone strikes abroad must be lifted

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/15/shroud-secrecy-us-drone-...
Its been over two years since President Obama promised new transparency and
accountability rules when it comes to drone strikes. Virtually no progress has been made.
The criteria for who gets added to the unaccountable kill list is still shrouded in secrecy even
when the US government is targeting its own citizens. We know because a Texas-born man
named Mohanad Mahmoud Al Farekh recently captured overseas was arraigned in federal court
this week. It turns out, as the Times reported, that in 2013 his government debated whether he
should be killed by a drone strike in Pakistan. The CIA and military were reportedly pushing hard
to send drones to kill Al Farekh, but the Justice Department didnt think there was enough
evidence. An important new report released by the Open Society Justice Initiative this week also
shows that - despite the Obama administrations internal requirements for drone strikes that
supposedly require a near certainty that civilians wont get killed - the government quite often just
disregards its own rules, which has led to the death of dozens of civilians in Yemen in the past two
years. Though without Open Societys study, the public would have no clue, since the Obama
administration still steadfastly refuses to officially release any information on drone strikes in
Yemen. The administration has said for years it prefers capturing to killing but the data
indicates that they practice the opposite.
Note: The CIA has been aware that drone strikes are ineffective since at least 2009. If drones help
terrorists, almost always miss their intended targets, and may be used to target people in the US in
the future, what are the real reasons for the US government's drone program?
Boxer: Regulators 'heads should roll over Diablo nuclear plant

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Boxer-Regulators-heads-should-roll-ove...
Weeks before Pacific Gas and Electric Co. released a long-awaited seismic report about the
Diablo Canyon nuclear plant last year, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials had already
drafted talking points declaring the plant safe from earthquakes, Sen. Barbara Boxer said
Wednesday. An internal commission memo showed that the agency was planning to tell the public
that the NRC had reviewed the report, and it had concluded Diablo Canyon was seismically safe
before even seeing the report. Boxer ... used it to illustrate what she called the commissions lax
attitude toward seismic safety, even in the wake of the 2011 meltdown of three reactors at Japans
Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Her comments shone new light on a controversy that has
simmered since the seismic safety reports release last fall. PG&E released the report on Sept. 10.
That same day, the commission the federal agency that regulates nuclear plants formally
rejected complaints from one of its own former inspectors at Diablo Canyon, who had argued that
the plant should be closed. Several newly discovered faults nearby, he said, could produce more
violent shaking than Diablo was designed to withstand. Environmental groups ... accused the
commission and PG&E of colluding to release both the report and the rejection of the inspectors
complaint on the same day, generating positive press about Diablos safety.
Note: Why would Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials ignore their responsibility to protect the
public from the potentially disastrous combination of earthquakes and nuclear power plants?
Cop accused of brutally torturing black suspects costs Chicago $5.5

million
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/15/closing-the-book...
Whenever Chicago Police commander Jon Burge needed a confession, he would walk into the
interrogation room and set down a little black box, his alleged victims would later tell prosecutors.
The box had two wires and a crank. Burge ... would attach one wire to the suspects handcuffed
ankles and the other to his manacled hands. Then [he] would place a plastic bag over the
suspects head. Finally, he would crank his little black box and listen to the screams of pain as
electricity coursed through the suspects body. As many as 120 African-American men on
Chicagos South Side ... were allegedly tortured by Burge between 1972 and 1991. On
Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the establishment of a $5.5 million fund for
these victims. Some of the men spent years on Illinoiss death row because of confessions
allegedly obtained by Burge under duress. In 2003, Governor George Ryan pardoned four men
on death row who claimed to have been tortured by Burge, [whom] the Chicago Police Board
voted to fire [in 1993] for his alleged torture activities. [He] was allowed to keep his $4,000 per
month pension. In 2002, Cook County appointed [a special prosecutor] to investigate Burges
conduct. The investigation took four years and cost $7 million, but the 300-page report didnt
recommend bringing any charges against the former cop. The statute of limitations for the alleged
crimes had expired, Egan argued.
Note: According to the Chicago Reader, Burge may have learned how to torture prisoners while
serving as a soldier in Vietnam. Chicago police maintain hidden interrogation sites where brutal
treatment of suspects is used to obtain criminal confessions. For more along these lines, see
concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about civil liberties and government
corruption from reliable major media sources.
DEA sued over secret bulk collection of Americans' phone records

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/08/dea-bulk-collection-phone-records
Human rights campaigners have prepared a federal lawsuit aiming to permanently shut
down the bulk collection of billions of US phone records not, this time, by the National
Security Agency, but by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The program ... served as a template
for the NSAs gigantic and ongoing bulk surveillance of US phone data after 9/11. The revelation of
mass phone-records collection in the so-called war on drugs raises new questions about whether
the Obama administration or its successors believe US security agencies continue to have legal
leeway for warrantless bulk surveillance on American citizens. Starting in 1992, the so-called
USTO effort operated without judicial approval, despite the US constitutions warrant
requirement. Attorney general Eric Holder ended USTO in September 2013 out of fear of scandal
following Snowdens disclosures. While Snowden did not expose USTO, several NSA programs he
has exposed referenced the DEA as an NSA partner, giving the DEA another secret pathway to
massive amounts of US communications records. The warrantless bulk records collection provides
prosecutors the ability to enter into evidence incriminating material that could otherwise be thrown
out of court, [and] has not stopped the upward growth of domestic narcotics consumption.
Note: In order to deny due process to people accused of crimes, the DEA's Special Operations
Division constructs lies about the origins of data obtained from warrantless mass surveillance.
Award-winning journalists have presented powerful evidence of direct DEA and CIA involvement in
and support of drug running and drug cartels. For more along these lines, see concise summaries
of deeply revealing news articles about corruption in government and in the intelligence
community.
National Scandal Over Major Child Abuse Cover-Up in French Schools

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/10/national-scandal-break-france-over-decades...
Global horror over child abuse and its concealment by the Establishment, hitherto focused
squarely on the UK, now needs to be widened to France as well. Thousands of children in
French schools have been sexually abused by paedophile teachers, an international NGO
has claimed, accusing the French education authorities of a decades-long cover-up. The
French education system is set to become the focus of a national scandal after minister for
education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem was forced to admit last week that 16 teachers were allowed to
work in schools last year despite holding previous convictions for paedophilia. Homayra Sellier,
founder of Innocence en Danger, an NGO dedicated to child abuse victims, says: The ministry of
education has covered this up for years. The government has never been inclined to listen to these
stories. Sellier forecasts thousands of cases will emerge, a concern echoed by another French
NGO, Lueur dEnfance, which works to support and defend the rights of children. Teachers who try
to speak out about child abuse at the hands of other teachers are silenced by school directors and
local officials, and even threatened with legal action usually defamation. Others have lost their
jobs. As for the teachers the children accuse, they usually stay at the same school, or are quietly
transferred to another.
US Soldiers and Contractors Sexually Abused at Least 54 Children in

Colombia Between 2003 and 2007
http://www.thenation.com/blog/203617/us-soldiers-and-contractors-sexually-abu...
Last week, FAIR noticed that not one major media organization in the United States has covered
the charge, reported in Colombia, that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually
abused at least fifty-four children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007 and, in all cases, the
rapists were never punishedeither in Colombia or statesidedue to American military
personnel being immune from prosecution under diplomatic immunity agreements. One of the
rapes ... was allegedly committed by Army sergeant Michael J. Coen and an employee of a private
security contractor, Csar Ruiz. The victim was a 12-year-old girl. They abducted her, they
drugged her, they took her to the air base near the town of Melgar and raped her, they took videos
of her. Colombian prosecutors issued arrest warrants [that] were not executed because of the
immunity of Coen and Ruiz. Under a series of treaties ... members of the US military stationed in
Colombia are immune from prosecution. That immunity has since been extended to private
security firms. Another serious sexual assault that, like the rape described above, was covered by
the Colombian press, both in print and on TV, but ignored in the United States: in 2004, 53
underage girls were sexually abused by mercenaries, who filmed and sold the tapes as
pornographic material. The private security firm involved [was identified as] DynCorp, a Virginiabased contractor.
Note: Dyncorp is only slightly less infamous than Blackwater, having been involved in numerous
international outrages, including a child sex slavery ring in Bosnia in 1999. Explore powerful
evidence from a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that child sexual abuse
scandals reach to the highest levels of government. For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing news articles about sexual abuse scandals from reliable major
media sources.
HSBC is 'cast-iron certain' to breach banking rules again, executive

admits
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/02/hsbc-cast-iron-certain-breach...
A senior HSBC executive has privately admitted that the bank is cast-iron certain to have
another major regulatory breach in the future. Global head of sanctions Lee Hale ... was
meeting with independent lawyers monitoring HSBC as part of a controversial 2012 deal
with the US Department of Justice, in which the bank avoided prosecution over sanctionsbusting and money-laundering in its Mexican branch in exchange for paying a $1.9bn fine and
receiving additional regulatory scrutiny for a period of five years. The deferred prosecution
agreement was signed by the then US attorney for the eastern district of New York, Loretta Lynch.
During a long exchange about HSBCs new policy on sanctions and internal breaches of company
rules, Hale told the regulator that given the size and scale of HSBC, in his view it is a cast-iron
certain[ty] this will happen, at some point in the future were going to have some big breach, some
regulatory breach. He added: I hope it doesnt happen, but it is likely. The recorded monitor
discussions also touched on problems in the banks US compliance team. Hale said: The internal
audit team have done a US review and its not great in terms of what theyve found. The findings,
according to Hale, prompted the bank to terminate the employment of one of the banks senior
compliance executives in New York, a former sanctions official at the US Treasury. In 2012, a US
Senate report noted that a high turnover of compliance staff at the banks US subsidiary had made
reforms difficult to implement.
Note: Read lots more on HSBC's sweetheart deal with U.S. officials in a Rolling Stone article by
Matt Taibbi. Is it even possible to root out corruption in a bank founded to service the international
drug trade? For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles
about systemic corruption in government and the financial industry.
Former Blackwater gets rich as Afghan drug production hits record high
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/31/blackwater-gets-rich-afghanistan...
In a war full of failures, the US counternarcotics mission in Afghanistan stands out: opiate
production has climbed steadily over recent years to reach record-high levels last year. One clear
winner in the anti-drug effort is ... the infamous mercenary company formerly known as Blackwater.
Statistics released on Tuesday reveal that the rebranded private security firm, known since 2011
as Academi, reaped over a quarter billion dollars from the futile Defense Department push to
eradicate Afghan narcotics, some 21% of the $1.5 bn in contracting money the Pentagon has
devoted to the job since 2002. The company is the second biggest beneficiary of counternarcotics
largesse in Afghanistan. Only the defense giant Northrop Grumman edged it out, with $325m.
According to the US inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, the $309m
Academi got from US taxpayers paid for training, equipment, and logistical support to
Afghan forces conducting counternarcotics. Far from eradicating the deep-rooted opiate
trade, US counternarcotics efforts have ... contributed to the opium boom. In December, the
United Nations reported a 60% growth in Afghan land used for opium poppy cultivation since 2011,
up to 209,000 hectares. The estimated $3bn value of Afghan heroin and morphine represents
some 15% of Afghan GDP. Academi and its former Blackwater incarnation have an infamous
history in Afghanistan. It once set up shell companies to disguise its business practices, according
to a Senate report, so that its contracts would be unimpeded by company employees killings of
Iraqi and Afghan civilians.
Note: Blackwater, now called Academi, got caught systematically defrauding the US government,
while serving as a "virtual extension of the CIA". The CIA has been linked to the Afghan heroin
trade for decades. In 2000, the Taliban had all but eradicated Afghan opium production. Once
Afghanistan was under US control, opium production surged to record levels.
Trans-Pacific Partnership Seen as Door for Foreign Suits Against U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/business/trans-pacific-partnership-seen-as-...
An ambitious 12-nation trade accord pushed by President Obama would allow foreign corporations
to sue the United States government for actions that undermine their investment "expectations"
and hurt their business, according to a classified document. The Trans-Pacific Partnership - a
cornerstone of Mr. Obama's remaining economic agenda - would grant broad powers to
multinational companies operating in North America, South America and Asia. Under the accord ...
companies and investors would be empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government
actions and court rulings ... before tribunals organized under the World Bank or the United
Nations. The chapter in the draft of the trade deal, dated Jan. 20, 2015, [was] obtained by The
New York Times in collaboration with the group WikiLeaks. [Its] cover mandates that the chapter
not be declassified until four years after the Trans-Pacific Partnership comes into force or trade
negotiations end, should the agreement fail. Under the terms of ... chapter, foreign investors could
demand cash compensation if member nations "expropriate or nationalize a covered investment
either directly or indirectly." Opponents fear "indirect expropriation" will be interpreted broadly,
especially by deep-pocketed multinational companies opposing regulatory or legal changes that
diminish the value of their investments. In 2013, Eli Lilly took advantage of a similar provision
under Nafta to sue Canada for $500 million, accusing Ottawa of violating its obligations to
foreign investors by allowing its courts to invalidate patents for two of its drugs.
Note: The above article further clarifies why the TPP is a pending disaster. For more, see this
article, or watch the two minute video Former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich made to
educate the public about the dangers of the TPP.
GMO Science Deniers: Monsanto and the USDA

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/gmo-science-deniers-monsanto-an...
For decades, Monsanto and its enablers inside the USDA have denied the central tenets of
evolutionary biology, namely natural selection and adaptation. Since the early 1980s, Monsanto
has endlessly hyped genetically engineered (GE) crops they claim could reduce hunger,
reduce pesticide use, and survive droughts. In reality, no such "miracle" crops exist. No
significantly greater yielding crops, no more effective drought resistance crops. And ... around 85
percent of all genetically engineered crops in the United States and around the world have been
engineered to withstand massive doses of herbicides, mostly Monsanto's Roundup. Each year
115 million more pounds of Roundup are spread on our farmlands because of these altered
crops. Wouldn't that massive increase in Roundup use over that huge a portion of our
cropland cause some weed populations to develop resistance? Of course. As a result, in less
than 20 years, more than half of all U.S. farms have some Roundup resistant "superweeds,"
weeds that now infest 70 million acres of U.S farmland. A science-based, and safer, way forward is
to ... use ecologically based weed control. There are proven organic and agroecological
approaches that emphasize weed management rather than weed eradication, soil building rather
than soil supplementing. Crop rotation and cover crops can return productive yields without ridding
the land of genetic biodiversity, and could reduce herbicide use by 90 percent. So it's long past
due that our government required real and rigorous science when regulating GE crops.
Note: Read more about how GMO technology has backfired, producing new "superweeds" and
"superbugs" that threaten crop production. For more, see concise summaries of deeply revealing
news articles on GMO risks and how these are covered up.
US Threatened Germany Over Snowden, Vice Chancellor Says

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/19/us-threatened-germany-snowden-v...
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said this week in Homburg that the U.S.
government threatened to cease sharing intelligence with Germany if Berlin offered asylum
to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden or otherwise arranged for him to travel to that
country. "They told us they would stop notifying us of plots and other intelligence matters," Gabriel
said. The vice chancellor delivered a speech in which he praised the journalists who worked on the
Snowden archive, and then lamented the fact that Snowden was forced to seek refuge in "Vladimir
Putin's autocratic Russia" because no other nation was willing and able to protect him from threats
of imprisonment by the U.S. government. [When pressed] as to why the German government
could not and would not offer Snowden asylum - which, under international law, negates the
asylee's status as a fugitive - [the vice chancellor said] that the U.S. government had aggressively
threatened the Germans that if they did so, they would be "cut off" from all intelligence sharing.
That would mean, if the threat were carried out, that the Americans would literally allow the
German population to remain vulnerable to a brewing attack discovered by the Americans by
withholding that information from their government.
Note: While treated as a dangerous criminal by US authorities, Edward Snowden has been called
a hero in the UK's Guardian for exposing government corruption and intelligence agency lies.
The uncounted: why the US can't keep track of people killed by police
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/18/police-killings-government-dat...
A year ago, in a bureaucratic shift that went unremarked in the somnolent days before Michael
Brown was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri, the US government admitted a disturbing failure. The
top crime-data experts in Washington had determined that they could not properly count how many
Americans die each year at the hands of police. For the better part of a decade, a specialized team
of statisticians within the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)... had been collecting data [on] any
death, of anyone, that happened in the presence of a local or state law enforcement officer. In
March of last year, the bureau pulled the plug on the project. As revelations about patterns of
abuse in Ferguson and beyond rattle the US criminal justice system from bottom to top, calls for a
national police-killings database have once again gained urgency. But an awareness of what has
been tried - and failed - remains elusive. A detailed look at what went wrong with the arrest-related
deaths count reveals challenges that run deeper than the unwillingness of local police departments
to file a report. From 2003 to 2009, plus 2011, the FBI counted an average of 383 "justifiable
homicides by law enforcement" each year. The actual number, as estimated by the BJS
study, was closer to 928.
Portland man: I was tortured in UAE for refusing to become an FBI

informant
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/16/portland-man-tortured-uae-behe...
When Yonas Fikre stepped off a luxury private jet at Portland airport last month, the only
passenger on a $200,000 flight from Sweden, he braced for the worst. The 36-year-old Eritreanborn American was finally back in Portland at the end of a five-year odyssey that began with a
simple business trip but landed him in an Arab prison where he alleges he was tortured at the
behest of US anti-terrorism officials because he refused to become an informant at his mosque in
Oregon. Fikre is suing the FBI, two of its agents and other American officials for allegedly putting
him on the USs no-fly list a roster of suspected terrorists barred from taking commercial flights
to pressure him to collaborate. When that failed, the lawsuit said, the FBI had him arrested,
interrogated and tortured for 106 days in the United Arab Emirates. As shocking as the
claims are, they are not the first to emanate from worshippers at Fikres mosque in
Portland, where at least nine members have been barred from flying by the US authorities. The
no-fly list gives the FBI an extrajudicial tool to coerce Muslims to become informants, said
Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer who represents other clients on the list. Theres definitely a cluster of
cases like this at the FBIs Portland office. Fikre has not been charged with any terrorism related
crimes or even questioned as a potential threat on his return to the US. He remains on the no-fly
list.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing articles about
A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! Its Secret

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/business/a-police-gadget-tracks-phones-shhh...
A powerful new surveillance tool being adopted by police departments across the country
comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a
nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the
technology. Any disclosure about the technology, which tracks cellphones and is often called
StingRay, could allow criminals and terrorists to circumvent it, the F.B.I. has said in an affidavit. But
the tool is adopted in such secrecy that communities are not always sure what they are buying or
whether the technology could raise serious privacy concerns. What has opponents particularly
concerned about StingRay is that the technology, unlike other phone surveillance methods,
can also scan all the cellphones in the area where it is being used, not just the target phone.
Its scanning the area. What is the government doing with that information? said Linda Lye, a
lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which in 2013 sued the Justice
Department to force it to disclose more about the technology. In November, in a response to the
lawsuit, the government said it had asked the courts to allow the technology to capture content, not
just identify subscriber location.
the erosion of privacy rights from reliable major media sources.
C.I.A. Cash Ended Up in Coffers of Al Qaeda

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/world/asia/cia-funds-found-their-way-into-a...
In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al
Qaeda. But the price was steep $5 million. To come up with the money, [senior security officials]
turned to a secret fund that the Central Intelligence Agency bankrolled with monthly cash deliveries
to the presidential palace in Kabul, according to several Afghan officials. The Afghan government,
they said, had already squirreled away about $1 million from that fund. Within weeks, that money
... was handed over to Al Qaeda, replenishing its coffers after a relentless C.I.A. campaign of
drone strikes in Pakistan had decimated the militant networks upper ranks. The C.I.A.s
contribution to Qaedas bottom line, though, was no well-laid trap. It was just another in a
long list of examples of how the United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose
financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting.
While refusing to pay ransoms for Americans kidnapped by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or, more
recently, the Islamic State, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the last
decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which has been siphoned off to enemy fighters.
The C.I.A., meanwhile, continued dropping off bags of cash ranging each time from a few
hundred thousand dollars to more than $1 million at the presidential palace every month until
last year, when Mr. Karzai stepped down. The money was used to buy the loyalty of warlords,
legislators and other prominent and potentially troublesome Afghans, helping the palace
finance a vast patronage network that secured Mr. Karzais power base.
Note: A 2013 New York Times article called the US the "biggest source of corruption in
Afghanistan" for its CIA bankrolling of Afghan warlords. Meanwhile, over a billion dollars of Iraqi
"reconstruction" cash disappeared and was later tracked to a bunker in Lebanon. For more along
these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war corruption news articles from reliable
The untold story of how the sugar industry shaped key government
research about your teeth
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/11/the-sneaky-way-the...
The powerful U.S. sugar industry skewed the government's medical research on dental
care. Sugar industry leaders advocated for policies that did not recommend people eat less sugar.
The government listened, according to a new report published in the journal PLOS Medicine. In the
1960s, amid a national effort to boost cavity prevention, the U.S. government spearheaded a
research program, known as the National Caries Program (NCP), which aimed to eradicate tooth
decay. But instead of turning to an obvious solution having people eat less sugar the
government was swayed by industry interests that pushed alternative methods, such as [using]
vaccines for fighting tooth decay. [The] committee that was set up by the government to set
research priorities for the NCP included many doctors and scientists who were also ... part of
another group called the International Sugar Research Foundation, which was established by the
sugar industry. Rather than recommending that people reduce sugar intake, governmentfunded research focused on interventions that wouldn't advise Americans to lower their
sweets consumption. For instance, the research encouraged the wider use of fluoride. More
recently, the industry attempted to influence the ongoing debate about changes to the Food and
Drug Administration's nutrition facts label. One of the key changes currently being mulled is the
inclusion of an "added sugar" label, which is meant to communicate how much of any given food's
sugar content was added during processing. The industry is vehemently opposed.
Note: "When you take on Big Sugar, you take on a huge political money operation," Rep. Mark
Steven Kirk from Illinois said while fighting Big Sugar back in 2007. For more along these lines,
see concise summaries of deeply revealing health corruption news articles from reliable major
media sources.
Thousands of Vulnerable Children Go Missing from Britain's Protective

Services
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/13/britains-missing-children-310701.html
Many of the child sex abuse scandals that have shocked Britain in recent years involve
victims who were supposed to be under the protection of the state. Each year the
government loses track of around 2,000 vulnerable children in care, even as reports of human
trafficking inside the country are on the rise. Children ... just go missing, and we dont know whats
happening to them, says John Hemming, a Liberal Democrat in Parliament. Hemming believes
that better tracking of children who leave care might have made a difference in Rotherham and
another abuse case, in Rochdale. In 2012 ... abusers were brought to justice in Rochdale over a
child sex ring that went ignored for years despite victims repeatedly seeking local authorities help.
[This] is all about abuse of power by employees of the state, says Hemming. The fact that it
involves the maltreatment of children for sexual gratification makes this all the worse." Jon Bird,
operations manager at Londons National Association of Adults Abused in Childhood, says nearly
half of the survivors ... of human trafficking were at one time inside the U.K.s care system. The
U.K.s Human Trafficking Centres latest assessment shows a total of 2,744 people, including 602
children, reported as trafficked for exploitation in the U.K. in 2013, up 22 percent from 2012.
Victims were forced to work in brothels, hotels, private homes or on the street as sex
workers, and also forced into domestic servitude or to work on building sites or in farms
and factories. The government-run National Crime Agency declined to discuss potential links
between the child-care system and trafficking.
Note: If you think this is only a problem in the UK, read this disturbing article about the likely
murder of Bill Bowen, a man who was about to complete a documentary exposing blatant, horrible
abuses by the US's Child Protective Services that were covered up at high levels. Watch a
revealing five-minute video presenting solid evidence that Child Protective Services is involved in
organized U.S. child sex trafficking rings. See this webpage for more information. For solid
evidence of a pedophile ring reaching to the highest levels of government, don't miss this powerful
documentary and these sexual abuse new summaries.
Cameron says child sex abuse to be classified 'national threat'

http://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/other/cameron-says-child-sex-abuse-to-be-classi...
British Prime Minister David Cameron said tackling child sexual abuse was a national
priority on a par with organised crime on Tuesday, announcing measures to prevent systematic
abuse. Britain has been rocked by a series of child sex abuse revelations, including a case in
Rotherham, northern England, where some 1,400 children, some as young as 11, were abused by
gangs of men. "I've just spent half an hour with some of the survivors of abuse in Rotherham and
these are stories that are going to stay with me forever. They are absolutely horrific," Cameron
said at a meeting of victim groups, police and child protection experts held in his official London
residence. "Young girls [are] being abused over and over again on an industrial scale." Classifying
child sexual abuse as a national threat will create a duty for police forces to collaborate across
regions to safeguard children, Cameron's office said. Cameron also announced other measures to
improve coordination between public bodies and a helpline to encourage whistleblowers. In
addition, Cameron proposed criminal sanctions for senior public workers who fail to protect
children from abuse. Referring to the Rotherham case he said: "This has happened with too
many organisations and too many people walking on by and we have got to really resolve
that this stops here, it doesn't happen again and we recognise abuse for what it is."
Note: If you think this is only a problem in the UK, watch a revealing five-minute video presenting
solid evidence that Child Protective Services is involved in organized U.S. child sex trafficking
rings. See this webpage for more information. For more along these lines, see concise summaries
of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.
Body-Camera Maker Has Financial Ties to Police Chiefs

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/body-camera-maker-financial-ties-police-ch...
Taser International, the stun-gun maker emerging as a leading supplier of body cameras for police,
has cultivated financial ties to police chiefs whose departments have bought the recording devices.
Taser is covering airfare and hotel stays for police chiefs who speak at promotional conferences. It
is also hiring recently retired chiefs as consultants, sometimes just months after their cities signed
contracts with Taser. The relationships raise questions of whether chiefs are acting in the best
interests of the taxpayers in their dealings with Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser, whose contracts
for cameras and storage systems for the video can run into the millions of dollars. As the police
chief in Fort Worth, Texas, successfully pushed for the signing of a major contract with Taser
before a company quarterly sales deadline, he wrote a Taser representative in an email,
"Someone should give me a raise." City officials and rival companies are raising concerns about
police chiefs' ties to Taser. Charlie Luke, a Salt Lake City councilman ... said he was surprised
when he learned last year that the city's police department had purchased Taser cameras using
surplus money, bypassing the standard bidding process and City Council approval. The
department declined to say how much it has spent acquiring 295 body cameras. Taser's
competitors ... complain they have been shut out by cities awarding no-bid contracts to
Taser and are being put at a disadvantage by requests for proposals that appear tailored to
Taser's products.
Water Fluoridation May Increase Risk of Underactive Thyroid Disorder

http://www.newsweek.com/water-fluoridation-may-increase-risk-underactive-thyr...
A large study that looked at data from nearly every general medical practice in England
suggests that water fluoridation may increase the risk of developing hypothyroidism, or
underactive thyroid. This condition, in which the thyroid gland doesnt produce enough
hormones, is associated with symptoms such as fatigue, obesity and depression. The study
found that locations with fluoridated water supplies were more than 30 percent more likely to have
high levels of hypothyroidism, compared to areas with low levels of the chemical in the water.
Overall, there were 9 percent more cases of underactive thyroid in fluoridated places. Fluoride is
added to the water of about 10 percent of Englands populationand to the taps of about twothirds of Americansfor the purpose of preventing cavities. Fluoride was used to treat
hyperthyroidism (or an overactive thyroid) in the 1950s. It may put a damper on the glands
activities by suppressing the activity of various enzymes, causing physical damage or interfering
with the absorption and use of iodine, a substance that is critical for thyroid health. In 2006, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency convened a panel that recommended lowering the
maximum allowable level of fluoride in water. Nine years later, the EPA is still considering whether
or not to revise its fluoride standards.
Note: Read lots more excellent information on fluoridation of water in this article on mercola.com.
For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health corruption news
Fluoride in drinking water may trigger depression and weight gain, warn
scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11430087/Fluoride-in-dri...
Last year Public Health England released a report saying fluoride was a safe and effective
way of improving dental health. But new research from the University of Kent suggests that
there is a spike in the number of cases of underactive thyroid in high fluoride areas such as
the West Midlands and the North East of England. In England, around 10 per cent of the
population (6 million) live in areas with a naturally or artificially fluoridated water supply of 1 mg
fluoride per litre of drinking water. The researchers compared areas to records from 7935 general
practices covering around 95 per cent of the English population in 2012-2013. Rates of high
underactive thyroid were at least 30 per cent more likely in practices located in areas with fluoride
levels in excess of 0.3 mg/l. Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral found in water in varying
amounts, depending on the region and it is also found in certain foods and drinks, including tea
and fish. It helps combat tooth decay by making enamel more resistant to bacteria. But previous
studies have found that it inhibits the production of iodine, which is essential for a healthy thyroid.
The thyroid gland, which is found in the neck, regulates the metabolism as well as many other
systems in the body. An underactive thyroid can lead to depression, weight gain, fatigue and
aching muscles and affects 15 times more women than men, around 15 in 1,000 women.
Note: Read lots more excellent information on fluoridation of water in this article on mercola.com.
For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health corruption news
Swiss prosecutors are shocked by HSBC's tax scandal

2015-02-18, Fortune
http://fortune.com/2015/02/18/swiss-prosecutors-are-shocked-shocked-by-hsbcs-...
A scandal implicating HSBC in alleged tax evasion widened further Wednesday, as Swiss
prosecutors raided the Geneva headquarters of its private bank in Switzerland. The raid, in
connection with an investigation into aggravated money-laundering, marks the latest twist in a
saga that dates back 10 years. Materials leaked to the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists ... indicated that HSBC aggressively marketed schemes suitable
for tax evasion to rich clients across the world. The materials come from a stash of files
stolen from HSBC by Herv Falciani, a former employee and whistleblower. Falciani was
indicted in Switzerland in December for industrial espionage and for breaking the law on banking
secrecy. Falcianis files have already led to criminal investigations in France, Belgium and
Argentina. The Swiss authorities action Wednesday, however, is the first to suggest that they
regard tax evasion itself as a bigger crime than exposing it. [HSBC has also recently] been found
guilty of manipulating benchmark interest and foreign exchange rates, [and] desperately needs to
be able to prove that it has not aided or abetted tax evasion or money-laundering since December
2012. That was when it signed a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. after admitting to
helping Iran get round sanctions and laundering the profits of Mexican drug trafficking gangs. Any
evidence that it has broken that DPA could lead to it losing its all-important license to bank in the
U.S., destroying its status as a global bank overnight.
Note: Read lots more on HSBC's sweetheart deal with U.S. officials in a Rolling Stone article by
Matt Taibbi. US Senator Elizabeth Warren is working hard to bring justice in this case. For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about systemic
corruption in government and the financial industry.
Spy agencies could be funding geo-engineering research in pursuit of

weaponising the weather, scientists claims
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/spy-agencies-could-be-funding-geoen...
A senior American climate scientist has spoken of the fear he experienced when US
intelligence services apparently asked him about the possibility of weaponising the weather
as a major report on geo-engineering is to be published this week. During a debate on the use
of geo-engineering to combat climate change ... Prof Robock said: I got a phone call from two
men who said we work as consultants for the CIA and we'd like to know if some other country was
controlling our climate, would we know about it? I told them, after thinking a little bit, that we
probably would because if you put enough material in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight we would
be able to detect it and see the equipment that was putting it up there. At the same time I thought
they were probably also interested in if we could control somebody else's climate, could they
detect it? Professor Robock, who has investigated the potential risks and benefits of using
stratospheric particles to simulate the climate-changing effects of volcanic eruptions, said he felt
scared when the approach was made. I'd learned of lots of other things the CIA had done that
haven't followed the rules and I thought that wasn't how I wanted my tax money spent. Professor
Robocks concerns come as a major report on geo-engineering is to be published this week by the
US National Academy of Sciences. Among the reports list of sponsors is the US intelligence
community." The professor alleges that ... the US government had a proven history of using the
weather in a hostile way.
Note: The National Academy of Science's two-part report says that geoengineering technologies
"present serious known and possible unknown environmental, social, and political risks, including
the possibility of being deployed unilaterally." With a deeply corrupt scientific establishment being
guided by corrupt intelligence agencies to meddle with the planet's total ecology, and with low
public awareness about the messy history of mysterious atmospheric experiments over cities in
the U.S. and elsewhere, what could possibly go wrong? For solid evidence the military has used
the weather as a weapon, read about HAARP.
Prince Andrew 'victim' accuses US authorities of covering up video

evidence of her abuse
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11398807/Prince-Andrew-victim-accuses-...
Virginia Roberts was so badly assaulted during the attacks by friends of billionaire
convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that she feared for her life, a court in Florida was told.
There were times when I was physically abused to the point that I remember fearfully thinking that
I didnt know whether I was going to survive, Ms Roberts, now 31, alleged. She accused US
authorities of withholding taped evidence showing her engaging in sexual activity against
her will in an affidavit filed on Friday. Based on my knowledge of Epstein and his organisation,
as well as discussions with the FBI, it is my belief that federal prosecutors likely possess
videotapes and photographic images of me as an underage girl having sex with Epstein and some
of his powerful friends, she said. Ms Roberts said she had only recently dared to come forward
because of the physical abuse that I suffered when Epstein forced me to have sex with other
people. By standing up for what is right, Im worried that Epstein, or others named here, will come
after me. Ms Roberts said she believed the video evidence could be being withheld for future use
as blackmail. And she detailed interactions with FBI staff she believed indicated she was the victim
of a cover up orchestrated by friends of Mr Epstein. The new affidavit was submitted under oath
and understood to be part of Ms Roberts attempt to have her case joined to another long-running
law suit against the Brooklyn-born tycoon filed in a Florida federal court.
Note: Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein has been called "the most dangerous sexual predator America
has ever seen." He got caught orchestrating a massive international child sex trafficking ring. He
then used his connections to cover it up and silence all but a few of his 40+ victims. For more,
watch powerful evidence in a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that child
sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government, or read deeply revealing sex
abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.
Claims Against Saudis Cast New Light on Secret Pages of 9/11 Report
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/us/claims-against-saudis-cast-new-light-on-...
A still-classified section of the investigation by congressional intelligence committees into the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks has taken on an almost mythic quality over the past 13 years. Now new claims
by Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted former member of Al Qaeda, that he had high-level
contact with officials of the Saudi government in the prelude to Sept. 11 have brought
renewed attention to the inquirys withheld findings. Representative Stephen F. Lynch,
Democrat of Massachusetts [has authored] a bipartisan resolution encouraging President Obama
to declassify the section. Mr. Lynch and his allies have been joined by former Senator Bob Graham
of Florida, who as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee was a leader of the inquiry. He
has called for the release of the reports [28 page] Part 4, which dealt with Saudi Arabia, since
President George W. Bush ordered it classified when the rest of the report was released in
December 2002. Mr. Graham has repeatedly said it shows that Saudi Arabia was complicit in the
Sept. 11 attacks. The 28 pages primarily relate to who financed 9/11, and they point a very strong
finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principal financier, Mr. Graham said last month as he pressed
for the pages to be made public. Proponents of releasing Part 4, titled Finding, Discussion and
Narrative Regarding Certain National Security Matters, have suggested that the Bush and Obama
administrations have held it back for fear of alienating an influential military and economic partner
rather than for any national security consideration.
Note: Several prominent current and former US politicians are working to expose the Saudi
government money behind terrorism by declassifying this material. Moussaoui's new claims
suggest that they are on the right track. For more along these lines, read concise summaries of
deeply revealing 9/11 investigation news from reliable major media sources.
Thatcher stopped Peter Hayman being named as paedophile-link civil

servant

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/feb/02/thatcher-peter-hayman-named-p...
Margaret Thatcher was adamant officials should not publicly name Sir Peter Hayman, a
senior diplomat connected to a paedophile scandal, even after she had been fully briefed
on his activities. The file [of formerly secret papers], compiled between October 1980 and March
1981, is made up of memos and background notes put together for Thatcher, then prime minister.
In a three-page document from 17 March 1981 ... officials explain why Hayman was not
prosecuted when, three years previously, police discovered he was a member of the Paedophile
Information Exchange group. The memo ends: It is the policy of the law officers that persons who
have been investigated by the police but not prosecuted should not be named in the House [of
Commons]. Thatcher amends this paragraph to cross out in the House, indicating that she did
not believe Hayman should be named anywhere. Thatchers insistence on not naming Hayman
appeared always unlikely to succeed. [Peter Hayman] had come to the attention of police in 1978
when ... Police raided his flat in west London and found 14 years of journal entries detailing his
fantasies, many involving children. The director of public prosecutions decided that Hayman and
his co-correspondents should not be charged. The magazine Private Eye ran a story detailing what
had happened and naming him. The file shows that prior to the Private Eye article, in October
1980, Thatcher and her officials had no idea that police had even investigated Hayman.
media sources.
The war on leaks has gone way too far when journalists' emails are
under surveillance
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/25/war-on-leaks-gone-way-to...
The outrageous legal attack on WikiLeaks and its staffers ... is an attack on freedom of the
press itself. WikiLeaks has had their Twitter accounts secretly spied on, been forced to forfeit
most of their funding after credit card companies unilaterally cut them off, had the FBI place an
informant inside their news organization, watched their supporters hauled before a grand jury, and
been the victim of the UK spy agency GCHQ hacking of their website and spying on their readers.
Now weve learned that, as The Guardian reported on Sunday, the Justice Department got a
warrant in 2012 to seize the contents plus the metadata on emails received, sent, drafted
and deleted of three WikiLeaks staffers personal Gmail accounts. The tactics used against
WikiLeaks by the Justice Department in their war on leaks [are] also used against mainstream
news organizations. For example, after the Washington Post revealed in 2013 the Justice
Department had gotten a warrant for the personal Gmail account of Fox News reporter James
Rosen in 2010 without his knowledge. Despite the ongoing legal pressure, WikiLeaks has
continued to publish important documents in the public interest.
Note: In recent years, Wikileaks' radical transparency has made draft texts of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership public, and uncovered a secret CIA report that suggests the US governments policy of
assassinating foreign 'terrorists' does more harm than good. So who is the real problem here?
Revealed: how Blair colluded with Gaddafi regime in secret

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/23/-sp-blair-gaddafi-letter-than...
Libyan government papers pieced together by [a] team of London lawyers show [that] Tony Blair
wrote to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to thank him for the excellent cooperation between the two
countries counter-terrorism agencies. The letter, written in 2007, followed a period in which the
dictators intelligence officers were permitted to operate in the UK, approaching and intimidating
Libyan refugees. Addressed Dear Muammar and signed Best wishes yours ever, Tony, the
letter was among hundreds of pages of documents recovered from Libyan government offices
following the 2011 revolution. Six Libyan men, the widow of a seventh, and five British citizens of
Libyan and Somali origin are bringing claims against the British government on the basis of the
recovered documents, alleging false imprisonment, blackmail, misfeasance in public office and
conspiracy to assault. The recovered documents show that MI5 and MI6 submitted more than
1,600 questions to be put to two opposition leaders after they had been kidnapped with
British assistance and flown to one of Gaddafis prisons. Both men say they suffered
appalling torture. On Thursday an attempt by government lawyers to have the case struck out
without admitting liability failed when the high court ruled the allegations are of real potential
public concern and should be heard and dealt with by the courts.
Note: British intelligence agencies have been trying to silence the lawyers filing this lawsuit, and
got caught illegally spying on them. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing news articles about corruption in intelligence agencies and government.
APS authored Congressional letter to feds asking to crack down on

solar industry
2015-01-16, ABC's Arizona Affiliate
http://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/aps-authored-congressiona...
Arizonas largest utility company has been at odds with the solar panel industry for years. Now,
APS [Arizona Public Service, the states largest utility] is asking the Federal Trade Commission to
crack down on solar companies. But they didnt ask them directly. Six Arizona Congressmen sent
letters to federal regulators asking them to investigate solar leasing companies. Reporter Evan
Wyloge ... has the original letter and proves its actually APS spearheading the effort. Arizona
Public Service [is] one of the largest campaign donors for the group of lawmakers. The APSauthored, congressmen-signed letter comes as the latest in an ongoing effort to stymie
third-party solar panel companies, whose business has grown tenfold over the past halfdecade, presenting a challenge to the long-term business model of traditional utilities like
APS. The high-profile fight between the traditional utility and newer rooftop solar panel companies
is not unique to Arizona. Similar struggles have emerged in other states. On Nov. 19, Democratic
Reps. Ron Barber, Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema asked [regulators] in a joint letter to ... look
into solar panel leasing practices. Then, on Dec. 12, Republican Reps. Trent Franks, Paul Gosar
and Matt Salmon sent a similar letter to the FTC. After both letters were sent, the Arizona
Corporation Commission voted late in 2014 to open a docket on consumer complaints about solar
companies. Initial hearings are expected to begin this spring.
corruption and energy news articles from reliable major media sources.
Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Is a Pending Disaster

2015-01-06, Baltimore Sun (Baltimore's leading newspaper)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-why-the-transpacific-partnership...
Republicans who now run Congress say they want to cooperate with President Obama, and point
to the administration's Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, as the model. The only problem is the
TPP would be a disaster. If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It
would be the largest trade deal in history ... representing 792 million people and accounting
for 40 percent of the world economy -- yet it's been devised in secret. Lobbyists from
America's biggest corporations and Wall Street's biggest banks have been involved but not
the American public. That's a recipe for fatter profits and bigger paychecks at the top, but not a
good deal for most of us, or even for most of the rest of the world. Big corporations and Wall Street
want ... more international protection when it comes to their intellectual property and other assets.
But they want less protection of consumers, workers, small investors, and the environment,
because these interfere with their profits. So they've been seeking trade rules that allow them to
override these protections. Not surprisingly for a deal that's been drafted mostly by corporate and
Wall Street lobbyists, the TPP provides exactly this mix. In other words, the TPP is a Trojan horse
in a global race to the bottom, giving big corporations and Wall Street banks a way to eliminate any
and all laws and regulations that get in the way of their profits.
Note: The above article is written by former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. For more along
these lines, see this summary of an article that appeared in the Guardian newspaper in 2013. You
can also read the TPP's Intellectual property and environment language for yourself.
Heavyweight Response to Local Fracking Bans

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/us/heavyweight-response-to-local-fracking-b...
Longmont [Colorado] has become a cautionary tale of what can happen when cities decide to
confront the oil and gas industry. In an aggressive response to a wave of citizen-led drilling bans,
state officials, energy companies and industry groups are taking Longmont and other
municipalities to court, forcing local governments into ... expensive, long-shot efforts to defend the
measures. Two years ago, [Longmont] residents voted to ban hydraulic fracturing from their
grassy open spaces and a snow-fed reservoir. In Colorado, the energy industry, which argues that
cities lack the authority to outlaw fracking, has already won rulings overturning three fracking
prohibitions. Longmont, which sits near the juncture of rolling plains and jagged mountains, has
spent about $136,000 fighting unsuccessfully so far to defend a 2012 measure that outlawed
fracking. In July, a district court judge tossed out the ban, and the city is appealing. A judge
also overturned a fracking ban last year in Fort Collins, Colo., and denied pleas from the city
to keep the ban in place while local officials went to court to defend a five-year fracking
moratorium. In Broadview Heights, Ohio, energy companies are suing the town and residents
are suing the energy companies in return over a bill of rights that outlawed fracking and the
disposal of its byproducts. While the Longmont City Council voted unanimously in August to
defend the fracking ban, other towns have decided it is just too costly a fight.
Note: Fracking can poison drinking water, negatively impact human health, and may cause
earthquakes.
By Editing Plant Genes, Companies Avoid Regulation

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/business/energy-environment/a-gray-area-in-...
Its first attempt to develop genetically engineered grass ended disastrously for the Scotts MiracleGro Company. The grass escaped into the wild from test plots in Oregon in 2003. Yet Scotts is
once again developing genetically modified grass that would ... be resistant to damage from the
popular weedkiller Roundup. But this time the grass will not need federal approval before it can be
field-tested and marketed. Scotts and several other companies are developing genetically
modified crops using techniques that either are outside the jurisdiction of the Agriculture
Department or use new methods like genome editing that were not envisioned when
the regulations were created. If you take genetic material from a plant ... theres a bunch of stuff
you can do that at least technically is unregulated, Jim Hagedorn, Scotts chief executive, told
analysts in December 2013. Other companies, including Cellectis, are using new genome-editing
techniques that can change the plants existing DNA rather than insert foreign genes. Cibus, a
privately held San Diego company, is beginning to sell herbicide-resistant canola developed this
way. With our technology, we can develop the same traits but in a way thats not transgenic, said
Peter Beetham, chief executive of Cibus, using a term for a plant containing foreign genes.
Regulators around the world are now grappling with whether these techniques are even
considered genetic engineering and how, if at all, they should be regulated.
Note: Scotts is Monsanto's exclusive agent for consumer RoundUp. They are trying to engineer
plants to be more resistant to RoundUp's toxicity, so that greater quantities of this deadly poison
can be dumped on our lawns and food crops. It remains impossible to contain the spread of
transgenetic material that escaped a Scotts Miracle-Gro Company lab in 2003. For more, see
these concise summaries of deeply revealing GMO news articles.
North Korea/Sony Story Shows How Eagerly U.S. Media Still Regurgitate
Government Claims
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/01/north-koreasony-story-shows-eag...
The identity of the Sony hackers is still unknown. President Obama, in a December 19 press
conference, announced: We can confirm that North Korea engaged in this attack. He then
vowed: We will respond. We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start
imposing censorship here in the United States. The ... campaign to blame North Korea actually
began two days earlier, when The New York Times [reported] that North Korea was centrally
involved in the hacking of Sony Pictures computers. The same day, The Washington Post ...
devoted most of its discussion to the retaliation available to the U.S. The NYT and Post [did not
note] how sparse and unconvincing was the available evidence against North Korea. The day
before Obamas press conference, long-time expert Marc Rogers detailed his reasons for
viewing the North Korea theory as unlikely; after Obamas definitive accusation, he
comprehensively reviewed the disclosed evidence and was even more assertive: there is
NOTHING here that directly implicates the North Koreans and the evidence is flimsy and
speculative at best. None of this expert skepticism made its way into countless media accounts of
the Sony hack. North Korea was [reported to be] responsible for the hack, because the
government said it was. That kind of reflexive embrace of government claims is ... dangerous
[because such] claims can serve as a pretext for U.S. aggression.
Note: Read the complete article above to see why Glen Greenwald compares this propaganda
campaign with the run-up to the Iraq War and the Gulf of Tonkin fraud. For more along these lines,
see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about mass media deception from
reliable sources.
Was FBI wrong on North Korea?

2014-12-23, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-the-fbi-get-it-wrong-on-north-korea/
Cybersecurity experts are questioning the FBI's claim that North Korea is responsible for
the hack that crippled Sony Pictures. Kurt Stammberger, a senior vice president with
cybersecurity firm Norse, told CBS News his company has data that doubts some of the FBI's
findings. While Norse is not involved in the Sony case, it has done its own investigation. "We are
very confident that this was not an attack master-minded by North Korea and that insiders were
key to the implementation of one of the most devastating attacks in history," said Stammberger. He
says Norse data is pointing towards a woman who calls herself "Lena" and claims to be connected
with the so-called "Guardians of Peace" hacking group. Norse believes it's identified this woman
as someone who worked at Sony in Los Angeles for ten years until leaving the company this past
May. "There are certainly North Korean fingerprints on this but when we run all those leads
to ground they turn out to be decoys or red herrings," said Stammberger. For instance while
the malware used to attack Sony has been used by North Korea before, it is also used by hackers
around the world every day. It's worth noting that the original demand of the hackers was for
money from Sony in exchange for not releasing embarrassing information. There was no mention
of the movie "The Interview." The FBI is still continuing its investigation into the Sony hack.
Note: There appears to be much more to the Sony hacking than meets the eye. Read a wired.com
article showing among other things that both Sony and the FBI deny the North Korea connection.
U.S. Moves to Block Graphic Photos of Detainee Abuse, Again

http://www.newsweek.com/us-moves-block-graphic-photos-detainee-abuse-again-29...
There was never going to be a perfect time to release this report, President Barack Obama said
earlier this month after the Senate Intelligence Committee unleashed its long-awaited torture
report. But in the wake of this rare moment of transparency, the administration took the next step
in keeping additional evidence of prisoner abuse concealed. The government is withholding
nearly 2,100 images that show the militarys brutal treatment of detainees at various prisons
in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the previously disclosed pictures from Abu Ghraib are the stuff of
nightmares piles of naked bodies, detainees being led on leashes and U.S. soldiers giving a
thumbs-up as it all happens these photographs are said to be even more disturbing. The
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) originally sued for the images release in 2004. Obama ...
blocked the release, [and now] contends that the photographs could further encourage attacks
against the U.S. personnel still in Afghanistan and Iraq and could be used by the recently
galvanized Islamic Statethe terrorist group commonly known as ISIS. Alex Abdo, an ACLU staff
attorney working on the case since 2005, said ... that the government is essentially arguing that
[the images must remain] secret because they powerfully document abuse. If theres
anything the debate over torture is missing, its the sort of evidence that photographs give you
irrefutable evidence of the brutality of the mistreatment, Abdo said.
Note: U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein will review the next round of justifications for keeping
this material classified on January 20. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing war news articles from reliable major media sources.
And the Winner of the War On Terror Financed Dream Home 2014
Giveaway Is
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/31/winner-war-terror-financed-drea...
The combined cost of the war on terror comes to an estimated $1.6 trillion. A lot of former
senior government officials who played important roles in this debacle have done quite well
for themselves. [Former CIA director George Tenet] missed multiple signs of a major Al Qaeda
attack directed against the United States [prior to 9/11] and approved the Bush administrations
torturing of terror suspects. He got the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He [also] received a $4
million advance to write a memoir. Tenet has received millions more in his current role as ... a
board director and advisor to intelligence and military contractors. Louis Freeh, Tenets counterpart
at the FBI during the run-up to 9/11 [also mishandled] significant and urgent intelligence of
serious operational planning for terrorism attacks by Islamic radicals. Freeh resigned from the
FBI two months before 9/11. In 2008, [a businessman named Nasser Kazeminy] was accused of
bribing former Senator Norm Coleman, [and] hired Freeh to conduct a thorough investigation of
the allegations against him in the hopes of clearing his name. In 2011, Freeh issued a public
statement saying that his investigation had completely vindicated both Kazeminy and Coleman.
Freeh also met with the Justice Department which was investigating the bribery charges but
declined to bring a case on Kazeminys behalf. [Today, Freeh has a $3 million] Palm Beach
penthouse. Freehs wife co-owns it with Kazeminy. The quit claim deed giving Freehs wife onehalf ownership of the penthouse was signed nine days after Freehs vindication of
Kazeminy.
corruption in intelligence agencies and government.
Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/22/opinion/prosecute-torturers-and-their-bosse...
President Obama [has thus far] failed to bring to justice anyone responsible for the ... official
government [torture] program conceived and carried out in the years after the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001. He did allow his Justice Department to investigate the C.I.A.'s destruction of videotapes of
torture sessions and those who may have gone beyond the torture techniques authorized by
President George W. Bush. But the investigation did not lead to any charges being filed. The
American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch are ... calling for appointment of a
special prosecutor to investigate what appears increasingly to be a vast criminal
conspiracy, under color of law, to commit torture and other serious crimes. The question
everyone will want answered, of course, is: Who should be held accountable? Any credible
investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheneys chief of staff, David
Addington; the former C.I.A. director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of
Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos. There are many
more names that could be considered. Because of the Senates report, we now know the distance
officials in the executive branch went to rationalize, and conceal, the crimes they wanted to
commit. The question is whether the nation will stand by and allow the perpetrators of torture to
have perpetual immunity for their actions.
Note: Some have called for prosecuting those responsible as violators of international rules
against human experimentation. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing stories about questionable intelligence agency practices and widespread government
corruption.
Child abuse inquiry: Police investigate three alleged murders

2014-12-18, BBC News
Detectives are investigating three alleged murders as part of an inquiry into historical child abuse,
the Met Police has said. No confirmed identities or bodies of victims had been found. Officers
made a public appeal for information relating to Dolphin Square estate in Pimlico, southwest London, amid claims boys were abused there [by] a paedophile ring involving
prominent figures in the 1970s and 1980s. The appeal was made as part of Operation Midland,
which is under the umbrella of Operation Fairbank, and is one of a number of ongoing inquiries
into historical abuse. The paedophile ring is alleged to have included senior military, law
enforcement and political figures. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse said police
were examining whether children were abused at locations across London, in the Home Counties
and at "military establishments". BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said it was the
first time Operation Midland had confirmed ... that the murders involved three children. The claims
also included allegations a child had been run over. [Related inquiries include] Operation
Fernbridge - examining claims [of a] paedophile ring with links to Parliament. Operation Cayacos investigating allegations ... linked to convicted paedophile Peter Righton. The Independent Jersey
Care Inquiry - assessing reports of abuse in the island's children's homes and fostering services
from 1960 to the present day.
media sources.
Where's the outrage? Congress changes savings accounts and

retirement funds, and America sleeps
2014-12-16, The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/dec/16/budget-sets-stage-for-next-meltdown
Congress has passed, and President Obama has said he would sign, a budget bill that
allows banks to use your savings when they make giant financial bets called derivatives.
Again. And because those savings are insured by the federal government, you, the taxpayer,
would be on the hook if those bets go south. Again. This isnt arcane financial stuff we can ignore.
These are the exact financial mechanisms that led to the global crisis just six (short!) years
ago. The Dodd-Frank reform law that was passed in the wake of that crisis forbade this from ever
happening. People in the personal finance field love to talk about how if we could just get more
Americans to save, if we could just get more Americans to learn the basics of the stock market, if
we could just convince Americans to forego that latte at Starbucks, if we could just put Americans
on a budget, then things would be OK. But how is any of that supposed to work when banks can
use peoples savings to play the roulette wheel that is the stock market and then when they lose,
they just order another cup of coffee and use the federal budget to make sure that the losses fall
not on them but on the people who just tried to save a little money in the first place? This one is
only on workers if they say nothing and fail to educate themselves on what is being plundered from
their futures. The powers that be are counting on you not to pay attention, or to feel so impotent
that you just give up.
Note: Read how literally hundreds of trillions of dollars are being recklessly gambled by the banks
using our savings and retirement. For more along these lines, see these concise summaries of
deeply revealing articles about widespread corruption in government and banking and finance.
Forbidden Topic in Health Policy Debate: Cost Effectiveness

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/upshot/forbidden-topic-in-health-policy-deb...
For the most part, were avoiding [the subject of cost effectiveness] when we talk about health
care. When the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the body specifically set up to do
comparative effectiveness research, was founded, the law explicitly prohibited it from funding any
cost-effectiveness research at all. As it says on its website, We dont consider cost effectiveness
to be an outcome of direct importance to patients. As a physician, a health services researcher
and a patient ... I think understanding how much bang for the buck I, my patients and the public
are getting from our health care spending is of great importance. The United States Preventive
Services Task Force ... was set up by the federal government to rate the effectiveness of
preventive health services on a scale of A to D. When it issues a rating, it almost always
explicitly states that it does not consider the costs of providing a service in its assessment.
And because the Affordable Care Act mandates that all insurance must cover, without any cost
sharing, all services that the task force has rated A or B, that means that we are all paying for
these therapies, even if they are incredibly inefficient. If we are going to mandate that
recommendations and interventions must be covered by health insurance ... it seems logical that
we at least consider their economic value.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health corruption
With hackers running rampant, why would we poke holes in data

security?
2014-12-14, LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1215-wyden-backdoor-for-cell-phone...
Hardly a week goes by without a new report of some massive data theft that has put financial
information, trade secrets or government records into the hands of computer hackers. The best
defense against these attacks is clear: strong data encryption and more secure technology
systems. U.S. intelligence agencies hold a different view. James Comey, the FBI director, is
lobbying Congress to require that electronics manufacturers create intentional security

holes so-called back doors that would enable the government to [easily] access data
on every American's cellphone and computer. Building a back door into every cellphone, tablet,
or laptop means deliberately creating weaknesses that hackers and foreign governments can
exploit. What these officials are proposing would be bad for personal data security and bad for
business. Built-in back doors have ... disastrous results. The U.S. House of Representatives
recognized how dangerous this idea was and in June approved [an] amendment [to] prohibit the
government from mandating that technology companies build security weaknesses into any of their
products. I introduced legislation in the Senate to accomplish the same goal. Advances in
technology always pose a new challenge to law enforcement agencies. But curtailing innovation on
data security is no solution, and certainly won't restore public trust in tech companies or
government agencies.
Note: Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote the article summarized
above. The NSA routinely creates and exploits security holes in commercial encryption software
and devices to spy on people, and shares the personal data it obtains with the CIA, FBI, IRS, and
others through the DEA's Special Operations Division. What exactly is the FBI director asking
congress for now?
Amid Details on Torture, Data on 26 Who Were Held in Error

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/us/politics/amid-details-on-torture-data-on...
One quiet consequence of this weeks sensational release of the Senate Intelligence Committees
report on the C.I.A. detention program was a telephone call that a human rights lawyer, Meg
Satterthwaite, placed to a client in Yemen, Mohamed Bashmilah. For eight years since Mr.
Bashmilah, 46, was released from C.I.A. custody, Ms. Satterthwaite ... had been trying
without success to get the United States government to acknowledge that it had held him in
secret prisons for 19 months and to explain why. In the phone call on Wednesday, she told him
that the Senate report listed him as one of 26 prisoners who, based on C.I.A. documents, had
been wrongfully detained. After learning the news, Mr. Bashmilah pressed Ms. Satterthwaite,
who heads the global justice program at New York University Law School, to tell him what might
follow from the Senates recognition. Would there be an apology? Would there be some kind of
compensation? Among the others mistakenly held for periods of months or years, according to the
report, were an intellectually challenged man held by the C.I.A. solely to pressure a family
member to provide information; two people who were former C.I.A. informants; and two brothers
who were falsely linked to Al Qaeda. Ms. Satterthwaite was not able to answer Mr. Bashmilahs
question about an apology or reparation. No apology was forthcoming from the C.I.A., which
declined to comment on specific cases.
Note: An ACLU lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Bashmilah and others flown to prisons on C.I.A.
aircraft was dismissed on the grounds that it might expose state secrets. For more along these
lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing stories about questionable intelligence agency
practices from reliable sources.
CIA interrogations report sparks prosecution calls

2014-12-10, BBC News
The UN and human rights groups have called for the prosecution of US officials involved in what a
Senate report called the "brutal" CIA interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects. UN Special Rapporteur
on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson said that senior officials from the
administration of George W Bush who planned and sanctioned crimes must be prosecuted,
as well as CIA and US government officials responsible for torture. "As a matter of
international law, the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice," Mr Emmerson said
in a statement made from Geneva. Correspondents say that the chances of prosecuting members
of the Bush administration are unlikely. Several countries suspected to have hosted [CIA torture]
sites reacted strongly to the publication. Poland's former president [Aleksander Kwasniewski] has
publicly acknowledged for the first time [that] his country hosted a secret CIA prison. Lithuanian
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius called on the US to say whether CIA used his country to
interrogate prisoners. Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani called the report "shocking", saying
the actions "violated all accepted norms of human rights in the world".
Note: Read revealing excerpts from this most disturbing report. For more, read how the CIA
teamed up with the UK's MI6 to kidnap people and deliver them to be tortured at a Libyan site in
2004. Could this US program have happened without strong international support?
Senate Report Rejects Claim on Hunt for Bin Laden

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/world/senate-report-raises-doubts-about-cia...
Months before the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, the Central Intelligence Agency
secretly prepared a public-relations plan that would stress that information gathered from its
disputed interrogation program had played a critical role in the hunt. Starting the day after the raid,
agency officials in classified briefings made that point to Congress. But in page after page of
previously classified evidence, the Senate Intelligence Committee report on C.I.A. torture,
released Tuesday, rejects the notion that torturing detainees contributed to finding Bin
Laden. The crucial breakthrough in the hunt was the identification of ... Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. The
United States had started wiretapping a phone number associated with Mr. Kuwaiti by late 2001. It
was in 2004 that the C.I.A. came to realize that it should focus on finding Mr. Kuwaiti as part of the
hunt for Bin Laden. [A man named] Hassan Ghul, who had been captured in Iraqi Kurdistan ...
provided the most accurate intelligence that the agency produced about Mr. Kuwaitis role and
ties to Bin Laden. Mr. Ghul provided all the important information about [Mr. Kuwaiti] before he was
subjected to any torture techniques. During that [initial] two-day period in January 2004, He
opened up right away and was cooperative from the outset. Nevertheless, the C.I.A. then decided
to torture Mr. Ghul. During and after that treatment, he provided no actionable threat information.
Note: Read revealing excerpts from this most disturbing report.
Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-allia...
Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other
corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their
political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year. The Times reported previously how
individual attorneys general have shut down investigations, changed policies or agreed to more
corporate-friendly settlement terms [for] campaign benefactors. But the attorneys general are also
working collectively. Out of public view, corporate representatives and attorneys general are
coordinating legal strategy and other efforts to fight federal regulations, according to a review of
thousands of emails and court documents and dozens of interviews. Attorney General Scott Pruitt
of Oklahoma [used his post] to help start what he and allies called the Rule of Law campaign. That
campaign, in which attorneys general band together to operate like a large national law firm, has
been used to back lawsuits and other challenges against the Obama administration on
environmental issues, the Affordable Care Act and securities regulation. The most recent
target is the presidents executive action on immigration. Coordination between the corporations
and teams of attorneys general involved in the Rule of Law effort also involves actual litigation to
try to clear roadblocks to energy projects, documents show.
corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Eric Garner and the Legal Rules That Enable Police Violence
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/06/opinion/eric-garner-and-the-legal-rules-tha...
Eric Garner was not the first American to be choked by the police, and he will not be the
last, thanks to legal rules that prevent victims of police violence from asking federal courts
to help stop deadly practices. The 1983 case City of Los Angeles v. Lyons vividly illustrates the
problem. That case also involved an African-American man choked by the police without
provocation. Unlike Mr. Garner, Adolph Lyons survived. He then filed a federal lawsuit, asking the
city to compensate him for his injuries. He also asked the court to prevent the Los Angeles Police
Department from using chokeholds in the future. The trial court ordered the L.A.P.D. to stop using
chokeholds. The Supreme Court overturned this order. The court explained that Mr. Lyons would
have needed to prove that he personally was likely to be choked again in order for his lawsuit to be
a vehicle for systemic reform. This is the legal standard when a plaintiff asks a federal court for an
injunction or a forward-looking legal order. When the stakes are this deadly, federal courts
should step in. If police departments still failed to comply, federal judges could impose penalties.
How do we know? Consider school segregation. Local officials had promised change but failed to
ensure it. It took decades of close supervision by federal courts to make a dent in the problem. As
the courts started to leave this field in more recent years, de facto segregation returned.
civil liberties and government corruption from reliable major media sources.
The remarkable collapse of our trust in government, in one chart

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/12/04/the-remarkable-coll...
No one likes -- or trusts -- the government. At this point, that's accepted conventional wisdom. And
most people assume it has always been like that. But that lack of trust hasn't always been a part of
the American experience -- as this awesome chart from our friends at the Pew Research Center
shows. The downward trajectory is stark. The collapse began during the presidency of Lyndon B.
Johnson, which, not coincidentally, overlapped with the Vietnam War. The 1970s -- thanks to
Vietnam and Watergate -- sped up the loss of faith in the government. And, after a quasiresurgence during the 1980s, the trend line for the past few decades is quite clear. With the
exception of relatively brief spikes that overlap with the first Gulf War and the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the number of people who trust the government has been steadily
declining; the last time Pew asked the question, in February, just 24 percent said they trust
the government "always" or "most of the time". Exit polling from the 2014 midterms makes
clear that things haven't improved. That's a tough starting place for any politician. But, if the chart
[linked to] above is any indication, it's the new normal.
government corruption.
Haunting Photos of the Sites of Child Abuse

https://time.com/3608071/see-haunting-photos-of-the-sites-of-child-abuse/
In a damning 2009 report, Irelands independently-run Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
which spent nine years investigating thousands of allegations of abuse at religious-run institutions
spoke of a culture of endemic sexual abuse in the countrys Catholic boys schools and of the
deferential and submissive attitude of the Irish state towards the religious orders who ran them.
What emerged from the investigation, and from a separate Dublin-specific inquiry concluded the
same year, was that institutional child abuse was widespread and that it had occurred not
only in schools, but in many places where young people were in the care of religious
orders. The commissions also revealed that very often when children reported the abuse,
they were largely ignored and even punished. The state, too, had willfully turned a blind
eye. The very ordinariness of [the abuse] struck photographer Kim Haughton as profoundly
disturbing. This was molestation that was at once hidden and woven into the fabric of everyday
life. So much of this happened in places like schools and churches, and in homes, she tells
TIME. And so she embarked on In Plain Sight, a project in which the [actual] sites of these abuses
became the subjects of her lens ... places that, when taken at face value, seem unremarkable.
The work, I hope, challenges us to confront these crimes in the context in which they happened,
Haughton adds, everyday life.
Note: Read the complete story to see photos from In Plain Sight. Explore powerful evidence from
a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that child sexual abuse scandals also
reach to the highest levels of government in the US. And read an abundance of major media news
articles showing rampant child sexual abuse at high levels in many prominent organizations.
The Fed Needs Governors Who Arent Wall Street Insiders

http://online.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-warren-and-joe-manchin-the-fed-needs...
The Federal Reserve's Board of Governors and the New York Fed have been responsible for
supervising Wall Street banks. After the 2008 crisis and the regulatory lapses it revealed,
Congress gave the Fed even more oversight authority. Two recent reports highlight that the
Fed isnt very good at supervising certain banks. In September, Carmen Segarra, a former
bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, released secret recordings she had
made of meetings at the New York Fed in 2012. The recordings revealed that New York Fed
employees had identified concerns with a proposed Goldman Sachs deal. The New York Fed
didnt attempt to make Goldman address these concerns. The recordings also showed Ms.
Segarras superiors pressuring her to soften her finding that Goldman did not comply with federal
regulations on conflicts of interest. An October report from the Feds Office of Inspector General
provided additional confirmation that the Fed is failing to oversee the big banks. The report found
that the New York Fed had failed to examine J.P. Morgan Chases Chief Investment Office despite
a recommendation to do so in 2009. The report concluded that the New York Fed needed to
improve its supervision of the biggest, most complex banks. Were all counting on the Fed to
monitor the big banks and stop them from taking on too much risk, but evidence is mounting that
this faith in the Fed is misplaced.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For more along these lines, see these concise summaries
of deeply revealing articles about widespread corruption in government and banking and finance.
For additional information, see the excellent, reliable resources provided in our Banking Corruption
Information Center.
On Media Outlets That Continue to Describe Unknown Drone Victims As
Militants
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/18/media-outlets-continue-describe...
It has been more than two years since The New York Times revealed that Mr. Obama embraced a
disputed method for counting civilian casualties of his drone strikes which in effect counts all
military-age males in a strike zone as combatants ... unless there is explicit intelligence
posthumously proving them innocent. The paper noted that this counting method may partly
explain the official claims of extraordinarily low collateral deaths, and even quoted CIA officials as
deeply troubled by this decision. After the Times article, most large western media outlets
continued to describe completely unknown victims of U.S. drone attacks as militants even
though they (a) had no idea who those victims were or what they had done and (b) were wellaware by that point that the term had been re-defined by the Obama administration. Like the U.S.
drone program itself, this deceitful media practice continues unabated. The U.S. government
itself let alone the media outlets calling them militants often has no idea who has
been killed by drone strikes in Pakistan. The Intercept previously reported that targeting
decisions can even be made on the basis of nothing more than metadata analysis and
tracking of SIM cards in mobile phones. Just last month, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism
documented that fewer than 4% of the people killed have been identified by available records as
named members of al Qaeda.
military corruption and high level manipulation of mass media from reliable sources.
Waste Water from Oil Fracking Injected into Clean Aquifers

2014-11-14, NBC News (San Francisco Affiliate)
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Waste-Water-from-Oil-Fracking-Inject...
State officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump nearly three billion gallons of waste
water into underground aquifers that could have been used for drinking water or irrigation.
Those aquifers are supposed to be off-limits to that kind of activity, protected by the EPA.
Californias Department of Conservations Chief Deputy Director, Jason Marshall, told NBC Bay
Area, There have been past issues where permits were issued to operators that they shouldnt be
injecting into those zones." In fracking or hydraulic fracturing operations, oil and gas companies
use massive amounts of water to force the release of underground fossil fuels. The practice
produces large amounts of waste water that must then be disposed of. Marshall said that often
times, oil and gas companies simply re-inject that waste water back deep underground where the
oil extraction took place. But other times, Marshall said, the waste water is re-injected into aquifers
closer to the surface. In the States letter to the EPA, officials admit that in at least nine waste
water injection wells, the waste water was injected into non-exempt or clean aquifers. For the
EPA, non-exempt aquifers are underground bodies of water that are containing high quality
water that can be used by humans to drink, water animals or irrigate crops. "It should not have
been permitted, said Marshall.
Note: The complete article summarized above includes maps of the Bakersfield, CA wells
contaminated by these fracking waste injections. For more along these lines, read this Los
Angeles Times article about how fracking poisons drinking water, and see concise summaries of
deeply revealing corporate corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'

2014-11-14, BBC News
Police are investigating "possible homicide" linked to what has been described as a
paedophile ring involving powerful people in the 1970s and 1980s. The group is alleged to
have included senior figures in public life, the military, politics and law enforcement. A key
witness who has spoken to police has told the BBC that he was abused for nine years as a boy.
The Metropolitan Police said, "At this early stage in this inquiry, with much work still to do, it is not
appropriate to issue appeals or reveal more information." Using the name "Nick", the alleged victim
said he had given three days of video-taped evidence to detectives. His accounts are being
assessed as part of ... a new Scotland Yard investigation. Nick, now in his 40s, says ... the group
was "very organised" and would arrange for chauffeur-driven cars to pick up boys, sometimes from
school, and drive them to "parties" or "sessions" at locations including hotels and private
apartments in London and other cities. "Some of them were quite open about who they were. They
had no fear at all of being caught, it didn't cross their mind." Nick said he had one motivation for
speaking to the BBC - to encourage other alleged victims or those who unwittingly assisted the
abusers to come forward. "People who drove us around could come forward. Staff in some of the
locations could come forward. We weren't smuggled in under a blanket through the back door. It
was done openly and people must have questioned that and they need to come forward."
that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government. And read an
abundance of major media news articles showing rampant child sexual abuse at high levels in
many prominent organizations.
Ebola Contracts Worth $2 Billion Could Benefit Drugmakers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-10/ebola-contracts-worth-2-billion-coul...
Drugmakers including Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Emergent
Biosolutions Inc. (EBS) are among companies standing to gain from what may be $2 billion in U.S.
contracts related to Ebola. President Barack Obama asked Congress last week for $6.2 billion
in emergency funding to stop the spread of the virus that has killed more than 4,800 people
in West Africa. The request is heavily focused on health needs as opposed to prior funding
that was largely centered on defense contracts, Brian Friel, a Bloomberg Intelligence contracts
analyst, said. Friel said he expects multiple drugmakers involved in Ebola will share in what
will likely be no-bid contract awards to make everyone happy. His $2 billion estimate is based
on the percentage of its budget the Department of Health and Human Services spent on contracts
last year. Little information is available yet about which companies are getting Ebola-related public
funding. Congress has approved $838 million in Ebola money this year, resulting in $77 million in
contracts so far. Not all awards have been made public. The U.S. has spent more than $400
million as of Oct. 24.
Note: Read this webpage which lays bare the gross profiteering by pharmaceuticals on pandemics
like ebola as reported in the mainstream media.
Navy Plans Electromagnetic War Games Over National Park and Forest
in Washington State
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27339-navy-plans-electromagnetic-war-games...
Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest in Washington State are ... where the US
Navy aims to conduct its Northwest Electromagnetic Radiation Warfare training program. It will fly
... 2,900 training exercises over wilderness, communities and cities across the Olympic
Peninsula for 260 days per year, with exercises lasting up to 16 hours per day. No public
notices for the Navy's plans were published in any media that directly serve the Olympic
Peninsula. But word spread. Public outcry forced the Navy to extend the public comment period
until November 28 and schedule more public meetings. According to the US Navy's Information
Dominance Roadmap 2013-2028, the Navy states it "will require new capabilities to fully employ
integrated information in warfare by expanding the use of advanced electronic warfare." The
purpose of these war games is to train to deny the enemy "all possible frequencies of
electromagnetic radiation (i.e. electromagnetic energy) for use in such applications as
communication systems..." David King, the mayor of Port Townsend, a town on the Northeast
corner of the Olympic Peninsula, has voiced his opposition to the plan, along with numerous other
public officials. Mike Welding, the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island spokesman, recently
admitted to reporters, "If someone is in the exclusion area for more than 15 minutes, that's a
ballpark estimate for when there would be some concern for potential to injure, to receive
burns."
Note: We don't generally use truth-out.org as a reliable source, but as no major media are
covering this most important development, we're including this article here. To verify this
information, please click on some of the links in the article and see the U.S. Navy's "Information
Dominance Roadmap".
Three Ways Courts Screw the Innocent Into Pleading Guilty

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/07/how-the-innocent-get-screwed
(senior federal district judge) Jed A. Rakoffs essay in The New York Review of Books ... tries to
explain why innocent people so often plead guilty. At least 20,000 people have pled guilty to
and gone to jail for felonies they did not commit if you very conservatively take
criminologists lowest estimates, and cut them in half. Rakoff identifies three ways the criminal
justice system obstructs its own truth seeking mechanism, a trial by jury: 1. By embracing the
increasingly popular plea bargain. 97 percent of federal trials were resolved last year through
plea bargain. Plea bargains ... are weighted largely in favor of the prosecutor. The notion
that a plea bargain is a contractual mediation between two relatively equal parties, Rakoff
argues, is a total myth. 2. Through mandatory minimum sentences. The combination of
mandatory sentences and prosecutorial discretion forces the defendant [to] run the risk of losing
the case and serve the maximum sentence or take a reduced charge, at a reduced sentence, even
when innocent. 3. Via the unfettered rise of prosecutorial power. Prosecutors have far more power
... than any other party involved in the criminal justice system. The one mechanism that could
check their power is the jury trial, which is becoming virtually extinct in federal court, Rakoff
writes. One possible solution to all these problems aside from repealing mandatory minimum
sentences and generally reducing the severity of sentences is greater judicial oversight.
corruption and civil liberties news articles from reliable sources.
Dark money looms large in 2014 midterms

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/diaz/article/Dark-money-looms-large-in-2014-mid...
The most disturbing trend in the financing of American political campaigns is not the
magnitude of the money being spent. Its that more and more of that money is not going
through the campaigns themselves where donations must be disclosed and limited
but from nonprofit groups that are being set up for the express purpose of frustrating any
attempt to identify their funders. This infusion of dark money all but obliterates the postWatergate notion that Americans have a right to know who is behind ... candidates. In this new
world order, various players are operating under different sets of rules and some seem to be
creating their own, aware that this Supreme Court seems disinclined to stop them. We know, for
example, that billionaire investor Tom Steyer spent $74 million on behalf of Democratic candidates
who were committed to doing something about climate change. There is no exact figure on how
much was spent at the other end of the spectrum by the Koch brothers, the conservative oil barons
who funnel much of their donations through nonprofits that are not required to list their funding
sources under the tax code. A memo by the Koch brothers main political arm, leaked to Politico in
May, forecast a budget of $125 million in this election. Such obfuscation is becoming more
commonplace. The average voter is left without knowing who really is behind these campaigns.
But make no mistake: Our elected officials are well aware of their benefactors and their
expectations.
Note: For more along these lines, see these summaries of deeply revealing election news articles
from reliable sources.
Army Slow to Investigate War Gear Missing in Afghanistan

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-11-04/army-slow-to-investigate-war-gear...
The U.S. Army has been slow to investigate hundreds of millions of dollars in missing
weapons systems, vehicles, electronics and communications gear in Afghanistan, according
to the Pentagons inspector general. The Army field support brigade in Afghanistan responsible for
managing gear being shipped out of the country failed to report in a timely manner 15,600 pieces
of unaccounted gear valued at as much as $419.5 million, according to a report labelled For
Official Use Only that reviewed major lost-property reports from fiscal 2013. Some of the missing
gear eventually may turn up as the U.S. completes the bulk of its withdrawal, Army officials said in
a response to the inspector general. Yet with the closing of 309 bases since 2010, only a fraction
of the items from previous reviews of unaccounted property has been recovered, according to the
audit dated Oct. 30. Due to the significant delays in reporting inventory losses the Armys Rock
Island, Illinois-based Sustainment Command, which oversees the effort, does not have accurate
accountability and visibility of its property," said Michael Roark, assistant inspector general for
contract management, who signed the report. There is a risk that missing property will not be
recovered and no one was held financially responsible for the property losses or
accountable for missing reporting deadlines, the report found. The audit disclosed ...
133,557 lost items valued at $238.4 million.
Note: Do you really think this equipment was just lost? Would the military just leave expensive and
sensitive equipment carelessly? Could it be that it is meant to fall into enemy hands in order to
keep the war machine pumping its huge profits into the pockets of certain elite groups? For more
along these lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing war news articles from reliable
sources.
FBI Says It Faked AP Story to Catch Bomb Suspect

2014-10-28, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/ap-seattle-times-upset-fbi-imperso...
The FBI confirmed Tuesday it faked an Associated Press story to catch a bomb threat suspect in
2007. Police in Lacey, near Olympia, sought the FBI's help as repeated bomb threats prompted a
week of evacuations at Timberline High School in June 2007. The agency obtained a warrant from
a federal magistrate judge to send a "communication" to a social media account ... which
contained a software tool that could verify Internet addresses, (and) turned out to be a link to a
phony AP story about the bomb threats posted on a Web page created by the FBI. The 15-yearold suspect clicked on the link, revealing his computer's location. The FBI did not initially respond
to AP's request earlier Tuesday for further detail about the fake story, beyond saying the ruse was
necessary. AP spokesman Paul Colford said Tuesday the FBI's "ploy violated AP's name and
undermined AP's credibility." "We are extremely concerned and find it unacceptable that the FBI
misappropriated the name of The Associated Press and published a false story attributed to AP."
Kathy Best, editor of The Seattle Times, said in a statement that, "The FBI, in placing the name
of The Associated Press on a phony story sent to a criminal suspect, crossed a line and
undermined the credibility of journalists everywhere including at The Times." The
documents revealing the deception were publicized Monday on Twitter by Christopher Soghoian,
the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Lobbyists, Bearing Gifts, Pursue Attorneys General

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/us/lobbyists-bearing-gifts-pursue-attorneys...
Attorneys general are now the object of aggressive pursuit by lobbyists and lawyers who use ...
lavish corporate-sponsored conferences and other means to push them to drop investigations,
change policies, negotiate favorable settlements or pressure federal regulators, an investigation by
The New York Times has found. A robust industry of lobbyists and lawyers has blossomed as
attorneys general have joined to conduct multistate investigations. But unlike the lobbying rules
covering other elected officials, there are few revolving-door restrictions or disclosure
requirements governing state attorneys general. The routine lobbying and deal-making
occur largely out of view. The current and increasing level of the lobbying of attorneys general
creates, at the minimum, the appearance of undue influence, said James E. Tierney, a former
attorney general of Maine. It is undermining the credibility of the office of attorney general. Giant
energy producers and service companies ... have retained their own teams of attorney general
specialists, including Andrew P. Miller, a former attorney general of Virginia. An attorney general is
entrusted with the power to decide which lawsuits to file and how to settle them, and they have
great discretion in their work, said Anthony Johnstone, a former assistant attorney general in
Montana. Its vitally important that people can trust that those judgements are not subject to
undue influence because of outside forces. And from what I have seen ... those forces have
intensified.
corruption news articles from reliable sources.
Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/law-lets-irs-seize-accounts-on-suspicion...
For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only
restaurant. She deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away until last year,
when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking
account. She has not been charged with any crime. The money was seized solely because she
had deposited less than $10,000 at a time. Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers ... the
government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as
an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money
without ever filing a criminal complaint. Richard Weber, the chief of Criminal Investigation at the
I.R.S., said in a written statement ... that making deposits under $10,000 to evade reporting
requirements, called structuring, is ... a crime. The Institute for Justice, a Washington-based public
interest law firm ... analyzed structuring data from the I.R.S., which made 639 seizures in 2012,
up from 114 in 2005. Only one in five was prosecuted as a criminal structuring case. Law
enforcement agencies get to keep a share of whatever is forfeited. This incentive has led to
the creation of a law enforcement dragnet, with more than 100 multiagency task forces combing
through bank reports, looking for accounts to seize. There are often legitimate business reasons
for keeping deposits below $10,000, said Larry Salzman, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice. For
example, he said, a grocery store owner in Fraser, Mich., had an insurance policy that covered
only up to $10,000 cash.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing civil liberties news
articles.
Senator's "Wastebook" has everything that will fit in a pork barrel

2014-10-22, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/politics/tom-coburn-wastebook
Monkeys taught how to gamble and play video games. People paid to watch grass grow.
Swedish massages given to rabbits. These are just a few examples from the 100 entry-long list
in a book detailing government waste, compiled by retiring GOP Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. In
the 2014 edition of the "Wastebook," Coburn notes that getting rid of the practice of pork barrel
spending is next to impossible. "What I have learned from these experiences is Washington will
never change itself," he said." Some of the worst offenses listed in the book: The $1 billion price
tag the Pentagon paid to destroy $16 billion worth of ammunition, enough to pay a full years' salary
for over 54,000 Army privates. The book cites Pentagon officials who said the surplus ammunition
has become "obsolete, unusable, or their use is banned by international treaty." The Army spent
nearly half a million dollars -- $414,000 -- to develop a video game called "America's Army," a
version of which terrorists have used to train for missions, according to National Security
Agency e-mails sent in 2007 and leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Coburn
notes ... the national debt, which is "quickly approaching $18 trillion."
Note: For more, see the Chicago Tribune's article on "Wastebook".
How Billionaire Oligarchs Are Becoming Their Own Political Party

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/magazine/how-billionaire-oligarchs-are-beco...
Before 2002, parties could accept unlimited donations from individuals or groups (corporations,
labor unions, etc.). The McCain-Feingold law, as it came to be known, banned soft-money
contributions, and it also prohibited political groups that operate outside the regulated system and
its donation limits from running issue ads that appear to help or hurt a candidate close to an
election. In 2010, the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court effectively blew apart
the McCain-Feingold restrictions on outside groups and their use of corporate and labor
money in elections. That same year, a related ruling from a lower court made it easier for wealthy
individuals to finance those groups. What followed has been the most unbridled spending in
elections since before Watergate. In 2000, outside groups spent $52 million on campaigns,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics. By 2012, that number had increased to $1
billion. The result was a massive power shift. With the advent of Citizens United, any players with
the wherewithal, and there are surprisingly many of them, can start what are in essence their own
political parties, built around pet causes or industries and backing politicians uniquely answerable
to them. No longer do they have to buy into the system. Instead, they buy their own pieces of it
outright. Suddenly, we privatized politics, says Trevor Potter, an election lawyer who helped draft
the McCain-Feingold law.
Note: To understand the decisive role that money plays in elections politics, read this entire,
revealing article. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing election
process news articles from reliable major media sources. For more along these lines, see the
excellent, reliable resources provided in our Elections Information Center.
FBI director attacks tech companies for embracing new modes of

encryption
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/16/fbi-director-attacks-tech-comp...
The director of the FBI savaged tech companies for their recent embrace of end-to-end encryption
and suggested rewriting laws to ensure law enforcement access to customer data in a speech on
Thursday. James Comey said data encryption such as that employed on Apples latest mobile
operating system would deprive police and intelligence companies. Privacy advocates contend
Comey is demagoguing the issue. It took a June supreme court ruling, they point out, for law
enforcement to abandon its contention that it did not require warrants at all to search through
smartphones or tablets, and add that technological vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers
and foreign intelligence agencies as well as the US government. Tech companies contend
that their newfound adoption of encryption is a response to overarching government
surveillance, much of which occurs ... without a warrant, subject to a warrant broad enough to
cover indiscriminate data collection, or under a gag order following a non-judicial subpoena.
Comey did not mention such subpoenas, often in the form of National Security Letters, in his
remarks. Comey acknowledged that the Snowden disclosures caused justifiable surprise among
the public about the breadth of government surveillance, but hoped to mitigate it through greater
transparency and advocacy. Yet the FBI keeps significant aspects of its surveillance reach hidden
even from government oversight bodies. Intelligence officials said in a June letter to a US senator
that the FBI does not tally how often it searches through NSAs vast hoards of international
communications, without warrants, for Americans identifying information. Comey frequently
described himself as being technologically unprepared to offer specific solutions, and said he
meant to begin a conversation, even at the risk of putting American tech companies at a
competitive disadvantage.
Greater Manchester police failed to pursue child abuse gang claims

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/14/greater-manchester-police-fail...
Child sex grooming gangs have avoided prosecution due to a failure by one of the
countrys biggest police forces to pursue claims against them. Greater Manchester police
(GMP), the third largest force in England and Wales, has been accused by serving and former
detectives of attempting to cover up failings to tackle gangs of Asian men who were abusing young
girls. Responding to the claims, GMP chief constable Sir Peter Fahy [said] that officers had
developed a mindset that victims in sexual abuse cases were unreliable but, while this had
since changed, it was still present within the courts. The claims against GMP come just months
after a damning report found at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in
Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, with blatant collective failings by the council and South
Yorkshire police blamed for the abuse. Another GMP detective, who has remained anonymous ...
revealed there was reluctance by senior officers to investigate sexual abuse claims despite her
warnings the problem was spiralling out of control. In a letter seen by ITV News, one serving
officer claims there has been a cover-up and an internal report commissioned two years
ago has been re-written on nine separate occasions. A statement from the police force said:
Considerable resources are now invested in a number of ongoing investigations and we have
already made clear that further arrests will be made.
Chat logs reveal FBI informant Sabus role in hacking of Sun newspaper
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/14/fbi-informants-role-hacking-su...
The FBI is facing questions over its role in a 2011 hacking attack on Rupert Murdochs Sun
newspaper in the UK after the publication of chat logs showed that a man acting as an agency
informant played a substantial role in the operation. The attack was so successful that the
publisher took down the websites of the Sun and the Times while technicians worked out the scale
of the hack. Unsealed documents ... seen by the Guardian, show Hector Xavier Monsegur
known widely online as Sabu and frequently referred to as the leader of Lulzsec played an
active role in the operation. The chat records show Monsegur encouraging others to break further
into News International systems, claiming to have sources at the Sun, and even apparently helping
to break staffs passwords and to source files for stealing. Monsegur was, however, at that time
operating under the direction of the FBI. The close involvement of an FBI asset working
under extraordinarily close supervision in a hacking attack on a media outlet ultimately
owned by a US-listed company is set to raise further questions about the agencys
approach to tackling online crime. The logs also show Sabu on multiple occasions offering
detailed technical help to find additional records on different servers, breaking in to new servers, or
obtaining more files which could easily have included those belonging to journalists at either the
Sun or Times. The Sun, which is challenging the UK government over police accessing the phone
records of one of its reporters, declined to comment on the apparent FBI involvement in attacks on
its servers.
questionable intelligence agency practices from reliable sources. For an in-depth look at how these
practices have been shown to interfere with a free press, see these excellent, reliable Mass Media
Resources.
Court Spotlights the FBIs Super-Secret National Security Letters

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/09/court-spotlight-super-secret-na...
[National security letters], the reach of which was expanded under the Patriot Act in 2001, let the
FBI get business records from telephone, banking, and Internet companies with just a declaration
that the information is relevant to a counterterrorism investigation. The FBI can get such
information with a subpoena or another method with some judicial oversight. Can the government
make demands for data entirely in secret? That was the question yesterday before a federal
appeals court in San Francisco, where government lawyers argued that National Security Letters
FBI requests for information that are so secret they cant be publicly acknowledged by the
recipients were essential to counterterrorism investigations. One of the judges seemed to
question why there was no end-date on the gag orders, and why the burden was on the
recipients of NSLs to challenge them. It leaves it to the poor person who is subject to
those requirements to just constantly petition the government to get rid of it, said the
judge, N. Randy Smith. The FBI sends out thousands of NSLs each year 21,000 in fiscal year
2012. Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft filed a brief in support of the NSL challenge,
arguing that they want to publish more detailed aggregate statistics about the volume, scope and
type of NSLs that the government uses to demand information about their users. Twitter also
announced this week that it was suing the U.S. government over restrictions on how it can talk
about surveillance orders. Tech companies can currently make public information about the
number of NSLs or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders they receive in broad ranges,
but Twitter wants to be more specific.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing civil liberties news
Robert B. Reich: Why we allow Big Pharma to rip us off

America spends a fortune on drugs, more per person than any other nation on earth, even though
Americans are no healthier than the citizens of other advanced nations. Of the estimated $2.7
trillion America spends annually on health care, drugs account for 10 percent of the total.
Government pays some of this tab through Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies under the Affordable
Care Act. But we pick up the tab indirectly through our taxes. We pay the rest of it directly, through
higher co-payments, deductibles and premiums. Drug company payments to doctors are a small
part of a much larger strategy by Big Pharma to clean our pockets ... The drug companies say
they need the additional profits to pay for researching and developing new drugs. But the
government supplies much of the research Big Pharma relies on, through the National
Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Big Pharma is spending more on advertising and marketing
than on research and development -- often tens of millions to promote a single drug. And it's
spending hundreds of millions more every year on lobbying. Last year alone, the lobbying tab
came to $225 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's more than the
formidable lobbying expenditures of America's military contractors. In addition, Big Pharma is
spending heavily on political campaigns. In 2012, it shelled out over $36 million, making it the
biggest political contributor of all American industries.
Note: Read how cancer research is crippled by the greed of drug companies in the New York
Times article Profits Over Patients. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing health corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Secretly Buying Access to a Governor

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/opinion/secretly-buying-access-to-a-governo...
Addicted to each others power and money, the political parties and their corporate donors are
constantly trying to enlarge their relationship out of sight of the American public. An accidental
Internet disclosure last month showed that the stealthy form of political corruption known as dark
money now fully permeates governors offices around the country, allowing corporations to push
past legal barriers and gather enormous influence. This has been going on nationally for several
years ... after wealthy interests claimed that a series of legal decisions allowed them to give
unlimited and undisclosed amounts to social welfare groups that pretended not to engage in
politics. (The tax code prohibits these groups from having politics as a primary purpose.) Now it
turns out that both the Republican and Democratic governors associations have also set up social
welfare groups ... with the purpose of raising secret political money. Thanks to the computer slip ...
we now know some of the people and corporations that secretly contributed. Companies that gave
at the highest level (more than $250,000) included Exxon Mobil, the Corrections Corporation of
America, Pfizer and the Koch companies. In exchange for their private donations, members
of [one key] group were invited to a symposium last year [where] they were allowed to meet
with (and lobby) some of the highest-ranking officials and regulators in states with
Republican governors. Big donors are given the greatest opportunity possible to meet and talk
informally with the Republican governors and their key staff members. The Democratic Governors
Association does exactly the same thing, regularly providing access to top state executives in
exchange for large contributions. Both parties are routinely selling access to the nations
governors and their staffs to those with the most resources.
Key Democrats, Led by Hillary Clinton, Leave No doubt that Endless

War is Official U.S. Doctrine
2014-10-07, The Intercept with Glenn Greenwald
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/07/key-democrats-led-hillary-clint...
Any doubts about whether Endless War ... is official American doctrine should be permanently
erased by this weeks comments from two leading Democrats, both former top national security
officials in the Obama administration. Leon Panetta, the long-time Democratic Party operative who
served as Obamas Defense Secretary and CIA Director, said this week of Obamas new bombing
campaign: I think were looking at kind of a 30-year war. He criticized Obama ... for being
insufficiently militaristic. Then we have Hillary Clinton [who] at an event in Ottawa yesterday ...
proclaimed that the fight against these militants will be a long-term struggle that should entail an
information war as well as an air war. The new war, she said, is essential and the U.S. shies
away from fighting it at our peril. Like Panetta (and most establishment Republicans), Clinton
made clear ... that virtually all of her disagreements with Obamas foreign policy were the
by-product of her view of Obama as insufficiently hawkish, militaristic and confrontational.
Endless War is not dramatic rhetorical license but a precise description of Americas
foreign policy. Its not hard to see why. A state of endless war justifies ever-increasing state
power and secrecy and a further erosion of rights. It also entails a massive transfer of public
wealth to the homeland security and weapons industry (which the US media deceptively calls the
defense sector). The War on Terror ... was designed from the start to be endless. This war ...
thus enables an endless supply of power and profit to flow to those political and economic factions
that control the government regardless of election outcomes.
Note: Read the prophetic writings of one of the most highly decorated US generals ever describing
how he discovered after retirement that war is created by bankers and mega-corporations to funnel
ever more tax-payer money into their coffers. For more along these lines, see the excellent,
reliable resources provided in our War Information Center.
Why war? It's a question Americans should be asking.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1005-daddis-utility-of-war-2014100...
As the United States charges once more into war, little debate has centered on the actual utility of
war. Instead, policymakers and pundits have focused their comments on combating the latest
danger to our nation and its interests. In late August, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel claimed
Islamic State was an imminent threat to every interest we have and that the sophisticated group
was beyond anything we've seen. With few dissenting voices, either in Congress or in the
American media, U.S. air forces plunged again into the unstable region of the Middle East. For
well over a decade one might suggest over multiple decades the United States has
been engaged in war, yet so few in the public sphere seem willing to ask, as a Vietnam-era
hit song did: War, what is it good for? It seems plausible to argue that war is a
phenomenon increasingly serving itself rather than any durable political goals. War as a
political tool has more and more demonstrated its inability to deliver. As historian Mary Dudziak
has artfully suggested, Military conflict has been ongoing for decades, yet public policy rests on
the false assumption that it is an aberration. If war provides meaning, why, as Dudziak asks, does
military engagement no longer require the support of the American people but instead their
inattention? If a theory of forward defense, of fighting on someone else's shores rather than our
own, is the rationale for constant war, when will we achieve a sense of national security that no
longer requires constant battle? What if peace never comes? What if war only engenders new
enemies and new threats? War ... has not assuaged our fears of vulnerability. It has not left us with
a more stable international environment. So we come back to that song's question: War, what is it
good for? And we have to at least consider the song's answer: Absolutely nothing.
Note: Kudos to the LA Times for publishing this article, though it fails to mention that war is very
good for lining the pockets of all involved with the huge warm industry. Read the prophetic writings
of one of the most highly decorated US generals ever describing how he discovered after
retirement that war is created by mega-corporations to funnel ever more tax-payer money into their
coffers. For more along these lines, see the excellent, reliable resources provided in our War
Information Center.
Resurrecting a Disgraced Reporter

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/movies/kill-the-messenger-recalls-a-reporte...
As part of their insurgency against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, some of the C.I.A.backed contras made money through drug smuggling, transgressions noted in a little-noticed 1988
Senate subcommittee report. Gary Webb, a journalist at The San Jose Mercury News, thought it
was a far-fetched story to begin with, but in 1995 and 1996, he dug in and produced a deeply
reported and deeply flawed three-part series called Dark Alliance. That groundbreaking series
was among the first to blow up on the nascent web, and he was initially celebrated, then
investigated and finally discredited. Pushed out of journalism in disgrace, he committed suicide in
2004. [The movie] Kill the Messenger ... suggests that he told a truth others were unwilling to. Mr.
Webb was not the first journalist to come across [such matters]. In December 1985, The
Associated Press reported that three contra groups had engaged in cocaine trafficking, in part to
help finance their war against Nicaragua. Major news outlets mostly gave the issue a pass. Peter
Landesman, an investigative journalist who wrote the screenplay, was struck by the reflex to go
after Mr. Webb. Planeloads of weapons were sent south from the U.S., and everyone knows that
those planes didnt come back empty, but the C.I.A. made sure that they never knew for sure what
was in those planes, he said. But instead of going after that, they went after Webb." In 1998,
Frederick P. Hitz, the C.I.A. inspector general, testified before the House Intelligence
Committee that after looking into the matter at length, he believed the C.I.A. was a
bystander or worse in the war on drugs. However dark or extensive, the alliance Mr.
Webb wrote about was a real one.
Note: Webb's story was not deeply flawed, as reported in this article. His editor even commented
that four Washington Post writers could not find one significant factual error, but then changed his
mind after CIA leaders threatened the paper. Read a Sacrament Bee newspaper article for more
on Webb and his story. For more along these lines, see the excellent, reliable resources provided
in our Mass Media Information Center.
George Brandis has silently swept away your freedoms

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/george-brandis-has-silently-swept-away-your-fre...
Australia has changed radically since last week though it might not look like it on the surface. Late
Thursday night the Senate passed the National Security Amendment Bill (No.1) 2014 giving
unlimited power to spies and secret police. Now officials can break the law with immunity
from prosecution - and without having to answer to a court. They can act in total secrecy.
They will decide what they do and to whom and when. They do not have to ask permission. They
will choose when to interfere in your life and when they won't. They can dip into your most private
communications and they don't need a warrant to do so. Sometimes they will do it because it is
necessary to fight crime. Sometimes because they enjoy it. If they mess up your life and you tell
anybody, you will get 10 years' jail even if it doesn't harm security. When a Special
Intelligence Operation (SIO) is declared then any participant can break the law on you with no
consequences, according to Schedule 3 section 35k. There are broad limits. They cannot kill or
torture you, or cause significant physical injury. Minor injury or mental torment is fine. Anyone
involved in an SIO will have these powers but who are they? ASIO, with 1778 staff. The
Australian Federal Police, with more than 6900 staff. NSW Police with about 16,370 officers and a
spy database called COPS which has more than 30 million entries on the people of NSW. But not
just them. Anyone involved in an SIO enjoys legal immunity, including affiliates and subcontractors
whoever they are. Many Senators clearly hadn't read the 128 pages of major legal changes in
the NSA Bill. The citizen needs protection from the state built into the laws and that is what they
smashed on Thursday.
The Fake Terror Threat Used To Justify Bombing Syria

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/28/u-s-officials-invented-terror-g...
As the Obama Administration prepared to bomb Syria without congressional or U.N. authorization,
it faced two problems. The first was the difficulty of sustaining public support for a new years-long
war against ISIS, a group that clearly posed no imminent threat to the homeland. A second was
the lack of legal justification for launching a new bombing campaign. The solution to both problems
was found in the wholesale concoction of a brand new terror threat that was branded The
Khorasan Group. After spending weeks depicting ISIS as an unprecedented threat too radical
even for Al Qaeda! administration officials suddenly began spoon-feeding their favorite media
organizations ... tales of a secret group that was even scarier and more threatening than ISIS, one
that posed a direct and immediate threat to the American Homeland. The unveiling of this new
group was performed in a September 13 article by the Associated Press, who cited unnamed U.S.
officials. AP depicted the U.S. officials who were feeding them the narrative as engaging in some
sort of act of brave, unauthorized truth-telling. On the morning of September 18, CBS News
broadcast a segment that is as pure war propaganda as it gets: directly linking the soon-to-arrive
U.S. bombing campaign in Syria to the need to protect Americans from being exploded in civilian
jets by Khorasan. As usual, anonymity was granted to U.S. officials to make these claims. As
usual, there was almost no evidence for any of this. Nonetheless, American media outlets
eager, as always, to justify American wars spewed all of this with very little
skepticism. Worse, they did it by pretending that the U.S. government was trying not to talk
about all of this too secret! but they, as intrepid, digging journalists, managed to
unearth it from their courageous sources.
Note: Read the entire informative article to see how the media participates in manipulating
unsuspecting citizens into more war. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing
media corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
How Former Treasury Officials and the UAE Are Manipulating American
Journalists

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/25/uae-qatar-camstoll-group/
Qatar has become a hostile target for two nations with significant influence in the U.S.: Israel and
the United Arab Emirates. Israel is furious over Qatars support for Palestinians ... while the UAE is
upset that Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This animosity has resulted in a new
campaign in the west to demonize the Qataris as the key supporter of terrorism. The Israelis have
chosen the direct approach of publicly accusing their new enemy in Doha of being terrorist
supporters, while the UAE has opted for a more covert strategy: paying millions of dollars to
a U.S. lobbying firm composed of former high-ranking Treasury officials from both parties
to plant anti-Qatar stories with American journalists. That more subtle tactic has been
remarkably successful, and shines important light on how easily political narratives in U.S.
media discourse can be literally purchased. The Camstoll Group [has] key figures [who] are all
former senior Treasury Department officials ... whose responsibilities included managing the U.S.
governments relationships with Persian Gulf regimes and Israel. Most have backgrounds as
neoconservative activists. Camstolls Managing Director, Howard Mendelsohn, was Acting
Assistant Secretary of Treasury, where he also had ample policy responsibilities involving the
Emirates. In other words, a senior Treasury official responsible for U.S. policy toward the Emirates
leaves the U.S. government and forms a new lobbying company, which is then instantly paid
millions of dollars by the very same country for which he was responsible, all to use his influence,
access and contacts for its advantage. The UAE spends more than any other country in the world
to influence U.S. policy and shape domestic debate, and it pays former high-level government
officials who worked with it ... to carry out its agenda within the U.S.
Who profits from our new war? Inside NSA and private contractors
secret plans
2014-09-24, Salon
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/24/heres_who_profits_from_our_new_war_inside_nsa...
A massive, $7.2 billion Army intelligence contract signed just 10 days ago underscores the central
role to be played by the National Security Agency and its army of private contractors in the
unfolding air war being carried out by the United States and its Gulf States allies against the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. INSCOMs global intelligence support contract will place the
contractors at the center of this fight. Under its terms, 21 companies, led by Booz Allen
Hamilton, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, will compete over the
next five years to provide fully integrated intelligence, security and information
operations in Afghanistan and future contingency operations around the world. INSCOM
announced the global intelligence contract two days after President Obama, in a speech to the
nation, essentially declared war on ISIS in Iraq and Syria and outlined a campaign of airstrikes and
combat actions to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group. The top contractors on the
INSCOM contract are already involved in the war. Lockheed Martin, for example, makes the
Hellfire missiles that are used extensively in U.S. drone strikes. Northrop Grumman makes the
Global Hawk surveillance drone. Both companies have large intelligence units. 70 percent of the
U.S. intelligence budget is spent on private contractors. This spending [is] estimated at around $70
billion a year. [There is a] revolving door between INSCOM and its contractors. The system is
corrupted by the close relationships between the companies and their agencies, said [Tom] Drake,
who as a whistle-blower was nearly sent to prison for exposing the waste, fraud and abuse in a
contracted program at the NSA that ended up losing over $7 billion.
Note: Read a powerful essay written by a top US general showing how he was fooled into
supporting wars that were generated by the powerful global elite who want never-ending war in
order to keep their profits flowing.
U.S. Ramping Up Major Renewal in Nuclear Arms

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/us/us-ramping-up-major-renewal-in-nuclear-a...
A sprawling new plant [near Kansas City] in a former soybean field makes the mechanical guts of
Americas atomic warheads. Bigger than the Pentagon, full of futuristic gear and thousands of
workers, the plant, dedicated last month, modernizes the aging weapons that the United States
can fire from missiles, bombers and submarines. It is part of a nationwide wave of atomic
revitalization that includes plans for a new generation of weapon carriers. A recent federal
study put the collective price tag, over the next three decades, at up to a trillion dollars.
This expansion comes under a president who campaigned for a nuclear-free world and
made disarmament a main goal of American defense policy. Supporters of arms control, as
well as some of President Obamas closest advisers, say their hopes for the presidents vision
have turned to baffled disappointment as the modernization of nuclear capabilities has become an
end unto itself. A lot of it is hard to explain, said Sam Nunn, the former senator whose writings on
nuclear disarmament deeply influenced Mr. Obama.
Note: Consider the possibility the Obama, shortly after becoming president, may have received a
death threat to his children if he didn't comply with the desires of powerful, greedy forces which
want everlasting war on our planet. The trillion-dollar war industry has no qualms threatening
anyone who gets in the way of their profits. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing war news articles from reliable major media sources and read what a top US general had
to say about how he was manipulated.
The billionaire, the NSA and the no-fly list: America's 'state secret'
obsession has gone too far
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/16/america-state-secret-pri...
In lawsuits challenging NSA mass surveillance, torture and drone strikes on Americans in recent
years, the US government has turned what was once a narrow legal privilege into an immunity
trump card a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card for matters of national security. And now, despite
publicly promising to restrict its use, attorney general Eric Holder is trying to expand the power
even further. In [the] New York Times, Matt Apuzzo [reports on a] court case between two private
parties in which the US justice department has invoked the so-called state secrets privilege. A
Greek shipping magnate has accused an advocacy group pushing for sanctions on Iran of lying
about him, but the government argues that the case must be dismissed with hardly an explanation,
citing only a concerned federal agency. Holder refuses to disclose the agency demanding
secrecy, the type of information he wants [to keep] secret, or even the basis for invoking
the state secrets clause (which, by the way, is an invention of the US supreme court from a
1953 case that was later proved to be based on a lie). The Obama justice department has been
using the controversial clause to squash cases of more significant consequence for years. Holder
allegedly created a policy for restricting its use to all but the most critical national-security cases
when he first came into office. But, alas, Holder has since proceeded to shut down the exact types
of cases for which George W Bush was so harshly criticized.
US Senator: 'US Turned Blind Eye to Saudi Role in 9/11, Fuelling Rise of
Isis'
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/us-senator-us-turned-blind-eye-saudi-role-9-11-fuell...
The rise of ISIS has been aided by the failure of the US government to investigate the connection
between the Saudi Arabian government and jihadist networks, said former senator Bob Graham.
Senator Graham, who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that successive
administrations had failed to examine the connections between the Saudis and Sunni militant
groups. "I believe that the failure to shine a full light on Saudi actions ... has contributed to the
Saudi ability to continue to engage in actions that are damaging to the US and in particular their
support for ISIS," he said. The Saudis have been accused of using Sunni militant groups as
proxies, channeling money to Islamist groups battling the forces of president Bashar alAssad in the Syrian civil war, as Sunni and Shia battle for hegemony in the Middle East. The
Shia Iranians are chief backers of Assad, and Nouri al Maliki's Shia-dominated government which
collapsed following ISIS' onslaught in Iraq, accused the Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding ISIS,
and facilitating "genocide". [Graham] said that Saudi Arabia gives support to the "the most
extremist elements among the Sunni". Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was the son of a wealthy
construction magnate, who had close ties to the Saudi royal family. It is alleged that redacted
pages of the [Joint Congressional 9/11 inquiry] report establish links between Saudi
government officials and al-Qaida.
Note: Watch the highly illuminating BBC documentary "Power of Nightmares" that reveals that alQaida, under the control of Osama bin Laden, has never actually existed, but is a US/UKgovernment psychological operation to launch the "Global War on Terror". For more on this, read
Prof. David Ray Griffin's deeply revealing book Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?
MRAPs And Bayonets: What We Know About The Pentagon's 1033

Program
2014-09-02, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2014/09/02/342494225/mraps-and-bayonets-what-we-know-about...
Amid widespread criticism of the deployment of military-grade weapons and vehicles by police
officers in Ferguson, MO ... NPR obtained data from the Pentagon on every military item sent
to local, state and federal agencies through the Pentagon's Law Enforcement Support
Office known as the 1033 program from 2006 through April 23, 2014. We took the raw
data, analyzed it and have organized it. We are making that data set available to the public. The
1033 program is the key source of ... military items being sent to local law enforcement
[such as] mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs. More than 600 of them
have been sent ... mostly within the past year. The Pentagon has also distributed: 79,288 assault
rifles, 205 grenade launchers, 11,959 bayonets, 3,972 combat knives, $124 million worth of nightvision equipment, including night-vision sniper scopes, 479 bomb detonator robots, 50 airplanes,
422 helicopters, [and] more than $3.6 million worth of camouflage gear and other "deception
equipment." The list [also] includes building materials, musical instruments and even toiletries.
Congress authorized the 1033 program in 1989 to equip local, state and federal agencies in the
war on drugs. In 1996, Congress widened the program's scope to include counterterrorism. The
data do not confirm whether either of those public safety goals are, in fact, driving decisions.
Note: For more along these lines, see this Time Magazine article, which references a deeply
revealing ACLU report on the increasing militarization of American police.
Homeland Security was built to fend off terrorists. Why's it so busy

arming cops to fight average Americans?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/homeland-security-depart...
America has raged against the appalling behavior of the local police in Ferguson, Missouri, and for
good reason: automatic rifles pointed at protesters, tank-like armored trucks blocking marches, the
teargassing and arresting of reporters, tactics unfit even for war zones. [But ire] should also be
focused on the federal government agency that has enabled the rise of military police, and so
much more: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The 240,000-employee [agency] has
been the primary arms dealer for out-of-control local cops in Ferguson and beyond, handing out
tens of billions of dollars in grants for military equipment in the last decade with little to no
oversight. Police can act like paramilitary forces to combat the most mundane crimes without much
worry of the consequences. But the problem with DHS is much larger than just combat gear:
Homeland Security is also transferring tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in high-tech spying
technology to local police through a sprawling backroom operation surveilling your neighborhood,
much of which may be unconstitutional. DHS has its own fleet of Predator drones roaming the US
border and far beyond, which it has loaned out to police over 500 times. Homeland Security is
also handing out millions of dollars to local police to accelerate and facilitate the
adoption of smaller drones that police can fly themselves. Cops claim they want these
middleman drones for emergencies, but ... documents show theyll end up using them
for crowd control and intelligence gathering.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing terrorism news articles from
Journal questions validity of autism and vaccine study

2014-08-27, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/27/health/irpt-cdc-autism-vaccine-study/index.html
The debate over a link between autism and vaccines continues. A study published earlier this
month concluded African-American boys are more at risk for autism if they're given the
measles, mumps and rubella vaccine before the age of 2. The study author says
researchers at the [CDC] knew about the link in 2004 -- and covered it up. CDC researchers
are standing by their original findings: that there is no link between autism and vaccination
schedules. The new study was funded by the Focus Autism Foundation, which says it is dedicated
to exposing the causes of autism, "focusing on the role of vaccinations." The study has since been
removed from the public domain pending further investigation, according to Translational
Neurodegeneration. In an online statement, the scientific journal said the paper had been removed
"because of serious concerns about the validity of its conclusions." Brian Hooker, author of the
study and a biochemical engineer, found African-American boys who were given the MMR vaccine
before age 24 months were more likely to be diagnosed with autism. Hooker said he analyzed the
same set of data that was the basis for a 2004 study done by researchers at the [CDC]. Hooker
said he began his research after he was contacted by one of the original study authors, William
Thompson, in November 2013. Thompson is a senior scientist with the CDC, where he has worked
since 1998. Hooker said he believes the increased risk for African-American boys he found was
not identified in the CDC study because, by excluding children without birth certificates, the CDC
study results were skewed.
Note: For more on this study, read this news report. For more on this, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing vaccines news articles from reliable major media sources.
Wheres the Justice at Justice?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-wheres-the-just...
Jim Risen is gruff. Attorney General Eric Holder wants to force Risen to testify and reveal the
identity of his confidential source on a story he had in his 2006 book concerning a bungled C.I.A.
operation during the Clinton administration in which agents might have inadvertently helped Iran
develop its nuclear weapon program. The tale made the C.I.A. look silly, which may have been
more of a sore point than a threat to national security. But Bush officials, no doubt still smarting
from Risens revelation of their illegal wiretapping, zeroed in on a disillusioned former C.I.A. agent
named Jeffrey Sterling as the source of the Iran story. The subpoena forcing Risens testimony
expired in 2009, and to the surprise of just about everybody, the constitutional law professors
administration renewed it kicking off its strange and awful aggression against reporters and
whistle-blowers. Why dont they back off Risen? How can [Obama] use the Espionage Act to throw
reporters and whistle-blowers in jail even as he defends the intelligence operatives who tortured
some folks, and coddles his C.I.A. chief, John Brennan, who spied on the Senate and then lied to
the senators he spied on about it? Its hypocritical, Risen said. A lot of people still think
this is some kind of game or signal or spin. They dont want to believe that Obama wants to
crack down on the press and whistle-blowers. But he does. Hes the greatest enemy to
press freedom in a generation. Risen points to recent stories about the administration pressing
an unprecedented initiative known as the Insider Threat Program.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing government secrecy news
Warrior cops on steroids: How post-9/11 hysteria created a policing

monster
2014-08-15, Salon
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/15/warrior_cops_on_steroids_how_post_911_hysteri...
Sometime after 9/11 strange stories began to emerge about small town police agencies all over
the nation receiving grants from the newly formed Department of Homeland Security to buy all
kinds of high-tech equipment to fight terrorism. As Radley Balko thoroughly documented in his
book Rise of the Warrior Cop the military industrial complex has created a new industry: the police
industrial complex. Since 9/11 the United States has been spending vast sums of money
through DHS to outfit the state and local authorities with surveillance and military gear
ostensibly to fight the terrorist threat at home. What we have been seeing in Ferguson,
Missouri, these past few days is largely a result of that program and an entire industry has
grown up around it. In less than a month a group of militarized police equipment vendors across
the nation will be gathering for an annual confab called Urban Shield in Oakland, California. It
features dozens of sponsors, from the Department of Homeland Security and police agencies all
over the country to such vendors as Armored Mobility Inc. The Department of Homeland Security
disburses somewhere in the vicinity of $3 billion a year for this sort of thing. Add in the loot thats
legally appropriated by police agencies in the war on drugs and you have a massive incentive to
turn the streets of Ferguson, Missouri ... into a scene that looks more like the siege of Fallujah.
Weve been spending billions of taxpayer dollars for decades to turn the streets of urban
America into a war zone at the merest hint of dissent. And now its here.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing military corruption news
GOP suit claims a right to corruption

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/GOP-suit-claims-a-right-to-corruption-5...
Wall Street is one of the biggest sources of funding for presidential campaigns, and many of the
Republican Party's potential 2016 contenders are governors. And so, last week, the GOP filed a
federal lawsuit aimed at overturning the ... law that bars those governors from raising campaign
money from Wall Street executives who manage their states' pension funds. In this case, New
York's and Tennessee's Republican parties are represented by two former Bush administration
officials, one of whose firms just won the Supreme Court case invalidating campaign contribution
limits on large donors. In their complaint, the parties argue that people managing state pension
money have a First Amendment right to make large donations to state officials who award those
lucrative money management contracts. With the $3 trillion public pension system controlled
by elected officials now generating billions of dollars worth of management fees for Wall
Street, Securities and Exchange Commission regulators originally passed the rule to make
sure retirees' money wasn't being handed out based on politicians' desire to pay back their
campaign donors. The suit comes only a few weeks after the SEC issued its first fines under the
rule - against a firm whose executives made campaign donations to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom
Corbett, a Republican, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, a Democrat. In a statement on that
case, the SEC promised more enforcement of the pay-to-play rule in the future. The GOP lawsuit
aims to stop that promise from becoming a reality.
Embracing flag, Snowden says he hopes to return to U.S.

2014-08-13, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/13/snowden-wired-flag/13995013/
Development of a U.S. counterattack for cyberterrorism that could do more harm than good was
one of the final events that drove Edward Snowden to leak government secrets, the former
National Security Agency contractor tells Wired magazine. Snowden ... said the MonsterMind
program was designed to detect a foreign cyberattack and keep it from entering the country. But it
also would automatically fire back. The problem, he said, is malware can be routed through an
innocent third-party country. "These attacks can be spoofed," he told Wired. MonsterMind for
example ... could accidentally start a war. And it's the ultimate threat to privacy because it requires
the NSA to gain access to virtually all private communications coming in from overseas. "The
argument is that the only way we can identify these malicious traffic flows and respond to them is if
we're analyzing all traffic flows," he said. "And if we're analyzing all traffic flows, that means
we have to be intercepting all traffic flows. That means violating the Fourth Amendment,
seizing private communications without a warrant, without probable cause or even a
suspicion of wrongdoing. For everyone, all the time. You get exposed to a little bit of evil, a
little bit of rule-breaking, a little bit of dishonesty, a little bit of deceptiveness, a little bit of disservice
to the public interest, and you can brush it off, you can come to justify it," Snowden told Wired. "But
if you do that, it creates a slippery slope that just increases over time. And by the time you've been
in 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, you've seen it all and it doesn't shock you. And so you see it as
normal."
Note: Read the cover story from Wired magazine with a deep inside report on Snowden.
Oil a key motive for U.S. air strikes in Iraq

http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/Oil-a-key-motive-for-U-S-ai...
This week's U.S. air strikes in northern Iraq are being accompanied with an undertow of "it's all
about oil" talk. Take for example, Columbia School of Journalism Dean Steve Coll's observation in
The New Yorker, that "Obama's defense of Erbil (capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish
region) is effectively the defense of an undeclared Kurdish oil state." It's no secret that Iraqi
Kurdistan has an abundance of oil reserves, nor that U.S. oil companies, like [Chevron] are
busy exploring there. Chevron has three "production sharing contracts" with the Kurdish
government, covering a combined 444,000 acres, north of Irbil, where it's in the early testing and
drilling stage. And it likes what it sees. Asked for an update, a Chevron spokesman said Monday,
"We continue monitoring the situation. We remain in regular contact with the Kurdistan Regional
Government and are dedicated to supporting the (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) in developing its
natural resources." A potentially bigger worry for both Chevron and the Kurds .. could be if Iraq did
stabilize and unite, with Kurdistan under its umbrella. For Chevron ... a new arrangement in Iraq
could entail the renegotiation of contracts it has with the Kurds, which by the way, Baghdad
refused to recognize. Kurdistan's oil pipeline via Turkey continues to pump out oil - 120,000
barrels per day.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing military corruption news
Oil companies fracking into drinking water sources, new research

shows
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-fracking-groundwater-pavillion-20140811-s...
Energy companies are fracking for oil and gas at far shallower depths than widely believed,
sometimes through underground sources of drinking water, according to research released [on
August 12] by Stanford University scientists. Fracking involves high-pressure injection of millions of
gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals to crack geological formations and tap previously
unreachable oil and gas reserves. Fracking fluids contain a host of chemicals, including known
carcinogens and neurotoxins. Fears about possible water contamination and air pollution have fed
resistance in communities around the country. Fracking into underground drinking water sources is
not prohibited by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which exempted the practice from key provisions of
the Safe Drinking Water Act. But the industry has long held that it does not hydraulically fracture
into underground sources of drinking water because oil and gas deposits sit far deeper than
aquifers. The study, however, found that energy companies used acid stimulation ... and
hydraulic fracturing in the Wind River and Fort Union geological formations that make up
the Pavillion gas field and that contain both natural gas and sources of drinking water.
Thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and millions of gallons of fluids containing numerous
inorganic and organic additives were injected directly into these two formations during
hundreds of stimulation events, concluded Dominic DiGiulio and Robert Jackson of Stanfords
School of Earth Sciences.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing corporate corruption news
NYT Will Use The Word Torture, Finally

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/07/nyt-torture_n_5659997.html
The New York Times announced on [August 7] that it will use the word torture to describe the
United States' controversial interrogation tactics on terror suspects. "From now on, The Times
will use the word torture to describe incidents in which we know for sure that
interrogators inflicted pain on a prisoner in an effort to get information," said Times
executive editor Dean Baquet. In the past, the Times had been sharply criticized for not
using the word torture. Instead, [it] had referred to torture as "brutal interrogation," or similar
epithets. The Times is hardly the only major media outlet to avoid using the word "torture." Reuters
referred to the tactics as "brutal interrogation methods" and the AP has called them "enhanced
interrogation techniques." The media have been accused of following along with President Bush's
denial that the U.S. does not use torture. Banquet [says] that "while the methods set off a national
debate, the Justice Department insisted that the techniques did not rise to the legal definition of
'torture.' Baquet said that reporters and editors had debated the issue in wake of the Senate
Intelligence Committee's torture report, which has yet to be released. Last week, President Obama
admitted that the CIA "tortured some folks" in post-9/11 anti-terror efforts.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing media cover-ups news articles
New leaker disclosing U.S. secrets, government concludes

2014-08-06, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/05/politics/u-s-new-leaker
The federal government has concluded there's a new leaker exposing national security
documents in the aftermath of surveillance disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden, U.S. officials tell CNN. Proof of the newest leak comes from national security
documents that formed the basis of a news story published [August 5] by the Intercept, the news
site launched by Glenn Greenwald, who also published Snowden's leaks. The Intercept article
focuses on the growth in U.S. government databases of known or suspected terrorist names
during the Obama administration. The article cites documents prepared by the National
Counterterrorism Center dated August 2013, which is after Snowden left the United States to avoid
criminal charges. Government officials have been investigating to find out that identity. In a
February interview with CNN's Reliable Sources, Greenwald said: "I definitely think it's fair
to say that there are people who have been inspired by Edward Snowden's courage and by
the great good and virtue that it has achieved." The biggest database, called the Terrorist
Identities Datamart Environment, now has 1 million names, a U.S. official confirmed to CNN. The
Intercept first reported the new TIDE database numbers, along with details of other databases. As
of November, 2013, there were 700,000 people listed in the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB),
or the "Terrorist Watchlist, according to a U.S. official. The Intercept report said, citing the
documents, that 40% on the "Terrorist Watchlist" aren't affiliated with terror groups.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing 'terror' manipulation news
Why do two white Americans get the Ebola serum while hundreds of
Africans die?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/06/why-do-two-white-a...
What should happen if a massive viral outbreak appears out of nowhere and the only possible
treatment is an untested drug? And who should receive it? The two American missionaries who
contracted the almost-always-fatal virus in West Africa were given access to an experimental drug
cocktail called ZMapp. It consists of immune-boosting monoclonal antibodies that were extracted
from mice exposed to bits of Ebola DNA. Now in isolation at an Atlanta hospital, they appear to be
doing well. Its an opportunity the 900 Africans whove died so far never had. The reasons for
different treatment are partly about logistics, partly about economics and, partly about a
lack of any standard policy for giving out untested drugs in emergencies. Before this
outbreak, ZMapp had only been tested on monkeys. But privileged humans were always
going to be the first ones to try it. ZMapp requires a lot of refrigeration and careful handling,
plus close monitoring by experienced doctors and scientistsbetter to try it at a big urban hospital
than in rural West Africa, where no such infrastructure exists. And the two Americans who got it in
Africa had been infected for more than a week, making its efficacy completely unknown.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health news articles from
Ebola virus: British experts urge US and WHO to give Africans cure
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ebola-outbreak-british-experts...
Three of Britains leading Ebola specialists have said experimental treatments for the deadly Ebola
virus must be offered to the people of West Africa, after two US aid workers were administered
with the cure in Liberia. The two missionaries, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, are alive and
now being cared for at a specialist isolation unit in Atlanta. Though the pair remain weak and
there is no way of knowing at this stage how much of a help the new drug has actually been
the fact that it was given to the two Americans has resulted in widespread criticism and
recriminations in West Africa. Almost 900 people have died from the Ebola virus across
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the latest outbreak began in February this year.
Some strains can have fatality rates of up to 90 per cent, though that of the current crisis appears
to be around 60 per cent. Now Peter Piot, who discovered Ebola in 1976, David Heymann, the
director of the Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security and Jeremy Farrar from the
Wellcome Trust have said there are in fact several drugs and vaccines under study that could be
used to combat the disease. Liberias assistant health minister, Tolbert Nyenswah, said that the
news of Dr Brantly and Ms Writebols treatment had made our job very difficult as dying patients
and their relatives in Africa request the same cure. The US aid workers were given ZMapp, a
drug made from antibodies produced in a lab that has never gone through human trials or been
approved by the USs FDA Food and Drug Administration. Piot, Farrar and Heymann questioned
why Africans were not being given the same chance.
Barack Obamas Secret Terrorist-Tracking System, by the Numbers

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/08/05/watch-commander
Nearly half of the people on the U.S. governments widely shared database of terrorist suspects
are not connected to any known terrorist group, according to classified government documents
obtained by The Intercept. Of the 680,000 people caught up in the governments Terrorist
Screening Databasea watchlist of known or suspected terrorists that is shared with
local law enforcement agencies, private contractors, and foreign governmentsmore than
40 percent are described by the government as having no recognized terrorist group
affiliation. The documents, obtained from a source in the intelligence community, also reveal that
the Obama Administration has presided over an unprecedented expansion of the terrorist
screening system. Since taking office, Obama has boosted the number of people on the no fly list
more than ten-fold, to an all-time high of 47,000. If everything is terrorism, then nothing is
terrorism, says David Gomez, a former senior FBI special agent. The watchlisting system, he
adds, is revving out of control. The classified documents were prepared by the National
Counterterrorism Center, the lead agency for tracking individuals with suspected links to
international terrorism. Stamped SECRET and NOFORN (indicating they are not to be shared
with foreign governments), they offer the most complete numerical picture of the watchlisting
system to date. The government adds names to its databases, or adds information on existing
subjects, at a rate of 900 records each day.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing 'terror' manipulation news
U.S. Senate report to suggest harsh CIA interrogations were

unnecessary
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-cia-tor...
A U.S. Senate committee report will conclude that the CIA's use of harsh interrogation after
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks yielded no critical intelligence on terrorist plots that could not
have been obtained through non-coercive methods, U.S. officials familiar with the document
said. [The] report [is] expected to suggest that the "enhanced" techniques were unnecessary and
also to accuse some CIA officers of misleading Congress about the effectiveness of the program.
Officials said the Senate Intelligence Committee was unlikely to release the report to the public
without some additional review. "A preliminary review of the report indicates there have been
significant redactions. We need additional time to understand the basis for these redactions and
determine their justification. Therefore the report will be held until further notice and released when
that process is completed," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee's chair, said.
Committee investigators also concluded that the agency misled other executive branch
agencies and Congress by claiming that only by using harsh methods did the agency
achieve ... counter-terrorism breakthroughs that otherwise would not have been possible.
The report will criticize some CIA officials by name, the officials said.
FBI Defends Search for Oklahoma City Bombing Video

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trial-opening-video-oklahoma-city-bombing-...
The FBI thoroughly searched its archives and found no evidence that more videos of the
Oklahoma City bombing exist, agency employees told a judge [on July 28] in a trial that has
rekindled questions about whether any others were involved in the 1995 attack. Additional
searches for videos that Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue believes are being withheld would
be burdensome and fruitless, FBI attorney Kathryn Wyer argued during the first day of a bench
trial. Trentadue says the agency is refusing to release videos that show a second person was with
Timothy McVeigh when he parked a truck outside the Oklahoma City federal building and
detonated a bomb that killed 168 people. The government says McVeigh was alone. [But] the
30 video recordings the FBI has released don't show the explosion or McVeigh's arrival in a
rental truck. Unsatisfied by the FBI's previous explanations and citing the public
importance of the tapes, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups has ordered the agency to
explain why it can't find videos that are mentioned in evidence logs. Trentadue believes the
presence of a second suspect explains why his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, was flown to
Oklahoma several months after the bombing, where he died in a federal holding cell. Kenneth
Trentadue bore a striking resemblance to a police sketch based on witness descriptions of the
enigmatic suspect "John Doe No. 2," who was never identified..
Note: There is strong evidence of a major cover-up in the Oklahoma City bombing. See this Wall
Street Journal article, this Associated Press article, this ABC News article, and this Deseret News
article for examples.
Before Snowden: The Whistleblowers Who Tried To Lift The Veil

2014-07-22, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/22/333741495/before-snowden-the-whistleblowers-who...
Bill Binney worked at the National Security Agency [for] nearly three decades as one of its leading
crypto-mathematicians. He then became one of its leading whistleblowers. The NSA is overseen
by Congress, the courts and other government departments. It's also supposed to be watched
from the inside by its own workers. But over the past dozen years, whistleblowers like Binney have
had a rough track record. Those who tried unsuccessfully to work within the system say Edward
Snowden the former National Security Agency contractor who shared top-secret documents
with reporters learned from their bitter experience. For Binney, the decision to quit the NSA and
become a whistleblower began a few weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when he
says he discovered the spy agency had begun using software he'd created to scoop up
information on Americans all without a court order. "I had to get out of there, because they
were using the program I built to do domestic spying, and I didn't want any part of it, I didn't
want to be associated with it," he says. "I look at it as basically treason. They were
subverting the Constitution." Binney says he and two other NSA colleagues who also quit tried
sounding the alarm with congressional committees. But because they did not have documents to
prove their charges, nobody believed them. Snowden, he says, did not repeat that mistake. "He
recognized right away, it was very clear to me, that if he wanted anybody to believe him, he'd have
to take a lot of documentation with him which is what he did," Binney says.
Scott Volkers: Swimming coach accused of child abuse 'too good to

sack'

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/scott-volkers-swimming-coach-accused-of-child-abuse...
When Australia's Susie O'Neill claimed the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she
dedicated her victory to Scott Volkers, the swimming coach who had taken over her training two
years earlier. By this time, three women who had been Volkers' students were losing belief in
themselves and the swimming community. Julie Gilbert, Kylie Rogers and Simone Boyce took the
stand at the royal commission into child abuse in Sydney this week to describe their mental
breakdowns, eating disorders, anxiety and isolation from a swimming hierarchy that refused to
believe them or failed to explore the possibility that Volkers molested them as girls aged 12 to 18
in the 1980s. Volkers remained on the payroll of elite Australian swimming institutions until 2010,
when he was finally forced to move to Brazil, where he still works as a leading coach. Was it
Australia's win-at-all-costs swimming culture that kept him in the presence of young
athletes? An exasperated Andrew Boe, the lawyer representing Gilbert, Rogers and Boyce,
pointed out: "This is not an examination of whether he was a good swimming coach or
not." Nor is it an examination of the guilt or innocence of Volkers against whom charges
concerning these three alleged victims were dropped in 2002 or other swimming coaches. It is
an inquiry into the institutional responses to abuse. Swimming Australia's association with Volkers
[ended] in 2005, when the coach's fourth accuser came forward with claims that Volkers had
groped her breasts and attempted to stimulate her vagina in the late 1990s, when she was 15. The
allegations were very similar to the earlier cases.
Child abuse 'may well have been' covered up - Norman Tebbit

2014-07-06, BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28182373
A former cabinet minister has said there "may well have been" a political cover-up of child sex
abuse in the 1980s. Lord Tebbit told the Andrew Marr Show the culture at the time was to protect
"the establishment" rather than delving "too far" into such claims. His comments come after it
emerged that the Home Office could not locate 114 potentially relevant files. Current MP Keith Vaz
said files had been lost "on an industrial scale". The government has rejected calls for an overarching public inquiry into the various allegations of child abuse from that era. Lord Tebbit, who
served in various ministerial roles under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, said at the time
people had an "almost unconscious" tendency to protect "the system". "And if a few things
had gone wrong here and there that it was more important to protect the system than to
delve too far into them," he said. "That view was wrong." Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who
chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said there had been a "veil of secrecy over the
establishment" for far too long. The Home Office's 2013 review found 527 potentially relevant files
which it had kept, but a further 114 were missing, destroyed or "not found". Mr Vaz, chair of the
Home Affairs Committee, said this represented loss of files "on an industrial scale" and it was "a
huge surprise" that so much potential evidence had gone missing.
Note: The truth is gradually coming out. To learn how child sex abuse rings lead to the highest
levels of government, watch this highly revealing Discovery Channel documentary.
MP burgled after handing paedophile dossier to Leon Brittan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10942103/MP-burgled-after-handin...
The home of an MP who compiled a dossier alleging paedophile activity within Westminster was
burgled twice in suspicious circumstances around the time he took it to the authorities, his son has
said. Barry Dickens said nothing was taken in what appeared to be two "very professional"
intrusions into his father Geoffrey's home in 1983, leading to suspicions they may have
been related to his attempt to expose alleged abuse. He said he did not know what had
happened to an apparent second copy of the dossier after the Home Office admitted one
which it received for investigation at the time appeared to have been destroyed. "My parents had
two burglaries at the time close to it without anything being taken, which seemed a very
professional job the way they were carried out," Mr Dickens whose father died in 1995 [said].
He said the dossier contained concerns and worries expressed to the MP about the behaviour of
''those with a high profile, in an office or high status'' and questioned its subsequent
disappearance. He said his father had been motivated to take on the cause of vulnerable young
people by his own difficult childhood in a succession of foster homes and that he would be pleased
that the case had become public now. Backing a public inquiry, [he] added: "A lot of people came
forward with facts. I think it does need doing and finishing."
Note: See powerful evidence from a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that
child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government
Former Downing Street adviser charged over child abuse images

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/former-downing-street-adviser-char...
A former Downing Street adviser has been charged with making and possessing indecent images
of children. Patrick Rock ... was involved in Government policy on filtering online child
abuse images. The 63-year-old has had a glittering career as a Conservative Party adviser
spanning 30 years. On Friday, he was charged with three offences of making indecent
images of children and one offence of possession of 59 indecent images of children. [He]
resigned shortly before his arrest in February. Mr Rock has been an influential figure behind the
scenes in the Conservative Party for decades and unsuccessfully stood as an MP three times. He
met David Cameron when they were fellow advisers to the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard,
in the 1990s and the Prime Minister brought him into the Downing Street policy unit in 2011. Judith
Reed, a senior lawyer with the Crown Prosecution Service's organised crime division, said: We
have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that a
prosecution is in the public interest. Mr Rock has been bailed to appear at Westminster
Magistrates' Court on 3 July.
Note: Why is it mentioned so casually that this man was involved in setting policy on child abuse
images? For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sex abuse scandals news
The Pentagon's slush fund is arming a War Zone on Main Street

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/pentagon-war-zone-main-s...
A few years ago, the police chief in Keene, New Hampshire (population: 23,000) announced plans
to patrol the [town's] "Pumpkin Festival and other dangerous situations" with a 19,000-pound
armored vehicle called the BearCat (price tag: $285,933, courtesy of a federal Homeland Security
grant). "The police are already pretty brutal," said one resident. "The last thing they need is
this big piece of military equipment to make them think they're soldiers." What many other
communities across America have learned since is that we're living in what the writer Radley Balko
calls the age of the "warrior cop". And when warrior cops want a straight-outta-Baghdad toy, it's
increasingly and unnecessarily simple for them to use a federally enabled slush-fund to wreak
havoc particularly against minorities. "Before another small town's police force gets a $700,000
gift from the Defense Department that it can't maintain or manage," Rep Hank Johnson of Georgia
[said] this week, "we need to press pause and revisit the merits of a militarized America." The
ACLU released a devastating report this week examining more than 800 incidents of SWAT team
deployments conducted by 20 law enforcement agencies between 2010 and 2013. It's a small
sample of the estimated 45,000 deployments that occur in the US each year. According to the
ACLU study, 79% of the incidents surveyed involved a SWAT team searching a person's
home, and more than 62% of the cases involved searches for drugs. That's not what SWAT
teams were made for.
Massachusetts SWAT teams claim theyre private corporations, immune

from open records laws
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/06/26/massachusetts-swat...
As part of the American Civil Liberties Unions recent report on police militarization, the
Massachusetts chapter of the organization sent open records requests to SWAT teams across that
state. A number of SWAT teams in [Massachusetts] are operated by what are called law
enforcement councils, or LECs. LECs are funded by several police agencies in a given geographic
area and overseen by an executive board, which is usually made up of police chiefs from member
police departments. Some of these LECs have also apparently incorporated as 501(c)(3)
organizations. And its here that we run into problems. According to the ACLU, the LECs are
claiming that the 501(c)(3) status means that theyre private corporations, not government
agencies. And therefore, they say theyre immune from open records requests. Lets be clear.
These agencies oversee police activities. They employ cops who carry guns, wear badges, collect
paychecks provided by taxpayers and have the power to detain, arrest, injure and kill. They
operate SWAT teams, which conduct raids on private residences. And yet they say that because
theyve incorporated, theyre immune to Massachusetts open records laws. The states
residents arent permitted to know how often the SWAT teams are used, what theyre used
for, what sort of training they get or who theyre primarily used against. From the ACLU of
Massachusettss report on police militarization in that state: "Due to the weakness of
Massachusetts public records law and the culture of secrecy that has infected local police
departments and Law Enforcement Councils, procuring empirical records from police departments
and regional SWAT teams in Massachusetts about police militarization was universally difficult
and, in most instances, impossible."
Note: The author of this article, Radley Balko, is the author of the book Rise of the Warrior Cop:
The Militarization of America's Police Forces. For more on this topic, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing government corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
New ACLU report takes a snapshot of police militarization in the United

States
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/06/24/new-aclu-report-ta...
The American Civil Liberties Union has released the results of its year-long study of police
militarization. The study looked at 800 deployments of SWAT teams among 20 local, state and
federal police agencies in 2011-2012. Among the notable findings: 62 percent of the SWAT raids
surveyed were to conduct searches for drugs. Just 7 percent of SWAT raids were for hostage,
barricade, or active shooter scenarios. In at least 36 percent of the SWAT raids studied, no
contraband of any kind was found. This figure could be as high as 65 percent. SWAT tactics are
disproportionately used on people of color. 65 percent of SWAT deployments resulted in some sort
of forced entry into a private home. In over half those raids, the police failed to find any sort of
weapon, the presence of which was cited as the reason for the violent tactics. SWAT teams today
are overwhelmingly used to investigate people who are still only suspected of committing
nonviolent consensual crimes. And because these raids often involve forced entry into
homes, often at night, theyre actually creating violence and confrontation where there was
none before. In short, we have police departments that are increasingly using violent,
confrontational tactics to break into private homes for increasingly low-level crimes, and they seem
to believe that the public has no right to know the specifics of when, how and why those tactics are
being used.
Note: For more along these lines, see this deeply revealing NPR report about The Pentagon's
massive Program 1033 to widely distribute military hardware to domestic police forces.
WikiLeaks publishes 'secret draft' of world trade agreement

2014-06-19, CBC News (Canada's Public Broadcasting Network)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/wikileaks-publishes-secret-draft-of-world-trade-...
WikiLeaks has published what it calls "the secret draft text for the Trade in Services Agreement
(TISA) Financial Services Annex," apparently covering 50 countries and most of the world's trade
in services. "The draft Financial Services Annex sets rules which would assist the
expansion of financial multinationals mainly headquartered in New York, London, Paris
and Frankfurt into other nations by preventing regulatory barriers," the website says in a
statement. The draft deal is seen as a way to prevent more regulation of financial services,
despite calls for tighter regulatory measures that followed the 2007-08 world financial crisis. That
market meltdown set the world's biggest banks up against critics who said governments needed to
rein them in. The last round of TISA talks took place April 28 to May 2 in Geneva. WikiLeaks also
[stated] that the U.S. is "particularly keen on boosting cross-border data flow" and that this would
include personal and financial data. During his teleconference, [Assange] urged U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder to end a four-year-long grand jury investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks.
"National security reporters are required by their profession to have intimate interactions in order to
assess and verify and investigate the nature of the material that they are dealing with," he said.
"So I call on Eric Holder today to immediately drop the ongoing national security investigation
against WikiLeaks or resign."
Note: Why is this important release getting so little news coverage? For more on this, see concise
sources.
The Koch Cycle of Endless Cash

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/opinion/the-koch-cycle-of-endless-cash.html
Its not enough, apparently, that some of the wealthiest Americans spend millions to elect their
candidates to Congress. Now they are using their fortunes to lobby Congress against any limits on
their ability to buy elections. Koch Companies Public Sector, part of the industrial group owned by
a well-known pair of conservative brothers, has hired a big-name firm to lobby Congress on
campaign-finance issues, according to a registration form filed a few weeks ago. The form doesnt
say what those issues are, but there are several bills in the House that would reduce the role of
anonymous big money in campaigns, and restrict the kinds of super PACs and nonprofit groups
that the Koch brothers and others have inflated with cash. Clearly, its vital to the Kochs and others
like them to prevent such limits from being enacted; their network raised $400 million in 2012, and
it has been extremely active again this year. To that end, they have done something ordinary
citizens cannot do: They hired the lobbying firm of a well-known former senator, Don Nickles,
Republican of Oklahoma, to press their interests. Mr. Nickles started his firm a few months after
leaving the Senate in 2005, and he takes in up to $8 million a year from big firms like Exxon Mobil,
General Motors and Walmart. This is a perfect illustration of the cumulative power of cash in
todays Washington. Members of Congress get elected with substantial help from check
writers like the Kochs and others. Once there, they do the bidding of former members paid
by the Kochs to preserve their business interests and fight off campaign-finance reforms.
Ex-deputy details culture of abuse in L.A. County jail

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-deputy-trial-20140604-story.html
The deputy described beating inmates unprovoked, slapping them, shooting them with a
Taser gun and aggressively searching them to pick a fight something he learned "on the
job." He would huddle with other jail guards to get their stories straight and write up reports
with bogus scenarios justifying the brutality. If the inmate had no visible injuries, he wouldn't
report the use of force, period. He did all this with impunity, former Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Deputy Gilbert Michel testified ..., knowing that even if inmates reported the abuse it "wouldn't go
anywhere." If they were to put it in writing and drop it in a complaint box, it was his fellow deputies
who opened that box too. Michel, 40, took the stand at the obstruction of justice trial of six sheriff's
officials accused of impeding a federal civil rights investigation into allegations of excessive force
at L.A. County jails. Michel, the first sheriff's deputy to be charged in the wide-reaching, ongoing
investigation, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to a count of
bribery and agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Michel ... described a culture among
deputies guarding the high-security floors of the jails that led to excessive force and frequent
coverups. He matter-of-factly recounted incidents in which he said he and at least five other
sheriff's employees brutalized inmates on the third, or "3000," floor of Men's Central Jail, then
falsified reports to legitimize their actions.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing prison corruption news articles
N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/nsa-collecting-millions-of-faces-from-we...
The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from
communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated
facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents. The spy agencys reliance on
facial recognition technology has grown significantly over the last four years as the agency has
turned to new software to exploit the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social
media, videoconferences and other communications. Agency officials believe that technological
advances could revolutionize the way that the N.S.A. finds intelligence targets around the world.
The agencys ambitions for this highly sensitive ability and the scale of its effort have not
previously been disclosed. The agency intercepts millions of images per day including about
55,000 facial recognition quality images which translate into tremendous untapped potential,
according to 2011 documents obtained from the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden. It
is not clear how many people around the world, and how many Americans, might have been
caught up in the effort. Neither federal privacy laws nor the nations surveillance laws provide
specific protections for facial images. Civil-liberties advocates and other critics are
concerned that the power of the improving technology, used by government and industry,
could erode privacy. Facial recognition can be very invasive, said Alessandro Acquisti, a
researcher on facial recognition technology at Carnegie Mellon University.
Note: For another New York Times article showing how the NSA is using mobile phone apps to
"snatch data revealing the players location, age, sex and other personal information," see this
article.
Was the Iranian threat fabricated by Israel and the U.S.?

2014-05-31, Haaretz (One of Israel's leading newspapers)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.596104
A new book by Gareth Porter, an American historian and researcher specializing in U.S. national
security, shows how the actual state of the Iranian nuclear program does not match the Iranian
threat narrative. Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Nuclear Scare ... is a highly detailed
and well-documented book for all interested in understanding how we arrived at the Iranian nuclear
crisis, and the attack scenarios and invented facts and intelligence reports. The story begins with
U.S. support for the Iraqis during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war. The critical point [came] with the
collapse of the Soviet empire. According to Porter, that event and the end of the Cold War pulled
out the rug from under the CIAs raison dtre. The solution the Americans found to continue
providing the [CIA] with a tremendous budget was the invention of a new threat the
merging of weapons of mass destruction (an ambiguous term in itself) and terror. Iran ...
provided the threat that saved the CIA. Running through Porters book is the wellsubstantiated claim that U.S. and Israeli policies on Iran derived from their political and
organizational interests, and not necessarily from careful factual analysis of the Iranian nuclear
program, which was subject to IAEA monitoring, or of the intentions of the Iranian leadership.
According to Porter, no systematic analysis was made of the goals of the Iranian nuclear program,
and neither U.S. nor Israeli policy makers devoted any thought to why all of Irans official
declarations on the subject were in line with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons.
Angry mothers meet U.S. EPA over concerns with Roundup herbicide
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-27/news/sns-rt-us-monsanto-roundup...
A group of mothers, scientists and environmentalists met with U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency regulators on [May 27] over concerns that residues of Roundup, the world's most popular
herbicide, had been found in breast milk. The meeting ... followed a five-day phone call blitz of EPA
offices by a group called Moms Across America demanding that the EPA pay attention to their
demands for a recall of Roundup. "This is a poison and it's in our food. And now they've found it in
breast milk," said Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America. "Numerous studies show
serious harm to mammals. We want this toxic treadmill of chemical cocktails in our food to stop."
Roundup is an herbicide developed and sold by Monsanto Co. since the 1970s, and used in
agriculture and home lawns and gardens. The chief ingredient, glyphosate, is under a standard
registration review by the EPA. The agency has set a deadline of 2015 for determining if
glyphosate use should continue as is, be limited or halted. Environmentalists, consumer groups
and plant scientists from several countries have said in recent years that heavy use of
glyphosate is causing problems for plants, people and animals. They say some tests have
raised alarms about glyphosate levels found in urine samples and breast milk. In 2011, U.S.
government scientists said they detected significant levels of glyphosate in air and water samples.
Glyphosate is sprayed on most of the corn and soybean crops in the United States, as well as over
sugar beets, canola and other crops.
Note: For further studies showing the grave dangers of Roundup and Glyphosate, see this article.
Final Word on U.S. Law Isnt: Supreme Court Keeps Editing

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/us/final-word-on-us-law-isnt-supreme-court-...
The Supreme Court has been quietly revising its decisions years after they were issued, altering
the law of the land without public notice. The revisions include truly substantive changes in factual
statements and legal reasoning, said Richard J. Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard and the
author of a new study examining the phenomenon. The courts secretive editing process has led
judges and law professors astray, causing them to rely on passages that were later scrubbed from
the official record. The widening public access to online versions of the courts decisions, some of
which do not reflect the final wording, has made the longstanding problem more pronounced.
Unannounced changes have not reversed decisions outright, but they have withdrawn
conclusions on significant points of law. The larger point, said Jeffrey L. Fisher, a law professor
at Stanford, is that Supreme Court decisions are parsed by judges and scholars with exceptional
care. In Supreme Court opinions, every word matters, he said. When theyre changing
the wording of opinions, theyre basically rewriting the law. The court does warn readers that
early versions of its decisions, available at the courthouse and on the courts website, are works in
progress. A small-print notice says that this opinion is subject to formal revision before
publication, and it asks readers to notify the court of any typographical or other formal errors. But
... the court almost never notes when a change has been made, much less specifies what it was.
And many changes do not seem merely typographical or formal.
Note: Read about a new app which tracks these changes. For more on this, see concise
sources.
Despite Obama's new rules, no end in sight for drone war

http://news.msn.com/in-depth/despite-obamas-new-rules-no-end-in-sight-for-dro...
A year after Obama laid out new conditions for drone attacks around the world, U.S. forces are
failing to comply fully with the rules he set for them: to strike only when there is an imminent threat
to Americans and when there is virtually no danger of taking innocent lives. Although Obama
promised greater transparency in his speech at the National Defense University, U.S. lawmakers
are increasingly critical of the secrecy surrounding the operations. There are growing concerns in
Washington that the net effect of the targeted-killing program may be counterproductive. [Obama]
is showing no sign of relinquishing what has become his counterterrorism weapon of choice since
he took office in 2009. Drones are spreading to new areas ... in far-flung places like Somalia and in
Nigeria. "Here we are, a year later, asking 'what has really changed?'" said University of Notre
Dame law professor Mary Ellen O'Connell, a leading expert on extrajudicial killings who has
testified before U.S. congressional committees. "The drones are still flying and the president
still sees the attractiveness of this cold and antiseptic means of killing." Obama's vision of
shifting control of the drone program from the shadowy paramilitary arm of the Central Intelligence
Agency to the more publicly accountable Pentagon is moving at what one national security source
described as a "glacial pace." The Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command is widely
believed to have been behind the December 12 drone strike in a remote part of Yemen that hit a
convoy later identified as a wedding procession, killing 15 people.
Note: For more on the expansion of drones in skies worldwide, see the deeply revealing reports
Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone
Call in the Bahamas

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/05/19/data-pirates-caribbean-...
The National Security Agency is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of
virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas. According to
documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the surveillance is part of a topsecret system code-named SOMALGET that was implemented without the knowledge or
consent of the Bahamian government. SOMALGET is part of a broader NSA program called
MYSTIC, which ... is being used to secretly monitor the telecommunications systems of the
Bahamas and several other countries, including Mexico, the Philippines, and Kenya. But while
MYSTIC scrapes mobile networks for so-called metadata information that reveals the
time, source, and destination of calls SOMALGET is a cutting-edge tool that enables the
NSA to vacuum up and store the actual content of every conversation in an entire country.
The program raises profound questions about the nature and extent of American surveillance
abroad. The U.S. intelligence community routinely justifies its massive spying efforts by citing the
threats to national security posed by global terrorism and unpredictable rival nations like Russia
and Iran. But the NSA documents indicate that SOMALGET has been deployed in the Bahamas to
locate international narcotics traffickers and special-interest alien smugglers traditional lawenforcement concerns, but a far cry from derailing terror plots or intercepting weapons of mass
destruction.
Dr. Andres Carrasco, 67, neuroscientist fought Monsanto over Roundup

2014-05-13, Chicago Sun-Times/Associated Press
http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/27372174-418/dr-andres-carrasco-67-ne...
Dr. Andres Carrasco, an Argentine neuroscientist who challenged pesticide regulators to reexamine one of the worlds most widely used weed killers, has died. He was 67. Dr. Carrasco, a
molecular biologist at the University of Buenos Aires and past-president of Argentinas CONICET
science council, was a widely published expert in embryonic development. His 2010 study on
glyphosate [became] a major public relations challenge for the ... Monsanto Company. Glyphosate
is the key ingredient in Monsantos Roundup brand of pesticides, which have combined with
genetically modified Roundup-Ready plants to dramatically increase the spread of industrial
agriculture around the world. [The technology's] spread has increasingly exposed people to
glyphosate and other chemicals. Dr. Carrasco, principal investigator at his universitys Cellular
Biology and Neuroscience Institute, told The Associated Press in a 2013 interview that he had
heard reports of increasing birth defects in farming communities after genetically modified crops
were approved for use in Argentina, and so decided to test the impact of glyphosate on frog and
chicken embryos in his laboratory. His teams study, published in the peer-reviewed Chemical
Research in Toxicology journal, found that injecting very low doses of glyphosate into
embryos can change levels of retinoic acid, causing the same sort of spinal defects that
doctors are increasingly registering in communities where farm chemicals are ubiquitous.
If its possible to reproduce this in a laboratory, surely what is happening in the field is
much worse, Dr. Carrasco told the AP.
Note: For further studies showing the grave dangers of Roundup and Glyphosate, see this article.
Glenn Greenwald: from Martin Luther King to Anonymous, the state

targets dissenters not just "bad guys"
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/13/glenn-greenwald-anonymous-mass-s...
The opportunity those in power have to characterise political opponents as "national security
threats" or even "terrorists" has repeatedly proven irresistible. In the past decade, the government
... has formally so designated environmental activists, broad swaths of anti-government rightwing
groups, anti-war activists, and associations organised around Palestinian rights. One document
from the Snowden files, dated 3 October 2012, chillingly underscores the point. It revealed that the
agency has been monitoring the online activities of individuals it believes express "radical" ideas
and who have a "radicalising" influence on others. Among the information collected about the
individuals, at least one of whom is a "US person", are details of their online sex activities and
"online promiscuity." The agency discusses ways to exploit this information to destroy their
reputations and credibility. The record is suffused with examples of groups and individuals
being placed under government surveillance by virtue of their dissenting views and
activism Martin Luther King, the civil rights movement, anti-war activists,
environmentalists. The NSA's treatment of Anonymous ... is especially troubling and extreme.
Gabriella Coleman, a specialist on Anonymous at McGill University, said that [Anonymous] "is not
a defined" entity but rather "an idea that mobilises activists to take collective action and voice
political discontent. It is a broad-based global social movement with no centralised or official
organised leadership structure. Some have rallied around the name to engage in digital civil
disobedience, but nothing remotely resembling terrorism."
Note: This excerpt is from the new book No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald. For more on
government surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
United States Of Secrets

2014-05-12, KPBS.org
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/may/12/frontline-united-states-secrets/
When NSA contractor Edward Snowden downloaded tens of thousands of top-secret documents
from a highly secure government network, it led to the largest leak of classified information in
history and sparked a fierce debate over privacy, technology and democracy in the post-9/11
world. Now, in "United States Of Secrets," FRONTLINE goes behind the headlines to reveal the
dramatic inside story of how the U.S. government came to monitor and collect the communications
of millions of people around the worldincluding ordinary Americansand the lengths they went
to trying to hide the massive surveillance program from the public. This is as close to the complete
picture as anyone has yet put together and its bigger and more pervasive than we thought,
says veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk. In part one ... Kirk [pieces] together the secret
history of the unprecedented surveillance program that began in the wake of September 11 and
continues today even after the revelations of its existence by Edward Snowden. Then, in part
two, premiering Tuesday, May 20 ..., veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Martin Smith continues the
story, exploring the secret relationship between Silicon Valley and the National Security Agency,
and investigating how the government and tech companies have worked together to gather and
warehouse your data. Through in-depth interviews with more than 60 whistleblowers,
elected officials, journalists, intelligence insiders and cabinet officials, we have woven
together the secret narrative that reveals the scale and scope of the governments spying
program, says Kirk.
Note: Don't miss this engaging program, available at this link. For more on government
surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Glenn Greenwald: the explosive day we revealed Edward Snowden's

identity to the world
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/11/glenn-greenwald-nsa-whistleblowe...
On Sunday 9 June 2013, the Guardian published the story that revealed [Edward] Snowden to the
world. The article told Snowden's story, conveyed his motives, and proclaimed that "Snowden will
go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel
Ellsberg and Bradley [now Chelsea] Manning." We quoted [a note from Snowden that said:] "I
understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions but I will be satisfied if the federation of
secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are
revealed even for an instant." The reaction to the article and the video was more intense than
anything I had experienced as a writer. Ellsberg himself, writing the following day in the
Guardian, proclaimed that "there has not been in American history a more important leak
than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material and that definitely includes the Pentagon
Papers 40 years ago". Several hundred thousand people posted the link to their Facebook
accounts in the first several days alone. Almost three million people watched the interview on
YouTube. Many more saw it on the Guardian's website. The overwhelming response was shock
and inspiration at Snowden's courage.
Note: Don't miss the full, exciting story of how Snowden originally came to leak his stunning
information at the link above. This excerpt is from the new book No Place to Hide by Glenn
Greenwald. For more on government surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable
Why both sides of the political aisle are turning against Wall Street
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2014/0507/Why-both-sides-of-th...
More Americans than ever believe the economy is rigged in favor of Wall Street and big business
and their enablers in Washington. Were five years into a so-called recovery thats been a bonanza
for the rich but a bust for the middle class. The game is rigged and the American people know
that. They get it right down to their toes, says Senator Elizabeth Warren. Which is fueling a new
populism on both the left and the right. While still far apart, neo-populists on both sides are
bending toward one another and against the establishment. And its not only the rhetoric thats
converging. Populists on the right and left are also coming together around six principles: 1. Cut
the biggest Wall Street banks down to a size where theyre no longer too big to fail. 2. Resurrect
the Glass-Steagall Act, separating investment from commercial banking and thereby preventing
companies from gambling with their depositors money. 3. End corporate welfare including
subsidies to big oil, big agribusiness, big pharma, Wall Street, and the Ex-Im Bank. 5. Scale back
American interventions overseas. 6. Oppose trade agreements crafted by big corporations. Two
decades ago Democrats and Republicans enacted the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Since then populists in both parties have mounted increasing opposition to such agreements. Left
and right-wing populists remain deeply divided over the role of government. Even so, the
major fault line in American politics seems to be shifting, from Democrat versus
Republican, to populist versus establishment those who think the game is rigged versus
those who do the rigging.
The Koch Attack on Solar Energy

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/opinion/sunday/the-koch-attack-on-solar-ene...
At long last, the Koch brothers and their conservative allies in state government have found a new
tax they can support. Naturally its a tax on something the country needs: solar energy panels. For
the last few months, the Kochs and other big polluters have been spending heavily to fight
incentives for renewable energy, which have been adopted by most states. They
particularly dislike state laws that allow homeowners with solar panels to sell power they
dont need back to electric utilities. So theyve been pushing legislatures to impose a surtax on
this increasingly popular practice, hoping to make installing solar panels on houses less attractive.
Oklahoma lawmakers recently approved such a surcharge at the behest of the American
Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative group that often dictates bills to Republican
statehouses and receives financing from the utility industry and fossil-fuel producers, including the
Kochs. [The] group is trying to repeal or freeze Ohios requirement that 12.5 percent of the states
electric power come from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2025. Twenty-nine states have
established similar standards that call for 10 percent or more in renewable power. These states
can now anticipate well-financed campaigns to eliminate these targets or scale them back. The
coal producers motivation is clear: They see solar and wind energy as a long-term threat to their
businesses.
Note: For more on the growth of the solar energy industry, see the deeply revealing reports from
Koch brothers, big utilities attack solar, green energy policies

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-solar-kochs-20140420,0,7412286.story#axzz...
The Koch brothers, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and some of the nation's largest power
companies have backed efforts in recent months to roll back state policies that favor green energy.
The conservative luminaries have pushed campaigns in Kansas, North Carolina and Arizona, with
the battle rapidly spreading to other states. Alarmed environmentalists and their allies in the solar
industry have fought back, battling the other side to a draw so far. Both sides say the fight is
growing more intense as new states, including Ohio, South Carolina and Washington, enter the
fray. At the nub of the dispute are two policies found in dozens of states. One requires utilities to
get a certain share of power from renewable sources. The other, known as net metering,
guarantees homeowners or businesses with solar panels on their roofs the right to sell any excess
electricity back into the power grid at attractive rates. Net metering forms the linchpin of the solarenergy business model. Without it, firms say, solar power would be prohibitively expensive. The
American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a membership group for conservative
state lawmakers, recently drafted model legislation that targeted net metering. The group
also helped launch efforts by conservative lawmakers in more than half a dozen states to
repeal green energy mandates. The group's campaign in [Kansas] compared the green energy
mandate to Obamacare, featuring ominous images of Kathleen Sebelius, the outgoing secretary of
Health and Human Services, who was Kansas' governor when the state adopted the requirement.
Note: For more on the growth of the solar energy industry, see the deeply revealing reports from
Gag Order From Israeli Court Raises Questions

http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/gag-order-from-israeli-court...
The [New York] Times published an article [on April 17] about an Arab citizen of Israel a 23-yearold journalist and Palestinian rights advocate who was detained by Israeli authorities last
weekend. The man, Majd Kayyal, was not allowed a lawyer until Wednesday night, and he was
interrogated for five days on suspicion that he was being recruited by a hostile organization after
he visited Lebanon. He was released on Thursday but ordered to be kept under house arrest. The
Times article mentions a court-imposed gag order that was lifted on [April 17]. What it
doesnt mention is that The Times, too, is subject to such gag orders. According to its
bureau chief in Jerusalem, Jodi Rudoren, that is true. The Times is indeed, bound by gag
orders, Ms. Rudoren said. She said that the situation is analogous to abiding by traffic rules or
any other laws of the land, and that two of her predecessors in the bureau chief position affirmed
to her this week that The Times has been subject to gag orders in the past. The Timess
newsroom lawyer, David McCraw, [said] that he was consulted by Times journalists this week as
they considered publishing an article about Mr. Kayyals arrest. Although the situation is somewhat
murky, he said, the general understanding among legal counsel in other countries is that local law
would apply to foreign media. Ive never seen us actually challenge it, Mr. McCraw said.
Meanwhile, an online publication called The Electronic Intifada published a number of articles
about Mr. Kayyals detention over the past several days. The author of those articles, Ali
Abunimah, said in an email that readers have a right to know when [the New York Times] is
complying with government-imposed censorship.
Note: For more on mainstream media cover-ups, see the deeply revealing reports available here.
Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy

2014-04-17, BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton
University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. Multivariate
analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have
substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based
interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy,
while the average American has little power. The two professors came to this conclusion after
reviewing answers to 1,779 survey questions asked between 1981 and 2002 on public policy
issues. They broke the responses down by income level, and then determined how often certain
income levels and organised interest groups saw their policy preferences enacted. "A proposed
policy change with low support among economically elite Americans (one-out-of-five in favour) is
adopted only about 18% of the time," they write, "while a proposed change with high support (fourout-of-five in favour) is adopted about 45% of the time." When a majority of citizens disagrees
with economic elites and/or with organised interests, they generally lose. Moreover,
because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly
large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it. They
conclude: "We believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organisations and a
small number of affluent Americans, then America's claims to being a democratic society are
seriously threatened."
Note: For more on the antidemocratic impacts of income inequality, see the deeply revealing
9/11 conspiracy theorist and investigative journalist 'commits suicide'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605429/9-11-conspiracy-theorist-inve...
9/11 [activist] and investigative journalist Michael Ruppert has reportedly committed suicide. The
63-year-old former narcotics investigator with the LAPD shot himself after his radio show,
according to an announcement by author Carolyn Baker who was a guest on his final broadcast on
[April 13]. Mr Ruppert was famous for his litany of conspiracy theories which encompassed the CIA
to drugs, international politics, the oil industry, Wall Street and 9/11. On her Facebook page, Ms
Baker wrote: 'This was not a ''fake'' suicide. It was very well planned by Mike who gave us few
clues but elaborate instructions for how to proceed without him.' After leaving the LAPD, Mr
Ruppert started a website From The Wilderness which claimed to expose government corruption.
It included his claims that he had seen drug-dealing at the CIA. Mr Ruppert gained notoriety by
confronting then-CIA Director John Deutch during a meeting in 1995 and telling him that he
had seen CIA officers involved in drug-dealing. He later claimed on his website that the CIA
and American government was involved in 9/11. In 2004, he published Crossing the Rubicon:
The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil. The book alleged that former VP
Dick Cheney had conspired with Wall Street and other government officials over the September 11
World Trade Center attacks. In 2009, he starred in a documentary called Collapse where he spoke
about his theories involving the demise of mankind following the economic and energy crises.
Note: Mike Ruppert was a great hero who courageously reported reliable information the
mainstream media would not touch. For a five-minute video of his public testimony on CIA drug
running, click here. For a 10-minute video showing his great despair about the condition of the
world, click here. Thank you, Mike, for opening the eyes of so many to the deeper realities in our
world. Another courageous hero of the 9/11 movement, John Judge, also died, from complications
of a stroke, on April 15. For more on his great work, click here. For a great 8-minute video of his
revealing powerful information you may not know, click here.
Stories about NSA surveillance, Snowden leaks win Pulitzers for two
news groups
2014-04-14, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/14/us/pulitzer-prizes-journalism
Two news organizations' stories about National Security Agency surveillance, based upon
documents leaked by Edward Snowden, have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service,
often described as the highest prize in American journalism. The Washington Post and ... The
Guardian each received the prize on [April 14]. The recognition of the NSA reporting was most
significant because of the questions raised by Snowden's leaks and the reaction to them.
Snowden, who has been living in Russia while seeking asylum from U.S. prosecution, said in a
statement that the Pulitzer board's recognition of the coverage was "vindication for everyone who
believes that the public has a role in government." "We owe it to the efforts of the brave
reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation,
including the forced destruction of journalistic materials, the inappropriate use of terrorism
laws, and so many other means of pressure to get them to stop what the world now
recognizes was work of vital public importance." While Snowden provided a trove of
documents, reporters including Glenn Greenwald, working for the Guardian; Barton Gellman,
working for The Post; and Laura Poitras, who worked with both, pored over the raw information,
decided with their editors what parts were ethical to publish, and turned the information into stories
that stunned readers around the world.
Note: For more on the historic Snowden revelations, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable
Data uncover nations top Medicare billers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/data-uncover-nations-top-medic...
The Medicare program is the source of a small fortune for many U.S. doctors, according to a trove
of government records that reveal unprecedented details about physician billing practices
nationwide. The government insurance program for older people paid nearly 4,000 physicians in
excess of $1 million each in 2012, according to the new data. The release of the information gives
the public access for the first time to the billing practices of individual doctors nationwide.
Consumer groups and news outlets have pressured Medicare to release the data for years. The
American Medical Association and other physician groups have resisted the data release, arguing
that the information violates doctor privacy and that the public may misconstrue details about
individual doctors. Among the highest billers were: a cardiologist in Ocala, Fla., who took in $18.1
million, mainly putting in stents; a New Jersey pathologist who received $12.6 million performing
tissue exams and other tests; and a Michigan vascular surgeon who got $10.1 million. In some
instances, the extremely high billing totals could signal fraudulent doctor behavior, as government
inspectors have previously found. Indeed, three of the top 10 earners already had drawn
scrutiny from the federal government, and one of them is awaiting trial on federal fraud
charges. The greatest tallies also may signal that the Medicare payments for some
procedures are too high for the amount of work involved or that perverse incentives lead
doctors to overuse a procedure. The specialties most common at the top ranks of the Medicare
payments were ophthalmologists, oncologists and pathologists.
Note: For more on medical corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
The Cuban Twitter Scam Is a Drop in the Internet Propaganda Bucket

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/04/04/cuban-twitter-scam-social-media...
This week, the Associated Press exposed a secret program run by the U.S. Agency for
International Development to create a Twitter-like Cuban communications network run through
secret shell companies in order to create the false appearance of being a privately owned
operation. Unbeknownst to the services Cuban users was the fact that American contractors
were gathering their private data in the hope that it might be used for political purposes
specifically, to manipulate those users in order to foment dissent in Cuba and subvert its
government. This sort of operation is frequently discussed at western intelligence agencies, which
have plotted ways to covertly use social media for propaganda, deception, mass messaging,
and pushing stories. One previously undisclosed top-secret documentprepared by GCHQ for
the 2010 annual SIGDEV gathering of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance comprising the UK,
Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S.explicitly discusses ways to exploit Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, and other social media as secret platforms for propaganda. Those
programs, carried out in secrecy and with little accountability ... threaten the integrity of the
internet itself, as state-disseminated propaganda masquerades as free online speech and
organizing. There is thus little or no ability for an internet user to know when they are being
covertly propagandized by their government, which is precisely what makes it so appealing to
intelligence agencies, so powerful, and so dangerous.
Slouching toward oligarchy

2014-04-02, Baltimore Sun
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-04-02/news/bal-slouching-toward-oligarc...
America is not yet an oligarchy, but that's where Charles and David Koch and a few other
billionaires are taking us. Around a quarter century ago, as income and wealth began
concentrating at the top, the Republican and Democratic parties started to morph into mechanisms
for extracting money, mostly from wealthy people. Finally, after the Supreme Court's Citizens
United decision in 2010, billionaires began creating their own political mechanisms, separate from
the political parties. They now give big money directly to political candidates of their choice, and
mount their own media campaigns to sway public opinion toward their own views. So far in the
2014 election cycle, Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers' political front group, has aired
more than 17,000 broadcast TV commercials, compared with only 2,100 aired by Republican Party
groups. Americans for Prosperity has also been outspending top Democratic super PACs in nearly
all of the Senate races Republicans are targeting this year. In seven of the nine races, the
difference in total spending is at least 2-to-1, and Democratic super PACs have had virtually no air
presence in five of the nine states. Four of the top five contributors to 2014 super PACs are now
giving money to political operations they themselves created, according to the Center for
Responsive Politics. Billionaires squaring off against each other isn't remotely a democracy.
When billionaires supplant political parties, candidates are beholden directly to the
billionaires. And if and when those candidates win election, the billionaires will be
completely in charge.
Note: For more on the systemic control of money in US elections, see the deeply revealing reports
10 things wrong with what kids learn in school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/02/10-things-wron...
Mainstream media, cued by corporate press releases, routinely claim that Americas
schools are markedly inferior to schools in other developed nations. The claim is part of an
organized, long-running, generously funded campaign to undermine confidence in public
schools to prove the need to privatize them. Educators have been handicapped for more
than a century by a curriculum adopted to serve a too-narrow purposeadmission to collegeand
failure to address that curriculums problems has made the institution vulnerable to destructive
corporate and political manipulation. Below are brief descriptions of some of the more obvious of
those problems. 1. The standard core curriculum is stuck in the past. Adopted in the late 19th
Century, the curriculum now shaping Americas schools reflects the big idea of that earlier era
the factory system, standardization of parts, mass production, centralized decision making, and
passive worker compliance. None of those fit the present era. 2. The standard core curriculum is
so inefficient it leaves little or no time for apprenticeships, internships, co-op programs, projects,
and other ways of learning by doing (which is how most of us learned most of what we know). 3.
The standard core curriculum gives thought processes other than recall short shrift, or no attention
at all. The ability to remember is, of course, important, but the main educational challenge
making better sense of real-world experiencerequires the ability not merely to recall but to infer,
generalize, hypothesize, relate, synthesize, value, and so on. 4. The standard core curriculum
ignores vast and important fields of knowledge.
The heir, the judge and the homeless mom: America's prison bias for
the 1%
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/02/dupont-heir-homeless-mom...
In 2009, when Robert H Richard IV, an unemployed heir to the DuPont family fortune, pled guilty to
fourth-degree rape of his three-year-old daughter, a judge spared him a justifiable sentence
indeed, only put Richard on probation because she figured this 1-percenter would "not fare well"
in a prison setting. Richards ex-wife filed a new lawsuit accusing him of also sexually abusing their
son. Since then, the original verdict has been fueling some angry speculation ... that the
defendant's wealth and status may have played a role in his lenient sentencing. Inequality defines
our criminal justice system just as it defines our society. It always has and it always will until we do
something about it. America incarcerates more people than any other country on the planet, with
over 2m currently in prison and more than 7m under some form of correctional supervision. More
than 60% are racial and ethnic minorities, and the vast majority are poor. There is an abundance
of evidence ... that both conscious and unconscious bias permeate every aspect of the
criminal justice system, from arrests to sentencing and beyond. Unsurprisingly, this bias
works in favor of wealthy (and white) defendants, while poor minorities routinely suffer. In
August of last year the Sentencing Project, a non-profit devoted to criminal justice reform, released
a comprehensive report on bias in the system. This is the sentence you need to remember: "The
United States in effect operates two distinct criminal justice systems: one for wealthy people and
another for poor people and minorities."
Note: For more on systemic injustice within the US prison/industrial complex, see the deeply
NSA posed as Facebook to infect computers with malware, report says

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-nsa-posing-facebook-malwa...
The National Security Agency has reportedly used automated systems to infect user computers
with malware since 2010. At times the agency pretended to be Facebook to install its malware.
The NSA has been using a program codenamed TURBINE to contaminate computers and
networks with malware "implants" capable of spying on users, according to the Intercept, which
cited documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Between 85,000 and 100,000 of
these implants have been deployed worldwide thus far. To infect computers with malware,
the NSA has relied on various tactics, including posing as Facebook. The federal agency
performed what is known as a "man-on-the-side" attack in which it tricked users computers into
thinking that they were accessing real Facebook servers. Once the user had been fooled, the NSA
hacked into the user's computer and extracted data from their hard drive. Facebook said it had no
knowledge of the NSA"s TURBINE program. However, [Facebook] said it is no longer possible for
the NSA or hackers to attack users that way, but Facebook warned that other websites and social
networks may still be vulnerable to those types of attacks. "This method of network level disruption
does not work for traffic carried over HTTPS, which Facebook finished integrating by default last
year," Facebook told the National Journal.
Note: For more on NSA surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
Behind Clash Between C.I.A. and Congress, a Secret Report on

Interrogations
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/us/politics/behind-clash-between-cia-and-co...
It was early December when the Central Intelligence Agency began to suspect it had suffered what
it regarded as an embarrassing computer breach. Investigators for the Senate Intelligence
Committee, working in the basement of a C.I.A. facility in Northern Virginia, had obtained an
internal agency review summarizing thousands of documents related to the agencys detention
and interrogation program. Parts of the C.I.A. report cast a particularly harsh light on the program,
the same program the agency was in the midst of defending in a prolonged dispute with the
intelligence committee. What the C.I.A. did next opened a new and even more rancorous chapter
in the struggle over how the history of the interrogation program will be written. Agency officials
began scouring the digital logs of the computer network used by the Senate staff members to try to
learn how and where they got the report. Their search not only raised constitutional questions
about the propriety of an intelligence agency investigating its congressional overseers, but
has also resulted in two parallel inquiries by the Justice Department one into the C.I.A.
and one into the committee. Each side accuses the other of spying on it, with the Justice
Department now playing the uneasy role of arbitrator in the bitter dispute. Its always been a dicey
proposition to be investigating Congress, said W. George Jameson, a C.I.A. lawyer for decades.
You dont do it lightly.
Renting Judges for Secret Rulings

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/01/opinion/renting-judges-for-secret-rulings.html
Should wealthy litigants be able to rent state judges and courthouses to decide cases in private
and keep the results secret? The answer should be an easy no, but if the judges of Delawares
Chancery Court persuade the United States Supreme Court to take their case and reverse lower
federal court rulings outlawing that practice, corporations will, in Delaware, be able to do just that.
The state has long been a magnet for corporate litigation because of its welcoming tax structures
and the courts business expertise. Yet the State Legislature became concerned that Delaware
was losing its pre-eminence in corporate litigation to a growing market in private dispute
resolution. To compete, Delaware passed a law in 2009 offering new privileges to well-heeled
businesses. If litigants had at least $1 million at stake and were willing to pay $12,000 in
filing fees and $6,000 a day thereafter, they could use Delawares chancery judges and
courtrooms for what was called an arbitration that produced enforceable legal judgments.
Instead of open proceedings, filings would not be docketed, the courtroom would be closed to the
public and the outcome would be secret. The Delaware Supreme Court could review judgments,
but that court has not indicated whether appeals would also be confidential. A group called the
Coalition for Open Government, including news and civic organizations, objected that Delawares
legislation was unconstitutional. In 2012, a federal judge agreed that the law violated the publics
right of access to civil proceedings under the First Amendment.
Judge Tosses Muslim Spying Suit Against NYPD, Says Any Damage
Was Caused by Reporters Who Exposed It
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/21/judge-tosses-muslim-spying-suit...
A federal judge in Newark has thrown out a lawsuit against the New York Police Department
for spying on New Jersey Muslims, saying if anyone was at fault, it was the Associated
Press for telling people about it. In his ruling ... U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini
simultaneously demonstrated the willingness of the judiciary to give law enforcement alarming
latitude in the name of fighting terror, greenlighted the targeting of Muslims based solely on their
religious beliefs, and blamed the media for upsetting people by telling them what their government
was doing. The NYPDs clandestine spying on daily life in Muslim communities in the region
with no probable cause, and nothing to show for it was exposed in a Pulitzer-Prize winning
series of stories by the AP. The stories described infiltration and surveillance of at least 20
mosques, 14 restaurants, 11 retail stores, two grade schools, and two Muslim student associations
in New Jersey alone. In a cursory, 10-page ruling issued before even hearing oral arguments,
Martini essentially said that what the targets didnt know didnt hurt them: "None of the Plaintiffs
injuries arose until after the Associated Press released unredacted, confidential NYPD documents
and articles expressing its own interpretation of those documents. Nowhere in the Complaint do
Plaintiffs allege that they suffered harm prior to the unauthorized release of the documents by the
Associated Press. This confirms that Plaintiffs alleged injuries flow from the Associated Presss
unauthorized disclosure of the documents. The harms are not fairly traceable to any act of
surveillance."
Three Years Later, A Harrowing Visit To Fukushima

2014-02-15, NPR Blog
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/02/15/277385083/three-years-later-a-h...
At a motel in the town of Hirono, just outside a restricted zone in Fukushima Prefecture, [the]
residents were all men, all apparently working on the cleanup of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
plant, where three reactors melted down and a fourth caught on fire after a quake and tsunami in
2011. The plant's operator is mostly using subcontractors to supply labor, which drives down the
pay and tends to leave the poorest workers living in crowded dormitories. Workers and labor
activists say that Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, is subcontracting the work out
to avoid taking direct responsibility financial and otherwise for the dangers the
workers face each day at the plant. Recent days and weeks have brought embarrassing news
for Tepco, including that levels of radioactive strontium in wells in the plant were reported months
late, and were 10 times lower than the actual amount. TEPCO says it was a measurement error.
Some critics say that TEPCO can't be trusted and that the world's largest nuclear accident is still
waiting to happen at Fukushima, such as an accidental nuclear reaction that releases large
amounts of harmful radiation into the air. TEPCO dismisses predictions like this as alarmist.
Japanese themselves are highly divided on the issue, just as they are about whether or not their
country should continue to rely on nuclear power, which previously supplied up to a third of their
electricity. One thing that seems certain is that the work of cleaning up and shutting down the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will go on for a long time. TEPCO predicts it could last 30 or 40
years. Others say that estimate is blindly optimistic.
Note: Why is this critical news getting so little coverage? For more on deception and corruption
around nuclear power, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-too-big-to-jail-20...
The deal was announced quietly, just before the holidays. The U.S. Justice Department granted a
total walk to executives of the British-based bank HSBC for the largest drug-and-terrorism moneylaundering case ever. They issued a fine $1.9 billion, or about five weeks' profit but they didn't
extract so much as one dollar or one day in jail from any individual, despite a decade of stupefying
abuses. For at least half a decade, the storied British colonial banking power helped to wash
hundreds of millions of dollars for drug mobs, including Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, suspected in
tens of thousands of murders just in the past 10 years. The bank also ... aided countless common
tax cheats in hiding their cash. That nobody from the bank went to jail or paid a dollar in individual
fines is nothing new in this era of financial crisis. What is different about this settlement is that
the Justice Department, for the first time, admitted why it decided to go soft on this
particular kind of criminal. It was worried that anything more than a wrist slap for HSBC
might undermine the world economy. "Had the U.S. authorities decided to press criminal
charges," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer at a press conference to announce the
settlement, "HSBC would almost certainly have lost its banking license in the U.S., the future of the
institution would have been under threat and the entire banking system would have been
destabilized."
Note: For more on the collusion of government with the biggest, most corrupt banks, see the
Finland No. 1, US sinks to 46th in global press freedom rankings

2014-02-12, Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/finland--1--us-sinks-to-46th-in-global-press-freedom-ra...
The United States did not live up to the promise of the First Amendment last year, far from it,
sinking to 46th in global press freedom rankings, a respected international nonprofit group said.
The U.S. plummeted 13 slots to 46th overall amid increased efforts to track down whistle-blowers
and the sources of leaks, Reporters Without Borders warned in an annual report. The trial and
conviction of Private Bradley Manning and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden
were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information
that would clearly be in the public interest, the organization said. The group ... also cited the
Department of Justices seizure of Associated Press telephone records and a courts pressure on
New York Times reporter James Risen to testify against a CIA staffer accused of leaking classified
information. The whistle-blower is clearly the enemy in the U.S., Delphine Halgand, who heads
the RSF outpost in Washington, told Yahoo News. Eight whistle-blowers have been charged
under the Obama administration, the highest number of any administration, of all other
administrations combined. Overall, RSF said in its report, countries that pride themselves on
being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example, far from it. Freedom
of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national
security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices. Investigative journalism
often suffers as a result, the group said.
Note: As if to underscore the sad state of US press freedom, we couldn't find any major media
who reported this sad news, other than a Washington Post blog at this link, which simply
downplays the news and tries to explain it away. To read how the media censors some of the
biggest stories never reported, click here.
The NSAs Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

2014-02-10, The Intercept (With Glenn Greenwald)
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/
The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather
than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes
an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people. According to
a former drone operator for the militarys Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) who also
worked with the NSA, the agency often identifies targets based on controversial metadata analysis
and cell-phone tracking technologies. Rather than confirming a targets identity with operatives or
informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and
location of the mobile phone. The former JSOC drone operator ... states that innocent people have
absolutely been killed as a result. Some top Taliban leaders, knowing of the NSAs targeting
method, have purposely and randomly distributed SIM cards among their units in order to elude
their trackers. As a result, even when the agency correctly identifies and targets a SIM card
belonging to a terror suspect, the phone may actually be carried by someone else, who is then
killed in a strike. The Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that its operations kill terrorists
with the utmost precision. Within the NSA ... a motto quickly caught on at Geo Cell: We Track Em,
You Whack Em. In December 2009, utilizing the NSAs metadata collection programs, the
Obama administration dramatically escalated U.S. drone and cruise missile strikes in Yemen. The
first strike in the country known to be authorized by Obama targeted an alleged Al Qaeda camp in
the southern village of al-Majala. The strike, which included the use of cluster bombs, resulted in
the deaths of 14 women and 21 children.
Note: For an in-depth interview on this important topic, click here. Would anyone in a developed
country tolerate their citizens being killed by the drones of a foreign government? Note also that
The Intercept is the new media source being funded by Pierre Omidyar and featuring Glenn
Greenwald and other top reporters known for the their independence.
New York regulator demands bank documents as investigation widens

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/05/new-york-regulator-banks-trad...
New York states top financial regulator has demanded documents from more than a dozen banks
including Barclays, Deutsche, Goldman Sachs and RBS as a probe widened into trading practices
in the $5.3tn-a-day global foreign exchange markets. Benjamin Lawsky, New York's financial
services superintendent, made the move following the banks decision to fire or suspend at least
20 traders following reports that employees at some firms had shared information about their
currency positions with counterparts at other companies. Lawskys move marks the latest
escalation in a global investigation by regulators into the manipulation of benchmark rates.
The currency probe comes as regulators are still investigating the manipulation of the Libor
lending rate by traders at some of the worlds biggest banks. The Wall Street Journal reported
that Goldman Sachs Steven Cho, formerly global head of spot and forward foreign exchange
trading for major currencies, was retiring from the bank. His departure came a day after Citigroup
announced that Anil Prasad, its global head of foreign exchange, was leaving the company. It is
not know if his retirement is in any way linked to any investigation. Prasads exit comes a month
after Rohan Ramchandani, formerly Citis head of European spot foreign exchange trading, was
fired. Ramchandani had been a member of the Bank of Englands foreign exchange joint standing
committee.
Elizabeth Warren blasts profits on student loans

2014-02-01, Boston Globe/ Associated Press
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/02/01/warren-blasts-profits-stude...
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said ... she is shocked that the federal government is earning an
estimated $66 billion in profits from student loans originated between 2007 and 2012. [She] was
reacting to a Government Accountability Office report [issued on January 31]. A previous
Congressional Budget Office report estimated that the government will pocket an additional $185
billion in profits on new student loans made over the next 10 years. This is obscene. The
government should not be making $66 billion in profits off the backs of our students, Warren said
in a statement. This report reinforces what we already knew instead of investing in our
children and their futures, the government is squeezing profits out of our young people and
adding to the mountain of debt they will spend their lives struggling to repay. Warren and
eight other U.S. senators committed to wring government profits out of student loans and address
[the] $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt they say is crushing families and putting a strain
on the economy. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend the profits dont exist, or use
accounting tricks to make them disappear, Warren said. Its time to end the practice of profiting
from young people who are trying to get an education and refinance existing loans. Warren has
[introduced a bill] that tries to pressure colleges to keep costs down for students and ensure they
get a meaningful diploma when they graduate.
The anti-fracking activist barred from 312.5 sq miles of Pennsylvania

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/29/vera-scroggins-fracking-ac...
Vera Scroggins, an outspoken opponent of fracking, is legally barred from the new county
hospital. Also off-limits, unless Scroggins wants to risk fines and arrest, are the Chinese
restaurant where she takes her grandchildren, the supermarkets and drug stores where she
shops, the animal shelter where she adopted her Yorkshire terrier, bowling alley, recycling centre,
golf club, and lake shore. In total, 312.5 sq miles are no-go areas for Scroggins under a sweeping
court order granted by a local judge that bars her from any properties owned or leased by one of
the biggest drillers in the Pennsylvania natural gas rush, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation. The ban
represents one of the most extreme measures taken by the oil and gas industry to date against
protesters like Scroggins, who has operated peacefully and within the law including taking Yoko
Ono to frack sites in her bid to elevate public concerns about fracking. It was always going to be an
unequal fight when Scroggins, now 63, made it her self-appointed mission five years ago to stop
fracking in this, the richest part of the Marcellus Shale. The judge [granted] Cabot a temporary
injunction barring Scroggins from all property owned or leased by the company. In court filings,
Cabot said it holds leases on 200,000 acres of land, equivalent to 312.5 sq miles. That amounts
to nearly 40% of the largely rural county in north-eastern Pennsylvania where Scroggins
lives and where Cabot does most of its drilling.
N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/nsa-effort-pries-open-computers-not-conn...
The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around
the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can
also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks. While most of the software is inserted by
gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret
technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not
connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American
officials. The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert
channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted
surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station
that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target. In most cases, the radio
frequency hardware must be physically inserted by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user.
Among the most frequent targets of the N.S.A. and its Pentagon partner, United States Cyber
Command, have been units of the Chinese Army, which the United States has accused of
launching regular digital probes and attacks on American industrial and military targets, usually to
steal secrets or intellectual property. But the program, code-named Quantum, has also been
successful in inserting software into Russian military networks and systems used by the Mexican
police and drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union, and sometime partners
against terrorism like Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.
'Transparent' detention at Guantanamo? Not anymore

2014-01-09, MSN
http://news.msn.com/in-depth/transparent-detention-at-guantanamo-not-anymore
After a tumultuous year at the war-on-terror detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the
U.S. military's motto is "Safe, Humane, Legal, Transparent," operations are cloaked in secrecy.
The prison approaches the start of its 13th year next week with a new reclusive regime that
no longer discloses what was once routinely released information. The daily tally of hunger
striking detainees the protest that engulfed more than 100 prisoners at its peak this
summer stopped in December. Guards and other prison camp troops are under orders to
withhold their names when talking to reporters. On the witness stand in the war court recently,
a lawyer in the uniform of an Air Force officer gave sworn testimony under a curious, unexplained
fake name "Major Krueger." Guantanamo is remote, and what is happening there in this new
era has mostly gone unnoticed. The government controls access to everything pertaining to
Guantanamo. Journalists have to get the military's permission to go there, navigate censorship of
their pictures, wait 40 seconds to hear what happens in court and then wait weeks to see court
filings. The current crackdown on information can range from the mildly curious to the outright
comedic. At times it seems to signify a gratuitous use of power by troops on rotation with sudden
power to [wield] a censor's scissors. At times, it suggests a government bureaucracy whose
default is knee-jerk secrecy.
The WikiLeaks Mole

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-wikileaks-mole-20140106
Sigurdur "Siggi" Thordarson, [is a] cherubic, blond 21-year-old who has been called everything in
the [Icelandic] press from "attention seeker" to "traitor" to "psychopath". Four years ago, just as
WikiLeaks was winning international notoriety, the then-17-year-old hacking prodigy became
Assange's youngest and most trusted sidekick. But as Assange became more embattled and
besieged, the protg turned on his mentor in the most shocking of ways: becoming the
first FBI informant inside the group. His tale reveals not only the paranoia and strife within
WikiLeaks, but just how far the feds were willing to go to get Assange. The revelation of
Siggi's role as an FBI snitch has polarized WikiLeaks insiders. WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn
Hrafnsson [dismissed] Siggi as "a pathological liar." While other WikiLeaks insiders also question
Siggi's credibility, they insist that his story can't be discounted, and there's more to it than the
organization is letting on. The truth, it seems, may be held in the leaks. Siggi has provided Rolling
Stone with more than a terabyte of secret files he claims to have taken from WikiLeaks before he
left in November 2011 and gave to the FBI: thousands of pages of chat logs, videos, tapped phone
calls, government documents and more than a few bombshells from the organization's most
heated years. Whatever their origins, the SiggiLeaks are a deep and revealing portal into one of
the most guarded and influential organizations of the 21st century and the extreme measures its
embattled leader is willing to take.
Even After Volcker, Banks Aren't Safe Enough

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2160950,00.html
Despite the hoopla over the approval of the Volcker rule, which restricts banks from making certain
types of speculative investments, our financial system isn't much safer than it was before 2008. A
major reason for the continued complexity and risk in the financial system is lobbying power. The
Volcker rule as it stands now has been turned into Swiss cheese by bank lobbyists, who
represent the second biggest corporate special-interest bloc after the health care complex,
spending nearly half a billion dollars a year on lobbying, according to the nonprofit,
nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. So while the rule limits federally insured banks from
trading for its own sake, they are still allowed to hedge their portfolios, which opens up a lot of gray
territory for trading. Certainly having more lenders rather than fewer would help other kinds of
businesses, and having trading walled off from lending would encourage that. The fact that the
five largest U.S. financial holding companies control 55% of industry assets--compared
with 20% in 1990--keeps competition low and credit constrained. In the next two to five years,
there will likely be another crisis or trading loss of the kind that reignites the debate over closing
trading loopholes and creating a truly safer financial system. Right now, banks complain about
rules that would require them to hold a mere 5% of their assets in high-quality, low-risk capital
(known as Tier 1 capital), despite the fact that in any other industry, doing business with less than
50% of your own cash would be considered extreme.
I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really
goes on
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/drones-us-military
Whenever I read comments by politicians defending the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Predator and
Reaper program aka drones I wish I could ask them a few questions. I'd start with: "How many
women and children have you seen incinerated by a Hellfire missile?" Few of these politicians who
so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue of what actually goes on. I, on the
other hand, have seen these awful sights first hand. What the public needs to understand is that
the video provided by a drone is not usually clear enough to detect someone carrying a weapon,
even on a crystal-clear day. This makes it incredibly difficult for the best analysts to identify if
someone has weapons for sure. One example comes to mind: "The feed is so pixelated, what if
it's a shovel, and not a weapon?" I felt this confusion constantly, as did my fellow UAV
analysts. We always wonder if ... we destroyed an innocent civilian's life all because of a
bad image or angle. I know the feeling you experience when you see someone die.
Horrifying barely covers it. When you are exposed to it over and over again it becomes like a
small video, embedded in your head, forever on repeat, causing psychological pain and suffering.
UAV troops are victim to not only the haunting memories of this work that they carry with them, but
also the guilt of always being a little unsure of how accurate their confirmations of weapons or
identification of hostile individuals were. The UAVs in the Middle East are used as a weapon, not
as protection, and as long as our public remains ignorant to this, this serious threat to the sanctity
of human life at home and abroad will continue.
Note: For more on war crimes committed by the US and UK in the illegal "global war on terror",
GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/20/gchq-targeted-aid-agencies-ger...
British and American intelligence agencies had a comprehensive list of surveillance targets that
included the EU's competition commissioner, German government buildings in Berlin and
overseas, and the heads of institutions that provide humanitarian and financial help to Africa, topsecret documents reveal. The papers show GCHQ [and the NSA were] targeting organisations
such as the United Nations development programme, the UN's children's charity Unicef and
Mdecins du Monde, a French organisation that provides doctors and medical volunteers to
conflict zones. The head of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) also
appears in the documents, along with text messages he sent to colleagues. One GCHQ document,
drafted in January 2009, makes clear that the agencies were targeting an email address listed as
belonging to another important American ally the "Israeli prime minister". Ehud Olmert was in
office at the time. Three further Israeli targets appeared on GCHQ documents, including another
email address understood to have been used to send messages between the then Israeli defence
minister, Ehud Barak, and his chief of staff, Yoni Koren. The names and details are the latest
revelations to come from documents leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. They
provoked a furious reaction. The disclosures reflect the breadth of targets sought by the
agencies, which goes far beyond the desire to intercept the communications of potential
terrorists and criminals, or diplomats and officials from hostile countries.
NSAs indiscriminate spying collapsing, Snowden says in open letter

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nsas-indiscriminate-spying-collapsing-sno...
National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wrote in a lengthy open letter to the people of
Brazil that he has been inspired by the global debate ignited by his release of thousands of
documents and that the NSAs culture of indiscriminate global espionage is collapsing. In the
letter, Snowden commended the Brazilian government for its strong stand against U.S. spying. He
wrote that he would be willing to help the South American nation investigate NSA spying on its soil
but could not fully participate in doing so without being granted political asylum, because the U.S.
government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak. The documents revealed that Brazil
is the top NSA target in Latin America, in spying that has included the monitoring of Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseffs cellphone and hacking into the internal network of the state-run oil
company Petrobras. In his letter, Snowden dismissed U.S. explanations to the Brazilian
government and others that the bulk metadata gathered on billions of e-mails and calls was more
data collection than surveillance. There is a huge difference between legal programs,
legitimate spying ... and these programs of dragnet mass surveillance that put entire
populations under an all-seeing eye and save copies forever, he wrote. These programs
were never about terrorism: theyre about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic
manipulation. Theyre about power. Brazilian senators have asked for Snowdens help during
hearings about the NSAs targeting of Brazil, an important transit hub for transatlantic fiber-optic
cables that are hacked.
Note: To read Snowden's full, inspiring letter, click here.
The Soviet Union Spent $1 Billion On Mind-Control Experiments During

The Cold War As Part Of Arms Race With The US: Report
http://www.ibtimes.com/soviet-union-spent-1-billion-mind-control-experiments-...
The battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, for technological and
scientific one-upmanship, included a costly effort that involved the two superpowers' attempts to
develop mind-control weapons, according to a new study. A blog post at the Physics arXiv Blog,
citing a new paper by researcher Serge Kernbach, said that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union
experimented with parapsychology, mind control and remote influence. And, while some of the
work conducted by the U.S. on these topics is now public, much less is known about the Soviet
body of knowledge, which reportedly cost about a billion dollars to gather. The Soviets had a
similar program. This included experiments in parapsychology, which the Soviets called
psychotronics, the blogpost said. The work built on a long-standing idea in Soviet
science that the human brain could receive and transmit a certain kind of high frequency
electromagnetic radiation and that this could influence other objects too. Kernbach
provided an overview of the Soviet Unions efforts in unconventional research between 1917 and
2003, [based] on publications in Russian technical journals and recently declassified documents.
The U.S. developed a 20-year CIA program, called Project MKULTRA, which began in the early
1950s to study ways of manipulating peoples minds and altering their brain functions. The Soviets
too focused on a similar program and developed a device called a "cerpan" that could generate
and store high-frequency electromagnetic radiation produced by the human brain in hopes of
influencing other objects.
Note: For an excellent two-page summary of reliable information on secret government mind
control programs, click here. For more on mind control research and operations by the CIA, see
Environmental groups sue over Navy sonar plans

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/16/environmental-groups-sue-navy-over-sonar...
Environmental organizations filed a lawsuit [on December 16] against the National Marine
Fisheries Service to demand it force the Navy to consider alternatives to its five-year plan that will
intensify its sonar use off Southern California and Hawaii. Earthjustice, representing several
groups, filed the lawsuit ... only hours after the federal agency announced it had decided to grant
the Navy permits to move ahead with its plans for training and testing in the Pacific.
Environmentalists [favor] creating zones that would be off-limits to biologically sensitive areas [and]
want the Navy to avoid training in certain spots seasonally when they are rich in marine life. "The
science is clear: sonar and live-fire training in the ocean harms marine mammals," said Marsha
Green of Ocean Mammal Institute. "There are safer ways to conduct Navy exercises that include
time and place restrictions to avoid areas known to be vital for marine mammals' feeding, breeding
and resting." Reported mass strandings of beaked whales have increased around the world
since the military started using sonar more than half a century ago. The sounds can scare
animals into shallow waters where they can become disoriented and wash ashore. Aside from
beachings, biologists are concerned about prolonged stress from changes in diving,
feeding and communication habits. Two recent studies off the Southern California coast found
certain endangered blue whales and beaked whales stopped feeding and fled from recordings of
noise similar to military sonar. Beaked whales are highly sensitive to sound and account for the
majority of strandings near military exercises.
Note: Consider that naval sonar doesn't "scare" marine mammals, but rather drives them insane
with the intensity of noise. Imagine a huge siren right next to your ears. You would certainly flee to
try to get away. This is likely what is causing many of the whale and dolphin strandings. Studies
have found stranded animals to have perforated ear drums, as you can read in this NBC News
article. How much sound does it take to perforate an ear drum? For more on threats to marine
mammals, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
NSA review to leave spying programs largely unchanged, reports say

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/13/nsa-review-to-leave-spying-progr...
A participant in a White House-sponsored review of surveillance activities described as shameful
an apparent decision to leave most of the National Security Agencys controversial bulk spying
intact. Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Institute, said [on December 13] that ...
The review group was searching for ways to make the most modest pivot necessary to continue
business as usual. Should the review groups report resemble descriptions that leaked ... the
report does nothing to alter the lack of trust the global populace has for what the US is
doing, and nothing to restore our reputation as an ethical internet steward, said Meinrath,
who met with the advisory panel and White House officials twice to discuss the bulk surveillance
programs that have sparked international outrage. Leaks about the review groups expected
recommendations to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal strengthened Meinrath and
other participants long-standing suspicions that much of the NSAs sweeping spy powers would
survive. The Times quoted an anonymous official familiar with the group saying its report says we
cant dismantle these programs, but we need to change the way almost all of them operate.
According to the leaks, the review group will recommend that bulk collection of every
Americans phone call data continue, possibly by the phone companies instead of the NSA,
with tighter restrictions than the reasonable, articulable suspicion standard for searching through
them that the NSA currently employs.
Note: For more on massive government intrusions of citizens' privacy, see the deeply revealing
Trans-Pacific Partnership: a guide to the most contentious issues

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/trans-pacific-partnership-a-guid...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement is being negotiated in Singapore this
week between Australia, New Zealand, the US, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Singapore, Brunei,
Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. The countries have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of
US$28,136bn on 2012 figures, which represents almost 40% of the worlds GDP. There have been
many contentious issues around the TPP: critics are particularly concerned about the secrecy
around the agreement given it has the capacity to change many local laws and regulations.
The majority of public criticism has centred on arguments relating to intellectual property
and the cost of medicines, though many have concerns about environmental issues
including climate change, investment, e-commerce and labour laws. The US has been rigid in
its demands for stronger intellectual property protection to champion the rights of its global giants
such as IT companies and its film and music industries. The US position on [the] investor-state
dispute settlement provision ... grants foreign companies the right to sue [a] government under
international law. All countries accepted there needed to be agreement on privacy obligations with
regard to information-sharing, apart from the US, which reserved its position on privacy. The US
position has left people wondering whether the TPP will undermine privacy, particularly in the wake
of the NSA revelations from the Snowden documents. There appear to be deep divisions on
environment and climate change, with the US and Australia opposing any extension of the text on
climate matters.
Feds: 18 LA sheriff's deputies face charges

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/18-la-sheriffs-deputies-face-us-charges/
Federal officials on [December 9] unsealed five criminal cases filed against 18 current and former
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies as part of an FBI investigation into allegations of civil rights
abuses and corruption in the nation's largest jail system. Four grand jury indictments and a
criminal complaint allege unjustified beatings of jail inmates and visitors at downtown Los
Angeles jail facilities, unjustified detentions and a conspiracy to obstruct a federal
investigation into misconduct at the Men's Central Jail. The FBI has been investigating
allegations of excessive force and other misconduct at the county's jails since at least 2011. [An]
official said the arrests were related to the abuse of individuals in the jail system and also
allegations that sheriff's officials moved an FBI informant in the jails possibly to thwart their probe.
Among those charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the 18-page indictment are two
lieutenants, one of whom oversaw the department's safe jails program and another who
investigated allegations of local crimes committed by sheriff's personnel, two sergeants and three
deputies. All seven are accused of trying to prevent the FBI from contacting or interviewing an
inmate who was helping federal agents in a corruption and civil rights probe. In an attempt to find
out more information about the investigation, one lieutenant and the two sergeants sought a court
order to compel the FBI to provide documents, prosecutors said. When a state judge denied the
proposed order, the two sergeants allegedly attempted to intimidate one of the lead FBI agents
outside her house and falsely told her they were going to seek a warrant for her arrest, the
indictment said.
Law enforcement using methods from NSA playbook

2013-12-08, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/08/cellphone-data-spying-ns...
The National Security Agency isn't the only government entity secretly collecting data from
people's cellphones. Local police are increasingly scooping it up, too. Armed with new
technologies, including mobile devices that tap into cellphone data in real time, dozens of
local and state police agencies are capturing information about thousands of cellphone
users at a time, whether they are targets of an investigation or not. The records, from more
than 125 police agencies in 33 states, reveal [that] about one in four law-enforcement agencies
have used a tactic known as a "tower dump," which gives police data about the identity, activity
and location of any phone that connects to the targeted cellphone towers over a set span of time,
usually an hour or two. A typical dump covers multiple towers, and wireless providers, and can net
information from thousands of phones. At least 25 police departments own a Stingray, a suitcasesize device that costs as much as $400,000 and acts as a fake cell tower. The system, typically
installed in a vehicle so it can be moved into any neighborhood, tricks all nearby phones into
connecting to it and feeding data to police. In some states, the devices are available to any local
police department via state surveillance units. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties
Union and Electronic Privacy Information Center say the swelling ability by even small-town police
departments to easily and quickly obtain large amounts of cellphone data raises questions about
the erosion of people's privacy as well as their Fourth Amendment protections against
unreasonable search and seizure.
Note: For more on massive government intrusions of citizens' privacy, see the deeply revealing
ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean

energy
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/alec-freerider-homeowners-assaul...
An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise
homeowners who install their own solar panels casting them as "freeriders" in a
sweeping new offensive against renewable energy. Over the coming year, the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalising
individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the
Environmental Protection Agency, [the government's] main channel for climate action. Details of
ALEC's strategy to block clean energy development at every stage from the individual rooftop to
the White House are revealed as the group gathers for its policy summit in Washington this
week. About 800 state legislators and business leaders are due to attend the three-day event,
which begins ... with appearances by the Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson and the Republican
budget guru and fellow Wisconsinite Paul Ryan. Other ALEC speakers will be a leading figure
behind the recent government shutdown, US senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and the governors of
Indiana and Wyoming. For 2014, ALEC plans to promote a suite of model bills and resolutions
aimed at blocking Barack Obama from cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and state governments
from promoting the expansion of wind and solar power through regulations known as Renewable
Portfolio Standards. ALEC [wants] to lower the rate electricity companies pay homeowners
for direct power generation and maybe even charge homeowners for feeding power into
the grid.
Are Prisons Bleeding Us Dry?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/01/are-prisons-bleeding-us-dry....
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to introduce a mandatory prison sentence for anyone
caught with an illegal firearm. But reams of data shows that incarceration creates more crime. One
in 100 adults in the U.S. lives behind bars. One in nine African-American men are imprisoned.
This countrys addiction to incarceration has not made us safer, but has instead imposed
upon us an untenable, senseless tax while unfairly targeting poor communities of color and
perpetuating crime and violence in our neighborhoods. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle
and activists on the left and the right are taking action to roll back imprisonment rates. Chicagos
communities have been ravaged by mass imprisonment. The U.S. currently has the dubious
distinction of having the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world. And communities
on Chicagos West and South sides have incarceration rates that are doubleand sometimes
triplethe national average. This is not because more crime occurs in these neighborhoods. A
National Institute of Health study that focused on the effects of mass incarceration on Chicagos
neighborhoods found that communities marked by poverty and racial segregation experience
incarceration rates that are more than three times higher communities with similar crime rates.
Note: For more on the devastating impacts on society of the government-prison-industrial
Canada allowed widespread NSA surveillance at 2010 G20 summit
2013-11-28, NBC News/Reuters

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/53688035#.UpkAXo2f8h0
Canada allowed the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct widespread surveillance
during the 2010 Group of 20 summit in Toronto, according to a media report that cited documents
from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp ...
cited briefing notes it said showed the United States turned its Ottawa embassy into a security
command post during a six-day spying operation by the top-secret U.S. agency as President
Barack Obama and other world leaders met that June. One of the bylines on the CBC report was
Glenn Greenwald, the U.S. journalist who has worked with Snowden on several other NSA stories.
CBC ... quoted an NSA briefing note describing the operation as "closely coordinated with
the Canadian partner". The Canadian equivalent of the NSA is the Communications Security
Establishment Canada, or CSEC. CBC said the documents did not reveal the targets of the
NSA operation, but described part of the U.S. eavesdropping agency's mandate at the
Toronto summit as "providing support to policymakers". CSEC, which has a very low public
profile, employs about 2,000 people. It is part of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing
network that also includes the United States, Britain, New Zealand and Australia. Last month,
Brazil angrily demanded an explanation for media reports which said CSEC agents had targeted
its mines and energy industry.
The Charity Swindle

"http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/opinion/the-charity-swindle.html
By all outward indications, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association was a leader in the charitable
community. Founded in 2002 to provide support to Navy veterans in need, the charity recorded
astonishing financial success. In its first eight years, it raised around $100 million in charitable
contributions, almost all of it through a direct marketing campaign. The organization, headed by
Jack L. Nimitz, boasted of 41 state chapters and some 66,000 members. [But] virtually everything
about the association turned out to be false: no state chapters, no members, no leader with the
name redolent of naval history. Instead, there was one guy: a man calling himself Bobby
Thompson. But the money raised was real enough, generated by a series of for-profit
telemarketers. The victims, by and large, were unsuspecting small-money donors who received
urgent solicitations asking for support for needy naval veterans. Most of the money raised
stayed with the fund-raisers, though plenty apparently dripped through to Mr. Thompson
and a succession of Republican lawmakers who received generous contributions from the
associations political arm. But little ever made it to the intended beneficiaries. From June
2010, Mr. Thompson was on the run, the search for him hamstrung by the fact that no one had any
real idea of who he was. Finally, on April 30, 2012, federal marshals tracked him down in Portland,
Ore., finding him with a card to a storage unit containing $981,650 in cash and almost two dozen
fake identity cards. Authorities have identified him as John Donald Cody, a former Army
intelligence officer and Harvard Law graduate.
Note: As we enter the annual giving season, donors should look to sources like the GiveWell
website to find organizations with a track record of effectiveness. Seeking them out instead of
donating to charities that are first to call or that sound familiar or that weve heard are good is
the only way to ensure that money reaches those in need. For more on corporate corruption, see
Report Due on Sandy Hook Shooting Investigation

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/secrecy-shrouds-sandy-hook-shooting-invest...
Investigators planned to release a long-awaited report [on] the Newtown school shooting that could
provide some of the first official answers to questions about the history of the gunman and the
police response to one of the worst school shootings in history. The summary report by the lead
investigator, State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky III, comes nearly a year after the massacre of 20
children and six women inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. The report ... will not include the
full evidence file of Connecticut State Police, which is believed to total thousands of pages.
The decision to continue withholding the bulk of the evidence is stirring new criticism of
the secrecy surrounding the investigation. Dan Klau, a Hartford attorney who specializes in
First Amendment law, said the decision to release a summary report before the full evidence
file is a reversal of standard practice and one of the most unusual elements of the
investigation. Sedensky has gone to court to fight release of the 911 tapes from the school and
resisted calls from Connecticut's governor to divulge more information sooner. The withholding of
911 recordings, which are routinely released in other cases, has been the subject of a legal battle
between The Associated Press and Sedensky before the state's Freedom of Information
Commission, which ruled in favor of the AP, and now Connecticut's court system. If the recordings
are released, the AP would review the content and determine what, if any, of it would meet the
news cooperative's standards for publication.
US and UK struck secret deal to allow NSA to 'unmask' Britons'

personal data
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/20/us-uk-secret-deal-surveillance-p...
The phone, internet and email records of UK citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing have been
analysed and stored by America's National Security Agency under a secret deal that was
approved by British intelligence officials, according to documents from the whistleblower Edward
Snowden. In the first explicit confirmation that UK citizens have been caught up in US mass
surveillance programs, an NSA memo describes how in 2007 an agreement was reached that
allowed the agency to "unmask" and hold on to personal data about Britons that had previously
been off limits. The memo ... says the material is being put in databases where it can be made
available to other members of the US intelligence and military community. Until now, it had been
generally understood that the citizens of each country were protected from surveillance by any of
the others. But the Snowden material reveals that: In 2007, the rules were changed to allow the
NSA to analyse and retain any British citizens' mobile phone and fax numbers, emails and IP
addresses swept up by its dragnet. These communications were "incidentally collected" by the
NSA, meaning the individuals were not the initial targets of surveillance operations and therefore
were not suspected of wrongdoing. The NSA has been using the UK data to conduct socalled "pattern of life" or "contact-chaining" analyses, under which the agency can look up
to three "hops" away from a target of interest examining the communications of a friend
of a friend of a friend. Three hops for a typical Facebook user could pull the data of more
than 5 million people into the dragnet.
Note: For more on government threats to privacy, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable
FISA court order that allowed NSA surveillance is revealed for first time
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/19/court-order-that-allowed-nsa-sur...
A secret court order that authorised a massive trawl by the National Security Agency of Americans'
email and internet data was published for the first time on [November 18], among a trove of
documents that also revealed a judge's concern that the NSA "continuously" and "systematically"
violated the limits placed on the program. Another later court order found that what it called
"systemic overcollection" had taken place. In a heavily redacted opinion Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the
former presiding judge of the FISA court, placed legal weight on the methods of surveillance
employed by the NSA, which had never before collected the internet data of an enormous volume
of communications. The methods, known as pen registers and trap-and-trace devices, record the
incoming and outgoing routing information of communications. Kollar-Kotelly ruled that
acquiring the metadata, and not the content, of email and internet usage in bulk was
harmonious with the purpose of Congress and prior court rulings even though no
surveillance statute ever authorized it and top officials at the Justice Department and the
FBI threatened to resign in 2004 over what they considered its dubious legality. The type of
data collected under the program included information on the "to", "from" and "bcc" lines of an
email rather than the content. Metadata, wrote Kollar-Kotelly, enjoyed no protection under the
fourth amendment to the US constitution, a precedent established by the Supreme Court in 1979
in a single case on which the NSA relies currently.
Leaked treaty is a Hollywood wish list. Could it derail Obamas trade

agenda?
2013-11-12, Washington Post Blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/11/13/leaked-treaty-is...
Officially, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade treaty that will ease the flow of goods and
services among the United States ... and other nations along the Pacific Rim. But it has
attracted criticism for its secrecy, and for the inclusion of controversial provisions related to
copyright, patent, and trademark protections. Wikileaks released an August draft of the "intellectual
property" chapter of the treaty. The United States has been using the treaty as a vehicle to
pressure its negotiating partners to make their laws more favorable to the interests of U.S.
filmmakers, drug companies, and other large holders of copyright and patent rights. Several
proposed items are drawn from Hollywood's wish list. The United States has also pushed for a
wide variety of provisions that would benefit the U.S. pharmaceutical and medical device
industries. The Obama administration wants to require the extension of patent protection to
plants, animals, and medical procedures. It wants to require countries to offer longer terms of
patent protection to compensate for delays in the patent application process. The United States
also wants to bar the manufacturers of generic drugs from relying on safety and efficacy
information that was previously submitted by a brand-name drug maker a step that would make
it harder for generic manufacturers to enter the pharmaceutical market and could raise drug prices.
Note: Why was this vitally important, yet little-reported news relegated to a blog? Read an
October, 2014 update on the secret trade deal in The Guardian (One of the UK's leading
newspapers). The Environment Chapter of the TPP has also been leaked. For more along these
lines, see these concise summaries of deeply revealing articles about government secrecy.
Occupy Wall Street activists buy $15m of Americans' personal debt

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/12/occupy-wall-street-activists-15m...
A group of Occupy Wall Street activists has bought almost $15m of Americans' personal debt over
the last year as part of the Rolling Jubilee project to help people pay off their outstanding credit.
Rolling Jubilee, set up by Occupy's Strike Debt group following the street protests that swept the
world in 2011, launched on 15 November 2012. The group purchases personal debt cheaply from
banks before "abolishing" it, freeing individuals from their bills. By purchasing the debt at
knockdown prices the group has managed to free $14,734,569.87 of personal debt, mainly
medical debt, spending only $400,000. "We thought that the ratio would be about 20 to 1," said
Andrew Ross, a member of Strike Debt and professor of social and cultural analysis at New York
University. "In fact we've been able to buy debt a lot more cheaply than that." The Rolling Jubilee
project was mostly conceived as a "public education project", Ross said. "Our purpose in doing
this, aside from helping some people along the way there's certainly many, many people who are
very thankful that their debts are abolished our primary purpose was to spread information about
the workings of this secondary debt market." The group has ... acquired the $14.7m in three
separate purchases, most recently purchasing the value of $13.5m on medical debt owed by 2,693
people across 45 states and Puerto Rico, Rolling Jubilee said in a press release. No one should
have to go into debt or bankruptcy because they get sick, said Laura Hanna, an organiser
with the group. Hanna said 62% of all personal bankruptcies have medical debt as a
contributing factor.
here.
The Top 5 John F. Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theories

2013-11-11, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/top-john-kennedy-assassination-conspiracy-theories/s...
The fifty years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy have done little to quell the public's
interest or skepticism about who killed the president. In 1978 ... the House of Representatives
Select Committee on Assassinations found that in addition to Oswald, there likely was a
second gunman who fired at the president's motorcade. The commission concluded that
the gunmen were part of a "conspiracy," without determining exactly who was behind it,
opening the door to five decades and a cottage industry of theories. According to a 2003 ABC
News Poll, 70 percent of Americans believe Kennedy's death was "the result of a plot, not the act
of a lone killer." Fifty-one percent believe Oswald did not act alone, and 7 percent believe Oswald
was not involved at all in the assassination. In the years since Kennedy's death more than 2,000
books have been written about the assassination, many of which espouse one or more conspiracy
theories. In nearly every theory that involves American conspirators, be they wealthy industrialists
or tough-as-nails mafiosi, one group is routinely represented the CIA. One theory suggests that
Oswald was a CIA operative and agents tampered with his FBI file before and after the
investigation to make it appear he was a communist and lone wolf. [Another theory claims
President Lyndon] Johnson was aided in the plot by another man who would become president,
George H.W. Bush, a burgeoning CIA official who happened to be in Dallas on the day of the
assassination.
Note: On the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination see our powerful JFK assassination
information center and the best videos and news articles on the topic. For an astonishing History
Channel Video in which the attorney for Lyndon Johnson states he has no doubt Johnson was
involved in the assassination, click here.
Andrew Huszar: Confessions of a Quantitative Easer

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303763804579183680751473884
I can only say: I'm sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for
executing the centerpiece program of the Fed's first plunge into the bond-buying experiment
known as quantitative easing. The central bank continues to spin QE as a tool for helping Main
Street. But I've come to recognize the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall
Street bailout of all time. Where are we today? The Fed keeps buying roughly $85 billion in bonds
a month, chronically delaying so much as a minor QE taper. Over five years, its bond purchases
have come to more than $4 trillion. Amazingly, in a supposedly free-market nation, QE has
become the largest financial-markets intervention by any government in world history. And the
impact? Even by the Fed's sunniest calculations, aggressive QE over five years has generated
only a few percentage points of U.S. growth. By contrast, experts outside the Fed, such as
Mohammed El Erian at the Pimco investment firm, suggest that the Fed may have created
and spent over $4 trillion for a total return of as little as 0.25% of GDP (i.e., a mere $40
billion bump in U.S. economic output). Both of those estimates indicate that QE isn't really
working. Unless you're Wall Street. Having racked up hundreds of billions of dollars in opaque Fed
subsidies, U.S. banks have seen their collective stock price triple since March 2009. The biggest
ones have only become more of a cartel: 0.2% of them now control more than 70% of the U.S.
bank assets. As for the rest of America, good luck.
CIA made doctors torture suspected terrorists after 9/11, taskforce finds
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/cia-doctors-torture-suspected-te...
Doctors and psychologists working for the US military violated the ethical codes of their profession
under instruction from the defence department and the CIA to become involved in the torture and
degrading treatment of suspected terrorists, an investigation has concluded. The report of the
Taskforce on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centres
concludes that after 9/11, health professionals working with the military and intelligence
services "designed and participated in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and
torture of detainees". The report lays blame primarily on the defence department (DoD) and
the CIA, which required their healthcare staff to put aside any scruples in the interests of
intelligence gathering and security practices that caused severe harm to detainees, from
waterboarding to sleep deprivation and force-feeding. The two-year review by the 19-member
taskforce, Ethics Abandoned: Medical Professionalism and Detainee Abuse in the War on Terror,
supported by the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) and the Open Society Foundations,
says that the DoD termed those involved in interrogation "safety officers" rather than doctors.
Doctors and nurses were required to participate in the force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike,
against the rules of the World Medical Association and the American Medical Association. Doctors
and psychologists working for the DoD were required to breach patient confidentiality and share
what they knew of the prisoner's physical and psychological condition with interrogators, and were
used as interrogators themselves.
On leaving the Guardian - By Glenn Greenwald

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/31/glenn-greenwald-leaving-...
Reporting the NSA story hasn't been easy, but it's always been fulfilling. It's what journalism at its
crux is about, and we must protect that. I'm leaving the Guardian in order to work with Pierre
Omidyar, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill and soon-to-be-identified others on building a new media
organization. Leaving the Guardian was not an easy choice, but this was a dream opportunity that
was impossible to decline. The new site will be up and running reasonably soon. I'll also
periodically post on my personal blog here with an active comment section, as well as on our
pre-launch temporary blog. Reporting the NSA story has never been easy, but it's always been
invigorating and fulfilling. It's exactly why one goes into journalism and, in my view, is what
journalism at its crux is about. I really urge everyone to take note of, and stand against, [the]
sustained and unprecedented attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process in
the US. That same menacing climate is now manifest in the UK as well. There are extremist
though influential factions in both countries which want to criminalize not only
whistleblowing but the act of journalism itself. I'm not leaving because of those threats if
anything, they make me want to stay and continue to publish here but I do believe it's urgent that
everyone who believes in basic press freedoms unite against this. Allowing journalism to be
criminalized is in nobody's interest other than the states which are trying to achieve that.
Note: For confirmation of Glenn Greenwald's warnings of immediate government threats to press
freedom in the UK, click here.
Finally, a Guilty Verdict for Wall Street

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/pat-garofalo/2013/10/24/bank-of-america-t...
"The Hustle." That's the name of a program run by Countrywide, the slimy subprime lender
purchased by Bank of America in 2008. Under the program, Countrywide brokers were paid
bonuses to originate loans, firing them off to borrowers with less than stellar credit in an attempt to
gin up quick profits. The loans were then sold to government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, where they often went sour. This sounds like a fairly typical tale from the
financial crisis: Most of the nation's largest banks have, in one way or another, been accused of
formulating sloppy loans and dumping them off on the taxpayer or of selling toxic mortgage
securities to unwitting customers. But there's a new twist to the old story: Yesterday, a jury found
Bank of America guilty of fraud, the first time that a major U.S. bank has been held responsible by
a U.S. court for actions tied to the financial crisis. The jury also held a former Countrywide
manager liable for fraud. That we're still wondering whether the banks will face any
consequences for their actions more than five years after the financial crisis began in
earnest is a pretty damning indictment of the Obama administration's approach to the
matter. Can lawmakers summon the will to actually take on Wall Street or are a few good
headlines from DOJ all we can hope for? The Dodd-Frank financial reform law was a good
opening effort and, despite its imperfections, will make some difference in reining Wall Street. But
there is still a lot that the law either left unaddressed or up to the interpretation of regulators who
are bombarded by missives from Wall Street lobbyists.
Note: For more on the collusion of big banks and banking regulators, see the deeply revealing
Human rights groups accuse US of war crimes

2013-10-22, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/human-rights-groups-accuse-us-war-crimes
The United States is facing increasingly harsh criticism over its use of lethal drone strikes to target
suspected terrorists. American drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen may amount to war crimes,
according to a pair of reports released by international human rights groups. Examining nine drone
strikes in Pakistan, the Amnesty International report concludes that the attacks killed large
numbers of innocent civilians, and accuses the U.S. of targeting rescuers who arrive in the
aftermath of the strikes to aid the wounded. A report from Human Rights Watch states that the
majority of people killed by six drone strikes in Yemen were civilians (57 out of the 82 killed). The
groups findings that the United States has killed more civilians than it has admitted are
bolstered by a UN report ... that stated U.S. drone strikes had killed as many as 400 civilians
in Pakistan and almost 60 in Yemen. These reports clash with the U.S. governments own
assessment of the strikes. Officials have maintained that civilian casualties from drone strikes
are minimal, even in the face of multiple third-party evaluations that state otherwise. Both groups
are demanding that the Obama administration investigate allegations of civilian deaths, release
more information about the legal basis for drone strikes on suspected terrorists, provide restitution
to those unjustly harmed and reveal the identities of those who lost their lives in the attacks.
Note: If a single civilian in the US were killed by a foreign drone, the entire nation would be up in
arms. Do we have a double standard here? For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply
revealing war atrocities news articles from reliable major media sources.
Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files to Russia

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/world/snowden-says-he-took-no-secret-files-...
Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, said in an extensive interview
this month that he did not take any secret N.S.A. documents with him to Russia when he fled there
in June, assuring that Russian intelligence officials could not get access to them. He also asserted
that he was able to protect the documents from Chinas spies because he was familiar with that
nations intelligence abilities, saying that as an N.S.A. contractor he had targeted Chinese
operations and had taught a course on Chinese cybercounterintelligence. Theres a zero percent
chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents, he said. Mr. Snowden added that
inside the spy agency theres a lot of dissent. But he said that people were kept in line
through fear and a false image of patriotism, which he described as obedience to
authority. He said he believed that if he tried to question the N.S.A.s surveillance
operations as an insider, his efforts would have been buried forever, and he would have
been discredited and ruined. Mr. Snowden said he finally decided to act when he discovered a
copy of a classified 2009 inspector generals report on the N.S.A.s warrantless wiretapping
program during the Bush administration. After reading about the program, which skirted the
existing surveillance laws, he concluded that it had been illegal, he said. If the highest officials in
government can break the law without fearing punishment or even any repercussions at all, he
said, secret powers become tremendously dangerous.
Report: Obama Brings Chilling Effect on Journalism

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/report-obama-brings-chilling-effect-journa...
The U.S. government's aggressive prosecution of leaks and efforts to control information are
having a chilling effect on journalists and government whistle-blowers, according to a report
released [on] U.S. press freedoms under the Obama administration. The Committee to Protect
Journalists conducted its first examination of U.S. press freedoms amid the Obama
administration's unprecedented number of prosecutions of government sources and seizures of
journalists' records. Usually the group focuses on advocating for press freedoms abroad. Leonard
Downie Jr., a former executive editor of The Washington Post, wrote the 30-page analysis entitled
"The Obama Administration and the Press." The report notes President Barack Obama came into
office pledging an open, transparent government after criticizing the Bush administration's secrecy,
"but he has fallen short of his promise." "In the Obama administration's Washington,
government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press," wrote Downie, now a
journalism professor at Arizona State University. Downie interviewed numerous reporters and
editors, including a top editor at The Associated Press, following revelations this year that the
government secretly seized records for telephone lines and switchboards used by more than 100
AP journalists. Downie also interviewed journalists whose sources have been prosecuted on felony
charges. Those suspected of discussing classified information are increasingly subject to
investigation, lie-detector tests, scrutiny of telephone and email records and now
surveillance by co-workers under a new "Insider Threat Program" that has been
implemented in every agency.
Nixon and Kissingers Forgotten Shame

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/opinion/nixon-and-kissingers-forgotten-sham...
Some of Bangladeshs current problems stem from its traumatic birth in 1971 when President
Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger, his national security adviser, vigorously supported the
killers and tormentors of a generation of Bangladeshis. On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Army
launched a devastating crackdown on the rebellious Bengalis in [East Pakistan, now Bangladesh].
Midway through the bloodshed, both the C.I.A. and the State Department conservatively estimated
that about 200,000 people had died (the Bangladeshi government figure is much higher, at three
million). As many as 10 million Bengali refugees fled across the border into India, where they died
in droves in wretched refugee camps. Nixon and Kissinger stood stoutly behind Pakistans
generals, supporting the murderous regime at many of the most crucial moments. Nixon and
Kissinger barely tried to exert leverage over Pakistans military government. They did not offer
warnings or impose conditions that might have dissuaded the Pakistani junta from atrocities. Nor
did they threaten the loss of American military or economic support after the slaughter began.
They were unmoved by the suffering of Bengalis, despite detailed reporting about the killing from
Archer K. Blood, the brave United States consul general in East Pakistan. After Mr. Bloods
consulate sent an extraordinary cable formally dissenting from American policy, decrying
what it called genocide, Nixon and Kissinger ousted Mr. Blood from his post in East
Pakistan. Kissinger privately scorned Mr. Blood as this maniac.
N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/us/nsa-examines-social-networks-of-us-citiz...
Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to
create sophisticated graphs of some Americans social connections that can identify their
associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal
information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials. The spy
agency began allowing the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs in November 2010 to examine
Americans networks of associations for foreign intelligence purposes after N.S.A. officials lifted
restrictions on the practice, according to documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former
N.S.A. contractor. The agency was authorized to conduct large-scale graph analysis on very large
sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness of every e-mail address,
phone number or other identifier, the document said. The agency can augment the
communications data with material from public, commercial and other sources, including bank
codes, insurance information, Facebook profiles, passenger manifests, voter registration rolls and
GPS location information, as well as property records and unspecified tax data, according to the
documents. They do not indicate any restrictions on the use of such enrichment data, and
several former senior Obama administration officials said the agency drew on it for both Americans
and foreigners. Almost everything about the agencys operations is hidden, and the decision to
revise the limits concerning Americans was made in secret, without review by the nations
intelligence court or any public debate.
Edward Snowden's release of secret documents, click here. For more on government surveillance,
Fukushima 'not under control' warns TEPCO official

2013-09-13, Fox News/Agence France Presse
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/13/fukushima-not-under-control-warns-tep...
The Japanese government and TEPCO were scrambling to reassure people [on Sep. 13] that they
have a lid on Fukushima after a senior utility executive said the nuclear plant was "not under
control". The remarks by Kazuhiko Yamashita, who holds the executive-level title of "fellow" at
Tokyo Electric Power, seem to flatly contradict assurances Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave
Olympic chiefs a week earlier. In a meeting with members of the opposition Democratic Party
of Japan, Yamashita was asked whether he agreed that "the situation is under control" as
Abe had declared at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires. He
responded by saying, "I think the current situation is that it is not under control," according
to major media, including national broadcaster NHK. News of his comment prompted a rush by the
government and TEPCO to elaborate on Yamashita's remark, saying he was talking specifically
about the plant's waste water problem, and not the facility's situation in general. TEPCO has
poured thousands of tonnes of water on the Fukushima reactors to tame meltdowns sparked by
the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The utility says they are now stable but need to be kept
cool to prevent them running out of control again. Much of that now-contaminated water is being
stored in temporary tanks at the plant, and TEPCO has so far revealed no clear plan for it. The
problem has been worsened by leaks in some of those tanks that are believed to have seeped into
groundwater, which runs out to sea.
Note: For an excellent ABC News article titled "A Never-Ending Disaster at Fukushima," click here.
For more on the grave environmental impacts of nuclear power, see the deeply revealing reports
Vietnam, 9/11, and Now Syria: Going to War on False Pretexts?

2013-09-10, MarketWatch (a Wall Street Journal website)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/vietnam-911-and-now-syria-going-to-war-on-fa...
As the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, 12 former CIA, FBI, NSA, and US military
officials -- including Time Magazine's 2002 person of the year, Colleen Rowley, and former CIA
analyst Ray McGovern, who provided the daily brief for three presidents -- say in an open letter to
President Obama that the charge that President Assad used chemical weapons on August 21st is
based on false intelligence. If this charge is false, and leads to war in Syria, it would not be the first
time US leaders have misled their public into going to war. Robert McNamara, Secretary of
Defense during the Vietnam War, admitted in 2003 that America went to war in Vietnam on the
false intelligence that North Vietnam had attacked a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. The 9/11
Consensus Panel was formed to deal with another notorious fraudulent pretext for war, the
attacks of September 11, 2001, that triggered the "war on terror" and the ongoing military
actions in the Middle East. [The] Panel was formed in 2011 to show the public [that] 9/11
was a false flag operation. [It] has thus far produced 37 Consensus Points refuting the
official story, five of which are released today. The National Institute of Standards and
Technology's report on the collapse of World Trade Center 7 failed [to] produce a [video] simulation
replicating the instant straight-down collapse of this 47-story steel-framed skyscraper. The official
accounts of telephone calls from the airliners, and the surveillance camera images of the hijackers,
do not withstand close scrutiny. Other [new Points concern] seismic evidence of explosions below
the towers, and molten metal running below the debris for weeks afterwards.
Note: For lots more reliable information suggesting a major cover-up around the events of 9/11,
A war the Pentagon doesnt want

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/us-military-planners-dont-support-war-...
Written by Robert H. Scales, a retired Army general and former commandant of the U.S. Army War
College. The tapes tell the tale. Go back and look at images of our nations most senior soldier,
Gen. Martin Dempsey, and his body language during [the] Senate Foreign Relations Committee
hearings on Syria. Its pretty obvious that Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
doesnt want this war. Dempseys unspoken words reflect the opinions of most serving
military leaders. They are embarrassed to be associated with the amateurism of the Obama
administrations attempts to craft a plan that makes strategic sense. None of the White
House staff has any experience in war or understands it. So far, at least, this path to war violates
every principle of war, including the element of surprise, achieving mass and having a clearly
defined and obtainable objective. Prospective U.S. action in Syria is not about threats to American
security. They are outraged by the fact that what may happen is an act of war and a willingness to
risk American lives to make up for a slip of the tongue about red lines. These acts would be for
retribution and to restore the reputation of a president. Our serving professionals make the point
that killing more Syrians wont deter Iranian resolve to confront us. The Iranians have already
gotten the message. Our people lament our loneliness. Our senior soldiers take pride in their past
commitments to fight alongside allies and within coalitions that shared our strategic goals. This
war, however, will be ours alone.
Note: For a two-minute video of four-star general Wesley Clark declaring that Syria was in the
crosshairs of the US as early as 2001, click here. For more on why the U.S.'s proposed war of
aggression against Syria must be stopped, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
FSA 'endangering public health' by ignoring concerns over GM food

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/05/gm-food-cancers-fsa
The French researcher who caused a scientific storm when he claimed to show that some GM
food led to tumours and cancers in rats has accused the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) of
"recklessly endangering public health" by not demanding long-term testing of the foods. In a series
of parliamentary and public meetings held this week in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff, Prof GillesEric Sralini has challenged UK politicians and safety authorities to review the way safety is
assessed. Sralini, a molecular biologist at Caen University, said: "Our research found severe
toxicity from GM maize and [Monsanto pesticide] Roundup. The British Food Standards
Agency has uncritically accepted the European Food Safety Authority's dismissal of the
study, even though many of EFSA's experts have been exposed as having conflicts of
interest with the GM industry. At the very least, the British government should demand long-term
mandatory safety testing on all GM foods before they are released onto the market," he said. "The
British scientific authorities are deliberately misleading their government and are recklessly
endangering public health in ignoring the findings of our research." Sralini's study found that rats
developed much higher levels of cancers and died earlier than controls when fed a diet of
Monsanto's Roundup-tolerant GM maize NK603 for two years, or were exposed to Roundup over
the same period. The usual industry tests last for 90 days.
Note: For more on the risks from GMO foods, see the highly informative summary available here.
Mexico's war on drugs is one big lie

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/mexico-drugs-anabel-hernandez-na...
During January 2011, Anabel Hernndez's extended family held a party at a favourite cafe in the
north of Mexico City. As one of the country's leading journalists ... Hernndez had to leave early,
as so often, "to finish an article". After she left ... gunmen burst in. But this was no robbery it was
"pure intimidation, aimed at my family, and at me." Hernndez's offence was to write a book about
the drug cartels that have wrought carnage across Mexico, taking some 80,000 lives. Narcoland:
The Mexican Drug Lords and their Godfathers [is] about the mafia state; how the old Guadalajara
cartel of the 1980s was protected by the Mexican government just as its heir, Guzmn's Sinaloa
syndicate, is now. The threats began when Hernndez's book was published in Mexico in 2010.
Veteran reporter Mike O'Connor works full-time on behalf of Mexico's menaced reporters, based in
Mexico City for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "The silencing of the press and killing of
journalists is integral to the reality, the big story, of what is happening here," explains O'Connor.
"The cartels are taking territory. For the cartels to take territory, three things have to
happen. One is to control the institutions with guns basically, the police. The second is to
control political power. And, for the first two to be effective, you have to control the press."
Hernndez is "very pleased my book is being published in English, so it can be read in London
and New York. I want it published ... where HSBC took Chapo Guzmn's money."
Note: Read more in this revealing article, or find out about the sweetheart deal the U.S. gave to
the HSBC executives that were caught knowingly laundering millions of dollars for Mexican drug
cartels.
NSA files: why the Guardian in London destroyed hard drives of leaked
files
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/nsa-snowden-files-drives-destroy...
Guardian editors on [August 20] revealed why and how the newspaper destroyed computer
hard drives containing copies of some of the secret files leaked by Edward Snowden. The
decision was taken after a threat of legal action by the government that could have stopped
reporting on the extent of American and British government surveillance revealed by the
documents. It resulted in one of the stranger episodes in the history of digital-age journalism. On
Saturday 20 July, in a deserted basement of the Guardian's King's Cross offices, a senior editor
and a Guardian computer expert used angle grinders and other tools to pulverise the hard drives
and memory chips on which the encrypted files had been stored. As they worked they were
watched by technicians from Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) who took notes
and photographs, but who left empty-handed. The editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, had
earlier informed government officials that other copies of the files existed outside the country and
that the Guardian was neither the sole recipient nor steward of the files leaked by Snowden, a
former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor. But the government insisted that the material
be either destroyed or surrendered. The British government has attempted to step up its pressure
on journalists, with the detention in Heathrow on Sunday of David Miranda, the partner of Glenn
Greenwald, who has led the Guardian's US reporting on the files.
5 companies that make money by keeping Americans scared
2013-08-19, Salon
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/19/5_companies_that_make_money_by_keeping_americ...
Michael Hayden, the former director of the National Security Agency, has invaded Americas
television sets in recent weeks to warn about Edward Snowdens leaks and the continuing terrorist
threat to America. But what often goes unmentioned, as the Guardians Glenn Greenwald pointed
out, is that Hayden has a financial stake in keeping Americans scared and on a permanent
war footing against Islamist militants. And the private firm he works for, called the Chertoff
Group, is not the only one making money by scaring Americans. Post-9/11 America has
witnessed a boom in private firms dedicated to the hyped-up threat of terrorism. The drive to
privatize Americas national security apparatus accelerated in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks,
and its gotten to the point where 70 percent of the national intelligence budget is now spent on
private contractors, as author Tim Shorrock reported [in Spies for Hire: the Secret World of
Intelligence Outsourcing]. The private intelligence contractors have profited to the tune of at least
$6 billion a year. In 2010, the Washington Post revealed that there are 1,931 private firms across
the country dedicated to fighting terrorism. What it all adds up to is a massive industry profiting off
government-induced fear of terrorism, even though Americans are more likely to be killed by a car
crash or their own furniture than a terror attack. Here are five private companies cashing in on
keeping you afraid. 1. The Chertoff Group 2. Booz Allen Hamilton 3. Science Applications
International Corp. 4. Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies 5. Security Solutions
International.
Note: For more on government and corporate corruption in pushing the terror hoax, see the deeply
Glenn Greenwald's partner detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/18/glenn-greenwald-guardian-partner...
The partner of the Guardian journalist [Glenn Greenwald], who has written a series of stories
revealing mass surveillance programmes by the US National Security Agency, was held for almost
nine hours ... by UK authorities as he passed through London's Heathrow airport on his way home
to Rio de Janeiro. David Miranda ... was returning from a trip to Berlin when he was stopped by
officers at 8.05am and informed that he was to be questioned under schedule 7 of the Terrorism
Act 2000. The controversial law, which applies only at airports, ports and border areas, allows
officers to stop, search, question and detain individuals. The 28-year-old was held for nine hours,
the maximum the law allows before officers must release or formally arrest the individual.
According to official figures, most examinations under schedule 7 over 97% last less than an
hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours. Miranda was
released, but officials confiscated electronics equipment including his mobile phone, laptop,
camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles. "This is a profound attack on press freedoms
and the news gathering process," Greenwald said. "To detain my partner for a full nine hours
while denying him a lawyer, and then seize large amounts of his possessions, is clearly
intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the
NSA and GCHQ. The actions of the UK pose a serious threat to journalists everywhere. But
the last thing it will do is intimidate or deter us in any way from doing our job as journalists. Quite
the contrary: it will only embolden us more to continue to report aggressively."
Moment of Truthiness
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/opinion/krugman-moment-of-truthiness.html
Has our political system been so degraded by misinformation and disinformation that it can no
longer function? In a well-known paper with a discouraging title, It Feels Like Were Thinking, the
political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels reported on a 1996 survey that asked
voters whether the budget deficit had increased or decreased under President Clinton. In fact, the
deficit was down sharply, but a plurality of voters and a majority of Republicans believed that
it had gone up. I wondered on my blog what a similar survey would show today, with the deficit
falling even faster than it did in the 1990s. Hal Varian, the chief economist of Google, offered to run
a Google Consumer Survey ... on the question. So we asked whether the deficit has gone up or
down since January 2010. And the results were even worse than in 1996: A majority of those who
replied said the deficit has gone up, with more than 40 percent saying that it has gone up a lot.
Only 12 percent answered correctly that it has gone down a lot. Am I saying that voters are
stupid? Not at all. The problem is that much of what they hear is misleading if not outright
false. The outright falsehoods, you wont be surprised to learn, tend to be politically
motivated. Its a discouraging picture. We have an ill-informed or misinformed electorate,
politicians who gleefully add to the misinformation and watchdogs who are afraid to bark.
Note: For more on mass media corruption and government corruption, see the deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources available here and here.
NSA revelations of privacy breaches 'the tip of the iceberg' Senate duo
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/nsa-revelations-privacy-breaches...
Two US senators on the intelligence committee said [that] thousands of annual violations by the
National Security Agency on its own restrictions were "the tip of the iceberg." "The executive
branch has now confirmed that the rules, regulations and court-imposed standards for
protecting the privacy of Americans' have been violated thousands of times each year," said
senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, two leading critics of bulk surveillance, who responded [to] a
Washington Post story based on documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. "We
have previously said that the violations of these laws and rules were more serious than had
been acknowledged, and we believe Americans should know that this confirmation is just
the tip of a larger iceberg." On July 31, Wyden, backed by Udall, vaguely warned other senators
in a floor speech that the NSA and the director of national intelligence were substantively
misleading legislators by describing improperly collected data as a matter of innocent and anodyne
human or technical errors. In keeping with their typically cautious pattern when discussing
classified information, Wyden and Udall did not provide details about their claimed "iceberg" of
surveillance malfeasance. But they hinted that the public still lacks an adequate understanding of
the NSA's powers to collect data on Americans under its controversial interpretation of the Patriot
Act. "We believe the public deserves to know more about the violations of the secret court orders
that have authorized the bulk collection of Americans' phone and email records under the Patriot
Act," [they] said.
Note: For more on massive surveillance, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/texas-swat-team-conducts-_n_3764951....
A small organic farm in Arlington, Texas, was the target of a massive police action ... that included
aerial surveillance, a SWAT raid and a 10-hour search. Members of the local police raiding party
had a search warrant for marijuana plants, which they failed to find at the Garden of Eden farm.
Farm owners and residents who live on the property [said] that the real reason for the law
enforcement exercise appears to have been code enforcement. Local authorities had cited the
Garden of Eden in recent weeks for code violations, including "grass that was too tall, bushes
growing too close to the street, a couch and piano in the yard, chopped wood that was not properly
stacked, a piece of siding that was missing from the side of the house, and generally unclean
premises." The raid on the Garden of Eden farm appears to be the latest example of police
departments using SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics to enforce less serious crimes. In
recent years, SWAT teams have been called out to perform regulatory alcohol inspections at a bar
in Manassas Park, Va.; to raid bars for suspected underage drinking in New Haven, Conn.; to
perform license inspections at barbershops in Orlando, Fla.; and to raid a gay bar in Atlanta where
police suspected customers and employees were having public sex. A federal investigation later
found that Atlanta police had made up the allegations of public sex. Other raids have been
conducted on food co-ops and Amish farms suspected of selling unpasteurized milk
products. The federal government has for years been conducting raids on medical
marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized them.
Note: The author of this report, Radley Balko, is a senior writer and investigative reporter for The
Huffington Post. He is also the author of the new book, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization
of America's Police Forces. For an ABC News report on this disturbing raid, click here.
CIA Director Brennan Confirmed as Reporter Michael Hastings Next

Target
2013-08-12, San Diego 6-TV
http://www.sandiego6.com/story/cia-director-brennan-confirmed-as-reporter-mic...
This week Elise Jordan, wife of famed journalist Michael Hastings, who recently died under
suspicious circumstances, corroborated this reporter's sources that CIA Director John Brennan
was Hastings next expos project. Last month a source provided San Diego 6 News with an
alarming email hacked from super-secret CIA contractor Stratfors President Fred Burton.
The email was posted on WikiLeaks and alleged that then Obama counter-terrorism czar
Brennan was in charge of the government's continued crackdown or witch-hunt on
investigative journalists. The release of a new surveillance video from a nearby Italian restaurant
by Michael Krikorian, an author, freelance blogger who also writes for LA Weekly, reveals a lot of
information about Hastings final seconds. A University professor told San Diego 6 News that
calculating the speed of Hastings car follows a simple mathematic equation. By using the video
and the distance traveled (195 feet) as well as the seconds that lapsed prior to the explosion the
car was traveling roughly 35 mph. That revelation is important because Jose, an employee [at] a
nearby business and a witness to the accident told KTLA ... the car was traveling at a high rate of
speed and he saw sparks coming from the car and saw it explode before hitting the tree. The preexplosion could possibly explain the flash of light on the video that preceded the appearance of the
car in the video. The pre-explosion and slower speed could also explain the minimal damage to
the palm tree. It also provides an explanation for the location of the engine and drive train at more
than 100 feet from the tree impact area.
Note: Michael Hastings' wife Elise Jordan, in the interview at the first link in the text above, said
that his research into CIA Director Brennan will be published soon in Rolling Stone. For further
analysis of these revelations, click here. For more on the realities of intelligence agency
operations, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Toxic Fukushima fallout threatens fishermen's livelihoods

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/fukushima-fallout-threatens-fish...
Despite his age, 63-year-old Kazuo Niitsuma believes there are many more years of fishing ahead
of him. The sea is in his family's blood, he says. His octogenarian father began working on boats
when he was 12, and only retired three years ago. But ... Niitsuma knows he may never again get
the chance to board his boat and head out into the Pacific in search of sole, whitebait, flounder and
greenling. The greatest threat to Niitsuma's livelihood, and that of other fishermen in Hisanohama
... lies just up the coast at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The environment ministry
recently announcement that 300 tonnes of contaminated groundwater from Fukushima
Daiichi is still seeping over or around barriers into the Pacific every day, more than two years
after it was struck by a tsunami in March 2011. Government officials said they suspected the leaks
had started soon after the accident. The admission by the ministry, confirmed by Tokyo
Electric Power (Tepco), which runs the plant, is likely to keep Hisanohama's 40 fishing
boats in port for the foreseeable future. Tepco's failure to handle the contaminated water and
accusations that it tried to cover up the leaks is a serious setback to attempts to clean up
Fukushima Daiichi, 18 months after the government declared it had reached a "safe" state known
as cold shutdown. "I haven't been able to fish since the tsunami," Niitsuma said. "People want to
be reassured that they are buying fish that is safe to eat, and we can't give them that guarantee at
the moment."
Note: Declaring the situation an "emergency", the Japanese government has stepped in to take
over control of the response from Tepco. For more on this, click here. For a National Geographic
article on what you need to know about the radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean by the
Fukushima disaster, click here. It reports that scientists have estimated that contaminated
seawater could reach the West Coast of the United States in five years or less. For more on the
environmental devastation of nuclear power, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
US directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans

A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence
intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across
the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans. Documents reviewed by
Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations
truly beginnot only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges. The
undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail
to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say
violates a defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don't know how an
investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory
evidenceinformation that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses. "I have never
heard of anything like this at all," said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served
as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011. Gertner and other legal experts said the program sounds
more troubling than recent disclosures that the National Security Agency has been collecting
domestic phone records. The NSA effort is geared toward stopping terrorists; the DEA program
targets common criminals, primarily drug dealers. "It is one thing to create special rules for national
security," Gertner said. "Ordinary crime is entirely different. It sounds like they are phonying up
investigations."
The Stench of the Potomac
2013-08-01, New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/this-town-washington-lobbyists-2013-8/
The tale of how the Obama economic team was recruited en masse from Robert Rubin acolytes
who either facilitated Wall Streets pre-crash recklessness while in the Clinton administration or
cashed in on it later (or, like Rubin, did both) never loses its power to shock. Michael Froman,
Rubins chief of staff as Clinton Treasury secretary, not only served as the Obama transition teams
personnel director but moonlighted as a Citigroup managing director while doing so. Obama
essentially entrusted the repairing of the china shop to the bulls whod helped ransack it, [Jeff]
Connaughton writes [in The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins]. [In This Town Mark] Leibovich
updates the story of the tacky prehistory of the Obama White House with its aftermaththe steady
parade of Obama alumni who traded change we can believe in for cash on the barrelhead as soon
as they left public service. The starry list includes, among many others, Peter Orszag (director of
the White Houses Office of Management and Budget, now at Citi), Jake Siewert (the Treasury
Department counselor turned chief flack for Goldman Sachs), and David Plouffe (the campaign
manager and senior presidential adviser who did consulting for Boeing and General Electric).
When I am president, Obama had said in 2008, I will start by closing the revolving door
in the White House thats allowed people to use their administration job as a stepping-stone
to further their lobbying careers. Puzzling over how so many colleagues have strayed from this
credo, the former press secretary Robert Gibbs has theorized that either somehow we have all
changed or, alternatively, maybe Washington changed us.
Glenn Greenwald: Low-Level NSA Analysts Have Powerful and Invasive

Search Tool
2013-07-28, ABC News blog
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/07/glenn-greenwald-low-level-nsa-an...
Glenn Greenwald the reporter who broke the story about the National Security Agencys
surveillance programs claimed that those NSA programs allowed even low-level analysts to
search the private emails and phone calls of Americans. The NSA has trillions of telephone calls
and emails in their databases that theyve collected over the last several years, Greenwald told
ABC News George Stephanopoulos. All an analyst has to do is enter an email address or an IP
address, and [the program] searches that database and lets them listen to the calls or read the
emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search
terms that youve entered. Greenwald explained that ... these programs still allow analysts to
search through data with little court approval or supervision. Greenwald said "these systems
allow analysts to listen to whatever emails they want, whatever telephone calls, browsing
histories, Microsoft Word documents. And its all done with no need to go to a court, with
no need to even get supervisor approval on the part of the analyst, he added. Greenwald
said the existence of these analyst search programs are in line with the claims of Edward
Snowden, who first leaked details of the NSAs surveillance programs last month. Its an incredibly
powerful and invasive tool, exactly of the type that Mr. Snowden described, Greenwald said. NSA
officials are going to be testifying before the Senate on Wednesday, and I defy them to deny that
these programs work exactly as I just said, Greenwald said.
U.S. allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA

officer says
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/27/3525414/us-allowed-italian-kidnap-prose...
A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical
Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and
that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield
President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from responsibility for approving the
operation. Confirming for the first time that she worked undercover for the CIA in Milan when the
operation took place, Sabrina De Sousa provided new details about the extraordinary rendition
that led to the only criminal prosecution stemming from the secret Bush administration rendition
and detention program launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The cleric, Osama Mustapha
Hassan Nasr, was snatched from a Milan street by a team of CIA operatives and flown to Egypt,
where he was held for the better part of four years without charges and allegedly tortured. An
Egyptian court in 2007 ruled that his imprisonment was unfounded and ordered him released.
Among the allegations made by De Sousa in a series of interviews with McClatchy: The former
CIA station chief in Rome, Jeffrey Castelli, whom she called the mastermind of the operation,
exaggerated Nasr's terrorist threat to win approval for the rendition and misled his superiors [to
believe] that Italian military intelligence had agreed to the operation. Senior CIA officials,
including then-CIA Director George Tenet, approved the operation even though Nasr wasnt
wanted in Egypt and wasnt on the U.S. list of top al Qaida terrorists. Condoleezza Rice, then the
White House national security adviser, ... agreed to it and recommended that Bush approve the
abduction.
America's real subversives: FBI spying then, NSA surveillance now

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/25/america-subversives-fbi-...
As the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington approaches ... where Martin Luther
King Jr gave his famous "I have a dream" speech, it is important to recall the extent to which King
was targeted by the government. The FBI operation against King is one of the most shameful
episodes in the long history of our government's persecution of dissenters. In a heavily redacted,
classified FBI memo dated 4 January 1956 just a little more than a month after Rosa Parks was
arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger stated that an agent "had
been assigned ... to find out all he could about Reverend Martin L King, colored minister in
Montgomery and leader in the bus boycott to uncover all the derogatory information he could
about King." [FBI] director, J Edgar Hoover ... was deploying the vast resources he
controlled against any and all perceived critics of the United States. The far-reaching
clandestine surveillance, infiltration and disruption operation Hoover ran was dubbed
"COINTELPRO", for counterintelligence program. The FBI's COINTELPRO activities ... were
thoroughly investigated in 1975 by the Church Committee, [which] reported that the FBI
"conducted a sophisticated vigilante operation aimed squarely at preventing the exercise of first
amendment rights of speech and association." Among COINTELPRO's perverse activities was an
FBI effort to threaten Martin Luther King Jr with exposure of an alleged extramarital affair, including
the suggestion, made by the FBI to King, that he avoid embarrassment by killing himself. Deeply
concerned about the crackdown on dissent happening under Obama, scholar Cornel West ...
wondered if [King] "would not be invited to the very march in his name."
Note: This article fails to mention a key fact. At a 1999 court trial held in Memphis, the family of
Rev. King accused elements of the U.S. government of complicity in King's death. After one month
of hearings from 70 witnesses, a jury composed of six white and six black jurors took only one
hour to find the U.S. government, the state of Tennessee, the city of Memphis, the Memphis police,
and several individuals guilty of murdering King. Yet the mainstream media completely boycotted
this trial. Thankfully, CBC (Canada's PBS) gave it some coverage. To see a six-minute CBC clip of
this highly revealing trial, click here.
A Black Box for Car Crashes

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business/black-boxes-in-cars-a-question-of-...
[There is] a growing debate over a little-known but increasingly important piece of equipment
buried deep inside a car: the event data recorder, more commonly known as the black box. About
96 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States have the boxes, and in September
2014, if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has its way, all will have them. Data
stored in the devices is increasingly being used to identify safety problems in cars and as evidence
in traffic accidents and criminal cases. And the trove of data inside the boxes has raised privacy
concerns, including questions about who owns the information, and what it can be used for, even
as critics have raised questions about its reliability. To consumer advocates, the data is only the
latest example of governments and companies having too much access to private information.
Once gathered, they say, the data can be used against car owners, to find fault in accidents or in
criminal investigations. These cars are equipped with computers that collect massive
amounts of data, said Khaliah Barnes of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a
Washington-based consumer group. Without protections, it can lead to all kinds of abuse.
In [14] states, lawyers may subpoena the data for criminal investigations and civil lawsuits, making
the information accessible to third parties, including law enforcement or insurance companies that
could cancel a drivers policy or raise a drivers premium based on the recorders data.
ACLU warns of mass tracking through license plate scanners

2013-07-18, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57594179/aclu-warns-of-mass-tracking-thro...
The American Civil Liberties Union is warning that law enforcement officials are using license
plate scanners to amass massive and unregulated databases that can be used to track lawabiding citizens as their go about their daily lives. In a new report, "You Are Being Tracked:
How License Plate Readers Are Being Used to Record Americans' Movements," the ACLU
discusses the data culled from license plate scanners - cameras mounted on patrol cars,
overpasses and elsewhere to record your license plate number and location at a given time. There
are tens of thousands such cameras now in operation, according to the group, with the data in
some cases being stored indefinitely. The ACLU report is the result of an analysis of 26,000 pages
of documents from police departments around the country, obtained through nearly 600 [FOIA]
requests. It finds that while some jurisdictions keep the information gleaned from the scanners for
a short time ... many hold onto the data for years. The organization complains that there are
"virtually no rules in place" to keep officials from tracking "everybody all the time." The
ACLU also warns that the data is being fed into larger databases, with the private National Vehicle
Location Service now holding more than 800 million license plate records. The group's database is
used by more than 2,200 law enforcement customers. The [ACLU] report warns that the data can
be used in an official capacity to spy on protesters or target communities based on their religious
beliefs, or unofficially by a police officer who wants to keep an eye on a romantic rival.
Note: For more on privacy, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
Blood money: UKs 12.3bn arms sales to repressive states

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blood-money-uks-123bn-arms-sale...
The [UK] Government has issued more than 3,000 export licences for military and
intelligence equipment worth a total of 12.3bn to countries which are on its own official list
for human rights abuses. The existence of one licence to Israel and the Occupied
Territories [is] worth 7.7bn. The scale and detail of the deals emerged after a forensic
investigation by a committee of MPs, who also discovered that strategically controlled items have
been sent to Iran, China, Sri Lanka, Russia, Belarus and Zimbabwe all of which feature
prominently on the Foreign Offices list of states with worrying civil rights records. There are even
three existing contracts for Syria, notwithstanding the fact that the UK is sending equipment to
rebels fighting the Assad regime and is considering arming them. There are also 57 for Argentina,
which is not on the list, but which remains in confrontation with Britain over the Falklands. The
Government had stated that it would not issue export licences for goods which might be used to
facilitate internal repression or might provoke or prolong regional or internal conflicts. However,
the report by the Committees on Arms Export Controls found there were 62 licences for selling to
Iran, ... overwhelmingly cryptographic equipment. This also features heavily in the 271 licences for
Russia, along with biotechnology equipment, sniper rifles, laser weapons systems, weapon sights
and unmanned air vehicles (drones).
Note: For more on war profiteering, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
FBI bars Fla. from releasing Todashev autopsy

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/07/16/fbi-bars-florida-from-releasing-a...
A Florida medical examiners office said [on July 16] that the FBI has ordered the office not to
release its autopsy report of a Chechen man fatally shot by a Boston FBI agent in May. The
medical examiners office said it completed the autopsy report on Ibragim Todashev, a friend of [a]
suspected Boston Marathon bomber, on July 8 and that the report was ready for release. The
agent shot and killed Todashev on May 22 in his Orlando apartment during an interrogation related
to the Boston Marathon bombings. Critics have called for an independent inquiry, questioning the
blanket of secrecy surrounding the case. The FBI and the Massachusetts State Police sought out
Todashev after the Marathon bombings, but have refused to release details of the shooting. Media
reports have provided conflicting accounts: Some said Todashev attacked the agent with a blade
during an interrogation, while others said Todashev was unarmed. Another said he lunged at the
agent with a metal pole or a broomstick. The agent shot Todashev multiple times, according to
family members who released photos of Todashevs dead body as part of their call for an
inquiry into his death. Family members and advocacy groups have questioned the media
accounts, pointing out that Todashev had repeatedly cooperated with the FBI. The Council
on American-Islamic Relations and the ACLU have called for independent inquiries into the
shooting. According to CAIR in Florida, which is conducting its own investigation into Todashevs
slaying, Todashev had spoken to the FBI at least three times at their offices after the Marathon
bombings.
Note: What are they hiding here?
Lawmakers say FBI thwarts inquiry into Boston bombings

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2013/07/10/house-chairman-says-fbi-s...
Members of a congressional committee [on July 10] accused the FBI of stalling an inquiry into the
Boston Marathon bombings, saying the bureau had no grounds for withholding what it knew about
Tamerlan Tsarnaev prior to the attacks. The information requested by this committee belongs to
the American people, said Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the
House Homeland Security Committee. It does not belong solely to the FBI. The frustrations, aired
publicly after FBI officials rebuffed an invitation to appear before the committee, stemmed from the
FBIs unwillingness to detail how it handled a security review of Tsarnaev nearly two years before
the Marathon bombings. The FBI continues to refuse this committees appropriate requests
for information and documents crucial to our investigation into what happened in Boston,
McCaul declared as he opened a committee hearing. Tsarnaev died after a firefight with police in
Watertown within hours of being identified as a suspect. Members were particularly frustrated by a
July 3 letter to the committee from the FBI. The letter, reviewed by the Globe, said the bureau
would not be responding to all the committees requests for information. The fact that the FBI is
not sharing information with this committee with jurisdiction over homeland security I think
is just totally unacceptable, said Representative Peter King, a New York Republican.
Note: For more strangeness around the Boston bombing with a key witness being deported, click
here. For more on the realities of intelligence agency manipulations, see the deeply revealing
Rare Film Shows FDR in Concealed Wheelchair

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ind-prof-finds-film-fdrs-secret-disability...
A professor at an Indiana college says he has found film footage showing President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt being pushed in his wheelchair, depicting a secret that was hidden from the
public until after his death. Ray Begovich, a journalism professor at Franklin College south of
Indianapolis, said ... he found the eight-second clip while conducting unrelated research in the
National Archives in College Park, Md. Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921 at age 39 and was
unable to walk without leg braces or assistance. During his four terms as president, Roosevelt
often used a wheelchair in private, but not for public appearances. News photographers
cooperated in concealing Roosevelt's disability, and those who did not found their camera
views blocked by Secret Service agents. "This raw film clip may be the first motion picture
images of the president in his wheelchair, and it was never meant to be shown to the
world," Begovich said. The film shows Roosevelt visiting the U.S.S. Baltimore at Pearl Harbor in
July 1944. Roosevelt's disability was virtually a state secret during his presidency, which spanned
the Great Depression and most of World War II.
Note: To watch this historic video, click here. Isn't it amazing that Roosevelt was U.S. president for
12 years, yet thanks to collusion of the press, his use of a wheelchair and disability was kept a
secret from the public the entire time? Politicians know that public perception makes all the
difference, so that perception management and manipulation has become a huge industry. For
excellent information and resources along these lines, see this link.
South American Leaders Demand Apology in Plane Row

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/07/05/world/americas/ap-lt-nsa-surveilla...
South America's leftist leaders rallied to support Bolivian President Evo Morales after his plane
was rerouted amid suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board and they
demanded an apology from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The presidents of Argentina,
Ecuador, Suriname, Venezuela and Uruguay joined Morales in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba ...
to denounce the treatment of Morales, who warned that he would close the U.S. Embassy in
Bolivia if necessary. Morales again blamed Washington for pressuring European countries to
refuse to allow his plane to fly through their airspace on Tuesday, forcing it to land in Vienna,
Austria, in what he called a violation of international law. He had been returning from a summit in
Russia during which he had suggested he would be willing to consider a request from Snowden for
asylum. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Friday that his nation
and other European countries were told Snowden was aboard the Bolivian presidential
plane. He did not say who supplied the information and declined to say whether he had
been in contact with the United States. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said that he and
other leaders were offering full support to Morales following the rerouting of the plane, calling it an
aggression against the Americas. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protested alleged
attempts by Spanish officials to search the Bolivian presidential plane and accused the CIA of
encouraging several European countries to deny the presidential plane their airspace.
Note: The subservience of European governments to the US attempt to apprehend Snowden by
forcing Pres. Morales' plane down is logical given the recent revelations that they are also
engaging in total surveillance of their own populations. For information on this click here (France),
here (the UK), and here (Germany).
How cash rules surveillance policy

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/How-cash-rules-surveillance-policy...
Have you noticed anything missing in the political discourse about the National Security
Administration's unprecedented mass surveillance? There's at least been some conversation
about the intelligence community's potential criminality and constitutional violations. But there have
only been veiled references to how cash undoubtedly tilts the debate against those who challenge
the national security state. Those indirect references have come in stories about Booz Allen
Hamilton, the security contractor that employed Edward Snowden. CNN/Money notes that 99
percent of the firm's multibillion-dollar annual revenues now come from the federal government.
Those revenues are part of a larger and growing economic sector within the military-industrial
complex - a sector that, according to author Tim Shorrock, is "a $56 billion-a-year industry." Yet
few in the Washington press corps mention that politicians' attacks on surveillance critics
may have nothing to do with principle and everything to do with shilling for campaign
donors. For a taste of what that kind of institutionalized corruption looks like, peruse the Influence
Explorer site to see how much Booz Allen Hamilton and its parent company, the Carlyle Group,
spend. As you'll see, from Barack Obama to John McCain, many of the politicians publicly
defending the surveillance state have taken huge sums of money from the firms. Simply put,
there are corporate forces with a vested financial interest in making sure the debate over security
is tilted toward the surveillance state and against critics of that surveillance state.
Note: Tim Shorrock, quoted above, is the author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence
Outsourcing.
How Chevron turned the tables in Ecuador

http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2013/06/28/how-chevron-turned-the-tables-in-ecu...
Faced with a $19 billion fine for polluting Ecuadors rainforest, Chevron Corp. has done a
remarkable job of turning the tables on its foes. The lawyers who sued Chevron in Ecuador,
winning that eye-popping judgment, have come under non-stop attack from the oil company.
Chevron has hauled them into court in New York, accusing them of fraud and extortion. The
company has gone after Ecuadors judicial system as well, claiming judges there conspired with
the other side. That aggressive strategy has worked wonders, putting Chevrons opponents on the
defensive and convincing many people that the Ecuador suit is a sham. And you can trace much of
that strategy back to a 2008 memo by San Franciscos master of crisis communications, Sam
Singer. In October of 2008, he sent Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson a four-page memo
outlining steps the company could take to change public perceptions of the Ecuador lawsuit.
Singer recommended going on the offensive. The company should portray Ecuadors court
system as corrupt, with collusion between judges and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Pointing
out the leftward tilt of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa wouldnt hurt. And Singer
recommended counter attacks on the plaintiffs and their legal team, particularly lead lawyer
Steven Donziger. Bear in mind that the memo was written more than two years before the
Ecuadoran judge presiding over the lawsuit ruled against Chevron, in February of 2011. Some of
Singers recommendations didnt fly. For example, he suggested portraying Ecuador as the next
major threat to America. But the company took much of his advice to heart.
C.I.A. Report Finds Concerns With Ties to New York Police

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/nyregion/cia-sees-concerns-on-ties-to-new-y...
Four Central Intelligence Agency officers were embedded with the New York Police
Department in the decade after Sept. 11, 2001, including one official who helped conduct
surveillance operations in the United States, according to a newly disclosed C.I.A.
inspector generals report. That officer believed there were no limitations on his activities,
the report said, because he was on an unpaid leave of absence, and thus exempt from the
prohibition against domestic spying by members of the C.I.A. Another embedded C.I.A. analyst
who was on its payroll said he was given unfiltered police reports that included information
unrelated to foreign intelligence, the C.I.A. report said. The once-classified review, completed by
the C.I.A. inspector general in December 2011, found that the four agency analysts more than
had previously been known were assigned at various times to provide direct assistance to the
local police. The report also raised a series of concerns about the relationship between the two
organizations. The C.I.A. inspector general, David B. Buckley, found that the collaboration was
fraught with irregular personnel practices, that it lacked formal documentation in some important
instances, and that there was inadequate direction and control by agency supervisors. The
declassification of the executive summary, in response to a Freedom of Information Act suit,
comes ... comes amid lawsuits against the Police Department alleging unconstitutional
surveillance of Muslim communities and mosques in New Jersey and New York.
Pharmaceutical scandal: The NHS, the drug firms and the price racket
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10133557/Pharmaceutical-scandal-...
Drug companies face accusations of secretly colluding with pharmacists to overcharge the NHS
millions of pounds, following an undercover investigation by The Telegraph. Pharmaceutical firms
appear to have rigged the market in so-called "specials" prescription drugs that are largely not
covered by national NHS price regulations. The prices of more than 20,000 drugs could have been
artificially inflated, with backhanders paid to chemists who agreed to sell them. Representatives of
some companies agreed to invoice chemists for drugs at up to double their actual cost. Chemists
would then send inflated invoices to the NHS, allowing them to pocket the difference. Tens of
thousands of the "special" drugs are not on the nationally controlled NHS price list and so
costs can be manipulated by drug companies. Sales representatives for drug firms were
secretly recorded by this newspaper offering to provide apparently falsified invoices
allowing chemists to bill the NHS for sums far greater than they would spend. Another firm
offered to pay an annual fee to chemists who agreed to offer its prescription drugs. Hundreds of
millions of pounds of taxpayers money are feared to have been wasted in recent years due to the
practice. The undercover investigation was launched after this newspaper was approached by a
whistle-blower who alleged widespread malpractice. Undercover reporters posed as investors
hoping to set up a chain of chemists.
Note: Watch the incriminating videos of these undercover deals at the link above. For more on
pharmaceutical corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
available here.
FBI uses drones for surveillance in U.S

2013-06-20, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/politics/fbi-drones/index.html
FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged [to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 19
that] the law enforcement agency uses drone aircraft in the United States for surveillance.
He did not say how many unmanned surveillance vehicles (UAVs) the FBI has or how often
they have been used. But a law enforcement official told CNN the FBI has used them a little more
than a dozen times but did not say when that started. The official said drones are useful in hostage
and barricade situations because they operate more quietly and are less visible than traditional
aircraft such as helicopters. Bureau spokesman Paul Bresson said their use allows "us to learn
critical information that otherwise would be difficult to obtain without introducing serious risk to law
enforcement personnel." Bresson said the aircraft can only be used to perform surveillance on
stationary subjects and the FBI must first get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to
fly in a "very confined geographic area." Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne
Feinstein expressed concern over drone use domestically. "I think the greatest threat to the privacy
of Americans is the drone and the use of the drone, and the very few regulations that are on it
today and the booming industry of commercial drones," the California Democrat said. The FAA
forecasts some 10,000 civilian drones will be in use in the United States within five years,
including those for law enforcement and commercial purposes.
Note: For more on domestic US drone surveillance, click here. For deeply revealing reports from
reliable major media sources on the hidden realities of intelligence agencies, click here.
Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime

2013-06-19, CBC (Canada's Public Broadcasting System)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/06/19/pol-mask-bill-royal-assent.html
A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum
10-year prison sentence ... became law today. The bill is meant to give police an added tool to
prevent lawful protests from becoming violent riots, and that it will help police identify people who
engage in vandalism or other illegal acts. The bill originally proposed a penalty of up to five years,
but the House of Commons justice committee amended it and doubled the penalty to up to 10
years in prison for committing the offence. The bill didn't have unanimous support, and was
opposed by some who are concerned about its effect on freedom of expression and privacy. Civil
liberties advocates argued the measures could create a chilling effect on free speech and
that peaceful protesters can unintentionally find themselves involved in an unlawful
assembly. They also noted that there are legitimate reasons for wearing masks at protests;
some may be worried about reprisals at work, for example, if sighted at a political protest.
"Any law that infringes upon civil liberties needs to be held to a test of absolute necessity, and I
don't think that test has been met in this instance," said Michael Byers, a political scientist at the
University of British Columbia.
Note: Police seem to be specifically targeting the now popular Guy Falkes masks representing
opposition to oppressive authority. For more on the erosion of civil liberties, see the deeply
Former TWA Flight 800 Investigators Urge New Look at Crash

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/06/19/former-twa-flight-800-investig...
Former investigators of the 1996 TWA Flight 800 crash are urging the National Transportation
Safety Board to reopen its review of the nearly 17-year-old case. In a new documentary about the
crash that is scheduled to air next month, several former investigators on the case suggest
that missiles brought down the New York-to-Paris plane, killing 230 people when it exploded
near Long Island just minutes after it took off. This new evidence could resurrect conspiracy
theories that began circulating within days of the crash. However, the NTSB concluded after four
years investigating the crash that the plane's center fuel tank exploded "most likely" from a short
circuit, ruling out the possibility of a missile, according to the board's report. But the retired
investigators claim that those findings were "falsified." "Early on in the investigation there
was indication that the evidence was being tampered with," said Hank Hughes, a former
senior accident investigator with NTSB, during a conference call with reporters. Hughes and
others cited possible missing parts of the plane, possible explosive material and other findings that
could corroborate their theory that a missile came from the north. The documentary's co-producer
Tom Stalcup told CNN that the film offers "solid proof that there was an external detonation," and
that a number of people have come forward confirming these claims.
Note: For powerful evidence from an Emmy-award winning journalist that this investigation was
manipulated, click here. To watch the powerful documentary Shadows of Liberty on major media
manipulation, including that of TWA flight 800 (minute 14) at this link.
3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so

2013-06-16, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowden-whistleblower-...
When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details this month on the
government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, one select group of intelligence
veterans breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe belong to a
select fraternity: the NSA officials who paved the way. For years, the three whistle-blowers had
told anyone who would listen that the NSA collects huge swaths of communications data
from U.S. citizens. They had spent decades in the top ranks of the agency, designing and
managing the very data-collection systems they say have been turned against Americans.
When they became convinced that fundamental constitutional rights were being violated, they
complained first to their superiors, then to federal investigators, congressional oversight
committees and, finally, to the news media. They have been investigated as criminals and
forced to give up careers, reputations and friendships built over a lifetime. Today, they feel
vindicated. They say the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA
contractor who worked as a systems administrator, proves their claims of sweeping government
surveillance of millions of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing. They say those revelations
only hint at the programs' reach. On [June 15], USA TODAY brought Drake, Binney and Wiebe
together for the first time since the story broke to discuss the NSA revelations. With their lawyer,
Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, they weighed their implications and
their repercussions.
Note: See the link above for a great interview of these courageous whistleblowers. For deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the hidden realities of intelligence
agencies, click here
Guatemalan syphilis victims lose hope in legal battle against US

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/0614/Guatemalan-syphilis-victims...
Thousands of Guatemalans were intentionally infected with [sexually-transmitted diseases] in the
1940s by US public health researchers. An appeal on their case against the US government was
dismissed this week. Thousands of Guatemalans ... were unwittingly subjected to secret human
experiments led by US doctors. Nearly three years after beginning the legal battle in US courts,
attorneys representing an estimated 5,000 Guatemalan victims used as guinea pigs and infected
with sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940s by US public health researchers withdrew their
appeal earlier this week. The alleged victims include soldiers, inmates, sex workers, mental health
patients, and schoolchildren. Dr. John Cutler ... led the experiments in Guatemala from 1946 to
1948. Under a grant by the National Institute of Health, Dr. Cutler and US researchers gave
antibiotic penicillin to test its ability to cure and prevent syphilis. But, his team also
infected test subjects without their consent. Some 1,300 were deliberately infected with
syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. Researchers would expose inmates to
infected prostitutes brought into jails. In other cases, they would first infect patients in mental
hospitals before testing the effects of the medication. The American team studied and performed
experiments on more than 5,000 subjects including orphans as young as 6 years old.
Secret tax-haven names released to public
2013-06-14, CBC (Canada's public broadcasting network)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/06/14/offshore-leak-database-released...
An enormous trove of leaked records about secret companies and accounts is being opened to the
public in hope it will shed light on the murky world of offshore finance. The information, contained
in a new online database released [on June 14], has the names of more than 100,000 offshore
entities mainly companies and trusts set up in locales such as the British Virgin Islands and
Cook Islands and the people associated with them. Media outlets worldwide have been
reporting on the information leak since it came to light in early April, with far-reaching global
repercussions. The online names database was released ... by the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists, and contains a basic subset of the 260 gigabytes of leaked tax-haven
files that the Washington-based group obtained and shared with global news organizations. "What
we're doing for the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands, and other offshore havens is
what's routinely done in many countries around the world making the control and
ownership of companies a matter of public record," said Michael Hudson, a senior editor at
the journalism consortium. The newly released database shows the names and, where available,
the shareholders and directors of offshore companies, and visually maps out links between them.
[ICIJ] said it hopes people will browse the names and tip off reporters to new revelations about
people and companies doing business offshore.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corporate corruption,
click here.
This is how to deal with armed forces' brutality

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/09/armed-forces-brutality-i...
Baha Mousa was tortured to death in September 2003 while in the custody of the British armed
forces in Iraq. The subsequent inquiry led to a report, published in September 2011, that leaves no
doubt about the ... brutal illegality of the UK's current approach to the detention and interrogation
of suspected insurgents. The training of interrogators used in Iraq involved blatant illegality: forced
nakedness, screaming foul abuse into detainees' faces, sensory deprivation and [other forms of
torture]. The list of unlawful killings is endless. And there are hundreds of Iraqis' cases before
British courts in which allegations are made of egregious acts of torture and cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment. A high court judgment in late May ... involves more than 1,000 Iraqi
cases of unlawful killings and acts of torture. It establishes that whenever UK personnel
abroad have authority and control over others and commit what might be acts of unlawful killing
and torture there must be an "inquisitorial process" in public into each case. There must also be
public scrutiny of the systemic issues arising from these cases. Take, for example, the case of
Huda, an eight-year-old girl in a yellow dress playing with her friends one sunlit morning in
Basra. A British rifleman in a tank, apparently perceiving her to be a threat to force security,
shot her dead without warning at close range. Before this new judgment, the Ministry of
Defence successfully shut the door on any accountability. Under the new system, the commanding
officer would have to suspend the soldier and send in the military police to forensically examine the
scene, interview witnesses and family, and send the results of a full investigation back to London
to be examined independently and publicly.
Note: For more on atrocities committed by the US and UK military forces in their wars of
aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
What if laws applied to everyone?

2013-06-06, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/06/06/what-if-laws-applied-to-everyone/
What if government officials have written laws that apply only to us and not to them? What if we
gave them the power to protect our freedoms and our safety and they used that power to trick and
trap some of us? What if government officials broke the laws we hired them to enforce? What if
they prosecuted others for breaking the same laws they broke? What if the government enacted a
law making it a crime to provide material assistance to terrorist organizations? What if the
government looked at that law and claimed it applied to a dentist or a shopkeeper who sold
services or goods to a terrorist organization, and not just to financiers and bomb makers? What if
the Supreme Court ruled that the law is so broad that it covers backslapping, advocacy and free
speech? What if the law is so broad that it punishes ideas and the free expression of those ideas,
even if no one is harmed thereby? What if FBI agents pretended to be members of these terrorist
organizations and set out to find people in America who were willing to join? What if the FBI
arrested the people it found and encouraged just as they were about to leave the U.S. and then
charged them with providing material assistance to terrorist organizations? What if the president
boasted that in his mind these duped dopes were really terrorists and their arrests kept us all
safer? What if offensive wars are illegal and morally wrong? What if killing is evil when not
done in self-defense? What if those who kill not in self-defense are prosecuted and
punished, except when they do so in large numbers and to the sounds of trumpets blaring?
What do we do about a government that breaks the laws we have hired it to enforce?
Note: Andrew P. Napolitano, author of this opinion, is the senior judicial analyst at Fox News
Channel. Judge Napolitano has written seven books on the U.S. Constitution. His latest is
Theodore and Woodrow: How Two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom.
Bilderberg 2013: welcome to 1984

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/05/bilderberg-2013-goldman-sachs-wat...
The auditorium grew hushed as a senior Watford borough councillor took to his feet. Now it was
the turn of the people of Watford to speak. What would they make of this international three-day
policy summit, with its heavyweight delegate list bulging with billionaire financiers, party leaders
and media moguls, protected by the biggest security operation Watford has ever seen? At one
point in the meeting, during a tense exchange about contingency plans for dog-walkers, [Chief
Inspector] Rhodes let slip that Operation Discuss (the codename for the Bilderberg security
operation) had been up and running for 18 months. Residents and journalists shared an intake of
breath. "Eighteen months?" The reason for all the secrecy? "Terrorism". After 59 years of
Bilderberg guests scuttling about in the shadows, ducking lenses and dodging the news, that's the
rationale we're given? The same rationale, presumably, is behind the Great Wall of Watford, a
concrete-and-wire security fence encircling the hotel. As ugly as it is unnecessary, it looks like the
kind of thing you throw yourself against in a stalag before being machine-gunned from a
watchtower. Appropriately fascistic, you might say, if you regard fascism as "the merger of
corporate and government power", as Mussolini put it. The same threat of "terrorism" was used to
justify the no-pedestrian, no-stopping zones near the venue. The police laid out their logic: they
had "no specific intelligence" regarding a terror threat. However, in recent incidents, such
as Boston and Woolwich, there had been no intelligence prior to the attack. Therefore the
lack of any threat of a terror attack fitted exactly the profile of a terror attack. The lack of a
threat was a threat. Welcome to 1984.
Note: For a list of this year's Bilderberg participants, which include 90-year-old Henry Kissinger,
click here. For lots more on secret societies from reliable sources, click here.
U.S. races to reassure buyers

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/52051021#.UaoR09jfKSo
U.S. officials raced to quell global alarm on [May 30] over the first-ever discovery of an unapproved
strain of genetically modified wheat, working to figure out how the rogue grain escaped from a field
trial a decade ago. In the wake of news that a strain developed by biotech giant Monsanto Co had
been found in an Oregon field late last month, major buyer Japan cancelled plans to buy U.S.
wheat while the Europe Union said it would step up testing. Worried U.S. farmers wondered if their
own fields had been contaminated. Even after weeks of investigation, experts are baffled as to
how the seed survived for years after Monsanto had ceased all field tests of the product. It was
found in a field growing a different type of wheat than Monsanto's strain, far from areas used for
field tests, according to an Oregon State University wheat researcher who tested the strain. The
discovery threatens to stoke consumer outcry over the possible risk of crosscontaminating natural products with genetically altered foods, and may embolden critics
who say U.S. regulation of GMO products is lax. It is all the more alarming because the
wheat strain was thought to have been eliminated after test trials ended in 2005, as
Monsanto abandoned efforts to secure regulatory approval due to worldwide opposition. While
there have been more than 20 major violations of U.S. regulations on handling or co-mingling
biotechnology crops, none have ever involved wheat before. Some analysts feared a potentially
damaging blow to the $8 billion wheat export business, recalling the more than yearlong disruption
to corn sales following a similar discovery in 2000.
Note: For a powerful summary of the dangers to health and the environment from genetically
modified foods, click here. For major media news articles revealing the risks and dangers of
GMOs, click here.
U.S. acknowledges killing of four U.S. citizens in counterterrorism

operations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-acknowledges-killing...
The Obama administration acknowledged [on May 22] that it has killed four Americans in overseas
counterterrorism operations since 2009, the first time it has publicly taken responsibility for the
deaths. Three are known to have died in CIA drone strikes in Yemen in 2011: Anwar al-Awlaki, his
16-year-old son and Samir Khan. The fourth Jude Kennan Mohammad, a Florida native indicted
in North Carolina in 2009 was killed in Pakistan, where the CIA has operated a drone campaign
against terrorism suspects for nearly a decade. His death was previously unreported. In addition to
disclosure of the four killings, Holder wrote that Obama has approved classified briefings for
Congress on an overall policy document, informally called the playbook. The document, more
than a year in the making, codifies the administrations standards and processes for its
unprecedented program of targeted killing and capture of terrorism suspects outside of war zones.
Nearly 400 drone strikes, in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, have been launched by the CIA and
U.S. military forces during Obamas presidency. According to Holders letter, Awlaki was the only
U.S. citizen the administration has specifically targeted and killed. Two weeks after Awlakis
death, his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman who had gone to the Yemeni desert in search of
his father was killed in a drone strike meant for someone else. That strike was similarly
unacknowledged, although a senior administration official privately characterized it as a
mistake.
Note: So an American citizen, Awlaki's son, was killed by a drone by "mistake"? What happened
to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states no citizen shall "be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law"? For deeply revealing reports from reliable major
media sources on the atrocities carried out by the US and UK in their global wars of aggression,
click here.
Another Chilling Leak Investigation

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/another-chilling-leak-investigation...
With the decision to label a Fox News television reporter a possible co-conspirator in a criminal
investigation of a news leak, the Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government
secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news. The latest reported
episode involves James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News. In 2009, Mr.
Rosen reported on FoxNews.com that North Korea planned to launch a missile in response to the
condemnation of its nuclear tests by the United Nations Security Council. The Justice Department
... indicted Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department security adviser, on charges of leaking
classified information. Mr. Kim pleaded not guilty. Normally, the inquiry would have ended with
Mr. Kim leak investigations usually focus on the source, not the reporter. But, in this
case, federal prosecutors also asked a federal judge for permission to examine Mr. Rosens
personal e-mails, arguing that there is probable cause to believe Mr. Rosen is an aider
and abettor and/or co-conspirator in the leak. Though Mr. Rosen was not charged, the F.B.I.
request for his e-mail account was granted secretly in late May 2010. The government was
allowed to rummage through Mr. Rosens e-mails for at least 30 days.
Note: For a fascinating and revealing look inside Fox News by an insider, click here. For deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government threats to civil liberties and
freedom of the press, click here.
Anthrax drug brings $334 million to Pentagon advisor's biotech firm

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-anthrax-resistant-201305...
Over the last decade, former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig, a prominent lawyer, presidential
advisor and biowarfare consultant to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, has
urged the government to counter what he called a major threat to national security. Terrorists, he
warned, could easily engineer a devastating killer germ: a form of anthrax resistant to common
antibiotics. U.S. intelligence agencies have never established that any nation or terrorist group has
made such a weapon, and biodefense scientists say doing so would be very difficult. Nevertheless,
Danzig has energetically promoted the threat and prodded the government to stockpile a
new type of drug to defend against it. Danzig did this while serving as a director of a biotech
startup that won $334 million in federal contracts to supply just such a drug, a Los Angeles Times
investigation found. By his own account, Danzig encouraged Human Genome Sciences Inc. to
develop the compound, and from 2001 through 2012 he collected more than $1 million in director's
fees and other compensation from the company, records show. The drug, raxibacumab, or raxi,
was the first product the company was able to sell, and the U.S. government remains the
only customer, at a cost to date of about $5,100 per dose.
Note: This investigative report is well worth reading in its entirety at the above link. At this link you
can find major media articles showing among other revealing facts how Donald Rumsfeld pocketed
$5 million personally from sales of Tamiflu during the Avian flu scare. The word is getting out
thanks to caring people like you.
Monsanto and other GM firms are winning in the US and globally

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/14/monsanto-gm-crops-worldwide
Food & Water Watch ... spent months looking at the extent to which the US State Department is
working on behalf of the GM seed industry to make sure that biotech crops are served up abroad
whether the world wants them or not. Between 2007 and 2009, annual cables were distributed to
"encourage the use of agricultural biotechnology", directing US embassies to "pursue an active
biotech agenda". There was a comprehensive communications campaign aimed to "promote
understanding and acceptance of the technology" ... in light of the worldwide backlash against GM
crops. The State Department worked to diminish trade barriers to the benefit of seed companies,
and encouraged the embassies to "publicize the benefits of agbiotech as a development tool".
Monsanto was a great beneficiary of the State Department's taxpayer-funded diplomacy: the
company appeared in 6.1% of the biotech cables analyzed between 2005 and 2009 from 21
countries. The cables also show extensive lobbying against in-country efforts to require labeling of
GM foods. The US government is now quietly negotiating major trade deals with Europe and the
countries of the Pacific Rim that would force countries to accept biotech imports, commercialize
biotech crops and prevent the labeling of GM foods. The vast influence that Monsanto and the
biotech seed industry have on our foreign affairs is just one tentacle of a beast comprised
by a handful of huge corporations who wield enormous power over most food policy in the
United States.
click here.
Wisconsin Farmer to Stand Trial for Selling Raw Milk

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/12/wisconsin-farmer-to-stand-tr...
A Wisconsin dairy farmer is set to go on trial for a strange offense: selling raw milk to a
group of consumers who were members of a private buyers club. So in many parts of
America, its basically legal to grow, sell, and smoke pot. But you can go to jail for selling
people fresh milk? Wisconsin dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger, a 41-year-old father of ten, will
go on trial later this month. Hershberger started a private buyers club for raw milk in 2003 after
some friends from townwho were retired farmerswanted to continue getting this raw milk that
they had for years. By word of mouth ... it grew from there. By the time of his arrest in 2010, over
100 families were members. Technically, these club members were not customers of the farm, but
partners: they legally leased animals from Hershberger, and in return for his family boarding and
caring for their cattle on his 157 acres of farmland, they paid certain agreed-upon fees each time
they came to pick up the products of those cattlenamely, raw milk. So Hershberger felt he didnt
need a license as a retail food establishment, because there was no retail going on; the milk
already belonged to the club members. Hershberger grew up milking cows by hand on a small
Amish dairy farm, and this hold order violated his religious values: though no longer Amish, hes a
non-denominational Christian, and opposes waste.
click here.
Report: IRS targeting went beyond Tea Party

2013-05-12, Seattle Times (One of Seattle's leading newspapers)
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020975214_irsteapartyxml.html
The Internal Revenue Services special scrutiny of small-government groups applying for
tax-exempt status went beyond keyword hunts for organizations with Tea Party or
patriot in their names, to a more overtly ideological search for applicants seeking to
make America a better place to live or criticize how the country is being run, according
to a part of an inspector generals report that was given to Congress. The head of the division on
tax-exempt organizations, Lois Lerner, was briefed on the effort in June 2011, seemingly
contradicting her assertion on Friday that she learned of the effort from the press. But she seemed
to work hard to rein in the focus on conservatives and change it to a look at any political advocacy
group of any stripe seeking tax exemptions. The appendix of the inspector generals report ...
chronicles the extent to which the IRSs exempt organizations division kept redefining what sort of
social welfare groups it should single out for extra attention since the 2010 Supreme Court ruling
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That decision allowed corporations and labor
unions to raise and spend unlimited sums on elections as well as register for tax-exempt status
under section 501(c)4 of the tax code, as long as their primary purpose did not consist of
targeting electoral candidates. On June 29, 2011, according to the documents, IRS staffers held a
briefing with Lerner in which they described giving special attention to instances where statements
in the case file criticize how the country is being run.
click here.
7 Dodgy Food Practices Banned in Europe But Just Fine Here

2013-05-08, Mother Jones Magazine
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/05/7-dodgy-foodag-practices-bann...
Last week, the European Commission voted to place a two-year moratorium on most uses
of neonicotinoid pesticides, on the suspicion that they're contributing to the global crisis in
honeybee health. Might [that] inspire the US Environmental Protection Agency to make a
similar move? The answer is no. The EU move will have no bearing on the EPA's own reviews
of the pesticides, which aren't scheduled for release until 2016 at the earliest. Other food-related
substances and practices that are banned in Europe [are] green-lighted [in the US]. 1. Atrazine: A
"potent endocrine disruptor," Syngenta's popular corn herbicide has been linked to a range of
reproductive problems at extremely low doses in both amphibians and humans, and it commonly
leaches out of farm fields and into people's drinking water. What Europe did: Banned it in 2003. US
status: EPA: "Atrazine will begin registration review, EPA's periodic reevaluation program for
existing pesticides, in mid-2013." 2. Arsenic in chicken, turkey, and pig feed. 3. "Poultry litter" in
cow feed. 4. Chlorine washes for poultry carcasses. 5. Antibiotics as growth promoters on livestock
farms. 6. Ractopomine and other pharmaceutical growth enhancers in animal feed. 7. Gestation
crates.
Note: For each numbered substance or practice, this article indicates the action taken by the EU
and the inaction by the US government. For an article that gives more information on all of this and
two additional banned practices, click here.
How political intelligence can come from Congress itself

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-political-intelligence-can...
On the same morning a congressional staffer told investors in a private call that odds were
improving for a government decision that would help medical insurers, trading spiked in a major
health-care company. The private call, arranged by a consulting firm called Capitol Street, took
place the morning of March 18. At 11:05 a.m., a certain form of speculative trading in Humana, the
health insurer, jumped. That day, there was nearly 10 times as much volume as any day in the
previous two weeks. There is no evidence that the trades were in response to the Capitol Hill
phone call with a top aide for Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). But the conference call reveals the
extent to which a direct pipeline of valuable political insight exists between Capitol Hill and Wall
Street, one that ordinary Americans and investors do not enjoy. Political intelligence firms
companies that sell their analysis of federal actions to investors have drawn much of the
scrutiny from lawmakers and investigators worried about potential insider trading. Congress itself
has become a source of sophisticated political analysis for investors, for whom every
nugget of exclusive information can translate to millions of dollars in profit. Information in
Washington is both highly valuable and extremely fluid. This has given rise to a booming
business in researchers claiming to offer political intelligence that could give investors an
edge in their trading. Stan Brand, a Washington lawyer specializing in congressional ethics, said
he is hearing increasingly about Hill staffers being called to participate in financial industry and
investor briefings like the one hosted by Capitol Street.
click here.
CEO Pay 1,795-to-1 Multiple of Wages Skirts U.S. Law

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/ceo-pay-1-795-to-1-multiple-of-worke...
Former fashion jewelry saleswoman Rebecca Gonzales and former Chief Executive Officer Ron
Johnson have one thing in common: J.C. Penney Co. no longer employs either. The similarity ends
there. Johnson, 54, got a compensation package worth 1,795 times the average wage and
benefits of a U.S. department store worker when he was hired in November 2011, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. Gonzaless hourly wage was $8.30 that year. Across the [S&P] 500
Index of companies, the average multiple of CEO compensation to that of rank-and-file workers is
204, up 20 percent since 2009, the data show. Almost three years after Congress ordered
public companies to reveal actual CEO-to-worker pay ratios under the Dodd-Frank law, the
numbers remain unknown. As the Occupy Wall Street movement and 2012 election made
income inequality a social flashpoint, mandatory disclosure of the ratios remained bottled up
at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which hasnt yet drawn up the rules to
implement it. Some of Americas biggest companies are lobbying against the requirement. Its a
simple piece of information stockholders ought to have, said Phil Angelides, who led the Financial
Crisis Inquiry Commission, which investigated the economic collapse of 2008. The fact that
corporate executives wouldnt want to display the number speaks volumes. The lobbying is part of
a street-by-street, block-by-block fight waged by large corporations and their Wall Street
colleagues to obstruct the Dodd-Frank law, he said.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on income inequality, click
here .
Report: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's repeated requests for a lawyer were

ignored
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/29/tsarnaev-right-to-counsel...
The initial debate over the treatment of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev focused on whether he should be
advised of his Miranda rights or whether the "public safety exception" justified delaying it. Now, the
Los Angeles Times ... reports something which, if true, would be a much more serious violation of
core rights than delaying Miranda warnings - namely, that ... Tsarnaev had repeatedly asked for a
lawyer, but the FBI simply ignored those requests, instead allowing the interagency High Value
Detainee Interrogation Group to continue to interrogate him alone: "Tsarnaev has not answered
any questions since he was given a lawyer and told he has the right to remain silent by Magistrate
Judge Marianne B. Bowler on Monday, officials said. Until that point, Tsarnaev had been
responding to the interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, including admitting his
role in the bombing, authorities said. A senior congressional aide said Tsarnaev had asked several
times for a lawyer, but that request was ignored since he was being questioned under the public
safety exemption to the Miranda rule." Denying him the right to a lawyer after he repeatedly
requests one is ... as fundamental a violation of crucial guaranteed rights as can be
imagined. To ignore the repeated requests of someone in police custody for a lawyer, for
hours and hours, is just inexcusable and legally baseless. If the LA Times report is true, then it
means that the DOJ did not merely fail to advise him of his right to a lawyer but actively blocked
him from exercising that right.
Note: The government appears to be setting a precedent in seeing how far they can go with taking
away our constitutionally guaranteed rights. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources on civil liberties, click here.
Supreme Court sides with Monsanto in major patent case

2013-04-26, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/13/monsanto-patent-grain-bi...
The Supreme Court usually isn't friendly toward questionable patents, but it came down
overwhelmingly on the side of agribusiness giant Monsanto [on April 22] in a case that's bound to
resonate throughout the biotechnology industry. The court ruled unanimously that an Indiana
farmer violated Monsanto's patent on genetically modified soybeans when he culled some from a
grain elevator and used them to replant his own crop in future years. "If simple copying were a
protected use, a patent would plummet in value after the first sale of the first item containing the
invention," Justice Elena Kagan ruled in a short 10-page opinion. Who it helps: Inventors and
entrepreneurs who have patents on products that can be self-replicated, from computer software
to cell lines. Who it hurts: Consumers paying high prices. The Center for Food Safety released a
report in February that showed three corporations control much of the global commercial seed
market. It found that from 1995-2011, the average cost to plant 1 acre of soybeans rose 325%.
Center for Food Safety executive director Andrew Kimbrell called the ruling a setback for
farmers. "The court chose to protect Monsanto over farmers," he said. "The court's ruling is
contrary to logic and to agronomics, because it improperly attributes seeds' reproduction
to farmers, rather than nature."
click here.
Father of Boston Bombing Suspects Keeps Faith in His Sons

The father of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects said he was present at the family house in
Cambridge, Mass., when the FBI interviewed his older son in 2011. Anzor Tsarnaev, speaking ...
from Makhachkala in Russia's Republic of Dagestan, said Federal Bureau of Investigation agents
came to talk to his older son, Tamerlan, as a "person of interest." "Yes, I was there. Of course I
was there," Mr. Tsarnaev said. "It was in Cambridge. 410 Norfolk Street, Cambridge." He said U.S.
authorities visited the house for what he described as "prevention" activities that involved
Tamerlan. "They said: We know what sites you are on, we know where you are calling, we know
everything about you. Everything," Mr. Tsarnaev recalled. "They said we are checking and
watchingthat's what they said." The father of the pair said he wasn't nervous that the FBI
showed up at his home. "I knew what he was doing, where he was going. I raised my children
right," he said of his sons. He said he is sure Tamerlan and his brother Dzhokhar must have
been framed for the Boston bombing. "This is all lies. These are my children. I know my
children," Mr. Tsarnaev said. He said his own brother, Ruslan, called his sons "losers" in an
American television interview Friday because of a family feud. Asked if it was possible Tamerlan
encountered Muslim fundamentalists while in Dagestan, he said there was no way. "There aren't
even any of those here anymore," Mr. Tsarnaev said.
Note: Another article in the UK's respected Independent states, "the men's mother, Zubeidat
Tsarnaeva said: 'I am 100% sure that this is a set-up.'" Could this have been yet another case of
FBI entrapment like this and this? Or could they even have been programmed to do this using
mind control using techniques described at this link? And for a Washington Times article raising
more questions on the bombing, click here.
Why this is the worst economic recovery on record

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2013/0415/Why-this-is-the-wors...
Were now witnessing what happens when all of the economic gains go to the top. Four years into
a so-called recovery and were still below recession levels in every important respect except the
stock market. A measly 88,000 jobs were created in March, and total employment remains some 3
million below its pre-recession level. Labor-force participation is its lowest since 1979. The
underlying problem is the vast middle class is running out of money. They cant borrow
more and shouldnt, given what happened after the last borrowing binge. Real annual
median household income keeps falling. Its down to $45,018, from $51,144 in 2010. All the
gains from the recovery continue to go to the top. Widening inequality is not inevitable. If we
wanted to reverse it and restore middle-class prosperity, we could. We could award tax cuts to
companies that link the pay of their hourly workers to profits and productivity, and that keep the
total pay of their top 5 executives within 20 times the pay of their median worker. And impose
higher taxes on companies that dont. We could raise the minimum wage to half the average wage.
We could increase public investment in education, including early-childhood. We could eliminate
college loans and allow all students to repay the cost of their higher education with a 10 percent
surcharge on the first 10 years of income from full-time employment. And we could pay for all this
by adding additional tax brackets at the top and increasing the top marginal tax rate to what it was
before 1981 at least 70 percent.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the collapse of the global
economy assisted by speculation and profiteering by financial corporations, click here.
Hacktivists as Gadflies
2013-04-15, New York Times blog
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/hacktivists-as-gadflies
We have had gadflies among us ever since [Socrates], but one contemporary breed in particular
has come in for a rough time of late: the hacktivist. Hacktivists, roughly speaking, are individuals
who redeploy and repurpose technology for social causes. In this sense they are different from
garden-variety hackers out to enrich only themselves. Barrett Brown, a journalist who had
achieved some level of notoriety as the the former unofficial not-spokesman for Anonymous, the
hacktivist group, now sits in federal custody in Texas. Mr. Brown came under the scrutiny of the
authorities when he began poring over documents that had been released in the hack of two
private security companies, HBGary Federal and Stratfor. Mr. Brown did not take part in the hacks,
but he did become obsessed with the contents that emerged from them in particular the
extracted documents showed that private security contractors were being hired by the
United States government to develop strategies for undermining protesters and journalists,
including Glenn Greenwald, a columnist for Salon. Because Stratfor had not encrypted the credit
card information of its clients, the information in the cache included credit card numbers and
validation numbers. Mr. Brown didnt extract the numbers or highlight them; he merely offered a
link to the database. For this he was charged on 12 counts, all of which pertained to credit
card fraud. The charges against him add up to about 100 years in federal prison.
Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/us/taping-of-farm-cruelty-is-becoming-the-c...
On one covert video, farm workers illegally burn the ankles of Tennessee walking horses with
chemicals. Another captures workers in Wyoming punching and kicking pigs and flinging piglets
into the air. And at one of the countrys largest egg suppliers, a video shows hens caged alongside
rotting bird corpses, while workers burn and snap off the beaks of young chicks. Each video ...
drew a swift response: Federal prosecutors in Tennessee charged the horse trainer and other
workers, who have pleaded guilty, with violating the Horse Protection Act. Local authorities in
Wyoming charged nine farm employees with cruelty to animals. And the egg supplier, which
operates in Iowa and other states, lost one of its biggest customers, McDonalds, which said the
video played a part in its decision. But a dozen or so state legislatures have had a different
reaction: They proposed or enacted bills that would make it illegal to covertly videotape livestock
farms, or apply for a job at one without disclosing ties to animal rights groups. They have also
drafted measures to require such videos to be given to the authorities almost immediately, which
activists say would thwart any meaningful undercover investigation of large factory farms. Critics
call them Ag-Gag bills. Some of the legislation appears inspired by the American Legislative
Exchange Council, a business advocacy group with hundreds of state representatives from
farm states as members. One of the groups model bills, The Animal and Ecological
Terrorism Act, prohibits filming or taking pictures on livestock farms to defame the
facility or its owner. Violators would be placed on a terrorist registry.
click here.
Monsanto Protection Act put GM companies above the federal courts

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/apr/04/monsanto-protection-ac...
Even people used to the closeness of the US administration and food giants like Monsanto have
been shocked by the latest demonstration of the GM industry's political muscle. Little-noticed in
Europe or outside the US, President Barack Obama last week signed off what has become widely
known as "the Monsanto Protection Act", technically the Farmer Assurance Provision rider in HR
933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act 2013. According to an array of food
and consumer groups, organic farmers, civil liberty and trade unions and others, this hijacks the
constitution, sets a legal precedent and puts Monsanto and other biotech companies above
the federal courts. It means, they say, that not even the US government can now stop the
sale, planting, harvest or distribution of any GM seed, even if it is linked to illness or
environmental problems. The backlash has been furious. A Food Democracy Now petition has
attracted 250,000 names. The only good news, say the opponents, is that because the "Monsanto
Protection Act" was part of the much wider spending bill, it will formally expire in September. The
bad news however is that the precedent has been set and it is unlikely that the world's largest
seed company and the main driver of the divisive GM technology will ever agree to give up its new
legal protection. The company, in effect, now rules.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the harm caused by
GMOs, click here.
Road to tax havens is paved with potholes

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Road-to-tax-havens-is-pa...
Our government must act to close the loopholes that allow companies and wealthy individuals to
get out of paying their taxes - in particular, loopholes allowing them to move profits offshore to
avoid taxation. The U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) ... released a study outlining how
in California alone, an estimated $7.1 billion in potential tax revenue for 2011 was lost because
companies and individuals shifted profits to subsidiary shell companies in tax havens. Often
described as "sunny places for shady people," tax havens aren't usually associated with mundane
issues like potholes - or with cuts to programs for seniors; freezes in funding for public education ...
or cancellation of emergency services. Yet the PIRG study, which concludes that the United
States is losing about $150 billion in tax revenue annually, shows once again how tax havens
and shortfalls in government budgets are directly related. Despite the obvious damage to society,
shifting profits offshore is, in most cases, perfectly legal. In fact, tax haven use by big companies
is so common that a 2008 Government Accountability Office Report found 83 of the Fortune
100 companies in the United States had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens. Just because
something is legal does not mean that it is right.
Note: For a powerfully revealing documentary showing how huge corporations park profits
offshore to avoid taxes, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
on corporate corruption, click here.
Domestic drones and their unique dangers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/29/domestic-drones-unique-da...
The use of drones by domestic US law enforcement agencies is growing rapidly, both in terms of
numbers and types of usage. As a result, civil liberties and privacy groups led by the ACLU ... have
been devoting increasing efforts to publicizing their unique dangers and agitating for statutory
limits. The belief that weaponized drones won't be used on US soil is patently irrational. Police
departments are already speaking openly about how their drones "could be equipped to carry
nonlethal weapons such as Tasers or a bean-bag gun." The drone industry has already developed
and is now aggressively marketing precisely such weaponized drones for domestic law
enforcement use. Domestic weaponized drones will be much smaller and cheaper, as well as more
agile - but just as lethal [as the large missile-firing drones used by the US military overseas]. The
nation's leading manufacturer of small "unmanned aircraft systems" (UAS) ... is AeroVironment,
Inc. (AV). AV is now focused on drone products - such as the "Qube" - that are so small that they
can be "transported in the trunk of a police vehicle or carried in a backpack." AV's website ... touts
a February, 2013 Defense News article describing how much the US Army loves [its]
"Switchblade" [drone]. Time Magazine heralded this tiny drone weapon as "one of the best
inventions of 2012", gushing: "the Switchblade drone can be carried into battle in a
backpack. It's a kamikaze: the person controlling it uses a real-time video feed from the
drone to crash it into a precise target. Its tiny warhead detonates on impact."
Note: This important article also discusses drones used by government agencies such as police
for purposes of continuous surveillance. But it misses entirely another major dimension: privately
owned and controlled drones, which are becoming dirt cheap and within the reach of virtually
anyone. Will the new "DroneWorld" in the making combine the worst features of the Police State
with the Wild West?
The corporate predator state

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-the-corporate-pr...
Bipartisan agreement in Washington usually means citizens should hold on to their wallets or get
ready for another threat to peace. Beneath all the partisan bickering, bipartisan majorities are
solid for a trade policy run by and for multinationals, a health-care system serving
insurance and drug companies, an energy policy for Big Oil and King Coal, and finance
favoring banks that are too big to fail. Economist James Galbraith calls this the predator
state, one in which large corporate interests rig the rules to protect their subsidies, tax dodges
and monopolies. This isnt the free market; its a rigged market. Wall Street is a classic example.
The attorney general announces that some banks are too big to prosecute. Despite what the FBI
called an epidemic of fraud, not one head of a big bank has gone to jail or paid a major personal
fine. Bloomberg News estimated that the subsidy they are provided by being too big to fail adds up
to an estimated $83 billion a year. Corporate welfare is, of course, offensive to progressives. But
true conservatives are or should be offended by corporate welfare as well. Conservative
economists Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales argue that it is time to save capitalism from the
capitalists, urging conservatives to support strong measures to break up monopolies, cartels and
the predatory use of political power to distort competition. Here is where left and right meet, not in
a bipartisan big-money fix, but in an odd bedfellows campaign to clean out Washington. For that to
happen, small businesses and community banks will have to develop an independent voice in our
politics.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the collusion between the
US government and corrupt financial corporations, click here.
Top Pentagon thinker bemoans civilian subjugation to the military.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/blogs/war-and-peace/2013/03/26/top-pentagon-...
Blistering charges of misplaced power and a morally bankrupt culture in the nations militaryindustrial complex are rarely leveled by one of the defense establishments own. But that is
exactly what ... Gregory D. Foster, a former Army officer and West Point graduate who now
teaches national security studies at the National Defense University in Washington [did] when he
went after the top brass, political leaders, and defense company executives [at a recent defense
budget conference]. He accused them of allowing the nearly sacrosanct principle of civilian
control of the militaryan early building block of American democracyto be turned on its
head. How? By virtually never questioning the key assumptions of military planning and
allowing a largely unchecked, destructive and highly militarized foreign policy to pose as a
properly subordinated military industrial complex. [Foster said] This is what I call civilian
subjugation to the military. We face it in this administration, we faced it in the Clinton
administration...we faced it in the Bush administration. It all makes for a national security
establishment, in Fosters view, that perpetuates an approach to the world that is overly
confrontational, lacks critical thinking about long term objectives, and even undercuts the strategic
aims of democracy. For example, he said the accepted orthodoxy of never-ending global threats
and the necessity to confront them militarily makes it nearly impossible to fashion a national
security strategy that puts real security, crisis prevention, and the preservation of civil society
ahead of institutional bias and private profit.
Note: For a penetrating analysis by a great general of the real purposes served by continuous war,
click here.
Hot Money Blues

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/opinion/krugman-hot-money-blues.html
Whatever the final outcome in the Cyprus crisis ... the island nation will have to maintain fairly
draconian controls on the movement of capital in and out of the country. It will mark the end of an
era for Cyprus, which has in effect spent the past decade advertising itself as a place where
wealthy individuals who want to avoid taxes and scrutiny can safely park their money, no questions
asked. But it may also mark at least the beginning of the end for something much bigger: the era
when unrestricted movement of capital was taken as a desirable norm around the world. [With] the
rise of free-market ideology, the assumption [is] that if financial markets want to move money
across borders, there must be a good reason, and bureaucrats shouldnt stand in their way. But
the truth, hard as it may be for ideologues to accept, is that unrestricted movement of
capital is looking more and more like a failed experiment. Its hard to imagine now, but for
more than three decades after World War II financial crises of the kind weve lately become
so familiar with hardly ever happened. Since 1980, however, the roster has been impressive:
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile in 1982. Sweden and Finland in 1991. Mexico again in 1995.
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea in 1998. Argentina again in 2002. And, of course, the
more recent run of disasters: Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus. The best
predictor of crisis is large inflows of foreign money: in all but a couple of the cases ... the
foundation for crisis was laid by a rush of foreign investors into a country, followed by a sudden
rush out.
FOIA Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Reveal 200 Claims Filed

With HHS for HPV Vaccine Injuries and Deaths, 49 Compensated
2013-03-20, MarketWatch (a Wall Street Journal Website)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/foia-documents-obtained-by-judicial-watch-re...
Documents reveal that the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has paid
out nearly $6 million in claims to victims of HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine, including
families of two dead. Judicial Watch announced today that it has received documents from the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that its VICP has awarded $5,877,710
dollars to 49 victims in claims made against the highly controversial HPV vaccines. To date 200
claims have been filed with VICP, with barely half adjudicated. The documents came in response
to a February 28, 2013, Judicial Watch lawsuit against HHS to force the department to comply with
a November 1, 2012, Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. From its
inception, the use of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases has
been hotly disputed. According to the Annals of Medicine: "At present there are no significant data
showing that either Gardasil or Cervarix (GlaxoSmithKline) can prevent any type of cervical cancer
since the testing period employed was too short to evaluate long-term benefits of HPV
vaccination." "This new information from the government shows that the serious safety
concerns about the use of Gardasil have been well-founded," said Judicial Watch President
Tom Fitton. "Public health officials should stop pushing Gardasil on children."
Note: For lots more on the risks and dangers of this vaccine being promoted by big pharma, click
here.
UN: Pakistan 'does not sanction' US drone strikes

2013-03-15, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21803391
The head of a UN team investigating US drone strikes in Pakistan has said that Islamabad does
not consent to them and sees them as a territorial violation. American officials say privately that
co-operation with Pakistan has not ended altogether - despite a cooling of relations - and key
Pakistani military officers and civilian politicians continue to support the strikes. It is estimated that
between 2004 and 2013, CIA drone attacks in Pakistan killed up to 3,460 people. About 890 of
them were civilians and the vast majority of strikes were carried out under the President Barack
Obama's administration. "The position of the government of Pakistan is quite clear," Mr Emmerson
said on Friday. "It does not consent to the use of drones by the United States on its territory and it
considers this to be a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity." The drone
campaign "involves the use of force on the territory of another state without its consent",
he said. Furthermore Pakistan believes that drone strikes are radicalising a new generation
of militants, he said, when it was capable of fighting Islamist extremists in the country by itself.
The UN special rapporteur said that as a matter of international law, drone strikes were only lawful
if they took place at the express request of the country concerned.
Note: Why are these drone strikes allowed to continue when Pakistan clear opposes them and
when there is not doubt many civilians are killed? For deeply revealing reports from reliable major
media sources on government corruption, click here.
Japans Energy Board Meets After Dropping Anti-Nuclear Members

2013-03-14, Washington Post/Bloomberg
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-MJN96O6JIJXS01-037KLNTCSC52QTP...
Japans ruling Liberal Democratic Party has removed most anti-nuclear researchers from a
revamped post-Fukushima energy policy advisory board to the government. After a landslide
victory in a December election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the previous administrations
policy to abandon atomic power needs to be reviewed. Six of eight members that voted for phasing
out nuclear power on the board advising the previous government have been dropped from the
LDP panel. Another ten members were reappointed, including Akio Mimura, an adviser for Nippon
Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., as chairman. He headed an energy advisory board under a
previous LDP government that promoted nuclear power. Its wrong to let the same man who
led discussions on pre-Fukushima energy policy be in charge, said Tetsunari Iida, the
executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies. Iida was one of those
dropped from the advisory board. In September, the government led by the Democratic Party of
Japan approved phasing out nuclear power by the end of the 2030s. Around 160,000 people were
evacuated because of radiation fallout. Three options were considered for the countrys future
energy supply: Zero nuclear, 15 percent nuclear, and 20 percent to 25 percent. A government poll
in August found 47 percent of citizens favored zero, with the remainder split on the other choices.
The LDP wants to avoid the zero nuclear scenario at all costs and is looking for a point of
compromise between 15 percent and 20 percent nuclear, said Hiroshi Takahashi, a research
fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the grave dangers posed
by nuclear power, click here.
Fukushima And The Navy: Sailors Sue Japan Nuclear Plant Owner,
Saying Disaster Made Them Sick
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/fukushima-navy-health-problems_n_285...
Within weeks of setting off a geiger counter and scrubbing three layers of skin off his hands and
arms, former Navy quartermaster Maurice Enis recalled being pressured to sign away U.S.
government liability for any future health problems. Enis and about 5,000 fellow sailors aboard the
USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier had finally left Japan, after 80-some days aiding victims of
the March 11, 2011, Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, and were about to take a longawaited port call in Thailand. But first, they were told they needed to fill out some
paperwork. "They had us [to] sign off that we were medically fine, had no sickness, and that
we couldn't sue the U.S. government," Enis [says], recalling widespread anger among the
sailors who ... felt they had little choice. [On] the [second] anniversary of the Fukushima disaster,
Enis joined a lawsuit with more than 100 other service members who participated in the rescue
mission and who have since developed medical issues they contend are related to radioactive
fallout from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Rather than targeting the U.S.
government, the federal lawsuit names plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. the defendant.
TEPCO, as the company is known, provided false information to U.S. officials about the extent of
spreading radiation from its stricken reactors, according to Roger Witherspoon on his blog Energy
Matters.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing nuclear power news articles
Above the law

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-above-the-law/20...
The government of the United States, wrote Chief Justice John Marshall in his famous decision in
Marbury v. Madison, has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. This
principle grounded in the Constitution, enforced by an independent judiciary is central to the
American creed. Citizens have rights, and fundamental to these is due process of the law. Yet last
week Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking for the administration with an alarmingly casual
nonchalance, traduced the whole notion of a nation of laws. First, the attorney general responded
to Sen. Rand Pauls inquiry as to whether the president claimed the power to authorize a lethal
force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil and without trial. Holder wrote
that, speaking hypothetically, it is possible to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which that
power might become necessary and appropriate. In response to the growing furor, Holder sent
Paul another letter, stating clearly that the president has no authority to use a weaponized drone
against an American in the United States who is not engaged in combat. But that, of course, only
underscores the issue. The country is waging a war on terrorism that admits no boundary
and no end. Now Holder is saying that the president has the authority to kill Americans in
the United States if they are engaged in combat. No hearing, no review, no due process of
law.
Note: For a disturbing report on the massive expansion of drones over US skies, click here.
Realities Behind Prosecuting Big Banks

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/big-banks-go-wrong-but-pay-a-little-pr...
Are banks too big to jail? If there was any doubt about the answer to that question, Eric H. Holder
Jr., the nations attorney general, last week blurted out what weve all known to be true but few
inside the Obama administration have said aloud: Yes, they are. I am concerned that the size of
some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them
when we are hit with indications that if we do prosecute if we do bring a criminal charge it will
have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy, Mr. Holder
told the Senate Judiciary Committee. I think that is a function of the fact that some of these
institutions have become too large. Mr. Holder continued, acknowledging that the size of banks
has an inhibiting influence. To put this in the proper perspective, Mr. Holder said, for the first
time, that he has not pursued prosecutions of big banks out of fear that an indictment could
jeopardize the financial system. Does this mean that our banks are still too big to fail?
Should we prosecute corporations? Should the size of an institution or its systemic
importance influence the decision of prosecutors? It has been almost five years since the
financial crisis, but the big banks are still too big to fail, [Senator Elizabeth] Warren, a Democrat,
said in a statement. Attorney General Holders testimony that the biggest banks are too-big-to-jail
shows once again that it is past time to end too-big-to-fail.
government and finance, click here.
Rand Paul filibusters vote on CIA director nominee John Brennan over
drones
2013-03-06, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57572883/rand-paul-filibusters-vote-on-ci...
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is filibustering the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the CIA,
delivering a protracted speech on the Senate floor in protest of the Obama administration's
controversial drone program, of which Brennan has been a key architect. Paul, speaking during
the debate surrounding Brennan's nomination on the Senate floor, said he would "speak until I can
no longer speak" in order to get his point across. "I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is
sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are
precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being
charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court," he said. Yesterday,
Attorney General Eric Holder clarified to Paul in a letter that the U.S. drone policy does
authorize the use of military force on against Americans on U.S. soil in cases of
"extraordinary circumstance." Paul, a longstanding opponent of the administration's
controversial targeted killing policy, expressed his outrage in a statement following his receipt of
the letter and continued that tirade on the floor today. "That Americans could be killed in a cafe in
San Francisco or in a restaurant in Houston or at their home in bowling green, Kentucky, is an
abomination," Paul said. "I object to people becoming so fearful they gradually give up their rights."
the US, click here.
Argentina opens trial over Operation Condor, the 1970s plan to

eliminate leftists
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/argentina-opens-trial-over-o...
Argentina began a long-awaited human rights trial [on March 5] focused on Operation Condor, the
1970s conspiracy launched by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to enlist South Americas
dictators in a combined effort to leave no refuge for their leftist critics. The 25 defendants include
former Argentine junta leaders Rafael Videla, 87, and Reynaldo Bignone, 85, both already serving
life sentences for multiple human rights violations during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. This time, the
charges include criminal association, kidnapping and torture. Also on trial is a former Uruguayan
army colonel, Manuel Cordero, who allegedly tortured prisoners inside Automotores Orletti, the
Buenos Aires repair shop where many captured leftists were taken to be interrogated under orders
from their home countries. More than 400 witnesses are expected to be called in the two-year trial,
which involves 106 victims from at least four countries who were killed in Argentina. A key piece
of evidence is a declassified FBI agents cable, sent in 1976, that described in detail the
conspiracy to share intelligence and eliminate leftists across South America. The actual
conspiracy went further than that: the U.S. government later determined that Chilean
agents involved in Condor killed the countrys former ambassador Orlando Letelier and his
U.S. aide Ronni Moffitt in Washington, D.C., in September 1976. Operation Condor grew to include
the military governments of six countries: Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on US intelligence
operations, click here.
Bradley Manning: the face of heroism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/28/bradley-manning-heroism-p...
If Bradley Manning did what he is accused of doing, then he is a consummate hero, and deserves
a medal and our collective gratitude, not decades in prison. At his court-martial proceeding [today]
in Fort Meade, Manning ... pleaded guilty to having been the source of the most significant leaks to
WikiLeaks. He also pleaded not guilty to 12 of the 22 counts, including the most serious - the
capital offense of "aiding and abetting the enemy", which could send him to prison for life - on the
ground that nothing he did was intended to nor did it result in harm to US national security. The US
government will now almost certainly proceed with its attempt to prosecute him on those remaining
counts. Spencer Ackerman was there and reported: "Manning's motivation in leaking, he said,
was to 'spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and foreign policy in general', he
said, and 'cause society to reevaluate the need and even desire to engage in counterterrorism and
counterinsurgency operations that ignore their effect on people who live in that environment every
day.' Manning is absolutely right when he said today that the documents he leaked "are some of
the most significant documents of our time". They revealed a multitude of previously secret
crimes and acts of deceit and corruption by the world's most powerful factions. Journalists
and even some government officials have repeatedly concluded that any actual national security
harm from his leaks is minimal if it exists at all. To this day, the documents Manning just admitted
having leaked play a prominent role in the ability of journalists around the world to inform their
readers about vital events.
How the Bush administration sold the war and we bought it

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/27/bush-administration-sold-...
It has been 10 long years since "Shock and Awe" the opening bombardment of Baghdad lit up
the skies above the Tigris. Have we learned the lessons of that disastrous period? And what were
those lessons? For nearly a year prior to the invasion, President Bush and his administration
peppered the airwaves with serious accusations against Saddam Hussein. The intelligence
supporting the claims was either not believed, or was highly disputed, by the experts. As a covert
CIA operations officer working frantically in the months before the war to find and verify hard
intelligence about Iraq's presumed WMD program, Valerie [Plame] was keenly interested in
watching Secretary of State Colin Powell address the United Nations on 6 February 2003. As [she]
watched the speech unfold on TV from CIA headquarters that morning, she experienced what can
only be described as "cognitive dissonance". It became clear, as Powell laid out the case for war ...
that his robust claims about the state of Iraqi WMD simply did not match the intelligence which she
had worked on daily for months. Powell's claim from a discredited defector code-named
"Curveball" on Iraq's biological weapons capability was particularly alarming. Valerie knew that
"Curveball" had been deemed a "fabricator" by the agency, meaning that none of his
intelligence could be believed. The implications suddenly become obvious: we were
watching a kabuki play and the outcome was predetermined. The Bush administration was
determined to go to war, however bad the intelligence, and not even Secretary of State
Powell was going to stand in the way.
At the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a Steady Drip of Toxic Trouble

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/24/at-the-hanford-nuclear-reser...
This month, the Department of Energy announced that a tank at the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation in Washington state is leaking up to 300 gallons of radioactive waste a year.
Nuclear sludge left over from Cold War plutonium production is drip-drip-dripping into
American soil, infiltrating the groundwater, slowly making its way into our rivers. The leak is
just another in a long line of mild disasters at Americas most contaminated nuclear-waste site, a
radioactive drop in the already-polluted Columbia River. Hanford is the worst kind of mess: the kind
that humanity is capable of making, but not capable of cleaning up. It was the home of the worlds
first full-scale plutonium reactor and the epicenter of American nuclear production during the Cold
War. Now the 586-square-mile campus is the subject of the largest environmental cleanup
operation the United States government has ever undertaken. There are other sites in America
with long nuclear historiesplaces like Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Yucca Mountain. But none have
become sprawling disasters with quite as much panache as Hanford. The human and
environmental consequences of Hanford have spread beyond those borders, across Washington
and Oregon. A decade ago a rash of radioactive tumbleweeds blew across the nearby plains. In
the early 1960s, an irradiated whale was killed off the Oregon coast, having apparently been
contaminated by nuclear waste flowing down the Columbia River.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on environmental and health
devastation caused by the nuclear weapons and energy industry, click here.
Obama officials refuse to say if assassination power extends to US soil

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/22/obama-brennan-paul-assass...
The Justice Department "white paper" purporting to authorize Obama's power to extrajudicially
execute US citizens was leaked three weeks ago. Since then, the administration - including the
president himself and his nominee to lead the CIA, John Brennan - has been repeatedly asked
whether this authority extends to US soil, i.e., whether the president has the right to execute US
citizens on US soil without charges. In each instance, they have refused to answer. Brennan has
been asked the question several times as part of his confirmation process. Each time, he simply
pretends that the question has not been asked, opting instead to address a completely different
issue. It's really worth pausing to remind ourselves of how truly radical and just plainly
unbelievable this all is. What's more extraordinary: that the US Senate is repeatedly asking
the Obama White House whether the president has the power to secretly order US citizens
on US soil executed without charges or due process, or whether the president and his
administration refuse to answer? That this is the "controversy" surrounding the confirmation of
the CIA director - and it's a very muted controversy at that - shows just how extreme the
degradation of US political culture is.
Note: For a revealing 27-minute documentary on drones which operate in swarms and pose
serious ethical questions in both peace and war, click here.
Monsanto, the court and the seeds of dissent

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kimbrell-monsanto-suprem...
Should anyone, or any corporation, control a product of life? The journey of a 75-year-old Indiana
farmer to the [Supreme Court] began rather uneventfully. Vernon Hugh Bowman purchased an
undifferentiated mix of soybean seeds from a grain elevator, planted the seeds and then saved
seed from the resulting harvest to replant another crop. Finding that Bowman's crops were largely
the progeny of its genetically engineered proprietary soybean seed, Monsanto sued the farmer for
patent infringement. The case [Bowman vs. Monsanto Co.] is a remarkable reflection on recent
fundamental changes in farming. In the 200-plus years since the founding of this country, and for
millenniums before that, seeds have been part of the public domain available for farmers to
exchange, save, modify through plant breeding and replant. Through this process, farmers
developed a diverse array of plants that could thrive in various geographies, soils, climates
and ecosystems. But today this history of seeds is seemingly forgotten in light of a patent
system that, since the mid-1980s, has allowed corporations to own products of life.
Although Monsanto and other agrochemical companies assert that they need the current patent
system to invent better seeds, the counterargument is that splicing an already existing gene or
other DNA into a plant and thereby transferring a new trait to that plant is not a novel invention. A
soybean, for example, has more than 46,000 genes. Properties of these genes are the product of
centuries of plant breeding and should not, many argue, become the product of a corporation.
Instead, these genes should remain in the public domain.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the destructive impacts of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), click here.
Senator Elizabeth Warren grills regulators, ending quiet first month in

office
http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2013/02/14/senator-elizabeth-warr...
After campaigning last year as an outspoken consumer advocate and Wall Street critic, Senator
Elizabeth Warren was surprisingly quiet during her first month on Capitol Hill. But that changed on
[Feb. 14] at the Massachusetts senior senators first hearing, when she rebuked federal regulators
for settling civil cases with big banks instead of taking them to trial. Looking at the seven regulators
arrayed before the Senate Banking Committee, and noting that she had often sat at the same
witness table before becoming a senator, she used her new power to question why the federal
government has not been more aggressive. The question I really want to ask is about how tough
you are about how much leverage you really have, Warren said. Tell me a little bit about the
last few times youve taken the biggest financial institutions on Wall Street all the way to trial.
None of the witnesses representing the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission and others offered a response. Warren seized the hearing to
chide regulators for not taking legal stands against Wall Street, saying that the threat of trial
is an important tool in keeping big banks in line, despite the vast resources required to do
so. If a party is unwilling to go to trial either because theyre too timid or they lack
resources the consequence is they have a lot less leverage, Warren said. If [banks] can
break the law and drag in billions in profits and then turn around and settle paying out of those
profits, they dont have that much incentive to follow the law.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the corrupt regulation of
financial activities, click here.
US newspapers accused of complicity as drone report reopens security

debate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/feb/06/us-newspapers-accused-complicity-...
[The] New York Times and Washington Post ... are facing accusations of complicity after it
emerged that they bowed to pressure from the Obama administration not to disclose the existence
of a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia despite knowing about it for a year. Amid renewed scrutiny
over the Obama administration's secrecy over its targeted killing programme, media analysts and
national security experts said the revelation that some newspapers had co-operated over the
drone base had reopened the debate over the balance between freedom of information and
national security. One expert described the initial decision not to publish the base's location as
"shameful and craven". Dr Jack Lule, a professor of journalism and communication at Lehigh
University in Pennsylvania, said that the national security implications did not merit holding on to
the story. "The decision not to publish is a shameful one. The national security standard has
to be very high, perhaps imminent danger," he said. The Obama administration has resisted
any effort to open up its targeted killing programme to public scrutiny. The White House legal
advice on the assassinations program, including the killing of a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, has
been withheld from the public and Congress, despite repeated requests to make it public. Lule said
that in not publishing the location of the base when it had the information, the newspaper had
failed in its responsibility to the public. "It happened at the top ranks of the media, too. They
should have been leading the pack in calling for less secrecy. For them to give up that post
is terrible."
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on major media coverups,
click here.
Biotech Firms, Billions at Risk, Lobby States to Limit Generics

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/business/battle-in-states-on-generic-copies...
In statehouses around the country, some of the nations biggest biotechnology companies are
lobbying intensively to limit generic competition to their blockbuster drugs, potentially cutting into
the billions of dollars in savings on drug costs contemplated in the federal health care overhaul
law. The complex drugs, made in living cells instead of chemical factories, account for roughly onequarter of the nations $320 billion in spending on drugs, according to IMS Health. And that
percentage is growing. They include some of the worlds best-selling drugs, like the rheumatoid
arthritis and psoriasis drugs Humira and Enbrel and the cancer treatments Herceptin, Avastin and
Rituxan. The drugs now cost patients or their insurers tens or even hundreds of thousands of
dollars a year. Two companies, Amgen and Genentech, are proposing bills that would
restrict the ability of pharmacists to substitute generic versions of biological drugs for
brand name products. Bills have been introduced in at least eight states since the new
legislative sessions began this month. Others are pending. The companies and other
proponents say such measures are needed to protect patient safety because the generic versions
of biological drugs are not identical to the originals. For that reason, they are usually called
biosimilars rather than generics. Generic drug companies and insurers are taking their own steps
to oppose or amend the state bills, which they characterize as pre-emptive moves to deter the use
of biosimilars, even before any get to market.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on pharmaceutical industry
Obama's non-closing of GITMO

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/29/obama-guantanamo-pentagon...
The New York Times ... reported yesterday that the State Department "reassigned Daniel Fried,
the special envoy for closing the prison at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, and will not replace him". That
move obviously confirms what has long been assumed: that the camp will remain open indefinitely.
Dozens of the current camp detainees have long been cleared by Pentagon reviews for release including Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a 36-year-old Yemeni who died at the camp in September
after almost 11 years in a cage despite never having been charged with a crime. Like so many of
his fellow detainees, his efforts to secure his release were vigorously (and successfully) thwarted
by the Obama administration. What [makes] Guantnamo such a travesty of justice [is] not its
geographic locale in the Caribbean Sea, but rather its system of indefinite detention: that people
[are] put in cages, often for life, without any charges or due process. Obama's plan was to
preserve and continue that core injustice - indefinite detention - but simply moved onto US
soil. Put simply, Obama's plan was never to close Gitmo as much as it was to re-locate it to
Illinois: to what the ACLU dubbed "Gitmo North". That's why ACLU Executive Director Anthony
Romero said of Obama's 2009 "close-Gitmo" plan that it "is hardly a meaningful step forward" and
that "while the Obama administration inherited the Guantnamo debacle, this current move is its
own affirmative adoption of those policies." That's because, he said, "the administration plans to
continue its predecessor's policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial for some detainees,
with only a change of location."
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government attacks on
civil liberties, click here.
Pentagon's new massive expansion of 'cyber-security' unit is about

everything except defense
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/28/pentagon-cyber-security-e...
Cyber-threats are the new pretext to justify expansion of power and profit for the public-private
National Security State. The Washington Post [reports] "a major expansion of [the Pentagon's]
cybersecurity force over the next several years, increasing its size more than fivefold." Specifically,
... "the expansion would increase the Defense Department's Cyber Command by more than 4,000
people, up from the current 900." The Post describes this expansion as "part of an effort to turn an
organization that has focused largely on defensive measures into the equivalent of an Internet-era
fighting force." This Cyber Command Unit operates under the command of Gen. Keith Alexander,
who also happens to be the head of the National Security Agency, the highly secretive government
network that spies on the communications of foreign nationals - and American citizens. These
activities pose a wide array of serious threats to internet freedom, privacy, and international law
that, as usual, will be conducted with full-scale secrecy and with little to no oversight and
accountability. And, as always, there is a small army of private-sector corporations who will benefit
most from this expansion. The fear-mongering rhetoric from government officials has
relentlessly intensified, all devoted to scaring citizens into believing that the US is at
serious risk of cataclysmic cyber-attacks from "aggressors". This all culminated when
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, last October, warned of what he called a "cyber-Pearl
Harbor". This "would cause physical destruction and the loss of life, an attack that would paralyze
and shock the nation and create a profound new sense of vulnerability."
Note: Defense Secretary Panetta's warning of a 'cyber-Pearl Harbor' will surely serve as a
reminder for many of the Project for the New American Century's call for a 'new Pearl Harbor' just
a few months before 9/11. Is it likely that he was unaware of the baggage such language carries at
present? For more on WantToKnow team member Prof. David Ray Griffin's epochal book The New
Pearl Harbor, click here.
President of perpetual war

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/President-of-perpetual-war-4221915.php
Four years into his presidency, President Obama's political formula should be obvious. He gives
fabulous speeches teeming with popular liberal ideas, often refuses to take the actions necessary
to realize those ideas and then banks on most voters, activists, reporters and pundits never
bothering to notice - or care about - his sleight of hand. Never was this formula more apparent than
when the president discussed military conflicts during his second inaugural address. Declaring that
"a decade of war is now ending," he insisted that he "still believe(s) that enduring security and
lasting peace do not require perpetual war." Few seemed to notice that the words came from the
same president who is manufacturing a state of "perpetual war." Obama, let's remember, is the
president who escalated the Afghanistan War and whose spokesman recently reiterated that U.S.
troops are not necessarily leaving that country anytime soon. He is the president who has initiated
undeclared wars in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. Just days before Obama's inaugural
address declaring an end to war, the Washington Post reported that the administration's new
manual establishing "clear rules" for counterterrorism operations specifically creates a
"carve-out (that) would allow the CIA to continue" the president's intensifying drone war.
That's the "perpetual war," you'll recall, in which Obama asserts the extra-constitutional
right to compile a "kill list" and then order bombing raids of civilian areas in hopes of killing
alleged militants - including U.S. citizens.
Note: Could it be that the military-industrial complex has significantly more power than the
president? For powerful evidence of this from a high-ranking US general, click here.
11 EU nations to plan tax on financial transactions

http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-11-eu-tax-financial-trans...
Pressing ahead where others have balked, 11 European countries received the green light ... to
plan a financial transaction tax that could generate billions of dollars in revenue for cash-strapped
governments. Led by Germany and France, the European Unions two heavyweights, the nations
will now work out how to introduce a levy on the buying and selling of stocks and bonds and on the
use of complex financial instruments known as derivatives. Advocates say such a tax is not only
necessary to help discourage risky transactions like those that precipitated the 2008 global
financial meltdown but also a fair way to make financial institutions pay to help clean up the
leftover mess. The U.S., at the urging of Wall Street, has opposed a financial transaction
tax; so has Britain, which is home to Europes largest financial trading hub. Hesitation in
London as well as some other European capitals stalled a proposal, made in September 2011, to
charge a unified financial transaction tax across the 27-nation EU. The 11 countries, all of which
share the euro as their currency, decided to forge ahead on their own, deepening integration
among a subset of EU members that together account for more than half of the regions economic
output. EU-wide, officials had estimated that a levy of just 0.1% on trades of stocks and bonds and
0.01% on derivatives could bring in $75 billion a year.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the profiteering of an
unregulated financial industry, click here.
The FBI and protesters, then and now

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/The-FBI-and-protesters-then-a...
Recently released FBI files about the Occupy movement do not reveal the kind of dirty tricks J.
Edgar Hoover's bureau used against demonstrators in the Bay Area during the '60s, but they
present some striking parallels to those dark days and have rightly raised concern among civil
libertarians. The records ... show that over the decades the machinery of surveillance remains
much the same, even as expanded intelligence powers and technological advances magnify
potential abuse. As in the '60s, the FBI reports use sweeping language like "potential
terrorist threat" to characterize nonviolent dissent. As then, the bureau exchanges
information with a vast network of federal agencies, state and local police, campus cops
and corporate security. And once again the FBI is invoking great secrecy. Such activity,
Congress found in the '70s, contributed to massive intelligence abuses. The FBI released 99
heavily redacted pages and withheld 288 more in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a public-interest legal organization in
Washington, D.C. Even while noting Occupy organizers do "not condone the use of violence," the
records show that FBI field offices across the nation collected information on the premise [that] the
protests posed a potential "terrorist" or "criminal" threat. The bureau shared information on Occupy
with police on joint terrorism task forces, which have raised concerns about skirting local
surveillance restrictions, and with fusion centers, regional intelligence hubs recently criticized by
Congress as violating civil liberties.
Note: The writer of this article, Seth Rosenfeld, is the author of Subversives: The FBI's War on
Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major
media sources on the games intelligence agencies play, click here.
MoveOn founder, Tea Party figure meet

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/MoveOn-founder-Tea-Party-f...
It was a mind-blowing political tableau: a co-founder of liberal bulwark MoveOn sitting in her
Berkeley living room, laughing, sharing homemade blueberry scones and occasionally
agreeing with a national Tea Party figure. MoveOn's Joan Blades ... and Mark Meckler, ...
have been talking online and over the phone for a few years now. Quietly, until now.
"Transpartisanship" is the genteel word for what they're doing. Blades has been involved in
similar types of projects for about a decade, but this is a fairly new school of political thought,
which posits that people can come together to find some common ground without abandoning their
core beliefs. The occasion was the latest installment of Living Room Conversations, Blades' latest
national transpartisan project that she co-founded with former GOP operative Amanda Kathryn
Roman [of] New Jersey. It involves one or two co-hosts pulling together an intimate gathering of
folks who might believe they agree on little politically - until they sit down together to listen to one
another's perspective. Civilly. Eventually, they find places they agree. That's what happened
between Blades and Meckler, and it should give hope to a nation locked in scrums over guns and
immigration and taxes. The day's assigned topic was "crony capitalism." It was conservative
commentator Ralph Benko who introduced Meckler and Blades online. As Meckler recalled Benko
saying, "If MoveOn and the Tea Party ever agree on anything, all politicians should watch out."
Note: What would happen if we focus less on what separates us and more on what brings us
together?
Secret papers show extent of senior royals' veto over bills

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jan/14/secret-papers-royals-veto-bills
The extent of the Queen and Prince Charles's secretive power of veto over new laws has
been exposed after Downing Street lost its battle to keep information about its application
secret. Whitehall papers prepared by Cabinet Office lawyers show that overall at least 39 bills
have been subject to the most senior royals' little-known power to consent to or block new laws.
The internal Whitehall pamphlet was only released following a court order and shows ministers
and civil servants are obliged to consult the Queen and Prince Charles [to a greater extent] than
was previously understood. The new laws that were required to receive the seal of approval from
the Queen or Prince Charles cover issues from higher education and paternity pay to identity cards
and child maintenance. In one instance the Queen completely vetoed ... a private member's bill
that sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against Iraq from the monarch to
parliament. "This is opening the eyes of those who believe the Queen only has a ceremonial
role," said Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives.
The four business gangs that run the US

http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-four-business-gangs-that-run-the-us-201212...
If you've ever suspected politics is increasingly being run in the interests of big business, ... Jeffrey
Sachs, a highly respected economist from Columbia University, agrees with you - at least in
respect of the United States. In his book, The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue
and Prosperity, he says the US economy is caught in a feedback loop. ''Corporate wealth
translates into political power through campaign financing, corporate lobbying and the
revolving door of jobs between government and industry; and political power translates
into further wealth through tax cuts, deregulation and sweetheart contracts between
government and industry. Wealth begets power, and power begets wealth,'' he says. Sachs
says four key sectors of US business exemplify this feedback loop and the takeover of political
power in America by the ''corporatocracy''. First is the well-known military-industrial complex.
Second is the Wall Street-Washington complex, which has steered the financial system towards
control by a few politically powerful Wall Street firms, notably Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and a handful of other financial firms. Third is the Big Oil-transportmilitary complex, which has put the US on the trajectory of heavy oil-imports dependence and a
deepening military trap in the Middle East, he says. Fourth is the healthcare industry, America's
largest industry, absorbing no less than 17 per cent of US gross domestic product.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corporate and
government corruption, click here and here.
F.B.I. Counterterrorism Agents Monitored Occupy Movement

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/nyregion/occupy-movement-was-investigated-b...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation used counterterrorism agents to investigate the Occupy Wall
Street movement, including its communications and planning, according to newly disclosed agency
records. The F.B.I. records show that as early as September 2011, an agent from a
counterterrorism task force in New York notified officials of two landmarks in Lower Manhattan
Federal Hall and the Museum of American Finance that their building was identified as a point
of interest for the Occupy Wall Street. In the following months, F.B.I. personnel around the country
were routinely involved in exchanging information about the movement with businesses, local law-
enforcement agencies and universities. An October 2011 memo from the bureaus
Jacksonville, Fla., field office was titled Domain Program Management Domestic Terrorist.
The memo said agents discussed past and upcoming meetings of the movement, and its
spread. It said agents should contact Occupy Wall Street activists to ascertain whether
people who attended their events had violent tendencies. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,
the F.B.I. has come under criticism for deploying counterterrorism agents to conduct surveillance
and gather intelligence on organizations active in environmental, animal-cruelty and poverty
issues. The records were obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a civil-rights
organization in Washington, through a Freedom of Information request to the F.B.I.
Note: For analysis of these amazing documents revealing the use of joint government and
corporate counterterrorism structures against peaceful protestors of financial corruption, click here
and here. For a Democracy Now! video segment on this, click here.
FBI Lab's woes cast a growing shadow

2012-12-23, The Independent/Washington Post
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-labs-woes-cast-a-growing...
Thousands of criminal cases at the state and local level may have relied on exaggerated testimony
or false forensic evidence to convict defendants of murder, rape and other felonies. The forensic
experts in these cases were trained by the same elite FBI team whose members gave misleading
court testimony about hair matches and later taught the local examiners to follow the same
suspect practices, according to interviews and documents. In July, the Justice Department
announced a nationwide review of all cases handled by the FBI Laboratory's hair and fibers unit
before 2000 at least 21,000 cases to determine whether improper lab reports or testimony
might have contributed to wrongful convictions. But about three dozen FBI agents trained 600
to 1,000 state and local examiners to apply the same standards that have proved
problematic. None of the local cases is included in the federal review. As a result, legal
experts say, although the federal inquiry is laudable, the number of flawed cases at the state and
local levels could be even higher, and those are going uncorrected. The FBI review was prompted
by a series of articles in The Washington Post about errors at the bureau's renowned crime lab
involving microscopic hair comparisons. The articles highlighted the cases of two District of
Columbia men who each spent more than 20 years in prison based on false hair matches by FBI
experts. Since The Post's articles, the men have been declared innocent by D.C. Superior Court
judges.
click here.
Report finds harsh CIA interrogations ineffective

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/report-finds-harsh-cia-...
The Senate intelligence committee approved a long-awaited report ... concluding that harsh
interrogation measures used by the CIA did not produce significant intelligence
breakthroughs. The 6,000-page document ... is the most detailed independent examination to
date of the agencys efforts to break dozens of detainees through physical and psychological
duress. Officials familiar with the report said it makes a detailed case that subjecting prisoners to
enhanced interrogation techniques did not help the CIA find Osama bin Laden and often [was]
counterproductive in the broader campaign against al-Qaeda. It could be months, if not years,
before the public gets even a partial glimpse of the report or its 20 findings and
conclusions. When that is completed, the committee will need to vote again on whether to
release even a portion of the report, a move likely to face opposition from the CIA, which has
fought to keep details of the interrogation program classified. Earlier this year, the Justice
Department closed investigations of alleged abuses, eliminating the prospect that CIA operatives
who had gone beyond the approved methods would face criminal charges. Civil liberties groups
praised the report.
The Economics of Being a U.S. Ambassador

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/the-economics-of-being-a-u-do...
To land a high-profile ambassadorship, it helps to have raised a ton of money for a successful
presidential candidate and know how to throw a good party. Thats one reason why President
Obama is considering Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour as the next U.S. ambassador to the
Court of St. Jamess in the U.K. Wintour raised more than $500,000 for Obama and inspired the
Runway to Win fashion line that brought in upwards of $40 million for his campaign. But thats
just the price of admission. The funds embassies receive from the U.S. Department of State
dont begin to cover the high costs of the frequent parties and dinners ambassadors are
expected to host. Some wind up paying more than $1 million a year out of their own
pockets, according to one of the presidents top donors who requested anonymity. This is why the
high-profile postings to places like France and Italy typically go to wealthy donors, rather than
career diplomats. The current ambassador to the U.K., Louis Susman, a former Chicago
investment banker, holds three to four social events a week, says an embassy spokeswoman, who
declined to give a cost estimate for these soirees. In exchange, appointees get perksbeginning
with the sought-after title of ambassador. In some Western European countries, they live in
sprawling estates such as Londons Winfield House. Its 12-and-a-half acres of private gardens are
exceeded only by those of Buckingham Palace. The ambassador to Italy can avail himself of a
three-story, 5,000-bottle wine cellar at the Villa Taverna in Rome.
click here.
Sibel Edmonds' "Classified Woman"

2012-12-12, The New American
http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/books/item/13807-sibel-edmonds-classifi...
Imagine that you have a Top Secret clearance and are privy to some of our countrys most
sensitive national security information. In that capacity, you discover that some of the highest
elected and appointed political leaders in the land are engaged in espionage and treason,
accepting bribes and selling weapons and information (including nuclear weapons secrets) to
foreign powers, including our enemies. Moreover, you learn that some of your co-workers are in
league with these conspirators, covering up the evidence trail and misdirecting those tasked with
preventing such security breaches. In her book Classified Woman: A Memoir, Edmonds recounts
the incredible story of her efforts, for more than a decade, to warn her adopted country of imminent
perils, only to be slapped down, harassed, smeared, and threatened. To prevent her explosive
testimony from seeing the light of day, President George W. Bush and Attorney General John
Ashcroft invoked the rarely used (until recently) state secrets privilege to gag not only
Edmonds, but also committees of Congress that were investigating her case, as well as the
Department of Justices Office of Inspector General and the FBIs own Office of
Professional Review. The preposterousness of the governments position is palpable. This is an
effort not to protect legitimate state secrets, but to protect criminality that has prospered in secrecy
for far too long. Sibel Edmonds is decidedly non-partisan in her scorn; she shows equal disdain for
Republicans and Democrats who sell out their country and betray their oaths of office. She names
names.
Note: For other major media articles showing how Ms. Edmonds has been targeted and suffered
for courageously speaking her truth, click here. This is the first major website to publish a review of
this most amazing book by a true hero. Though we don't support all of the objectives of the John
Birch Society, which publishes this website, we strongly support any efforts to reveal the truth
through people like Sibel Edmonds. The book has a very rare five-star rating on Amazon.com. To
get a copy, click here.
HSBC to Pay $1.92 Billion to Settle Charges of Money Laundering

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/hsbc-said-to-near-1-9-billion-settleme...
State and federal authorities decided against indicting HSBC in a money-laundering case
over concerns that criminal charges could jeopardize one of the worlds largest banks and
ultimately destabilize the global financial system. Instead, HSBC announced ... that it had
agreed to a record $1.92 billion settlement with authorities. The bank, which is based in Britain,
faces accusations that it transferred billions of dollars for nations like Iran and enabled Mexican
drug cartels to move money illegally through its American subsidiaries. The case, officials say, will
claim violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and Trading with the Enemy Act. While the settlement
with HSBC is a major victory for the government, the case raises questions about whether certain
financial institutions, having grown so large and interconnected, are too big to indict. Four years
after the failure of Lehman Brothers nearly toppled the financial system, regulators are still wary
that a single institution could undermine the recovery of the industry and the economy. But the
threat of criminal prosecution acts as a powerful deterrent. If authorities signal such actions are
remote for big banks, the threat could lose its sting.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government collusion
with financial corruption, click here.
U.N. to Israel: Open nuclear program to inspection

2012-12-04, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57556949/u.n-to-israel-open-nuclear-progr...
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution [on December 3] calling on
Israel to quickly open its nuclear program for inspection and backing a high-level conference to
ban nuclear weapons from the Middle East that was just canceled. All Arab nations and Iran had
planned to attend the conference in mid-December in Helsinki, Finland, but the United States
announced on Nov. 23 that it wouldn't take place, citing political turmoil in the region and Iran's
defiant stance on nonproliferation. Iran and some Arab nations countered that the real reason for
the cancellation was Israel's refusal to attend. The resolution, approved by a vote of 174-6 with
6 abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "without further
delay" and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy
Agency. Those voting "no" were Israel, the U.S., Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.
Israel refuses to confirm or deny it has nuclear bombs, though it is widely believed to have
a nuclear arsenal. It has refused to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, along with
three nuclear weapon states India, Pakistan and North Korea. The region's Muslim nations
argue that Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal presents the greatest threat to peace in the region.
United States of ALEC

http://truth-out.org/news/item/13108-united-states-of-alec
BILL MOYERS: ALEC [The American Legislative Exchange Council] is a nationwide consortium of
elected state legislators working side by side with some of America's most powerful corporations.
They have an agenda you should know about, a mission to remake America, changing the country
by changing its laws, one state at a time. ALEC creates what it calls "model legislation," procorporate laws its members push in statehouses across the nation. ALEC says close to a
thousand bills, based at least in part on its models, are introduced each year. And an average of
200 pass. This has been going on for decades. Lisa Graves, a former Justice Department attorney,
runs the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit investigative reporting group in Madison,
Wisconsin. In 2011 by way of an ALEC insider, Graves got her hands on a virtual library of internal
ALEC documents. She was amazed by its contents. LISA GRAVES: Bills to change the law to
make it harder for American citizens to vote, those were ALEC bills. Bills to dramatically
change the rights of Americans who were killed or injured by corporations, those were
ALEC bills. Bills to make it harder for unions to do their work were ALEC bills. Bills to
basically block climate change agreements, those were ALEC bills. BILL MOYERS: She and
her team ... found hundreds of corporations [involved], from Coca-Cola and Koch Industries to
Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, and Wal-Mart. There were more than ... 850 boilerplate laws that ALEC
legislators could introduce as their own in any state in the union.
click here.
DIA sending hundreds more spies overseas

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dia-to-send-hundreds-mo...
The Pentagon will send hundreds of additional spies overseas as part of an ambitious plan to
assemble an espionage network that rivals the CIA in size, U.S. officials said. The project is aimed
at transforming the Defense Intelligence Agency ... into a spy service focused on emerging threats
and more closely aligned with the CIA and elite military commando units. When the expansion is
complete, the DIA is expected to have as many as 1,600 collectors in positions around the world,
an unprecedented total. They will be trained by the CIA and often work with the U.S. Joint Special
Operations Command, but they will get their spying assignments from the Department of Defense.
Among the Pentagons top intelligence priorities, officials said, are Islamist militant groups in
Africa, weapons transfers by North Korea and Iran, and military modernization underway in China.
The Pentagons plan to create what it calls the Defense Clandestine Service, or DCS, reflects the
militarys latest and largest foray into secret intelligence work. The DIA overhaul combined with
the growth of the CIA since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will create a spy network of
unprecedented size. The expansion of the agencys clandestine role is likely to heighten
concerns that it will be accompanied by an escalation in lethal strikes and other operations
outside public view. Because of differences in legal authorities, the military isnt subject to
the same congressional notification requirements as the CIA.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on secret operations by the
DIA and CIA in the "global war on terror", click here.
Two Years of Cablegate as Bradley Manning Testifies for the First Time
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-assange/wikileaks-bradley-manning-testif...
November 29th ... marks the two-year anniversary of the first front pages around the world from
Cablegate, an archive of 251,287 U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. In collaboration with a
network of more than 100 press outlets [Wikileaks] revealed the full spectrum of techniques used
by the United States to exert itself around the world. The young intelligence analyst Bradley
Manning was detained as an alleged source. Manning has been detained without trial for 921
days. This is the longest pre-trial detention of a U.S. military soldier since at least the
Vietnam War. U.S. military law says the maximum is 120 days. The material that Bradley
Manning is alleged to have leaked has highlighted astonishing examples of U.S. subversion
of the democratic process around the world, systematic evasion of accountability for atrocities
and killings, and many other abuses. WikiLeaks released European Commission documents
showing that Senator Lieberman and Congressman Peter T. King directly influenced decisions by
PayPal, Visa and MasterCard to block donations to WikiLeaks. Since the release of the diplomatic
cables, WikiLeaks has continued its operations despite the financial blockade. The information
we've disclosed frustrates the controlled political discourse that is trumpeted by establishment
media and Western governments to shape public perception. We will continue our fight against the
financial blockade, and we will continue to publish. The Pentagon's threats against us do the
United States a disservice and will not be heeded.
Note: We don't usually use Huffington Post as a source, but as no other major media carried this
important and revealing article written by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, we are including it
here.
CIA Accused of Coverup in Military Scientists 1953 Fatal Fall

http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/CIA-Accused-of-Coverup-in-Mi...
Central Intelligence Agency employees murdered military scientist Frank Olson in 1953 after he
raised concerns about testing chemical and biological weapons on human subjects without their
consent, according to a lawsuit brought by his two sons. Eric and Nils Olson, in a complaint filed
against the U.S. yesterday in Washington, said the agency has covered up the cause of their
fathers death for 59 years. Frank Olson, who the CIA admitted was given LSD a few days
before his death, didnt jump from a 13th floor window of the Statler Hotel in New York City,
but rather was pushed, they claim. The circumstances surrounding the death mirrored
those detailed in an assassination manual that, upon information and belief, the CIA had
drafted that same year, Scott Gilbert, a lawyer for the Olsons, wrote in the complaint. Olsons
family has tried to piece together how Frank Olson died and the circumstances surrounding his
death ever since a 1975 government report on CIA activities in the U.S. said that he committed
suicide after being given LSD without his knowledge. Preston Golson, a CIA spokesman, said ...
that the agencys covert behavioral research program known as MK-ULTRA was investigated in
1975 by the Rockefeller Commission and the Church Committee, and in 1977 by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific
Research. Olsons sons said in the suit they have asked repeatedly to be told the truth about
their fathers death. Each time, the government has responded with falsehoods, they said.
Note: For lots more on the CIA's Operation MK Ultra, click here. For more on Frank Olson and
secret government mind control programs, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable
major media sources on the games intelligence agencies play, click here.
Report: Probe into Afghan bank scandal plagued by political

interference
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/report-afghan-probe-into-ban...
A scathing new report released [on November 28] details how high-level political interference and
institutional failures thwarted efforts to probe the 2010 collapse of Afghanistans largest bank,
recover hundreds of millions of dollars from fraudulent loans and prosecute the influential Afghans
who profited from a massive scheme to use depositors money as a private piggy bank. Without
naming names, an independent anti-corruption committee of Afghan and international experts
painted a damning portrait of foot-dragging, incompetence and blatant political manipulation
involving virtually every agency that was supposed to either investigate why the Kabul Bank failed
or take legal action against those responsible for looting it of more than $900 million. Kabul Bank
was nothing but a fraud perpetrated against depositors, and ultimately all Afghans, the
report says. Both the flagrant crimes and the repeated failures to pursue them, it said,
reflect an array of larger, worrisome problems that permeate Afghan society and
institutions, including incapacity, nepotism, entitlement and political interference. Over
and over, the report says, supposedly independent bodies such as the attorney generals office
deferred to higher political wishes. Earlier this year, about 20 bank associates were indicted on
charges including money laundering and using false documents or fictitious account names. The
report quotes sources as saying that a high-level committee, meaning a group of powerful
officials, decided which former bank associates would be charged with a crime and that
prosecutors were told to construct indictments to conform to the decisions.
here.
Rules on drone use overdue

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Rules-on-drone-use-overdue-4...
This country's secret, worldwide war waged by drones may at long last be restrained by
rules. But the writing of these guidelines will be overseen by President Obama, who has
secretly handpicked human targets for years with few restraints. Drones barely rated a
mention in the presidential campaign. But as the election drew close, nervous White House aides
reportedly began debating written limitations on the use of the pilotless aircraft, which remain an
off-the-books weapon. The idea, strange as it sounds, was to give the next president explicit
guidance on how to use the lethal planes, which have figured in 300 strikes and killed an estimated
2,500 people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. White House officials, according to a New York
Times report, wanted a rulebook in case GOP candidate Mitt Romney won. With Obama's reelection, the urgency behind such drafting has tapered off. Obama has directed drones at human
targets from a "kill list" given him by military and intelligence officials. There is no outside vetting,
legal review or congressional consensus on the president's personal strike force. This is a nation
of laws, due process and an expressed commitment to human rights. The White House owes the
nation a clear explanation of the scope and limits of this use of deadly force.
Note: If any other nation were using drones to kill terrorists in the U.S. or Europe, there would be a
huge public uproar. Why do people care so little about these indiscriminate killings elsewhere? For
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on drone killings and other war crimes
committed by the US in its wars of aggression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, click here.
Election Spurred a Move to Codify U.S. Drone Policy

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/world/white-house-presses-for-drone-rule-bo...
[There have been] more than 300 drone strikes and some 2,500 people killed by the Central
Intelligence Agency and the military since Mr. Obama first took office. Mr. Obama and his
advisers are still debating whether remote-control killing should be a measure of last resort against
imminent threats to the United States, or a more flexible tool, available to help allied governments
attack their enemies or to prevent militants from controlling territory. Though publicly the
administration presents a united front on the use of drones, behind the scenes there is
longstanding tension. The administration is still pushing to make the rules formal and resolve
internal uncertainty and disagreement about exactly when lethal action is justified. The Defense
Department and the C.I.A. continue to press for greater latitude to carry out strikes. The
administrations legal reasoning has not persuaded many other countries that the strikes
are acceptable under international law. For years before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United
States routinely condemned targeted killings of suspected terrorists by Israel, and most countries
still object to such measures. Partly because United Nations officials know that the United States is
setting a legal and ethical precedent for other countries developing armed drones, the U.N. plans
to open a unit in Geneva early next year to investigate American drone strikes.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on atrocities carried out by
the US in its illegal wars of aggression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, click here.
Prosecution of Anonymous activists highlights war for Internet control

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/23/anonymous-trial-wikileaks...
WikiLeaks ... has never been charged by any government with any crime, let alone convicted of
one. Despite that crucial fact, WikiLeaks has been crippled by a staggering array of extra-judicial
punishment imposed either directly by the US and allied governments or with their clear
acquiescence. In 2008, the Pentagon prepared a secret report ... that decreed WikiLeaks to be a
"threat to the US Army" and an enemy of the US. That report plotted tactics that "would damage
and potentially destroy" its ability to function. That is exactly what came to pass. In December
2010, after WikiLeaks began publishing US diplomatic cables, it was hit with cyber-attacks so
massive that the group was "forced to change its web address after the company providing its
domain name cut off service". Master Card and Visa both announced they would refuse to process
payments to the group, as did America's largest financial institution, Bank of America. Acting in the
name of Anonymous, a handful of activists targeted those companies with simple "denial of
service" attacks, ones that impeded the operations of those corporate websites for a few hours. In
stark contrast to the far more significant attacks aimed at WikiLeaks, these attacks,
designed to protest the treatment of WikiLeaks, spawned a global manhunt by western
nations and, ultimately, the arrest of dozens of mostly young alleged hackers, four of whom
are now on trial in London. Last year, the FBI arrested 16 people in the US in connection with
similar attacks on Master Card, Visa and Amazon, and charged them with crimes that carry 10year prison terms.
click here.
Phone hacking scandal: Ex-confidants of U.K. PM charged with illegal

payments to government officials
2012-11-20, Toronto Star (One of Toronto's leading newspapers)
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1290225--phone-hacking-scandal-ex-c...
Two former confidants of Britains prime minister have been charged with conspiring to pay public
officials in exchange for stories and information the latest development in the countrys
establishment-shaking scandal over media malfeasance. Britains Crown Prosecution Services
[said] that former tabloid editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks were among five people
being charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Prosecutors said that
Brooks, a neighbour, close friend, and political ally of Prime Minister David Cameron,
conspired with journalist John Kay to funnel as much as 100,000 ($160,000) to Ministry of
Defence employee Bettina Jordan Barber in return for seven years of stories that were
published in Murdochs The Sun newspaper. The allegations cover 2004 to 2011, when Brooks
was editor of The Sun and then in charge of News International, the parent company of Rupert
Murdochs media empire. The prosecutors alleged that Coulson, who until last year served as
Camerons top press aide, conspired in 2005 with former royal reporter Clive Goodman to pay
officials for access to a royal phone directory known as the Green Book. The confidential
directory includes home and office numbers for senior royals including two of Queen Elizabeths
children, Prince Edward and Princess Anne, as well as the landline, office and mobile numbers of
the royal household staff, the Telegraph reported.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on media corruption, click
here.
SEC Rocked By Lurid Sex-and-Corruption Lawsuit
2012-11-19, Rolling Stone blog

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/sec-rocked-by-lurid-sex-a...
Move over, adulterous generals. It might be time to make way for a new sexual rats' nest at
America's top financial police agency, the SEC. In a salacious 77-page complaint ... David Weber,
the former chief investigator for the SEC Inspector General's office, accuses the SEC of retaliating
against Weber for coming forward as a whistleblower. According to this lawsuit, Weber was made
a target of [retaliation] after he came forward with concerns that his bosses may have been
spending more time copulating than they were investigating the SEC. Weber claims that in recent
years, while the SEC Inspector General's office has been attempting to investigate the agency's
seemingly-negligent responses in such matters as the Bernie Madoff case and the less-well-known
(but nearly as disturbing) Stanford Financial Ponzi scandal, two of the IG office's senior officials
former Inspector General David Kotz and his successor, Noelle Maloney were sleeping
together. Weber also claims that Kotz was also having an affair with a lawyer representing a
key group of Stanford victims, a Dr. Gaytri Kachroo. Weber claims that Maloney last year
refused to meet with Kachroo as part of the Stanford investigation. By then, Kotz had stepped
down as SEC IG and Maloney had replaced him as Acting IG. Weber was fired on October 31st.
Apparently he has decided not to take the firing quietly. "When David Weber began to uncover the
depth of dysfunction at the SEC, they fired him," his attorney Cary Hansel said. "He has no
intention of being silenced by threats and false allegations."
Note: We don't normally use Rolling Stone as a source, but this important story has not been
covered elsewhere in the major media.
Congress approves federal whistleblower protections

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/congress-approves-federal-whistleblower-p...
Congress has finally approved legislation to strengthen protections for federal whistleblowers. The
legislation is designed to protect employees who expose government wrongdoing against
retaliation by supervisors. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which will enforce the
Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), praised the Senates action. In a statement,
OSC said the legislation will: *Overturn court decisions that narrowed protections for government
whistleblowers. *Give whistleblower protections to employees who are not currently covered,
including Transportation Security Administration officers. *Restore the Office of Special Counsels
ability to seek disciplinary actions against supervisors who retaliate. *Hold agencies accountable
for retaliatory investigations. Whistleblower advocates hailed congressional approval of the
legislation. The WPEA closes many loopholes and upgrades protections for federal workers
who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, abuse and illegality, said Angela Canterbury, director
of public policy for the Project On Government Oversight. With the Senates action, free speech
rights for government employees never have been stronger, said Tom Devine, legal director
of the Government Accountability Project. But Devine added that the legislation is not all that
advocates wanted. It would be dishonest to say our work is done, however, or to deny that
government whistleblower rights are still second class compared to those in the private sector, he
said.
click here.
Sense of entitlement behind military ethics scandals?

2012-11-14, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/13/generals-behavior-milita...
Three of the military's most senior leaders are embroiled in ethics scandals. The latest, Marine
Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, is under investigation for more than 20,000
pages of material including e-mails sent to Jill Kelley, the woman involved in the scandal that
forced David Petraeus to resign as CIA director. Allen succeeded Petraeus in Kabul. An
Associated Press report ... called the e-mails "flirtatious." Experts speculate that these lapses
stem from the sense of entitlement in the upper reaches that exists not just in the armed
services. "It's an old narrative that those at the top often become poisoned by their power,"
said Peter Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Two
other members of the top brass face ethics probes of their own. Adm. James Stavridis, head of
European Command, was criticized last week in an Pentagon inspector general report that cited
his use of military aircraft for personal business, including a trip to a Burgundy wine-tasting society.
Earlier this year, Army Gen. William "Kip" Ward, then head of U.S. Africa Command, was
hammered by another inspector general report for lavish travel and improper use of military
transportation and staff. The report said Ward and his wife had staff pick up their laundry and do
their shopping. [Allen] had been scheduled for a Senate confirmation hearing this week for his new
post: succeeding Stavridis as chief of European Command. That hearing has been postponed.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on military corruption, click
here.
Afghan corruption, and how the U.S. facilitates it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/afghan-corruption-and-h...
When it comes to corruption in Afghanistan, the time may be now for the United States to look in
the mirror and see what lessons can be learned from contracting out parts of that war. On Sept.
30, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told CBSs 60 Minutes that the corruption wracking his
government and its people has been at a level not ever before seen in Afghanistan. In the
1980s, when the Soviets ran the country, the government was not even 5 percent as
corrupt, Karzai said. The Soviets didnt give contracts to the relatives, brothers and the
kin of the influential and high ups, he said. The Americans did, and they continue to do,
but we get blamed for it. The record shows Karzai has a point with which others agree. It is
time that we as Americans in government, in the media, and as analysts and academics took
a hard look at the causes of corruption in Afghanistan. The fact is that we are at least as much to
blame for what has happened as the Afghans, and we have been grindingly slow to either admit
our efforts or correct them. That was written in September 2010 by Anthony H. Cordesman ... in a
Center for Strategic and International Studies report, "How America Corrupted Afghanistan." He
particularly criticized the military contracting process, saying, The bulk of the money actually spent
inside Afghanistan went through poorly supervised military contracts and through aid projects
where the emphasis was speed, projected starts, and measuring progress in terms of spending
rather than results. U.S. and foreign contractors poured money into a limited number of Afghan
powerbrokers who set up companies that were corrupt and did not perform."
click here.
Dark Money: The Rise of Outside Spending in 2012

http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/01/dark-money/
The moneymen behind the outfit spending the most on the Medicare attack ads ... will not show
their faces. The money is being spent through a Washington-based group, Americans for Tax
Reform (ATR), that calls itself a social welfare nonprofit, so it does not need to reveal its donors
to the public. This sort of thing has been happening a lot this year in House and Senate races
around the country. Candidates have found their modest war chests, filled with checks for $2,500
or less, swamped by outside groups, which have no limits on the donations they can collect. In all,
more than $800 million was spent through mid-October on election ads by outside groups,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Of that total, nearly 1 in 4 dollars is so-called dark
money, meaning the identities of the donors remain a secret. Voters watching TV, listening to the
radio or receiving direct-mail appeals know only the names of the front organizations that bought
the ads. In the past two years, American politics has been transformed by a surge in spending.
One fact tells the story: explicit political-ad spending by outside groups in 2012 is on track to
double the combined total spent by outside groups in each of the four elections since 2002. Ads
purchased with untraceable money tend to be among the most vicious. Nearly 9 in 10 darkmoney spots are negative, and an analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found
that 26% of the ads are deceptive. Almost all of it 83%, according to one review has
been directed against Democrats.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the corruption of the US
electoral system, click here.
When corporations bankroll politics, we all pay the price

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/29/capitalism-bankrolls-poli...
It's a revolting spectacle: the two presidential candidates engaged in a frantic and demeaning
scramble for money. By 6 November, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will each have raised more
than $1bn. Other groups have already spent a further billion. Every election costs more than the
one before; every election, as a result, drags the United States deeper into cronyism and
corruption. Is it conceivable, for instance, that Romney, whose top five donors are all Wall Street
banks, would put the financial sector back in its cage? Or that Obama, who has received $700,000
from both Microsoft and Google, would challenge their monopolistic powers? Or, in the Senate,
that the leading climate change denier James Inhofe, whose biggest donors are fossil fuel
companies, could change his views, even when confronted by an overwhelming weight of
evidence? The US feeding frenzy shows how the safeguards and structures of a nominal
democracy can remain in place while the system they define mutates into plutocracy. Despite
perpetual attempts to reform it, US campaign finance is now more corrupt and corrupting
than it has been for decades. It is hard to see how it can be redeemed. If the corporate
cronies and billionaires' bootlickers who currently hold office were to vote to change the
system, they'd commit political suicide. We should see this system as a ghastly warning of
what happens if a nation fails to purge the big money from politics.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the corruption of the US
Iraq records huge rise in birth defects

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/iraq-...
It played unwilling host to one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq war. Fallujah's ... residents
changed the name of their "City of Mosques" to "the polluted city" after the United States launched
two massive military campaigns eight years ago. A new study reports a "staggering rise" in birth
defects among Iraqi children conceived in the aftermath of the war. High rates of miscarriage, toxic
levels of lead and mercury contamination and spiralling numbers of birth defects ranging from
congenital heart defects to brain dysfunctions and malformed limbs have been recorded. There is
"compelling evidence" to link the increased numbers of defects and miscarriages to military
assaults, says Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, one of the lead authors of the report and an
environmental toxicologist at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health. US marines first
bombarded Fallujah in April 2004. Seven months later, the marines stormed the city for a second
time, using some of the heaviest US air strikes deployed in Iraq. American forces later admitted
that they had used white phosphorus shells, although they never admitted to using depleted
uranium, which has been linked to high rates of cancer and birth defects. The new findings,
published in the [Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology], will bolster claims that
US and Nato munitions used in the conflict led to a widespread health crisis in Iraq. The latest
study found that in Fallujah, more than half of all babies surveyed were born with a birth
defect between 2007 and 2010. Before the siege, this figure was more like one in 10. Prior to
the turn of the millennium, fewer than 2 per cent of babies were born with a defect.
Note: Similar defects have been found among children born in Basra after British troops invaded,
according to the report at the link above. For a five-minute BBC clip showing how the damage
inflicted on Iraqi babies is being covered up at the highest levels, click here. For more on this, click
here.
Intelligence Effort Named Citizens, Not Terrorists

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/intelligence-effort-named-citizens...
A multibillion-dollar information-sharing program created in the aftermath of 9/11 has improperly
collected information about innocent Americans and produced little valuable intelligence on
terrorism, a Senate report concludes. It portrays an effort that ballooned far beyond anyone's
ability to control. What began as an attempt to put local, state and federal officials in the same
room analyzing the same intelligence has instead cost huge amounts of money for data-mining
software, flat screen televisions and, in Arizona, two fully equipped Chevrolet Tahoes that are used
for commuting, investigators found. The report underscores a reality of post-9/11 Washington:
National security programs tend to grow, never shrink, even when their money and
manpower far surpass the actual subject of terrorism. When fusion centers did address
terrorism, they sometimes did so in ways that infringed on civil liberties. The centers have
made headlines for circulating information about Ron Paul supporters, the ACLU, activists on both
sides of the abortion debate, war protesters and advocates of gun rights. One fusion center cited in
the Senate investigation wrote a report about a Muslim community group's list of book
recommendations. Others discussed American citizens speaking at mosques or talking to Muslim
groups about parenting. No evidence of criminal activity was contained in those reports. The
government did not circulate them, but it kept them on government computers. The federal
government is prohibited from storing information about First Amendment activities not related to
crimes.
Energy firm uses 'land grabs' to secure fracking rights from reluctant
landowners
2012-10-02, NBC News
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/02/14183177-energy-firm-uses-lan...
Ranjana Bhandari and her husband knew the natural gas beneath their ranch-style home in
Arlington, Texas, could be worth a lot - especially when they got offer after offer from Chesapeake
Energy Corp. Their repeated refusals didn't stop Chesapeake, the second-largest natural gas
producer in the United States. This June, after petitioning a Texas state agency for an exception to
a 93-year-old statute, the company effectively secured the ability to drain the gas from beneath the
Bhandari property anyway -- without having to pay the couple a penny. In fact, since January
2005, the Texas agency has rejected just five of Chesapeake's 1,628 requests for such
exceptions. Chesapeake's use of the Texas law is among the latest examples of how the
company executes what it calls a "land grab" -- an aggressive leasing strategy intended to
lock up prospective drilling sites and lock out competitors. Chesapeake has become the
principal player in the largest land boom in America since the California Gold Rush of the late
1840s and 50s, amassing drilling rights on more land than almost any U.S. energy company. After
years of leasing tracts from New York to Wyoming, the company now controls the right to drill for
oil and gas on about 15 million acres -- roughly the size of West Virginia.
click here.
US calls Assange 'enemy of state'

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/us-calls-assange-enemy-of-state-...
The US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency. Declassified
US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws,
reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at
risk of being charged with "communicating with the enemy", a military crime that carries a
maximum sentence of death. The documents, some originally classified "Secret/NoForn" - not
releasable to non-US nationals - record a probe by the air force's Office of Special Investigations
into a cyber systems analyst based in Britain who allegedly expressed support for WikiLeaks and
attended pro-Assange demonstrations in London. The suspected offence was "communicating
with the enemy, 104-D", an article in the US Uniform Code of Military Justice that prohibits military
personnel from "communicating, corresponding or holding intercourse with the enemy". US VicePresident Joe Biden labelled Mr Assange a "high-tech terrorist" in December 2010 and US
congressional leaders have called for him to be charged with espionage. Sarah Palin and Mike
Huckabee - both once involved in presidential campaigns - have both urged that Mr Assange be
"hunted down". Mr Assange's US attorney, Michael Ratner, said the designation of WikiLeaks
as an "enemy" had serious implications for the WikiLeaks publisher if he were to be
extradited to the US, including possible military detention.
Note: So revealing top secrets can cause you to be labelled an enemy of the state. Write you
political and media representatives to protest this stance. For analysis of this story, click here. For
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on military corruption, click here.
Drone strikes kill, maim and traumatize many civilians, U.S. study says
2012-09-25, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/world/asia/pakistan-us-drone-strikes/index.html
U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have killed far more people than the United States has
acknowledged, have traumatized innocent residents and largely been ineffective, according to a
new study released [on September 25]. The study by Stanford Law School and New York
University's School of Law calls for a re-evaluation of the practice, saying the number of "highlevel" targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low -- about 2%. In contrast to
more conservative U.S. statements, the Stanford/NYU report -- titled "Living Under Drones" -offers starker figures published by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent
organization based at City University in London. Based on interviews with witnesses, victims and
experts, the report accuses the CIA of "double-striking" a target, moments after the initial
hit, thereby killing first responders. It also highlights harm "beyond death and physical
injury," publishing accounts of psychological trauma experienced by people living in
Pakistan's tribal northwest region, who it says hear drones hover 24 hours a day. "Before
this we were all very happy," the report quotes an anonymous resident as saying. "But after these
drones attacks a lot of people are victims and have lost members of their family. A lot of them, they
have mental illnesses." People have to live with the fear that a strike could come down on them at
any moment of the day or night, leaving behind dead whose "bodies are shattered to pieces," and
survivors who must be desperately sped to a hospital.
Note: Visit the Living Under Drones website here. For a Democracy Now! report on the results of
this study click here. For more analysis click here and here.
Researcher to discuss military testing in St. Louis in the 1950s

2012-09-23, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis' leading newspaper)
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/researcher-to-discuss-military-testi...
At 11:05 on a February night in 1953, a worker employed by the U.S. Army opened a valve on a
motorized blower and for five minutes dispersed a mysterious fluffy powder into downtown St.
Louis. So began military-sponsored tests in St. Louis that remained secret for four decades and, to
this day, raise questions about what the government was up to in the Cold War operation. St. Louis
was among several cities where the aerosol testing took place in the 1950s and 1960s with zinc
cadmium sulfide, a chemical powder mixed with fluorescent particles so that dispersal patterns
could be traced. In 1953 alone, the military conducted 16 tests involving 35 separate releases of
zinc cadmium sulfide in St. Louis, many in an area described at the time as "a densely populated
slum district." The Army conceded later that the tests were part of a biological weapons program
and that St. Louis was chosen because it roughly matched the population and terrain of Russian
cities that the United States might attack. Relying heavily on documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act, [Prof. Lisa] Martino-Taylor identifies connections between
participants in the St. Louis testing and scientists who took part in wartime efforts to build
the atomic bomb. Noting postwar efforts to test radioactive materials on Americans, she
raises suspicions that the St. Louis testing involved not just materials called harmless by
the Army but possibly radioactive isotopes. Martino-Taylor found in her research that the
aerosol particles were milled so as to be easily absorbed into lungs.
Note: For a follow-up news video on this, click here. Many other examples of secret spraying and
other tests using unknowing humans as guinea pigs with links for verification are listed at this link.
For reliable evidence of chemtrails endangering public health, click here. For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on secret military and intelligence agency
experimentation on unwitting civilians, click here.
The Face of Indefinite Detention

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/opinion/life-and-death-at-guantanamo-bay.html
Before he died on Sept. 8, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif had spent close to 4,000 days and nights in
the American prison at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba. He was found unconscious, alone in his cell,
thousands of miles from home and family in Yemen. Like so many men still imprisoned at
Guantnamo, Mr. Latif was fleeing American bombing - not fighting - when he was apprehended
by the Pakistani police near the Afghan border and turned over to the United States military. He
was never charged with a crime. The United States government claims the legal authority to
hold men like Mr. Latif until the "war on terror" ends, which is to say, forever. Setting aside
this troubling legal proposition, his death and the despair he endured in the years
preceding it remind us of the toll Guantnamo takes on human beings. Adnan Latif is the
human face of indefinite detention. [In 2010] a United States District Court judge hearing Mr.
Latifs habeas corpus petition ordered him released, ruling that the accusations against him were
"unconvincing" and that his detention was "not lawful." By that time, Mr. Latif had been cleared for
release from Guantnamo on three separate occasions, including in 2009 by the Obama
administrations multiagency Guantnamo Review Task Force. Nevertheless, the Department of
Justice appealed the district courts decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit - which has ruled in the governments favor in nearly every habeas corpus
appeal it has heard.
Proposition 37 in California: A high-stakes food fight

http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_21391702/proposition-37-california-hi...
If Proposition 37 passes, California would become the first state in the nation to require new labels
on a host of food products commonly found on grocery store shelves. Many other nations,
including Japan, China and a host of European countries, already label genetically
engineered food. In the United States, however, products that contain genetically engineered
ingredients are generally not labeled. Proponents ... have raised $2.8 million. A company owned
by Joseph Mercola, a controversial holistic health activist from Illinois with more than 100,000
Twitter followers, has kicked in $800,000. Opponents have raised nine times as much. Almost all
of the nearly $25 million has come from a variety of chemical, seed and processed-food
companies. Monsanto, a leading producer of genetically engineered seeds, donated $4.2 million,
the largest donation. The labeling initiative largely covers processed foods. Milk, cheese and other
dairy products made from cows that are injected with the bovine growth hormone or eat genetically
engineered feed like alfalfa would be exempt, but meat or dairy products from animals that are
genetically engineered would be labeled. In 2000, 25 percent of the corn planted in the United
States was genetically engineered, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By
2012, that figure had soared to 88 percent. The group California Right to Know, which is leading
the pro-labeling campaign, is counting on a vast social media network and volunteers to get its
message out. Stacy Malkan, a spokeswoman for the yes campaign, said [this] "is a people's
movement against out-of-state corporations."
Note: A graph in this article shows that 94% of the funds raised against Proposition 37 came from
outside of California. And how interesting that Dr. Mercola is called controversial, considering that
he now has nearly 2 million subscribers to his mos excellent email list. For an article titled "The
Top 10 Lies Told by Monsanto on GMO Labeling in California," click here. For a great collection of
past major media articles revealing the serious risks and dangers of genetically modified foods,
click here.
The Program
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domes...
[William] Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency turned whistle-blower, ...
described details about Stellar Wind, the N.S.A.s top-secret domestic spying program begun after
9/11, which was so controversial that it nearly caused top Justice Department officials to resign in
protest, in 2004. The decision must have been made in September 2001, Mr. Binney told me
[and] cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. Thats when the equipment started coming in. He
resigned over this in 2001 and began speaking out publicly in the last year. [Binney] is among a
group of N.S.A. whistle-blowers, including Thomas A. Drake, who have each risked
everything their freedom, livelihoods and personal relationships to warn Americans
about the dangers of N.S.A. domestic spying. The N.S.A. has technical abilities that are
nearly impossible to defend against if you are targeted. The 2008 amendments to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, which oversees the N.S.A. activities, are up for renewal in December.
Two members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon
and Mark Udall of Colorado ... have been warning about secret interpretations of laws and
backdoor loopholes that allow the government to collect our private communications. Thirteen
senators have signed a letter expressing concern about a loophole in the law that permits the
collection of United States data. The A.C.L.U. and other groups have also challenged the
constitutionality of the law, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case on Oct. 29.
Note: The video about this on the NY Times webpage at the link above is quite revealing. One
potent comment of this 32-year NSA veteran in the video is "They wanted to highly classify the
extreme impeachable crimes they were committing." For deeply revealing reports from reliable
major media sources on government and corporate surveillance, click here.
The bizarre, unhealthy, blinding media contempt for Julian Assange

"http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/22/julian-assange-media-con...
Is it not remarkable that one of the very few individuals over the past decade to risk his welfare,
liberty and even life to meaningfully challenge the secrecy regime on which the American national
security state (and those of its obedient allies) depends just so happens to have become long
before he sought asylum from Ecuador the most intensely and personally despised figure among
the American and British media class and the British "liberal" intelligentsia? In 2008 two years
before the release of the "collateral murder" video, the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, and the
diplomatic cables the Pentagon prepared a secret report which proclaimed WikiLeaks to be an
enemy of the state and plotted ways to destroy its credibility and reputation. But in a stroke of
amazing luck, Pentagon operatives never needed to do any of that, because the
establishment media in the US and Britain harbor at least as much intense personal
loathing for the group's founder as the US government does, and eagerly took the lead in
targeting him. Many people like to posit the US national security state and western media outlets
as adversarial forces, but here as is so often the case they have so harmoniously joined in
common cause. Whatever else is true, establishment media outlets show unlimited personal
animus toward the person who, as a panel of judges put it when they awarded him the the 2011
Martha Gellhorn prize for journalism, "has given the public more scoops than most journalists can
imagine."
click here.
Why was a Navy adviser stripped of her career?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/sunk/2012/08/21/96209788-ceb...
It was 2007, and [Gwenyth] Todd, then 42, was a top political adviser to the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet.
Previous 5th Fleet commanders had resisted various ploys by Bush administration hawks to
threaten the Tehran regime. But in spring 2007, a new commander arrived with an ambitious
program to show the Iranians who was boss in the Persian Gulf. Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff ...
was itching to push the Iranians, Todd and other present and former Navy officials say. Cosgriffs
idea, presented in a series of staff meetings, was to sail three big decks, as aircraft carriers are
known, through the Strait of Hormuz to put a virtual armada, unannounced, on Irans doorstep.
No advance notice, even to Saudi Arabia and other gulf allies. Not only that, they said, Cosgriff
ordered his staff to keep the State Department in the dark, too. To Todd, it was like something
straight out of Seven Days in May, the 1964 political thriller about a right-wing U.S. military coup.
Todd feared that the Iranians would respond, possibly by launching fast-attack missile boats into
the gulf or unleashing Hezbollah on Israel. Then anything could happen: a collision, a jittery
exchange of gunfire bad enough on its own, but also an incident that Washington hawks
could seize on to justify an all-out response on Iran. Preposterous? It had happened before,
off North Vietnam in 1964. In the Tonkin Gulf incident, a Navy captain claimed a communist
attack on his ship. President Lyndon Johnson swiftly ordered the bombing of North Vietnam,
touching off a wider war that turned the country upside down and left more than 58,000 U.S.
servicemen dead.
Note: Todd eventually was stripped of her career under most unusual circumstances. This entire
article is most intriguing and informative about the inner workings of the military. For more on this,
click here.
Prop. 37: Consumers need to know

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Prop-37-Consumers-need-to-kno...
Voters will decide on an issue this November that affects us all: our right to know what's in our
food. Millions of Californians are saying: We want to know, and we have the right to know, if our
food has been genetically engineered. Parents, farmers, health care professionals,
environmentalists, politicians and labor groups want to know, too. Proposition 37 requires
companies to add a few words to labels if their food has been genetically modified. Also called
GMOs, these modified plant and animal products have been altered in a lab to combine DNA from
one species with another to create combinations that don't occur in nature. An example is
Monsanto's genetically modified sweet corn, which has been engineered to contain an insecticide,
Bt toxin, within the corn itself. Voters and consumers also have environmental concerns. GMO
crops have led to an overall increase in pesticide use, the emergence of superweeds and
superbugs, and the unintentional contamination of non-GMO crops with GMO-crop pollens. Here
in California, out-of-state pesticide and food companies have contributed $25 million to
blanket the airwaves with deceptive commercials trying to persuade us that labeling is too
costly, scary or confusing. We've heard it all before. They used the same tactics to claim
hardship if they were forced to tell consumers about calories, fat content or other information we
use every day to choose our food. We're not buying these scare stories. It's a simple label. We
have a right to know what's in our food. This is how our country is supposed to work - we are free
to make informed choices. Proposition 37 will help us exercise that freedom about what we eat.
We urge you to vote yes on Prop. 37.
Note: For a great collection of past major media articles revealing the serious risks and dangers of
genetically modified foods, click here.
Ag Giants Spend Big to Defeat Labeling Initiative

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ag-giants-spend-big-defeat-labeling-initia...
The nation's largest agribusiness and biotech companies are pouring millions of dollars into
California to stop the first-ever initiative to require special labels on foods made with genetically
modified ingredients, a sign of their determination to keep the measure from sparking a nationwide
movement. So far, farming giants such as Monsanto, Dupont Pioneer and Cargill have contributed
nearly $25 million to defeat the proposal, with much of that cash coming in the past few days.
Monsanto, the largest contributor, gave $4.2 million this week. It's nearly 10 times the amount
raised by backers of the ballot measure who say California's health-conscious shoppers want
more information about the food they eat. With nearly three months to go before the November
election, the measure's opponents appear to be following the previous blueprint developed
by major industries to defeat ballot initiatives in the nation's largest consumer market:
Raise large sums of money to swamp the airwaves with negative advertising. The food
initiative, known as Proposition 37, ... would require most processed foods to bear a label by 2014
letting shoppers know if the items contain ingredients derived from plants with DNA altered with
genes from other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria. "It's an epic food fight between the pesticide
companies and consumers who want to know what's in their food," said Stacy Malkan, media
director for the California Right to Know campaign.
Note: For a powerful essay showing the grave risks and dangers of GMOs, click here. For deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources on genetically modified foods, click here.
Washington's Wall Street Sugar Daddies

2012-08-14, Yes! Magazine
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/washingtons-wall-street-sugar-daddies
How much is democracy worth to you? If youre like most people, its priceless. But for the hedge
funds and insurance companies on Wall Street, it does have a price tag: approximately $4.2 billion.
Thats how much the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (F.I.R.E.) sector has invested in political
influence through campaign contributions and lobbying since 2006. That comes to $1,331 a minute
spent on political power. The new report is called Meet the F.I.R.E. Sector: How Wall Street Is
Burning Democracy. It was developed by Elect Democracy, a nonpartisan effort ... to expose and
challenge the impact of corporate money in U.S. politics. The report ... analyzes exactly how
Wall Street has secured ... industry-loyal voting practices in Congress: by shoveling
stacks of campaign cash in the direction of Congressional hopefuls from both major
political parties. That money lets these industries get what they want in Washington. The
F.I.R.E. sector contributed $879 million to members of Congress since 2006, and took
positions on 383 bills during the 112th Congress. For instance, they supported Free Trade
Agreements with Korea, Panama, and Colombia in 2007, and backed the bailout in 2008. Bills they
opposed include the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, the
Limited Homeowner and Investor Loss in Foreclosure Act of 2010, and the Stop Student Loan
Interest Rate Hike Act of 2011. At every turn, the F.I.R.E. sector demands special treatment for
Wall Street while consumers, homeowners, and students get stuck with the bills.
Note: Though not a major media source, Yes! Magazine is one of the very few media working
towards positive, sustainable solutions to the problems of our world. For deeply revealing reports
from reliable major media sources on the corrupt relationship between government and the
financial sector, click here.
Trapwire surveillance system exposed in document leak

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/trapwire-surveillance-system-expo...
[Trapwire is] a CCTV surveillance system that recognises people from their face or walk and
analyses whether they might be about to commit a terrorist or criminal act. According to
documents released online by WikiLeaks [it] is being used in a number of countries to try to
monitor people and threats. Founded by former CIA agents, Trapwire uses data from a network of
CCTV systems and numberplate readers to figure out the threat level in huge numbers of
locations. The documents outlining Trapwire's existence and its deployment in the US were
apparently obtained in a hack of computer systems belonging to the intelligence company Stratfor
at the end of last year. Documents from the US department of homeland security show that it paid
$832,000 to deploy Trapwire in Washington DC and Seattle. Stratfor describes Trapwire as "a
unique, predictive software system designed to detect patterns of pre-attack surveillance
and logistical planning". It serves "a wide range of law enforcement personnel and public
and private security officials domestically and internationally", Stratfor says. Some have
expressed doubts that Trapwire could really forecast [future] acts based on data from cameras.
The claims might seem overblown, but then the idea that the US could have an international
monitoring system seemed absurd until the discovery of the Echelon system, used by the US to
eavesdrop on electronic communications internationally.
Note: For more on the growing use of this secret technology, click here. For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on privacy, click here.
Nuclear waste issues freeze permits for U.S. power plants

2012-08-09, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/09/news/economy/nuclear-plants-waste/index.htm
The U.S. government said it will stop issuing permits for new nuclear power plants and license
extensions for existing facilities until it resolves issues around storing radioactive waste. The
government's main watchdog, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, believes that current
storage plans are safe and achievable. But a federal court said that the NRC didn't detail
what the environmental consequences would be if the agency is wrong. There are 14
reactors awaiting license renewals at the NRC, and an additional 16 reactors awaiting permits for
new construction. Nuclear waste disposal has been a daunting political question that is still
unanswered after decades of study. Nuclear watchdog groups -- which don't agree with the NRC's
assertion that the waste is currently safely stored -- are hoping the new review will provide an
opportunity to push for stricter standards at nuclear power plants. There are currently 104
operating nuclear reactors at 64 plants across the country. Half are over 30 years old. '"The court
is ordering them to do this analysis that should have been done a long time ago," said
Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In particular, UCS and
others want less of the waste to be stored in pools of water, which they believe are vulnerable to
sudden draining and possible meltdown.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption in the nuclear
power industry, click here.
The Obama administration has torpedoed the arms trade treaty

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/03/obama-administration-arms...
In late June, activists gathered in New York's Times Square to make the ... point that, unbelievably,
"there are more rules governing your ability to trade a banana from one country to the next
than governing your ability to trade an AK-47 or a military helicopter". So said Amnesty
International USA's Suzanne Nossel ... just before the start of the UN conference on the Arms
Trade Treaty (ATT), which ran from 2 July to 27 July. Thanks to a last-minute declaration by the
United States that it "needed more time" to review the short, 11-page treaty text, the conference
ended last week in failure. There isn't much that could be considered controversial in the treaty.
Signatory governments agree not to export weapons to countries that are under an arms embargo,
or to export weapons that would facilitate "the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity,
war crimes" or other violations of international humanitarian law. Exports of arms are banned if
they will facilitate "gender-based violence or violence against children" or be used for
"transnational organised crime". Why does the US need more time than the more than 90 other
countries that had sufficient time to read and approve the text? The answer lies in the power
of the gun lobby [and] the arms industry. The US is the world's largest weapons producer, exporter
and importer. Protesters outside the UN during the ATT conference erected a mock graveyard,
with each headstone reading: "2,000 people killed by arms every day." That's more than one
person killed every minute.
click here.
Activists subpoenaed to grand jury meeting in Seattle

2012-08-01, Seattle Times blog
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/08/activists-subpoened-to-thursday-g...
Two Portland residents say they will appear before a federal grand jury in Seattle Thursday in an
investigation of anarchist activity, according to a statement they released on [August 1]. Grand jury
subpoenas have also been served to activists in Olympia and Seattle ... according to the Seattle
Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which identifies itself as an association of progressive
lawyers. The guild urged the U.S. Attorneys Office to drop the subpoenas [because] they
were being used as a pretext for harassing political activists. It concerns us any time
there are law-enforcement raids that target political literature, first amendment-protected
materials, [guild spokesman Neil] Fox said. Two weeks before a heavily armed, July 25 FBI raid
that Dennison Williams and Leah-Lynn Plante said took place at their Portland home, the Seattle
Police Department SWAT team seized evidence connected to the May Day investigation from a
Judkins Park apartment of Occupy Seattle members. In both cases, those searched told media
that law-enforcement charged into their homes [with a battering-ram] early in the morning
and used a stun grenade, a non-lethal object that creates a disorienting loud bang and bright
light. Williams told The Oregonian that the FBI took his laptop computer, cell phone, two thumb
drives, multiple pieces of black clothing, and a T-shirt that read on the front Multi Death
Corporations.
Note: Amazingly, the FBI raids on political activists in Seattle and Portland have gone completely
unreported by the mass media. For analysis of the FBI's attacks on dissenters, click here, here
and here. For a Democracy Now! video report, click here. For deeply revealing reports from
reliable major media sources on civil liberties, click here.
Mexico Files Drug Charges Against 3 Generals

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-lodges-drug-charges-gene...
Mexican prosecutors formally filed drug charges ... against four high-ranking army officers,
including three generals and a lieutenant colonel. They are the highest-ranking Mexican
army officials arrested in at least 15 years, and allegedly provided protection for the
Beltran-Leyva drug cartel. The Attorney General's Office said charges of "organized crime to
further drug trafficking" were lodged against retired generals Tomas Angeles Dauahare and
Ricardo Escorcia, as well as active service Gen. Roberto Dawe Gonzalez. Retired Lt. Col. Silvio
Hernandez Soto faces the same charge. The previous highest-ranking army official arrested was
Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, then head of Mexico's anti-drug agency, who was arrested in 1997
and later convicted of aiding deceased drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes. More than 47,000
people have been killed in drug violence ... according to government figures.
Note: For reliable information in the involvement of rogue elements of the US government in the
illegal drug trade, click here.
'Doomed from the beginning': $200M wasted on Iraqi police training,

report says
2012-07-30, NBC News

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/30/13029275-doomed-from-the-beginn...
U.S. auditors have concluded that more than $200 million was wasted on a program to train
Iraqi police that Baghdad says is neither needed nor wanted. The Police Development
Program -- which was drawn up to be the single largest State Department program in the world -was envisioned as a five-year, multibillion-dollar push to train security forces after the U.S. military
left last December. But Iraqi political leaders, anxious to keep their distance from the Americans,
were unenthusiastic. A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which was
released [on July 30], found that the American Embassy in Baghdad never got a written
commitment from Iraq to participate. Now, facing what the report called Baghdad's "disinterest" in
the project, the embassy is gutting what was supposed to be the centerpiece of ongoing U.S.
training efforts in Iraq. According to the report, the embassy plans to turn over the $108 million
Baghdad Police College Annex to Iraqis by the end of the year and will stop training at a $98
million site at the U.S. consulate in the southern city of Basra. "A major lesson learned from Iraq is
that host country buy-in to proposed programs is essential to the long-term success of relief and
reconstruction activities. The (Police Development Program) experience powerfully underscores
that point," auditors wrote in a 41-page summary of their inspection. An advance copy was
provided to The Associated Press. "An overarching question is why expensive construction
was initiated at both of these facilities without a formal programmatic agreement in place at
the time construction began," the report stated.
Note: Have you noticed how often and how easily the US government throws around and wastes
hundreds of millions of dollars lately? For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources on government corruption, click here.
NYPD 'consistently violated basic rights' during Occupy protests

study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/25/nypd-occupy-protests-report
The first systematic look at the New York police department's response to Occupy Wall Street
protests paints a damning picture of an out-of-control and aggressive organization that routinely
acted beyond its powers. In a report that followed an eight-month study, researchers at the law
schools of NYU and Fordham accuse the NYPD of deploying unnecessarily aggressive
force, obstructing press freedoms and making arbitrary and baseless arrests. The study ...
found evidence that police made violent late-night raids on peaceful encampments,
obstructed independent legal monitors and was opaque about its policies. The NYPD report
is the first of a series to look at how police authorities in five US cities, including Oakland and
Boston, have treated the Occupy movement since it began in September 2011. The research
concludes that there now is a systematic effort by authorities to suppress protests, even when
these are lawful and pose no threat to the public. Sarah Knuckey, a professor of law at NYU, said:
"All the case studies we collected show the police are violating basic rights consistently, and the
level of impunity is shocking". To be launched over the coming months, the reports are being done
under the Protest and Assembly Rights Project, a national consortium of law school clinics
addressing America's response to Occupy Wall Street.
Note: For lots more from reliable major media sources on government threats to civil liberties and
other types of government corruption, click here and here.
TSA defies the courts

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/18/editorial-tsa-defies-courts/
The days of secrecy at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may be coming to an end.
Its a widely held belief that the agencys hasty embrace of expensive, X-rated x-ray machines has
more to do with closed-door lobbying efforts of manufacturers than a deliberate consideration of
the devices merits. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) [has] pushed for some
transparency by asking the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to compel the agency to hold a
public notice-and-comment period on the use of pornographic scanners, as the law requires. EPIC
has a good case because on July 15, 2011, the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling insisting TSA
promptly come into compliance with Administrative Procedure Act requirements regarding public
hearings. TSA believed it wasnt subject to such rules because the virtual strip-searching of
women, children and the elderly is an essential security operation. The last thing TSA wants
is the public-relations disaster of having to collect and publish the horror tales from
Americans subjected to humiliation from the nude photography and intrusive pat-down
groping sessions. Its time to admit the post-Sept. 11 experiment in having the government take
over airport screening duties has been a colossal flop. TSA has defied the Administrative
Procedures Act, an appellate court, the public will and common decency. Its not enough just to
pull the plug on the scanners; the plug should be pulled on TSA itself.
Note: According to this PBS report, "European Union regulators recently banned any body
scanner that uses X-rays, 'in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens' health and safety.'" It also
states, "The TSA tested the devices behind closed doors, without scrutiny from independent
scientists." For lots more on this topic important to all air travelers, click here.
'Pierre Salinger Syndrome' and the TWA 800 conspiracies

2012-07-17, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/12/twa.conspiracy/index.html
Bolstered by eyewitness accounts and the Internet, the explosion of TWA Flight 800 off the coast
of New York 10 years ago spawned a slew of sinister conspiracy theories, most notably the belief
that a missile from a U.S. Navy ship was responsible. So prevalent were these theories that the
term "Pierre Salinger Syndrome" -- the belief that everything on the Internet is true -- entered the
lexicon. Some witness accounts seemed to support the missile theory. It quickly became a hot
topic on the young but quickly growing Internet. It might have stayed simply an Internet
conspiracy had it not been for Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy's press secretary who
had worked as a network news correspondent for a time. Three months after the TWA
tragedy, while working as a freelance public relations director, he claimed to have verified
the friendly fire cover-up. "It's a document I got about five weeks ago -- came from ... an
intelligence agent of France. He had been given this document from an American Secret Service
agent based in France," Salinger said at the time. "He had been doing an inquiry and had some
contacts with the U.S. Navy." Salinger took to the news airwaves, including CNN, touting his
theory. But as baseless as it sounded, Salinger could not be ignored. His accusations gave
conspiracy theorists a voice of distinction and credibility.
Note: For powerful evidence from an Emmy-award winning journalist that this investigation was
manipulated, click here. To watch the powerful documentary Shadows of Liberty on major media
manipulation, including that of TWA flight 800 (minute 14) at this link.
Stand-off looms over U.S. plans to cut GMO crop oversight

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-usa-agriculture-biotechbre86...
Efforts to write benefits for biotech seed companies into U.S. legislation, including the new Farm
Bill, are sparking a backlash from groups that say the multiple measures would severely limit U.S.
oversight of genetically modified crops. From online petitions to face-to-face lobbying on Capitol
Hill, an array of consumer and environmental organizations and individuals are ringing alarm bells
over moves they say will eradicate badly needed safety checks on crops genetically modified to
withstand herbicides, pests and pesticides. The measures could speed the path to market for
big biotech companies like Monsanto and Dow Chemical that make billions of dollars from
genetically altered corn, soybeans, cotton and other crops. "They are trying to change the
rules," said George Kimbrell, senior attorney at the Center for Food Safety, which has lawsuits
pending against government regulators for failing to follow the law in approving certain biotech
crops. "It is to the detriment of good governance, farmers and to the environment." As early
as next week the U.S. House of Representatives could take up one of the more controversial
measures - a provision included in the 2013 Agriculture Appropriations bill known as Section 733
that would allow biotech crops to be planted even if courts rule they were approved illegally.
Opponents call it the "Monsanto Rider" because Monsanto's genetically altered alfalfa and sugar
beets have been subject to court challenges for illegal regulatory approvals.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the dangers of genetically
modified organisms, click here. Multiple reliable sources show that you may be eating genetically
modified food daily which scientific experiments have repeatedly demonstrated can cause
sickness and even death in lab animals. Click here to verify.
Wall Street sleaze keeps growing

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Wall-Street-sleaze-keeps-growing-...
Just when you thought Wall Street couldn't sink any lower - when its excesses are still causing
hardship to millions of Americans and its myriad abuses of public trust have already spread a
miasma of cynicism over the entire economic system - an even deeper level of public-be-damned
greed and corruption is revealed. Libor is the benchmark for trillions of dollars of loans worldwide mortgage loans, small-business loans, personal loans. It's compiled by averaging the rates at
which the major banks say they borrow. So far, the scandal has been limited to Barclays, a big,
London bank that just paid $453 million to U.S. and British bank regulators, whose top executives
have been forced to resign, and whose traders' e-mails give a chilling picture of how easily they
got their colleagues to rig interest rates in order to make big bucks. But Wall Street has almost
surely been involved in the same practice, including the usual suspects - JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup and Bank of America - because every major bank participates in setting the Libor
rate, and Barclays couldn't have rigged it without their witting involvement. In fact, Barclays'
defense has been that every major bank was fixing Libor in the same way, and for the same
reason. And Barclays is "cooperating" (i.e., providing damning evidence about other big banks)
with the Justice Department and other regulators in order to avoid steeper penalties or criminal
prosecutions, so the fireworks have just begun.
Note: The author of this article, Robert Reich, is former U.S. secretary of labor, professor of public
policy at UC Berkeley and the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future. He
blogs at www.robertreich.org.
Wells Fargo to pay $175 million to settle lending bias allegations

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-wells-bias-settlement-201207...
Wells Fargo & Co.'s settlement of allegations that it overcharged minorities for home loans
and wrongly steered them into subprime mortgages requires the bank to pay $125 million in
damages, including about $10 million to African Americans and Latinos in the Los Angeles
area. The settlement ... also requires the San Francisco company, by far the nation's largest home
lender, to provide $50 million in down-payment assistance to residents of areas where the alleged
discrimination had a significant effect. The $175-million total is the second-largest fair-lending
settlement by the civil rights arm of the Justice Department. The largest, reached in December,
requires Bank of America Corp. to pay $335 million to settle claims against Countrywide Financial
Corp., the aggressive Calabasas lender it acquired in 2008. Another former Wells Fargo unit the
now-defunct subprime storefront lender Wells Fargo Financial Inc. was the target of a separate
investigation by the Federal Reserve. Wells Fargo agreed last year to pay $85 million to settle
allegations that Wells Fargo Financial employees improperly pushed borrowers into more
expensive subprime loans and exaggerated income information on mortgage applications. The
agreement covers lending from 2004 through 2009 in the wholesale section of Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage, which made loans of all kinds, including prime and subprime mortgages, through
independent brokers.
JPMorgans black eye nears $6B as bank says traders may have tried to
conceal losses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/jpmorgan-ceo-will-try-to-provide-clari...
JPMorgan Chase said Friday that its traders may have tried to conceal the losses from a soured
bet that has embarrassed the bank and cost it almost $6 billion far more than its CEO first
suggested. The bank said an internal investigation had uncovered evidence that led executives to
question the integrity of the values, or marks, that traders assigned to their trades. JPMorgan
also said that it planned to revoke two years worth of pay from some of the senior managers
involved in the bad bet, and that it had closed the division of the bank responsible for the mistake.
This has shaken our company to the core, CEO Jamie Dimon said. The bank said the loss,
which Dimon estimated at $2 billion when he disclosed it in May, had grown to $5.8 billion.
The investigation, which covered more than a million emails and tens of thousands of voice
messages, suggested traders were trying to make losses look smaller, the bank said. The
revelation could expose JPMorgan to civil fraud charges. If regulators decide that employee
deceptions caused JPMorgan to report inaccurate financial details, they could pursue charges
against the employees, the bank or both. JPMorgan could not necessarily hide behind the actions
of its employees. Regulators could decide that its oversight or risk management contributed to the
problematic statements.
Note: Yet will anyone go to jail for these shady activities? For key investigative reports on the
criminality and corruption in the financial industry and biggest banks, click here.
New Homeland Security Laser Scanner Reads People At Molecular

Level
2012-07-11, CBS-DC (Washington DC CBS affiliate)
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/07/11/new-homeland-security-laser-scanner...
The Department of Homeland Security will soon be using a laser at airports that can detect
everything about you from over 160 feet away. This laser-based scanner ... could read everything
from a persons adrenaline levels, to traces of gun powder on a persons clothes, to illegal
substances and it can all be done without a physical search. It also could be used on multiple
people at a time, eliminating random searches at airports. The scanner is called the Picosecond
Programmable Laser. The device works by blasting its target with lasers which vibrate molecules
that are then read by the machine that determine what substances a person has been exposed to.
The inventor of this invasive technology is Genia Photonics. Active since 2009, they hold 30
patents on laser technology designed for scanning. In 2011, they formed a partnership with
In-Q-Tel, a company chartered by the CIA and Congress to build a bridge between the
Agency and a new set of technology innovators. Although the technology could be used by
Big Brother, Genia Photonics states that the device could be far more beneficial being used for
medical purposes to check for cancer in real time, lipids detection, and patient monitoring.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government threats to
privacy, click here.
An arms treaty on the block

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/An-arms-treaty-on-the-block-...
One of the world's deadliest businesses - the $55 billion-per-year arms trade - prefers to
operate in the shadows. Bananas, cold pills and truck tires come with more market rules
and international norms. This shameful gap could be filled by a United Nations agreement
nearing completion in New York. The Arms Trade Treaty would require signatory countries to
abide by clear rules on the import, export and transfer of weapons, ranging from small arms to airdefense systems. The aim is to bring a lethal, back-alley game into the open and curb sales to
brushfire wars and terrorist groups. Think of Syria, Sudan and Somalia as prime examples where
outside guns, tanks or helicopters are killing thousands. Governments, militias and guerrilla
movements with the cash can buy virtually anything through brokers with the right connections.
The United States, as the top seller of arms, has a special duty to improve this patchwork system.
The Obama administration has pushed for approval of the treaty, a healthy break from the Bush
White House, which favored a country-by-country approach that achieved little. But don't think this
treaty is a slam-dunk. Gun-rights groups such as the National Rifle Association bristle at any
mention of weapons controls and see the treaty as a threat to domestic gun ownership. It's nothing
of the sort, and State Department negotiators have made Second Amendment guarantees an
absolute "red line" in talks.
Is The ADA Intentionally Using State Legislatures To Block Alternative

Nutrition Providers?
2012-07-10, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelellsberg/2012/07/10/american_dietetic_asso...
In January of this year, health and nutrition blogger Steve Cooksey received a disturbing letter
from the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition. The letter contained a 19-page markup of
Cookseys own blog, highlighting in handwritten red pen an extensive series of changes the Board
demanded that Cooksey make. He had to make these changes, the Board censors told him, or he
would face arrest. Specifically, the Board censors said, he had to remove or change all writing they
construed as constituting nutrition advising or nutrition counseling without a license. Forbes was
granted exclusive first-look at a new series of internal documents, freshly leaked by outraged
members within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics [formerly the American Dietetic
Association, or ADA], the professional association behind the NC State Board of Dietetics/Nutrition
which censored Cooksey. In these newly-available internal documents, [the ADA]: Openly
discusses creating and using state boards of dietetics/nutrition ... for the express purpose
of limiting market competition for its Registered Dietitian members; [and] openly discusses
a nation-wide plan of surveilling and reporting private citizens, and particularly all
competitors on the market for nutrition counseling, for harming the public by providing
nutrition information/advice/counseling without a license.
Lawmakers got loan deals from Countrywide

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48081344/ns/business-stocks_and_economy#.T_h445H4KNU
The former Countrywide Financial Corp., whose subprime loans helped start the nation's
foreclosure crisis, made hundreds of discount loans to buy influence with members of
Congress, congressional staff, top government officials and executives of troubled
mortgage giant Fannie Mae, according to a House report. The report ... said the discounts
from January 1996 to June 2008 were not only aimed at gaining influence for the company but
to help mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Countrywide's business depended largely on Fannie, which ...
was responsible for purchasing a large volume of Countrywide's subprime mortgages. "Documents
and testimony obtained by the committee show the VIP loan program was a tool used by
Countrywide to build goodwill with lawmakers and other individuals positioned to benefit the
company," the report said. "In the years that led up to the 2007 housing market decline,
Countrywide VIPs were positioned to affect dozens of pieces of legislation that would have
reformed Fannie" and its rival Freddie Mac, the committee said. The Justice Department has not
prosecuted any Countrywide official, but the House committee's report said documents and
testimony show that Mozilo and company lobbyists "may have skirted the federal bribery statute by
keeping conversations about discounts and other forms of preferential treatment internal. Rather
than making quid pro quo arrangements with lawmakers and staff, Countrywide used the VIP loan
program to cast a wide net of influence."
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports on the criminality and corruption within the financial
and banking industries, click here.
The Bank of England told us to do it, claims Barclays

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9374289/The-B...
The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England encouraged Barclays to try to lower interest rates
after coming under pressure from senior members of the last Labour government, documents have
disclosed. A memo published by Barclays suggested that Paul Tucker gave a hint to Bob
Diamond, the banks chief executive, in 2008 that the rate it was claiming to be paying to borrow
money from other banks could be lowered. His suggestion followed questions from senior figures
within Whitehall about why Barclays was having to pay so much interest on its borrowings, the
memo states. Barclays and other banks have been accused of artificially manipulating the Libor
rate, which is used to set the borrowing costs for millions of consumers, businesses and investors,
by falsely stating how much they were paying to borrow money. The bank claimed yesterday that
one of its most senior executives cut the Libor rate only at the height of the credit crisis after
intervention from the Bank of England. The memo, written on Oct 29, 2008, by Mr Diamond and
circulated to two other senior bank officials, said: Mr Tucker reiterated that he had
received calls from a number of senior figures within Whitehall to question why Barclays
was always toward the top end of the Libor pricing. Government sources suggested that
Baroness Vadera, one of Gordon Browns closest colleagues, was responsible for the contact with
the Bank of England.
Wall Street banks angling for Dodd-Frank loophole

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Wall-Street-banks-angling-for-Dod...
Wall Street has already watered down or delayed most of Dodd-Frank [financial reform act].
Now it wants to create a giant loophole, exempting its foreign branches from the law. Yet
the overseas branches of Wall Street banks are where the banks have done some of their
wilder betting. Four years ago, bad bets by American International Group's London office nearly
unraveled the U.S. financial system. When the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the main
regulator of derivatives (bets on bets), recently proposed extending Dodd-Frank to the foreign
branches of Wall Street banks, the banks screamed. "If JPMorgan overseas operates under
different rules than our foreign competitors," warned Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of
JPMorgan, Wall Street will lose financial business to the banks of nations with fewer regulations,
allowing "Deutsche Bank to make the better deal." This is the same Jamie Dimon who chose
London as the place to make highly risky derivatives trades that have lost the firm upward of $2
billion so far - and could leave American taxpayers holding the bag if JPMorgan's exposure to
tottering European banks gets much worse. JPMorgan's risky betting in London is added proof that
unless the overseas operations of Wall Street banks are covered by U.S. regulations, giant banks
will hide irresponsible bets overseas. Squadrons of Wall Street lawyers and lobbyists have been
pressing all the agencies charged with implementing Dodd-Frank to go easy on the Street.
Note: The author of this article, Robert Reich, is former U.S. secretary of labor, professor of public
policy at UC Berkeley and the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future. He
blogs at www.robertreich.org.
Big banks craft "living wills" in case they fail

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-27/business/sns-rt-us-banks-bailou...
Five of the biggest banks in the United States are putting finishing touches on plans for
going out of business as part of government-mandated contingency planning that could
push them to untangle their complex operations. The plans, known as living wills, are due to
regulators no later than July 1 under provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law designed to
end too-big-to-fail bailouts by the government. The living wills could be as long as 4,000 pages.
Since the law allows regulators to go so far as to order a bank to divest subsidiaries if it cannot
plan an orderly resolution in bankruptcy, the deadline is pushing even healthy institutions to start a
multi-year process to untangle their complex global operations, according to industry consultants.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among
those submitting the first liquidation scenarios to regulators at the Federal Reserve and the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The liquidation plans are coming amid renewed questions about
the safety of big banks following JPMorgan's stunning announcement last month that a trading
debacle has cost it more than $2 billion.
Note: For other key major media articles showing blatant financial corruption, click here. For more
vitally important information on banking manipulations, explore the excellent, reliable information in
our Banking Corruption Information Center available here.
A Cruel and Unusual Record

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/opinion/americas-shameful-human-rights-reco...
Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American
citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nations violation of human rights
has extended. This development began after [9/11] and has been sanctioned and escalated by
bipartisan executive and legislative actions. While the country has made mistakes in the past, the
widespread abuse of human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the
past. With leadership from the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was
adopted in 1948 as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. This was a bold
and clear commitment that power would no longer serve as a cover to oppress or injure people,
and it established equal rights of all people to life, liberty, security of person, equal protection of the
law and freedom from torture, arbitrary detention or forced exile. It is disturbing that, instead of
strengthening these principles, our governments counterterrorism policies are now clearly violating
at least 10 of the declarations 30 articles, including the prohibition against cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment. Recent legislation has made legal the presidents right to
detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or
associated forces, a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful
oversight from the courts or Congress. This law violates the right to freedom of expression and
to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, two other rights enshrined in the declaration.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on war crimes committed by US forces in
the "global war on terror," click here.
Rio+20 draft text is 283 paragraphs of fluff

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/jun/22/rio-20-earth-...
In 1992, world leaders signed up to something called "sustainability". Few of them were clear
about what it meant. Perhaps as a result, it did not take long for this concept to mutate into
something subtly different: "sustainable development". Then it made a short jump to another term:
"sustainable growth". And now, in the 2012 Rio+20 text that world leaders are about to adopt, it
has subtly mutated once more: into "sustained growth". This term crops up 16 times in the
document, where it is used interchangeably with sustainability and sustainable
development. But if sustainability means anything, it is surely the opposite of sustained
growth. Sustained growth on a finite planet is the essence of unsustainability. As a result,
the draft document, which seems set to become the final document, takes us precisely nowhere:
190 governments have spent 20 years bracing themselves to "acknowledge", "recognise" and
express "deep concern" about the world's environmental crises, but not to do anything about them.
The draft and probably final declaration is 283 paragraphs of fluff. It suggests that the 190
governments due to approve it have, in effect, given up on multilateralism, given up on the world
and given up on us. So what do we do now?
What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

2012-06-20, CBC News (Canada's public broadcasting system)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/06/20/f-trans-pacific-partnership-exp...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may soon be an acronym as recognizable as NAFTA but
this free trade venture could have much more economic strength and impact than its North
American predecessor. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a free trade deal aimed at further
expanding the flow of goods, services and capital across borders. Its four founding members
New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei soon caught the attention of five other nations: the
United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam and Malaysia, who joined in 2008. The nine partners
currently have a combined GDP of more than $17 trillion. Canada and Mexico are now being
considered for membership, subject to the approval of the nine countries already involved. Add to
this the possibility that Japan could join the TPP, despite mounting protests in that country, and the
economic and political traction of the group increases. In fact, the TPP could become the world's
largest free-trade zone. "It's really a trade agreement for the one per cent and their corporate
interests," said Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, which
opposed and continues to criticize NAFTA. "This is not going to be a good deal for Canadians."
Note: A later Toronto Star article reveals that the agreements of the TPP are secret.
Why the U.S. Senate Sucks Up to Public Enemy Jamie Dimon

2012-06-20, Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/news/155962/why_the_u.s._senate_sucks_up_to_public_en...
When Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Bank, appeared before the Senate Banking
Committee on June 13, he was wearing cufflinks bearing the presidential seal. Was Dimon trying
to send any particular message by wearing the presidential cufflinks? asked CNBC editor John
Carney. Was he . . . subtly hinting that hes really the guy in charge? The groveling of the
Senators was so obvious that Jon Stewart did a spoof news clip on it. JPMorgan Chase is the
biggest campaign donor to many of the members of the Banking Committee. Financial
analysts Jim Willie and Rob Kirby think it may be something far larger, deeper, and more ominous.
They contend that the $3 billion-plus losses in London hedging transactions that were the
subject of the hearing can be traced, not to European sovereign debt (as alleged), but to the
record-low interest rates maintained on U.S. government bonds. The national debt is growing
at $1.5 trillion per year. Ultra-low interest rates must be maintained to prevent the debt from
overwhelming the government budget. Near-zero rates also need to be maintained because even
a moderate rise would cause multi-trillion dollar derivative losses for the banks, and would remove
the banks chief income stream, the arbitrage afforded by borrowing at 0% and investing at higher
rates. The low rates are maintained by interest rate swaps, called by Willie a derivative tool which
controls the bond market in a devious artificial manner.
Note: We don't usually use alternet.org as a reliable source, but because the major media failed to
ask the hard, very important questions posed in this article, we've included it here. For powerful
reports on financial corruption, click here.
Native American tribes owed millions from government, supreme court

rules
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jun/18/native-american-supreme-court-victory
Native American tribes are celebrating a major victory in their battle for equal treatment after the
US supreme court ruled that the government could no longer short-change them over contracts for
public services. The suit claimed that the government had over many years withheld millions of
dollars owed to the tribes by imposing a cap on the contracts it had taken out with them. Native
American leaders hailed the ruling as an important victory. Rodger Martinez, president of the
Ramah Navajo Chapter in New Mexico that was a plaintiff in the case, said they had been
saddened that they had to go all the way to the supreme court to find redress. "But we are happy
that they sided with us. This gets us back to the principle that the government must pay us what
we are entitled to," he said. The dispute over money relates to services provided by the tribes
themselves under the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975. Under that law, the tribes would subcontract from the federal government public services such as police, schools, fire prevention,
hospitals, and infrastructure works, as well as environmental works and subsidies to farmers.
Under the arrangement, the federal government would pay the tribes for the services provided, just
as it would any other contractor. But from 1994 the government changed the way it paid for the
services, no longer paying for each contract in full but handing the tribes a collective lump
sum onto which it imposed a ceiling thereby withholding from them a portion of the
moneys owed. The supreme court ruling found this to be unacceptable.
Note: For key reports on government corruption from major media sources, click here.
The Jamie Dimon Cufflinks Mystery

2012-06-14, CNBC
There's been a lot of speculation about the cufflinks [JPMorgan Chase CEO] Jamie Dimon
wore during [his Congressional] testimony. They caught the eye of folks because they
seemed to bear some sort of official government stamp. As it turns out, they were
emblazoned with the seal of the President of the United States. CNN's Lizzie O'Leary first
confirmed the story last night over Twitter. They were, in fact, a gift from a resident of the White
House. But people close to the JPMorgan Chase CEO won't say which president gave them to
him. Dimon's got a bunch of official U.S. government cufflinks. Search for images of him and you'll
see FBI cufflinks, for example. Was Dimon trying to send any particular message by wearing the
presidential cufflinks? Was he, for instance, trying to remind the Democrats he supported Obama?
Or subtly hinting that he's really the guy in charge?
Note: For powerful reports on financial corruption, click here.
Christine Lagarde, scourge of tax evaders, pays no tax

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/29/christine-lagarde-pays-no-tax
Christine Lagarde, the IMF boss who caused international outrage after she suggested ... that
beleaguered Greeks might do well to pay their taxes, pays no taxes, it has emerged. As an
official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (298,675) a year plus $83,760
additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes. Lagarde, 56, receives a pay and
benefits package worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the
United States government, and he pays taxes on it. According to Lagarde's contract she is also
entitled to a pay rise on 1 July every year during her five-year contract. For many years critics have
complained that IMF, World Bank, and United Nations employees are able to live large at
international taxpayers' expense. During the 1944 economic conference at Bretton Woods, where
the IMF was created, American and British politicians disagreed over salaries for the bureaucrats.
British delegates, including the economist John Maynard Keynes, considered the American
proposals for salaries to be "monstrous", but lost the argument.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Bradley Manning, America's martyr for open government

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/29/bradley-manning-americas-...
Today marks two years of imprisonment of Private Bradley Manning. The US government was
going to use Manning as a warning to anyone else who might feel compelled to report on
war crimes, or any other crimes they witness from within the system. Blow the whistle,
goes the warning, and you will be buried alive by the state, shredded by the same secrecy
machine a whistleblower would try to expose. Because of courage and creativity of activists,
Bradley Manning has not been forgotten, even if that was the aim of authorities, and he never shall
be forgotten. His case has been largely shunned by most of the mainstream media, especially in
the US. This needs to change, because if he is indeed found guilty of being a whistleblower of
such magnitude that it shook the entire secrecy machine of our world out of its comfort zone, his
acts would need to be honored as an inspiration to change the way governments hide the reality of
their actions from the people they are supposed to be serving and informing. Manning should not
be convicted in secret: the media should be given access to the court filings; and the media should
be pushing harder for the first amendment of the US constitution to be honored in the Manning
case.
Note: For key reports on government secrecy from reliable sources, click here.
JPMorgan's top-down role in risky investments

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/19/BUD41OJUG3.DTL
Congress gets into the JPMorgan Chase affair Tuesday with the first in a series of hearings into
how a federally insured bank incurred [huge] losses on the kind of risky bets some, mistakenly,
thought were a thing of the past. The losses, as suspected, look to be far higher than the $2 billion
initially estimated. As of Friday, the number was $5 billion. What did CEO Jamie Dimon know, and
when did he know it? "Dimon personally approved the concept behind the disastrous trades,"
according to the Wall Street Journal. Reportedly, similar trades, involving credit derivatives, date to
2006, ramping up with ever bigger bets as risk controls were eased in 2011.On the one hand,
JPMorgan and other U.S. corporations are banking record profits and ever-growing piles of
cash - $2 trillion at last count. On the other, U.S. unemployment remains unacceptably high,
people are still losing their homes, small businesses are screaming for credit, local
governments are cutting services left and right, and the nation's infrastructure is
crumbling. Tons of money [are] sloshing around, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, but banks and
corporations ... are hoarding it.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on corruption and criminality in the finance industry, click
here.
Anti-NATO protest calls for "Robin Hood" tax on financial institutions

2012-05-18, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57436981/anti-nato-protest-calls-for-robi...
Thousands of nurses and other protesters gathered [on May 18] at a downtown Chicago
plaza for a noisy but peaceful demonstration demanding a "Robin Hood" tax on banks'
financial transactions. Members of National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses union,
were joined by members of the Occupy movement, unions and veterans at the rally city officials
have said could attract more than 5,000. The nurses and their supporters dressed in red shirts and
wore green felt Robin Hood caps with red feathers. The rally which originally was scheduled to
coincide with the start of the G-8 economic summit before it was moved from Chicago to Camp
David drew a broad spectrum of causes, from anti-war activists to Occupy protesters.
Meanwhile, lawyers for NATO summit protesters said police on [May 18] released four of nine
activists arrested ... on accusations that they had or planned to make Molotov cocktails. The
lawyers said police, with their guns drawn, raided an apartment building where activists
were staying and arrested nine people. The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild said
officers broke down doors in the building in the South Side Bridgeport neighborhood and produced
no warrants. "The nine have absolutely no idea what they're being charged with because they
were not engaged in any criminal activity at all," said guild attorney Sarah Gelsomino. "They're
really very confused and very frightened." The Chicago Police Department refused to comment.
Note: For more on the defense of the victims of the police crackdown on Occupy in Chicago and
elsewhere, click here. For a most excellent two-minute video of former U.S. Labor Secretary
Robert Reich presenting five of the most urgent problems with the economy and an easy solution
all in two minutes, click here. For an enlightening five-minute TED talks video further showing how
the rich getting richer while they pay increasingly less taxes is at the root of most economic woes,
click here.
Why was the US military teaching 'total war' on Islam?

2012-05-10, BBC News
America's top military officer [the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey]
has condemned a course taught about Islam at one of America's top military schools as "totally
objectionable". The course taught officers there was no such thing as moderate Islam and
that they should consider the religion their enemy. It advocated "total war" against all the
world's Muslims, including possible nuclear attacks on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina
and the wiping out [of] civilian populations. The Pentagon has confirmed [that] the course
material found on their website is authentic. This is not ... a rather sick academic exercise in
stretching the bounds of what could be thought. It is actually what the officer teaching it believes.
In other words: completely nutty stuff that would disgrace the wilder fringes of the blogosphere.
The voluntary course aimed at senior officers was taught at the Joint Forces Staff College in
Norfolk, Virginia, for a year. It came to light when one of the officers on the course complained last
month. There is now an investigation into how the course was approved and why it was part of the
curriculum. A lieutenant colonel has been suspended from teaching, but for the moment keeps his
job.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the extremism evident in the prosecution of the
"global war on terror," click here.
Confronting Argentina's people-traffickers

2012-04-02, BBC News
On 3 April [2002] Maria de los Angeles Veron, known as "Marita", went missing. In February
[2012], 13 people accused of kidnapping Ms Veron and selling her to traffickers who forced her
into prostitution went on trial in a court in Tucuman province, in the north west of Argentina. This
case has become over the years a symbol of the fight against human trafficking in Argentina and
most of South America. Especially because of what Mrs Trimarco has done over the last decade.
In the search for her daughter she infiltrated herself into human trafficking gangs
pretending to be interested in "buying" women. The information gathered by these actions led
to police raids which rescued dozens of women who were being sexually exploited. Mrs Trimarco
later launched the Fundacion Maria de los Angeles, named after her missing daughter. Since 2007
it has helped rescue hundreds of victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. She and her
husband Daniel, who died in 2010, asked at hospitals, and spoke to police and neighbours about
Marita. No-one knew her whereabouts. After several days there was a breakthrough. Someone
had seen her being pushed inside a vehicle by three men. And weeks later a prostitute confirmed
their worst fears. They were told that their daughter had been "sold" to traffickers. Mrs Trimarco
says the authorities in the province at the time, as well as former members of the police and
the judiciary, were in collusion with the traffickers, which is why it was so difficult to find
her daughter.
Note: Months after the above article was published, there were riots after the accused were set
free. Ms. Trimarco said that "while she cannot prove it, she is sure that judicial corruption
influenced the verdicts." For powerful information from a Discovery Channel documentary showing
that this kind of corruption is also occurring at the highest levels in the US, click here.
US anti-terrorism law curbs free speech and activist work, court told
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/29/journalists-us-anti-terrorism-law...
A group [of] political activists and journalists has launched a legal challenge to stop an American
law they say allows the US military to arrest civilians anywhere in the world and detain them
without trial as accused supporters of terrorism. The seven figures, who include ex-New York
Times reporter Chris Hedges, professor Noam Chomsky and Icelandic politician and WikiLeaks
campaigner Birgitta Jonsdottir, testified to a Manhattan judge that the law dubbed the NDAA or
Homeland Battlefield Bill would cripple free speech around the world. They said that various
provisions written into the National Defense Authorization Bill, which was signed by
President Barack Obama at the end of 2011, effectively broadened the definition of
"supporter of terrorism" to include peaceful activists, authors, academics and even
journalists interviewing members of radical groups. Controversy centres on the loose
definition of key words in the bill, in particular who might be "associated forces" of the law's named
terrorist groups al-Qaida and the Taliban and what "substantial support" to those groups might get
defined as. Whereas White House officials have denied the wording extends any sort of blanket
coverage to civilians, rather than active enemy combatants, or actions involved in free speech,
some civil rights experts have said the lack of precise definition leaves it open to massive potential
abuse.
Note: For discussion of the extreme crackdown by police, based on "anti-terrorism" legislation,
against Occupy movement protestors, click here.
U.S. Relaxes Limits on Use of Data in Terror Analysis

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/us/politics/us-moves-to-relax-some-restric...
The Obama administration is moving to relax restrictions on how counterterrorism analysts may
retrieve, store and search information about Americans gathered by government agencies for
purposes other than national security threats. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. [has] signed new
guidelines for the National Counterterrorism Center. The guidelines will lengthen to five years
from 180 days the amount of time the center can retain private information about
Americans when there is no suspicion that they are tied to terrorism, intelligence officials
said. The guidelines are also expected to result in the center making more copies of entire
databases and data mining them. They also set off civil-liberties concerns among privacy
advocates who invoked the Total Information Awareness program. That program, proposed early
in the George W. Bush administration and partially shut down by Congress after an outcry,
proposed fusing vast archives of electronic records like travel records, credit card transactions,
phone calls and more. Were all in the dark, and for all we know it could be a rerun of Total
Information Awareness, which would have allowed the government to make a computerized
database of everything on everybody, said Kate Martin, the director of the Center for National
Security Studies, who criticized the administration for not making the draft guidelines public for
scrutiny ahead of time.
Note: For excellent and insightful analyses of the disturbing growth of government surveillance
and secrecy described in this NYT report, click here and here and here and here.
Congolese ex-warlord convicted of using children as soldiers

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-court-lubanga-20120315,0,...
The International Criminal Court in The Hague on [March 14] found former Congolese warlord
Thomas Lubanga guilty of using children as soldiers, the first verdict in the panel's 10-year history.
He could face life imprisonment. After a three-year trial, the court convicted Lubanga of recruiting
boys and girls younger than 15 as soldiers during a civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo
in 2002 and 2003. Although his militia was accused of massacres, rapes, torture and ethnic killings
by human rights activists and witnesses, the court charged him only with the recruitment and use
of children to fight. Amnesty International expressed disappointment that the court failed to
prosecute other crimes that Lubanga was alleged to have committed and called on the ICC to
widen its future prosecutions. It also called on the court to ensure trials proceeded more swiftly.
The verdict was seen as a major breakthrough in forcing warlords and politicians to be held
accountable for atrocities and crimes against humanity, sending a message that international
justice eventually would catch up with them. The evidence said girls forcibly recruited by the
warlord were used as sex slaves, and videos aired in court showed Lubanga surrounded by child
combatants. Tens of thousands of children continue to be used in wars across the
continent, according to human rights agencies. Other African leaders or warlords indicted by
the court include Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army, whose activities in Uganda were
highlighted in a video watched by about 70 million people last week.
Classified documents contradict FBI on post-9/11 probe of Saudis, exsenator says

2012-03-13, MSNBC
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/13/10656262-classified-documen...
Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who co-chaired Congress Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, has seen two classified FBI documents that he says are at odds with the bureaus public
statements that there was no connection between the hijackers and Saudis then living in Sarasota,
Fla. There are significant inconsistencies between the public statements of the FBI in September
and what I read in the classified documents, Graham said. One document adds to the
evidence that the investigation was not the robust inquiry claimed by the FBI, Graham
said. An important investigative lead was not pursued and unsubstantiated statements
were accepted as truth. Congresss bipartisan inquiry released its public report in July 2003.
The final 28 pages, regarding possible foreign support for the terrorists, were censored in their
entirety -- on President George W. Bushs instructions. Graham said the two classified FBI
documents that he saw, dated 2002 and 2003, were prepared by an agent who participated in the
Sarasota investigation. He said the agent suggested that another federal agency be asked to join
the investigation, but that the idea was rejected. Graham attempted in recent weeks to contact
the agent, he said, only to find the man had been instructed by FBI headquarters not to talk.
Note: Much evidence exists implicating not only Saudi Arabia, but also Pakistan, Israel and the UK
in the 9/11 attacks. Could the purpose behind these high-profile claims from former US senators
be to deflect attention from the key perpetrators, rogue elements within the US government? As
WantToKnow team member Prof. David Ray Griffin has exhaustively demonstrated, almost all of
the evidence for Muslim hijackers vanishes on close examination. For more serious questions on
9/11, click here.
UN torture chief: Manning endured cruel treatment

2012-03-13, MSNBC
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/12/10657259-un-torture-chief-mannin...
Army Pfc. Bradley Mannings 11 months in solitary confinement was cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment, the UN chief on torture said Monday, though he stopped short of calling it
torture. Manning, 25, faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy after he allegedly released
classified documents to WikiLeaks. He was held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day
following his arrest in May 2010 in Iraq, and continuing through his transfer to the Marine Corps
Base in Quantico, Va. The confinement, lasting about 11 months, ended upon his transfer to Fort
Leavenworth, Kan., on April 20, 2011. When Juan Mendez, special rapporteur on torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, asked Department of Defense officials why
Manning was held in such a condition, he was told it was due to the gravity of the crime and for
prevention of harm though they did not specify what that meant, citing privacy concerns. He
hasn't been convicted of any crime yet so subjecting him to a very long period of solitary
confinement on the basis that he might be found guilty of a crime seems to me to be both a
violation of his presumption of innocence but also a violation of his right not to be treated
cruelly or inhumanely, Mendez told msnbc.com. The explanations for Mannings solitary
confinement were insufficient, according to Mendez. That's why I reached the conclusion that
the United States government was responsible for having inflicted on him cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment, he said.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the use of torture and government restrictions
of basic civil liberties, click here.
U.S. adds Vatican to money-laundering concern list

2012-03-08, Toronto Sun
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/08/us-adds-vatican-to-money-laundering-conc...
The Vatican has for the first time appeared on the U.S. State Departments list of moneylaundering centres. It was added to the list because it was considered vulnerable to moneylaundering. To be considered a jurisdiction of concern merely indicates that there is a vulnerability
to a financial system by money launderers. With the large volumes of international currency that
goes through the Holy See, it is a system that makes it vulnerable as a potential money-laundering
center, Susan Pittman of the State Departments Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement, told Reuters. The Vatican Bank, founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII, has been in the
spotlight since September 2010 when Italian investigators froze 23 million euros ($33 million) in
funds in Italian banks after opening an investigation into possible money-laundering. The bank said
it did nothing wrong and was just transferring funds between its own accounts. The money was
released in June 2011 but the investigation is continuing. Two months ago, Italian newspapers
published leaked internal letters which appeared to show a conflict among top Vatican officials
about just how transparent the bank should be about dealings that took place before it enacted its
new laws. The Vatican Bank was formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR)
and was entangled in the collapse 30 years ago of Banco Ambrosiano, with its lurid
allegations about money-laundering, freemasons, mafiosi and the mysterious death of
Ambrosiano chairman Roberto Calvi - Gods banker.
Note: For more on the Vatican money-laundering scandal, click here. For speculation on the role
of secret societies in all of this, click here.
Excesses cross party lines

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/06/EDLG1NGNRF.DTL
Attorney General Eric Holder thinks it's legal to kill American terrorism suspects overseas without
any judicial review or public notice. It's an astonishing claim to make and a shameful stand for the
Obama administration, which came to office pledging to curb such constitutionally shaky excesses.
In a speech, Holder essentially offer the "trust us" argument in defense of targeted killings. The
guidelines are murky: The military will compile a list of dangerous terrorists including U.S. citizens,
hunt them down, and if the host country can't or won't catch the suspect, then the United States
will. The example at issue is last year's drone attack that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexicoborn al Qaeda leader. Under Holder's ground rules there is no outside review, court deliberation or
explanation of how a suspect makes the kill list. For those critics concerned about oversight or
legal caution, he offered this observation: " 'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the
same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process,
not judicial process." Holder didn't cite an in-house legal opinion used to justify the policy, which
he's refused to release and is the subject of a civil liberties lawsuit. Obama still hasn't closed the
Guantanamo Bay gulag as promised. Now he's shielding targeted killings from genuine
review. This presidential subversion of rule of law was unacceptable under George W.
Bush, and it is unacceptable under Barack Obama.
Note: Attorney General Holder's claim that US citizens can be killed by the government without
judicial process clearly violates the U.S. Bill of Rights. In addition to the Fifth Amendment that
states that no person shall be held to answer for a crime "without due process of law," the Sixth
Amendment states that "the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial."
Vets feel abandoned after secret drug experiments

2012-03-01, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/01/health/human-test-subjects/index.html
The moment 18-year-old Army Pvt. Tim Josephs arrived at Edgewood Arsenal in 1968, he knew
there was something different about the place. "It just did not look like a military base, more like a
hospital," recalled Josephs, a Pittsburgh native. Josephs had volunteered for a two-month
assignment at Edgewood, in Maryland, lured by three-day weekends closer to home. "It was like a
plum assignment," Josephs said. "The idea was they would test new Army field jackets, clothing,
weapons and things of that nature, but no mention of drugs or chemicals." But when he went to fill
out paperwork the morning after his arrival, the base personnel were wearing white lab coats, and
Josephs said he had second thoughts. An officer took him aside. "He said, 'You
volunteered for this. You're going to do it. If you don't, you're going to jail. You're going to
Vietnam either way -- before or after,'" Josephs said recently. From 1955 to 1975, military
researchers at Edgewood were using not only animals but human subjects to test a
witches' brew of drugs and chemicals. They ranged from potentially lethal nerve gases like VX
and sarin to incapacitating agents like BZ. The military also tested tear gas, barbiturates,
tranquilizers, narcotics and hallucinogens like LSD. Josephs, 63, believes the chemical agents he
received during his two-month stint at Edgewood [harmed] him, triggering health problems that
continue to plague him four decades later.
Note: For a comprehensive list of example of humans being used as guinea pigs by the military
and government over the past century with links for verification, click here.
Portions of 9/11 victims remains taken to landfill, report says

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/portions-of-911-victims...
Some human remains recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and in
Shanksville, Pa., were incinerated and dumped in a landfill, the Defense Department said ... in the
latest revelation about mishandled body parts at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary. A new
Pentagon review of the troubled mortuary disclosed several other problems including fresh
allegations of fraud and misplaced remains over the past decade. The report said that the Sept.
11 remains in question could not be tested or identified, apparently because they were too small
or charred to allow for DNA analysis. The remains were cremated and then mixed with biomedical
waste at the Dover mortuary, where they were given to a contractor who incinerated them and
dumped the residue in a landfill. The report cites Army and Air Force memos from July and
August 2002 directing that an unspecified number of remains from the Attack on the
Pentagon be incinerated. The report indicates that unidentified remains from the hijacking
of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, were disposed of in a similar
manner. But the Pennsylvania coroner who oversaw the handling of remains from that attack said
no body parts from Shanksville were ever sent to Dover or taken to a landfill. Wallace Miller, the
Somerset, Pa., county coroner, said in news reports on Tuesday that all unidentified remains from
Shanksville were buried in three caskets on Sept. 12 at a memorial site for Flight 93 as part of the
10th anniversary of the hijacking.
Note: Why would the Pentagon order the remains incinerated? Could it be they don't want an
forensic investigation of the remains as they are not what is claimed? For more on the 9/11 coverup, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Brother, Can You Spare $6 Trillion?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/world/europe/italy-arrests-8-in-fake-us-tre...
The Italian police ... arrested eight people on charges related to the seizure of $6 trillion in fake
United States Treasury bonds, in a mysterious scheme that stretched from Hong Kong to
Switzerland to the southern Italian region of Basilicata. The value of the seized bonds is in the
neighborhood of half of the United States entire public debt of $15.36 trillion, but only the
uninitiated would have accepted them as real securities. Rather than counterfeit, they were
what officials call fictitious, printed in 6,000 units of $1 billion each, a denomination that does not
exist and the equivalent of $3 bills. The United States Embassy in Rome said its experts had
examined the bonds, which bore the date 1934, and determined that they were fictitious and
apparently part of a scheme intended to defraud Swiss banks. According to the Federal Reserve,
such fictitious instrument fraud is increasingly common, and unwitting investors have been
cheated of nearly $10 billion in recent years. In a common ploy, criminals present fictitious
financial instruments such as Federal Reserve notes, standby letters of credit, prime bank
guarantees or prime bank notes in order to fraudulently collateralize loans, the Federal Reserve
says on its Web site. In 2009, Italian police seized phony United States Treasury bonds with a face
value of $250 billion.
Note: There is a major problem with the claim that these are fake. If you were a counterfeiter and
wanted to fake bonds, you would have to be out of your mind to fake them in denominations of $1
billion. As reported here, no one would ever dream of cashing them. For excellent research by
David Wilcock suggesting that the bonds are real, and that this may be part of a huge, hidden
manipulation, click here.
London-based oil executive linked to 9/11 hijackers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/september-11-attacks/9089896/London...
A Saudi Arabian accused of associating with several of the September 11 hijackers and who
disappeared from his home in the United States a few weeks before the attacks on the World
Trade Centre and the Pentagon, is in London working for his countrys state oil company.
Abdulaziz al-Hijji ... flew to Saudi Arabia in August 2001. Security records of cars passing
through a checkpoint at the Prestancia gated community indicated that Mr al-Hijjis home,
4224 Escondito Circle, had been visited a number of times by Mohamed Atta, the leader of
the 19-strong hijack team, who piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the
World Trade Centre in 2001. The logs also indicated that Marwan Al-Shehhi, who crashed United
Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower, and Ziad Jarrah, who was at the controls of United Airlines
Flight 93 when it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, had visited the house. All three men had
trained to fly at Venice Airport, which is 19 miles from Sarasota. Mr al-Hijji is resident in London,
working for the European subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabias state oil company. Described
as a career counsellor, he is based in the offices of Aramco Overseas Company UK Limited and
lives in an expensive flat in central London.
Note: The US media has failed to report on this major news, with the exception of a small
newspaper in Sarasota, FL, where the hijackers had been training. For two revealing articles in
that paper, click here and here.
Drones Set Sights on U.S. Skies

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/technology/drones-with-an-eye-on-the-public...
A new federal law, signed by the president on [February 14], compels the Federal Aviation
Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors. Local police and
emergency services will also be freer to send up their own drones. But while businesses, and
drone manufacturers especially, are celebrating the opening of the skies to these unmanned aerial
vehicles, the law raises new worries about how much detail the drones will capture about lives
down below and what will be done with that information. Some questions likely to come up: Can
a drone flying over a house pick up heat from a lamp used to grow marijuana inside, or take
pictures from outside someones third-floor fire escape? Can images taken from a drone be sold to
a third party, and how long can they be kept? The American Civil Liberties Union and other
advocacy groups are calling for new protections against what the A.C.L.U. has said could be
routine aerial surveillance of American life. The new law, part of a broader financing bill for
the F.A.A., came after intense lobbying by drone makers and potential customers. These
manufacturers have been awaiting lucrative new opportunities at home. The market for
drones is valued at $5.9 billion and is expected to double in the next decade, according to
industry figures. Drones can cost millions of dollars for the most sophisticated varieties to as little
as $300 for one that can be piloted from an iPhone.
Note: For more information on the use of drones by police in the US, click here. For more on the
threats to civil liberties created by this new law, click here. For lots more from reliable sources on
surveillance in the US, click here.
Homeowners deserve protections afforded businesses

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/16/EDKF1N8M4N.DTL
[A] report from San Francisco auditors [shows] that 84 percent of foreclosures examined contained
at least one violation of the law by the foreclosing party. The report is only the latest in a series of
incidents involving bad actors in the foreclosure crisis. In fact, problems have been so rampant that
banks now require many buyers of foreclosed homes to sign contracts absolving the bank of
liability should irregularities appear with the original foreclosure. In light of these negligent
practices, the $26 billion settlement last week between the U.S. Department of Justice, state
attorneys general and the major banks raises as many questions as answers. For instance: If a
house is illegally foreclosed upon and subsequently sold by the bank, who owns the home? The
new buyer or the original owner? Untangling this mess might require new consumer protections,
not just a payout from the banks accused of wrongdoing. The best way to prevent foreclosure
problems, however, has always been to prevent foreclosures in the first place. Offering families
facing foreclosure the same bankruptcy protections enjoyed by business speculators is one place
to start. As it stands today, a single family that buys a home in a housing development is
treated differently in bankruptcy court than a businessman who bought 10 units in the
same project. If and when the housing bubble bursts, the underwater speculator is able to
seek bankruptcy relief on all 10 units, while the owner of the single home is left out in the
cold.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the impacts of the financial crisis on homeowners,
click here.
Eight arrests as Murdoch 'throws staff to the wolves'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/eight-arrests-as-murdoch-throws-st...
Police swooped on eight individuals between 6am and 8am yesterday, arresting the five Sun
journalists, two Ministry of Defence staff and a police officer. The arrests came hard on the heels of
five related arrests two weeks ago when four senior Sun journalists and a police officer were
questioned in connection with bribery allegations. The latest astonishing development ... prompted
fury among the newspaper's staff, amid allegations that those arrested had been "thrown to the
wolves" in an effort to bolster the embattled News Corp empire, and, particularly, to rekindle its
hopes of taking over BSkyB. The police were acting on information provided by News
International, owner of The Sun and Times newspapers. The investigation broke new ground
yesterday: for the first time, the arrests broadened beyond payments to police, with a
female member of the MoD and a member of the armed forces also held while their homes
were searched. The journalists arrested were Geoff Webster, The Sun's deputy editor; John Kay,
a former chief reporter who joined the title in 1974; Nick Parker, chief foreign correspondent; John
Edwards, picture editor; and John Sturgis, a reporter.
Note: The fact that the The Sun's deputy editor and chief foreign correspondent were arrested
along with a female member of the MoD and a member of the armed forces is astounding. Could
the predictions of David Wilcock of mass arrests of key people involved in major corruption be
coming true? Wilcock has written a thoroughly researched and amazingly deep and penetrating
paper on all that is going on at this link.
UK police arrest Murdoch tabloid staff

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46174085/ns/world_news-europe/t/uk-police-arrest-...
British police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid
plus a policeman ... as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers.
Police also searched the paper's London offices at publisher News International, News Corp.'s
British arm, in a corruption probe linked to a continuing investigation into phone hacking at its now
closed News of the World weekly tabloid. The arrests included The Sun's crime editor Mike
Sullivan, its head of news Chris Pharo, and former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan Also
arrested was the paper's former managing editor Graham Dudman, now a columnist and
media writer. Thirteen people have now been arrested over allegations that journalists paid police
in return for information. Last week, News International settled a string of legal claims after it
admitted that people working for the tabloid had hacked in to the private phones of celebrities and
others to find stories. The phone hacking scandal drew attention to the level of political influence
held by editors and executives at News International, and other newspapers in Britain. It
embarrassed British politicians for their close ties with newspaper executives and also the police,
who repeatedly failed to investigate allegations of illegal phone hacking.
Note: If researcher David Wilcock is right, this may be the beginning of mass arrests of key people
involved in major corruption in our world. For lots more, see David's very well researched article at
this link.
If You Thought SOPA Was Bad, Just Wait Until You Meet ACTA
2012-01-23, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/23/if-you-thought-sopa-was-bad-j...
When sites like Wikipedia and Reddit banded together for a major blackout January 18th, the
impact was felt all the way to Washington D.C. The blackout had lawmakers running from the
controversial anti-piracy legislation, SOPA and PIPA, which critics said threatened freedom of
speech online. Unfortunately for free-speech advocates, these pieces of legislation are not the only
laws which threaten an open internet. Few people have heard of ACTA, or the AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement, but the provisions in the agreement appear quite similar
to and more expansive than anything we saw in SOPA. Worse, the agreement spans
virtually all of the countries in the developed world, including all of the EU, the United
States, Switzerland and Japan. Many of these countries have already signed or ratified it, and
the cogs are still turning, with the final real fight playing out in the EU parliament. The treaty has
been secretly negotiated behind the scenes between governments with little or no public input. The
Bush administration started the process, but the Obama administration has aggressively pursued
it. Indeed, we signed ACTA in 2011. According to critics, ACTA bypasses the sovereign laws of
participating nations, forcing ISPs across the globe to act as internet police. Worse, it appears to
go much further than the internet, cracking down on generic drugs and making food patents even
more radical than they are by enforcing a global standard on seed patents that threatens local
farmers and food independence across the developed world.
We must stop this corporate takeover of American democracy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/20/us-constitutio...
The corporate barbarians are through the gate of American democracy. Not satisfied with their allpervasive influence on our culture, economy and legislative processes, they want more. They want
it all. Two years ago, the United States supreme court betrayed our Constitution. In its now
infamous decision in the Citizens United case, five justices declared that corporations must be
treated as if they are actual people under the Constitution when it comes to spending
money to influence our elections, allowing them for the first time to draw on the corporate
checkbook in any amount and at any time to run ads explicitly for or against specific
candidates. What's next a corporate right to vote? When the supreme court says ... that
corporations are people, that writing checks from the company's bank account is constitutionallyprotected speech and that attempts by the federal government and states to impose reasonable
restrictions on campaign ads are unconstitutional, our democracy is in grave danger. Corporations
are not people with constitutional rights equal to flesh-and-blood human beings. Corporations are
subject to regulation by the people.
Note: For key reports on the overpowering influence of corporate money on the US political
system, click here and here.
North Carolina sterilisation victims win compensation

2012-01-11, BBC News
Victims of a decades-old sterilisation programme in the US state of North Carolina are to receive
$50,000 each in compensation. As many as 7,600 people were sterilised by the state from 1929 to
1974, often without their knowledge. About half a dozen states have apologised for similar
programmes, but North Carolina is the only one to consider financial payment. The figure will have
to be approved as part of the state's next budget. The sterilisation victims were sometimes
mentally disabled or institutionalised people. However, a task force set up by North Carolina
found that starting the 1950s the state increasingly focussed its programme - which the
task force dubbed a "eugenics" programme - on welfare recipients. This led to a "dramatic
rise of sterilisation for African-Americans and women that did not reside in state
institutions". Dr Laura Gerald, the head of the task force, said in a statement that the
compensation served to send the message that "we do not tolerate bureaucracies that trample on
basic human rights". North Carolina has so far verified 72 sterilisation victims, but about 2,000 are
estimated to still be alive.
Note: For a detailed timeline of disturbing experiments where humans were used as guinea pigs
without their knowledge with links to reliable sources for verification, click here.
Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/under-obama-an-emerg...
In the space of three years, the [Obama] administration has built an extensive apparatus for using
drones to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other
adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on
the East Coast, virtual Air Force cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six
countries on two continents. No president has ever relied so extensively on the secret killing
of individuals to advance the nations security goals. Lethal operations are increasingly
assembled a la carte, piecing together personnel and equipment in ways that allow the White
House to toggle between separate legal authorities that govern the use of lethal force. In Yemen,
for instance, the CIA and the militarys Joint Special Operations Command pursue the same
adversary with nearly identical aircraft. But they alternate taking the lead on strikes to exploit their
separate authorities, and they maintain separate kill lists that overlap but dont match. CIA and
military strikes this fall killed three U.S. citizens, two of whom were suspected al-Qaeda
operatives. Although human rights advocates and others are increasingly critical of the drone
program, the level of public debate remains muted. [One] reason for the lack of extensive debate is
secrecy. The White House has refused to divulge details about the structure of the drone program
or, with rare exceptions, who has been killed.
Note: Not that the US citizens killed were not given their constitutional rights for a fair trail before
being assassinated. For lots more from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
Pentagon Finds No Fault in Ties to TV Analysts

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/us/pentagon-finds-no-fault-in-its-ties-to-t...
A Pentagon public relations program that sought to transform high-profile military analysts into
"surrogates" and "message force multipliers" for the Bush administration complied with Defense
Department regulations and directives, the Pentagon's inspector general has concluded after a
two-year investigation. The inquiry was prompted by articles published in the New York Times in
2008 that described how the Pentagon, in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks, cultivated close ties
with retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio networks. In response
to the articles, the Pentagon suspended the program, and members of Congress asked the
Defense Department's inspector general to investigate. The results of the inquiry ... confirm that
the Pentagon under Donald Rumsfeld made a concerted effort ... to build and sustain public
support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The inquiry found that from 2002 to 2008,
Rumsfeld's Pentagon organized 147 events for 74 military analysts. The inquiry confirmed
that Rumsfeld's staff frequently provided military analysts with discussion points before
their network appearances.
Research on Lethal Bird Flu May Be Censored on Security Concern

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-23/research-on-lethal-bird-flu-may-b...
Scientists agreed not to publish certain details of research showing how lethal bird flu can be made
contagious after a U.S. biosecurity panel asked that it be kept secret for security reasons. The
study at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam described the genetic changes needed to
make the H5N1 avian influenza strain spread easily among ferrets and potentially people.
The research is under review for publication in the journal Science. It was commissioned by the
U.S. National Institutes of Health, the center said yesterday in a statement on its website.
Knowing the genetic sequence of a deadly, infectious strain may enable the virus to be recreated
through reverse engineering. The censorship was requested by the National Science Advisory
Board for Biosecurity, which was created in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks and advises
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The panel called for certain data to be kept
secret after determining that the risks of publishing it outweigh the benefits, the Erasmus Medical
Center said. The researchers have reservations about this recommendation but will observe it,
the center said in the statement.
Too late to contain killer flu science, say experts

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/too-late-to-contain-killer-flu-scie...
Attempts to censor details of controversial influenza experiments that created a highly infectious
form of bird-flu virus are unlikely to stop the information from leaking out, according to scientists
familiar with the research. The US Government has asked the editors of two scientific journals to
refrain from publishing key parts of research on the H5N1 strain of bird-flu in order to prevent the
information falling into the hands of terrorists intent on recreating the same flu strain for use as a
bioweapon. However, scientists yesterday condemned the move. Some said that the
decision comes too late because the information has already been shared widely among flu
researchers, while others argued that the move could obstruct attempts to find new
vaccines and drugs against an infectious form of human H5N1 if it appeared naturally.
Professor Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey,
said that the research, which was funded by the US Government, should never have been done
without first assessing the risks and benefits. The work posed risks that outweighed benefits and
that were clearly foreseeable before the work was performed, Professor Ebright said. The work
should have been reviewed at the national or international level before being performed, and
should have been restricted at a national or international level before being performed, he said.
Jurors Need to Know That They Can Say No

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/opinion/jurors-can-say-no.html
If you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, [you should] vote not guilty even if you think the
defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this
power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American
jurors who helped make our laws fairer. [This] information ... about a constitutional doctrine called
jury nullification is absolutely true. But if federal prosecutors in New York get their way, telling the
truth to potential jurors could result in a six-month prison sentence. Earlier this year, prosecutors
charged Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor, with jury tampering because he stood
outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan providing information about jury nullification to
passers-by. The prosecutors in this case are wrong. The First Amendment exists to protect speech
like this honest information that the government prefers citizens not know. Laws against jury
tampering are intended to deter people from threatening or intimidating jurors. To contort these
laws to justify punishing Mr. Heicklen, [is] unconstitutional. Jury nullification is not new; its
proponents have included John Hancock and John Adams. The doctrine is premised on the
idea that ordinary citizens, not government officials, should have the final say as to whether
a person should be punished. As Adams put it, it is each jurors duty to vote based on his
or her own best understanding, judgment and conscience, though in direct opposition to
the direction of the court.
Note: For more on the important, yet little-known right of jury nullification, click here.
Local police stockpile high-tech, combat-ready gear
2011-12-21, NPR/Center for Investigative Reporting

http://americaswarwithin.org/articles/2011/12/21/local-police-stockpile-high-...
If terrorists ever target Fargo, N.D., the local police will be ready. In recent years, they have bought
bomb-detection robots, digital communications equipment and Kevlar helmets, like those used by
soldiers in foreign wars. For local siege situations requiring real firepower, police there can use a
new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. Until that day, however, the menacing
truck is mostly used for training runs and appearances at the annual Fargo picnic, where its been
displayed near a childrens bounce house. Fargo, like thousands of other communities in every
state, has been on a gear-buying spree with the aid of more than $34 billion in federal government
grants since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The federal
grant spending, awarded with little oversight from Washington, has fueled a rapid, broad
transformation of police operations in Fargo and in departments across the country. More
than ever before, police rely on quasi-military tactics and equipment. A review of records
from 41 states obtained through open-government requests, and interviews with more than twodozen current and former police officials and terrorism experts, shows police departments around
the U.S. have transformed into small army-like forces. Many police, including beat cops, now
routinely carry assault rifles.
Note: For lots more on the militarization of US police from reliable sources, click here and here.
Why Is the N.Y.P.D. After Me?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/opinion/sunday/young-black-and-frisked-by-t...
When I was 14, my mother told me not to panic if a police officer stopped me. And she cautioned
me to carry ID and never run away from the police or I could be shot. In the nine years since my
mother gave me this advice, I have had numerous occasions to consider her wisdom. One evening
in August of 2006, I was celebrating my 18th birthday with my cousin and a friend. We were ...
enjoying the evening when suddenly, and out of nowhere, squad cars surrounded us. A policeman
yelled from the window, "Get on the ground!" Then I was on the ground - with a gun pointed at me.
In the spring of 2008, N.Y.P.D. officers stopped and frisked me, again. I was stopped again in
September of 2010. It was the same routine: I was stopped, frisked, searched, ID'd and let go. For
a black man in his 20s like me, it's just a fact of life in New York. Here are a few other facts:
last year, the N.Y.P.D. recorded more than 600,000 stops; 84 percent of those stopped were
blacks or Latinos. Police are far more likely to use force when stopping blacks or Latinos
than whites. These stops are part of a larger, more widespread problem - a racially discriminatory
system of stop-and-frisk in the N.Y.P.D. The police use the excuse that they're fighting crime to
continue the practice, but no one has ever actually proved that it reduces crime or makes the city
safer. Those of us who live in the neighborhoods where stop-and-frisks are a basic fact of daily life
don't feel safer as a result.
Note: For key reports on government threats to civil liberties from reliable sources, click here.
Japan declares Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant stable, in cold

shutdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-declares-fukushima-dai...
The Japanese government [has] declared that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had reached a
stable state known as cold shutdown. But the formal status change at the plant, experts
cautioned, means only that its problems have become less dire; they have not disappeared. The
plant still leaks radiation into the sea. Its makeshift cooling system is vulnerable to earthquakes.
And the cleanup work remains dangerous, with many flooded and debris-strewn areas of the
reactor buildings difficult even for robots to access. In normal circumstances, a reactor in cold
shutdown mode is entirely stable, its fuel intact, with no chance of a chain reaction. To
achieve its version of a cold shutdown at Fukushima Daiichi, ... Japan had to loosen the
definition. Fukushima now meets the governments requirements because temperatures at the
bottom of the three damaged reactor pressure vessels have dropped below 100 degrees Celsius
(212 degrees Fahrenheit). Airborne leaks into the environment have also been almost halted. The
declaration poses new questions for many of the 80,000 people who fled towns around the plant ...
since the government had made the cold shutdown a precondition for even considering reopening
parts of the no-go zone to residents. Many areas within the no-entry zone a 12-mile radius
around the plant will be uninhabitable for decades, maybe longer.
Note: For further information on the claim of "cold shutdown" at Fukushima, click here and here.
Silicon Valley firms dodging taxes, report says

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/14/MN9C1MCI25.DTL
Silicon Valley technology firms that are lobbying Congress to slash taxes on money they bring
home from abroad, arguing that doing so would help them create millions of jobs, already send
more than half that money back to the United States without paying taxes, according to a Senate
investigation. The corporate tax code permits Google, Cisco, Apple, Adobe Systems, Oracle
and other U.S. multinational corporations surveyed to invest nearly $250 billion in the
United States without paying the 35 percent corporate tax rate that applies to repatriated
foreign earnings, according to the report by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations. The corporations, which are not allowed to invest the money in their own
companies, can escape the 35 percent tax if they invest in other domestic assets, such as stocks,
bonds and bank deposits. Silicon Valley's technology giants have banded together with
pharmaceutical companies and other multinationals in the Win America Coalition in an attempt to
get Congress to cut their tax rate from 35 percent to just over 5 percent on overseas earnings they
bring home. The survey data showed that Adobe, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco and Google have
invested 76 to 100 percent of their foreign earnings in U.S. stocks, bonds, bank deposits and other
domestic assets, a greater share than the other companies surveyed.
Note: For lots more on corporate and government corruption, click here and here.
Protests Boost Sales and Fears of Sonic Blaster

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/protests-boost-sales-fears-sonic-blaster-1...
Rather than batons or rubber bullets, some police departments have started using an intense
beam of sound to manage protesters, but the annoying tone has drawn criticism from some who
say it can cause permanent damage. More U.S. police and emergency-response agencies are
using the so-called Long-Range Acoustic Devices ... for crowd control. The leading
manufacturer, LRAD Corp. of San Diego, said the product was developed as a nonlethal
option for military use. Some people who have been on the receiving end call the devices
"sound cannons." A woman is suing the city of Pittsburgh claiming the piercing tone from a police
blaster during the 2009 G-20 summit permanently damaged her hearing. There were reports that
New York City police used the punishing tone on protesters. The devices were developed for the
U.S. Navy. They have also been used to deter pirates from attacking cruise ships. The products
range from a 15-pound, battery-operated, hand-held unit to a 320-pound device with a range of
nearly 2 miles. Even the smallest unit, the LRAD 100X, emits as much as 137 decibels at 1 meter,
which is louder than a jet takeoff at 100 meters.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on so-called "non-lethal" weapons, click here.
Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drone-arrest-20111211,0,...
Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows
on the Brossart family farm in [eastern North Dakota]. He called in reinforcements from the state
Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three
other counties. He also called in a Predator B drone. Sophisticated sensors under the nose helped
pinpoint the three suspects and showed they were unarmed. Police rushed in and made the first
known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator, the spy drone that has helped
revolutionize modern warfare. But that was just the start. Local police say they have used two
unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen
surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used
Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said. The drones belong to U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, which operates eight Predators on the country's northern and
southwestern borders to search for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The previously unreported
use of its drones to assist local, state and federal law enforcement has occurred without any public
acknowledgment or debate.
Note: "Looking for six cows," the Sheriff called in "a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad,
ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three other counties. He also called in a Predator B drone."
Does that sound like a reasonable response to the problem of missing cows? Or could there be an
agenda to establish aerial surveillance by drones as the norm in the US?
Tech titans lobby Congress for giant tax break

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/24/MNPO1M2LGM.DTL
Silicon Valley's tech titans are in full holiday mode - tax holiday that is. Google, Apple, Oracle,
Cisco and other multinationals have fielded more than 160 lobbyists and consultants - including,
according to Bloomberg Businessweek, 60 insiders such as Karen Olick, former chief of staff for
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. - to get Congress to give them a giant tax break on their overseas
profits. U.S. multinationals currently have $1.4 trillion parked offshore. Banded together with
pharmaceutical companies and other multinationals in a group called the Win America
coalition, Bay Area technology giants say that slashing their tax rate from 35 percent to
5.25 percent on foreign profits they return or "repatriate" to the United States will create
millions of jobs. Both parties in Congress, desperate to find something they can agree on to
goose the economy, are warming to the idea. But the last time a holiday was tried in 2004, under a
law Boxer sponsored, billions of dollars in tax breaks went to a tiny swath of multinationals
concentrated in the technology and pharmaceutical industries, many studies found. Most of the
money went to dividends, stock buybacks and executive pay, despite express prohibitions. Some
companies, such as Hewlett Packard, cut jobs after repatriating earnings, while boosting executive
pay.
Note: A Forbes magazine article states "most profitable corporations enjoy a far lower tax rate
than you do," yet now they want even more tax breaks. And did you know that before 1913, except
for a period during the Civil War, there was no personal income tax on the general public in the
U.S.?
Symbolic Malaysian trial finds Bush, Blair guilty of crimes against

peace over Iraq invasion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/symbolic-malaysian-trial-fin...
A tribunal formed by Malaysias former leader has convicted former President George W.
Bush and Britains ex-prime minister Tony Blair at a symbolic trial for crimes against
peace in Iraq. Malaysias outspoken former leader Mahathir Mohamad founded a peace
organization that set up the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal specifically for trying Bush and
Blair. Mahathirs son, Mukhriz Mahathir, said international judges and lawyers convicted the men
Tuesday for crimes against peace over the 2003 Iraq invasion. It plans to hear symbolic war
crimes charges against them later. Malaysian activists say they sent information about the charges
to Bush and Blair but received no response.
Note: This story sadly received very little press in the major media. For an earlier Associated
Press story on the background to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, click here. For more on
the results in Canada's conservative National Post, click here. For a press release from the
Tribunal, click here. To visit the Tribunal website, click here.
EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-tha...
Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming
that water can prevent dehydration. EU officials concluded that, following a three-year
investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact. Producers of bottled
water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they
defy the edict. Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common
sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: This is stupidity writ large. The euro is burning,
the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials
worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is
patently true." The Department for Health disputed the wisdom of the new law. A spokesman
said: Of course water hydrates. While we support the EU in preventing false claims about
products, we need to exercise common sense as far as possible." A meeting of 21 scientists in
Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and
not something that drinking water could subsequently control. Rules banning bent bananas and
curved cucumbers were scrapped in 2008 after causing international ridicule.
DA Who Never Charged Sandusky Has Been Missing Since 2005

2011-11-10, NBC Philadelphia
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/DA-Who-Never-Charged-Sandusky-Has-B...
It is strange that Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar never prosecuted Jerry
Sandusky on child-rape charges 13 years ago, some speculate, because Gricar was known
for being fiercely independent and hard on crime. But it is even stranger that we cannot ask
Gricar why Sandusky was not put behind bars, because the tough-as-nails district attorney
disappeared in 2005. And though he was declared dead July of this year, his body has never
been found. He disappeared on April 15, 2005 after telling his girlfriend that he was going on a
drive. Ray Gricars car was found the next day in a Lewisburg parking lot and his laptop, sans hard
drive, was found in the Susquehanna River. Ray Gricars friend, Montour County District Attorney
Robert Buehner Jr., told the New York Times that if the ardent district attorney had committed
suicide, he would have wanted his body found. But in the case of possible foul play, no suspects
have emerged from investigations. When it comes to the Sandusky case, friends and former coworkers are all of the opinion that Ray Gricar would never back down from a righteous
prosecution.
Note: Is it just a coincidence that Gricar never charged Sandursky (a rare act of tolerance for
crime on the DA's part) and subsequently disappeared (a very rare occurrence for anyone)?
U.S. drone strikes must stop, says American lawyer

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39397361/t/us-drone-strikes-must-stop-says-americ...
Prominent international human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith was impressed by the 16-yearold boy who wanted to draw attention to civilian deaths caused by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan.
Tariq Aziz had volunteered to take pictures of people killed by the remotely piloted aircraft to help
Stafford Smith highlight what he calls illegal killings. Three days later, on October 31, he and his
12-year-old cousin were themselves killed by a drone missile strike in the North Waziristan region
on the Afghan border, Stafford Smith said. For the veteran lawyer, the deaths highlighted major
flaws in the CIA-run drone campaign, which U.S. officials say is invaluable in the war on militants.
He considers the drones as "scandalous" as the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia during the
Vietnam War. "What we are seeing in Waziristan is a process that is alienating the
population just as napalm in Vietnam did and it's achieving very little benefit." Stafford
Smith [also] drew parallels between Guantanamo and the drone campaign in Pakistan,
arguing both detentions and strikes were often based on dubious intelligence. He suspects
the death of Aziz was a prime example of that. "We as America offer large bounties to different
informants and these informants would sell their own mothers," said Stafford Smith, 52, a dual
U.S.-British citizen who is the director of Reprieve, an organization that advocates for prisoners'
rights.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the killing of innocent people by US drones,
click here.
Victims speak out about North Carolina sterilization program, which

targeted women, young girls and blacks
2011-11-07, MSNBC
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/07/8640744-victims-speak-out-ab...
Elaine Riddick was 13 years old when she got pregnant after being raped by a neighbor in Winfall,
N.C., in 1967. The state ordered that immediately after giving birth, she should be sterilized.
Doctors cut and tied off her fallopian tubes. Riddicks records reveal that a five-person state
eugenics board in Raleigh had approved a recommendation that she be sterilized. The records
label Riddick as feebleminded and promiscuous. They said her schoolwork was poor and that
she does not get along well with others. North Carolina was one of 31 states to have a
government run eugenics program. By the 1960s, tens of thousands of Americans were
sterilized as a result of these programs. Eugenics was a scientific theory that grew in popularity
during the 1920s. Eugenicists believed that poverty, promiscuity and alcoholism were traits that
were inherited. To eliminate those society ills and improve societys gene pool, proponents of the
theory argued that those that exhibited the traits should be sterilized. Some of Americas
wealthiest citizens of the time were eugenicists including Dr. Clarence Gamble of the
Procter and Gamble fortune and James Hanes of the hosiery company. Hanes helped found
the Human Betterment League which promoted the cause of eugenicists.
Note: For additional information view the MSNBC video accompanying this report (click here). If
you want to explore even deeper into this disturbing news, click here. The article fails to mention
that the laws for sterilizations like this were not removed from the books until 2003.
Banking on the people

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/02/ED3B1LP64K.DTL
Why give our money to Bank of America, only to have it lend us our own money at high interest
rates or with ridiculous fees? We could hold onto our money, save quite a bit in fees, and lend it
back to ourselves and to the businesses and people ... at more affordable rates. In 2008, Ellen
Brown authored The Web of Debt, an analysis of the U.S. banking system that now is even more
pertinent in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The thesis is that the power to create
money has been usurped by a private international banking cartel [the Federal Reserve],
which issues our money as debt and lends it back to us at interest. The cartel makes it
appear that governments are creating our money, and governments get blamed when
things go wrong; but they are just pawns of the cartel. We ... can regain our government and
our republic only by reclaiming the power to create our own money. We can use the same credit
system that private banks use, but administer it as a public utility - that is, monitored and overseen
by public servants on the model of libraries and courts. To be a sustainable system, profits need to
be returned to the community rather than siphoned off into private coffers.
Note: Few people realize that money in the U.S. is created by an entity privately owned by the
largest banks the Federal Reserve. For lots more important information on this, click here. For
lots more from major media sources on the collusion between financial interests and government,
click here.
Governments turn to hacking techniques for surveillance of citizens

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/01/governments-hacking-techniqu...
In a luxury Washington, DC, hotel last month, governments from around the world gathered to
discuss surveillance technology they would rather you did not know about. The annual Intelligence
Support Systems (ISS) World Americas conference is a mecca for representatives from
intelligence agencies and law enforcement. But to the media or members of the public, it is strictly
off limits. Behind the cloak of secrecy at the ISS World conference, tips are shared about the latest
advanced ... methods used to spy on citizens computer hacking, covert bugging and GPS
tracking. The use of such methods is more commonly associated with criminal hacking groups,
who have used spyware and trojan viruses to infect computers and steal bank details or
passwords. But as the internet has grown, intelligence agencies and law enforcement have
adopted similar techniques. "The current method of choice would seem to be spyware, or trojan
horses," said Chris Soghoian, a Washington-based surveillance and privacy expert. "When there
are five or six conferences held in closed locations every year, where telecommunications
companies, surveillance companies and government ministers meet in secret to cut deals,
buy equipment, and discuss the latest methods to intercept their citizens' communications
that I think meets the level of concern," he said. "Decades of history show that surveillance
powers are abused usually for political purposes."
Note: For more on corporate and government threats to privacy and civil liberties, click here and
here.
8 City Officers Charged in Gun Smuggling Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/nyregion/new-york-officers-accused-of-smugg...
[New York police] officers five are still on the force, and three are retired and four other men
were accused of transporting M-16 rifles and handguns, as well as what they believed to be stolen
merchandise across state lines, according to a complaint filed in the case in Federal District Court
in Manhattan. The gun-trafficking accusations strike at the heart of one of the Police
Departments most hard-fought and robust initiatives, and one that has been a central
theme of the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: getting guns off the citys
streets. Mr. Bloomberg is the head of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of 600 municipal
chief executives from around the nation. [NYPD], the largest municipal police force in the
nation, [is] already besieged by corruption accusations. In recent weeks, testimony at the trial
of a narcotics detective has featured accusations that he and his colleagues in Brooklyn and
Queens planted drugs or lied under oath to meet arrest quotas and earn overtime, leading to the
arrests of eight officers, the dismissal of hundreds of drug cases because of their destroyed
credibility and the payout of more than $1 million in taxpayer money to settle false arrest lawsuits.
Fukushima Fallout Was Almost Twice as Bad as Official Estimates, New

Study Says
2011-10-26, Popular Science magazine

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-10/fukushima-fallout-was-worse-off...
This springs nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant released almost double
the amount of radiation the Japanese government has claimed, according to a new
analysis. The authors say the boiling pools holding spent fuel rods played a role in the
release of some of the contaminants, primarily cesium-137 and that this could have been
mitigated by an earlier response. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Air Research ... say
the amount of cesium-137, a long-lived isotope that persists in the atmosphere, was about twice as
high as the Japanese governments official estimate. The researchers also say about 20 percent of
the total fallout landed over Japan, but the vast majority fell over the Pacific Ocean. (The effects of
this fallout on fisheries and aquatic wildlife are still being determined.) Cesium-137 emissions
peaked three or four days after the quake and tsunami, remaining high until March 19, according
to this new study. Thats the day authorities started spraying water on the spent-fuel pool at reactor
unit 4, the researchers note. This indicates that emissions were not only coming from the
damaged reactor cores, but also from the spent-fuel pool of unit 4 and confirms that the spraying
was an effective countermeasure, they say. This contradicts Japanese government reports
claiming the pools released no radiation.
Note: According to the French nuclear agency, the Institute for Radiological Protection and
Nuclear Safety (IRSN, Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire), even the higher
estimate of radiation release described in this article is too low. The agency estimates that 20
times more cesium-137 was released than has been admitted by Tepco.
Faith in the 99 percent: What drives Occupy Wall Street?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/faith-in-the-99-percent-wha...
We are the 99 percent! The chant thunders through the streets, from Wall Street in New York
City, where the Occupy movement began, to K Street in Washington, where high-paid lobbyists
influence government, to streets in cities and small towns all across the nation. In hundreds of
Occupations, ordinary people have been moved to fill parks and streets and squares with signs,
tents, impromptu soup kitchens, intense conversations and lengthy meetings. Whats going on? All
share a common heart, a revulsion against an economy and a politics that increasingly say, You
dont count, except as something to exploit. Your voice is drowned out by money, your labor is
expendable, your needs must be sacrificed to the gods of profit. The Occupy movement
demonstrates a very different model of organizing: emergent, decentralized, without a command
and control structure. At its essence, the message of the Occupations is simply this: Here in the
face of power we will sit and create a new society, in which you do count. Your voice carries
weight, your contributions have value, whoever you may be. We say that love and care are
the true foundations for the society we want to live in. Well stand with the poor and sleep
with the homeless if thats what it takes to get justice. Well build a new world.
Note: Find your nearest occupation at: http://www.occupytogether.org/ . For lots more from major
media sources on the reasons why people worldwide are occupying the financial centers of their
cities, check out our "Banking Bailout" news articles.
Beltway Earnings Make U.S. Capital Richer Than Silicon Valley

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-19/beltway-earnings-make-u-s-capital...
Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nations
greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest
U.S. metropolitan area, government data show. The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with
Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the
Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was
$50,046. The figures demonstrate how the nations political and financial classes are prospering as
the economy struggles with unemployment above 9 percent and thousands of Americans protest
in the streets against income disparity, said Kevin Zeese, director of Prosperity Agenda, a
Baltimore-based advocacy group trying to narrow the divide between rich and poor. Theres a gap
thats isolating Washington from the reality of the rest of the country, Zeese said. They just get
more and more out of touch. In recent years Washington has attracted more lobbyists and firms
with an interest in the health-care overhaul and financial regulations signed into law by President
Barack Obama. Wall Street has moved to K Street, said Barbara Lang, president and chief
executive officer of the DC Chamber of Commerce, referring to the Washington street thats home
to prominent lobbying firms.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on corporate and government corruption, click here
and here.
Wall Street Protests Spread Globally as Rome Turns Violent

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LT1FUB1A1I4H01-651L...
The Occupy Wall Street protest against income disparity spread across Western Europe, Asia, the
U.S. and Canada today. Rome's demonstration turned violent, contrasting with peaceful events
elsewhere. The rallies started last month in New York's financial district, where people have been
staying in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. They widened to 1,500 cities today, including
Sydney and Toronto, the organizers said, in a global day of action against Wall Street greed.
Protesters say they represent the 99 percent, a nod to a study by Nobel Prize-winning economist
Joseph Stiglitz showing the top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth. In
Berlin, 6,000 took to the streets and 1,500 gathered in Cologne, ZDF television said. In Frankfurt,
5,000 marched by the European Central Bank headquarters. In New York, demonstrators marched
past a JPMorgan Chase & Co. branch urging clients to transfer accounts to a financial institution
that supports the 99 percent. They distributed fliers with a list of community banks and credit
unions. New York police arrested 24 at a Citigroup Inc. bank branch and 6,000 gathered in Times
Square. About 1,000 people gathered in Toronto's financial district carrying signs saying
Nationalize the Banks. Demonstrations turned violent in Italy, where the unemployment rate for
15-to-24-year-olds was 27.6 percent in August.
FirstEnergy Falls After Report of Nuclear Reactor Cracks

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-13/firstenergy-falls-after-report-of...
FirstEnergy Corp. [stock price] fell after a report that engineers discovered cracks in the
concrete shell of its Davis-Besse nuclear plant. Contractors on Oct. 10 discovered a hairline
crack measuring about 30 feet (9.1 meters) long as they sliced a hole into the plants outer shell
in order to install a new reactor vessel head, said Jennifer Young, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman.
The cracked shell is the outermost of several layers of steel and concrete that protect the reactor,
which has been shut down since Oct. 1 in preparation for the repair work. Davis-Besse was
shuttered for more than three months in 2010 after workers discovered cooling water leaking
through cracks in some reactor-head nozzles, steel casings that hold fuel and control rods. Leaks
and reactor corrosion prompted FirstEnergy to close the plant for two years, from 2002 to 2004,
while the company retrained or replaced workers who ignored signs of damage, and eventually
replaced the reactor head. The leaks found last year at the 900-megawatt plant prompted the
Union of Concerned Scientists in April 2010 to demand that the plant remain closed until its
owners established better controls to maintain health and safety standards.
Note: If you want to see how safety around nuclear plants is ignored and threatened all the time by
money interests at all levels, watch the amazingly revealing documentary on Chernobyl at this link.
The most telling piece in this documentary involves the man tasked by Gorbechov to write the
official report of all the problems they faced. When he gave the report to the IAEA in a secret
meeting, he was ridiculed by the other international leaders there, who accused him of spreading
baseless fears. On the second anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, he committed suicide.
CDC official accused of child molestation, bestiality

2011-10-11, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/11/justice/georiga-cdc-arrest/index.html
An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been arrested and charged
with two counts of child molestation and one count of bestiality, police said. Police arrested Dr.
Kimberly Quinlan Lindsey, 44, in DeKalb County, Georgia, on Sunday. Authorities also charged
Lindsey's live-in boyfriend, Thomas Joseph Westerman, 42, with two counts of child molestation.
The two are accused of "immoral and indecent" sexual acts involving a 6-year-old. The bestiality
charge says Lindsey "did unlawfully perform or submit to any sexual act with an animal." The
alleged incidents took place between January 1, 2010, and August 22, 2011. Lindsey is the deputy
director for the Laboratory Science Policy and Practice Program Office at the CDC, according to
her biography on the agency's website. Prior to her current role, Lindsey was the senior health
scientist in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. That office oversees
the allocation process for $1.5 billion in terrorism preparedness. In her 12 years at the CDC,
Lindsey has received 12 awards for outstanding performance on projects and programs, according
to her bio on Emory University's Biological and Biomedical Sciences website.
Note: Don't miss Dr. Mercola's highly revealing analysis showing that Dr. Lindsey played a primary
role in the bogus swine flu propaganda campaign. Read the article at this link. For how the CDC
came to be infiltrated with such people, read the powerful information available here.
On targeted assassinations, what about due process?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/04/ED7E1LCQ7N.DTL
U.S. officials last week acknowledged that unmanned predator aircraft killed two U.S. citizens,
Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, in Yemen. Yet, U.S. media outlets have chosen to refer to them
as "American born" or "U.S.-born," as in "the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by
U.S. armed drones." No concrete proof of their guilt has been furnished beyond what the
government and multiple media outlets have reported. In the case of the al-Awlaki killing, U.S.
officials said, "Al-Awlaki played a 'significant operational role' in plotting and inspiring attacks on
the United States," as they justified the killing of an American citizen. In the post-9/11 world, such
reporting garners little attention from the public. But those who believe in the rule of law find such
mundane pronouncements frightening. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the accused the
right to a public trial by an impartial jury, regardless of his or her ethnic background or
previous alleged activities. Government-sanctioned assassinations of U.S. citizens without
due process should be discussed rather than blindly accepted as a victory in the war on
terror. The obvious follow-up question is: What about other U.S. citizens? Might they also be
targeted for assassination without due process? The targeted killings of al-Awlaki and Khan should
shock Americans reared on the rule of law, justice, liberty and freedom.
Note: State assassination of a citizen without due process would seem to be the ultimate attack on
civil liberties. For lots more on such threats from reliable sources, click here.
Occupy Wall Street, a primer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/occupy-wall-street-a-prim...
Occupy Wall Street, the growing, decentralized protest movement thats clashing with police in
New York City, spreading across the country, and grabbing headlines across the world ... is also,
somewhat unusually, a protest movement without clear demands, an identifiable leadership, or an
evident organizational structure. Decisions are made by the NYC General Assembly, which Nathan
Schneider describes as a horizontal, autonomous, leaderless, modified-consensus-based system
with roots in anarchist thought, and thus far, the General Assembly has decided against
yoking the movement to a particular set of goals, or even a particular ideology. Which is all
to say that its important to try and understand the movement on its own terms, rather than
the terms most of us are used to. Here are five places to start: - The ... Occupy Wall Street
blog, and in particular, the blogs forums. Here, for instance, is the movements Declaration of the
Occupation of New York City. - Nathan Schneiders Occupy Wall Street FAQ. Id perhaps
recommend this as the single best place to start. - Understanding the theory behind Occupy Wall
Streets approach, by Mike Konczal. Also see his post, 15 definitions of freedom from Occupy
Wall Street.
Pretrial skirmishes give closer look at drug cartels

2011-09-29, Chicago Sun-Times (One of Chicago's leading newspapers)
http://www.suntimes.com/news/escalona/7925888-452/pretrial-skirmishes-give-ch...
The pretrial proceedings of Mexican drug kingpin Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla [provide] a
glimpse into the transnational business of the Mexican drug cartels, which serve a growing
demand for illegal drugs in the U.S. A member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Zambada-Niebla faces
federal charges of trafficking tons of narcotics to Chicago and other cities using trains, ships, jets
and even submarines between 2005 and 2008. Zambada-Niebla, 35, is considered a narco junior,
as the sons of drug kingpins are known in Mexico. They have taken over the control of the cartels
started by their fathers. The narco juniors are known for having attended private schools, being
well-polished and having an appetite for luxury cars, designer clothing and beauty queens. Since
Zambada-Niebla was extraded to Chicago in early 2010, his pretrial proceedings have sparked
controversy on both sides of the border. He first complained about jail conditions. Then he
dropped a diplomatic bomb, contending that he and another member of the Sinaloa cartel
were informants for the Drug Enforcement Administration and had been promised immunity
from prosecution. The federal authorities refuted the claim, but acknowledged that fugitive
Sinaloa Cartel member and lawyer Humberto Loya Castro was indeed a DEA informant. In
Mexico, the drug cartel wars have claimed more than 40,000 lives. The U.S. Justice Department
thinks the Mexican cartels operate in more than 1,000 American cities.
Note: Not mentioned in this article or anywhere we've seen in the media is that US government
prosecutors are invoking a 30-year-old law known as the Classified Information Procedures Act to
assure that classified materials do not become public during the court proceedings. What could
they be hiding? Click here for more. For powerful evidence from top reporters that elements within
government are involved in drug trafficking, click here.
As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/as-scorn-for-vote-grows-protests-surg...
Their complaints range from corruption to lack of affordable housing and joblessness, common
grievances the world over. But from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall
Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional
politicians and the democratic political process they preside over. They are taking to the
streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box. Economics have been one
driving force, with growing income inequality, high unemployment and recession-driven cuts in
social spending breeding widespread malaise. Alienation runs especially deep in Europe, with
boycotts and strikes. The protest movements in democracies are not altogether unlike those that
have rocked authoritarian governments this year, toppling longtime leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and
Libya. Protesters have created their own political space online that is chilly, sometimes openly
hostile, toward traditional institutions of the elite. Youre looking at a generation of 20- and 30year-olds who are used to self-organizing, said Yochai Benkler, a director of the Berkman Center
for Internet and Society at Harvard University. They believe life can be more participatory, more
decentralized, less dependent on the traditional models of organization, either in the state or the
big company. Those were the dominant ways of doing things in the industrial economy, and they
arent anymore.
Note: For key insights from major media sources into the reasons why so many are protesting
worldwide, click here.
'Anyone can make money from a crash,' says market trader

2011-09-26, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15059135
Ministers from the world's richest nations are reportedly on the way to agreeing [to] a deal for
troubled eurozone countries. But one independent market trader - Alessio Rastani - told the BBC
the plan "won't work" and that people should be trying to make money from a market crash. Trader
Alessio Rastani: I'm fairly confident the Euro is going to crash, and it's going to fall pretty hard
because markets are ruled right now by fear. Investors and the big money, the smart money ...
don't buy this rescue plan. They know the stock market is finished. They don't really care. They're
moving their money away to safer assets like treasury bonds, 30-year bonds, and the U.S. dollar.
For most traders, we dont really care that much how they're going to fix the economy. Our
job is to make money from it. And personally, Ive been dreaming of this moment for three years.
I go to bed every night [and] I dream of another recession. When the market crashes if you
have the right plan set up, you can make a lot of money from this. Be prepared, and act now. The
biggest risk people can take right now is not acting. This economic crisis is like a cancer. In less
than 12 months, my prediction is that the savings of millions people is going to vanish, and this is
just the beginning. This is not a time right now for wishful thinking that governments are
going to sort things out. The governments dont rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the
world.
Note: Part of the text above is not listed in the text at the link above, but in the BBC video on that
page. The video is a must watch for one expert's important view on an impending future economic
collapse. For lots more excellent information showing the incredible power of Goldman Sachs and
more on this important topic, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources on financial corruption, click here.
Americans Express Historic Negativity Toward U.S. Government

2011-09-26, Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/149678/Americans-Express-Historic-Negativity-Towar...
A record-high 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed,
adding to negativity that has been building over the past 10 years. Majorities of Democrats (65%)
and Republicans (92%) are dissatisfied with the nation's governance. The findings are from
Gallup's annual Governance survey, updated Sept. 8-11, 2011. The same poll shows record or
near-record criticism of Congress, elected officials, government handling of domestic problems,
the scope of government power, and government waste of tax dollars. Key Findings: * 82% of
Americans disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. * 69% say they have little or no
confidence in the legislative branch of government, an all-time high and up from 63% in 2010. *
57% have little or no confidence in the federal government to solve domestic problems, exceeding
the previous high of 53% recorded in 2010. * 53% have little or no confidence in the men and
women who seek or hold elected office. Americans believe, on average, that the federal
government wastes 51 cents of every tax dollar. 49% of Americans believe the federal
government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the
rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. In 2003, less than a third (30%) believed this.
Note: For many important reports from major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Oxfam warns of spiralling land grab in developing countries

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/22/oxfam-land-grab-developing-...
The scale of the rush by speculators, pension funds and global agri-businesses to acquire large
areas of developing countries is far greater than previously thought, and is already leading to
conflict, hunger and human rights abuses, says Oxfam. The NGO has identified 227m ha (561m
acre ha) of land an area the size of north-west Europe as having being reportedly sold, leased
or licensed, largely in Africa and mostly to international investors in thousands of secretive deals
since 2001. The new land rush, which was triggered by food riots, a series of harvest failures
following major droughts and the western investors moving out of the US property market in 2008,
is being justified by governments and speculators in the name of growing food for hungry people
and biofuels for environmental benefit. "Many of the deals are in fact 'land grabs' where the
rights and needs of the people previously living on the land are ignored, leaving them
homeless and without land to grow enough food to eat and make a living," said Oxfam chief
executive Dame Barbara Stocking. While some investors might claim to have experience in
agricultural production, many may only be purchasing land speculatively, anticipating price
increases in the coming years. In addition, developing countries are under pressure from the IMF,
the World Bank and other regional banks to put farmland on the international market to increase
economic development and improve the balance of payments.
Note: To read Oxfam's summary and report on land grabs worldwide, click here.
Lloyd's insurer sues Saudi Arabia for 'funding 9/11 attacks'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lloyds-insurer-sues-saudi-arab...
A Lloyd's insurance syndicate has begun a landmark legal case against Saudi Arabia, accusing
the kingdom of indirectly funding al-Qa'ida and demanding the repayment of 136m it paid out to
victims of the 9/11 attacks. Outlined in a 156-page document filed in western Pennsylvania, where
United Airlines flight 93 crashed on 9/11, the claim suggests that the nine defendants "knowingly"
provided resources, including funding, to al-Qa'ida in the years before the attack and encouraged
anti-Western sentiment which increased support for the terror group. The case singles out the
activities of a charity, the Saudi Joint Relief Committee for Kosovo and Chechnya (SJRC),
which was alleged by UN officials to have been used as a cover by several al-Qa'ida
operatives, including two men who acted as directors of the charity. It is alleged that at the
time the SJRC was under the control of Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, half-brother of
King Abdullah and the long-standing Saudi Interior minister. The claim states: "Between 1998 and
2000, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the SJRC, diverted more than $74m to al-Qa'ida
members and loyalists affiliated with SJRC bureaus. Throughout this time, the Committee was
under the supervision and control of Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz."
Note: This article singles out the important connection between Al Qaeda and the wars in Kosovo
and Chechnya, where, as in Afghanistan in the 1980s, Osama bin Laden's organization provided
Muslim jihadis to promote US imperial interests. This activity continued into the summer of 2001 in
Macedonia, just a few months before 9/11. Amazingly, the lawsuit described in the article has been
dropped. What pressures could have been brought to bear on Lloyd's to cause it to drop its suit
two weeks after bringing it?
Militias funded by US accused of rights abuses

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/militias-funded-by-us-accused-of...
Militias in Afghanistan funded by the United States are terrorising the communities they were
supposed to protect, murdering, raping and torturing civilians, including children, extorting illegal
taxes and smuggling contraband, according to a damning new report from Human Rights Watch.
In a 102-page report entitled 'Just Don't Call It a Militia' the group documents how the Afghan
government and the US military have provided guns and money to paramilitary groups without
adequate oversight or accountability. Because of their links to senior Afghan officials, many of
these groups operate with impunity. Under US General David Petraeus, who recently left
Afghanistan to head up the Central Intelligence Agency, Nato aggressively pursued a strategy
of raising militias as a security quick-fix ahead of its departure in 2014. Because US law
makes it illegal to finance groups facing credible allegations of human rights abuses, the
report's findings could, potentially, put at risk a central plank of Nato's exit strategy if US
lawmakers would have it so. The report follows an investigation earlier this year by The
Independent that found US special forces were bankrolling an Afghan mercenary called
Commander Azizullah in Afghanistan's south-eastern Paktika province. Under their patronage
Azizullah had embarked on a spate of rights abuses including murders, rape, theft, torture, the
mutilation of corpses and the desecration of a mosque.
Note: To read the HRW report on US-funded atrocities in Afghanistan, click here.
Newly Published Audio Provides Real-Time View of 9/11 Attacks

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/nyregion/newly-published-audio-provides-rea...
[A] chronicle of the civil and military aviation responses to the [9/11] hijackings that originally had
been prepared by investigators for the 9/11 Commission, but never completed or released, [is
about to be published]. Though some of the audio has emerged over the years, mainly through
public hearings and a federal criminal trial, the ... complete document, with recordings, is being
published for the first time by the Rutgers Law Review. Most of the work on the document which
commission staff members called an audio monograph was finished in 2004, not in time to go
through a long legal review before the commission was shut down that August. At hearings in 2003
and 2004, the 9/11 Commission played some of the recordings and said civil and military
controllers improvised responses to attacks they had never trained for. The account published
this week is missing two essential pieces that remain restricted or classified. One is about
30 minutes of the cockpit recording of United Airlines Flight 93. The other still-secret
recording is of a high-level conference call that ... grew, over the course of the morning, to
include ... Mr. Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the vice chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers. The recording was turned over to the National
Security Council. The 9/11 Commission was not permitted to keep a copy of it or of the transcript
... and investigators were closely monitored when they listened to it.
Note: WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin has analyzed the use made by the 9/11
Commission of the audiotapes described in this article, in "9/11 Live or Fabricated: Do the NORAD
Tapes Verify The 9/11 Commission Report?", concluding that they may well have been faked by
the Pentagon to provide a basis for the Commission's otherwise unsupported claim that the FAA
did not notify NORAD of the hijackings in time for an air-defense response. Prof. Griffin developed
his argument further in Chapter One of his seminal book, Debunking 9/11 Debunking.
Toronto Hearings to examine 'state crime' of 9/11

2011-09-09, Montreal Gazette (Montreal's leading English newspaper)
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Toronto+Hearings+examine+state+cri...
Dubbed the Toronto Hearings, [a] four-day event at Ryerson University which wraps up [on
September 11] will hear from a variety of experts and academics on why the official narrative of
9/11 is flawed. Lance deHaven-Smith, a public policy professor at Florida State University, called
9/11 a "state crime against democracy," suggesting the destruction of the Twin Towers was staged
to advance a war agenda. Speaker David Ray Griffin, who authored the book 9/11 Ten Years
Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed, focused on alleged anomalies in the
official report from the 9/11 Commission. The report, which he called a product of "the White
House investigating itself," failed to include relevant information about the alleged hijackers,
including the discovery that some were still alive after the attacks. Kevin Ryan, co-editor of the
Journal of 9/11 Studies, was similarly critical of a report by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology into how and why the Twin Towers collapsed in the fashion they did. "A steel
structure does not collapse suddenly when attacked by fire," Ryan said, noting the
institute's report "distorted many important facts." "We know that the official story does not
fly," [conference organizer Graeme MacQueen said]. "The legitimate mourning is mixed together
with myth and deception."
Note: For more on the historic Toronto Hearings, at which cutting edge research on the most
important questions about 9/11 was presented, click here.
New Investigative Panel Releases 13 Consensus Statements of

Evidence Opposing the Official Account of 9/11
2011-09-09, MarketWatch (Wall Street Journal Digital Network)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-investigative-panel-releases-13-consensu...
For ten years independent scholars and researchers have been investigating the troubling
anomalies of the 9/11 official account. One such scholar, Dr. David Ray Griffin, has written ten
encyclopedic books documenting fundamental problems with the government account. Although
9/11 has been the seminal event of this century, none of the research by Dr. Griffin and other critics
has been reported by the North American media. Today, the formation of the 9/11 Consensus
Panel, involving 22 investigators of the September 11th events, is being announced at
consensus911.org. The 13 Consensus Points issued by the Panel were derived from a
Delphi survey modeled on consensus statements developed by expert panels in medicine

to guide diagnosis and treatment. The 9/11 Consensus Panel, co-founded by Dr. David Ray
Griffin and medical librarian Elizabeth Woodworth ... include[s] two former NASA engineers, six
professors, one physician, two lawyers, four journalists, and three pilots. The Consensus Panel
offers the media and the public the scientifically validated information needed to address this
seminal issue with the confidence that has been lacking.
Note: In addition to WantToKnow team member Prof. David Ray Griffin, WantToKnow's Tod
Fletcher is a member of the 9/11 Consensus Panel. They are both media contacts at the panel
who can be reached by clicking here.
Even a top cop concedes a right to video arrests - but the street tells a
different story
2011-09-03, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia's leading newspaper)
http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-03/news/30109223_1_cops-arrest-police-crui...
Tamera Medley begged the police officer to stop slamming her head - over and over - into the
hood of a police cruiser. Thinking they were helping, passers-by Shakir Riley and Melissa Hurling
both turned their cellphone video cameras toward the melee that had erupted on Jefferson Street
in Wynnefield, they said. But then the cops turned on them. Riley had started to walk away when
at least five baton-wielding cops followed him, he said, and they beat him, poured a soda on his
face and stomped on his phone, destroying the video he had just taken. Although it's legal
to record Philadelphia police performing official duties in public, all three were charged
with disorderly conduct and related offenses, and officers destroyed Hurling and Riley's
cellphones, erasing any record of Medley's violent arrest. Echoes of the incident, which was
corroborated by a half-dozen witnesses, have been reverberating nationwide in recent years as
the combination of cellphone video and police officers has simmered into what is an increasingly
explosive formula. The issue is gaining national attention. The American Civil Liberties Union has
civil lawsuits pending in Washington, D.C., Florida, Illinois and Maryland. Last week, a federal
appeals court in Boston ruled that police had violated the First Amendment rights of a lawyer who
was arrested after filming cops arrest a teenager. Suits have been settled in Pennsylvania.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on growing threats to our civil liberties, click here.
35,000 Worldwide Convicted for Terror

At least 35,000 people worldwide have been convicted as terrorists in the decade since the Sept.
11 attacks on the United States. But while some bombed hotels or blew up buses, others were put
behind bars for waving a political sign or blogging about a protest. In the first tally ever done of
global anti-terror arrests and convictions, The Associated Press documented a surge in
prosecutions under new or toughened anti-terror laws, often passed at the urging and with the
funding of the West. Before 9/11, just a few hundred people were convicted of terrorism each
year. The sheer volume of convictions, along with almost 120,000 arrests, shows ... that
dozens of countries are using the fight against terrorism to curb political dissent. The AP
used freedom of information queries, law enforcement data and hundreds of interviews to identify
119,044 anti-terror arrests and 35,117 convictions in 66 countries, accounting for 70 percent of the
world's population. The actual numbers undoubtedly run higher because some countries refused
to provide information. That included 2,934 arrests and 2,568 convictions in the United States,
which led the war on terror eight times more than in the decade before. More than half the
convictions came from two countries accused of using anti-terror laws to crack down on dissent,
Turkey and China. Turkey alone accounted for a third of all convictions, with 12,897.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the hidden realities behind the "Global War on
Terror", click here.
Britain and European governments helped US commit 'countless

crimes colluding with torture
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8735518/Britain-an...
Britain and other European governments have helped the US commit countless crimes by
colluding with torture and illegal rendition operations in Americas war on terror, Europes human
rights watchdog has said. Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europes rights commissioner,
accused governments of being deeply complicit in illegal activities carried out by the US over the
last 10 years, since the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. In
attempting to combat crimes attributed to terrorists, countless further crimes have been
committed in the course of the US-led 'global war on terror, he said. Many of those
crimes have been carefully and deliberately covered up. A 2007 Council of Europe (COE)
report by Dick Marty, Swiss MP, accused Britain and 13 other European governments of allowing
the CIA to run secret detention centres, of turning a blind eye to torture and the illegal abductions
of terror suspects. Mr Hammerberg accused Europes governments of blocking investigations into
rendition in line with Washingtons wishes. So far Europe has granted effective impunity to those
who committed crimes in implementing the rendition policy. An urgent rethink is required to prevent
this misjudged and failed counter terrorism approach from having a sad legacy of injustice, said
Mr Hammerberg.
Five survivors found from shocking U.S. human experiments

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/30/scitech/main20099438.shtml
Guatemala has tracked down five survivors from a shocking US government research project on
sexually transmitted diseases that killed scores of its people. On [August 29], a presidential panel
disclosed new details of the medical experiments done in Guatemala in the 1940s, including a
decision to re-infect a dying woman in a syphilis study. The Guatemala experiments are already
considered one of the darker episodes of medical research in U.S. history, but panel
members say the new information indicates that the researchers were unusually unethical,
even when placed into the historical context of a different era. "The researchers put their
own medical advancement first and human decency a far second," said Anita Allen, a
member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. From 1946-48, the U.S.
Public Health Service and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau worked with several Guatemalan
government agencies to do medical research - paid for by the U.S. government - that involved
deliberately exposing people to sexually transmitted diseases. The researchers apparently were
trying to see if penicillin, then relatively new, could prevent infections in the 1,300 people exposed
to syphilis, gonorrhea or chancroid. Those infected included soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners and
mental patients with syphilis. The commission revealed ... that only about 700 of those infected
received some sort of treatment. Also, 83 people died.
Note: For a long list of verifiable information on experiments where human were used a guinea
pigs, click here.
U.S. scientists knew 1940s Guatemalan STD studies were unethical,

panel finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-scientists-knew-1940...
U.S. government researchers who purposely infected unwitting subjects with sexually transmitted
diseases in Guatemala in the 1940s had obtained consent a few years earlier before conducting
similar experiments in Indiana, investigators reported [August 29]. The stark contrast between
how the U.S. Public Health Service scientists experimented with Americans and
Guatemalans clearly shows that researchers knew their conduct was unethical, according to
members of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. These researchers
knew these were unethical experiments, and they conducted them anyway, said Raju
Kucherlapati of Harvard Medical School, a commission member. At least 5,500 prisoners, mental
patients, soldiers and children were drafted into the experiments, including at least 1,300 who were
exposed to the sexually transmitted diseases syphilis, gonorrhea and chancroid, the commission
reported. This is a dark chapter in our history. It is important to shine the light of day on it. We owe
it to the people of Guatemala who were experimented on, and we owe it to ourselves to recognize
what a dark chapter it was, said Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania, the
commissions chairwoman.
Note: For a long list of verifiable information on experiments where human were used a guinea
pigs, click here.
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich By Warren Buffet

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to
make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are
investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income
as carried interest, thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures
for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if theyd been long-term
investors. Last year my federal tax bill the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me
and on my behalf was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only
17.4 percent of my taxable income and thats actually a lower percentage than was paid
by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41
percent and averaged 36 percent. If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich
friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your
percentage will surely exceed mine most likely by a lot. My friends and I have been coddled
long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. Its time for our government to get serious about
shared sacrifice.
Note: The author of this article is Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world. Thanks for
the excellent article, Warren.
Murdochs were given secret defence briefings

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/murdochs-were-given-secret-defe...
The extraordinary access that Cabinet ministers granted Rupert Murdoch and his children was
revealed for the first time yesterday, with more than two dozen private meetings between the
family and senior members of the Government in the 15 months since David Cameron entered
Downing Street. In total, Cabinet ministers have had private meetings with Murdoch
executives more than 60 times and, if social events such as receptions at party conferences
are included, the figure is at least 107. On two occasions, James Murdoch and former News
International chief executive Rebekah Brooks were given confidential defence briefings on
Afghanistan and Britain's strategic defence review by the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox. A
further briefing was held with Ms Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and the Sunday Times editor John
Witherow. The Chancellor, George Osborne, has had 16 separate meetings since May 2010 with
News International editors and executives, including two with the Murdochs within just a month of
taking office. He also invited Elisabeth Murdoch as a guest to his 40th birthday party last month.
The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, dined with Rupert Murdoch within days of the Government
coming to power and, after being given quasi-judicial oversight for the Murdochs' 8bn attempted
takeover of BSkyB, had two meetings with James Murdoch in which they discussed the takeover.
here and here.
Ethical rules needed to curb 'Frankenstein-like experiments' on animals

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8652093/Ethical-rules-needed-...
Scientists are in danger of turning animals into monsters unless an ethical watchdog is appointed
to prevent Frankenstein-like experiments, the Academy of Medical Sciences has warned. A new
report into experiments which transplant human cells into animals for medical purposes said
scientists may not be far from giving apes the ability to think and talk like humans.
Concerns about the creation of talking apes should be taken seriously along with "what
one might call the 'Frankenstein fear' that the medical research which creates 'humanised'
animals is going to generate monsters", it was claimed. A regulatory body is needed to closely
monitor any experiments that risk creating animals with human-like consciousness, spawning
hybrid human-animal embryos, or giving animals any appearance or behavioural traits that too
closely resemble humans, the report said. Scientists would, for example, be prevented from
replacing a large number of an ape's brain [cells] with human cells as has already been done in
simpler animals like mice until much more is known about the potential results.
Note: For more on this in another media article, click here.
News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/news-of-the-world-sean-hoare
Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbusiness reporter who was the first named
journalist to allege that Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found
dead. Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but said in a statement: "The death is
currently being treated as unexplained but not thought to be suspicious." There was an
unexplained delay in the arrival of forensics officers at the scene. There was no police presence at
the scene at all for several hours. Hoare was in his mid-40s. He first made his claims in a New
York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World. He told the
newspaper that not only did Coulson know of the hacking, but he also actively encouraged his staff
to intercept the calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives. In a subsequent interview with the
BBC he alleged he was personally asked by his editor at the time, Coulson, to tap into phones.
Hoare returned to the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at
the NoW were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone
signals, in exchange for payments to police officers. He said journalists were able to use
"pinging", which measured the distance between a mobile handset and a number of phone masts
to pinpoint its location.
and here.
Stain From Tabloids Rubs Off on a Cozy Scotland Yard

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/europe/17police.html
For nearly four years they lay piled in a Scotland Yard evidence room, six overstuffed plastic bags
gathering dust and little else. Inside was a treasure-trove of evidence: 11,000 pages of handwritten
notes listing nearly 4,000 celebrities, politicians, sports stars, police officials and crime victims
whose phones may have been hacked by The News of the World, a now defunct British tabloid
newspaper. Yet from August 2006, when the items were seized, until the autumn of 2010, no one
at the Metropolitan Police Service, commonly referred to as Scotland Yard, bothered to sort
through all the material and catalog every page. During that same time, senior Scotland Yard
officials assured Parliament, judges, lawyers, potential hacking victims, the news media
and the public that there was no evidence of widespread hacking by the tabloid. After the
past week, that assertion has been reduced to tatters, torn apart by a spectacular avalanche
of contradictory evidence. The testimony and evidence that emerged last week, as well as
interviews with current and former officials, indicate that the police agency and News International,
the British subsidiary of Rupert Murdochs News Corporation and the publisher of The News of the
World, became so intertwined that they wound up sharing the goal of containing the investigation.
Members of Parliament said in interviews that they were troubled by a revolving door between
the police and News International.
Note: Media and government corruption could hardly get worse than seen in this case of the
Murdoch phone hacking scandal. Scotland Yard's primary responsibility is to protect the UK public
from criminal activity; instead it enabled the activity to continue and shared high-level information
and personnel with News Corporation. For lots more on media and government corruption click
here and here.
Is the US government at war with whistleblowers?

2011-07-15, BBC News
The Obama administration is facing criticism for prosecutions brought under the US Espionage Act
against government employees accused of leaking sensitive information. Mark Feldstein, professor
of media at the University of Maryland, sees a worrying trend of espionage prosecutions since
President Obama took office. "To everyone's surprise, the Obama administration has
escalated the war against whistleblowers and the attacks on information that journalists
and the public were depending on to get evidence of wrongdoing by powerful institutions
and individuals," Prof Feldstein says. On Friday, Thomas Drake, a former senior official at the
National Security Agency, a highly secretive US spy agency, was sentenced to one year's
probation, after the Department of Justice's case against him collapsed. He had been accused of
passing on information to a journalist about a government computer programme he considered
wasteful. Outside court, Mr Drake said the government's prosecution had been "vindictive and
malicious". According his lawyer Jesselyn Radack, the charge that he passed on secret
information was a ''bald-faced lie''. Critics say the US classification system is often arbitrary, with
documents often stamped ''classified'' when the content is not secret or that sensitive.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on government threats to civil liberties, click here.
CIA defends running vaccine program to find bin Laden

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-defends-running-vac...
U.S. officials ... defended a tactic used by the CIA to attempt to verify the whereabouts of Osama
bin Laden the covert creation of a vaccine program in Abbottabad, the town in Pakistan where
he was later killed in a U.S. raid. The vaccine drive was conducted shortly before the raid in early
May ... and was overseen by a Pakistani doctor who traveled to Abbottabad. A senior U.S. official
said the campaign involved actual hepatitis vaccine and should not be construed as a fake
public health effort. The vaccination campaign was part of the hunt for the worlds top
terrorist, and nothing else. The doctor who oversaw the effort has since been arrested by
Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency for cooperating with the CIA. U.S. officials have said
they are seeking to have him released. The senior U.S. official declined to say whether DNA from
bin Ladens relatives was collected as part of the vaccine program. Officials have previously said,
however, that they used DNA analysis to confirm bin Ladens identify after he was killed. In doing
so, they used samples taken from known relatives.
Note: For information about a disturbing Pentagon program using vaccinations to combat religious
fundamentalism, click here.
Obama under fire over detention of terror suspect on US navy ship

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jul/06/obama-detention-terror-suspect-us-n...
The Obama administration approved the secret detention of a Somali terror suspect on board a US
navy ship, where for two months he was subjected to military interrogation in the absence of a
lawyer and without charge. The capture and treatment of Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame has
rekindled the debate within the US about the appropriate handling of terror suspects. Civil rights
groups have objected to the secret questioning of Warsame on board a navy vessel, an innovation
that they fear could see a new form of the CIA's widely discredited "black site" detention centres
around the world. The US government is turning to detention at sea as a way of avoiding
legal and political impediments in the treatment of terror suspects, both domestically and
on the international stage. Last week Admiral William McRaven, soon to become head of US
Special Operations Command, told his confirmation hearing that militants captured outside
Afghanistan were often "put on a naval vessel" to be held until they could be sent to a third country
or a case was compiled against them for prosecution in the US courts. Officials told the
Washington Post that Warsame was interrogated on "all but a daily basis" on board the ship. The
right to a lawyer was withheld along with other habeas corpus rights known in the US as Miranda
rights. Civil rights groups have said the secret interrogation was a blatant violation of the
Geneva conventions that prohibit prolonged detention of suspects at sea.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the illegal actions taken by the US government
in its "global war on terror", click here.
Cost of War at Least $3.7 Trillion and Counting

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/06/29/us/politics/politics-us-usa-war.html
When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he
referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America's wars. Staggering as it is, that figure grossly
underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and
ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released on [June 29]. The final
bill will run at least $3.7 trillion and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the
research project "Costs of War" by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. In
the 10 years since U.S. troops went into Afghanistan ... spending on the conflicts totaled $2.3
trillion to $2.7 trillion. Those numbers will continue to soar when considering often overlooked
costs such as long-term obligations to wounded veterans and projected war spending from 2012
through 2020. The estimates do not include at least $1 trillion more in interest payments coming
due. In human terms, 224,000 to 258,000 people have died directly from warfare, including
125,000 civilians in Iraq. Many more have died indirectly, from the loss of clean drinking water,
healthcare, and nutrition. An additional 365,000 have been wounded and 7.8 million people -equal to the combined population of Connecticut and Kentucky -- have been displaced. In one
sense, the report measures the cost of 9/11. What followed were three wars in which $50
billion amounts to a rounding error. For every person killed on September 11, another 73
have been killed since.
Note: To watch a video of WantToKnow team member Dr. David Ray Griffin's explanation that the
war in Afghanistan was not justified by the 9/11 attacks, click here. For lots more from reliable
sources on the US/NATO wars of aggression, click here.
NY Fed Won't Say How Much Money Went to Iraq
2011-06-21, CNBC
The New York Fed is refusing to tell investigators how many billions of dollars it shipped to
Iraq during the early days of the US invasion there, the special inspector general for Iraq
reconstruction told CNBC [on June 21]. The Fed's lack of disclosure is making it difficult for
the inspector general to follow the paper trail of billions of dollars that went missing in the
chaotic rush to finance the Iraq occupation, and to determine how much of that money was
stolen. The New York Fed will not reveal details, the inspector general said, because the money
initially came from an account at the Fed that was held on behalf of the people of Iraq and financed
by cash from the Oil-for-Food program. Without authorization from the account holder, the Iraqi
government itself, the inspector general's office was told it can't receive information about the
account. The problem is that critics of the Iraqi government believe highly placed officials there are
among the people who may have made off with the money in the first place. And some think that
will make it highly unlikely the Iraqis will sign off on revealing the total dollar amount. It was one of
the largest shipments of cash in history. And the inspector general says that if the money was
stolen, that would represent the largest heist in history.
Radioactive tritium leaks found at 48 US nuke sites

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43475479/ns/us_news-environment/t/radioactive-tri...
Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often
into groundwater from corroded, buried piping. The number and severity of the leaks has been
escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the
nation. Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65
sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the
AP's yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants. Leaks from at
least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water
standard sometimes at hundreds of times the limit. At three sites two in Illinois and one
in Minnesota leaks have contaminated drinking wells of nearby homes. At a fourth site, in New
Jersey, tritium has leaked into an aquifer and a discharge canal feeding picturesque Barnegat Bay
off the Atlantic Ocean. Any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how slight, boosts cancer risk,
according to the National Academy of Sciences. Tritium moves through soil quickly, and when it is
detected it often indicates the presence of more powerful radioactive isotopes that are often spilled
at the same time.
here.
War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/world/20drones.html
Military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones ... to
the size of insects and birds. The drones in development ... are designed to replicate the flight
mechanics of moths, hawks and other inhabitants of the natural world. Were looking at how you
hide in plain sight, said Greg Parker, an aerospace engineer, as he held up a prototype of a
mechanical hawk that in the future might carry out espionage or kill. An explosion in aerial drones
is transforming the way America fights and thinks about its wars. Predator drones ... are by now a
brand name, known and feared around the world. But far less known is the sheer size, variety and
audaciousness of a rapidly expanding drone universe, along with the dilemmas that come with it.
The Pentagon now has some 7,000 aerial drones, compared with fewer than 50 a decade ago.
Within the next decade the Air Force anticipates a decrease in manned aircraft but expects its
number of multirole aerial drones like the Reaper the ones that spy as well as strike to
nearly quadruple, to 536. Already the Air Force is training more remote pilots, 350 this year
alone, than fighter and bomber pilots combined. Its a growth market, said Ashton B.
Carter, the Pentagons chief weapons buyer. The Pentagon has asked Congress for nearly
$5 billion for drones next year, and by 2030 envisions ever more stuff of science fiction: spy
flies equipped with sensors and microcameras to detect enemies
Note: Ashton B. Carter, CIA director John Deutch, and executive director of the 9/11 Commission
Philip Zelikow co-authored a 1998 article in the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations,
Foreign Affairs, titled "Catastrophic Terrorism". It predicted, years in advance, a massive attack on
the World Trade Center that would result in loss of civil liberties, detention without charge, torture,
and endless wars abroad. The Pentagon's weapons-buying spree, now including billions of dollars
for drones to be used over US soil, and for which Carter is the "chief weapons buyer," would have
been impossible without the 9/11 attacks.
Northwest sees 35% infant mortality spike post-Fukushima

2011-06-17, Q13 FOX-TV (Seattle FOX Network affiliate)
http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-northwest-sees-35-infant-mortality-spike-post...
Physician Janette Sherman, M.D. and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano published a report Monday
highlighting a 35% spike in northwest infant mortality after Japan's nuclear meltdown. The report
spotlighted data from the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on infant mortality rates in
eight northwest cities, including Seattle, in the 10 weeks after Fukushima's nuclear meltdown. The
average number of infant deaths for the region moved from an average of 9.25 in the four
weeks before Fukushima' nuclear meltdown, to an average of 12.5 per week in the 10 weeks
after. The change represents a 35% increase in the northwest's infant mortality rates. In
comparison, the average rates for the entire U.S. rose only 2.3%.
Note: For details of this very important analysis of the CDC's data on US infant mortality after the
Fukushima meltdowns, click here and here.
Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16cole.html
A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging
personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him. Glenn
L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was a top counterterrorism official during
the administration of President George W. Bush, said the White House at least twice asked
intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Juan Cole, a University of Michigan
professor who writes an influential blog that criticized the war. In an interview, Mr. Carle said his
supervisor at the National Intelligence Council told him in 2005 that White House officials wanted
to get Professor Cole. Since a series of Watergate-era abuses involving spying on White
House political enemies, the C.I.A. and other spy agencies have been prohibited from
collecting intelligence concerning the activities of American citizens inside the United
States. These allegations, if true, raise very troubling questions, said Jeffrey H. Smith, a
former C.I.A. general counsel. The statute makes it very clear: you cant spy on Americans.
Mr. Smith added that a 1981 executive order that prohibits the C.I.A. from spying on Americans
places tight legal restrictions not only on the agencys ability to collect information on United States
citizens, but also on its retention or dissemination of that data.
Note: For important reports from major media sources on a wide array of threats to civil liberties by
out-of-control government agencies and officials, click here.
Rescind President Obama's 'Transparency Award' now

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/14/rescind-barack...
On 28 March 2011, President Obama was given a "transparency award" from five "open
government" organisations: OMB Watch, the National Security Archive, the Project on Government
Oversight, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and OpenTheGovernment.org.
Ironically and quite likely in response to growing public criticism regarding the Obama
administration's lack of transparency heads of the five organisations gave their award to
Obama in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House. If the ceremony had been open
to the press, it is likely that reporters would have questioned the organisations' proffered
justification for the award, in contrast to the current reality: Ignoring his campaign promise to
protect government whistleblowers, Obama's presidency has amassed the worst record in US
history for persecuting, prosecuting and jailing government whistleblowers and truth-tellers.
President Obama has initiated a secret assassination programme, has publicly announced that he
has given himself the power to include Americans on the list of people to be assassinated, and has
attempted to assassinate at least one, Anwar al-Awlaki. President Obama has maintained the
power to secretly kidnap, imprison, rendition, or torture, and he has formalised the power to
lawlessly imprison in an executive order.
Note: For key reports on the lawless war on terrorism carried out by the US government, click
here.
Swiss, US in Talks on Tax Probe Settlement

2011-06-10, CNBC/Reuters News
http://classic.cnbc.com/id/43350415
The United States and Switzerland are in advanced talks on a multibillion-dollar deal that would let
several Swiss and European banks join a common settlement and avoid potential U.S. prosecution
for helping wealthy Americans dodge taxes. As part of the agreement under discussion, known as
a global resolution, U.S. government agencies would invite the banks to pay a fine, exit their
undeclared offshore banking businesses for Americans, and turn over client names to the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Justice Department. In exchange, the agencies
would drop an ongoing investigation into the banks. It could not immediately be determined
which banks could be invited to participate in the global resolution. The fines involved could
collectively total several billion dollars, they said. Banks that "opt out" of the deal could face
heightened scrutiny from U.S. authorities, including a possible legal summons for client names
from the IRS and tougher scrutiny by the Justice Department. A resolution would signal another
strong blow to the Swiss tradition of client confidentiality, whose laws date to 1934 but whose
tradition goes back centuries.
Kelly campaigners to fight on as Government rules out inquest

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/kelly-campaigners-to-fight-on-a...
[Attorney-General Dominic Grieve's] refusal yesterday to request an inquest into the death of Dr
David Kelly was furiously condemned by campaigners, who are now planning [to] seek a judicial
review of Mr Grieve's decision. Dr Stephen Frost, who has led a group of campaigning
doctors, said the decision was "deeply flawed" with "no basis in law". Calling the
continuing "cover-up of the truth" a "national disgrace", he said they were "perplexed and
outraged" and called for Mr Grieve to resign. Dr Kelly's body was found in woods near his
Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after he had been revealed as the source of a BBC report
claiming a government dossier [on evidence for Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction"] had been
sexed up. The respected weapons inspector died aged 59, two days after he had faced MPs'
questioning. The campaigning doctors ... pointed out the [Hutton] inquiry spent only half a day of
its 24 days considering the cause of Dr Kelly's death and insisted no "coroner in the land would
have reached a suicide verdict on the evidence". Yesterday Dr Frost added: "This Government
has now revealed itself to be complicit in a determined and concerted cover-up."
Note: For much more on government secrecy from reliable sources, click here.
Make companies' political spending transparent

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/03/INB11JNOSC.DTL
Lockheed Martin, the nation's largest contractor ... has received more than $19 billion in federal
contracts so far this year. Lockheed has already spent more than $3 million lobbying Congress this
year. Lockheed supports a platoon of Washington lawyers and lobbyists dedicated to getting more
federal contracts. Sixty-four of Lockheed's lobbyists are former congressional staffers, Pentagon
officials and White House aides. Two are former members of Congress. As such, they used to be
on the public payroll, representing us. Lockheed also has been spending more than $3 million a
year on political contributions to friendly members of Congress. Lockheed is hardly alone in using
taxpayer money to get fatter contracts from taxpayers. All of the 10 biggest government
contractors are defense contractors. Every one of them gets most of its revenue from the federal
government. And every one uses a portion of that money to lobby for even more defense
contracts. Next year's expected drawdown of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq is supposed
to save money. But Lockheed and other giant defense contractors have made sure all
anticipated savings will go to new weapons systems. Lockheed recently delivered a budget
bombshell with a proposed tab of more than $1 trillion for a fleet of F-35 joint-strike fighter
jets.
Note: $1 trillion for a fighter jet fleet means that each American will pay over $3,000 for this fleet.
The author of this op-ed, Robert Reich, is former U.S. secretary of labor, professor of public policy
at UC Berkeley and the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future. He blogs
at www.robertreich.org.
Sex and politics - part of our heritage

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/EDB11JM5BO.DTL
Sexual secrets and drive do turn the tide of our public life. Just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or
porn impresario Larry Flynt, author of a new book, One Nation Under Sex: How the Private Lives
of Presidents, First Ladies and Their Lovers Changed the Course of American History. This publicprivate collision turns up as sexual speed traps in the waylaid careers of Schwarzenegger, Newt
Gingrich, John Edwards and fully half of the presidents in our history, according to Flynt's book,
which he co-wrote with Columbia history Professor David Eisenbach. Lying, blackmail and
hypocrisy about secret carnality just add spice to the stew of a particularly American phenomenon
described in Flynt's book. One common trait among the powerful and errant, Flynt [commented],
"was a huge ego." The book presents us as an often prudish culture where mistresses,
illegitimate children and homosexuality in Washington not only dominate the landscape but
hijack it at key moments in our history. "I'm the first person to defend a philandering president"
who's doing a good job for the public, Flynt says. He'd just like people to know a lot more about
sex themselves and care a lot less about how other people practice it. In 2003, Flynt briefly ran for
California governor as "the smut peddler who cares." If he had been elected, at least we would
have known what we were getting.
Note: If you are ready to see just how ugly it gets when sexual slavery reaches to the highest
levels of government, watch the revealing Discovery Channel documentary "Conspiracy of
Silence" at this link.
Political prisoner: 'I owe Amnesty International my life'

2011-05-26, BBC News
For Maria Gillespie, the memories of what she endured in a prison in Uruguay, when she was only
15 years old, are almost too much to bear. She remembers being hooded, interrogated and
tortured. Eventually every tooth was wrenched out of her mouth. But she also remembers - as
Amnesty International marks its 50th anniversary - how much she owes to the organisation that
helped end the horror and set her free. "I don't think that if I say 'thank you' it will be enough,"
Mrs Gillespie says of the Amnesty activists around the world who campaigned on her
behalf. "I think that I do owe them my life." Amnesty was founded 12 years before she was
jailed. It called for collective action on behalf of those unjustly imprisoned around the world. Maria
Gillespie fell into that category after the military seized power in Uruguay in 1973, ushering in a
period of severe repression. She was ... married to a trade union activist who was wanted by the
authorities, and had fled the country. In his absence ... Maria was arrested. She was accused of
aiding the regime's enemies, and sentenced to 75 years in prison. And so she began her solitary
confinement in a windowless cell lit only by an electric bulb. She was repeatedly taken - with her
head in a hood - for questioning about her husband's associates. But she knew nothing of his
activities. She had no answers for her interrogators.
Note: The brutal repression of political activity in Uruguay described in this article was supervised
by the CIA in its Operation Condor, a campaign of torture and killing across Latin America.
U.S. Faulted on Failing to Catch Credit-Crunch Bandits'

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LKQQ2B0D9L3501-7O8F...
In November 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder vowed before television cameras to prosecute
those responsible for the market collapse a year earlier, saying the U.S. would be relentless in
pursuing corporate criminals. In the 18 months since, no senior Wall Street executive has been
criminally charged. Prosecutions of three categories of crime that could be linked to the
causes of the crisis -- corporate, securities and bank fraud -- declined last fiscal year by 39
percent from 2003, the period after the accounting scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom
Inc., Justice Department records show. You need a massive prosecutorial effort, said Solomon
Wisenberg, a white-collar defense attorney at Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Washington and a
former federal prosecutor. I don't see evidence that it's happening." The seizing up of credit
markets led to the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and sparked the
worst economic slump in the U.S. since the Great Depression. Much of the blame belongs to
banks that profited from selling products that imploded with the housing market.
Note: For undeniable evidence of fraud at the highest levels of Wall Street, click here.
Obama seeks congressional support for Libya mission

2011-05-21, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/20/war.powers/index.html
On deadline day [May 20], President Barack Obama ... sent a letter to Congress expressing
support for a bipartisan resolution favoring military operations in Libya. At issue: The 1973 War
Powers Act, which says if the president does not get congressional authorization 60 days after
military action, the mission must stop within 30 days. The president formally notified Congress
about the mission in Libya with a letter on March 21. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, told CNN
before news of the letter broke that he believed Obama was trying to "bring democracy to Libya
while shredding the Constitution of the United States. He cannot continue what he is doing in Libya
without congressional authorization." To be sure, presidents in both parties often ignored another
part of the War Powers Act -- that the commander-in-chief should get congressional approval
before any military action. But it is virtually unprecedented for a president to continue a
mission beyond 60 days without a resolution from Congress. "Make no mistake: Obama is
breaking new ground, moving decisively beyond his predecessors," Yale law professors
Bruce Ackerman and Oona Hathaway wrote this week in the Washington Post.
Note: For ideas on why Obama has shifted to become as much of a war-monger as his
predecessors, see what a top general has to say at this link.
Louis Theroux goes to the Miami mega-jail

2011-05-19, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13457576
For a bespectacled, peace-loving Englishman, there can be few places less congenial than a berth
on the sixth floor of Miami main jail. The place has to be seen to be believed. Up to 24 inmates are
crowded into a single cell, living behind metal bars on steel bunks, sharing a single shower and
two toilets. Little of the bright Miami sun filters through the grilles on the windows. Visits to the yard
happen twice a week for an hour. The rest of the time, inmates are holed up round the clock,
eating, sleeping, and going slightly crazy. But what is most shocking is the behaviour of the
inmates themselves. For reasons that remain to some extent opaque ... the incarcerated
here have created a brutal gladiatorial code of fighting. They fight for respect, for food and
snacks, or simply to pass the time. With around 7,000 inmates, the Miami jail system is one of
the biggest in America - a so-called "mega-jail". In America, jails are distinct from prisons in that
they hold people who are pre-trial and therefore unconvicted. But the hardened few hundred who
are either charged with particularly serious offences or have a track record of misbehaving behind
bars get sent to the fifth and sixth floors of the main jail - a place with its own myth and lore.
Note: If you want to understand that tragedy of some U.S. jails and why they tend to harden
criminals much more than reform them, read the full article.
Why Haven't Wall Streeters Gone to Jail?

2011-05-19, Time Magazine blog
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/05/19/ny-ag-investigation-why-ha...
The New York Attorney General's office has been requesting information from Bank of America,
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on how they created and structured mortgage bonds at the
height of the credit boom. That investigation has reignited questions about why, nearly three years
after the financial crisis, no Wall Streeter has yet to face criminal charges directly related to the
mortgage bonds and other toxic deals that lead to the financial crisis. No one really knows the
answer, but there are a number of theories out there. Here are the best ones: Theory No. 1:
Prosecutors have been told to back off. In mid-April, the New York Times did a large investigative
piece that found a number of instances where prosecutors were told not to pursue Wall Street.
Theory No. 2: Wall Street is innocent. It may seem like the most bizarre answer, but it is getting
some traction. No one is really saying that Wall Street didn't do anything wrong. It's clear that
setting up risky mortgage bonds to sell to investors and then betting against them yourself is
wrong. But is it illegal? It's not quite clear. Theory No. 3: The cases are still in the works. There
seems to be some evidence that prosecutors are starting to be more aggressive in pursuing cases.
It's not clear what part of the mortgage process, or what potential wrong doing, the NY AG
Eric Schneiderman is investigating. The truth is that Wall Streeters rarely go to jail. Yes,
other bubbles and financial crises have resulted in numerous convictions, but generally not
of Wall Streeters.
Note: Remember that Elliot Spitzer probably got taken down for going after Wall Street. Now his
successor, Eric Schneiderman, is doing the same thing. For an excellent article on this brave man,
click here.
Tokyo Electric: reviewing records of how nuclear crisis unfolded

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE74F18020110516
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said it is studying whether the
facility's reactors were damaged in the March 11 earthquake even before the massive tsunami that
followed cut off power and sent the reactors into crisis. Kyodo news agency quoted an unnamed
source at the utility on Sunday as saying that the No. 1 reactor might have suffered structural
damage in the earthquake that caused a release of radiation separate from the tsunami. Tepco has
provided a new analysis of the early hours of the Fukushima crisis. The utility said on Sunday that
a review of data from March 11 suggested that the fuel rods in the No. 1 reactor were
completely exposed to the air and rapidly heating five hours after the quake. By the next
morning - just 16 hours later - the uranium fuel rods in the first reactor had melted down
and dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel. The No. 2 and No. 3 reactors are
expected to have gone through a similar process and like No. 1 are leaking most of the water
being pumped in a bid to keep their cores cool. A massive pond of radioactive water has collected
in the basement of the No. 1 reactor. Experts fear that the contaminated water leaking from the
plant could threaten groundwater and the Pacific.
Note: For lots more on corporate and government corruption from major media sources, click here
and here.
Unlawful Killings charges about Princess Dianas death cause stir at

Cannes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/unlawful-killings-charges-about...
Unlawful Killing, a documentary about the death of Princess Diana that began to stir up
controversy even before it got [to the Cannes Film Festival, was] directed by Keith Allen [and]
earned global [comment] for including a graphic image of the aftermath of the car accident that
took Dianas life in 1997, the details of which have historically been distorted in the interest of
taste. The photo does appear in Unlawful Killing, but only for a moment, and within the legitimate
context of Allens claim that Diana received tardy and inadequate care immediately after the wreck
and that a more timely response would have saved her life. Unlawful Killing, which is part of the
Cannes Marche du Film, or Film Market, and played here ... to a packed house of buyers and
critics, will surely raise hackles for the additional ... accusations Allen levels in the film. These
include allegations ... that Diana was murdered, most likely by a cabal involving the royal
family, the political establishment and the secret services; that she was killed because she
was threatening the British arms industry with her work against land mines; and that the
inquest into the death ... was little more than a coverup in which the media were ...
complicit.
Note: For more on Princess Diana's mysterious death, click here.
The Unwisdom of Elites

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/opinion/09krugman.html
The past three years have been a disaster for most Western economies. The United States has
mass long-term unemployment for the first time since the 1930s. Meanwhile, Europes single
currency is coming apart at the seams. How did it all go so wrong? The fact is that what were
experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess ... were, with
few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people in many cases, the
same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the
blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own
catastrophic mistakes. What happened to the budget surplus the federal government had in 2000?
First, there were the Bush tax cuts, which added roughly $2 trillion to the national debt over the last
decade. Second, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added an additional $1.1
trillion or so. And third was the Great Recession, which led both to a collapse in revenue and to a
sharp rise in spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs. So who was
responsible for these budget busters? It wasnt the man in the street. We need to place the
blame where it belongs, to chasten our policy elites. Otherwise, theyll do even more
damage in the years ahead.
Note: For highly revealing major articles exposing secret gatherings of the global elite and their
activities, click here.
Osama bin Laden dead: Blackout during raid on bin Laden compound
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-de...
Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which the
live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the US special forces was cut off. A
photograph released by the White House appeared to show President Barack Obama and
his aides in the situation room watching the action as it unfolded. In fact they had little
knowledge of what was happening in the compound. In an interview with PBS, Mr Panetta
said: "Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of
almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn't know just exactly what was going on. We had some
observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual
conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound." The President only
knew the mission was successful after the Navy Seals commander heard the word Geronimo on
the radio, a code word from commandos reporting that they had killed bin Laden. The absence of
footage of the raid has led to conflicting reports about what happened in the compound.
Note: The White House photo was fake and the original news was quite distorted. Hmmmm. Who
do we trust here? WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin's book establishing the likelihood
that Osama bin Laden died in December 2001, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?, is available
here. For a brief summary of reliable information from major media sources raising serious
questions about what happened on 9/11, click here.
Cheerleader who wouldn't root for assailant loses

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/02/MNSI1JAT0E.DTL
A Texas high school cheerleader who was kicked off the squad for refusing to chant the
name of a basketball player - the same athlete she said had raped her four months earlier lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal [on May 2]. A federal appeals court ruled in September that
the cheerleader was speaking for the school, not herself, and had no right to remain silent when
called on to cheer the athlete by name. The Supreme Court denied review of the case. The girl,
identified by her initials H.S., was 16 when she said she was raped at a party in her southeast
Texas hometown of Silsbee in October 2008. She identified the assailant as Rakheem Bolton,
[who] ultimately pleaded guilty in September 2010 to a misdemeanor assault charge. At a
February 2009 basketball game in Huntsville, Texas, H.S. joined in leading cheers for the Silsbee
team, which included Bolton. But when Bolton went to the foul line to shoot a free throw, H.S.
folded her arms and was silent. H.S. said the district superintendent, his assistant and the school
principal told her she had to cheer for Bolton or go home. She refused and was dismissed from the
squad. H.S., joined by her parents, sued school officials and the district. They claimed the school
had punished her for exercising her right of free expression. Federal courts have also ordered
H.S. and her parents to reimburse the district more than $45,000 for the costs of defending
against a frivolous suit.
Wikileaks: Many at Guantanamo 'not dangerous'

2011-04-25, BBC
Files obtained by the website Wikileaks have revealed that the US believed many of those held at
Guantanamo Bay were innocent or only low-level operatives. The files, published in US and
European newspapers, are assessments of all 780 people ever held at the facility. They show that
about 220 were classed as dangerous terrorists, but 150 were innocent Afghans and Pakistanis.
The Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs) ... give little information on the allegations of harsh
treatment and interrogation techniques at the camp. But the files show that US military analysts
considered only 220 of those ever detained at Guantanamo to be dangerous extremists. Another
380 detainees were deemed to be low-ranking guerrillas. At least 150 people were revealed to be
innocent Afghans or Pakistanis - including drivers, farmers and chefs - rounded up during
intelligence gathering operations in the aftermath of 9/11. The detainees were then held for
years owing to mistaken identity or because they were in the wrong place at the wrong
time, the memos say. In many cases, US commanders concluded there was "no reason
recorded for transfer".
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on the prison at Guantanamo and other black sites
where torture and false allegations are the norm, click here.
The Terminators: drone strikes prompt MoD to ponder ethics of killer

robots
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/17/terminators-drone-strikes-mod-ethics
The growing use of unmanned aircraft in combat situations raises huge moral and legal issues,
and threatens to make war more likely as armed robots take over from human beings, according to
an internal study by the Ministry of Defence. The report warns of the dangers of an "incremental
and involuntary journey towards a Terminator-like reality", referring to James Cameron's 1984
movie, in which humans are hunted by robotic killing machines. "It is essential that before
unmanned systems become ubiquitous (if it is not already too late) we ensure that ... we
do not risk losing our controlling humanity and make war more likely," warns the report, titled
The UK Approach to Unmanned Aircraft Systems. MoD officials have never before grappled so
frankly with the ethics of the use of drones. The report was ordered by Britain's defence chiefs,
and coincides with continuing controversy about drones' use in Afghanistan, and growing Pakistani
anger at CIA drone attacks against suspected insurgents on the Afghan borders. It states that "the
recent extensive use of unmanned aircraft over Pakistan and Yemen may already herald a new
era". Referring to descriptions of "killer drones" in Afghanistan, it notes that "feelings are likely to
run high as armed systems acquire more autonomy".
Note: For an analysis of the expansion of the sphere of killing by drones to the new Libyan theater
of operations in the "endless war" triggered by the false-flag of 9/11, click here.
Japanese officials defend delay in revealing severity of radiation

2011-04-12, Seattle Times/New York Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014756803_quake13.html
Japanese officials have been forced to explain why it took them a month to disclose large-scale
releases of radioactive material in mid-March at a crippled nuclear-power plant. The government
announced [on April 12] that it had raised its rating of the severity of the accident at the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear complex to 7, the worst on an international scale, from 5. Japan's new assessment
was based largely on computer models showing heavy emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium
March 14-16, soon after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami rendered the plant's emergency
cooling system inoperative. The nearly monthlong delay in acknowledging the extent of these
emissions is a fresh example of confused data and analysis from the Japanese and put authorities
on the defensive about whether they have delayed or blocked the release of information to avoid
alarming the public. Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission, an
independent panel that oversees the country's nuclear industry, ... suggested a public-policy
reason for having kept quiet. "Some foreigners fled the country even when there appeared to
be little risk," he said. "If we immediately decided to label the situation as Level 7, we could
have triggered a panicked reaction." The peak release in emissions of radioactive particles took
place after hydrogen explosions at three Fukujima reactors.
25 years on, what Chernobyl tells us about Japan's crisis

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/25-years-on-what-chernobyl-tel...
Igor Gramotkin is ... the manager of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, and has spent
more than two decades at the site of the most devastating nuclear accident in history, trying to stop
further radiation emissions and cleaning the area. Mr Gramotkin admitted that the destroyed
reactor, still full of radioactive waste and nuclear fuel, remains "a threat not only to Ukraine but to
the whole world" until it is encased in a vast steel structure that is being built. In the months after
the accident, a makeshift "sarcophagus" had been constructed to encase the reactor, but it is now
unstable and, despite work to shore it up, experts say a new shelter is desperately needed in case
the old one collapses. At more than 100m tall, the shelter will be the largest moveable structure
ever built. Those building it still have to be extremely careful. Standing in the area immediately
around the plant subjects a person to radiation equivalent to about one old-style chest X-ray per
day. The human costs of the Chernobyl accident are ... horrific by any estimate. [Some]
studies put the figure in the hundreds of thousands. There are incidences of genetic
mutations, children born lacking organs, and dramatically elevated thyroid cancer levels in
local children, who drank milk contaminated with radioactive iodine in the years after the
accident.
Note: For many reports from major media sources on the government and corporate corruption
that allows the nuclear industry to continue, click here and here.
Obama Doctrine Affects More Than Libya

2011-03-30, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134978269/the-nation-obama-doctrine-effects-mor...
Does Libya set a precedent? If a revolt breaks out again in Iran, and the regime cracks down with
brutal force, will the United States support a Libya-style response? Is there an "Obama Doctrine"
emerging? It looks like it. It appears that Obama is ready to use U.S. military force anytime,
anywhere, for any reason that he without Congressional approval or UN support deems
legitimate. During the course of the "War on Terror," now a decade old, there has been a
constant barrage of efforts to disparage those who called Iraq, or Afghanistan, a "war for
oil." It's not bizarre at all to argue that what animates nearly the entirety of American policy
toward the region from Algeria to Iran is concern about oil and natural gas. That's been the
driving force behind the creation of the Rapid Deployment Force by President Carter, the
establishment of Centcom by President Reagan, the invasion of Kuwait by President Bush I and
America's arming of Saudi Arabia and the other members of the so-called Gulf Cooperation
Council. It's why Obama muses about "maintaining the flow of commerce" by military means.
Which brings us to Iran. If the anti-Ahmadinejad forces rise up again, and perhaps take control of a
city like Shiraz, or if Iranian oil workers strike and take control of a southern oil city such as Ahwaz,
... the regime would crack down brutally. And then what?
Note: For many reports exposing the real reasons behind the "endless war" policy of the
Bush/Cheney and Obama administrations, click here.
Scrimping on regulators puts public safety at risk

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/26/IN6H1IGT7K.DTL
General Electric marketed the Mark 1 boiling water reactors that were used in Japan's Fukushima
Dai-ichi plant as cheaper to build than other reactors because they used a smaller and less
expensive containment structure. Yet American safety officials have long thought the smaller
design more vulnerable to explosion and rupture in emergencies than competing designs. Here's
the problem: Profit-making corporations have every incentive to underestimate these probabilities
and lowball the likely harms. This is why it's necessary to have such things as government
regulators and why regulators need enough resources to enforce the regulations. And it's why
recent proposals in Congress to cut the budgets of agencies charged with protecting public safety
are so wrong-headed. It's also why regulators have to be independent of the industries they
regulate. When there's a revolving door between regulatory agency and industry, officials are
reluctant to bite the hands that will feed them. Finally, the tendency of corporations to
understate the probabilities of public harms requires that limits be placed on corporate
political power. The public cannot not be adequately protected as long as big corporations
... are allowed to bribe legislators with campaign donations and boondoggles.
Note: The author of this opinion, Robert Reich, is a professor at UC Berkeley and former
Secretary of Labor.
Why No Nukes? The Real Cost of U.S. Nuclear Power

The chaos at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant explosions, fires, ruptures has not shaken
the bipartisan support in partisan Washington for the U.S.'s so-called nuclear renaissance.
Republicans have dismissed Japan's crisis as a once-in-a-lifetime fluke. President Obama has
defended atomic energy as a carbon-free source of power, resisting calls to halt the renaissance
and freeze construction of the U.S.'s first new reactors in over three decades. But there is no
renaissance. Even before the earthquake-tsunami one-two punch, the endlessly hyped U.S.
nuclear revival was stumbling, pummeled by skyrocketing costs, stagnant demand and
skittish investors, not to mention the defeat of restrictions on carbon that could have
mitigated nuclear energy's economic insanity. Obama has offered unprecedented aid to an
industry that already enjoyed cradle-to-grave subsidies, and the antispending GOP has clamored
for even more largesse. But Wall Street hates nukes as much as K Street loves them, which is why
there's no new reactor construction to freeze. Once hailed as "too cheap to meter," nuclear fission
turns out to be an outlandishly expensive method of generating juice for our Xboxes.
Note: For many reports from major media sources on the government and corporate corruption
that allows the nuclear industry to continue, click here and here.
Fed to release bank loan data after Supreme Court rejects appeal
2011-03-21, Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg News
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/21/business/la-fi-fed-banks-20110321
The Federal Reserve will disclose details of emergency loans it made to banks in 2008, after the
U.S. Supreme Court rejected an industry appeal that aimed to shield the records from public view.
The justices ... left intact a court order that gives the Fed five days to release the records, sought
by Bloomberg News' parent company, Bloomberg. The order marks the first time a court has
forced the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed from its oldest lending program,
the 98-year-old discount window. "I can't recall that the Fed was ever sued and forced to
release information" in its 98-year history, said Allan H. Meltzer, the author of three books on
the U.S central bank and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The disclosures,
together with details of six bailout programs released by the central bank in December under a
congressional mandate, would give taxpayers insight into the Fed's unprecedented $3.5 trillion
effort to stem the 2008 financial panic. Under the trial judge's order, the Fed must reveal 231
pages of documents related to borrowers in April and May 2008, along with loan amounts. News
Corp.'s Fox News is pressing a bid for 6,186 pages of similar information on loans made from
August 2007 to November 2008.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from major media sources on the hidden activities of the Fed
and the biggest Wall Street and international banks, click here.
US Army 'kill team' in Afghanistan posed for photos of murdered

civilians

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/21/us-army-kill-team-afghanistan-pos...
Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by
the publication of "trophy" photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless
Afghan civilians they killed. Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in
Kabul have compared the pictures published by the German news weekly Der Spiegel to the
images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq which sparked waves of anti-US
protests around the world. They fear that the pictures could be even more damaging as they show
the aftermath of the deliberate murders of Afghan civilians by a rogue US Stryker tank unit that
operated in the southern province of Kandahar last year. The case has already created shock
around the world, particularly with the revelations that the men cut "trophies" from the
bodies of the people they killed. An investigation by Der Spiegel has unearthed
approximately 4,000 photos and videos taken by the men. The US military has strived to keep
the pictures out of the public domain. The lengthy Spiegel article that accompanies the
photographs contains new details about the sadistic behaviour of the men.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on atrocities and illegal activities by US military
forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, click here.
Nuclear power report: 14 'near misses' at US plants due to 'lax

oversight'
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0318/Nuclear-power-report-14-near-misses-at...
Nuclear plants in the United States last year experienced at least 14 "near misses," serious
failures in which safety was jeopardized, at least in part, due to lapses in oversight and
enforcement by US nuclear safety regulators, says a new report. They occurred with alarming
frequency more than once a month which is high for a mature industry, said the study of
nuclear plant safety performance in 2010 by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washingtonbased nuclear watchdog group. The report, the first in what the UCS expects will become an
annual study, details both successes and failures by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
which it calls "the cop on the beat." Charged with overseeing America's fleet of 104 nuclear
reactors, the NRC made some "outstanding catches," but was also inconsistent in its oversight,
seeming at times to nod off when most needed. "The chances of a disaster at a nuclear plant are
low," the report states. "But when the NRC tolerates unresolved safety problems as it did
last year at Peach Bottom, Indian Point, and Vermont Yankee this lax oversight allows that
risk to rise. The more owners sweep safety problems under the rug and the longer safety
problems remain uncorrected, the higher the risk climbs."
Revealed: Afghan chief accused of campaign of terror is on US payroll

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/revealed-afghan-chief-accused-of...
An Afghan warlord backed by US special forces faces persistent allegations that he launched a
two-year spate of violence involving burglary, rape and murder of civilians, desecration of mosques
and mutilation of corpses. Yet, despite repeated warnings about the atrocities Commander
Azizullah is alleged to have committed, he has remained on the payroll of the US military as an
"Afghan security guard", a select band of mercenaries. Interviews with religious leaders, tribal
elders, villagers, contractors and Western and Afghan officials all pointed to a reign of terror in
which they believe 31-year-old Azizullah, an ethnic Tajik, targeted Pashtun civilians while fighting
the Taliban. The testimony also tallied with several independent reports documenting the
allegations against Azizullah. The allegations of persistent abuses are embarrassing for Nato, and
not just because of the closeness with an alleged war criminal. They also showcase the biggest
drawbacks of militias, which US commander General David Petraeus wants to expand
aggressively across Afghanistan. He wants to triple the size of "local defence initiatives"
[militias] to 30,000 members nationwide.The consequences are too awful to contemplate:
resurgent warlords, deepening ethnic tensions, widespread bloodletting and the erosion of
what little authority the government in Kabul has left.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on atrocities and illegal activities by US military
forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, click here.
Diablo Canyon nuclear plant 'near miss' in report

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/17/BUA01IDTUO.DTL
For 18 months, operators at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant near San Luis Obispo didn't realize
that a system to pump water into one of their reactors during an emergency wasn't working. It had
been accidentally disabled by the plant's own engineers, according to a report ... from the Union
of Concerned Scientists watchdog group, [which] lists 14 recent "near misses" - instances
in which serious problems at a plant required federal regulators to respond. The report
criticizes both plant operators and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for allowing some
known safety issues to fester. The problem at Diablo Canyon ... involved a series of valves that
allow water to pour into one of the plant's two reactors during emergencies, keeping the reactor
from overheating. A pair of remotely operated valves in the emergency cooling system was taking
too long to move from completely closed to completely open. So engineers shortened the distance
between those two positions, according to the report. Unfortunately, two other pairs of valves were
interlocked with the first. They couldn't open at all until the first pair opened all the way. No one
noticed until the valves refused to open during a test in October 2009, 18 months after the
engineers made the changes.
here.
Why cops lie

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/14/EDKL1IAK11.DTL
Police officer perjury in court to justify illegal dope searches is commonplace. One of the dirty
little not-so-secret secrets of the criminal justice system is undercover narcotics officers
intentionally lying under oath. It is a perversion of the American justice system that strikes
directly at the rule of law. Yet it is the routine way of doing business in courtrooms
everywhere in America. Why do police ... show contempt for the law by systematically perjuring
themselves? The first reason is because they get away with it. They know that in a swearing match
between a drug defendant and a police officer, the judge always rules in favor of the officer.
Another reason is the nature of most drug cases and the likely type of person involved. The
defendant is poor, uneducated, frequently a minority, with a criminal record, and he does have
drugs. But the main reason is that the job of these cops is chasing drugs. Their professional
advancement depends on nabbing dopers. It's reinforced by San Francisco's own sorry history of
infamous undercover narcotics officers promoted to top levels in the department despite contempt
for the law shown by bullying, brutality and perjury in carrying out illegal searches and arrests. So
the modern narcotics officer is just following a well-worn path.
Michigan bill would impose "financial martial law"

2011-03-11, CBS News
Michigan lawmakers are on the verge of approving a bill that would enable the governor to appoint
"emergency managers" -- officials with unilateral power to make sweeping changes to cities facing
financial troubles. Under the legislation ... the governor could declare a "financial
emergency" in towns or school districts. He could then appoint a manager to fire local
elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, eliminate services - and even
eliminate whole cities or school districts without any public input. The measure passed in the
state Senate this week; the House passed its own version earlier. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder
has said he will sign the bill into law. U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat who represents Detroit,
said in a statement that in a given city, the governor's new "financial czar" could "force a
municipality into bankruptcy, a power that will surely be used to extract further concessions from
hardworking public sector workers." He said the legislation raises "serious constitutional concerns."
Note: The bill was made law. For more, click here. For a treasure trove of reports from major
media sources exposing the control exerted by financial powers on government officials, click
here.
Billions in Bloat Uncovered in Beltway

The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20
separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development. These are a
few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping and duplicative programs that cost taxpayers
billions of dollars each year, according to the Government Accountability Office. A report from the
nonpartisan GAO ... compiles a list of redundant and potentially ineffective federal programs. The
GAO examined numerous federal agencies, including the departments of defense,
agriculture and housing and urban development, and pointed to instances where different
arms of the government should be coordinating or consolidating efforts to save taxpayers'
money. The agency found 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality; 80 to help
disadvantaged people with transportation; 47 for job training and employment; and 56 to help
people understand finances. "Reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could
potentially save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and
effective services," the report said.
Shock Doctrine, U.S.A.

The story of the privatization-obsessed Coalition Provisional Authority [created by Bush in Iraq in
2003] was the centerpiece of Naomi Kleins best-selling book The Shock Doctrine, which argued
that it was part of a broader pattern. From Chile in the 1970s onward, she suggested, right-wing
ideologues have exploited crises to push through an agenda that has nothing to do with resolving
those crises, and everything to do with imposing their vision of a harsher, more unequal, less
democratic society. Which brings us to Wisconsin 2011, where the shock doctrine is on full display.
In recent weeks, Madison has been the scene of large demonstrations against the governors
budget bill, which would deny collective-bargaining rights to public-sector workers. Gov. Scott
Walker claims that he needs to pass his bill to deal with the states fiscal problems. But his attack
on unions has nothing to do with the budget. Whats happening in Wisconsin is, instead, a
power grab an attempt to exploit the fiscal crisis to destroy the last major counterweight
to the political power of corporations and the wealthy. And the power grab goes beyond unionbusting. The bill in question is 144 pages long, and there are some extraordinary things hidden
deep inside. For example, the bill includes language that would allow officials appointed by the
governor to make sweeping cuts in health coverage for low-income families without having to go
through the normal legislative process. The state of Wisconsin owns a number of plants supplying
heating, cooling, and electricity to state-run facilities. The language in the budget bill would ... let
the governor privatize any or all of these facilities. Not only that, he could sell them, without taking
bids, to anyone he chooses. And note that any such sale would, by definition, be considered to be
in the public interest.
Note: For an abundance of major media articles revealing rampant government corruption, click
here.
Supreme Court shields vaccine makers from lawsuits

http://www.latimes.com/business/sc-dc-0223-court-vaccines-20110223,0,1732649....
The Supreme Court on [February 22] shielded the nation's vaccine makers from being sued by
parents who say their children suffered severe side effects from the drugs. By a 6-2 vote, the court
upheld a federal law that offers compensation to these victims but closes the courthouse door to
lawsuits. Justice Antonin Scalia said the high court majority agreed with Congress that
these side effects were "unavoidable" when a vaccine is given to millions of children. If the
drug makers could be sued and forced to pay huge claims for devastating injuries, the
vaccine industry could be wiped out, he said. The American Academy of Pediatrics applauded
the decision. The ruling was a defeat for the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, who as a child was
given a standard vaccination for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. She later suffered a series of
seizures and delayed development. Her parents sought compensation for her injuries, but their
claim was turned down. They then sued the drug maker in a Pennsylvania court, contending that
the vaccine was defectively designed. A judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled
they were barred from suing, and the Supreme Court affirmed that judgment.
Note: For powerful evidence that childhood vaccines are much less effective than is generally
believed, click here.
Expert Panel Is Critical of F.B.I. Work in Investigating Anthrax Letters

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/us/16anthrax.html
A review of the Federal Bureau of Investigations scientific work on the investigation of the anthrax
letters of 2001 concludes that the bureau overstated the strength of genetic analysis linking the
mailed anthrax to a supply kept by Bruce E. Ivins, the Army microbiologist whom the investigators
blamed for the attacks. The review, by a panel convened by the National Academy of
Sciences, says the genetic analysis did not definitively demonstrate that the mailed
anthrax spores were grown from a sample taken from Dr. Ivinss laboratory at Fort Detrick
in Frederick, Md. The academys report faults the F.B.I. as failing to take advantage of scientific
methods developed between the mailings in 2001 and its conclusion after Dr. Ivinss suicide in
2008 that he was the sole perpetrator. The academy panel, which was paid $1.1 million by the
F.B.I. for its review, assessed only the scientific aspects of the investigation and not the traditional
detective work. Representative Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat and physicist who has
followed the case, said he thought the academys review showed that the F.B.I. attached too
much certainty to the scientific parts of the case. I also think it shows the case was closed
prematurely, Mr. Holt said. He said he was reintroducing a bill to create a national commission,
similar to the Sept. 11 panel, to take a more comprehensive look at the anthrax case and its
implications.
Note: The government has seemed eager to pin this on Ivins, when evidence appears to point to
the U.S. military. For more strange evidence on anthrax and dead researchers, click here.
Rich Take From Poor as U.S. Subsidy Law Funds Luxury Hotels
2011-02-12, Businessweek/Bloomberg
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LG994Q07SXKX01-70TC...
The landmark Blackstone Hotel in downtown Chicago, which has hosted 12 U.S. presidents,
opened in 2008 after a two-year, $116 million renovation. Buffed marble staircases greet guests
spending up to $699 a night for rooms with views of Lake Michigan. What's surprising isn't the
opulent makeover: It's how the project was financed. The work was subsidized by a federal
development program intended to help poor communities. The biggest beneficiary of taxpayer
help for the Blackstone revamp was Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer.
The company got $15.6 million in tax credits from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for helping
to fund the project. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, also took in
money by serving as a lender and the monitor of Blackstone construction financing, city records
show. Since 2003, some of the world's biggest financial companies, including Goldman Sachs
Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase and Prudential, have taken advantage of a federal
subsidy that will cost taxpayers $10.1 billion -- and most of the public has never heard of it.
Investors have used the program, called New Markets Tax Credits, to help build more than
300 upscale projects, including hotels, condominiums, office buildings and a car museum,
on streets far from poverty, according to ... records released through a federal Freedom of
Information Act request. JPMorgan spokesman Tom Kelly .. declines to discuss specifics. We
think these projects help the community, Kelly says.
Note: For other revealing major media articles showing blatant corruption in the government and
corporations, click here and here.
IMF calls for dollar alternative

2011-02-10, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/index.htm
The International Monetary Fund issued a report Thursday on a possible replacement for the dollar
as the world's reserve currency. The IMF said Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, could help
stabilize the global financial system. SDRs represent potential claims on the currencies of IMF
members. They were created by the IMF in 1969 and can be converted into whatever currency a
borrower requires at exchange rates based on a weighted basket of international currencies. The
IMF typically lends countries funds denominated in SDRs While they are not a tangible currency,
some economists argue that SDRs could be used as a less volatile alternative to the U.S. dollar.
The goal is to have a reserve asset for central banks that better reflects the global economy
since the dollar is vulnerable to swings in the domestic economy and changes in U.S.
policy. In addition to serving as a reserve currency, the IMF also proposed creating SDRdenominated bonds, which could reduce central banks' dependence on U.S. Treasuries. The
Fund also suggested that certain assets, such as oil and gold, which are traded in U.S.
dollars, could be priced using SDRs. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for
International Economics, said at a conference in Washington that IMF member nations should
agree to create $2 trillion worth of SDRs over the next few years.
The Paradox of Corporate Taxes

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/business/economy/02leonhardt.html
Of the 500 big companies in the well-known Standard & Poors stock index, 115 paid a total
corporate tax rate both federal and otherwise of less than 20 percent over the last five years,
according to an analysis of company reports done for The New York Times by Capital IQ, a
research firm. Thirty-nine of those companies paid a rate less than 10 percent. Arguably, the
United States now has a corporate tax code thats the worst of all worlds. The official rate is
higher than in almost any other country, which forces companies to devote enormous time
and effort to finding loopholes. Yet the government raises less money in corporate taxes
than it once did, because of all the loopholes that have been added in recent decades. Over
the last five years ... Boeing paid a total tax rate of just 4.5 percent. Southwest Airlines paid 6.3
percent. And the list goes on: Yahoo paid 7 percent; Prudential Financial, 7.6 percent; General
Electric, 14.3 percent. Economists have long pleaded for an overhaul of the corporate tax code.
But it wont be easy. Companies that use loopholes to avoid taxes dont mind the current system,
of course, and they have more than a few lobbyists at their disposal.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports on corporate corruption, click here.
On Street, Pay Vaults to Record Altitude

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704124504576118421859347048-sea...
When it comes to paychecks, Wall Street's law of gravity is back in full force: What goes down
must come back up. In 2010, total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street
banks and securities firms hit a record of $135 billion, according to an analysis by The Wall
Street Journal. The total is up 5.7% from $128 billion in combined compensation and
benefits by the same companies in 2009. At 25 large financial firms that have reported full-year
results, revenue rose to $417 billion, another all-time high. "Things are shifting back to where they
were before," said J. Robert Brown, a law professor at the University of Denver who studies
compensation and corporate-governance issues. Buried in the numbers, though, are signs of how
Wall Street's pay culture is bending in response to pressure from regulators and shareholders.
Last year, deferred compensation made up as much as half of total pay, up from about a third
previously, estimates Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates Inc., a New York
pay consultant. Banks and securities firms are deferring a larger percentage of compensation than
they used to, trying to counter criticism that yearly cash bonuses encourage unwise risk-taking by
executives, traders and other employees aiming for a big payday.
Note: For the NY State Comptroller's analysis of Wall Street bonuses in 2010, click here and here.
FBI involved in hundreds of violations in national security

investigations
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/30/nation/la-na-fbi-violations-20110130
The FBI disclosed to a presidential board that it was involved in nearly 800 violations of laws,
regulations or policies governing national security investigations from 2001 to 2008, but the
government won't provide details or say whether anyone was disciplined, according to a report by
a privacy watchdog group. The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation sued under
the Freedom of Information Act to obtain about 2,500 documents that the FBI submitted to the
President's Intelligence Oversight Board. Most of the records were so heavily censored that they
couldn't be properly evaluated. Nevertheless, the documents "constitute the most complete picture
of post-9/11 FBI intelligence abuses available to the public," says the report. "The documents
suggest," the report says, "that FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil
liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was
previously assumed." The records obtained by the foundation go beyond national security
letters. About a third of the reports of violations involved rules governing internal oversight of
intelligence investigations, and about a fifth involved potential violations of the Constitution, the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or other laws governing criminal investigations or intelligencegathering activities, the report says.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on government attacks on civil liberties, click here.
USDA Won't Impose Restrictions on Biotech Alfalfa Crop

The Obama administration Thursday abandoned a proposal to restrict planting of genetically
engineered alfalfa, the latest rule-making proposal shelved as part of the administration's review of
"burdensome" regulation. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's decision not to regulate alfalfa
genetically modified to survive applications of the Monsanto Co. herbicide Roundup is a
victory for the big seed and agri-chemicals company and the American Farm Bureau
Federation. The Obama administration said earlier this month it is reviewing all proposed
government regulation to weed out proposals that are overly burdensome to businessespart of a
broader effort to repair relations with employers and industry. The administration has also shelved
two proposed workplace-safety rules opposed by business. Alfalfa is raised as hay on about 20
million acres, making it the fourth-biggest U.S. crop by acreage. Only about 250,000 acres of
alfalfa is raised organically, however. Some biotechnology officials have predicted that U.S.
farmers will use genetically modified seeds to grow half of the nation's alfalfa. The vast majority of
the nation's corn, soybeans and cotton are grown from genetically modified varieties.
Note: The US government once again sides with big business and endangers public health. For a
powerful, well researched essay which shows how these genetically engineered crops have been
proven to cause cancer and kill lab animals in many studies, click here. For more reliable
information, click here and here.
Royal Family granted new right of secrecy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/royal-family-granted-new-right...
The Royal Family is to be granted absolute protection from public scrutiny in a controversial legal
reform designed to draw a veil of secrecy over the affairs of the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince
William. Letters, emails and documents relating to the monarch, her heir and the second in line to
the throne will no longer be [publicly] disclosed. Sweeping changes to the Freedom of
Information Act will reverse advances which had briefly shone a light on the royal finances
including an attempt by the Queen to use a state poverty fund to heat Buckingham Palace
and which had threatened to force the disclosure of the Prince of Wales's prolific
correspondence with ministers. Lobbying and correspondence from junior staff working for the
Royal Household and Prince Charles will now be held back from disclosure. The Government
buried the plan for "added protection" for the Royal Family in the small print of plans called
"opening up public bodies to public scrutiny". A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said that the
change to the law was necessary because the Freedom of Information Act had failed to protect the
constitutional position of the monarch and the heir to the throne. He explained that the sovereign
has the right and duty to be consulted, [and that] "This constitutional position relies on
confidentiality."
US foreclosures in new legal trouble

2011-01-07, BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12140877
Two of the US's biggest mortgage lenders have had mortgage foreclosures cancelled in a case
that could affect other banks. The Supreme Court in Massachusetts ruled against US Bancorp and
Wells Fargo in a widely watched case. Backing a lower court ruling made in 2009, it said two
foreclosure sales were invalid because the banks did not prove that they owned them at the time.
The decision is among the earliest to address the validity of foreclosures done without proper
documentation - so-called robo-loans because they were carried out by people who were
unqualified and who often did not check a single line in the paperwork. Marty Mosby, an analyst at
Guggenheim Securities said: "A ruling like this will slow down the foreclosure process. They're
going to have to be really precise and get everything in order. It doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room."
The case also applies retrospectively to people who have already been foreclosed. Glenn
Russell, a lawyer for one of the couples in the case said: "I'm ecstatic. The fact the decision
applies retroactively could mean thousands of homeowners can seek recovery for homes
wrongfully foreclosed upon." Analysts said the decision may also threaten banks' ability to
package mortgages into securities, and may raise the spectre that loans transferred improperly will
need to be bought back.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the criminal profiteering by the largest banks
and Wall Street financial firms, click here.
Say something, unless it embarrasses the TSA

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F02%2FEDQK1...
Chris Liu is an Army veteran and a helicopter pilot who rose to the rank of captain before leaving
the military to pursue a career in commercial aviation - first as an instructor, ultimately as a pilot for
a major airline. He volunteered for the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, begun after 9/11, that
trains and deputizes select pilots to carry firearms in the cockpit. After psychological and
background checks, he was accepted. Now Liu is in trouble with the government that only a few
weeks ago entrusted him with the lives of airline passengers. On Dec. 2, six federal agents and
sheriff's deputies arrived at his home outside Sacramento to confiscate his FFDO credentials and
his government-issued handgun. Days later, the Transportation Security Administration sent Liu a
letter stating that he had violated the FFDO's rules for nondisclosure and standards of conduct.
How? In November, Liu anonymously posted videos on YouTube, since removed, showing security
weaknesses at San Francisco International Airport. While passengers and even flight crews
endure body scans and pat-downs, ground crews face limited screening. "The doors, gates and
other access points where they can access the tarmac are not being manned by TSA and
certainly do not have the same metal detectors, body scanners, x-ray equipment, dogs or
other security measures that the rest of us are all too painfully forced to undergo," Liu
writes on his website.
Note: The government is happy to spend billions on invasive body scans (think big profits), yet
fails to even consider huge holes in airport security. Could this be about money?
Environmentalists fight bioengineered seafood plan

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/26/MNOT1GH4M0.DTL
A genetically engineered fish infused with genes from other species, including an eel-like creature,
could soon be on dinner plates in the Bay Area and around the United States. The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration is considering an application by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. of
Massachusetts to bioengineer a sterile salmon that would grow extremely fast and, if all goes as
planned, never set so much as a fin in a natural body of water. It would be the first genetically
engineered animal to be approved for human consumption. The proposal, which is awaiting
an environmental assessment and a preliminary decision by the FDA, has created a furor among
environmentalists, who have dubbed the species "Frankenfish." They claim the doctored salmon
could spread disease in humans or circulate mutant genes in the wild if an accident or sabotage
ever set them loose. "The effect of what happens if these genetically engineered fish escape is
largely unknown and has been largely unquestioned by the FDA," said Colin O'Neil, the regulatory
policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, an environmental nonprofit based in Washington,
D.C. "These fish have been demonstrated to be less healthy. Consumers clearly do not
want to eat genetically engineered salmon."
Note: For a superb summary of the dangers posed by genetically-modified foods, click here.
While Washington pursues CEOs, they snub U.S.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F25%2FINJV1...
America's big businesses are less and less American. They're going abroad for sales and
employees. That's one reason they've showed record-breaking profits in 2010 while
creating almost no American jobs. Consider one of the most popular products for Christmas
gifts of all time - Apple's iPhone. Researchers from the Asian Development Bank Institute have
dissected an iPhone, whose wholesale price is around $179, to determine where the money
actually goes. Only about $11 of that iPhone goes to American workers, mostly researchers and
designers. Even old-tech American companies made big money abroad in 2010 - and created
scads of jobs there. General Motors, for example, is now turning a nice profit, and American
investors are bullish about its future. That doesn't mean GM will be creating lots more blue-collar
jobs in America, though. 2010 was a banner year for GM's foreign sales - already two-thirds of its
total sales, and rising. In October, GM became the first automaker to sell more than 2 million cars
a year in China. The company is now making more cars in China than in the United States.
Meanwhile, back home in the United States, GM has slashed its labor costs. New hires are
brought in at roughly half the wages and benefits of former GM employees, under a two-tier wage
structure accepted by the United Auto Workers. Almost all of GM's U.S. suppliers have also cut
their payrolls.
Note: Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley
and the author of the new book Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future. He blogs at
www.robertreich.org.
Firms' lobbying push comes amid rancor on TSA use of airport full-body
scanners
About eight of every 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology companies
previously held positions in the government or Congress, most commonly in the homeland
security, aviation or intelligence fields, a Washington Post review of lobbying-disclosure forms and
other data shows. Industries routinely employ well-connected lobbyists to seek favorable
legislation and regulations in the nation's capital. But the extent of the connections to the
federal government is particularly notable given the relatively small size of the scanner
industry, which is dominated by half a dozen specialized businesses with heavy
investments in airport and border security technology. The roster of lobbyists for L-3
Communications includes former U.S. senator Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.) and Linda Daschle, a
former federal aviation official who is married to Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), a former Senate
majority leader. L-3 has won nearly $900 million worth of TSA business, including for its
"millimeter-wave" machines used for airport body scans. Former homeland security chief Michael
Chertoff, a longtime advocate for increased use of passenger scanners, worked until recently as a
consultant for Rapiscan, which provides "backscatter" X-ray scanners to the TSA. Privacy and civil
liberties advocates and other critics argue that the industry's lobbying ties have encouraged a
frenzy of TSA spending on technologies that are often untested or ineffective.
here and here.
Cuomo lashes out at Ernst & Young

2010-12-21, Reuters blog
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/12/21/cuomo-lashes-out-at-ernst-yo...
Excerpts from complaint by New York State Attorney General (and Governor-Elect) Andrew
Cuomo: E&Y [Ernst and Young] substantially assisted Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., now
bankrupt, to engage in a massive accounting fraud, involving the surreptitious removal of tens of
billions of dollars of securities from Lehmans balance sheet in order to create a false impression of
Lehmans liquidity, thereby defrauding the investing public. As the financial crisis deepened in
2007 and 2008 and Lehmans liquidity problems intensified, E&Y ... assisted Lehman in defrauding
the public about the Companys deteriorating financial condition, particularly its leverage. As the
public auditor for Lehman, E&Y had the absolute obligation to ensure that Lehmans financial
statements ... did not mislead the public. Instead of fulfilling this obligation ... E&Y sat by silently
while Lehman deceived the public by concealing [fraulent] transactions and misrepresenting the
Companys leverage. By doing so, E&Y directly facilitated a major accounting fraud, and
helped Lehman mislead the public as to its true financial condition. E&Y, which reaped over
$150 million in fees from Lehman, must be held accountable for its role in this fraud.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources detailing the fraud that led to the financial crisis and
bailout of Wall Street by taxpayers, click here.
$2tn debt crisis threatens to bring down 100 US cities

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/20/debt-crisis-threatens-us-cities
More than 100 American cities could go bust next year as the debt crisis that has taken down
banks and countries threatens next to spark a municipal meltdown, a leading analyst has warned.
Meredith Whitney, the US research analyst who correctly predicted the global credit crunch,
described local and state debt as the biggest problem facing the US economy, and one that could
derail its recovery. "Next to housing this is the single most important issue in the US and certainly
the biggest threat to the US economy," Whitney [said]. "There's not a doubt on my mind that
you will see a spate of municipal bond defaults. You can see fifty to a hundred sizeable
defaults more. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of defaults."
American cities and states have debts in total of as much as $2tn. US states have spent nearly
half a trillion dollars more than they have collected in taxes, and face a $1tn hole in their pension
funds, said the CBS programme, apocalyptically titled The Day of Reckoning.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from major media sources on the dire impacts of the financial
crisis and government bailout of financial capitalists at taxpayers' expense, click here.
For $250M, Nigeria drops bribery charges against Cheney, Halliburton

2010-12-17, USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/12/for-250m-nige...
Nigeria announced today that in exchange for $250 million, the African nation has dropped
bribery charges against Dick Cheney, eight others and Halliburton, the oil-services
company he headed before becoming vice president. African and U.S. media say Halliburton
and Cheney have not commented on the deal, which the head of Nigeria's anti-corruption agency
said was offered by Texas-based Halliburton. As The Wall Street Journal points out, "U.S.
regulators collected $1.28 billion in penalties and criminal fines in the Bonny Island case after
settling charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law that bans the bribery of
foreign officials to obtain business." Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, said that the $250 million would include roughly $130 million frozen in a
Swiss bank, and that remainder would be paid as fines, Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday.
But a source told AFP $100 million was in Switzerland and $30 million was in Monaco, saying the
money was paid to an intermediary but never passed on as part of the bribery scheme.
Note: It sounds like Cheney and Halliburton basically bribed their way out of a potentially very
damaging court case. For lots more from major media sources on corporate and government
corruption, click here and here.
Spencer Bachus, incoming House financial chairman, gets heat for

saying regulators should 'serve' banks
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2010/12/spencer-bachus-banks-regulat...
The incoming Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is facing
fire for recently saying that Washington and banking regulators should "serve" the banks.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who recently beat back a challenge from Ed Royce of Fullerton to
win the chairmanship of the powerful committee, made the comments in an interview with the
Birmingham News. "In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my
view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks," Bachus said. The
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee quickly dubbed him "Big Bank Bachus" and
highlighted the more than $1 million in campaign contributions he has received from Wall Street
over the years. Outgoing Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) jumped
into the fray. He slammed Bachus' intentions to scale back the recently enacted financial reform
law, including trying to limit the powers of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying
the comments showed "a seriously flawed view of the relationship that should exist between
financial institutions and those who set the rules governing safety and soundness. His view of the
role of regulation, expressed before he clarified his genuine belief, explains why he is so opposed
to an independent consumer financial protection bureau, and why he wants to weaken restraints
on speculation by banks with depositors money, Frank said.
widespread corruption in government and banking and finance. For additional information, see the
excellent, reliable resources provided in our Banking Corruption Information Center.
Italy court ups sentences for 23 CIA agents

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40682905/ns/world_news-europe
An Italian appeals court on [December 15] increased the sentences against 23 Americans
convicted in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect who was part of the CIA's extraordinary
renditions program. In upholding the convictions, the court added one year to the eight-year term
handed down to former Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady and two years to the five-year
terms given to 22 other Americans convicted along with him, defense lawyers said. They were
never in Italian custody and were tried and convicted in absentia but risk arrest if they travel to
Europe. The Americans and two Italians were convicted last year of involvement in the
kidnapping of ... Abu Omar from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003 the first convictions
anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's practice of abducting terror
suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted. The cleric
was transferred to U.S. military bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where
he says he was tortured. He has since been released. Amnesty International praised [the] decision
as a step toward demanding greater accountability in Europe for the CIA's extraordinary rendition
program. Julia Hall, an Amnesty counter-terrorism expert, said in a statement, "The Italian courts
have acknowledged that the chain of events leading to such serious abuses cannot go
unanswered. Kidnapping is a crime, not a 'state secret.' "
Note: This is amazing news which shows that the CIA is losing its former status as immune in
courts of law.
WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-us-manipulated-cl...
Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky
realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out
leverage. The [WikiLeaks] US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed
to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid is used by countries to gain
political backing; how distrust, broken promises and creative accounting dog negotiations; and how
the US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial
"Copenhagen accord", the unofficial document that emerged from the ruins of the Copenhagen
climate change summit in 2009. Negotiating a climate treaty is a high-stakes game, not just
because of the danger warming poses to civilisation but also because re-engineering the
global economy to a low-carbon model will see the flow of billions of dollars redirected.
Seeking negotiating chips, the US state department sent a secret cable on 31 July 2009 seeking
human intelligence from UN diplomats across a range of issues, including climate change. The
request originated with the CIA. As well as countries' negotiating positions for Copenhagen,
diplomats were asked to provide evidence of UN environmental "treaty circumvention" and deals
between nations.
A Real Jaw Dropper at the Federal Reserve

2010-12-02, Yahoo News/Huffington Post
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20101202/cm_huffpost/791091
As a result of an amendment that I was able to include in the Wall Street reform bill, we have
begun to lift the veil of secrecy at the Fed. It is unfortunate that it took this long, and it is a shame
that the biggest banks in America and Mr. Bernanke fought to keep this secret from the American
public every step of the way. But, the details on this bailout are now on the Federal Reserve's
website. This is a major victory for the American taxpayer and for transparency in government.
After years of stonewalling by the Fed, the American people are finally learning the incredible and
jaw-dropping details of the Fed's multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and corporate America.
What have we learned so far from the disclosure of more than 21,000 transactions? We have
learned that the $700 billion Wall Street bailout signed into law by President George W.
Bush turned out to be pocket change compared to the trillions and trillions of dollars in
near-zero interest loans and other financial arrangements the Federal Reserve doled out to
every major financial institution in this country.
Note: The author is Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). For key reports from reliable sources on the
massive federal bailout of the biggest banks and financial firms, click here.
CIA brain experiments pursued in veterans suit

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/11/cia_brain_experiments_pursu...
In 1961, a top CIA scientist reported in an internal memo that "the feasibility of remote control of
activities in several species of animals has been demonstrated ... Special investigations and
evaluations will be conducted toward the application of selected elements of these techniques to
man," according to The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control, a 1979
book by former State Department intelligence officer John Marks. [T]his cold-blooded project,
Marks wrote, was designed ... for the delivery of chemical and biological agents or for executive
action-type operations, according to a document. Executive action was the CIA's euphemism for
assassination. Victims have sought justice for years, in vain. Now, almost 40 years later, a federal
magistrate has ordered the CIA to produce records and witnesses about the LSD and other
experiments allegedly conducted on thousands of soldiers from 1950 through 1975. U.S.
Magistrate Judge John Larsens Nov. 17 order exempted the agency from having to testify
about electrode tests on humans, but Gordon P. Erspamer, lead attorney for the veterans, says
we are pursuing this as well. Papers filed in the case describe electrical devices implanted in
brain tissue with electrodes in various regions, including the hippocampus, the hypothalamus, the
frontal lobe (via the septum), the cortex and various other places, Erspamer said.
Note: For a revealing summary of CIA mind-control experimentation, click here.
Corporate Profits Were the Highest on Record Last Quarter

2010-11-24, The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/business/economy/24econ.html
The nations workers may be struggling, but American companies just had their best quarter ever.
American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter,
according to a Commerce Department report. That is the highest figure recorded since the
government began keeping track over 60 years ago. The next-highest annual corporate profits
level on record was in the third quarter of 2006, when they were $1.655 trillion. Corporate profits
have been doing extremely well for a while. Since their cyclical low in the fourth quarter of 2008,
profits have grown for seven consecutive quarters, at some of the fastest rates in history. As a
share of gross domestic product, corporate profits also have been increasing, and they now
represent 11.2 percent of total output. That is the highest share since the fourth quarter of 2006,
when they accounted for 11.7 percent of output.
Note: Long-term unemployment is at a record high, yet corporations are raking in record profits.
With record profits, why aren't corporations hiring more new employees? For many reports from
reliable souces on corporate profiteering, click here.
TSA Under Fire for New Security Procedures

2010-11-22, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/tsa-responds-passenger-outrages-underwear-search...
The Transportation Security Administration has come under fire for new body scanners and what
some say are highly invasive pat-downs. Thomas Sawyer, a bladder cancer survivor, said he was
humiliated after a pat-down broke his urostomy bag, leaving the 61-year-old covered in his own
urine. Sawyer said he warned the TSA officials twice that the pat-down could break the seal. Cathy
Bossi, a long-time flight attendant and breast cancer survivor, said the TSA made her take off her
prosthetic breast. "She put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?' I said 'It's a
prosthesis because I've had a breast cancer,'" Bossi said. "And she said, 'You'll need to show me
that.'" In recent days, several passengers have come forward to tell such shocking stories about
their experiences with TSA officers. An ABC News employee said she was subject to a
"demeaning" search at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday morning. "The woman who
checked me reached her hands inside my underwear and felt her way around," she said. "It
was basically worse than going to the gynecologist. It was embarrassing. It was
demeaning. It was inappropriate." The head of the Transportation Security Administration John
Pistole ... has said the TSA would not change its pat-down procedures.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on increasing threats to privacy, click here.
Senate Votes $4.6 Billion for Indian, Black Farmer Settlements

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-20/senate-votes-4-6-billion-for-indi...
The U.S. Senate yesterday approved spending $4.6 billion to settle two lawsuits: one by
black farmers who alleged racial discrimination by government lenders and the other by
300,000 American Indians who said they had been cheated out of land royalties dating to
1887. Passage of the measure, by voice vote, unblocks a legislative logjam that has thwarted
payouts, negotiated by the Obama administration, of $1.15 billion to the black farmers and $3.4
billion to the American Indians. The House ... must vote on the settlements again. At least seven
times this year, Senate Republicans blocked efforts to include the spending provisions in pending
legislation. The farmers 1997 class-action lawsuit alleged discrimination by the Agriculture
Departments lending programs. Under a negotiated settlement announced in February, qualified
farmers can collect as much as $50,000, plus debt relief. Others may collect monetary damages
up to $250,000. One of the largest class-action cases filed against the U.S., the 1996 lawsuit by
American Indian plaintiffs accused the Interior Department of mismanaging trust funds that
collected royalties for grazing rights and the extraction of minerals, oil and natural gas from tribal
lands.
Critics Slam Obama Administration for 'Hiding' Massive Saudi Arms

Deal
2010-11-19, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/critics-slam-obama-administration-hiding-massiv...
The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of
fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions
raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congressional report about the wisdom of the deal.
The massive arms deal would be the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in
the history of the U.S., outfitting Saudi Arabia with a fully modernized, potent new air force.
Critics are questioning the deal, and the stealthy effort by the Obama administration to
avoid a more probing congressional review by notifying Congress last month, just as members
were headed home for the November elections. Congress had 30 days to raise objections -- a
review period that concludes Saturday. The arrangement would ship 84 F-15 fighter jets and more
than 175 attack helicopters to the Saudis over the next 15 years. Morris J. Amitay, a former head
of the Pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, told ABC News a chief aim of the sale is insuring that
Saudi Arabia can serve as another regional military counterweight to Iran. In part for that reason,
he said, Israel has not been raising significant objections to the deal, even though he suspects
Israel will push hard to insure the aircraft are not equipped with weapons systems as advanced as
those held by Israel's own military.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on war and war preparations in the Middle East, click
here.
Disciplined doctors receiving pharmaceutical funds

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/17/MNJU1GDLRF.DTL
About 48 of the more than 1,730 California doctors who received money from pharmaceutical
companies over the past 21 months have been the subject of disciplinary action, a database
compiled by the investigative news organization ProPublica found. While that represents less than
3 percent of the California doctors who take pharmaceutical money, the fact that drug companies
are paying those doctors - some of whom have multiple disciplinary actions - for their expertise
calls into question how closely these companies vet the physicians who serve as the
spokespeople for their drugs. California doctors have received $28.6 million from top
pharmaceutical companies since 2009, with at least three physicians collecting more than
$200,000 and 36 others making more than $100,000 for promoting drug firm products. That
cash flowing from drug companies to doctors has raised ethical concerns from some observers. "If
they're getting as much money from pharmaceutical companies as they do for being a doctor, what
are they really? Are they working for a pharmaceutical company, or are they being a doctor?"
asked Lisa Bero, a pharmacy professor at UCSF who studies conflicts of interest in medicine and
research.
Note: For a detailed analysis of corruption in the pharmaceutical industry by a highly-respected
doctor, click here.
Pilots Refusing to Use Full Body Scanners or Submit to Patdown

2010-11-09, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/major-pilots-unions-rebel-tsa-screening-rules-ur...
Two of the largest pilots' unions in the nation are urging commercial pilots to rebel against current
airport screening rules. In late October, the Transport Security Administration implemented more
invasive patdown rules. Travelers and pilots were faced with a new dilemma -- have a revealing,
full-body scan or what some are calling an X-rated patdown. Pilots are piping mad over the
options, saying the full-body scanners emit dangerous levels of radiation and that the alternative
public patdown is disgraceful for a pilot in uniform. Some pilots have said they felt so violated after
a patdown, they were unfit to fly. The patdowns, implemented Oct. 29, allow TSA officers to pat
down passengers with the front of their hands, instead of the backs of their hands. A security
expert who demonstrated the new procedure on a mannequin for ABC News explained the
changes. "You go down the body and up to the breast portion," said Charles Slepian of the
Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center. "If it's a female passenger, you're going to see if there's
anything in the bra." The new patdown protocol could be used at any of the nation's 450 airports
on passengers who require additional screening. Tens of thousands of passengers are submitted
to patdowns and full-body scanners every day. More than 300 full-body scanners are being used at
65 airports across the country.
Note: And what about the general public having to submit to being groped?
What a scientist didn't tell the New York Times about his study on bee
deaths
2010-11-08, CNN News
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/honey_bees_ny_times.fortune/index.htm
Few ecological disasters have been as confounding as the massive and devastating die-off of the
world's honeybees. The phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) -- in which disoriented
honeybees die far from their hives -- has kept scientists, beekeepers, and regulators desperately
seeking the cause. The long list of possible suspects has included pests, viruses, fungi, and also
pesticides, particularly so-called neonicotinoids, a class of neurotoxins that kills insects by
attacking their nervous systems. For years, their leading manufacturer, Bayer Crop Science, a
subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG (BAYRY), has tangled with regulators
and fended off lawsuits from angry beekeepers who allege that the pesticides have disoriented
and ultimately killed their bees. A cheer must have gone up at Bayer on Thursday when a frontpage New York Times article, under the headline "Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery,"
described how a newly released study pinpoints a different cause for the die-off: "a fungus tagteaming with a virus." The Bayer pesticides, however, go unmentioned. What the Times article
did not explore -- nor did the study disclose -- was the relationship between the study's lead
author, Montana bee researcher Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk, and Bayer Crop Science. In recent
years Bromenshenk has received a significant research grant from Bayer to study bee
pollination.
Note: Read the full, revealing article to learn how money often corrupts science. For lots more
from reliable sources on corporate corruption, click here.
The BBC bunker they don't want you to know about

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/the-bbc-bunker-they-dont-wan...
To the passing motorist, there is nothing about Wood Norton Hall to identify it as the site of the
BBC's secret nuclear bunker. Who knew there even was such a thing? According to the official
line, Wood Norton is a training camp, where sound engineers are sent for residential weekends.
But it's what you can't see from above the ground that is intriguing. Buried 10 storeys into the
hillside is a fully functioning nuclear bunker, built at great expense in 1966, at the height of the
Cold War. Those involved in its construction were obliged to sign the Official Secrets Act, and even
now you won't get a peep out of the BBC press office to acknowledge the reality. Measuring 175ft
long, the bunker known to high command as Pawn: Protected Area Wood Norton remains
ready for service in the event of an attack on London. It is said to have beds and ping-pong tables
and is connected by tunnels dug into the hillside to a mast on top of the hill which is fitted with a
super high-frequency satellite dish. According to the Government War Book, a Cold War document
that was declassified only last year and which sets out what happens in the event of a nuclear
strike, Wood Norton was a vital tool in keeping the country informed should chaos descend.
While the Cabinet would be secreted away in another bunker in Corsham, Wiltshire, prerecorded tapes kept at Wood Norton would be broadcast across the nation in the minutes
before any bomb was dropped.
Note: For important stories from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
From protester to senator, FBI tracked Paul Wellstone

2010-10-25, Minnesota Public Radio
http://origin-minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2010/wellstone-files/feature/
It started with a fingerprint of a 25-year-old college professor who opposed the Vietnam War and
ended with a search for his remains, 32 years later, in a wooded area near Eveleth, Minn. The
FBI's files on Paul and Sheila Wellstone [show that] the FBI initially took interest in Wellstone as
part of the broader surveillance of the American left ... and, in the end, [sifted] through the
wreckage of the fatal plane crash that killed Wellstone and seven others eight years ago.
Wellstone's surviving sons declined to comment on the documents, which were obtained in
response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by MPR News. The FBI did not include 76
pages related to the National Transportation Safety Board, the agency that investigated the crash.
A request for those records is pending. Coleen Rowley, the 9/11 whistleblower and former chief
legal advisor in the FBI's Minneapolis office, said the documents from 1970 shed light on
the FBI's far-reaching efforts to quash political dissent. "I think this really is valuable
because it's basically history repeating what we have right now," she said, noting the
recent FBI raids at the homes of several anti-war organizers in Minneapolis. Wellstone's
arrest occurred less than a year before the official end of Cointelpro, a series of secret domestic
surveillance programs created by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to monitor and disrupt groups
deemed to be a threat to national security.
Note: For insights into the deeper implications of Senator Wellstone's mysterious plane crash,
click here.
Documentary 'Inside Job' only tells part of story

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/24/BUAV1G0LEA.DTL
"Inside Job," as the movie title implies, sees the 2008 financial meltdown, its causes and ongoing
catastrophic consequences, as the work of crooks. Crooks as in members of the financial services
industry. Aided and abetted by ... administrations of both political stripes, ratings agencies and
regulators, all of whom were committed to an ideology that enabled larceny on a grand scale. The
documentary, written, produced and directed by Bay Area high-tech entrepreneur turned filmmaker
Charles Ferguson, opened in Bay Area cinemas [on October 22]. Even if you've read through the
growing pile of books, congressional hearings and material generated by the Financial Crisis
Inquiry Commission, it has plenty to remind you why you are furious, all over again. If further proof
is needed, the film effectively demolishes the "who knew?" argument proffered by Goldman Sachs
Group CEO Lloyd Blankfein and his peers. And it makes a convincing case that much of the
obscenely compensated financial services industry has been rotten to the core for
decades, but is yet to be held truly accountable for activities, both immoral and illegal.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the criminal practices of the largest financial
corporations and regulatory agencies which led to the current economic crisis, click here.
Hollywood actor fears he's on a 'death list' of stars

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hollywood-actor-fears-hes-on...
Randy Quaid, the American actor famous for playing characters as diverse as the trailer-trash
scrounger in the "National Lampoon" series to his nation's saviour in "Independence Day", is at the
centre of a real-life drama more bizarre than anything the movies ever cooked up for him. He and
his wife are claiming asylum in Canada because, in her words, they fear they are on a Hollywood
"death list". The couple were arrested in Vancouver after police responded to a call and found
there were warrants out for them in California. The couple told the immigration adjudicator that
they are being persecuted in the United States. Evi Quaid begged a Canadian immigration
adjudicator not to force them to return, saying that friends, such as the actors David Carradine and
Heath Ledger, had been "murdered" under mysterious circumstances and she was worried
something would happen to her husband next. "We feel our lives are in danger," she said.
"Randy has known eight close friends murdered in odd, strange manners... We feel that
we're next." During a break in the proceedings, the Quaids' lawyer, Brian Tsuji, approached the
media to read a single-sentence statement from the Quaids. "We are requesting asylum from
Hollywood star-whackers," he read, declining further comment on the mental state of his clients.
Randy Quaid, 60, complained he had been persecuted for 20 years.
Every email and website to be stored

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8075563/Every-email-and-website-to...
Every email, phone call and website visit is to be recorded and stored after the Coalition
Government revived controversial Big Brother snooping plans. It will allow security services and
the police to spy on the activities of every Briton who uses a phone or the internet. Moves
to make every communications provider store details for at least a year will be unveiled
later this year sparking fresh fears over a return of the surveillance state. It comes despite
the Coalition Agreement promised to "end the storage of internet and email records without good
reason". The plans are expected to involve service providers storing all users details for a set
period of time. That will allow the security and police authorities to track every phone call, email,
text message and website visit made by the public if they argue it is needed to tackle crime or
terrorism. The information will include who is contacting whom, when and where and which
websites are visited, but not the content of the conversations or messages. The move was buried
in the Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on increasing government and corporate threats to
CIA Sues Ex-Spy Over Two-Year Old Book

2010-10-20, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cia-sues-spy-year-book/story?id=11921242
A CIA lawsuit threatens to turn a little-known two-year-old tell-all by a disgruntled former spy into a
bestseller. Within hours of the lawsuit's filing [on October 19], The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's
Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, had rocketed up the Amazon rankings. The Human Factor,
written by an ex-agent using the pseudonym Ishmael Jones, went largely unnoticed when it was
first published in July 2008. In the book, "Jones" charges the CIA with waste, fraud and abuse as
he details his career over two decades working under non-official cover, or NOC, mainly in Europe.
The agency is seeking any money Jones received for the publication or sales of the book. The suit,
which does not allege that Jones revealed any classified information, raises questions about why
the agency would bring a case two years after publication and where both sides agree no sensitive
secrets were revealed. Steven Aftergood, an expert on government secrecy, said "This is a boneheaded move. You'll make an obscure book by an unknown author into a national news story." But
Aftergood said the agency's real aim is internal discipline. "The government is not simply
concerned about protecting secrets. It is also concerned about Jones' overt defiance of
established security rules." Jones and other former CIA officers have complained in the past
that the CIA's publication review consistently favors former spies who tell stories flattering to the
agency. Jones suggested that the antipathy towards the book focused on his message, a sharp
critique of the CIA.
Note: For a highly informative documentary on the secrets of the CIA, click here.
Public 'misled' by drug trial claims

2010-10-13, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11521873
Doctors and patients are being misled about the effectiveness of some drugs because
negative trial results are not published, experts have warned. Writing in the British Medical
Journal, they say that pharmaceutical companies should be forced to publish all data, not
just positive findings. The German team give the example of the antidepressant reboxetine,
saying publications have failed to show the drug in a true light. Reboxetine (Edronax), made by
Pfizer, is used in many European countries, including the UK. But its rejection by US drug
regulators raised doubts about its effectiveness, and led some to hunt for missing data. This is not
the first time a large drug company has come under fire about its published drug trial data.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was criticised for failing to raise the alarm on the risk
of suicidal behaviour associated with its antidepressant Seroxat. GSK has also been forced to
defend itself over allegations about hiding negative data regarding another of its drugs, Avandia,
which is used to treat diabetes. "Our findings underline the urgent need for mandatory publication
of trial data," [the researchers] say in the BMJ. They warn that the lack of all information means
policy makers are unable to make informed decisions. In the US, it is already a requirement that all
data - both positive and negative - is published.
Note: For a powerful summary of government/corporate corruption in the pharmaceutical industry
by a respected former editor of a major medical journal, click here.
Canada air force commander to plead guilty to murders

2010-10-07, BBC
The commander of Canada's largest air force base is to plead guilty to the murder of two
women and the sexual assault of two others, his lawyer says. Col Russell Williams once
acted as pilot for Queen Elizabeth II and was in charge of Base Trenton in Ontario Canada's busiest air force hub. His lawyer told an Ontario court he would plead guilty to all
charges. He is also charged with 82 counts of breaking and entering. Prosecutors said he had
stolen women's underwear. One woman was found dead in her house in November 2009. The
other went missing in January this year. The murder victims were Marie Comeau, a 38-year-old
corporal, who lived in Brighton, Ontario, and Jessica Lloyd, 27, a resident of Belleville, Ontario.
The Ottawa Citizen newspaper reported that police had seized 500 items of women's underwear
from Col Williams's home in Ottawa. "He was able to lead an elaborate double life and was able to
keep it successfully concealed," said a senior officer who once promoted Col Williams, retired LtGen Angus Watt.
Note: This kind of behavior in the top levels of the military may be much more common than you
would expect. To understand more, learn about Kay Griggs, whose Marine colonel husband was
deeply involved in this kind of thing at a high level. To watch a 10-minute video clip of Kay, click
here. For more, click here.
U.S. companies buy back stock in droves as they hold record levels of
cash
For months, companies have been sitting on the sidelines with record piles of cash. Now they're
starting to deploy some of that money - not to hire workers or build factories, but to prop up their
share prices. Sitting on these unprecedented levels of cash, U.S. companies are buying back their
own stock in droves. So far this year, firms have announced they will purchase $273 billion of their
own shares, more than five times as much compared with this time last year, according to Birinyi
Associates, a stock market research firm. But the rise in buybacks signals that many
companies [do not plan to] spend their cash on the job-generating activities that could
produce economic growth. "They don't know what they want to do with all the cash they're
sitting on," said Zachary Karabell, president of RiverTwice Research. Historically low interest
rates are also prompting some companies to borrow to repurchase shares. Microsoft, for instance,
borrowed $4.75 billion last month by issuing new bonds at rock-bottom interest rates and
announced it would use some of that money to buy back shares. The company already has nearly
$37 billion in cash. A share buyback is a quick way to make a stock more attractive to Wall Street.
It improves a closely watched metric known as earnings per share, which divides a company's
profit by the total number of shares on the market. Such a move can produce a sudden burst of
interest in a stock, improving its price.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the massive profiteering by corporate recipients of
government financial largesse, click here.
Barack Obama accused of exaggerating terror threat for political gain

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/07/barack-obama-terror-threat-claims
A US terror alert issued this week about al-Qaida plots to attack targets in western Europe was
politically motivated and not based on credible new information, senior Pakistani diplomats and
European intelligence officials have told the Guardian. The non-specific US warning ... was an
attempt to justify a recent escalation in US drone and helicopter attacks inside Pakistan that have
"set the country on fire", said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain. Hasan ...
suggested the Obama administration was playing politics with the terror threat before next month's
midterm congressional elections. "I will not deny the fact that there may be internal political
dynamics, including the forthcoming midterm American elections," Hasan said. European
intelligence officials also pointed the finger at the US, and specifically at the White House. "To
stitch together [the terror plot claims] in a seamless narrative is nonsensical," said one well-placed
official. By making it clear that the US drone strikes were pre-emptive, and were not in any
way combating an imminent threat, European officials raised fresh questions ... about the
legality of the attacks, which could be viewed as assassinations. They said Washington was
the "driver" behind claims about a series of "commando-style" plots and that the CIA perhaps
because it was worried about provoking unwelcome attention to its drone strikes was also
extremely annoyed by the publicity given to them.
Note: For highly revealing reports from major media sources on the hidden realities of the "Global
War on Terror," click here.
White House squelched worst-case estimates of BP spill

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/06/1861031/report-white-house-squelched-wo...
Government scientists wanted to tell Americans early on how bad the BP oil spill could get, but the
White House denied their request to make the worst-case models public, a report by the staff of
the national panel investigating the spill said Wednesday. Although not a final report, it could raise
questions over whether the Obama administration tried to minimize the extent of the BP oil spill,
the worst man-made environmental disaster in U.S. history. The staff paper said that
underestimating the flow rates "undermined public confidence in the federal government's
response" by creating the impression that the government was either incompetent or
untrustworthy. The paper said that the loss of trust "fuels public fears." In a separate report,
the commission's staff concluded that despite the Coast Guard's insistence that it was always
responding to the worst-case scenario, the failure to have an accurate flow rate slowed the
response and lulled Obama administration officials into a false belief that the spill would be
controlled easily. The first report said that the "decision to withhold worst-case discharge figures"
may have been made at a high level. It said that in late April or early May, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration "wanted to make public some of its long-term, worst-case
discharge models for the Deepwater Horizon spill, and requested approval to do so from the White
House's Office of Management and Budget. Staff was told that the Office of Management and
Budget denied NOAA's request."
Note: For key reports on government corruption, click here.
American Companies Wrest Big Earnings From Lower Revenue

U.S. companies are rebounding quickly from the recession and posting near-historic profits, the
result of aggressively re-tooling their operations to cope with lower revenue and an uncertain
outlook. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal found that companies in the Standard & Poor's
500-stock index posted second-quarter profits of $189 billion, up 38% from a year earlier and their
sixth-highest quarterly total ever, without adjustment for inflation. For all U.S. companies, the
Commerce Department estimates second-quarter after-tax profits rose to an annual rate of $1.208
trillion, up 3.9% from the first quarter and up 26.5% from a year earlier. That annual rate is the
highest on record, though it doesn't account for inflation. As a percentage of national income, aftertax profits were the third-highest since 1947, surpassed only by two quarters in 2006, near the
peak of the last economic expansion. The data indicate that big companies are recovering from the
downturn faster and more strongly than the overall economy, helping send stock prices higher this
year. To achieve that performance, companies laid off hundreds of thousands of workers,
closed less-profitable units, shifted work to cheaper regions and streamlined processes.
Despite the hefty profits, executives aren't expected to boost spending on new employees,
products and equipment anytime soon. "We've focused on permanent changes that won't have
to be undone as sales improve," said John Riccitiello, chief executive of Electronic Arts.
Note: For highly revealing reports on income inequality, click here.
9/11 conspiracy theories rife in Muslim world

2010-10-02, Washington Post / Associated Press
About a week ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared to the United Nations that
most people in the world believe the United States was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001. Surveys show that a majority of the world does not in fact believe that the U.S. orchestrated
the attacks. However, the belief persists strongly among a minority, even with U.S. allies like
Turkey or in the U.S. itself. A 2006 survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that
significant majorities in Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Turkey ... said they did not believe
Arabs carried out the attacks. Such beliefs have currency even in the United States. In 2006,
a Scripps Howard poll of 1,010 Americans found 36 percent thought it somewhat or very
likely that U.S. officials either participated in the attacks or took no action to stop them. Tod
Fletcher of [WantToKnow.info] has worked as an assistant to David Ray Griffin, on books that
question the Sept. 11 record. He was cautious about the Iranian president's comments about
conspiracy theories, suggesting Ahmadinejad may have been politically motivated by his enmity
with the U.S. government. "It seems like it's the sort of thing that could lead to further vilification of
people who criticize the official account here in the United States," Fletcher said.
Note: To listen to Tod Fletcher's commentary on WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin's
recent book, Cognitive Infiltration: an Obama Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy
Theory, about the latest attempts by the US government to vilify 9/11 truth movement members as
"extremist," "violent" and "likely to resort to terrorism", click here.
U.S. Invokes State Secrets to Bar Cleric Lawsuit

The Obama administration on Saturday invoked the state secrets privilege which would kill a
lawsuit on behalf of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged terrorist said to be targeted for
death or capture under a U.S. government program. In its court papers, the Justice Department
said that the issues in the case are for the executive branch of government to decide rather than
the courts. The department also said the case entails information that is protected by the military
and state secrets privilege. "The idea that courts should have no role whatsoever in
determining the criteria by which the executive branch can kill its own citizens is
unacceptable in a democracy," the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for
Constitutional Rights said in a statement. "In matters of life and death, no executive should
have a blank check." Al-Awlaki's father, through the CCR and the ACLU, filed the case in federal
court in Washington. The lawsuit filed on the cleric's behalf seeks to have a court declare that the
Constitution and international law bar the government from carrying out targeted killings; seeks to
block the targeted killing of al-Awlaki; and seeks to force the U.S. government to disclose the
standards for determining whether U.S. citizens can be targeted for death.
Note: For an analysis of the Obama administration's assertion of the right to assassinate US
citizens, click here. For many reports from reliable sources on state secrets, click here.
Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored Books Reprint

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
The National Security Agency, headquarters for the governments eavesdroppers and code
breakers, has been located at Fort Meade, Md., for half a century. Its nickname, the Fort, has been
familiar for decades to neighbors and government workers alike. Yet that nickname is one of
hundreds of supposed secrets Pentagon reviewers blacked out in the new, censored edition of an
intelligence officers Afghan war memoir. The Defense Department is buying and destroying
the entire uncensored first printing of Operation Dark Heart, by Anthony Shaffer, a
lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, in
the name of protecting national security. Another supposed secret removed from the second
printing: the location of the Central Intelligence Agencys training facility Camp Peary, Va., a fact
discoverable from Wikipedia. And the name and abbreviation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps, routinely mentioned in news articles. And the fact that Sigint means signals intelligence.
Not only did the Pentagon black out Colonel Shaffers cover name in Afghanistan, Chris Stryker, it
deleted the source of his pseudonym: the name of John Waynes character in the 1949 movie The
Sands of Iwo Jima. The redactions offer a rare glimpse behind the bureaucratic veil that cloaks
information the government considers too important for public airing.
Note: Interesting that this NY Times article fails to even mention the "Able Danger" program which
Shaffer publicly revealed had identified some of the hijackers before 9/11. For powerful information
suggesting government foreknowledge of 9/11 through this program, click here. Yet a Fox News
article available here gives all the details. For lots more from major media sources on government
secrecy, click here.
Questionable U.S. spending after gulf oil spill

2010-09-14, San Francisco Chronicle /Associated Press
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/13/MN641FD4LP.DTL
The federal government hired a New Orleans man for $18,000 to appraise whether news stories
about its actions in the gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which
was keenly sensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W.
Bush's much-maligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The government also spent $10,000 for
just over three minutes of video showing a routine offshore rig inspection for news
organizations but couldn't say whether any ran the footage. While most of the contracts
don't raise alarms, some could provide ammunition for critics of government waste. Among
all the contracts, perhaps none is more striking than the Coast Guard's decision to pay $9,000 per
month for two months to John Brooks Rice of New Orleans, an on-call worker for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, under a no-bid contract to monitor media coverage from late
May through July. Rice told the AP that he compiled print and video news stories and offered his
subjective appraisal of the tone of the coverage. "From reading and watching the media I would
create reports," he said. "I reported either positive coverage, negative coverage, misinformation
coverage."
Court dismisses suit alleging 'torture flights'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/09/BAE81FASRO.DTL
A federal appeals court ... dismissed a lawsuit [on September 8] accusing a Bay Area aviationplanning company of arranging CIA flights of [captives] to overseas dungeons. The ruling is a
victory for both President George W. Bush's administration, which directed the rendition program
and acknowledged its existence, and the Obama administration, which ... argued that it was too
sensitive to be litigated in court. The American Civil Liberties Union said it would appeal to the
Supreme Court. The high court has refused to review two rulings by other appeals courts
dismissing suits against the government by men who said they were abducted by the CIA and
flown to foreign torture chambers. "Not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture program
has had his day in court," ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner said. Jeppesen, a Boeing Co. subsidiary, was
described in a 2007 Council of Europe report as the CIA's aviation services provider. In a court
declaration in the current suit, a company employee quoted a director as telling staff members in
2006 that Jeppesen handled the CIA's "torture flights." Dissenting Judge Michael Hawkins said
the courts should decide legal disputes rather than "permitting the executive to police its
own errors." He also said the court should have kept the case alive and required the
government to show why specific evidence should remain secret.
Note: The ruling in this case can be read here. For analysis, click here and here.
The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond

Writing in these pages in early 2008, we put the total cost to the United States of the Iraq war at $3
trillion. This price tag dwarfed previous estimates, including the Bush administration's 2003
projections of a $50 billion to $60 billion war. But today, as the United States ends combat in
Iraq, it appears that our $3 trillion estimate (which accounted for both government
expenses and the war's broader impact on the U.S. economy) was, if anything, too low. For
example, the cost of diagnosing, treating and compensating disabled veterans has proved higher
than we expected. Moreover, two years on, it has become clear to us that our estimate did not
capture what may have been the conflict's most sobering expenses: those in the category of
"might have beens," or what economists call opportunity costs. For instance, many have wondered
aloud whether, absent the Iraq invasion, we would still be stuck in Afghanistan. And this is not the
only "what if" worth contemplating. We might also ask: If not for the war in Iraq, would oil prices
have risen so rapidly? Would the federal debt be so high? Would the economic crisis have been so
severe? The answer to all four of these questions is probably no.
Note: You may remember that Bush's very low estimated war cost was one of the justifications
used to push the war. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, was a winner of the
Nobel Prize in economics in 2001. Linda J. Bilmes is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan senior lecturer in
public policy at Harvard University. They are co-authors of The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True
Cost of the Iraq Conflict.
Convicted Disease Doc Won't Be Charged in MIA Scare

2010-09-03, NBC Miami
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Convicted-Disease-Doc-Questioned-in-M...
A world-renowned Texas scientist specializing in infectious diseases who was once charged with
smuggling dangerous samples of plague bacteria into the U.S. was questioned by authorities after
a suspicious item found in his luggage caused a massive evacuation at Miami International Airport
[on September 2]. Dr. Thomas C. Butler, 70, was questioned by agents with the FBI and MiamiDade police [on September 3]. Initial tests on the item have come back negative. Butler was
released from questioning and won't be charged in the incident. Sources told NBC Miami
that Butler had been coming from Saudi Arabia when the suspicious item was spotted in
his luggage as it went through customs. Butler had been on the faculty at Texas Tech since the
late 80s until his arrest in 2003 on charges of smuggling and improperly transporting the plague
samples, as well as theft, embezzlement and fraud. He was eventually found guilty of exporting the
vials of plague and stealing research money. Butler spent nearly two years behind bars and lost
his Texas Tech job, despite the protests of several in the scientific community who denounced his
prosecution. His controversial story was even featured in a "60 Minutes" piece titled "The Case
Against Dr. Butler." He's currently listed as a faculty member at Alfaisal University in Saudi Arabia.
Note: There is likely much more to this story than meets the eye. Why is a world-renowned Texas
scientist specializing in infectious diseases who is on faculty at a university in Saudi Arabia
carrying deadly biological materials around the world?
170-Page Child Molestation Instruction Manual Surfaces

2010-09-02, WFTV.com (Orlando, FL)
http://www.wftv.com/news/24862761/detail.html
Orange County sheriff deputies say a 170-page manual is circulating around Central Florida. It
shows people, step-by-step, how to molest children. It also includes where to find potential
victims. I've never seen anything like it. It was pretty amazing when I first saw it just
because how detailed it was, said Detective Philip Graves with the Orange County Sheriffs
Office. Deputies with the sheriffs sexual offender surveillance squad have been aware of the
manual for the past six months. The sheriff's office received it through an email listserve. Graves
told WFTV that sending the manual by email or possessing it is not a crime in Orange County.
However, federal investigators are trying to track down where the manual initially came from. "I
was more amazed that someone would be as bold as to create an actual 170-page document that
would detail how to do it," he said. The author uses an alias in the manual. He calls himself "the
mule." Deputies believe whoever is responsible may have committed crimes against children.
Note: If you want to understand the harsh realities that likely lie behind this disturbing manual,
watch the powerful documentary Conspiracy of Silence at this link.
The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on
the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth
Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own
driveway and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.
That is the bizarre and scary rule that now applies in California and eight other Western
states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently
decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants with no need for a
search warrant. It is a dangerous decision one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn
America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive
because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy
that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich. Plenty of liberals have
objected to this kind of spying, but it is the conservative Chief Judge Kozinski who has done so
most passionately. "1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it's here at last," he
lamented in his dissent. And invoking Orwell's totalitarian dystopia where privacy is
essentially nonexistent, he warned: "Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we're living
in Oceania."
Note: For key reports from reliable souces on increasing government threats to civil liberties, click
here.
Big Brother: Eye-scanners being installed across one Mexican city

2010-08-19, USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/08/big-brother-e...
Mexico's sixth-largest city, Leon, is on the road to ... a future in which everyone is tracked
wherever they go. Fast Company reports that U.S. biometrics firm Global Rainmakers and its
Mexican partner announced yesterday that they have begun installing iris-scanning technology in
the city of more than 1 million in Guanajuato state. The companies aim ... to create "the most
secure city in the world." The first phase concentrates on law enforcement and security
checkpoints. Then the iris scanners, which the firms say can "identify humans in motion and at a
distance while ensuring liveness," will fill malls, pharmacies, mass transit, medical centers and
banks, "among other public and private locations," Fast Company writes. "In the future, whether
it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy
prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that
unique key that is your iris," says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to
GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. "Every
person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10
years," he says.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on threats to privacy, click here.
9/11 interrogation tapes found under desk

2010-08-17, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38735351/ns/us_news-security
The CIA has tapes of [alleged] 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh being interrogated in a secret
overseas prison. Discovered under a desk, the recordings could provide an unparalleled look at
how foreign governments aided the U.S. in holding and questioning suspected terrorists. CIA
officials believed they had wiped away all of the agency's interrogation footage. But in 2007, a staff
member discovered a box tucked under a desk in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center and pulled
out the Binalshibh tapes. A Justice Department prosecutor ... is now ... probing why the
Binalshibh tapes were never disclosed. Twice, the government told a federal judge they did
not exist. The tapes could complicate U.S. efforts to prosecute Binalshibh, 38. If the tapes
surfaced at trial, they could clearly reveal Morocco's role in the counterterrorism program known as
Greystone, which authorized the CIA to hold terrorists in secret prisons and shuttle them to other
countries. More significantly to his defense, the tapes also could provide evidence of Binalshibh's
mental state within the first months of his capture. In court documents, defense lawyers have been
asking for medical records to see whether Binalshibh's years in CIA custody made him mentally
unstable. He is being treated for schizophrenia with a potent cocktail of anti-psychotic medications.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the torture used by the CIA and US military in the
global "Long War", click here.
US cops: armed and dangerous?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/16/police-usa-civ...
Can you invent a realistic scenario wherein you shoot a man dead; justify it with a story witnesses
contradict; confiscate any surveillance video; claim a "glitch" makes it impossible to show the video
to anyone else all while enjoying the support of state legal apparatus? Police in Las Vegas did
that last month, after they shot Erik Scott seven times as he exited a Costco. Cops say Scott
pointed a gun at them; witnesses say Scott's licensed weapon was in a concealed holster, and five
of those seven shots hit him in the back. The confiscated surveillance video might settle the
question; too bad about that glitch. At least Costco's not in trouble for recording police actions.
That's illegal in 12 states, even (or especially) when you record police misbehaviour. Even in
states where it's allowed, officers are wont to ignore the law and go after photographers anyway,
and they can always record you with their own dashboard cams. Whenever Tasers are issued,
they're used with shocking (sorry) frequency. With guns, police at least have to argue "Oops, I
thought he was dangerous", after shooting you; Tasers don't even require that. In 2004, Malaika
Brooks, then seven months pregnant, was stopped for speeding in Seattle. She refused to
sign the ticket a non-arrestable misdemeanour at the time, though she was arrested for it
anyway and was Tasered three times. Last March, a federal appeals court ruled that the
Tasering, which left permanent scars, was not "excessive force" since it only inflicted "temporary,
localised pain".
Note: The short video in this article of a mother being tazed for no apparent reason is particularly
revealing.
Before the CIA, there was the Pond

Created during World War II as [one of America's most secretive espionage agencies] the Pond
existed for 13 years and was shrouded in secrecy for more than 50 years. It used sources
that ranged from Nazi officials to Stalinists and, at one point, a French serial killer. It
operated under the cover of multinational corporations, including American Express, Chase
National Bank and Philips, the Dutch-based electronic giant. One of its top agents was a female
American journalist. Now the world can finally get a deeper look at the long-hidden roots of
American espionage as tens of thousands of once-secret documents found in locked safes and
filing cabinets in a barn near Culpeper, Virginia, in 2001 have ... become public. The papers, which
the Pond's leader tried to keep secret long after the organization was dissolved, were placed in the
National Archives in College Park, Maryland, in 2008 but only opened to the public in April. Those
records plus documents obtained by The Associated Press in the past two years from the FBI, CIA
and other agencies under the Freedom of Information Act portray a sophisticated organization
obsessed with secrecy that operated a network of 40 chief agents and more than 600 sources in
32 countries. The AP has also interviewed former officials, family members, historians and
archivists.
Note: For an illuminating video on the CIA, click here.
U.S. asks blog sites to shut down

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/24/BUF31EGQRC.DTL
Under mysterious circumstances and with unusual abruptness, two websites used to
create blogs and message boards were taken down at the behest of U.S. investigators
earlier this month, baffling users and commentators on the Web alike. Both Blogetery.com,
which said it hosted around 70,000 blogs, and online forum site IPBFree.com were taken offline in
early July. The initial cryptic responses to users' questions about what happened added to the
confusion. Both IPBFree administrators and Burst.net, Blogetery's Web host, deeply apologized for
the incident but said they were barred by law to provide any specific information. But Burst.net
later told PC World that they had voluntarily decided to take down Blogetery after investigators
approached them. It is still unclear who hosted the IPBFree site, why it was taken down or if the
action was related to the Blogetery case.
Note: For more on this, click here. It appears certain factions within government are testing their
ability to shut down certain websites.
Goldman reveals where bailout cash went

2010-07-24, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2010-07-24-goldman-bailout-c...
Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas
banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public [on July 23]. Goldman
Sachs disclosed the list of companies to the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena
from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia. Goldman Sachs received $5.55 billion from the government in fall
of 2008 as payment for then-worthless securities it held in AIG. Goldman had already hedged its
risk that the securities would go bad. It had entered into agreements to spread the risk with the 32
entities named in Friday's report. Overall, Goldman Sachs received a $12.9 billion payout from the
government's bailout of AIG, which was at one time the world's largest insurance company.
Goldman Sachs also revealed to the Senate Finance Committee that it would have received $2.3
billion if AIG had gone under. Other large financial institutions, such as Citibank, JPMorgan
Chase and Morgan Stanley, sold Goldman Sachs protection in the case of AIG's collapse.
Those institutions did not have to pay Goldman Sachs after the government stepped in with
tax money. Shouldn't Goldman Sachs be expected to collect from those institutions "before they
collect the taxpayers' dollars?" Grassley asked. "It's a little bit like a farmer, if you got crop
insurance, you shouldn't be getting disaster aid."
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the Wall Street bailout by taxpayers, click here.
Doubts surface on North Korea's role in ship sinking

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-torpedo-20100724,0,...
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls the evidence "overwhelming" that the Cheonan, a
South Korean warship that sank in March, was hit by a North Korean torpedo. Vice President Joe
Biden has cited the South Korean-led panel investigating the sinking as a model of transparency.
But challenges to the official version of events are coming from an unlikely place: within South
Korea. Armed with dossiers of their own scientific studies and bolstered by conspiracy theories,
critics dispute the findings announced May 20 by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, which
pointed a finger at Pyongyang. They also question why Lee made the announcement nearly
two months after the ship's sinking, on the very day campaigning opened for fiercely
contested local elections. Many accuse the conservative leader of using the deaths of 46
sailors to stir up anti-Communist sentiment and sway the vote. The critics, mostly but not all
from the opposition, say it is unlikely that the impoverished North Korean regime could have pulled
off a perfectly executed hit against a superior military power, sneaking a submarine into the area
and slipping away without detection. They also wonder whether the evidence of a torpedo attack
was misinterpreted, or even fabricated. "I couldn't find the slightest sign of an explosion," said Shin
Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive-turned-investigative journalist. "The sailors drowned to
death. Their bodies were clean. We didn't even find dead fish in the sea."
Note: This article raises the suspicion that the sinking of the South Korean vessel was in reality a
"false-flag" operation. To read an excellent short history and analysis of false-flag attacks, click
here.
America locks up too many people, some for acts that should not even
be criminal
2010-07-22, The Economist magazine
http://economist.com/node/16640389
America is different from the rest of the world in lots of ways, many of them good. One of the bad
ones is its willingness to lock up its citizens. One American adult in 100 festers behind bars
(with the rate rising to one in nine for young black men). Its imprisoned population, at 2.3m,
exceeds that of 15 of its states. No other rich country is nearly as punitive as the Land of
the Free. The rate of incarceration is a fifth of Americas level in Britain, a ninth in Germany and a
twelfth in Japan. Americas incarceration rate has quadrupled since 1970. Similar things have
happened elsewhere. The incarceration rate in Britain has more than doubled, and that in Japan
increased by half, over the period. But the trend has been sharper in America than in most of the
rich world, and the disparity has grown. It is explained neither by a difference in criminality (the
English are slightly more criminal than Americans, though less murderous), nor by the success of
the policy: Americas violent-crime rate is higher than it was 40 years ago. Many states have
mandatory minimum sentences, which remove judges discretion to show mercy, even when the
circumstances of a case cry out for it. Three strikes laws, which were at first used to put away
persistently violent criminals for life, have in several states been applied to lesser offenders.
Note: For a recent report on the size of the US prison population in comparison with other
countries, click here.
Iran scientist: CIA offered me $50m to lie about nuclear secrets

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-scientist-cia-offere...
An Iranian scientist who says he was abducted and taken to the United States by the CIA returned
to Tehran yesterday to a hero's welcome and claimed that he had been pressured into lying about
his country's nuclear programme. Shahram Amiri said that he was on the hajj pilgrimage when he
was seized at gunpoint in the city of Medina, drugged and taken to the US, where he says Israel
was involved in his interrogation. In the US, officials were reported to have admitted that Mr Amiri
was paid more than $5m (3.2m) by the CIA for information about Iran's nuclear ambitions. The
offer of a large bribe is reportedly part of a special US programme to get Iranian nuclear scientists
to defect. "Americans wanted me to say that I defected to America of my own will, to use me
for revealing some false information about Iran's nuclear work," Mr Amiri said at Tehran
airport. "I was under intensive psychological pressure by [the] CIA... the main aim of this
abduction was to stage a new political and psychological game against Iran." At his press
conference at Tehran airport, Mr Amiri stressed that he had acted under compulsion. "Israeli
agents were present at some of my interrogation sessions and I was threatened to be handed over
to Israel if I refused to cooperate with Americans," he said. He says he was offered $50m to stay in
the US.
Note: For key reports on CIA kidnappings and other methods employed in the bogus "global war
on terror", click here.
General who said it was 'fun to shoot people' takes over US Central
Command
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7880617/General-wh...
A senior US general once criticised for saying it was "fun to shoot some people" has been picked
to take over US Central Command, leading the military command running the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. General James Mattis, the current head of the US Joint Forces Command ...
previously led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Centcom ... covers 20 countries and stretches from
Egypt across the Middle East and into south and central Asia. Gen Mattis was reprimanded [in
2005] by the Marine Corps for telling a conference in San Diego, California: "It's fun to shoot
some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling." During a discussion panel he
said: "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years
because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway.
So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."
Note: For reports from reliable sources which reveal the realities of the US wars of aggression in
the Middle East and Central Asia, click here.
BP oil spill Corexit dispersants suspected in widespread crop damage

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail??blogid=150&entry_id=65552
Just when you thought the damage BP could cause was limited to beaches, marshes, oceans,
people's livelihoods, birds and marine life, there's more. BP's favorite dispersant Corexit 9500 is
being sprayed at the oil gusher on the ocean floor. Corexit is also being air sprayed across
hundreds of miles of oil slicks all across the gulf. There have been widespread reports of oil
cleanup crews reporting various injuries including respiratory distress, dizziness and headaches.
Corexit 9500 is a solvent originally developed by Exxon. Corexit is four times more toxic than oil
(oil is toxic at 11 ppm (parts per million), Corexit 9500 at only 2.61ppm). In a report written by Anita
George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. titled "Acute Aquatic
Toxicity of Three Corexit Products: An Overview," Corexit 9500 was found to be one of the most
toxic dispersal agents ever developed. According to the Clark and George-Ares report, Corexit
mixed with the higher gulf coast water temperatures becomes even more toxic. The UK's Marine
Management Organization ... banned Corexit ... from a list of approved treatments for oil
spills in the U.K. more than a decade ago. The simple question I ask is: If the UK bans
Corexit ... why the hell are we using it on American waters?
20 people arrested at the G20 tell of inhumane treatment at the hands

of police
2010-06-28, Toronto Star (One of Toronto's leading newspapers)
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/829921--i-will-not-f...
*Lulu Maxwell, 17, Grade 12, Rosedale Heights: Maxwell and a friend were hanging around near
Queen and Dufferin Sts. at a convergence centre for protesters on Sunday afternoon when police
started making arrests. My friend was blowing bubbles and I was scribbling peace signs on the
sidewalk. Within minutes, her friend was grabbed and Lulu was put up against a wall. Her
backpack was searched and Lulu says an officer said she could be charged with possession
of dangerous weapons because I had eyewash solution in my backpack. She was taken to
the detention centre and almost 12 hours after her arrest was allowed to call her parents. She was
released, without charges being laid, at 5 a. m. *Erin Boynton, 24, London, Ont. She was arrested
at The Esplanade early Sunday morning after police boxed dozens of protesters in. I was with a
protest marching peacefully down Yonge from Dundas Square, she said. When the cops came at
us, many people scattered and those who were left in front of the (Novotel) got arrested. She said
police came from all sides and squished us in. They didnt give us a warning to leave. just
announced that we are arresting all of you. She said a lot of people at the detention centre were
innocent bystanders. The police violated all our rights . . . there was police brutality. Quite
frankly, it was quite disgusting. Boynton wasnt charged.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on mounting threats to civil liberties, click here.
Bracing for G-20 protests, Toronto closes doors

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/23/MNKC1E3VFB.DTL
The host city for this weekend's Group of 20 summit is preparing for an invasion of world leaders,
police and protesters by shutting its doors. The Toronto Blue Jays baseball team is leaving town,
the Royal Alexandra Theatre is closing for the first time in more than a century, and thousands of
bankers and money managers such as David Cockfield are working from home. "People coming
to cover the G-20 are going to find Toronto just empty, with wind blowing through the
downtown canyons, asking 'Where are all the people?' " said Cockfield, a portfolio manager at
MacNicol & Associates Asset Management. A 12-block section of Toronto's financial district
already is surrounded by 10-foot-high chain-link fences and concrete barriers, part of the largest
security operation ever in Canada with 20,000 police and security guards.
Note: What does it say about world government when a whole city has to close doors simply
because the world's leaders are meeting there?
Federal approval still flowing for flawed Gulf drilling plans

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/18/1688759/federal-approval-still-flowing....
Despite President Barack Obama's promises of better safeguards for offshore drilling,
federal regulators continue to approve plans for oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico
with minimal or no environmental analysis. The Department of Interior's Minerals Management
Service has signed off on at least five new offshore drilling projects since June 2, when the
agency's acting director announced tougher safety regulations for drilling in the Gulf, a McClatchy
review of public records has discovered. Three of the projects were approved with waivers
exempting them from detailed studies of their environmental impact the same waiver the
MMS granted to BP for the ill-fated well that's been fouling the Gulf with crude for two months.
Environmental groups [say] the administration is allowing oil companies to proceed with drilling
plans that may be just as flawed as BP's, which concluded that a major spill was "unlikely" and that
the company was equipped to manage even the worst-case blowout. "It's just outrageous," said
Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation
organization. "The whole world is screaming and ... they're just continuing to move this stuff
through the system."
Note: For abundant reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
WikiLeaks to release video of deadly US Afghan attack

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/16/wikileaks-us-military-afghanistan...
The whistleblowing website WikiLeaks says it plans to release a secret military video of one of the
deadliest US air strikes in Afghanistan in which scores of children are believed to have been killed.
It said it fears it is under attack after the US authorities said they were searching for the site's
founder, Julian Assange, following the arrest of a US soldier accused of leaking the Afghanistan
video and another of a US attack in Baghdad in which civilians were killed. It says it is still working
to prepare the film of the bombing of the Afghan village of Garani in May 2009. The video could
prove to be extremely embarrassing to the US military. The US ... used weapons that create
casualties over a wide area, including one-tonne bombs and others that burst in the air. But
two US military officials told a newspaper last year that no one checked to see whether
there were women and children in the buildings. In an email to supporters, Assange said
WikiLeaks has the Garani video and "a lot of other material that exposes human rights abuses by
the US government". In his email, Assange also calls on supporters to protect the website from
"attack" by the authorities following the detention of a US soldier, Bradley Manning, who was
arrested in Iraq after admitting to a former hacker that he leaked the Garani and Baghdad videos
to WikiLeaks.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy from major media sources, click here.
Wanted by the US: WikiLeaks founder keeps his head down

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/wanted-by-the-us-wikileaks-f...
Julian Assange, the Australian-born face of the [whistleblowers' website] WikiLeaks, is in hiding
overseas after the US military arrested one of its own soldiers, Bradley Manning, and accused him
of leaking a a secret video of a US Army helicopter gunning down civilians in Iraq in 2007. The
video was released on Wikileaks this year, and the US is now desperate to find Mr Assange
before he leaks thousands of hugely embarrassing state diplomatic cables, which are
believed to discuss the Middle East, its governments and leaders. Mr Assange, 38, is an
enigmatic figure who moves frequently between countries and has bases in Iceland, Kenya,
Australia and elsewhere. He was due to speak at a conference in Las Vegas on [June 11] but
cancelled shortly before he was due to appear. At the same time [a US website] published an
article claiming that Pentagon investigators were engaged in a "manhunt" for Mr Assange. There
have even been suggestions that Mr Assange may be in physical danger. Daniel Ellsberg, who
famously leaked a top secret US history of the Vietnam War dubbed the Pentagon Papers at the
height of that war, told US television he had spoken to Mr Assange last week. "He understood
that it was not safe for him to come to this country," Mr Ellsberg said.
Note: For more of Daniel Ellsberg's assessment of the personal dangers to Assange from the
Pentagon's manhunt for him, click here.
Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7148555.ece
Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a
bombing raid on Irans nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. Defence sources in the Gulf
say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of
the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. The Saudis have given their
permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way, said a US
defence source in the area. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State
Department. Sources in Saudi Arabia say it is common knowledge within defence circles in
the kingdom that an arrangement is in place if Israel decides to launch the raid. We all know
this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing, said one. The targets lie as far as
1,400 miles (2,250km) from Israel; the outer limits of their bombers range, even with aerial
refuelling. An open corridor across northern Saudi Arabia would significantly shorten the distance.
An airstrike would involve multiple waves of bombers, possibly crossing Jordan, northern Saudi
Arabia and Iraq. Passing over Iraq would require at least tacit agreement to the raid from
Washington.
Report: Pentagon seeks WikiLeaks founder Assange, fearing cables will

be published
2010-06-11, USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/06/report-pentag...
The Daily Beast reports that Pentagon investigators are trying to track down Julian Assange, the
elusive Australian-born founder of WikiLeaks, who they believe is preparing to publish several
years of State Department cables allegedly passed by the 22-year-old Manning, now being
detained in Kuwait. The cables contain "information related to American diplomatic and
intelligence efforts in the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq," and they could do "serious
damage to national security" if made public, government officials told the Beast. But even if
they find him, it's not clear what they could do to stop publication. Daniel Ellsberg says Assange "is
in danger." Meanwhile, Wired's Threat Level blog, which broke the Manning story, is reporting that
Assange ... is arranging Manning's legal defense and says Manning is no spy. Assange, who first
gained notoriety as a computer hacker, canceled an appearance today at an International
Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas.
Note: For more of Daniel Ellsberg's assessment of the personal dangers to Assange from the
Pentagon's manhunt for him, click here.
Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for protests

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7142478.ece
The thing about the Bilderberg groups top secret meetings: you never know quite what is going on
behind the police checkpoints. Across the world, secretaries to the rich and the powerful have
blocked out the next three days in their bosses calendars for their annual gathering, this time at
the Dolce in Sitges, one of Spains most exclusive resorts. Normally, every minute of their working
lives is accounted for but, each year, a couple of hundred of the worlds financial elite and the more
business-friendly members of the political class disappear from view. It is all terribly confidential
breathe a word about it and youre out of the club but the Bilderberg watcher Daniel Estulin
claims to have a copy of the agenda. The big question this time around is whether the euro will
survive. They are afraid that the countries in trouble will leave and the euro will fall apart,
said Mr Estulin. The Bilderbergers are nervous that the erosion of the euro could nudge the
world back into recession while public services cuts could trigger unrest and radicalise the
political climate.
Note: For more information from reliable sources on Bilderberg, click here. For lots more on
powerful secret societies that make decisions in total secrecy that affect the whole world, click
here.
World arms spending soars

2010-06-01, Seattle Times/Associated Press
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012006095_arms02.html
Despite the global financial crisis, world military spending almost doubled in the past decade
to reach $1.53 trillion in 2009, a Swedish think-tank said Wednesday. In its 2010 yearbook, the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said that spending between 2008 and
2009 grew 5.9 percent. The United States remains the biggest spender, accounting for some 54
percent of the increase, the report said. China, which became the second biggest military spender
in 2008, retained that position last year. Data also showed that Asia and Oceania are increasing
their military expenditures the fastest. The global financial turmoil had little effect on
governments upgrading their armed forces, even in countries whose economies were hit
the hardest, SIPRI spokesman Sam Perlo-Freeman said. Perlo-Freeman, who heads the thinktank's military-expenditure project [commented] "For major or intermediate powers such as the
USA, China, Russia, India and Brazil military spending represents a long-term strategic choice,
which they are willing to make even in hard economic times."
Note: Very few major media picked up this eye-opening article. With all of the threatened budget
cuts around the world, why is no one talking about the fact that military spending has literally
doubled in the last 10 years? Could it be that those who own the media don't want you to know this
information? For a powerful essay by a top US general revealing the deeper causes of war and
military spending, click here.
Toronto police get 'sound cannons' for G20

2010-05-27, Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/815061--toronto-poli...
Protesters marching at the G20 summit next month may be greeted with ear-splitting sound
cannons, the latest Toronto police tool for quelling unruly crowds. Toronto police have purchased
four long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) often referred to as sound guns or sound cannons
for the upcoming June 26-27 summit. Purchased this month, the LRADs will become a permanent
fixture in Toronto law enforcement, said police spokesperson Const. Wendy Drummond. They
were purchased as part of the G20 budget process, Drummond said. Its definitely going to be
beneficial for us, not only in the G20 but in any future large gatherings. But critics say they are
really non-lethal weapons and infringe upon protester rights. LRADs can emit ear-blasting
sounds so high in frequency they transcend normal thresholds of pain. LRADs are being
increasingly employed as a crowd-control device and at last years G20 summit in
Pittsburgh, police used them on protesters before deploying tear gas and stun grenades. The
acoustical devices can also be pointed at specific targets, transmitting a laser of sound that is
less aggravating for anyone standing outside its beam.
Note: This is the sort of thing on which the $1 billion in security preparations for the upcoming G8
and G20 meetings is being spent. For revealing reports from reliable sources on the grave risks
posed by so called "non-lethal" weapons, click here.
BP's Photo Blockade of the Gulf Oil Spill

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/the-missing-oil-spill-photos.html
As BP makes its latest attempt to plug its gushing oil well, news photographers are complaining
that their efforts to document the slow-motion disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are being
thwarted by local and federal officials working with BP who are blocking access to the
sites where the effects of the spill are most visible. More than a month into the disaster, a host
of anecdotal evidence is emerging from reporters, photographers, and TV crews in which BP and
Coast Guard officials explicitly target members of the media, restricting and denying them access
to oil-covered beaches, staging areas for clean-up efforts, and even flyovers. Last week, a CBS TV
crew was threatened with arrest when attempting to film an oil-covered beach. On Monday, Mother
Jones published this firsthand account of one reporters repeated attempts to gain access to cleanup operations on oil-soaked beaches, and the telling response of local law enforcement.
Note: To see some of the devastating photos from this tragic spill, click here. For an abundance of
revealing articles from major media sources on government and corporate collusion and
corruption, click here and here.
U.S. oil drilling regulator ignored experts' red flags on environmental

risks
The federal agency responsible for regulating U.S. offshore oil drilling repeatedly ignored warnings
from government scientists about environmental risks in its push to approve energy exploration
activities quickly, according to numerous documents and interviews. Minerals Management
Service officials, who can receive cash bonuses in the thousands of dollars based in large
part on meeting federal deadlines for leasing offshore oil and gas exploration, frequently
changed documents and bypassed legal requirements aimed at protecting the marine
environment, the documents show. This has dramatically weakened the scientific checks on
offshore drilling that were established under landmark laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection
Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Interviews and documents show numerous
examples in which senior officials discounted scientific data and advice -- even from scientists
elsewhere in the federal government -- that would have impeded oil and gas companies drilling
offshore.
Note: For an abundance of revealing articles from major media sources on government and
corporate collusion and corruption, click here and here.
U.S. Approval of Killing of Cleric Causes Unease

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/world/14awlaki.html
The Obama administrations decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of
a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political
limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism. The notion that the
government can, in effect, execute one of its own citizens far from a combat zone, with no
judicial process and based on secret intelligence, makes some legal authorities deeply
uneasy. To eavesdrop on the terrorism suspect who was added to the target list, the Americanborn radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding in Yemen, intelligence agencies would have to
get a court warrant. But designating him for death, as C.I.A. officials did early this year with the
National Security Councils approval, required no judicial review. Congress has protected Awlakis
cellphone calls, said Vicki Divoll, a former C.I.A. lawyer who now teaches at the United States
Naval Academy. But it has not provided any protections for his life. That makes no sense. But like
the debate over torture during the Bush administration, public discussion of what officials call
targeted killing has been limited by the secrecy of the C.I.A. drone program.
Note: Obama is the first president to publicly order the assassination of an American citizen.
Neither George W. Bush nor Dick Cheney asserted such a power on the part of the president. For
an analysis, click here.
Plan for Congressional Audits of Fed Dies in Senate

Last-minute maneuvering in the Senate allowed the Federal Reserve to sidestep legislation that
would have exposed its interest-rate decision-making to congressional auditors. Pressure from
the Obama administration led Senate lawmakers to alter a provision pushed by Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I., Vt.) that was gaining momentum despite opposition from the Treasury and the
Fed. It would have largely repealed a 32-year-old law that shields Fed monetary policy from
congressional auditors. Thursday's Senate showdown came after senators on the left and right
joined forces to support Mr. Sanders' provision. "At a time when our entire financial system almost
collapsed, we cannot let the Fed operate in secrecy any longer," Mr. Sanders said. "The American
people have a right to know." But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ... said in a letter to Congress the
Sanders measure would "seriously threaten monetary policy independence, increase inflation
fears and market interest rates, and damage economic stability and job creation."
Note: For an abundance of deep reporting on the hidden realities of Wall Street's shadowy
operations, click here.
Since spill, feds have given 27 waivers to oil companies in gulf

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/07/1619046/since-spill-feds-have-given-27....
Since the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded on April 20, the Obama administration has
granted oil and gas companies at least 27 exemptions from doing in-depth environmental studies
of oil exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico. The waivers were granted despite President
Barack Obamas vow that his administration would launch a relentless response effort to stop the
leak and prevent more damage to the gulf. One of them was dated Friday the day after Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar said he was temporarily halting offshore drilling The exemptions, known
as categorical exclusions, were granted by the Interior Departments Minerals
Management Service (MMS) and included waiving detailed environmental studies for a BP
exploration plan to be conducted at a depth of more than 4,000 feet and an Anadarko
Petroleum Corp. exploration plan at more 9,000 feet. Is there a moratorium on off shore drilling
or not? asked Peter Galvin, conservation director with the Center for Biological Diversity, the
environmental group that discovered the administrations continued approval of the exemptions.
Possibly the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history has occurred and nothing appears to
have changed.
Feds Let BP Avoid Filing Blowout Plan For Gulf Rig

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/06/ap/business/main6467264.shtml
Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled
blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs
changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to
an Associated Press review of official records. The Minerals Management Service, an arm of the
Interior Department known for its cozy relationship with major oil companies, says it issued the rule
relief because some of the industrywide mandates weren't practical for all of the exploratory and
production projects operating in the Gulf region. Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs, Miss.,
environmental lawyer, said the lack of a blowout scenario "is kind of an outrageous omission,
because you're drilling in extremely deep waters, where by definition you're looking for very large
reservoirs to justify the cost. If the MMS was allowing companies to drill in this ultra-deep
situation without a blowout scenario, then it seems clear they weren't doing the job they
were tasked with," he said. "The MMS can't change the law just by telling people that they
don't have to comply with it."
New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access

In a move that will stoke a battle over the future of the Internet, the federal government plans to
propose regulating broadband lines under decades-old rules designed for traditional phone
networks. The decision, by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski,
is likely to trigger a vigorous lobbying battle, arraying big phone and cable companies and their
allies on Capitol Hill against Silicon Valley giants and consumer advocates. He wants to adopt "net
neutrality" rules that require Internet providers like Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. to treat all traffic
equally, and not to slow or block access to websites. Internet giants like Google Inc.,
Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc., which want to offer more Web video and other highbandwidth services, have called for stronger action by the FCC to assure free access to
websites. Cable and telecommunications executives have warned that using land-line phone rules
to govern their management of Internet traffic would lead them to cut billions of capital expenditure
for their networks, slash jobs and go to court to fight the rules. Consumer groups hailed the
decision ..., an abrupt change from recent days, when they [had] bombarded the FCC chairman
with emails and phone calls imploring him to fight phone and cable companies lobbyists.
Government must inform us of cell phone risk

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/27/EDMB1D58TC.DTL
A huge, 30-year study called COSMOS has been launched in Europe to determine whether cell
phones cause cancer and other health problems. Meanwhile, policymakers in Sacramento are
considering legislation to ensure people know how much radiation their cell phones emit. The
wireless industry vigorously opposes such legislation. It argues that its phones comply with
regulations, and there is no consensus about risks so people don't need to know this. Our
research review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found alarming results to the
contrary. We reviewed 23 case-control studies that examined tumor risk due to cell phone use.
Although as a whole the data varied, among the 10 higher quality studies, we found a harmful
association between phone use and tumor risk. The lower quality studies, which failed to meet
scientific best practices, were primarily industry funded. The 13 studies that investigated cell
phone use for 10 or more years found a significant harmful association with tumor risk,
especially for brain tumors, giving us ample reason for concern about long-term use. Nine
nations have issued precautionary warnings. It is time for our government to require health
warnings and publicize simple steps to reduce the health risks of cell phone use.
Note: For key reports on health issues from reliable sources, click here.
Organic, small farmers fret over FDA regulation

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/27/MNKM1D3C5H.DTL
Small farmers in California who have led a national movement away from industrial agriculture
face a looming crackdown on food safety that they say is geared to big corporate farms and will
make it harder for them to survive. The small growers, many of whom grow dozens of different
kinds of vegetables and fruits, say the inherent benefits of their size, and their sensitivity to extra
costs, are being ignored. They are fighting to carve out a sanctuary in legislation that would bring
farmers under the strict purview of the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA would gain greater
authority to regulate how products are grown, stored, transported, inspected, traced from farm to
table and recalled when needed. But ... organic growers argue that the problems that have
plagued the food industry lie elsewhere. They point to the sale of bagged vegetables, cut fruit and
other processed food in which vast quantities of produce from different farms are mixed, sealed in
containers and shipped long distances, creating a host for harmful bacteria. The legislation does
not address what some experts suspect is the source of E. coli contamination: the large,
confined animal feeding operations. "It does not take on the industrial animal industry and
the abuses going on," said Tom Willey of T&D Willey Farms in Madera.
Note: For an amazing trove of articles from reliable sources detailing the FDA's corruption in the
interest of major corporations, click here.
Colleague Disputes Case Against Anthrax Suspect

A former Army microbiologist who worked for years with Bruce E. Ivins, whom the F.B.I. has
blamed for the anthrax letter attacks that killed five people in 2001, told a National Academy of
Sciences panel on [April 22] that he believed it was impossible that the deadly spores had been
produced undetected in Dr. Ivinss laboratory, as the F.B.I. asserts. Asked by reporters after
his testimony whether he believed that there was any chance that Dr. Ivins, who committed
suicide in 2008, had carried out the attacks, the microbiologist, Henry S. Heine, replied,
Absolutely not. At the Armys biodefense laboratory in Maryland, where Dr. Ivins and
Dr. Heine worked, he said, among the senior scientists, no one believes it. Dr. Heine
told the 16-member panel, which is reviewing the F.B.I.s scientific work on the investigation,
that producing the quantity of spores in the letters would have taken at least a year of intensive
work using the equipment at the army lab. Such an effort would not have escaped colleagues
notice, he added later, and lab technicians who worked closely with Dr. Ivins have told him they
saw no such work. Whoever did this is still running around out there, Dr. Heine said. I
truly believe that.
Note: For more on the still-unsolved anthrax attacks, click here.
Flouridation may not do much for cavities

2010-04-15, Globe and Mail(One of Canada's Leading Newspapers)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/ontario-fluoride-may-make-minor-di...
When it comes to fluoridating drinking water, Ontario and Quebec couldn't be further apart. Ontario
has the country's highest rate of adding the tooth-enamel-strengthening chemical into municipal
supplies, while Quebec has one of the lowest, with practically no one drinking fluoridated water.
But surprisingly, the two provinces have very little difference in tooth-decay rates, a finding
that is likely to intensify the ongoing controversy over the practice of adding fluoride to
water as a public health measure. Quebeckers have more cavities than people in Ontario, but
the difference is slight. Among children 6 to 19, considered the most decay-prone part of the
population, the rate in Ontario was lower by less than half a cavity per child. In the 6-11 age group,
Ontario kids have 3.5 per cent fewer cavities than those in Quebec: 1.7 cavities compared to 1.76.
Note: For key reports on health issues from reliable sources, click here.
The Great Federal Reserve Bank Con Job

2010-04-13, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36233217#36233217
[video transcript:] In America today we are getting closer to fully exposing the greatest con and
cover-up in this [country's] history. It involves our banks, the federal reserve, our congress, and, of
course, you and me. Here's how the con went down. The bankers were operating under an
implicit guarantee from the godfather [at] the Federal Reserve, in the form of guaranteed
interest rates, guaranteed cheap money exclusively for the con men. Then, Chairman
Greenspan, the godfather, would agree to hold those rates -- let's say 2% -- for as far as the eye
could see. The banks, or bankers, the con men, would borrow that money from the Federal
Reserve, let's say 2%, and turn around and lend it back to [you], and let's say 6%. That
encouraged the patsies, you and me, to be drawn into the con because 6% looks like a pretty low
rate. Low rates for houses, low rates for cars. Heck, you could join a health club, make that into
payments, turn that into bonds, and of course promises of a higher-than-average return for those
managing teachers and policemen's and judge's pension funds that are buying into the con as
well. And here exactly is where the con comes in. As you and I both know, the banks had no
money. They were getting it from the Federal Reserve. It's funny money.
Note: For abundant reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of what may be the
greatest con job in financial history, click here.
Whistleblowers on US massacre fear CIA stalkers

Activists behind a website dedicated to revealing secret documents have complained of
harassment by police and intelligence services as they prepare to release a video showing an
American attack in which 97 civilians were killed in Afghanistan. Julian Assange, one of the
founders of Wikileaks, has claimed that a restaurant where the group met in Reykjavik, the capital
of Iceland, came under surveillance in March and one of the groups volunteers was detained
for 21 hours by police. Assange, an Australian, says he was followed on a flight from Reykjavik to
Copenhagen by two American agents. The group has riled governments by publishing documents
leaked by whistleblowers. Assange claims surveillance has intensified as he and his
colleagues prepare to put out their Afghan film. It is said to concern the so-called Granai
massacre, when American aircraft dropped 500lb and 1,000lb bombs ... in Farah
province on May 4 last year. Assange complained of covert following and hidden
photography by police and foreign intelligence services. There have been thinly veiled threats,
he says, from an apparent British intelligence agent in a car park in Luxembourg.
Computers were also seized, another member of Wikileaks said ..., raising alarm among
supporters: If anything happens to us, you know why ... and you know who is responsible.
Note: It's not surprising that US intelligence agencies are intimidating Wikileaks activists reporting
on the atrocities committed in the wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. As explained by
Marine Corps General Smedley Butler in this excellent summary, modern US wars are the ruling
elite's "get rich quick" scheme, and they don't want you to know.
The 'Obama doctrine': kill, don't detain

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/11/obama-national...
Extrajudicial killings and targeted assassinations will soon become the main point of contention
that Obama's administration will need to justify. The extensive use of drones under Obama have
taken the death count well beyond anything that has been seen before. The legal justifications put
forward by [the Obama administration] are reminiscent of the arguments that were used by John
Yoo and others in their bid to lend legitimacy to unlawful practices such as rendition, arbitrary
detention and torture. The laws of war do not allow for the targeting of individuals outside of
the conflict zone, and yet we now find that extrajudicial killings are taking place in countries
as far apart as Yemen, the Horn of Africa and Pakistan. From a legal and moral perspective,
the rationale provided by the State Department is bankrupt and only reinforces the stereotype
that the US has very little concern for its own principles. The hope that came with the election of
Barack Obama has faded as his policies have indicated nothing more than a reconfiguration of the
basic tenet of the Bush Doctrine that the US's national security interests supersede any
consideration of due process or the rule of law. The only difference witness the rising civilian
body count from drone attacks being that Obama's doctrine is even more deadly.
Feds found Pfizer too big to nail

2010-04-02, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/02/pfizer.bextra
Imagine being charged with a crime, but an imaginary friend takes the rap for you. That is
essentially what happened when Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, was
caught illegally marketing Bextra, a painkiller that was taken off the market in 2005 because
of safety concerns. It's a story about the power major pharmaceutical companies have even
when they break the laws intended to protect patients. The story begins in 2001, when Bextra was
about to hit the market. The drug was part of a revolutionary class of painkillers known as Cox-2
inhibitors that were supposed to be safer than generic drugs, but at 20 times the price of ibuprofen.
Pfizer and its marketing partner, Pharmacia, planned to sell Bextra as a treatment for acute pain,
the kind you have after surgery. But in November 2001, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
said Bextra was not safe for patients at high risk of heart attacks and strokes. The FDA approved
Bextra only for arthritis and menstrual cramps. It rejected the drug in higher doses for acute,
surgical pain. Promoting drugs for unapproved uses can put patients at risk by circumventing the
FDA's judgment over which products are safe and effective. For that reason, "off-label" promotion
is against the law. Internal company documents show that Pfizer and Pharmacia (which Pfizer later
bought) used a multimillion-dollar medical education budget to pay hundreds of doctors as
speakers and consultants to tout Bextra.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on corporate corruption, click here.
Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01nsa.html
A federal judge ruled [on March 31] that the National Security Agencys program of surveillance
without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administrations effort to keep shrouded in
secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush. In
a 45-page opinion, Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that the government had violated a 1978 federal
statute requiring court approval for domestic surveillance when it intercepted phone calls of Al
Haramain, a now-defunct Islamic charity in Oregon, and of two lawyers representing it in 2004.
Declaring that the plaintiffs had been subjected to unlawful surveillance, the judge said the
government was liable to pay them damages. The ruling by Judge Walker, the chief judge of the
Federal District Court in San Francisco, rejected the Justice Departments claim first
asserted by the Bush administration and continued under President Obama that the
charitys lawsuit should be dismissed without a ruling on the merits because allowing it to go
forward could reveal state secrets. The judge characterized that expansive use of the socalled state-secrets privilege as amounting to unfettered executive-branch discretion
that had obvious potential for governmental abuse and overreaching.
Note: For illumination of the dark world of state secrecy, click here.
U.N.: Afghanistan 'world's biggest producer of hashish'

2010-03-31, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/afghan.cannabis
A U.N. report says Afghanistan, the world's biggest producer of opium, is also a "major producer of
cannabis" and "the world's biggest producer of hashish." The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime
issued its Afghanistan Cannabis Survey on [March 31], documenting large-scale cannabis
cultivation in half of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. "While other countries have even larger cannabis
cultivation, the astonishing yield of the Afghan cannabis crop -- 145 kilograms per hectare of
hashish, the resin produced from cannabis, as compared to around 40 kilograms per
hectare in Morocco -- makes Afghanistan the world's biggest producer of hashish, estimated
at between 1,500 and 3,500 tons a year," said Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC's executive director.
The report says money "is one of the main reasons" for large-scale cannabis cultivation. "The
gross income per hectare of cannabis (US $3,900) is higher than from opium (US$ 3,600)."
Note: What almost no media reports point out is that in 2000, the year before the US invasion, the
Taliban had virtually eradicated opium and hashish. Is it a coincidence that under US control
Afghanistan has since regained its status as top producer of these drugs? For powerful evidence
suggesting rogue elements of government profit greatly from the drug trade, click here.
The 'Long War' quagmire

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/28/opinion/la-oe-hayden28-2010mar28
Without public debate and without congressional hearings, a segment of the Pentagon and fellow
travelers have embraced a doctrine known as the Long War, which projects an "arc of instability"
caused by insurgent groups from Europe to South Asia that will last between 50 and 80 years.
According to one of its architects, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are just "small wars in the midst
of a big one." Consider the audacity of such an idea. An 80-year undeclared war would
entangle 20 future presidential terms stretching far into the future of voters not yet born.
The American death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan now approaches 5,000, with the number of
wounded a multiple many times greater. And if the American armed forces are stretched thin
today, try to conceive of seven more decades of combat. The costs are unimaginable too.
According to economists Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, Iraq alone will be a $3-trillion
war. Those costs, and the other deficit spending of recent years, yield "virtually no room for new
domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his successors," according to a New York Times budget
analysis in February. Continued deficit financing for the Long War will rob today's younger
generation of resources for their future.
Note: Many people don't even know why the US is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
arguments about national security border on ridiculous. For a highly revealing essay by a top US
general exposing the real reasons for war, click here. For lots more on the realities of the "war on
terror", click here.
Scientists Say F.D.A. Ignored Radiation Warnings

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/health/policy/29fda.html
Urgent warnings by government experts about the risks of routinely using powerful CT scans to
screen patients for colon cancer were brushed aside by the Food and Drug Administration,
according to agency documents and interviews with agency scientists. Such scans can deliver the
radiation equivalent of 400 chest X-rays. An estimated 70 million CT scans are performed in the
United States every year, up from three million in the early 1980s. As many as 14,000 people may
die every year of radiation-induced cancers as a result, researchers estimate. The use of CT scans
to screen healthy patients for cancer is particularly controversial. The internal dispute [at the FDA]
has grown so heated that a group of agency scientists who are concerned about the risks of CT
scans say they will testify ... that F.D.A. managers ignored or suppressed their concerns, and that
the resulting delay in making these concerns public may have led hundreds of patients to be
endangered needlessly. Scores of internal agency documents made available to The New York
Times show that agency managers sought to approve an application by General Electric to
allow the use of CT scans for colon cancer screenings over the repeated objections of
agency scientists, who wanted the application rejected.
Court Orders Fed to Release Bailout Documents

In a significant victory for news media, a federal appeals court said the Federal Reserve must
disclose records on emergency lending programs to banks bailed out by the government in the
financial crisis. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on [March 19] ordered the Fed to release
details of programs it adopted starting in late 2007 to shore up the financial system and forestall a
complete meltdown of global financial markets. Bloomberg ... and News Corp's Fox News Network
sought details of the central bank's actions under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The Fed
argued against disclosure, citing an exemption that it said lets federal agencies keep secret
various trade secrets and commercial or financial information. Writing for a unanimous three-judge
appeals court panel, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs said, however, that to give the Fed power to
deny disclosure because it thinks it best to do so "would undermine the basic policy that
disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective." Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota
Democrat, said the rulings will help shed light on the Fed, which he called "the least transparent
institution" in government.
Note: Isn't it crazy that the Fed would try to keep secret what it did with nearly $1 trillion of US
taxpayer money?
Defense says NY synagogue-bomb plot was feds' idea

Four men accused of trying to bomb synagogues and shoot down planes in New York last spring
did little more than go along with a fake plot proposed, directed and funded by the federal
government, defense lawyers claim in asking the court to dismiss the case. A federal informant
chose the targets, offered payment, provided maps and bought the only real weapon
involved, a handgun, the attorneys said in a dismissal motion filed this week in federal
court. They alleged the defendants were not inclined toward any crime until the informant
began recruiting them. The dismissal motion identified the government's agent as Shaheed
Hussain, a "professional informant" for the FBI. The defense alleged that Hussain tried to incite the
defendants by blaming Jews for the world's evil and telling them that attacks against non-Muslims
were endorsed by Islam. Nevertheless, they said, he failed to motivate the defendants to any
action on their own. Hussain suggested the targets, paid for the defendants' groceries, bought a
gun, provided the fake bombs and missile, assembled the explosive devices and acted as
chauffeur, the defense said. "The alleged crimes were almost entirely the product of Hussain's
labors and the enterprise would have immediately collapsed if Hussain's guiding hand had been
removed," the defense motion said.
Note: For lots more evidence of fake terror plots used to maintain the "war on terror", click here.
Bring on the Robin Hood tax

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/13/robin-hood-tax-budget-ban...
Economists warn that Britain is wobbling on a tightrope over a second recession where spending
cuts would precipitate more unemployment and risk sinking the economy into a downward spiral.
So far Labour has failed to find the words to express public outrage at the financiers' billowing
wealth while the Treasury is drained. Only weeks since launching, the campaign for a Robin Hood
tax on all financial transactions has gathered extraordinary support. It hasn't been hard, so
profound is the untapped public anger at the bankers. This week the European parliament
voted for it overwhelmingly 536 to 80 supported by the social democrats and the majority
conservative EPP grouping: opponents were the ECP rump rightwingers the Tories belong to.
Backed here by some 100 organisations from Oxfam to the Salvation Army, rarely has a campaign
gathered such momentum in so short a time: 140,000 have joined and more gather by the day.
Campaigners want a sterling transaction tax to come in at once. Imposing just 0.005% on every
sterling deal is within Britain's sole control, raising 4bn. If the EU agrees a wider financial
transactions tax, it would bring Britain another 4bn one estimate is 100bn across Europe, to be
used at home, in foreign aid and on climate change.
Note: See http://robinhoodtax.org.uk to support this rapidly growing movement which may make a
big difference.
The Twilight of the Elites

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1971133_1971110_19...
In the past decade, nearly every pillar institution in American society whether it's General
Motors, Congress, Wall Street, Major League Baseball, the Catholic Church or the mainstream
media has revealed itself to be corrupt, incompetent or both. And at the root of these failures
are the people who run these institutions, the bright and industrious minds who occupy the
commanding heights of our meritocratic order. In exchange for their power, status and
remuneration, they are supposed to make sure everything operates smoothly. But after a cascade
of scandals and catastrophes, that implicit social contract lies in ruins, replaced by mass
skepticism, contempt and disillusionment. In the wake of the implosion of nearly all
sources of American authority, this new decade will have to be about reforming our
institutions to reconstitute a more reliable and democratic form of authority. If our current
crisis continues, we risk a long, ugly process of de-development: higher levels of corruption and
tax evasion and an increasingly fractured public sphere, in which both public consensus and
reform become all but impossible.
A Detention Bill You Ought to Read More Carefully

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/a-detention-bill-you-ough...
Why is the national security community treating the "Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention,
and Prosecution Act of 2010," introduced by Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman on [March
4] as a standard proposal, as a simple response to the administration's choices in the aftermath of
the Christmas Day bombing attempt? A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the
U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected
activity. According to the summary, the bill sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention,
interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in
hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be held in military custody,
interrogated for their intelligence value and not provided with a Miranda warning. There is no
distinction between U.S. persons--visa holders or citizens--and non-U.S. persons. It would
require these "belligerents" to be coded as "high-value detainee[s]" to be held in military custody
and interrogated for their intelligence value by a High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team
established by the president.
Note: Read the bill here. For lots more on serious threats to civil liberties, click here.
Obama Signs One-Year Extension of Patriot Act

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/27/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Patriot-Ac...
President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the nation's
main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act. Provisions in the measure would have expired on
[February 28] without Obama's signature [the day before]. The act, which was adopted in the
weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government's ability to monitor
Americans in the name of national security. Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:
-- Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones. -- Allow
court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations. -- Permit surveillance
against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a
recognized terrorist group. Obama's signature comes after the House voted 315 to 97 Thursday to
extend the measure. The Senate also approved the measure, with privacy protections cast
aside. Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government's authority to
spy on Americans and seize their records.
Note: Remember that the PATRIOT Act was passed by Congress immediately after weaponized
anthrax attacks on two key senators opposed to the legislation, a crime that the FBI has closed the
books on without solving. Congress continues to support the Act despite its widespread
unpopularity with the US public. Why? For lots more from major media sources on the increasing
government threats to civil liberties, click here.
F.B.I., Laying Out Evidence, Closes Anthrax Case

More than eight years after anthrax-laced letters killed five people and terrorized the country, the
F.B.I. [has] closed its investigation, adding eerie new details to its case that the 2001 attacks were
carried out by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army biodefense expert who killed himself in 2008. A 92-page
report, which concludes what by many measures is the largest investigation in F.B.I. history, laid
out the evidence against Dr. Ivins. The report disclosed for the first time the F.B.I.s theory that Dr.
Ivins embedded in the notes mailed with the anthrax a complex coded message, based on DNA
biochemistry. Whether the voluminous documentation will convince skeptics about Dr.
Ivinss guilt was uncertain. Representative Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat and a
physicist who has sharply criticized the bureaus work, said the case should not have been
closed. He said the F.B.I. report laid out barely a circumstantial case that would not, I think,
stand up in court. Some of Dr. Ivinss colleagues at the United States Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, including several supervisors who knew him well,
publicly rejected the F.B.I.s conclusion. They said he was eccentric but incapable of such a
diabolical act, and they questioned whether he could have produced the deadly powder with the
equipment in his lab.
Note: The FBI's "closure" of its anthrax investigation won't put an end to the unanswered
questions about who the perpetrators of the attacks were. As described in this key Wall Street
Journal report, the specific formulation of the anthrax used in the attacks was beyond Ivins'
capabilities.
Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europes Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/global/14debt.html
Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened
the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments
to hide their mounting debts. As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews
show that with Wall Streets help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European
debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget
overseers in Brussels. As in the American subprime crisis and the implosion of the American
International Group, financial derivatives played a role in the run-up of Greek debt. Instruments
developed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and a wide range of other banks enabled
politicians to mask additional borrowing in Greece, Italy and possibly elsewhere. In dozens
of deals across the Continent, banks provided cash upfront in return for government
payments in the future, with those liabilities then left off the books. Greece, for example,
traded away the rights to airport fees and lottery proceeds in years to come. Critics say that such
deals, because they are not recorded as loans, mislead investors and regulators about the depth
of a countrys liabilities.
Note: For a treasure trove of investigations from reliable sources into the many tricks by which
Wall Street firms enriched themselves at the expense of others, click here.
School bombing exposes Obamas secret war inside Pakistan

The discovery of three American soldiers among the dead in a suicide bombing at the opening of a
girls school in the northwestern Pakistan town of Dir [has] reignited the fears of many Pakistanis
that Washington was set on invading their country. In Pakistan, the US president has dramatically
stepped up the covert war against Islamic extremists. US airstrikes in Pakistan, launched from
unmanned drones, are now averaging three a week, triple the number last year. We're quietly
seeing a geographical shift, an intelligence officer said. The discovery of the dead US soldiers
revealed that Americas shadowy war in Pakistan not only involves drones but also small
cadres of special operations soldiers. Sources said there were about 200 US military inside
the country. Im not sure you could just call it training, one official said. They are hardly
behind the wire if they are on trips to schools in Dir. The three US soldiers, who have been
described variously as special operations forces and civil affairs troops, were killed when their
convoy was bombed as it travelled to the re-opening of the school. One official suggested the
trainers may be used to pick up intelligence on drone targets. If the drones are controversial, the
presence of US soldiers on Pakistani soil is far more so.
Note: For more from reliable sources on the covert aspects of the US military aggression
Study: Segregation rife at charter schools

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/MNBN1BSOIL.DTL
De facto segregation is alive and well in public schools in virtually every state, but is more common
in charter schools - an educational option increasingly endorsed in state and national reform
efforts, according to a [new] national study. The trend is particularly severe for African
American students, the UCLA researchers found. Nearly 3 out of 4 black students who
attend charters are in "intensely segregated" schools with student populations that are at
least 90 percent minority, according to the study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project. That's twice
the rate of regular public schools. Almost a third of those black students are in what the
researchers called "apartheid schools," where 0 to 1 percent of their classmates are white. These
are "the very kind of schools that decades of civil rights struggles fought to abolish in the South,"
researchers said.
Medical groups assail patenting of human genes
2010-02-03, USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-02-03-Genesuit03_ST_N.htm
In a case that could have far-reaching implications for medical research and health care based on
genetics, groups representing thousands of doctors, scientists and patients went to court ... to
argue that no one should be able to patent human genes, a question that has long been
controversial in scientific circles. The case involves a Utah company, Myriad Genetics, and the
University of Utah Research Foundation, which in 1994 isolated the DNA sequence for the BRCA1
and later the BRCA2 genes, mutations of which can greatly increase a woman's chance of
developing breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad sells a test for the genes. The American Civil
Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation ... argued before federal district court Judge
Robert Sweet that patents on genes are unconstitutional. The U.S. Patent Office allows genes to
be patented as soon as someone isolates the DNA by removing it from the cell, says ACLU
attorney Sandra Park. "We're arguing that isolating it does not make it patentable. It's a
natural phenomenon, and the Supreme Court has always said natural phenomena are not
patentable."
Note: For many key investigations from major media sources into corporate and governmental
threats against civil liberties, click here.
Obama budget seeks 13.4 percent increase for National Nuclear

Security Administration
President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget blueprint calls for an increase in funding of more
than 13 percent for the agency that oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, a greater
percentage increase than for any other government agency. The $11.2 billion request for the
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) represents a 13.4 percent increase for the
agency from the previous fiscal year. Most agencies across the rest of the government saw either
no increase in the spending plan announced this week or a single-digit percentage increase. Sen.
Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who has actively followed negotiations over a new nuclear treaty with Russia,
said the increase in the budget was "a definite improvement over previous years." Other observers
already see the new budget as a boon for arms-control advocates.
Note: So the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama, is increasing the budget for
nuclear weapons more than any other agency. Kind of ironic, isn't it? For the real reasons behind
this, read what one of the most highly decorated US generals ever had to say about the real forces
behind war at this link.
Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aaIuE.W8RAuU
The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among
conspiracy theorists. After this weeks congressional hearing into the bailout of American
International Group Inc., you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all. Wednesdays hearing
described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little
oversight by the public or elected officials. Were talking about the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, whose role as the most influential part of the federal-reserve system -- apart from the matter
of AIGs bailout -- deserves further congressional scrutiny. The New York Fed is in the hot seat for
its decision in November 2008 to buy out, for about $30 billion, insurance contracts AIG sold on
toxic debt securities to banks. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was head of the New York Fed
at the time of the AIG moves. The hearing revealed some of the inner workings of the New York
Fed and the outsized role it plays in banking. This insight is especially valuable given that the New
York Fed is a quasi-governmental institution that isnt subject to citizen intrusions such as freedom
of information requests, unlike the Federal Reserve. This impenetrability comes in handy since
the bank is the preferred vehicle for many of the Feds bailout programs. Its as though the
New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nations central bank.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the secret deliberations by the highest levels of
government and private elites in their attempts to bail out the biggest financial corporations, click
here.
U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on

strikes
U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with
Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people. The operations, approved
by President Obama, involve several dozen troops from the U.S. military's clandestine Joint
Special Operations Command (JSOC), whose main mission is tracking and killing [targeted
persons]. Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar alAulaqi, was thought to be. He has since been added to a shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically
targeted for killing or capture by the JSOC. The combined efforts have resulted in more than two
dozen ground raids and airstrikes. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush gave the CIA, and later the
military, authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad. The Obama administration has adopted the same
stance. Both the CIA and the JSOC maintain lists of individuals, called "High Value Targets"
and "High Value Individuals," whom they seek to kill or capture. The JSOC list includes
three Americans, including Aulaqi, whose name was added late last year. As of several
months ago, the CIA list [also] included three U.S. citizens.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on the growing governmental threats to civil liberties,
click here.
Obama quietly continues to defend Bush's terror policies

2010-01-23, Denver Post/McClatchy News
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14250508
Although the FBI has acknowledged it improperly obtained thousands of Americans' phone
records for years, the Obama administration continues to assert that the bureau can obtain
them without any formal legal process or court oversight. In further support of [this assertion]
the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel backed the FBI in a written opinion issued this
month. The opinion by the OLC the section that wrote the memos that justified enhanced
interrogation techniques during the last administration appears to be yet another sign that the
Obama administration can be just as assertive as Bush's in claiming sweeping and controversial
anti-terrorism powers. "The FBI says that this kind of activity is in the past," said Michael German,
a former FBI agent who's now the American Civil Liberties Union's policy counsel. "But if they're
saying that they have a continuing legal authority that means it's not in the past." In another
similarity to Bush era-legal decisions to keep legal theories under wraps, Obama's Justice
Department refused to release to McClatchy the OLC opinion, despite the administration's vow to
be more open than its predecessors.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on the growing governmental threats to civil liberties,
click here.
Money talks, high court rules

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/21/EDIL1BLS5N.DTL
Five robed radicals on the Supreme Court have pushed money-infused politics in the wrong
direction by overturning a century's worth of campaign spending laws. Voters should prepare for
the worst: cash-drenched elections presided over by free-spending corporations. The 5-to-4 ...
majority's thinking is based on absolutist vision of free speech and belief that corporations and
unions have the same constitutional protections as individuals when it comes to basic rights. This
viewpoint is "a rejection of the common sense of the American people," said Justice John
Paul Stevens, who read his angry dissent out loud. Corporations "are not themselves
members of 'We the People,' by whom and for whom our Constitution was established." It's
hard to overstate the legal sweep of the decision. It rejects two recent court rulings, one that
barred corporations and unions from dipping into their treasuries to pay for candidate ads and the
second that restricted these so-called independent expenditure efforts. The five-member majority
didn't just blaze new ground; it torched the court's own past record. In practical terms, the decision
amounts to a political earthquake. Big-money issues such as health care, cap-and-trade pollution
controls and Wall Street regulations will drive attack ads against politicians who refuse to do the
bidding of particular special interests.
Note: To join the over 40,000 who have already signed a petition to stop corporations from have
legal personhood status in elections, click here. For more deep insights into the flaws in the US
electoral system, click here. To read about the wonderful defender of elections free from corporate
influence, Granny D, who recently passed away at the age of 100, click here.
Lobbyists Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Finance Ruling

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22donate.html
The Supreme Court has handed lobbyists a new weapon. A lobbyist can now tell any elected
official: if you vote wrong, my company ... will spend unlimited sums explicitly advertising
against your re-election. We have got a million we can spend advertising for you or against you
whichever one you want, a lobbyist can tell lawmakers, said Lawrence M. Noble, ... former
general counsel of the Federal Election Commission. It is expected to unleash a torrent of attack
advertisements from outside groups aiming to sway voters, without any candidate having to take
the criticism for dirty campaigning. The biggest beneficiaries might be well-placed incumbents
whose favor companies and interests groups are eager to court. It could also have a big impact on
state and local governments, where a few million dollars can have more influence on elections.
Fred Wertheimer, a longtime advocate of campaign finance laws, said the decision wipes out a
hundred years of history during which American laws have sought to tamp down
corporate power to influence elections.
Note: If you want to voice your opinion about this recent Supreme Court ruling, click here. For
many key articles from reliable sources on serious flaws in the electoral process in the US, click
here.
The Courts Blow to Democracy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/opinion/22fri1.html
With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robberbaron era of the 19th century. Disingenuously waving the flag of the First Amendment, the
courts conservative majority has paved the way for corporations to use their vast
treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding.
Congress must act immediately to limit the damage of this radical decision, which strikes at the
heart of democracy. As a result of Thursdays ruling, corporations have been unleashed from the
longstanding ban against their spending directly on political campaigns and will be free to spend as
much money as they want to elect and defeat candidates. The ruling in Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission radically reverses well-established law and erodes a wall that has stood for a
century between corporations and electoral politics. The founders of this nation warned about the
dangers of corporate influence. The real solution lies in getting the courts ruling overturned.
Note: The crux of the argument used by the Supreme Court is that under US law, corporations are
treated as persons and therefore given Constitutional rights meant for people. Should we then give
them the right to vote? For many key articles from reliable sources on serious flaws in the electoral
process in the US, click here.
Police fight cellphone recordings

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/12/police_fig...
Simon Glik, a lawyer, was walking down Tremont Street in Boston when he saw three police
officers struggling to extract a plastic bag from a teenagers mouth. Thinking their force seemed
excessive for a drug arrest, Glik pulled out his cellphone and began recording. Within minutes, Glik
said, he was in handcuffs. The charge? Illegal electronic surveillance. Civil libertarians call [such
arrests] a troubling misuse of the states wiretapping law to stifle the kind of street-level
oversight that cellphone and video technology make possible. The police apparently do
not want witnesses to what they do in public, said Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney with the
American Civil Liberties Union. With the advent of media-sharing websites like Facebook and
YouTube, the practice of openly recording police activity has become commonplace. But in
Massachusetts and other states, the arrests of street videographers, whether they use cellphones
or other video technology, offers a dramatic illustration of the collision between new technology
and policing practices. Police are not used to ceding power, and these tools are forcing them to
cede power.
Note: For lots more on increasing government and corporate threats to civil liberties, click here.
'Flaws' in key Lockerbie evidence

2010-01-06, BBC News
An investigation by BBC's Newsnight has cast doubts on the key piece of evidence which
convicted the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. Tests aimed at reproducing the blast
appear to undermine the case's central forensic link, based on a tiny fragment identified as part of
a bomb timer. The tests suggest the fragment, which linked the attack to Megrahi, would not have
survived the mid-air explosion. Newsnight has ... exposed serious doubts about the forensics used
to identify the fragment as being part of a trigger circuit board. The fragment was found three
weeks after the attack. For months it remained unnoticed and unremarked, but eventually it was to
shape the entire investigation. The fragment was embedded in a charred piece of clothing, which
was marked with a label saying it was made in Malta. So the focus turned to Malta and the
question of who had bought the clothes. A shopkeeper on the island identified Megrahi, but this
came only years later after he saw him pictured in a magazine as a Lockerbie suspect. Newsnight
has discovered that the fragment - crucial to the conviction - was never subjected to
chemical analysis or swabbing to establish whether it had in fact been involved in any
explosion.
Note: For a revealing documentary showing a major cover-up of the Lockerbie bombing, click
here. For many reports from major media sources questioning the evidence presented in the
prosecution of "terrorism" cases, click here.
Yes, It Was Torture, and Illegal

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/opinion/04mon1.html
Bush administration officials came up with all kinds of ridiculously offensive rationalizations for
torturing prisoners. Its not torture if you dont mean it to be. Its not torture if you don
t nearly kill the victim. Its not torture if the president says its not torture. It was deeply
distressing to watch the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sink to
that standard in April when it dismissed a civil case brought by four former Guant namo
detainees never charged with any offense. The court said former Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld and the senior military officers charged in the complaint could not be held responsible for
violating the plaintiffs rights because at the time of their detention ... it was not clearly
established that torture was illegal. The Supreme Court could have corrected that outlandish
reading of the Constitution, legal precedent, and domestic and international statutes and treaties.
Instead, last month, the justices abdicated their legal and moral duty and declined to review the
case. The justices surely understood that their failure to accept the case would further
undermine the rule of law. In effect, the Supreme Court has granted the government
immunity for subjecting people in its custody to terrible mistreatment. It has deprived victims
of a remedy and Americans of government accountability, while further damaging the countrys
standing in the world.
Note: For many reliable reports on the torture used by governments pursuing the "war on terror",
click here.
A Torture Timeline
http://photo.newsweek.com/2009/4/photos-a-timeline-of-torture/_jcr_content.html
In 2009, the Justice Department began to release reports and top-secret memos detailing
interrogation techniques ... used by CIA officers against suspected terror operatives. The list of
brutal techniques, including holding prisoners in small boxes, staging mock executions, and water
torture, is reminiscent of some of the worst human-rights abuses on record. In medieval Europe,
torture was more than just a means of punishment. Many criminal trials of the era consisted of one
or more 'ordeals,' painful tests designed to prove guilt or innocence through supernatural
judgment. During waterboarding, a technique first used in the 14th century, torturers begin by
pumping water directly into a victim's stomach or slowly flooding his throat with liquid. Used
extensively during the Spanish Inquisition, the practice became less publicly acceptable
during the Enlightenment, then experienced an underground resurgence in the 19th
century. Since World War II, different forms of waterboarding have been employed by
governments in Japan, Cambodia, the United Kingdom and the United States, among others.
In addition to performing forced labor, prisoners at Nazi concentration camps became subjects in
some of the cruelest medical experiments ever performed. They were often held at extreme
altitudes and temperatures to help develop new survival strategies or exposed to deadly gases
and diseases in order to test vaccines. Many of these tests, directed by the infamous Josef
Mengele at Auschwitz, advanced Nazi ideology by establishing 'Jewish racial inferiority.'
Note: The above link leads to a revealing 12-part slide show on the history of torture. For more
disturbing information on how Nazi torture techniques were eventually used by the CIA for mind
control, click here.
Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a48c8UpUMxKQ
H.R. 4173 [is] the financial-reform legislation passed earlier this month by the House of
Representatives. The Senate has yet to pass its own reform plan. The baby of Financial Services
Committee Chairman Barney Frank, the House bill is meant to address everything from too-big-tofail banks to asleep-at-the-switch credit-ratings companies to the protection of consumers from
greedy lenders. At 1,279 pages, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a real
slog. While banks opposed the legislation, they should cheer for its passage by the full
Congress in the New Year: There are huge giveaways insuring the government will again
rescue banks and Wall Street if the need arises. For all its heft, the bill doesnt once mention
the words too-big-to-fail, the main issue confronting the financial system. Instead, it supports the
biggest banks. It authorizes Federal Reserve banks to provide as much as $4 trillion in emergency
funding the next time Wall Street crashes. So much for no-more-bailouts talk. The bill also allows
the government, in a crisis, to back financial firms debts. Bondholders can sleep easy -- there are
more bailouts to come.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports on the government bailout of Wall Street, click here.
Generics chafe under big pharma's reform shadow

2009-12-26, CNN/Reuters News
The massive U.S. Senate healthcare reform measure passed ... with support from the multibillion
drug industry, but makers of cheaper generic rivals are feeling left out in the cold. Generic
drugmakers face several obstacles in the bill backed by Democrats that they worry will dampen a
potential increase in use even as more people gain access to health insurance and prescription
medicines. The hurdles include extensive protections against generic versions of pricey
biotech medicines, an incentive for Medicare recipients to use more brand-name drugs, and a
possible end to payments from brandname makers to delay the launch of copy-cat medicines.
"The bill passed by the Senate unfortunately amounts to a treasure trove to brand drug
companies," said Generic Pharmaceutical Association President Kathleen Jaeger. Bill Marth,
chief executive of Teva's North American operations, said Democrats missed a chance to further
boost [generics] use: "It's frustrating," he said. "Maybe some people have just lost sight of what the
bill is supposed to do."
Note: For a powerful analysis by Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor in chief of the New England
Journal of Medicine, of the corrupt relationship between the biggest pharmaceutical companies
and the federal government, click here. Drug company lobbyists who contribute millions of dollars
to the elections campaigns of Congress members have a huge influence which is often detrimental
to public health.
Osama bin Ladens missing family found in secret compound in Iran

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6965756.ece
Osama bin Ladens closest relatives are living in a secret compound in Iran, members of the family
said. They include a wife and children who disappeared from his Afghan camp at the time of the
9/11 attacks on the United States. There has been uncertainty about the familys whereabouts for
the past eight years, with reports that some of the children had been killed in bombings. However,
relatives said that they found out last month that the group, including one of Osamas wives,
six of his children and 11 of his grandchildren, had been kept in a high-security compound
outside Tehran. Members of the bin Laden family are now appealing for the group to be
allowed to leave Iran and described them as the forgotten victims of 9/11. Omar Ossama
bin Laden, 29, [Osama bin Laden's] fourth-eldest son, said he had no idea that his brothers and
sisters were still alive until they called him in November. They told him how they had fled
Afghanistan just before the 9/11 attacks and walked to the Iranian border. They were taken to a
walled compound outside Tehran where guards said they were not allowed to leave for their own
safety.
Note: This article fails to mention that the US government secretly assisted many bin Laden family
members to escape the US within days of the 9/11 attacks, as reported in the major media. For
more on this, click here. For many other reports by the major media raising serious questions
about the involvement of rogue elements of government in 9/11, click here.
Banks With Political Ties Got Bailouts

2009-12-21, New York Times/Reuters News
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/21/business/business-us-banks-study.html
U.S. banks that spent more money on lobbying were more likely to get government bailout money.
Banks whose executives served on Federal Reserve boards were more likely to receive
government bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to the study from
Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura, professors at the University of Michigan's Ross School of
Business. Banks with headquarters in the district of a U.S. House of Representatives member who
serves on a committee or subcommittee relating to TARP also received more funds. Political
influence was most helpful for poorly performing banks, the study found. "Political connections
play an important role in a firm's access to capital," Sosyura, a University of Michigan
assistant professor of finance, said in a statement. Banks with an executive who sat on the
board of a Federal Reserve Bank were 31 percent more likely to get bailouts through
TARP's Capital Purchase Program. Banks with ties to a finance committee member were 26
percent more likely to get capital purchase program funds. As of late September, nearly 700
financial institutions had received bailouts of $205 billion under the capital purchase program. The
banking industry has long been criticized for using political influence to obtain bailouts.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the symbiosis between big finance and big
Libel gag on talk of 'medical hurricane'

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6962816.ece
A healthcare firm is seeking to silence a Danish academic from expressing doubts about
one of its products by using Englands draconian libel laws. Two years ago in a conference
room in the Randolph hotel in Oxford, Henrik Thomsen ... one of Europes leading radiologists,
revealed how patients treated at his hospital had subsequently contracted a rare and potentially
fatal disease. Thomsen and other doctors at his Copenhagen University hospital were baffled as to
why 20 kidney patients who had been given routine scans were afflicted by a disorder
nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) in which the skin gradually swells, thickens and tightens.
Some sufferers were confined to wheelchairs. At least one died. There was no known cure. It was
confirmed that all those who had fallen ill with NSF had been given the same drug in advance of a
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Omniscan was used to enhance the images produced by
the scan. The product was sold around the world and was manufactured by GE Healthcare, a
subsidiary of General Electric, one of the worlds largest corporations. Thomsen ... now refuses to
speak anywhere in England on the possible risks of Omniscan. The reason is that he faces
another kind of storm: GE Healthcare is suing him in the High Court for libel. GE has already
racked up costs of more than 380,000 pursuing the respected academic. Thomsen will have
to pay the firms costs if he loses the case.
Bill Moyers on Health Care Reform

2009-12-18, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12182009/watch.html
[Bill Moyers:] Something's not right here. One year after the great collapse of our financial system,
Wall Street is back on top while our politicians dither. As for health care reform, you're about to
be forced to buy insurance from companies whose stock is soaring, and that's just dandy
with the White House. It's capital. Raw money, mounds of it, buying politicians and policy
as if they were futures on the hog market. Some of the big insurance companies, Well Point,
Cigna, United Health, all surged to a 52 week high in their share prices this week when it was clear
there'd be no public option in the health care bill going through Congress right now. What does that
tell you? ROBERT KUTTNER: Their strategy was cut a deal with the insurance companies, the
drug industry going in. And the deal was, we're not going to attack your customer base, we're
going to subsidize a new customer base. And that script was pre-cooked so it's not surprising that
this is what comes out the other side. Once the White House made this deal with the insurance
companies, the public option was never going to be anything more than a fig leaf. And over the
summer and the fall, it got whittled down, whittled down, whittled down to almost nothing and now
it's really nothing.
here.
Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was rogue US secret agent

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6960182.ece
A key terror suspect who allegedly helped to plan last years attacks in Mumbai and plotted to
strike Europe was an American secret agent who went rogue, Indian officials believe. David
Headley, 49, who was born in Washington to a Pakistan diplomat father and an American mother,
was arrested in Chicago in October. He has denied the charges. He came to the attention of the
US security services in 1997 when he was arrested in New York for heroin smuggling. He earned a
reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Pakistanlinked narcotics gangs. Indian investigators, who have been denied access to Mr Headley,
suspect that he remained on the payroll of the US security services possibly working for
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) but switched his allegiance to LeT. India is looking into
whether Headley worked as a double agent, an Indian Home Ministry official said yesterday. Mr
Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani, was in Mumbai until two weeks before the
attacks on the city. Despite being firmly on the radar of the US intelligence agencies, he was
allowed to return to India as recently as March. Indian officials are furious that their American
counterparts did not share details of that visit at the time. The Indian media has raised the
possibility that Mr Headley was being protected by his American handlers a theory that experts
say is credible.
Note: For many other reports from major media sources that raise profound questions about the
official account of "terrorism," click here.
Are some Wall Street firms too big to punish?

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1374463.html
Forget too big to fail. In the eyes of federal regulators, many Wall Street firms are too big to punish.
During the past three years, some of the nation's largest financial firms have been accused by the
government of cheating or misleading clients and ripping off tens of thousands of consumers of
their investments. Despite these findings, these financial giants got, sometimes repeatedly, special
exemptions from the Securities and Exchange Commission that have saved them from a
regulatory death penalty that could have decimated their lucrative mutual fund businesses. Among
the more than a dozen firms that have gotten these SEC get-out-of-jail cards since January
2007 are some of Wall Street's biggest, including Bank of America, Citigroup and American
International Group. SEC rules permit corporate lawbreakers to apply for what are known as
Section 9(c) waivers from one of the agency's harshest penalties effectively shuttering the
violator's mutual fund operations but regulators never rejected any of these firms'
applications. In fact, the last time the SEC's staff could recall a waiver being turned down was
1978. The SEC declined to comment in detail.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Has Swine Flu Been Oversold?

2009-12-08, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFluNews/swine-flu-blown-proportion/story?id...
A new analysis, using H1N1 deaths in the United States in the spring and projecting likely
outcomes for this fall, shows that a typical -- or possibly even a milder flu season than average -should have been expected. The finding [raises] the question: Has swine flu been oversold? The
new study, done by researchers at Harvard University and the Medical Research Council
Biostatistics Unit in the U.K., says swine flu cases in the spring indicated a flu season that
might be, at worst, slightly worse than normal. "It would have been great to have that back in
June," said Philip Alcabes, an associate professor in the program in urban public health at Hunter
College's School of Health Sciences. "There would have been one more bit of evidence behind my
assertion six months ago" that people were overreacting to H1N1. Around the time that swine flu
first started making headlines, Alcabes' book, Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled
Epidemics From the Black Death to Avian Flu, was published, and he said the circumstances
surrounding H1N1 provide an apt case study. "I think that it was, from the very beginning,
created as a crisis and overstated as a real threat," he said.
Note: For powerful, reliable articles showing major profiteering and fear-mongering around the
swine flu to the great risk of public health, click here and here.
Brussels gives CIA the power to search UK bank records

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6945972.ece
The CIA is to be given broad access to the bank records of millions of Britons under a European
Union plan to fight terrorism. The Brussels agreement, which will come into force in two months
time, requires the 27 EU member states to grant requests for banking information made by the
United States under its terrorist finance tracking programme. The EU said it had agreed that
Europeans would be compelled to release the information to the CIA as a matter of
urgency. The records will be kept in a US database for five years before being deleted.
Critics say the system is lopsided because there is no reciprocal arrangement under which the
UK authorities can easily access the bank accounts of US citizens. They also say the plan to sift
through cross-border and domestic EU bank accounts gives US intelligence more scope to consult
our bank accounts than is granted to law enforcement agencies in the UK or the rest of Europe.
This weekend civil liberties groups and privacy campaigners said the surveillance programme,
introduced as an emergency measure in 2001, was being imposed on Britain without a proper
debate. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: The massive scope for transferring personal
information from Europe to the United States is extremely worrying, especially in the absence of
public debate or parliamentary scrutiny either at EU or domestic level.
Note: For reports from major media sources on erosion of privacy by governments and
C.I.A. to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/world/asia/04drones.html
The White House has authorized an expansion of the C.I.A.s drone program in Pakistans lawless
tribal areas. More C.I.A. drone attacks have been conducted under President Obama than under
President George W. Bush. The political consensus in support of the drone program ... and
its secrecy have obscured just how radical it is. For the first time in history, a civilian
intelligence agency is using robots to carry out a military mission, selecting people for
killing in a country where the United States is not officially at war. The drone warfare
pioneered by the C.I.A. in Pakistan and the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan is the leading edge of
a wave of push-button combat that will raise legal, moral and political questions around the world,
said P. W. Singer, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and author of the book Wired for War: The
Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. So far, only the United States and Israel
have used the planes for strikes, but that number will grow. It is impossible to judge whether the
program violates international law without knowing whether Pakistan permits the incursions, how
targets are selected and what is done to minimize civilian casualties.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities behind the "war on terror,"
click here.
President Obama's Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan

2009-12-02, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/president-obamas-secret-100-al-qaeda-now-afghan...
As he justified sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $30 billion a year, President
Barack Obama's description ... of the al Qaeda "cancer" in that country left out one key fact: U.S.
intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in the entire
country. A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al
Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and
the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the
White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations. With 100,000 troops in
Afghanistan at an estimated yearly cost of $30 billion, it means that for every one al Qaeda
fighter, the U.S. will commit 1,000 troops and $300 million a year. At a Senate hearing, the
former CIA Pakistan station chief, Bob Grenier, testified al Qaeda had already been defeated in
Afghanistan. "So in terms of 'in Afghanistan,'" asked Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., "they have been
disrupted and dismantled and defeated. They're not in Afghanistan, correct?" "That's true," replied
Grenier.
Note: For many reports raising profound questions about the realities of the "war on terror", click
here.
The Secret US War in Pakistan

2009-11-23, The Nation magazine
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in
the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a
secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda
operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside
Pakistan. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret
US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator
strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus. The
previously unreported program, the military intelligence source said, is distinct from the
CIA assassination program. "This is a parallel operation to the CIA," said the source. "They
are two separate beasts." Blackwater's presence in Pakistan is "not really visible, and that's why
nobody has cracked down on it," said the source. Blackwater's operations in Pakistan, he said, are
not done through State Department contracts or publicly identified Defense contracts. "It's
Blackwater via JSOC, and it's a classified no-bid [contract] approved on a rolling basis. Some of
these strikes are attributed to [the CIA], but in reality it's JSOC. So when you see some of these
hits, especially the ones with high civilian casualties, those are almost always JSOC strikes."
Note: Don't miss this key report in it's entirety. Why haven't other major media outlets mentioned
the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) drone operations in Pakistan, running parallel to
the CIA's?
Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020

2009-11-20, Popular Science magazine
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/intel-wants-brain-implants-c...
If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's
Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain
waves by 2020. The scientists anticipate that consumers will adapt quickly to the idea, and indeed
crave the freedom of not requiring a keyboard, mouse, or remote control for surfing the Web or
changing channels. They also predict that people will tire of multi-touch devices such as ...
iPhones. Turning brain waves into real-world tech action still requires some heavy decoding of
brain activity. The Intel team has already made use of MRI brain scans to match brain patterns
with similar thoughts across many test subjects. Plenty of other researchers have also tinkered in
this area. Toyota recently demoed a wheelchair controlled with brainwaves, and University of Utah
researchers have created a wireless brain transmitter that allows monkeys to control robotic arms.
There are still more implications to creating a seamless brain interface, besides having more
cyborgs running around. If scientists can translate brain waves into specific actions, there's
no reason they could not create a virtual world with a full spectrum of activity tied to those
brain waves. That's right -- we're seeing Matrix creep.
Uninsured trauma patients are much more likely to die

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-trauma-uninsured17-2009...
Patients who lack health insurance are more likely to die from car accidents and other traumatic
injuries than people who belong to a health plan -- even though emergency rooms are required to
care for all comers regardless of ability to pay. An analysis of 687,091 patients who visited
trauma centers nationwide from 2002 to 2006 found that the odds of dying from injuries
were almost twice as high for the uninsured than for patients with private insurance,
researchers reported in Archives of Surgery. The research team from Harvard University and
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston used information from 1,154 U.S. hospitals that
contribute to the National Trauma Data Bank. The risk of death was 80% higher for patients
without any insurance, the report said. The researchers also did a separate analysis of 209,702
trauma patients ages 18 to 30 because they were less likely to have chronic health conditions that
might complicate recovery. Among these younger patients, the risk of death was 89% higher for
the uninsured, the study found.
Note: For many highly informative reports on important health issues, click here.
Stop Annual Mammograms, Govt. Panel Tells Women Under 50

2009-11-16, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/OnCallPlusBreastCancerNews/mammogram-guidelines-...
For the first time in 20 years, a government panel is telling women in their [forties] to stop getting
routine mammograms and recommending that a host of other breast cancer screenings slow
down. The United States Preventive Service Task Force announced ... that it recommends against
annual mammograms for women age 40 to 49 because, they say, the benefits of testing do not
outweigh the "harms" and risks. USPSTF still recommends doctors start screening all women over
age 50, but with a mammogram once every two years instead of annually. The task force also ...
said evidence was insufficient to recommend mammograms for women older than 74. The
recommendations announced today, which contradict the American Cancer Society, have
already pitted doctors, women, insurers and radiology groups in a fierce debate about who
should get a mammogram and when. Many patient advocates wonder if money fueled the
decision. However, Dr. Diana Petitti, vice chair of USPSTF, said the task force never looked at
costs in their research or their recommendations. Instead, the task force reviewed a number of
studies to compile the benefits of mammograms, such as how many cancers were detected and
how many lives were saved, and the harms of mammograms, such as how many false positives
popped up, how many unnecessary tests were done and how much extra radiation women were
exposed to during the false positive testing.
Note: For a powerful article compiling important information and key quotes of doctors and
researchers revealing the dangers of mammograms, click here.
Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists

2009-11-10, CBS News
In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of
Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader
visits on a certain day. The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based
Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the
Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.
Kristina Clair, a 34-year old Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server
space for Indymedia.us, said she was shocked to receive the Justice Department's subpoena. The
subpoena ... demanded "all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" on June 25, 2008. It
instructed Clair to "include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information,"
including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia
readers' Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, [and] credit card numbers. Clair
[called] the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, which represented her at no cost.
Making this investigation more mysterious is that Indymedia.us is an aggregation site, meaning
articles that appear on it were published somewhere else first, and there's no hint about what
sparked the criminal probe. Clair, the system administrator, says that no IP (Internet Protocol)
addresses are recorded for Indymedia.us, and non-IP address logs are kept for a few weeks and
then discarded. "This is the first time we've seen them try to get the IP address of everyone who
visited a particular site," [EFF's Kevin] Bankston said. "That it was a news organization was an
additional troubling fact that implicates First Amendment rights."
Note: For many reports from major media sources of growing government threats to civil liberties,
click here.
Chrysler drops three electric vehicles despite having touted them to get
billions in government bailout cash
2009-11-09, USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2009/11/620001133/1
If you believed all the talk from Chrysler about how our tax dollars would help finance its fast-track
electric-vehicle future, you're in for a big disappointment. Chrysler has disbanded the
engineering team that was trying to bring three electric models to market as a rush job.
Chrysler [had] cited its devotion to electric vehicles as one of the key reasons why the
Obama administration and Congress needed to give it $12.5 billion in bailout money. The
change of heart on electric vehicles has come under Fiat. At a marathon presentation of Chrysler's
five-year strategy, CEO Sergio Marchionne talked about just about everything on Chrysler's plate
... except its earlier electric-car plans. With the group's disbanding, Chrysler's electric plans will be
melded into Fiat's. Marchionne is apparently no fan of electric power. He says electrics will only
make up 1% or 2% of Fiat sales by 2014 and that he doesn't put a lot of faith in the technology
until battery developments are pushed forward. As a result, Chrysler won't have an electric car on
sale as soon as next year, such as the Dodge Circuit sports car concept it had unveiled. The
change has come so fast that Chrysler's website has been still featuring pictures of the electric
vehicles. As late as August, Chrysler took $70 million in grants from the U.S. Department of
Energy to develop a test fleet of 220 hybrid pickup trucks and minivans, vehicles now scrapped in
the sweeping turnaround plan for Chrysler.
Note: For reports from reliable sources on promising new developments in electric automobile
technologies, click here.
Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08kristof.html
Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. Its a synthetic estrogen that
United States factories now use in everything from plastics to epoxies to the tune of six pounds
per American per year. More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and
scientists have linked it ... to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit
disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike. Now it turns out its in our food.
Consumer Reports magazine tested an array of brand-name canned foods for a report in its
December issue and found BPA in almost all of them. The magazine says that relatively high levels
turned up, for example, in Progresso vegetable soup, Campbells condensed chicken noodle soup,
and Del Monte Blue Lake cut green beans. The magazine also says it found BPA in the canned
liquid version of Similac Advance infant formula ... and in canned Nestl Juicy Juice. The BPA in
the food probably came from an interior coating used in many cans. More than 200 other studies
have shown links between low doses of BPA and adverse health effects, according to the Breast
Cancer Fund, which is trying to ban the chemical from food and beverage containers. The vast
majority of independent scientists those not working for industry are concerned about earlylife low-dose exposures to BPA, said Janet Gray, a Vassar College professor who is science
adviser to the Breast Cancer Fund.
Note: For more on BPA and other health issues, click here.
Tinker, tailor, soldier... illusionist?

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/11/01/when_the_cia_trie...
At the height of the Cold War - in the era of nuclear missiles and submarines, amid the tangled
cloak-and-dagger maneuverings of espionage and counterespionage - the [CIA] was also secretly
doing something else. It was trying to learn to do magic. The CIA hired [magician John] Mulholland
to explain techniques of sleight-of-hand and surreptitious signaling so that agents could use them
in the field. His text, which was originally supposed to have been destroyed, has now been
recovered, declassified, and reprinted as The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception. It
deals mostly with basic stagecraft, minus the stage. Former CIA deputy director John McLaughlin
writes in a [foreword] to the manual that [a]s best we know, the drink-spiking techniques were
never actually used. The assurance would be more reassuring if the authors who had recovered
the manual, H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace, had not included their own historical overview of
CIA trickery. In it, they explain that Mulhollands writing was part of the secret MKULTRA
program, whereby the CIA sought methods and materials capable of employment in
clandestine operations to control human behavior. And part of MKULTRA did involve
dosing unsuspecting subjects with LSD and other drugs. Techniques of stage magic ... were
transferred to the realm of nonconsensual secrecy, to be used on people who were not asking to
be fooled.
Note: For a powerful and reliable overview of the CIA's mind control programs, including MK-Ultra,
click here.
1,600 are suggested daily for FBI's list

Newly released FBI data offer evidence of the broad scope and complexity of the nation's terrorist
watch list, documenting a daily flood of names nominated for inclusion to the controversial list.
During a 12-month period ended in March this year, for example, the U.S. intelligence community
suggested on a daily basis that 1,600 people qualified for the list because they presented a
"reasonable suspicion," according to data provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the FBI
in September and made public last week. The ever-churning list is said to contain more than
400,000 unique names and over 1 million entries. Nine percent of those on the terrorism list,
the FBI said, are also on the government's "no fly" list. Before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
the FBI needed initial information that a person or group was engaged in wrongdoing before it
could open a preliminary investigation. Under current practice, no such information is needed. The
inquiries can be opened by individual agents "proactively," meaning on his or her own or in
response to a lead about a threat.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the growing government threats to civil liberties,
click here.
Man who shot Dziekanski video gets journalism award

2009-10-28, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/10/28/bc-taser-video-cjf...
The man who used a digital camera to record the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver
airport says he feels guilty he didn't try to help the Polish immigrant. Dziekanski, 40, died Oct. 14,
2007, following several shocks from a Taser four RCMP officers used to subdue him after he
caused a disturbance. The incident might never have received much attention if Paul Pritchard had
not decided to grab his digital camera and start recording the actions of the distraught Dziekanski
before police arrived. The release of the 10-minute video, which contradicted the police
version of the incident, led to widespread public outrage around the world and diplomatic
tensions between Canada and Poland. The 10-minute Pritchard video [showed that] four RCMP
officers rushed in and confronted Dziekanski, who backed up toward a counter. Dziekanski then
faced the officers with what later turned out to be a stapler in one hand. Immediately, there was a
loud crack from a Taser, followed by Dziekanski screaming and convulsing as he stumbled and fell
to the floor. Another loud crack can be heard, as an officer appears to fire the Taser at Dziekanski
again. Then, as the officers kneel on top of Dziekanski and handcuff him, he continues to scream
and convulse on the floor. One officer is heard to say, "Hit him again. Hit him again," and there is
another loud cracking sound. Evidence at the inquiry revealed the Taser was eventually fired five
times at Dziekanski. After he was subdued, the RCMP left him handcuffed on the floor, where he
died before medical help arrived.
Note: If these police would be so brutal in front of the public, imagine what they might have done
when no one is looking. And note that the complete text of this article reveals that their brutal
actions were covered up at high levels in the police department.
Novartis Expects Swine Flu Boost In Q4

2009-10-22, New York Times/Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/22/business/business-uk-novartis.html
Swiss drugmaker Novartis said sales would grow faster than expected this year, even without a
shot in the arm of up to $700 million from its H1N1 swine flu pandemic vaccine. Third-quarter net
profit at Novartis ... nudged up 1 percent to $2.1 billion. This year is turning out to be better
than initially feared for Novartis and other major pharmaceutical companies, thanks to hefty
price increases and windfall sales arising from the H1N1 outbreak. Both Pfizer, the world's
biggest drugmaker, and Eli Lilly topped earnings forecasts this week. Roche reported a sharp jump
in sales of its Tamiflu drug for flu last week and analysts expect GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza will
also see strong sales in the third quarter. On the vaccine front, Glaxo, Sanofi-Aventis and
AstraZeneca are all expected to highlight an expected jump in fourth-quarter sales due to swine
flu. The H1N1 flu vaccine is expected to contribute about $400-700 million of sales in the fourth
quarter.
Note: Donald Rumsfeld personally made millions as a direct result of the avian flu scare a few
year ago. For more on this, click here. For more on pharmaceutical corporation profiteering from
swine flu vaccines, click here.
Mum's the Word for NASA's Secret Space Plane X-37B

2009-10-22, Fox News
You would think that an unpiloted space plane built to rocket spaceward from Florida atop an Atlas
booster, circle the planet for an extended time, then land on autopilot on a California runway would
be big news. But for the U.S. Air Force X-37B project seemingly, mum's the word. There is an
air of vagueness regarding next year's Atlas Evolved Expendable launch of the unpiloted, reusable
military space plane. This Boeing Phantom Works craft has been under development for years.
Several agencies have been involved in the effort, NASA as well as the Defense Advanced
Projects Research Agency (DARPA) and various arms of the U.S. Air Force. The tight-lipped factor
surrounding the space plane, its mission, and who is in charge is curious. Such a hush-hush factor
seems to mimic in pattern that mystery communications spacecraft lofted last month aboard an
Atlas 5 rocket, simply called PAN. Its assignment and what agency owns it remains undisclosed.
"The problem with it [X37-B] is whether you see it as a weapons platform," said Theresa
Hitchens, former head of the Center for Defense Information's Space Security Program, now
Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva,
Switzerland. "It then becomes, if I am not mistaken, a Global Strike platform. There are a lot
of reasons to be concerned about Global Strike as a concept," Hitchens [said].
Bailout Helps Fuel New Era of Wall Street Wealth

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/business/economy/17wall.html
Even as the economy continues to struggle, much of Wall Street is minting money and looking
forward again to hefty bonuses. Many Americans wonder how this can possibly be. How can some
banks be prospering so soon after a financial collapse, even as legions of people worry about
losing their jobs and their homes? It may come as a surprise that one of the most powerful forces
driving the resurgence on Wall Street is not the banks but Washington. Many of the steps that
policy makers took last year to stabilize the financial system reducing interest rates to
near zero, bolstering big banks with taxpayer money, guaranteeing billions of dollars of
financial institutions debts helped set the stage for this new era of Wall Street wealth.
Titans like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are making fortunes in hot areas like trading
stocks and bonds, rather than in the ho-hum business of lending people money. They also are
profiting by taking risks that weaker rivals are unable or unwilling to shoulder a benefit of less
competition after the failure of some investment firms last year. So even as big banks fight efforts
in Congress to subject their industry to greater regulation and to impose some restrictions on
executive pay Wall Street has Washington to thank in part for its latest bonanza. All of this is
facilitated by the Federal Reserve and the government, said Gary Richardson, a research fellow
at the National Bureau of Economic Research. But we have just shown them that they can have
the most frightening things happen to them, and we will throw trillions of dollars to protect them. I
have big concerns about that.
Note: For lots more on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Why Is the UBS Whistle-Blower Headed to Prison?

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1928897,00.html
No one, including himself, would argue that Bradley Birkenfeld, 44, is a saint. But at the same time,
almost no one in the U.S. government would deny that Birkenfeld was absolutely essential to its
landmark tax-evasion case against Swiss banking giant UBS. The former UBS employee turned
whistle-blower exposed the previously hidden world of offshore tax shelters, which cheats the
Treasury out of about $100 billion a year. Thanks to his insider information, UBS was fined $780
million, and it promised to "exit entirely" from the U.S. tax-shelter business and to provide the
names of thousands of American tax dodgers, from which hundreds of millions of dollars still might
be collected. It also led to new tax treaties with the Swiss that should provide unprecedented tax
information in civil cases and better access to such data in criminal cases. Considering
Birkenfeld's help, many observers wonder why the Justice Department decided to arrest
and prosecute him. Many critics believe the decision to prosecute Birkenfeld, whom some
consider the most important whistle-blower in years, sends the worst possible message to
other financial-industry insiders who might be considering coming forward. The
Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington watchdog organization that has extensive
whistle-blower experience, says a chilling effect is already apparent: a senior executive at a
European bank that offers similar U.S. tax shelters is having second thoughts about going public
because of the Birkenfeld case.
Note: For lots more, including Obama's tight ties with UBS, see the New York Daily News article
here.
The demise of the dollar

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-1798...
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning
along with China, Russia, Japan and France to end dollar dealings for oil, moving
instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro,
gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council,
including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar. Secret meetings have already been held by
finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the
scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars. The plans, confirmed to The
Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain
the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets.
The Americans ... are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies
Japan and the Gulf Arabs. Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan,
China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions
between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and
clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against
hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security." This sounds like a dangerous
prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil yet again
turning the region's conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy.
Note: The publication of this article caused the value of the dollar to fall and the price of gold to
rise worldwide. For important ideas on how to reform the role of money in the world, click here.
Government Watchdog Says Treasury and Fed Knew Bailed-Out Banks

Were Not Healthy
2009-10-05, ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/lied-watchdog-treasury-fed-knew-bailed-banks-h...
The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve lied to the American public last fall when they
said that the first nine banks to receive government bailout funds were healthy, a government
watchdog states in a new report released today. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for
the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), says that despite multiple statements on
Oct. 14 of last year that these nine banks were healthy and only receiving government
funds for the good of the country's economy, federal officials knew otherwise.
"Contemporaneous reports and officials' statements to SIGTARP during this audit indicate that
there were concerns about the health of several of the nine institutions at that time and, as detailed
in this report, that their overall selection was far more a result of the officials' belief in their
importance to a system that was viewed as being vulnerable to collapse than concerns about their
individual health and viability," Barofsky says. In announcing the initial $125 billion provided to
these banks, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson on Oct. 14 said, "These are healthy
institutions. As these healthy institutions increase their capital base, they will be able to increase
their funding to U.S. consumers and businesses." That same day, the Treasury Department, the
Federal Reserve and the FDIC also released a joint statement reiterating that "these healthy
institutions are taking these steps to ... enhance the overall performance of the US economy."
Barofsky finds, however, senior officials at the Treasury and the Fed had serious concerns about
the health of some of these banks.
Note: For a comprehensive overview of the realities underlying the government's bailout of the
biggest financial institutions, click here.
U.S. aid often misses targets in Afghanistan

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/04/MN8L19NHRM.DTL
When built in 2004, the agricultural storage facility in Nangarhar province was supposed to win the
hearts and minds of the Afghan people. The U.S. government paid for its construction along with
several other so-called "market centers" that would enable farmers to store crops and boost
exports to nearby Pakistan. But construction and design flaws left it unusable, one of many dozens
of similar failures in the country, critics say. Opponents say the Nangarhar project is just one
example of massive waste of taxpayer dollars in aid programs since the U.S.-led invasion ousted
the Taliban government in 2001. A Washington, D.C., company, Chemonics International, won the
bid for [a] $145 million program - known as Rebuilding Agricultural Markets Program, or RAMP that ran from 2003 to 2006. Chemonics then subcontracted the training and construction work to
other Americans, who in turn subcontracted to numerous Afghan companies who did the work. At
each level, the subcontractors deducted costs for salaries, office expenses and security. Only a
small percentage of the original RAMP contract money actually reached farmers and other
intended recipients. The exact percentage may never be known because neither Chemonics
nor the U.S. government tracks such figures. Moreover, opponents note, many constructed
market centers have deteriorated or are not being used for their original purpose. Afghanistan's
foreign minister, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, sharply criticized how U.S. aid is spent in his country. He
estimates that only "$10 or $20" of every $100 reaches its intended recipients.
Electronic border control

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/EDDQ19VF7L.DTL
Suppose you're returning home from a vacation in Cancun. A customs agent asks you to open
your suitcase so he can check its contents. So far, so good. Now, the agent asks you to log on
to your laptop so he can read your e-mails and personal files and examine which Web sites
you've visited. He makes a copy of your hard drive so the government can comb through its
contents. You've done nothing to give the agent any cause for suspicion. That can't be legal
- can it? Until recently, it would not have been allowed. Long-standing customs directives
prohibited agents from reading travelers' personal documents unless they reasonably suspected
them to be merchandise or evidence of illegal activity. Then the Bush administration changed the
rules, allowing agents to "review and analyze" the contents of electronic devices, including laptops,
cell phones and BlackBerrys "absent individualized suspicion." Agents also could make copies of
the devices' contents and share them with other government agencies. In a Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing in May, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano promised to review
the policy. Homeland Security has now released a new policy - and it is the same as the Bush
policy in almost every relevant respect. The government may still search electronic devices without
reasonable suspicion, retain copies indefinitely to complete its search and share information with
other agencies. Both administrations have cited national security to justify suspicionless searches.
There's no evidence, however, that a suspicionless search has ever turned up a security threat.
Note: The author of this op-ed, Elizabeth Goitein, is the director of the Liberty and National
Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. For lots more on how
politicians use "national security" as a means to protect their own manipulations at the expense of
the public good, click here.
Nanomaterials Under Study by the E.P.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/science/earth/30nano.html
The Environmental Protection Agency detailed its plans ... for research into the possible health and
environmental risks of nanomaterials, tiny substances that are finding growing use in products like
sunscreens and industrial adhesives. The document ... calls for work to identify sources of
nanomaterials, which can measure as little as perhaps one-10,000th the width of a human hair.
Research will also center on how they move in the environment, the problems they might cause for
people, animals and plants, and how these problems could be avoided or mitigated. The federal
National Nanotechnology Initiative is charged with coordinating research by various agencies on
the issue. But in a highly critical report last year, the National Academy of Sciences dismissed its
effort as inadequate. Little is known about whether substances engineered at the nano scale
persist and accumulate in the environment in unusual and potentially harmful ways. In August, a
coalition of groups including Friends of the Earth and Consumers Union issued a report
urging people to avoid sunscreens containing nano-forms of zinc oxide, saying their risks
were unknown.
Military to get mandatory swine flu shots soon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33079725/ns/health-swine_flu
U.S. military troops will begin getting required swine flu shots in the next week to 10 days, with
active duty forces deploying to war zones and other critical areas going to the front of the vaccine
line. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart also [said] that as many as 400 troops are ready to go to five
regional headquarters around the country to assist federal health and emergency management
officials. The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million vaccines, and 1.4 million of those will go to active
duty military. National Guard troops on active duty are also required to receive the vaccine, as are
civilian Defense Department employees who are in critical jobs. "Because I can compel people
to get the shots, larger numbers will have the vaccine," said Renuart, commander of U.S.
Northern Command. "They will, as a percentage of the population, be vaccinated more
rapidly than many of us. So we may see some objective results, good or not, of the
vaccinations." Shots will be doled out on a priority basis, with troops preparing to deploy first,
followed by other active duty forces, particularly any who might be needed to quickly respond to a
hurricane or other emergency. Inoculating the military is a key requirement of the Pentagon's
emergency plan, as a way to ensure that troops are available to protect the nation. They also will
be on tap to provide help to states if problems come up as the flu season continues.
Note: It is not made clear by this article precisely how military personnel will "assist" civilian
authorities handle a mass swine flue vaccination program. The plans to use the military for this
purpose are unprecedented and formerly illegal. For lots more from reliable sources on the
dangers of vaccines, click here and here.
F.D.A. Reveals It Fell to a Push by Lawmakers

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/health/policy/25knee.html
The Food and Drug Administration [has admitted] that four New Jersey congressmen and its own
former commissioner unduly influenced the process that led to its decision last year to approve a
patch for injured knees. The agencys scientific reviewers repeatedly and unanimously over many
years decided that the device, known as Menaflex and manufactured by ReGen Biologics Inc.,
was unsafe because the device often failed, forcing patients to get another operation. But after
receiving what an F.D.A. report described as extreme, unusual and persistent pressure
from four Democrats from New Jersey ... agency managers overruled the scientists and
approved the device for sale in December. All four legislators made their inquiries within a
few months of receiving significant campaign contributions from ReGen, which is based in
New Jersey, but all said they had acted appropriately and were not influenced by the money. Dr.
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, the former drug agencys commissioner, said he had acted properly.
The agency has never before publicly questioned the process behind one of its approvals, never
admitted that a regulatory decision was influenced by politics, and never accused a former
commissioner of questionable conduct. The report, written by top agency officials, said that Dr. von
Eschenbach, who resigned as F.D.A. commissioner in January, became as a result of political
pressure personally engaged in the details of a process usually coordinated by scientific staff.
One agency manager concluded that Dr. von Eschenbach was demanding not only an expedited
process but also an outcome in favor of ReGen, the report stated.
Note: For a powerful summary of corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, click here.
Have a Nice Day

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/opinion/16friedman.html
Applied Materials is one of the most important U.S. companies youve probably never heard of. It
makes the machines that make the microchips that go inside your computer. The chip business,
though, is volatile, so in 2004 Mike Splinter, Applied Materialss C.E.O., decided to add a new
business line to take advantage of the companys nanotechnology capabilities making the
machines that make solar panels. The other day, Splinter gave me a tour of the companys
Silicon Valley facility, culminating with a visit to its war room, where Applied maintains a
real-time global interaction with all 14 solar panel factories its built around the world in the
last two years. Not a single one is in America. Lets see: five are in Germany, four are in China,
one is in Spain, one is in India, one is in Italy, one is in Taiwan and one is even in Abu Dhabi. The
reason that all these other countries are building solar-panel industries today is because most of
their governments have put in place the three prerequisites for growing a renewable energy
industry: 1) any business or homeowner can generate solar energy; 2) if they decide to do so, the
power utility has to connect them to the grid; and 3) the utility has to buy the power for a
predictable period at a price that is a no-brainer good deal for the family or business putting the
solar panels on their rooftop. Regulatory, price and connectivity certainty, that is what Germany put
in place, and that explains why Germany now generates almost half the solar power in the world
today and, as a byproduct, is making itself the world-center for solar research, engineering,
manufacturing and installation. With more than 50,000 new jobs, the renewable energy industry in
Germany is now second only to its auto industry.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on promising new energy developments, click here.
Vaccine skepticism is in the air

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-hew-no-fear-side14-2009sep14,0,4079...
The nation's political crosscurrents appear to have created vaccine skeptics of many stripes. Many
citizens are less inclined than ever to accept the warnings of the Department of Health and Human
Services or the recommendations of its Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says Sandra
Quinn, a University of Pittsburgh public health professor who has just completed a national survey
of attitudes about the flu vaccine. Vaccine refusers have long decried vaccine mandates and
campaigns as an unwarranted intrusion of parents' and local school boards' rights. For a new
generation of vaccine skeptics, there are new objects of distrust. For some, it flows from a
suspicion of the multinational corporations that develop and manufacture vaccines. For
others, it comes from a belief that media outlets have hyped the pandemic flu story to
secure the attention of readers and the revenue of advertisers. And many simply doubt the
competency and independence of government agencies, which they believe are too inept,
overwhelmed or co-opted by corporate interests to secure the safety of the nation's drugs and food
supply. Adding to the wariness toward the forthcoming H1N1 vaccine is the fact that the
formulations used on patients in the United States might require the use of adjuvants -- special
agents added to a vaccine mix that rev up the immune system and foster a stronger immune
response. While adjuvants have been used in vaccines in Europe for many years, the FDA has
never approved them for widespread use in the United States. Some vaccine critics in Great
Britain have charged that one adjuvant used in European formulations -- squalene -- is associated
with a wide range of vague but persistent symptoms.
Note: Adjuvants are being added to vaccines, yet the resulting combined formula is not being
tested for safety; the individual components are tested separately. The process for the testing of
vaccines is endangering our health. For lots more on the dangers of vaccines and squalene in
particular, read respected Dr. Joseph Mercola's incisive article available here.
But Who Is Watching Regulators?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/business/13gret.html
Nothing succeeds like failure, as the saying goes. And nowhere is this dismal truth more evident
than in our financial regulatory system, one year after the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers.
Even though calamitous lending practices laid waste to the nations economy, surprisingly little has
changed about how the financial arena operates and is supervised. Sure, a couple of venerable
brokerage firms have vanished, but many of the same players remain on the scene, in the same
positions of power. Senior regulators who stood idly by for years as financial firms built their
houses of cards have been rewarded with even bigger jobs or are jockeying for increased
responsibilities. The Federal Reserve Board, for example, wants to become the financial
systems uber-regulator, even though its officials did nothing as banks made deadly
decisions to lend recklessly and leverage themselves to the max. Awarding increased
power to those who failed in their oversight duties flies in the face of all notions of
accountability. Yet those in the public sector ask us to believe that regulators who snoozed during
the credit bubble will be alert to emerging problems on their beats when the next mania begins.
Thats asking a lot, isnt it? Heres a novel thought. Instead of creating more regulations to try to
prevent this kind of mess from recurring, why not figure out how to hold regulators accountable
when they perform as poorly as they did in recent years? Taxpayers must protect themselves
against two things: the corrupting influence of bureaucratic self-interest among regulators and the
political clout wielded by the large institutions they are supposed to police. [And] taxpayers must
demand that the government publicize the costs of efforts taken to save the financial system from
itself.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street crash and bailout, click
here.
A Year After a Cataclysm, Little Change on Wall St.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/business/12change.html
Wall Street lives on. One year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the surprise is not how much
has changed in the financial industry, but how little. Backstopped by huge federal guarantees, the
biggest banks have restructured only around the edges. Employment in the industry has fallen just
8 percent since last September. Only a handful of big hedge funds have closed. Pay is already
returning to precrash levels, topped by the 30,000 employees of Goldman Sachs, who are
on track to earn an average of $700,000 this year. Nor are major pay cuts likely, according to a
report last week from J.P. Morgan Securities. Executives at most big banks have kept their jobs.
Financial stocks have soared since their winter lows. Banks still sell and trade unregulated
derivatives, despite their role in last falls chaos. Radical changes like pay caps or restrictions on
bank size face overwhelming resistance. Even minor changes, like requiring banks to disclose
more about the derivatives they own, are far from certain. Regulators and lawmakers have spent
most of the last year trying to save the financial industry, rather than transform it. In the short run,
their efforts have succeeded. Citigroup and other wounded banks have avoided bankruptcy, and
the economy has sidestepped a depression. But the same investors and economists who
predicted, and in some cases profited from, the collapse last fall say the rescue has come at an
extraordinary cost. They warn that if the industrys systemic risks are not addressed, they could
cause an even bigger crisis in years, not decades. Next time, they say, the credit of the United
States government may be at risk.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street
Lost In Translation
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-526954.html
This is the story of hundreds, if not thousands, of foreign language documents that the FBI
neglected to translate before and after the Sept. 11 attacks -- documents that detailed what the FBI
heard on wiretaps and learned during interrogations of suspected terrorists. Sibel Edmonds, a
translator who worked at the FBI's language division, says the documents weren't translated
because the division was riddled with incompetence and corruption. Edmonds was fired after
reporting her concerns to FBI officials. She told her story behind closed doors to investigators in
Congress and to the Justice Department. Most recently, she spoke with the commission
investigating the Sept. 11 attacks. Because she is fluent in Turkish and other Middle Eastern
languages, Edmonds, a Turkish-American, was hired by the FBI soon after Sept. 11 and given topsecret security clearance to translate some of the reams of documents seized by FBI agents who
have been rounding up suspected terrorists across the United States and abroad. Edmonds says
that to her amazement, from the day she started the job, she was told repeatedly by one of
her supervisors that there was no urgency, that she should take longer to translate
documents so that the department would appear overworked and understaffed. That way, it would
receive a larger budget for the next year. Edmonds says that the supervisor, in an effort to
slow her down, went so far as to erase completed translations from her FBI computer after
she'd left work for the day.
Note: Sibel Edmonds just recently self-published a book exposing major intelligence cover-ups
around 9/11. To see this highly rated book in which she breaks the government gag order placed
on her, click here. For lots more verifiable news on this courageous woman, click here.
Big Food vs. Big Insurance

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html
To listen to President Obama, or to just about anyone else in the health care debate, you would
think that the biggest problem with health care in America is the system itself perverse
incentives, inefficiencies, unnecessary tests and procedures, lack of competition, and greed. No
one disputes that the $2.3 trillion we devote to the health care industry is often spent unwisely, but
the fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European
countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by
our being fatter. Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to
devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet. Thats why our success in
bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon
the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care
spending now goes to treat preventable chronic diseases. Not all of these diseases are linked to
diet theres smoking, for instance but many, if not most, of them are. Were spending $147
billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions more to treat
cardiovascular disease and the many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called
Western diet. One recent study estimated that 30 percent of the increase in health care spending
over the past 20 years could be attributed to the soaring rate of obesity, a condition that now
accounts for nearly a tenth of all spending on health care. The American way of eating has
become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care.
Note: For a detailed overview of some of the critical risks of the industrially-engineered modern
American diet, click here.
Sheen wants to discuss his 9/11 theories with Obama

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/celebrities/6609335.html
Actor Charlie Sheen has written a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a meeting over
Sheen's theories about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The day of Sept. 11, 2001, saw America hit by
the worst terrorist atrocities in the country's history, including an attack in New York which killed
almost 3,000 people. Sheen has always been outspoken about his views on the attacks,
supporting a conspiracy theory that the U.S. government at the time defrauded the public
with its official story about the incident. The star has now written to Obama asking him to
reopen the investigation into 9/11. The note, entitled "20 Minutes With The President," is written
as a fictional meeting with Obama, in which Sheen urges the leader to follow through his promises
of change, accountability and government transparency by using his powers to look into the
actions of George W. Bush's previous administration. Sheen hopes the president will take note of
his campaign and grant him a meeting.
Note: To watch an excellent six-minute video narrated by Sheen asking hard questions to the
president, click here. For a powerful summary of many unanswered questions raised by the official
account of 9/11, click here.
Sir Nicholas Winton, the 'British Schindler', meets the Holocaust

survivors he helped save
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/6138441/Sir-Nicholas-Winton-...
By virtue of the foresight, humanity and sheer bloody-mindedness of a young British stockbroking
clerk called Nicholas Winton, 669 Jewish children were saved from the clutches of the Nazis. On
Friday, 22 of them were reunited with their 100-year-old saviour now Sir Nicholas who has
come to be known as the 'British Schindler'. Between March and August 1939 eight trains carried
669 children to Britain, who otherwise would probably have perished in the death camps. Fifteen
thousand Czechoslovakian children died in the war. The ninth train, containing 250 children, was
due to leave Prague on 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war. The Germans never let it
leave the station, and most of the children never lived to see 1945. Almost as remarkable as the
scheme itself, and a mark of Sir Nicholas's modesty, was that he chose to conceal his
achievements for decades. It was only when he wife Greta unearthed a briefcase in the attic
contained lists of the children he saved and letters to the parents did he admit his part. He
said in 1999: "My wife didn't know about it for 40 years after our marriage, but there are all kinds of
things you don't talk about even with your family. "Everything that happened before the war
actually didn't feel important in the light of the war itself." He also rejected the comparison with
Oskar Schindler, who saved about 1,200 Jews in the war, saying unlike the German his actions
never put him in danger.
Note: For a touching, short video on this amazing story, click here. To listen to the story on NPR,
click here.
A Little Judge Who Rejects Foreclosures, Brooklyn Style

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/nyregion/31judge.html
Every week, the nations mightiest banks come to his court seeking to take the homes of New
Yorkers who cannot pay their mortgages. And nearly as often, the judge says, they file foreclosure
papers speckled with errors. He plucks out one motion and leafs through: a Deutsche Bank
representative signed an affidavit claiming to be the vice president of two different banks. His office
was in Kansas City, Mo., but the signature was notarized in Texas. And the bank did not even own
the mortgage when it began to foreclose on the homeowner. Im a little guy in Brooklyn who
doesnt belong to their country clubs, what can I tell you? he says, adding a shrug for punctuation.
I wont accept their comedy of errors. The judge, Arthur M. Schack, 64, fashions himself a judicial
Don Quixote, tilting at the phalanxes of bankers, foreclosure facilitators and lawyers who file
motions by the bale. He has tossed out 46 of the 102 foreclosure motions that have come before
him in the last two years. And his often scathing decisions, peppered with allusions to the Croesuslike wealth of bank presidents, have attracted the respectful attention of judges and lawyers from
Florida to Ohio to California. At recent judicial conferences in Chicago and Arizona, several
panelists praised his rulings as a possible national model. Justice Schack, like a handful of state
and federal judges, has taken a magnifying glass to the mortgage industry. Justice Schacks take
is straightforward, and sends a tremor through some bank suites: If a bank cannot prove
ownership, it cannot foreclose. If you are going to take away someones house, everything
should be legal and correct, he said. Im a strange guy I dont want to put a family on
the street unless its legitimate.
Senate Bill Would Give President Emergency Control of Internet

2009-08-28, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/28/senate-president-emergency-control...
A Senate bill would offer President Obama emergency control of the Internet and may give
him a "kill switch" to shut down online traffic by seizing private networks -- a move
cybersecurity experts worry will choke off industry and civil liberties. Details of a revamped
version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 emerged late Thursday, months after an initial version
authored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., was blasted in Silicon Valley as dangerous government
intrusion. "In the original bill they empowered the president to essentially turn off the Internet in the
case of a 'cyber-emergency,' which they didn't define," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet
Security Alliance, which represents the telecommunications industry. The new legislation allows
the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer
networks and make a plan to respond to the danger, according to an excerpt published online -- a
broad license that rights experts worry would give the president "amorphous powers" over private
users. "As soon as you're saying that the federal government is going to be exercising this kind of
power over private networks, it's going to be a really big issue," Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney
with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on threats to civil liberties, click here.
CDC leery of estimates about swine flu's toll

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/27/health/main5268541.shtml
U.S. government health officials are urging Americans not to panic over estimates that up to
90,000 people might die in the United States from swine flu this year. "Everything we've seen in
the U.S. and everything we've seen around the world suggests we won't see that kind of number if
the virus doesn't change," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. While the swine flu seems quite easy to catch, it so far hasn't been more deadly than
the flu strains seen every fall and winter many people have only mild illness. And close genetic
tracking of the new virus as it circled the globe over the last five months so far has shown no sign
that it's mutating to become more virulent. Still, the CDC has been preparing for a worst-case flu
season as a precaution in July working from an estimate slightly more grim than one that made
headlines this week to make sure that if the virus suddenly worsened or vaccination plans fell
through, health authorities would know how to react. On Monday the White House released a
report from a group of presidential advisers that included a scenario where anywhere from
30 percent to half of the population could catch what doctors call the "2009 H1N1" flu, and
death possibilities ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. "We don't think that's the most likely
scenario," CDC flu specialist Dr. Anne Schuchat said of the presidential advisers' high-end tally. In
a regular flu season, up to 20 per cent of the population is infected and 36,000 die.
Note: Like the avian flu several years ago, the swine flu is turning out to be largely fear-mongering
which has poured billions of dollars into the deep pockets of the medical/industrial complex. For
lots more reliable information from major media reports on this, click here.
Doctors may refuse swine flu vaccine

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/24/doctors-refuse-swine-flu-vaccine
Many GPs, as well as their patients, may be reluctant to be immunised against swine flu once a
vaccine is developed, surveys suggest today. A survey of GPs published on Healthcare Republic,
the website of GP magazine, found that up to 60% of GPs may decline vaccination. Although the
numbers who responded were small 216 GPs they are in line with a much bigger survey of
nurses published a week ago by Nursing Times, which found that a third of 1,500 nurses would
refuse vaccination. A Canadian study published today in the journal Emerging Health Threats
suggests the public, too, will have reservations that must be overcome if a vaccination campaign is
to be successful in the autumn or winter. The study, which used focus groups to establish the likely
response of different people to a vaccine, pointed to the need to win over people who believe that
alternative therapies and a good diet are a better option than vaccines. But the biggest problem
in persuading people and healthcare professionals to have the jab may be the relative
shortage of evidence from trials about its safety and efficacy. Because of the urgent need for
a vaccine, testing will be limited. Among the GPs who responded to the survey published by
Healthcare Republic, 29% said they would not choose to have the vaccine and 29% said they
were unsure whether or not they would. The biggest reason given by those who said they would
not have it was concern that the safety trials would not be adequate: 71.3% said they were
"concerned that the vaccine has not yet been through sufficient trials to guarantee safety". Half
50.4% said they "believe that swine flu is too mild to justify taking the vaccine".
Note: Yet the Massachusetts Senate has now passed a bill which would impose fines up to $1,000
and jail up to 30 days for those who refuse vaccines or quarantine orders in a health emergency.
Other states are considering similar legislation. For lots more on the real dangers of the swine flu
vaccine, click here.
DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html
Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining
the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases. The
scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor
of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database,
they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that
person. You can just engineer a crime scene, said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper,
which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. Any
biology undergraduate could perform this. Dr. Frumkin is a founder of Nucleix, a company
based in Tel Aviv that has developed a test to distinguish real DNA samples from fake ones that it
hopes to sell to forensics laboratories. The planting of fabricated DNA evidence at a crime scene is
only one implication of the findings. A potential invasion of personal privacy is another. Using some
of the same techniques, it may be possible to scavenge anyones DNA from a discarded drinking
cup or cigarette butt and turn it into a saliva sample that could be submitted to a genetic testing
company that measures ancestry or the risk of getting various diseases. Tania Simoncelli, science
adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union, said the findings were worrisome. DNA is a lot
easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints, she said. Were creating a criminal
justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology.
Note: For lots more on government threats to civil liberties, click here.
Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern
of neurologists
2009-08-15, Daily Mail (One of the U.K.'s most popular newspapers)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206807/Swine-flu-jab-link-killer-ner...
A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the
Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter. The letter from the Health Protection
Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday,
leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the
vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins. [The letter] tells the neurologists
that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome
(GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine. GBS attacks the lining of the nerves,
causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal. The letter, sent to about 600
neurologists on July 29, is the first sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the
vaccine itself could cause serious complications. It refers to the use of a similar swine flu
vaccine in the United States in 1976 when: * More people died from the vaccination than from
swine flu. * 500 cases of GBS were detected. * The vaccine may have increased the risk of
contracting GBS by eight times. * The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link
with GBS became clear. * The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those
affected. Concerns have already been raised that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested
and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown. The British Neurological Surveillance
Unit (BNSU), part of the British Association of Neurologists, has been asked to monitor closely any
cases of GBS as the vaccine is rolled out. One senior neurologist said last night: I would not have
the swine flu jab because of the GBS risk.
Note: For more on the swine flu scare and the dangers of vaccines, click here.
Oil lobby to fund campaign against Obama's climate change strategy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/14/us-lobbying
The US oil and gas lobby are planning to stage public events to give the appearance of a
groundswell of public opinion against legislation that is key to Barack Obama's climate change
strategy. A key lobbying group will bankroll and organise 20 "energy citizen" rallies in 20 states. In
an email obtained by Greenpeace, Jack Gerard, the president of the American Petroleum Institute
(API), outlined what he called a "sensitive" plan to stage events during the August congressional
recess to put a "human face" on opposition to climate and energy reform. "Our goal is to energise
people and show them that they are not alone," said Cathy Landry, for API, who confirmed that the
memo was authentic. The email from Gerard lays out ambitious plans to stage a series of
lunchtime rallies to try to shape the climate bill that was passed by the house in June and will
come before the Senate in September. "We must move aggressively," it reads.The API strategy
also extends to a PR drive. Gerard cites polls to test the effectiveness of its arguments against
climate change legislation. It offers up the "energy citizen" rallies as ready-made events,
noting that allies which include manufacturing and farm alliances as well as 400 oil and
gas member organisations will have to do little more than turn up. "API will provide the
up-front resources," the email said. "This includes contracting with a highly experienced events
management company that has produced successful rallies for presidential campaigns."
Note: For important reports from major media sources on global warming and oil company
manipulation of public perception, click here.
Bankers Reaped Lavish Bonuses During Bailouts

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31pay.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pag...
Thousands of top traders and bankers on Wall Street were awarded huge bonuses and pay
packages last year, even as their employers were battered by the financial crisis. Nine of the
financial firms that were among the largest recipients of federal bailout money paid about 5,000 of
their traders and bankers bonuses of more than $1 million apiece for 2008, according to a report
released Thursday by Andrew M. Cuomo, the New York attorney general. At Goldman Sachs, for
example, bonuses of more than $1 million went to 953 traders and bankers, and Morgan Stanley
awarded seven-figure bonuses to 428 employees. Even at weaker banks like Citigroup and Bank
of America, million-dollar awards were distributed to hundreds of workers. Mr. Cuomo, who for
months has criticized the companies over pay, said the bonuses were particularly galling because
the banks survived the crisis with the governments support. If the bank lost money, where do you
get the money to pay the bonus? he said. All the banks named in the report declined to comment.
Incentives that led to large bonuses on Wall Street are often cited as a cause of the financial crisis.
Though it has been known for months that billions of dollars were spent on bonuses last year, it
was unclear whether that money was spread widely or concentrated among a few workers. The
report suggests that those roughly 5,000 people a small subset of the industry accounted for
more than $5 billion in bonuses. At Goldman, just 200 people collectively were paid nearly $1
billion in total, and at Morgan Stanley, $577 million was shared by 101 people. All told, the
bonus pools at the nine banks that received bailout money was $32.6 billion, while those
banks lost $81 billion.
Note: How can this happen? Corruption abounds, yet the fact that you are reading this shows we
can change it all. For lots more on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Flu Vaccine Panel Creates Priority List

A complicated list of who should get [swine] flu vaccine in the fall is now set. When the vaccine
starts arriving in September, first in line will be pregnant women; the caretakers of infants; children
and young adults; older people with chronic illness; and health-care workers. That's the advice of a
15-member committee of experts, which met all day Wednesday at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta to advise the federal government on vaccine policy. The priority
list names targeted groups and suggests the order in which they should be vaccinated. "The
results of this meeting will kick planning into high gear," said Pascale Wortley of the CDC's
Immunization Services Division. "This is a watershed moment." All that's missing is the vaccine,
knowledge of how well it works and the nitty-gritty details of how to deliver it to people's arms and
noses. The vaccine will come in two forms: the traditional flu shot and a "live" vaccine squirted into
the nose that contains a weakened version of the new virus. Some of the vaccine will be stored
in multi-dose vials containing thimerosal, an antibacterial additive that contains mercury.
But there will also be single-dose syringes without thimerosal, a substance that some
assert is harmful to children. Among the many unanswered questions is whether two doses will
be necessary to provide full protection, how close in time two shots can be given and how big the
dose will be. Vaccination programs may start before the answers are known.
Note: Why is thimerosal being used? It is a mercury additive around which there appears to be a
major cover-up. For several other revealing articles which suggest an dangerous agenda with the
swine flu vaccine, click here.
Glaxo profits soar as drug firm charges NHS 6 for swine flu vaccine
that costs 1 to make
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201450/GlaxoSmithKline-accused-profi...
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline was accused of cashing in on swine flu after it revealed its
profits have risen 10 per cent since the virus was identified. It announced profits yesterday of
2.1billion in the past three months. Sales of vaccines and antiviral drugs could push the figure up
even higher. GSK chief executive Andrew Witty admitted the swine flu crisis would be a
'significant financial event for the company'. Sales of the company's Relenza inhaler, an
alternative to Tamiflu used by pregnant women among others, are expected to top 600million.
And this figure could be boosted by up to 2billion once deliveries of the swine flu vaccine begin in
September. But Mr Witty denied Europe's biggest drugs company was gearing up to cash in. He
admitted it was planning to charge the UK 6 a jab, but vociferously denied reports it cost a pound
to manufacture. Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'This is clearly a
bonanza for the company. This is a staggeringly substantial return. I will write to the National Audit
Office to determine whether we got the best deal for the taxpayer.' Susi Squire of the TaxPayers'
Alliance said: 'We need an assurance from the Government that they have got the most
competitive rate out of GlaxoSmith-Kline.' Geoff Martin of London Health Emergency said: 'It's a
scandal that any company could use the swine flu pandemic as an opportunity to jack up profits.
'The Government should step in and impose a windfall tax on private companies that have hit the
jackpot as a result of the flu crisis.'
Note: For more on profiteering in the vaccination industry, click here.
Agencies to set up mass swine flu vaccinations

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/21/BA6H18PA5J.DTL
Public health experts are gearing up for swine flu vaccinations this fall in what could be the largest
mass-immunization campaign since the polio vaccine was introduced more than 50 years ago.
Local public health agencies will bear much of the responsibility for vaccinating the public. For
now, there are more questions than answers with regard to flu vaccinations, including how much of
the vaccine will be made, when it will available, and who will get it first. In fact, the federal
government has not officially announced plans to make a vaccine widely available, although it is
expected to do so by the end of summer. "There's still a lot of information we have to figure out,
and we're learning as we go," said Dr. Mantu Davis, deputy health officer with the Alameda County
Public Health Department. "It's definitely a larger vaccination than anything we've seen, or
anything in my lifetime." California authorities designed a mass vaccination plan years ago, under
the assumption of a deadly pandemic flu and a limited vaccine supply, said Dr. John Talarico with
the state public health department's Center for Infectious Disease. That plan is being revised,
given that swine flu seems to be fairly mild so far and that a relatively large amount of vaccine may
be available, even if it's not enough to give to everyone at once. A swine flu vaccine is still being
designed, and the World Health Organization reported last week that a licensed version
may not be available until the end of the year - weeks after the start of the flu season. An
unlicensed vaccine - one that is still being tested but is deemed safe enough for the general
public - may be available sooner.
Note: After hundreds died and thousands were crippled by a vaccine for the swine flu in 1976, how
can they be talking about using an unlicensed vaccine? For lots more on the swine flu scare and
the billions in profits for well-connnected pharmaceutical corporations and their major investors,
click here.
Strange New Air Force Facility Energizes Ionosphere, Fans Conspiracy

Flames
2009-07-20, Wired magazine
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-08/mf_haarp
The senior senator from Alaska, Ted Stevens, enjoyed a reputation for inserting projects into the
federal budget to benefit his home state, most notoriously a $223 million bridge from the town of
Ketchikan to, well, not much of anyplace. In 1988, [physics] researchers sat down with Stevens
and assured him that an ionospheric heater would be a bona fide scientific marvel and a
guaranteed job creator, and it could be built for a mere $30 million. Just like that, the Pentagon had
$10 million for ionospheric heater research. In a series of meetings in the winter of 1989-90, the
field's leading lights ... pitched the Navy and the Air Force. Haarp, they asserted, could lead to
"significant operational capabilities." They'd build a giant phased antenna array that would aim a
finely tuned beam of high-frequency radio waves into the sky. The beam would excite electrons
in the ionosphere, altering that spot's conductivity and inducing it to emit its own extremely
low frequency waves, which could theoretically penetrate the earth's surface to reveal
hidden bunkers or be used to contact deeply submerged submarines. Of course, the
scientists said, you'd need a brand-new, state-of-the-art ionospheric heater to see if any of this
was even feasible. The Pentagon ... began using Stevens' earmarked cash to fund the appropriate
studies. For more than a year, planning proceeded largely out of public view. Then, in 1993, an
Anchorage teachers' union rep named Nick Begichson of one of Alaska's most important
political familiesfound a notice about Haarp in the Australian conspiracy magazine Nexus. In
1995, he self-published a book, Angels Don't Play This HAARP. It sold 100,000 copies. He started
giving speeches on Haarp's dangers everywhere, from UFO conventions to the European
Parliament.
Note: For more excellent information on HAARP, click here. There is much more than meets the
eye here.
Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers

The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu,
thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the
government has already taken steps to head that off. Vaccine makers and federal officials will
be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document
signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health
officials said Friday. Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against
lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. The document signed by Sebelius last month grants
immunity to those making a swine flu vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health
emergencies. It allows for a compensation fund, if needed. The government takes such steps to
encourage drug companies to make vaccines, and it's worked. Federal officials have contracted
with five manufacturers to make a swine flu vaccine. The last time the government faced a new
swine flu virus was in 1976. Federal officials vaccinated 40 million Americans during a national
campaign. A pandemic never materialized, but thousands who got the shots filed injury claims,
saying they suffered a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome or other side effects.
Note: Note for a powerfully revealing CBS report on blatant fear mongering and profiteering from
the 1976 swine flue scare, click here. For many revealing reports on corruption in the
medical/governmental complex, click here.
With Big Profit, Goldman Sees Big Payday Ahead

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/business/15goldman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss...
After all that federal aid, a resurgent Goldman Sachs is on course to dole out bonuses that could
rival the record paydays of the heady bull-market years. Goldman posted the richest quarterly
profit in its 140-year history and, to the envy of its rivals, announced that it had earmarked
$11.4 billion so far this year to compensate its workers. At that rate, Goldman employees
could, on average, earn roughly $770,000 each this year or nearly what they did at the height of
the boom. Senior Goldman executives and bankers would be paid considerably more. Only three
years ago, Goldman paid more than 50 employees above $20 million each. In 2007, its chief
executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, collected one of the biggest bonuses in corporate history. The latest
headline results $3.44 billion in profits were powered by earnings from the banks
secretive trading operations and exceeded even the most optimistic predictions. But Goldmans
sudden good fortune, coming only a month after the bank repaid billions of bailout dollars, raises
questions for Washington policy makers. In Washington, some lawmakers warned on Tuesday that
a quick return to such high pay would stoke public anger as the Obama administration tried to
overhaul financial regulation. They warned that Wall Street lobbyists were already trying to block
financial reforms. People all over this country feel an incredible frustration that they are seeing
their neighbors lose their jobs and the government is helping companies like A.I.G. and Goldman
Sachs and then the next thing they are reporting huge profits and huge compensation, said
Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio and a member of the banking committee. I think
people are incredulous that this system is working this way.
Note: For a treasure trove of revelations from reliable sources on the hidden realities behind the
Doctors demand inquest into death of Dr David Kelly

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5811102/Doctors-demand-inquest-into-de...
A group of 13 doctors who believe that Dr David Kelly, the Government scientist, did not commit
suicide, but was murdered, are launching a legal campaign to demand an inquest. The original
inquest into Dr Kelly's death six years ago in woods near his Oxfordshire home was suspended by
Lord Falconer, then the Lord Chancellor. He designated the Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances
surrounding the weapons inspector's death as "fulfilling the function of an inquest". Dr Kelly died
shortly after he was exposed as the source for a story claiming the Government "probably knew"
that a claim Iraq could attack with weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes was not true. A team
of doctors unconvinced by the findings of the Hutton Report has compiled a dossier which claims
that a cut to the ulnar artery in Dr Kelly's wrist could not have killed him. The 12-page document
concludes: "The bleeding from Dr Kelly's ulnar artery is highly unlikely to have been so voluminous
and rapid that it was the cause of death." Among the doctors is ... is David Halpin, 69, a former
lecturer in anatomy at King's College, London, and a former consultant in orthopaedic and trauma
surgery at Torbay Hospital, who later went into general practice. Dr Halpin said they had argued
their case in the legal document in "microscopic" detail and added: "We reject haemorrhage as
the cause of death and see no contrary opinion which would stand its ground. I think it is
highly likely he was assassinated." The doctors have been working closely with Norman
Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP, who believes the scientist was murdered by enemies he
made in the course of his work as a weapons inspector.
Note: For a trove of revelatory reports on assassinations as a tool of state, click here.
U.S. Wiretapping of Limited Value, Officials Report

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/us/11nsa.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewante...
While the Bush administration had defended its program of wiretapping without warrants as a vital
tool that saved lives, a new government review released Friday said the programs effectiveness in
fighting terrorism was unclear. Most intelligence officials interviewed had difficulty citing
specific instances when the National Security Agencys wiretapping program contributed
to successes against terrorists, the report said. The program ... played a limited role in the
F.B.I.s overall counterterrorism efforts, the report concluded. The Central Intelligence
Agency and other intelligence branches ... could not link it directly to counterterrorism successes,
presumably arrests or thwarted plots. The report also hinted at political pressure in preparing the
so-called threat assessments that helped form the legal basis for continuing the classified
program, whose disclosure in 2005 provoked fierce debate about its legality. The initial
authorization of the wiretapping program came after a senior C.I.A. official took a threat evaluation,
prepared by analysts who knew nothing of the program, and inserted a paragraph provided by a
senior White House official that spoke of the prospect of future attacks against the United States.
These threat assessments, which provided the justification for President George W. Bushs
reauthorization of the wiretapping program every 45 days, became known among intelligence
officials as the scary memos, the report said. Intelligence analysts involved in the process
eventually realized that if a threat assessment identified a threat against the United States, the
wiretapping and related surveillance programs were likely to be renewed, the report added.
Note: For many illuminating reports from reliable sources on the realities behind the "war on
terror", click here.
As government tags passports, licenses, critics fear privacy is 'chipped'

away

http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-chipping-america-i...
Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he'd bought on
eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the
identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car. It took him 20 minutes to strike
hacker's gold. Zipping past Fisherman's Wharf, his scanner detected, then downloaded to his
laptop, the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians' electronic U.S. passport cards embedded
with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags. Within an hour, he'd "skimmed" the identifiers of
four more of the new, microchipped PASS cards from a distance of 20 feet. Paget's February
experiment demonstrated something privacy advocates had feared for years: That RFID, coupled
with other technologies, could make people trackable without their knowledge or consent. He
filmed his drive-by heist, and soon his video went viral on the Web, intensifying a debate over a
push by government, federal and state, to put tracking technologies in identity documents and over
their potential to erode privacy. With advances in tracking technologies coming at an everfaster rate, critics say, it won't be long before governments could be able to identify and
track anyone in real time, 24-7, from a cafe in Paris to the shores of California. The key to
getting such a system to work, these opponents say, is making sure everyone carries an
RFID tag linked to a biometric data file. On June 1, it became mandatory for Americans entering
the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean to present
identity documents embedded with RFID tags, though conventional passports remain valid until
they expire.
Note: For lots more on corporate and government surveillance, click here.
The Alarming Record of the F.B.I.'s Informant in the Bronx Bomb Plot
2009-07-07, Village Voice (A progressive New York City street newspaper)
http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-08/news/the-alarming-record-of-the-f-b-i-...
Last month, police and the FBI arrested four Newburgh men on charges that they had plotted to
bomb synagogues in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx and fire a missile at a military jet. As
more details emerged, however, the less the four defendants sounded like men with the skills to
plan a sophisticated terror plot. They were small-time crooks, felons with long criminal records.
What the indictment didn't say, and what the initial news reports didn't fill in, was the extent to
which the fifth man in the plot, an unnamed FBI informant, had provided the glue to hold the
Newburgh 4 together. That informant was a Pakistani man named Shahed Hussain, code-named
"Malik," who agreed to work for the FBI to obtain leniency after he was arrested in 2002 for fraud.
Over a period of about a year, Malik met with [the] defendants ... while under FBI surveillance. The
Newburgh bomb plot isn't the first of Malik's operations for the government. He played a similar
role four years ago in an Albany case, in which he helped the FBI arrest a man named Mohammed
Hossain, a cash-poor pizzeria owner, and his imam, Yassin Aref, after persuading them to launder
$50,000 in a made-up plot to bring a missile to the U.S. and assassinate the Pakistani prime
minister. In both cases, Malik did not stumble upon active terror cells plotting to bring destruction
on American soil. Instead, in both Newburgh and Albany, he needed long periods of time to
recruit his Muslim contacts, spin elaborate tales about his terror contacts, and develop
solid plans of action, all the while providing the defendants with large amounts of
resources and cash incentives. In each case, the question remains: Would either set of
defendants have done anything remotely like plant bombs or launder money for terrorists if not for
the prodding and plotting and encouragement of Malik and the FBI?
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the hidden realities behind the never-ending
"war on terror", click here.
As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims' relatives call
for a proper inquiry
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1197419/Conspiracy-fever-As-rumours-s...
The country's worst-ever terrorist atrocity during London's morning rush hour on July 7, 2005,
shattered for ever the heady euphoria in which the capital was basking the morning after winning
the bid for the 2012 Olympics. That afternoon, Tony Blair - who was hosting the G8 summit on
global poverty in Gleneagles, Scotland - returned to Downing Street to pronounce that the attack
was an act in the 'name of Islam'. Later, at a meeting of the Government's national emergency
committee COBRA, London's anti-terror police chief Andy Hayman told senior ministers that he
suspected suicide bombers. And so the story of 7/7 that we have come to accept was pieced
together: four British Muslims ... blew themselves up using home-made explosives, killing 56 and
injuring 700 on three Tube trains and a double-decker bus. But families of the dead victims and an
increasing number of 7/7 survivors claim there are inconsistencies and basic mistakes in the
official accounts that need explanation. And they are demanding a full public inquiry to answer key
questions about what the Intelligence Services and the police did and did not know before the
bombings. Meanwhile, the Government's determined refusal to meet their demands is having
a very dangerous side-effect - fuelling myriad conspiracy theories about 7/7. Books, blogs
and several video documentaries point to oddities in the official accounts. [Some] of them
suggest that the attacks were not the work of Muslim terrorists at all, but were carried out by the
Government to boost support for the Iraq war. The survivors are so intent on an independent
inquiry that they are now taking legal action in the High Court.
Note: The evidence laid out in this article of government complicity is quite strong. For revealing
reports from reliable sources on the unexplained circumstances surrounding the London Bombings
on 7/7/05, click here.
Missing Moon-Landing Videotapes May Have Been Found

2009-06-30, Fox News
Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, NASA may have found the long-lost
original Apollo 11 videotapes. Back on July 20, 1969, the raw video feed from the moon was
beamed to the Parkes Observatory radio telescope in southeastern Australia, and then
compressed and sent to Mission Control in Houston. Because of technical issues, NASA's
images couldn't be fed directly to the TV networks. Instead, the grayish, blotchy images
Americans saw on their TV sets were the result of a regular TV camera pointed at the huge
wall monitor in Houston a copy of a copy, in effect. Those images survive, and anyone can
see them on YouTube. But the original, sharp, black-and-white tapes that were recorded at Parkes
vanished. NASA had thought they'd been shipped to the Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md., But a search there a couple of years ago turned up nothing. Around the same
time, though, a cache of tapes containing data from moon-surface experiments from the entire
Apollo program was discovered in a university basement in Perth, Western Australia, on the other
side of the country from Parkes. According to the Sunday Express, NASA has combed through
those tapes and found the original Apollo 11 video footage. "We're talking about the same tapes,"
an unnamed NASA spokesman told the newspaper, though he added that "at this point, I'm not
prepared to discuss what has or has not been found."
Note: Isn't it amazing that NASA could lose these invaluable tapes? There are many strange
questions surrounding this issue.
Lawmaker accuses Fed of "cover-up" in BofA deal

2009-06-25, Boston Globe/Reuters News
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/06/25/lawmaker_accuses_fed_of_co...
The Federal Reserve sought to hide its involvement in Bank of America Corp's acquisition
of Merrill Lynch as Merrill's financial condition worsened, the top Republican on the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee said on Wednesday. The Fed "engaged in a
cover-up and deliberately hid concerns and pertinent details regarding the merger from
other federal regulatory agencies," Representative Darrell Issa said in a statement released to
Reuters. Bernanke has in the past denied any inappropriate pressure on Bank of America. Fed
spokeswoman Michelle Smith on Wednesday referred to a letter Bernanke sent Representative
Dennis Kucinich on April 30 and later testimony in which he offered an "unconditional assertion"
that he did not ask Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to withhold information regarding Merrill. The
Democrat who heads the committee, Edolphus Towns of New York, has called Bernanke to testify
on Thursday. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has also been called to testify before
Congress next month about the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch transaction. After rescuing Bank of
America in January, U.S. regulators tightened their grip on the bank with a secret agreement that
contributed to the ongoing shakeup of its directors and executives, the Wall Street Journal said,
citing people familiar with the matter. The paper, citing internal documents, added that Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair wrote to Bernanke before the aid to the bank was
unveiled to express the FDIC's "discomfort" with the deal..
Note: For a treasure trove on the hidden realities of the governmental bailout of Wall Street, click
here.
E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/us/17nsa.html
The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic
surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone
calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and
former officials said. Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private
communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several
Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in
Congress about the agencys ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans
on a widespread basis, officials said. Supporting that conclusion is the account of a former N.S.A.
analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in
which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans e-mail messages without
court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation.
Both the former analysts account and the rising concern among some members of Congress
about the N.S.A.s recent operation are raising fresh questions about the spy agency.
Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the House Select Intelligence
Oversight Panel, has been investigating the incidents and said he had become increasingly
troubled by the agencys handling of domestic communications. In an interview, Mr. Holt disputed
assertions by Justice Department and national security officials that the overcollection was
inadvertent. Some actions are so flagrant that they cant be accidental, Mr. Holt said.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the ever-increasing government and coroporate
threats to privacy, click here.
Swine flu shots may go to kids first, Sebelius says

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-16-swine-flu-vaccine_N.htm
Schoolchildren could be first in line for swine flu vaccine this fall and schools are being put on
notice that they might even be turned into shot clinics. Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday she is urging school superintendents around the country to spend
the summer preparing for that possibility, if the government goes ahead with mass vaccinations. "If
you think about vaccinating kids, schools are the logical place," Sebelius told The Associated
Press. No decision has been made yet on whether and how to vaccinate millions of Americans
against the new flu strain that the World Health Organization last week formally dubbed a
pandemic, meaning it now is circulating the globe unchecked. But the U.S. is pouring money into
development of a vaccine in anticipation of giving at least some people the shots. While swine flu
doesn't yet seem any more lethal than the regular flu that each winter kills 36,000 people in the
U.S. alone, scientists fear it may morph into a more dangerous type. Even in its current form, the
WHO says about half of the more than 160 people worldwide killed by swine flu so far were
previously young and healthy. If that trend continues, "the target may be school-age children as a
first priority" for vaccination, Sebelius said Tuesday. "That's being watched carefully." The last
mass vaccination against a different swine flu, in the U.S. in 1976, was marred by reports of
a paralyzing side effect for a feared outbreak that never happened. The secretary said:
"The worst of all worlds is to have the vaccine cause more damage than the flu potential."
Note: This article admits "swine flu doesn't yet seem any more lethal than the regular flu that each
winter kills 36,000 people in the U.S. alone." Be very cautious around any vaccination campaign.
Vaccines are extremely poorly regulated and known to fill the wallets of rich politicians invested in
them. For lots more reliable, verifiable information on this, click here.
U.S. Accidentally Releases List of Nuclear Sites

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/03nuke.html
The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked highly
confidential, that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nations civilian nuclear sites
and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear
weapons. The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an online newsletter devoted
to issues of federal secrecy. It ... prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the
document had been made public. On Tuesday evening, after inquiries from The New York Times,
the document was withdrawn from a Government Printing Office Web site. The information,
considered confidential but not classified, was assembled for transmission later this year to the
International Atomic Energy Agency as part of a process by which the United States is opening
itself up to stricter inspections in hopes that foreign countries, especially Iran and others believed
to be clandestinely developing nuclear arms, will do likewise. President Obama sent the document
to Congress on May 5 for Congressional review and possible revision, and the Government
Printing Office subsequently posted the draft declaration on its Web site. Steven Aftergood, a
security expert at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, revealed the existence of
the document on Monday in Secrecy News, an electronic newsletter he publishes on the Web. Mr.
Aftergood expressed bafflement at its disclosure, calling it a one-stop shop for
information on U.S. nuclear programs. The report lists many particulars about nuclear
programs and facilities at the nations three nuclear weapons laboratories Los Alamos,
Livermore and Sandia as well as dozens of other federal and private nuclear sites.
Drug Agency May Reveal More Data on Actions

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/policy/02fda.html
For years, the Food and Drug Administration has withheld information about drugs and medical
devices from the public when their makers cite trade secrecy even in cases where the agency
suspects that the products are causing serious illness or death. Now the new leadership at the
F.D.A. may change that. The Obama administration ... is setting up a task force within the agency
to recommend ways to reveal more information about F.D.A. decisions, possibly including the
disclosure of now secret data about drugs and devices under study. The goal is to open up a
system in which the agency failed to inform the public that a widely prescribed heartburn drug was
especially toxic to babies; that a diabetes medicine and a painkiller increased heart attack risks;
and that antidepressants increased suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and teenagers.
Many people have been harmed over the last decade because the F.D.A. has treated
clinical trial results of drugs and devices as trade secrets, said Dr. Steven Nissen, a
cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who has campaigned for the release of such information. In
2007, Dr. Nissen published a study showing that Avandia, a popular diabetes medicine made by
GlaxoSmithKline, increased the risk of heart attack by 42 percent. The data Dr. Nissen used was
made public because of a lawsuit, but the agency had known of the possible risk for nearly two
years. Repeated scandals led the Bush administration in 2005 to promise to make public its
product safety investigations more quickly, but it did not recommend changing the laws and
regulations that govern the release of trade secrets and agency records.
Note: For a powerful summary of corrupt practices by government and corporations in the
pharmaceutical industry, click here.
FBI: Crime falls in US, but small town violence up

2009-06-01, BusinessWeek magazine/Associated Press
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D98I04CG0.htm
Cities in the United States got safer in 2008, while small towns grew more dangerous, according to
FBI data. The FBI says violent crime nationwide dropped by 2.5 percent last year. Property
crimes also fell, by 1.6 percent, according to the preliminary data collected by the FBI.
Cities with more than 1 million people saw murders fall by 4.3 percent; cities with 500,000 to
1 million people saw murders fall by nearly 8 percent. Yet in towns with fewer than 10,000
residents, murders rose 5.5 percent, rape increased 1.4 percent, and robbery 3.9 percent. The
latest data shows violent crime fell for a second straight year, after increases in 2006 and 2005.
Those two years, the crime rate began to rise after historic lows that began during the Clinton
administration and continued into President George W. Bush's first years in the White House.
Nationwide, murder and manslaughter dropped 4.4 percent in 2008. Aggravated assault declined
3.2 percent, forcible rape decreased 2.2 percent, and robbery dropped 1.1 percent. The country
also saw a huge drop in car thefts -- more than 13 percent. The western region of the country saw
the biggest declines, with a 4.2 percent drop in property crime and a 3.4 percent drop in violent
crime. The Northeast saw a slight increase in property crime, which rose by 1.6 percent.
Note: You might not know that violent crime rates in the U.S. dropped over 50% between 1994
and 2005, and continue to be low now. Check out the U.S. Department of Justice reports on this by
clicking here and here. Why weren't these figures mentioned in this article? And why doesn't good
news like this get more coverage? Yet at the same time, imprisonment rates have climbed rapidly.
What's up with that?
Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/us/politics/29cyber.html
The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace ... stepping up preparations
by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare. White House
officials say Mr. Obama has not yet been formally presented with the Pentagon plan. But he is
expected to sign a classified order in coming weeks that will create the military cybercommand,
officials said. It is a recognition that the United States already has a growing number of
computer weapons in its arsenal and must prepare strategies for their use as a deterrent
or alongside conventional weapons in a wide variety of possible future conflicts. [A] main
dispute has been over whether the Pentagon or the National Security Agency should take the lead
in preparing for and fighting cyberbattles. Under one proposal still being debated, parts of the
N.S.A. would be integrated into the military command so they could operate jointly. A classified set
of presidential directives is expected to lay out the militarys new responsibilities and how it
coordinates its mission with that of the N.S.A., where most of the expertise on digital warfare
resides today. The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond the actions taken
by the Bush administration, which authorized several computer-based attacks but never resolved
the question of how the government would prepare for a new era of warfare fought over digital
networks. Officials declined to describe potential offensive operations, but said they now viewed
cyberspace as comparable to more traditional battlefields.
Note: Combine this with the BBC's revealing article on US plans to fight the Internet, and there is
reason for concern. For lots more on new developments in modern war planning, click here.
Great Day Talks To Architect Richard Gage About 9/11

2009-05-28, KMPH-TV (Fresno, CA Fox Network affiliate)
http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?s=10445264
Kim Stephens: Hes an architect experienced in steel structures. Now Richard Gage is touring the
country with a controversial message about September 11. Kopi Sotiropulos: Richard Gage is
here to show us why hes calling for a more thorough investigation into the collapse of the World
Trade Center buildings. First of all give us a little bit more about your background. Gage: Im an
architect of twenty years, a member of the American Institute of Architects, and have been
studying steel frame fire proof buildings for about that long. Kim Stephens: We ask that for
clarification because as we get into this, we want people to make sure that youre not just
somebody with a wacky idea. You come with some science to you. What is the official reason for
the collapse of the World Trade Center towers? Gage: Well were told that the planes hit the
buildings, and there was an explosion and a fire, and about a hour and a half later, in the case of
the north tower, the buildings collapsed due to structural weakening, due to the fires. The problem
is that we dont have large gradual deformations associated with collapses. And fires in high rises
have never brought down a steel frame high rise building at all, ever. And what we have,
unfortunately, is the evidence in the twin towers and the third skyscraper to collapse that day,
which most people dont know anything about it. We have the evidence of the ten key features of
controlled demolition. In the case of building seven, it collapses straight down into its own
footprint, at free fall speed, in the first hundred feet. Its dropping, as you can see
symmetrically, smoothly, at free fall speed, in the first hundred feet. Two and a half
seconds. This is uncanny, theres forty thousand tons of structural steel designed to resist
this collapse.
Note: The above text is taken from the KMPH interview available here. Richard Gage, AIA, is
the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Remarkably, this interview, though short,
was respectful and evenhanded. No ridicule, no debunking, no "conspiracy theory" dismissals! To
watch a 7-minute video of the interview, click on the link above. To read a transcript of the
interview, click here. For an astonishing comment on PBS by the owner of the building's decision
to "pull" the building, click here.
Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses

2009-05-25, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-25-licenses_N.htm
Stopping driver's license fraud is no laughing matter: Four states are ordering people to wipe
the grins off their faces in their license photos. "Neutral facial expressions" are required at
departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia. That
means you can't smile, or smile very much. Other states may follow. The serious poses are urged
by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that
have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends
alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver's identity. But there's a wrinkle in the
technology: a person's grin. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same
person if facial expressions differ in each photo, says Carnegie Mellon University robotics
professor Takeo Kanade. Dull expressions "make the comparison process more accurate," says
Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in
March. Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada allow slight smiles. "You just can't grin really large,"
Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields says. A total of 31 states do computerized matching
of driver's license photos and three others are considering it, says the American Association of
Motor Vehicle Administrators. Most say their software matches faces regardless of expressions.
"People can smile here in Pennsylvania," state Transportation Department spokesman Craig
Yetter says.
Note: For incisive commentary and a heart-warming video addressing this very topic, click here.
A climate solution that's out of this world

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/14/14greenwire-a-climate-solution-thats-...
One of the newest energy lobbyists claims he has the answer to climate change: spaceships. The
government has in its possession "extraterrestrial vehicles," lobbyist Stephen Bassett said. As in
flying saucers. Imagine the power source, he said, behind a 30-foot wide saucer that weighs
the same as a tractor-trailer yet hurtles through galaxies at 20,000 miles per hour. "What is
the energy system operating that craft?" Bassett said. "They're not burning kerosene."
Bassett ... is working for free as a lobbyist, representing the Hawaii-based Exopolitics Institute, an
educational organization which describes itself as "dedicated to studying the key actors,
institutions and political processes associated with extraterrestrial life." Bassett said he is less
lobbyist and more political activist. "The UFO phenomenon is real," Bassett said. "The E.T.
extraterrestrial presence is real." Bassett's been lobbying about seven months, targeting the
science and technology, and defense and aviation angles. He added energy to his portfolio in a
Senate filing last week. He has spoken to lawmakers in the past, Bassett said, but he's writing off
lobbying Congress for now, calling the extraterrestrial issue "the third rail" of politics. Besides, he
and other believers have a bigger name on their list. "Knowing that Congress could not act,"
Bassett said, "what we did was focus on the executive branch, the White House." Those who
believe the truth is out there have been waiting for someone like President Obama to come clean
about the government hiding information on extraterrestrials, Bassett said.
Note: What's highly unusual about this article is that there is not a note of ridicule. This may be a
first for a UFO article in the New York Times. For lots more eye-opening, reliable information on
this topic, including a Times article in which a former CIA chief describes a UFO cover-up, click
here and here.
Inspector at Pentagon Says Report Was Flawed

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/us/06generals.html
In a highly unusual reversal, the Defense Departments inspector generals office has withdrawn a
report it issued in January exonerating a Pentagon public relations program that made extensive
use of retired officers who worked as military analysts for television and radio networks. Donald M.
Horstman, the Pentagons deputy inspector general for policy and oversight, said in a
memorandum released on Tuesday that the report was so riddled with flaws and inaccuracies that
none of its conclusions could be relied upon. In addition to repudiating its own report, the inspector
generals office took the additional step of removing the report from its Web site. The inspector
generals office began investigating the public relations program last year, in response to articles in
The New York Times that exposed an extensive and largely hidden Pentagon campaign to
transform network military analysts into surrogates and message force multipliers for
the Bush administration. The articles also showed how military analysts with ties to
defense contractors sometimes used their special access to seek advantage in the
competition for contracts related to Iraq and Afghanistan. The report released in January took
issue with the articles. [It] has been the subject of controversy, with some members of Congress
calling it a whitewash marred by obvious factual errors. For example, the report erroneously
listed many military analysts as having no ties whatsoever to defense contractors.
Note: The author of this article, David Barstow, won a 2009 Pulitzer prize for exposing military
corruption, yet the press gave virtually no coverage to his prize. Why does it seem that the media
don't want us to know about military influence on the news we receive?
We're really sorry about that $650 billion. Here's a lollipop.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/01/DDLO17BB2Q.DTL
Like most of us, I guess, I was caught absolutely flat-footed by the economic crisis. I got the part
about subprime loans, and why they were both stupid and greedy, but I did not get how that bit of
banker's nonsense instantly spread to the national economy and the world economy. Finally I read
an article that actually put the thing together in a coherent way. It's in the May 14 issue of the New
York Review of Books, and it's by Robert M. Solow, who won the Nobel Prize for economics, so
presumably he's not just pulling ideas out of his nose. He starts by talking about leverage, and how
very tempting it is as long as prices continue to rise. In the 1990s, it was typical for brokerages (or
banks - the difference between the two became blurred) to use a 10-1 model; they used $100,000
to borrow $1 million, and everything was rosy. But it was rosier still at 20-1, and even rosier at 301. I am summarizing here - the whole article can be found [here]. [In Solow's words,] "According to
data compiled by the Federal Reserve, household wealth in the U.S. peaked at $64.4 trillion in
mid-2007, and had plummeted to $51.5 trillion at the end of 2008. Something like $13 trillion of
perceived wealth vanished in not much more than a year. Nothing concrete had changed.
Buildings still stood; factories were still just as capable of functioning; people had not lost
their ability to work or their skills or their knowledge of technology. But a population that
thought in 2007 that they had $64.4 trillion with which to plan their lives discovered in 2008 that
they had lost 20 percent of that."
Note: Think about it. Simply because of financial manipulations, hundreds of thousands of homes
and factory workplaces are now empty, while the numbers living on the street and in camps along
rivers has increased dramatically. Yet many of the richest have only grown richer as a result of
mergers and more. For lots more on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Gonzales Said to Have Intervened on Wiretap

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/us/politics/24harman.html?partner=rss&emc=r...
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency concluded in late 2005 that a conversation picked
up on a government wiretap was serious enough to require notifying Congressional leaders that
Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California, could become enmeshed in an investigation
into Israeli influence in Washington, former government officials said Thursday. But Attorney
General Alberto R. Gonzales told the director of the agency, Porter J. Goss, to hold off on
briefing lawmakers about the conversation, between Ms. Harman and an Israeli intelligence
operative, despite a longstanding government policy to inform Congressional leaders
quickly whenever a member of Congress could be a target of a national security
investigation. One reason Mr. Gonzales intervened, the former officials said, was to protect Ms.
Harman because they saw her as a valuable administration ally in urging The New York Times not
to publish an article about the National Security Agencys program of wiretapping without warrants.
The accounts provided new details about tension between senior C.I.A. officials and the attorney
general over what to make of the wiretapped conversations involving Ms. Harman, which the
former government officials said first occurred in spring 2005. In the wiretapped conversation, Ms.
Harman was overheard agreeing to a request made by an Israeli intelligence operative that she try
to obtain leniency for two pro-Israel lobbyists in exchange for help in securing the chairmanship of
the House Intelligence Committee, former officials said.
Note: For lots more on government corruption from reliable, verifiable sources, click here.
Officials Say U.S. Wiretaps Exceeded Law

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/us/16nsa.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewante...
The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans
in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last
year, government officials said in recent interviews. Several intelligence officials, as well as
lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in overcollection of
domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and
systemic. The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.s surveillance activities
have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees
and a secret national security court. Congressional investigators say they hope to determine if any
violations of Americans privacy occurred. It is not clear to what extent the agency may have
actively listened in on conversations or read e-mail messages of Americans without proper court
authority, rather than simply obtained access to them. While the N.S.A.s operations in recent
months have come under examination, new details are also emerging about earlier domesticsurveillance activities, including the agencys attempt to wiretap a member of Congress, without
court approval, on an overseas trip. After a contentious three-year debate that was set off by the
disclosure in 2005 of the program of wiretapping without warrants that President George W. Bush
approved after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress gave the N.S.A. broad new authority to collect,
without court-approved warrants, vast streams of international phone and e-mail traffic as it passed
through American telecommunications gateways.
Note: For further disturbing reports from reliable sources on government efforts to establish total
surveillance systems, click here.
Report Outlines Medical Workers Role in Torture

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/world/07detain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pag...
Medical personnel were deeply involved in the abusive interrogation of terrorist suspects held
overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency, including torture, and their participation was a gross
breach of medical ethics, a long-secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross
concluded. Based on statements by 14 prisoners who belonged to Al Qaeda and were moved to
Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, in late 2006, Red Cross investigators concluded that medical
professionals working for the C.I.A. monitored prisoners undergoing waterboarding, apparently to
make sure they did not drown. Medical workers were also present when guards confined prisoners
in small boxes, shackled their arms to the ceiling, kept them in frigid cells and slammed them
repeatedly into walls, the report said. Facilitating such practices, which the Red Cross
described as torture, was a violation of medical ethics even if the medical workers
intentions had been to prevent death or permanent injury, the report said. But it found that
the medical professionals role was primarily to support the interrogators, not to protect the
prisoners, and that the professionals had condoned and participated in ill treatment. At times,
according to the detainees accounts, medical workers gave instructions to interrogators to
continue, to adjust or to stop particular methods. The Red Cross report was completed in 2007. It
was obtained by Mark Danner, a journalist who has written extensively about torture, and posted
Monday night with an article by Mr. Danner on the Web site of The New York Review of Books.
Note: Much of content of the Red Cross report was revealed in a March article by Mr. Danner and
in a 2008 book, The Dark Side, by Jane Mayer, but the reporting of the Red Cross investigators
conclusions on medical ethics and other issues are new.
Revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall

Street
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/transcript1.html
BILL MOYERS: For months now, revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of
Wall Street have reminded us that "The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One." In fact, the man
you're about to meet wrote a book with just that title. Bill Black, ... what's your definition of fraud?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Fraud is deceit. And the essence of fraud is, "I create trust in you, and
then I betray that trust, and get you to give me something of value." And as a result, there's
no more effective acid against trust than fraud, especially fraud by top elites, and that's
what we have. Well, The way that you do it is to make really bad loans, because they pay better.
Then you grow extremely rapidly, in other words, you're a Ponzi-like scheme. And the third thing
you do is we call it leverage. That just means borrowing a lot of money, and the combination
creates a situation where you have guaranteed record profits in the early years. That makes you
rich, through the bonuses that modern executive compensation has produced. It also makes it
inevitable that there's going to be a disaster down the road. BILL MOYERS: So you're ... saying
that CEOs of some of these banks and mortgage firms in order to increase their own personal
income, deliberately set out to make bad loans? WILLIAM K. BLACK: Yes. BILL MOYERS: If I
wanted to go looking for the parties to this, with a good bird dog, where would you send me?
WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, that's exactly what hasn't happened. We haven't looked, all right? You'd
look at the specialty lenders. The lenders that did almost all of their work in the sub-prime and
what's called Alt-A, liars' loans.
Note: William K. Black is the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the
savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. He is now an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at
the University of Missouri. The video of this fascinating interview is available here. For a powerfully
revealing archive of reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the financial bailout,
click here.
Why We Must Fix Our Prisons

2009-03-29, Parade magazine
http://www.parade.com/news/2009/03/why-we-must-fix-our-prisons.html
America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its
irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental
fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams
with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are
wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will
require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we
address the long-term consequences of incarceration. The United States has by far the world's
highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses
nearly 25% of the world's reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per
100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158 for every 100,000.
All told, about one in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised
release. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state, and federal spending on
corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year. Our overcrowded, ill-managed prison systems are
places of violence, physical abuse, and hate, making them breeding grounds that perpetuate and
magnify the same types of behavior we purport to fear. Post-incarceration re-entry programs are
haphazard or, in some places, nonexistent, making it more difficult for former offenders who wish
to overcome the stigma of having done prison time and become full, contributing members of
society.
Note: The author of this analysis, Senator Jim Webb (D. Va.), is a PARADE Contributing Editor
and the author of nine books, including A Time to Fight.
Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alwTE0Z5.1EA
Public pension funds across the U.S. are hiding the size of a crisis thats been looming for years.
Retirement plans play accounting games with numbers, giving the illusion that the funds are
healthy. The paper alchemy gives governors and legislators the easy choice to contribute too little
or nothing to the funds, year after year. The misleading numbers posted by retirement fund
administrators help mask this reality: Public pensions in the U.S. had total liabilities of $2.9 trillion
as of Dec. 16, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Their total
assets are about 30 percent less than that, at $2 trillion. With stock market losses this year,
public pensions in the U.S. are now underfunded by more than $1 trillion. That lack of funds
explains why dozens of retirement plans in the U.S. have issued more than $50 billion in
pension obligation bonds during the past 25 years -- more than half of them since 1997 -public records show. The quick fix for pension funds becomes a future albatross for taxpayers.
The public gets nothing from pension bonds -- other than a chance to at least temporarily avoid
paying for higher pension fund contributions. Pension bonds portend the possibility of steep tax
increases. By law, states must guarantee public pension fund debts. What appears to be a
riskless strategy is actually very risky, says David Zion, director of accounting research for New
York-based Credit Suisse Holdings USA Inc. If the returns on the pension bond-financed assets
dont exceed the cost of servicing the debt, the taxpayers bear the brunt.
Note: The risks to pension funds may require yet another huge public bailout. Where will the
money come from? For lots more on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Stimulus Plan Places New Limits on Wall St. Bonuses

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/business/economy/14pay.html?partner=rss&emc...
Buried deep inside the ... economic stimulus bill ... is some bitter medicine for companies that have
received financial bailout funds. Over staunch objections from the Obama administration, Senate
Democrats inserted a provision that would impose restrictions on executive bonuses at financial
institutions that are much tougher than those proposed 10 days ago by the Treasury Department.
The provisions would prohibit cash bonuses and almost all other incentive compensation for the
five most-senior officers and the 20 highest-paid executives at large companies that receive
money under TARP. The restriction with the most bite would bar top executives from receiving
bonuses that exceed one-third of their annual pay. The provision, written by Sen. Chris Dodd, DConn., highlighted the growing wrath ... over the lavish compensation that top Wall Street firms
and big banks awarded to senior executives at the same time that many of the companies,
teetering on the brink of insolvency, received taxpayer-paid bailouts. "The decisions of certain
Wall Street executives to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers have seriously
undermined public confidence," Dodd said Friday. "These tough new rules will help ensure
that taxpayer dollars no longer effectively subsidize lavish Wall Street bonuses." Top
economic advisers to President Obama adamantly opposed the pay restrictions, according to
congressional officials.
Note: For powerfully revealing reports on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Analyst who raised alarm about Madoff nine years ago lambasts
authorities
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/feb/04/analyst-fingered-madoff-9-yea...
The financial analyst who nine years ago discovered Bernard Madoff's multi-billion dollar ... fraud
scheme today lambasted US securities officials who ignored his warnings, calling for a shakeup of
the US securities and exchange commission's structure. Harry Markopolos, a Massachusetts
financial analyst who since 2000 several times sought to alert the SEC to Madoff's fraud, told a
House of Representatives committee that the agency should replace its lawyer-heavy enforcement
staff with senior securities professionals who have years of industry experience and can
understand cutting-edge financial instruments used by hedge fund traders. He said regulators
should give fraud investigators a pay incentive to unearth large fraud, and eliminate the turf wars
that he said kept New York-based regulators from heeding tips he fed to the Boston office.
Markopolos discovered Madoff's alleged malfeasance in May 2000, after he became
suspicious of his years-long record of success in all market conditions. Markopolos said it
took him about five minutes perusing Madoff's marketing materials to suspect fraud, and
another roughly four hours to develop mathematical models to prove it. He eventually
delivered a detailed case to securities regulators in Boston and followed up several times over the
next eight years as he continued to gather evidence. He said that important SEC officials in New
York and Boston brushed his reports aside. In testimony before members of the House financial
services committee, Markopolos described "an abject failure by the regulatory agencies we entrust
as our watchdog".
Bad bank + toxic debts = moral hazard x10

2009-02-02, MarketWatch.com
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Bad-bank-toxic-debt-one/story.aspx?guid...
BusinessWeek says Paulson/Bush & Co. wasted $350 billion in TARP money ... the Congressional
Budget Office and GOP say Obama & Co. will waste another $800 billion on "non-stimulus"
programs ... Nobel economist [Joseph Stiglitz] calls [the Bad Bank] plan "cash for trash" ...
Warning, you are entering a bizarre space-time continuum ... where Wall Street makes
random quantum leaps between metaphoric realities. In the "Lost" television series we're
transported into a parallel reality, a perfect metaphor for today's global economic
meltdown, which is misunderstood and grossly mismanaged. Wall Street crashed ... on the
"Lost Island ... of Manhattan," the former center of world banking. The collateral damage has been
enormous: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, global trade, Iceland. [Wall
Street's] clueless leaders ... are "Lost" with no bottom, no recovery, no strategy in sight. A new
president, a secretive Fed and an old Congress are throwing around taxpayer trillions like free
candy ... on top of Bush's "$10 Trillion Hangover" ...after a clueless Wall Street wrote off trillions in
toxic debt, then wasted $350 billion in TARP bailout money, buying $50 million private jets,
attending golf outings at exclusive resorts, spending millions on CEO's office renovations and
paying $18 billion in year-end bonuses. Hope masks denial: Even President Obama's consultant
[Warren] Buffett acknowledges that the proposed stimulus plan "might not work." The stimulus
might not work? What if this last bullet is a blank? Should you prepare for the worst-case scenario?
Note: For many revealing reports on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&p...
By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street except, that is, when the
bonuses arrived. Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of
the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the
now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for
the year. That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday
by the New York State comptroller. Some bankers took home millions last year even as their
employers lost billions. The comptrollers estimate, a closely watched guidepost of the annual
December-January bonus season, is based largely on personal income tax collections. It excludes
stock option awards that could push the figures even higher. The state comptroller, Thomas P.
DiNapoli, said it was unclear if banks had used taxpayer money for the bonuses, a possibility that
strikes corporate governance experts, and indeed many ordinary Americans, as outrageous. He
urged the Obama administration to examine the issue closely. The issue of transparency is a
significant one, and there needs to be an accounting about whether there was any taxpayer money
used to pay bonuses or to pay for corporate jets or dividends or anything else, Mr. DiNapoli said in
an interview.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
U.S. moving toward czarism, away from democracy

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/18/INGP158S4G.DTL
Every patriot should be concerned about the intensifying efforts to supplant democracy with
something far more authoritarian. Call it American czarism. Czars - i.e., policymakers granted
extralegal, cross-agency powers - have become increasingly prevalent in our government over the
past century. Until now, this slow lurch toward czarism has primarily reflected the ancient, almost
innate human desire for power and paternalistic leadership. In recent years, this culture of
"presidentialism," as Vanderbilt Professor Dana Nelson calls it, has justified the Patriot Act,
warrantless wiretaps and a radical theory of the "unitary executive" that aims to provide a
jurisprudential rationale for total White House supremacy over all government. But only in the past
three months has American czarism metastasized from a troubling slow-growth tumor to a
potentially deadly cancer. In October, Congress relinquished its most basic oversight powers and
gave Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sole authority to dole out billions of bailout dollars to Wall
Street. At the same time, it did nothing when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used
fiats to commit $5 trillion worth of new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending
requirements ... all while he refused to tell the public who is receiving the largesse. Indeed,
the Economist magazine's prediction that the "economic crisis may increase the attractiveness of
the Chinese model of authoritarian capitalism" is coming true right here at home, as we seem ever
more intent on replicating - rather than resisting - that model.
Note: For many revealing reports on the realities underlying the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Madoff's fund may not have made a single trade

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2009/01/15/afx5928915.html
Bernie Madoff's investment fund may never have executed a single trade, industry officials
say, suggesting detailed statements mailed to investors each month may have been an
elaborate mirage in a $50 billion fraud. An industry-run regulator for brokerage firms said ...
there was no record of Madoff's investment fund placing trades through his brokerage operation.
That means Madoff either placed trades through other brokerage firms, a move industry officials
consider unlikely, or he was not executing trades at all. 'Our exams showed no evidence of trading
on behalf of the investment advisor, no evidence of any customer statements being generated by
the broker-dealer,' said Herb Perone, spokesman for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Each month, Madoff sent out elaborate statements of trades conducted by his broker-dealer. There
also appear to be discrepancies between monthly statements sent to investors and the actual
prices at which the stocks traded on Wall Street. To some, the numbers did not add up. About 10
years ago, Harry Markopolos, then chief investment officer at Rampart Investment Management
Co in Boston, asked risk management consultant Daniel diBartolomeo to run Madoff's numbers
after Markopolos tried to emulate Madoff's strategy. DiBartolomeo ran regression analyses and
various calculations, but failed to reconcile them. For a decade, Markopolos raised the issue with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has come under fire in Congress in recent
weeks for failing to act on Markopolos's warnings.
Note: For lots more on corporate corruption from reliable, verifiable sources, click here.
Letter from the Grave

2009-01-12, The New Yorker magazine
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/stevecoll/2009/01/letter-from-the.html
[On January 8] Lasantha Wickramatunga, who was fifty-two years old and the editor of a Sri
Lankan newspaper called The Sunday Leader, was assassinated on his way to work by two
gunmen riding motorcycles. The Leader's investigative reporting had been fiercely critical of the
government and of the conduct of its war against Tamil separatists; Wickramatunga had been
attacked before. He knew that he was likely to be murdered and so he wrote an essay with
instructions that it be published only after his own death. Read it in full below: "No other profession
calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka,
journalism. In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come
under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and
coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honor to
belong to all those categories and now especially the last. We find ourselves in the midst of a civil
war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether
perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has
become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is
the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been
higher or the stakes lower.
Note: Click on the link above to read this deeply moving letter from a martyr for truth in its entirety.
Eight Years of Madoffs

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/opinion/11rich.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pag...
Three days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoffs Ponzi
scheme, The Times led its front page of Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off.
This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers. That was our collective contribution
to the $117 billion spent (as of mid-2008) on Iraq reconstruction a sinkhole of corruption,
cronyism, incompetence and outright theft that epitomized Bush management at home and
abroad. The source for this news was a near-final draft of an as-yet-unpublished 513-page federal
history of this nation-building fiasco. The document was assembled by the Office of the Special
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction led by a Bush appointee, no less. It pinpoints, among
other transgressions, a governmental Ponzi scheme concocted to bamboozle Americans into
believing they were accruing steady dividends on their investment in a new Iraq. The $50 billion
... pales next to other sums that remain unaccounted for in the Bush era, from the $345
billion in lost tax revenue due to unpoliced offshore corporate tax havens to the far-fromtransparent disposition of some $350 billion in Wall Street bailout money. In the old Pat
Moynihan phrase, the Bush years have defined deviancy down in terms of how low a standard of
ethical behavior we now tolerate as the norm from public officials.
Note: To read the draft of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's
report, click here. To read the New York Times analysis of this important document, click here.
More Groups Than Thought Monitored in Police Spying

The Maryland State Police surveillance of advocacy groups was far more extensive than
previously acknowledged, with records showing that troopers monitored -- and labeled as
terrorists -- activists devoted to such wide-ranging causes as promoting human rights and
establishing bike lanes. Intelligence officers created a voluminous file on Norfolk-based People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling the group a "security threat" because of concerns that
members would disrupt the circus. Angry consumers fighting a 72 percent electricity rate increase
in 2006 were targeted. The DC Anti-War Network, which opposes the Iraq war, was designated a
white supremacist group, without explanation. One of the possible "crimes" in the file police
opened on Amnesty International, a world-renowned human rights group: "civil rights." The
[surveillance] ... confirmed the fears of civil liberties groups that have warned about domestic
spying since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "No one was thinking this was al-Qaeda," said Stephen
H. Sachs, a former U.S. attorney and state attorney general appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D)
to review the case. "But 9/11 created an atmosphere where cutting corners was easier." Maryland
has not been alone. The FBI and police departments in several cities, including Denver in 2002
and New York before the 2004 Republican National Convention, also responded to [dissent] by
spying on activists.
Note: For wide coverage from reliable sources of disturbing threats to civil liberties, click here.
George Bush aide dies in plane crash

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3885913/George-Bus...
Mystery surrounds the death of a Republican pollster, recently compelled to give evidence about
alleged election fraud in the 2004 election in Ohio, after he was killed in a plane crash. Top internet
strategist Michael Connell, 45, was the only person in his single-engine private plane that crashed
three miles short of the Akron-Canton airport on Friday night as he prepared to land. He had
worked on Mr Bush's two presidential campaigns, advised John McCain this year and was also
linked to allegedly missing White House emails in the 2006 controversy over a string of firings of
US attorneys. The death of the married father of four immediately triggered conspiracy
theories amid speculation that he had been about to reveal embarrassing details of the
complicity of senior members of the Bush administration in fixing an election and
destroying incriminating emails. In a blog posting entitled "One of my sources died in a plane
crash last night...", Larisa Alexandrovna of The Raw Story revealed that Mr Connell had been
talking to her about the Ohio case alleging that vote-tampering during the 2004 presidential
election resulted in civil rights violations. "Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened... I am
not saying that this was a hit nor am I resigned to this being simply an accident either. I am no
expert on aviation and cannot provide an opinion on the matter. What I am saying, however, is that
given the context, this event needs to be examined carefully."
Important Note: This death becomes even stranger considering that attorneys had sought
protection for Connell against threats from Karl Rove in late July (click here). He also was
apparently warned not to fly.
Report on Detainee Abuse Blames Top Bush Officials

A bipartisan panel of senators has concluded that former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
and other top Bush administration officials bear direct responsibility for the harsh treatment of
detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and that their decisions led to more serious abuses in Iraq and
elsewhere. In the most comprehensive critique by Congress of the military's interrogation
practices, the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a report yesterday that accuses
Rumsfeld and his deputies of being the authors and chief promoters of harsh interrogation policies
that disgraced the nation and undermined U.S. security. "The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody
cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report
states. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on
how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and
authorized their use against detainees." Human rights and constitutional law organizations have
urged further action, ranging from an independent commission to prosecutions of those involved in
authorizing the interrogations. Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights,
which has helped defend detainees at Guantanamo, said the committee report is valuable
because "it's official, it's bipartisan. It's open and explicit, going right to Rumsfeld and
having Rice involved," Ratner said. "It breaks new ground in saying that the [torture]
techniques basically don't work . . . that they're actually designed to elicit false
confessions."
Note: To read the full report, click here. For many key reports from major media sources detailing
US torture and war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, click here.
Credit-card industry may cut $2 trillion lines: analyst

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4B01HI20081201
The U.S. credit-card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months
due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending,
prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said. The credit card is the second key source of
consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted. "In other words, we
expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent."
Closing millions of accounts, cutting credit lines and raising interest rates are just some of the
moves credit card issuers are using to try to inoculate themselves from a tsunami of expected
consumer defaults. A consolidated U.S. lending market that is pulling back on credit is also posing
a risk to the overall consumer liquidity, Whitney said. Mortgages and credit cards are now
dominated by five players who are all pulling back liquidity, making reductions in consumer
liquidity seem unavoidable, she said. "We are now beginning to see evidence of broad-based
declines in overall consumer liquidity. Already, we have witnessed the entire mortgage market hit a
wall, and we believe it will, for the first time ever, show actual shrinkage over the next few months,"
she wrote. "In a country that offers hundreds of cereal and soda pop choices, the banking
industry has become one that offers very few choices", Whitney wrote in a note dated
November 30. "Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year-over-year in
most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination, in our view," the analyst said.
Note: This article, in pointing out that the banking industry offers few choices for consumers, fails
to mention that the industry is rapidly becoming extremely concentrated, with major bank failures
and takeovers accelerating due to the financial crisis on Wall Street. And the bailout from the Fed
and Treasury has encouraged this concentration through huge tax breaks and risk protections. For
many revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout from reliable sources, click here.
Economic rescue could cost $8.5 trillion

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pricetag30-2008nov30,0,7549258.story
With its decision last week to pump an additional $1 trillion into the financial crisis, the government
eliminated any doubt that [it has] no hesitation in pledging to spend previously almost
unimaginable sums of money and running up federal budget deficits on a scale not seen since
World War II. Indeed, analysts warn that the nation's next financial crisis could come from the
staggering cost of battling the current one. Just last week, new initiatives added $600 billion to
lower mortgage rates, $200 billion to stimulate consumer loans and nearly $300 billion to
steady Citigroup, the banking conglomerate. That pushed the potential long-term cost of the
government's varied economic rescue initiatives, including direct loans and loan guarantees, to an
estimated total of $8.5 trillion -- half of the entire economic output of the U.S. this year. The
spending already has had a dramatic effect on the federal budget deficit, which soared to a record
$455 billion last year and began the 2009 fiscal year with an amazing $237-billion deficit for
October alone. Analysts say next year's budget deficit could easily bust the $1-trillion barrier. "I
didn't think we'd see that for a long time," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for
a Responsible Federal Budget. "There's a huge risk of another economic crisis, a debt crisis, once
we get on the other side of this one." Once the financial crisis eases, higher interest rates and
soaring inflation will be risks.
Citigroup gets a monetary lifeline from feds

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/24/BUST14B71M.DTL
The bailouts keep coming, and they seem to be getting worse for taxpayers. The deal worked out
over the weekend to prevent the collapse of Citigroup "is a terrible deal for taxpayers," says
Campbell Harvey, a Duke University global finance professor. "Some intervention was
necessary. But the terms of the intervention basically shafted the U.S. taxpayer." Under the
deal, the U.S. government will invest $20 billion in Citigroup preferred stock (on top of its previous
$25 billion capital injection from the Troubled Asset Relief Program) and guarantee up to $306
billion in mortgage and other assets. Citigroup would absorb the first $29 billion in losses on that
asset pool. Losses exceeding $29 billion would be shared 90 percent by the government and 10
percent by Citigroup. What do taxpayers get for taking on this risk? Citigroup will pay an 8 percent
dividend on the preferred stock or $560 million a year. By comparison, when Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway recently invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs and $3 billion in General
Electric, it got preferred stock that pays a 10 percent dividend. The government also gets warrants
to purchase about $2.7 billion worth of Citigroup common stock at $10.61 per share. Citigroup's
shares closed at $5.95 per share Monday, up $2.18 from Friday. For the warrants to become
profitable, the common shares would have to nearly double.
Note: The answer to the question of what taxpayers get should be essentially nothing. Only
Citigroup shareholders will see the benefits mentioned, and very few taxpayers are shareholders.
Money is being thrown around like never before. For many revealing reports on the realities of the
Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions

2008-11-18, CNBC
Given the speed at which the federal government is throwing money at the financial crisis, the
average taxpayer, never mind member of Congress, might not be faulted for losing track. CNBC,
however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual
spending as well as the commitments involved. Try $4.28 trillion dollars. That's
$4,284,500,000,000 and more than what was spent on WW II, if adjusted for inflation, based
on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources. Not only is it an astronomical
amount of money, it's a complicated cocktail of budgeted dollars, actual spending, guarantees,
loans, swaps and other market mechanisms by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other
offices of government taken over roughly the last year, based on government data and news
releases. Strictly speaking, not every cent is a direct result of what's called the financial crisis, but
it is arguably related to it. Some 68-percent of the sum falls under the Federal Reserve's umbrella,
while another 16 percent is the under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP, as defined under
the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, signed into law in early October. The TARP alone is
bigger than virtually any other US government endeavor dating back to the Louisiana Purchase.
Note: That's over $10,000 per man, woman, and child in the U.S. Click on the link above to view a
highly informative slideshow, the "Biggest Budget Items in US History," comparing the Wall Street
bailout to famous historic government expenditures, and a chart, the "Financial Crisis Balance
Sheet," detailing the many components of the bailout. For many key articles revealing the hidden
realities of the bailout, click here.
Europe's secret plan to boost GM crop production

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/europes-secret-plan-to-...
Gordon Brown and other European leaders are secretly preparing an unprecedented campaign to
spread GM crops and foods in Britain and throughout the continent, confidential documents
obtained by The Independent on Sunday reveal. The documents - minutes of a series of private
meetings of representatives of 27 governments - disclose plans to "speed up" the introduction of
the modified crops and foods and to "deal with" public resistance to them. The secret meetings
were convened by Jose Manuel Barroso, the pro-GM President of the Commission, and chaired by
his head of cabinet, Joao Vale de Almeida. The prime ministers of each of the EU's 27 member
states were asked to nominate a special representative. Neither the membership of the group, nor
its objectives, nor the outcomes of its meetings have been made public. But The IoS has obtained
confidential documents, including an attendance list and the conclusions of the two meetings held
so far on 17 July and just two weeks ago on 10 October written by the chairman. The list
shows that President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany sent
close aides. Britain was represented by Sonia Phippard, director for food and farming at the
Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The conclusions reveal the discussions
were mainly preoccupied with how to speed up the introduction of GM crops and food and
how to persuade the public to accept them. The documents also make clear that Mr Barroso
is going beyond mere exhortation by trying to get prime ministers to overrule their own
agriculture and environment ministers in favour of GM.
Note: For an excellent summary of the many health risks posed by genetically modified foods,
click here.
U.S. Is Said to Be Urging New Mergers in Banking

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/business/21plan.html?partner=rssuserland&em...
In a step that could accelerate a shakeout of the nations banks, the Treasury Department hopes to
spur a new round of mergers by steering some of the money in its $250 billion rescue package to
banks that are willing to buy weaker rivals, according to government officials. As the Treasury
embarks on its unprecedented recapitalization, it is becoming clear that the government
wants not only to stabilize the industry, but also to reshape it. Two senior officials said the
selection criteria would include banks that need more capital to finance acquisitions.
Treasury doesnt want to prop up weak banks, said an official who spoke on condition of
anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the matter. One purpose of this plan is to drive
consolidation. With bankers traumatized by the credit crisis and the loss of investor confidence,
officials said, there are plenty of banks open to selling themselves. The hurdle is a lack of wellcapitalized buyers. Stable national players like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells
Fargo are already digesting acquisitions. A second group of so-called super-regional banks are
well positioned to take over their competitors, officials said, but have been reluctant to undertake
or unable to complete deals. By offering capital at a favorable rate, the government may
encourage them to expand.
Note: So the U.S. government is using billions of taxpayer dollars to support megamergers which
create less competition and more monopolistic conditions. Hmmmm. Is that what the taxpayers
really want? For lots more highly revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Banks Are Likely to Hold Tight to Bailout Money

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/business/17bank.html?partner=rssuserland&em...
All of the combined profits that major banks earned in recent years have vanished. Since mid2007, when the credit crisis erupted, the countrys nine largest banks have written down the value
of their troubled assets by a combined $323 billion. The problems that began with home
mortgages, analysts say, are migrating to auto, credit card and commercial real estate loans. The
deepening red ink underscores a crucial question about the governments plan: Will lenders deploy
their new-found capital quickly, as the Treasury hopes, and unlock the flow of credit through the
economy? Or will they hoard the money to protect themselves? John A. Thain, the chief executive
of Merrill Lynch, said on Thursday that banks were unlikely to act swiftly. We will have the
opportunity to redeploy that, Mr. Thain said of the new capital. But at least for the next quarter, its
just going to be a cushion." For every dollar the banks earned during the industrys most
prosperous years, they have now wiped out $1.06. [Treasury Secretary Henry M.] Paulson
unveiled plans to provide $125 billion to nine banks on terms that were more favorable than they
would have received in the marketplace. The government, however, has offered no written
requirements about how or when the banks must use the money. There is no express
statutory requirement that says you must make this amount of loans, said John C. Dugan,
the comptroller of the currency. The banks could use the money from the government for
any number of things. Some analysts say the banks may use it to acquire weaker competitors.
Others say they might use it to avoid painful cost-cutting. And still others say the banks may sit on
the capital.
Note: With no requirements placed on how the bailout money is to be used, what is to stop the
banks from using taxpayers's money to inflate the bonuses to top executives, or to increase
political campaign contributions to Congress members in return for future favorable legislation?
Gift to Center Headed by FDA Panel Chairman Raises Questions

A retired medical supply manufacturer who considers bisphenol A to be "perfectly safe"
gave $5 million to the research center headed by the chairman of a Food and Drug
Administration panel about to rule on the chemical's safety. The July donation from Charles
Gelman is nearly 50 times the annual budget of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center,
where Martin Philbert is founder and co-director. Philbert did not disclose the donation to the FDA,
and agency officials learned of it when reporters asked about it. Gelman said he considers the
chemical, which is used to make baby bottles and aluminum can liners, to be safe. He said he had
made his views clear to Philbert in several conversations. Philbert denied that. Philbert's
committee is expected to release its opinion this month. The decision of Philbert's committee is
expected to have huge implications on the regulation and sale of the chemical in items such as
baby bottles, reusable food containers and plastic wraps. Since the late 1990s, studies have linked
bisphenol A to cancer, heart disease, obesity, reproductive failures and hyperactivity in laboratory
animals. Gelman, a retired manufacturer of syringes and medical filtration devices, has fought
against government regulation of pollutants for years. He is an anti-regulation activist and an
outspoken supporter of organizations such as JunkScience.com, the Cato Institute and the
Competitive Enterprise Institute that attack the credibility of government and academic scientists
on such topics as global warming and hazardous chemicals.
Insiders Projects Drained Missile-Defense Millions

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/washington/12missile.html?partner=rssuserla...
Michael Cantrell, an engineer at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command headquarters in
Huntsville, Ala., along with his deputy, Doug Ennis, had lined up millions of dollars from Congress
for defense companies. Mr. Cantrell decided it was time to take a cut. Within months, [he] began
getting personal checks from contractors and later [picked] up a briefcase stuffed with $75,000.
The two men eventually collected more than $1.6 million in kickbacks, through 2007, [causing]
them to plead guilty this year to corruption charges. But what has drawn little scrutiny are
[Cantrell's] activities leading up to it. Thanks to important allies in Congress, he extracted nearly
$350 million for projects the Pentagon did not want, wasting taxpayer money on what would
become dead-end ventures. He often bypassed his bosses and broke department rules to make
his case on Capitol Hill. He enlisted contractors to pitch projects that would keep the dollars
flowing and paid lobbyists to ease them through. He cultivated lawmakers, who were eager to
send money back home or to favored contractors and did not ask many questions. And when he
ran into trouble, he could count on his powerful friends for protection from Pentagon officials who
provided little oversight and were afraid of alienating lawmakers. I could go over to the Hill and put
pressure on people above me and get something done, Mr. Cantrell explained. With the Army,
as long as the senator is not calling over and complaining, everything is O.K. And the
senator will not call over and complain unless the contractor youre working with does not
get his money. So you just have to keep the players happy and it works.
Former CIA executive pleads guilty to defrauding government

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-foggo30-2008sep30,0,5681841.story
The former No. 3 official at the CIA pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding the government, closing
an investigation that linked the nation's preeminent spy service to the corruption scandal involving
former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. In admitting that he abused his rank to steer lucrative
contracts to cronies, Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo, the agency's onetime executive director, became
one of the highest-ranking officials in CIA history to be convicted of criminal charges. But the deal
also involved major concessions from prosecutors, who allowed Foggo to admit guilt to a
single fraud charge, wiping out 27 additional counts that included money laundering and
conspiracy. Prosecutors indicated that they would recommend he serve no more than 37
months. The revelations of Foggo's crimes surfaced two years ago during one of the most
tumultuous periods in recent agency history, and added to the pressure on the Bush administration
to remove Porter J. Goss as CIA director in 2006. Goss selected Foggo for the agency's thirdranking position. Foggo had never served as a case officer or an analyst -- the jobs that typically
garner the most respect within the CIA. But as a procurement officer at a secret CIA post in
Frankfurt, Germany, he was in a position to cultivate contacts with members of Congress and other
influential officials who visited during overseas trips to war zones.
Note: Interesting that a guilty plea for one count was exchanged for dismissing numerous other
charges of fraud and money laundering. For an excellent analysis of the reasons behind this
unusual prosecutorial strategy, click here. Buzzy Krongard, the previous #3 man at the CIA, has
been linked to the millions of dollars in suspicious stock option trades made just prior to 9/11 that
were never claimed, though this received little media coverage.
Buzzzzzzzz kill
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-oe-meyerhoff30-2008jul30,0,2821586.story
It's likely that most people have never heard of Gaucho. And no, it's not a South American cowboy.
I'm talking about a pesticide. There is increasing reason to believe that Gaucho and other
members of a family of highly toxic chemicals -- neonicotinoids -- may be responsible for the
deaths of billions of honeybees worldwide. Some scientists believe that these pesticides, which are
applied to seeds, travel systemically through the plant and leave residues that contaminate the
pollen, resulting in bee death or paralysis. The French refer to the effect as "mad bee disease" and
in 1999 were the first to ban the use of these chemicals, which are currently only marketed by
Bayer (the aspirin people) under the trade names Gaucho and Pancho. Germany followed suit this
year. So why did the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 grant an "emergency"
exemption allowing increased use of Gaucho -- typically invoked during a major infestation
-- when only a few beetles were found in blueberries? Why did the agency also grant a
"conditional" registration for its close relative, Pancho, allowing the chemical on the market with
only partial testing? And why is the agency, hiding behind a curtain of "trade secrets," still refusing
to disclose whether the additional tests required of companies in such cases were conducted and,
if so, with what results? [Pesticides] are regulated ...- under the antiquated Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. This law allows a chemical on the market unless it's proved to
pose "an unreasonable risk," far too weak a standard.
Note: For many revealing reports on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Madness and Shame

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/opinion/22herbert.html?partner=rssuserland&...
In her important new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into
a War on American Ideals, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker devotes a great deal of space to David
Addington, ... the lead architect of the Bush administrations legal strategy for the so-called war on
terror. In the view of Mr. Addington and his acolytes, anything and everything that the president
authorized in the fight against terror regardless of what the Constitution or Congress or the
Geneva Conventions might say was all right. That included torture, rendition, warrantless
wiretapping, the suspension of habeas corpus, you name it. Ms. Mayer wrote: "The legal doctrine
that Addington espoused that the president, as commander in chief, had the authority to
disregard virtually all previously known legal boundaries rested on a reading of the Constitution
that few legal scholars shared." Ms. Mayer mentioned a study conducted by attorneys and law
students at the Seton Hall University Law School. "After reviewing 517 of the Guantnamo
detainees cases in depth," she said, "they concluded that only 8 percent were alleged to
have associated with Al Qaeda. Fifty-five percent were not alleged to have engaged in any
hostile act against the United States at all, and the remainder were charged with dubious
wrongdoing, including having tried to flee U.S. bombs. The overwhelming majority all but 5
percent had been captured by non-U.S. players, many of whom were bounty hunters." The
Dark Side is essential reading for those who think they can stand the truth.
Note: For lots more on the realities behind the "war on terror", click here.
'Deficit hawks' revive attacks on nation's fiscal woes

2008-06-24, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-06-24-budget-hawks_N.htm
Eleven years after the last major effort to balance the federal government's books, advocates of
fiscal integrity are seeking to make a comeback. Most notable is Pete Peterson, a son of Greek
immigrants and Wall Street chieftain who has vowed to invest $1 billion of his personal fortune to
alert Americans that their government is going broke. He has lured former U.S. comptroller general
David Walker to his fledgling Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which will finance advertising,
lobbying and grass-roots efforts designed to pressure the next president and Congress. The
situation has gotten much worse since past presidents and Congress negotiated deficit-reduction
deals in 1990, 1993 and 1997. The federal deficit is estimated at $357 billion. The national
debt, as calculated by the Treasury Department, is more than $9.3 trillion. Future liabilities,
from government pensions to elderly entitlements, bring the total to $53 trillion $175,000
per person, according to Peterson and Walker. Both men say a comprehensive fix will need to
include overhauls of the nation's health care and tax systems. At the core of the effort is Peterson,
82, a founder of the Concord Coalition fiscal watchdog group, who has preached the danger of
federal budget deficits for decades. He and Walker spoke Tuesday at a House Budget Committee
hearing and met privately with congressional backers of balanced budgets. Peterson is retiring this
year as senior chairman of the Blackstone Group, which he co-founded. [He is a] former secretary
of Commerce in the Nixon administration and chairman of Lehman Brothers.
BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions

2008-06-10, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7444083.stm
A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not
properly accounted for in Iraq. The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi
government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the
conflict and rebuilding. A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations. The order
applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies. While President George W Bush
remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted. To date, no major US
contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq. Henry Waxman, who chairs the
House committee on oversight and government reform, said: "It may well turn out to be the largest
war profiteering in history." In the run-up to the invasion, one of the most senior officials in
charge of procurement in the Pentagon objected to a contract potentially worth $7bn that
was given to Halliburton, a Texan company which used to be run by Dick Cheney before he
became vice-president. Only Halliburton got to bid. The search for the missing billions also led
... to a house in ... west London where Hazem Shalaan lived until he was appointed to the new
Iraqi government as minister of defence in 2004. He and his associates siphoned an estimated
$1.2bn out of the ministry. They bought old military equipment from Poland but claimed for topclass weapons. Meanwhile they diverted money into their own accounts. Judge Radhi al-Radhi of
Iraq's Commission for Public Integrity investigated. He said: "I believe these people are criminals."
Note: For many other reports on war profiteering, click here.
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-k...
A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of
Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November. The terms
of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an
explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would
occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi
law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their
country. But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants
to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003
invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term
settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to
withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November. The timing of the agreement would also
boost the Republican candidate, John McCain. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans
would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also
demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry
out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad
government. The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now.
Climate Findings Were Distorted, Probe Finds

An investigation by the NASA inspector general found that political appointees in the space
agency's public affairs office worked to control and distort public accounts of its researchers'
findings about climate change for at least two years. The probe came at the request of 14 senators
after The Washington Post and other news outlets reported in 2006 that Bush administration
officials had monitored and impeded communications between NASA climate scientists and
reporters. James E. Hansen, who directs NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and has
campaigned publicly for more stringent limits on greenhouse gases that contribute to global
warming, told The Post and The New York Times in September 2006 that he had been censored
by NASA press officers, and several other agency climate scientists reported similar experiences.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are two of the government's lead
agencies on climate change issues. From the fall of 2004 through 2006, the report said, NASA's
public affairs office "managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced,
marginalized, or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general
public." It noted elsewhere that "news releases in the areas of climate change suffered from
inaccuracy, factual insufficiency, and scientific dilution." The report found "by a
preponderance of the evidence, that the claims of inappropriate political interference made by the
climate change scientists and career public affairs officers were ... persuasive."
Note: For lots more on global warming from reliable sources, click here.
US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/02/usa.humanrights/
The United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested in its war on terror,
according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers
and whereabouts of detainees. Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites
allegedly being used in countries across the world have been compiled as the debate over
detention without trial intensifies on both sides of the Atlantic. Information about the operation of
prison ships has emerged through a number of sources, including statements from the US military,
the Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the testimonies of prisoners. The
analysis, due to be published this year by the human rights organisation Reprieve, also claims
there have been more than 200 new cases of rendition since 2006, when President George Bush
declared that the practice had stopped. According to research carried out by Reprieve, the US may
have used as many as 17 ships as "floating prisons" since 2001. Detainees are interrogated
aboard the vessels and then rendered to other, often undisclosed, locations. Ships that are
understood to have held prisoners include the USS Bataan and USS Peleliu. A further 15 ships are
suspected of having operated around the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean,
which has been used as a military base by the UK and the Americans. Clive Stafford Smith,
Reprieve's legal director, said: "They choose ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as
possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers. We will eventually reunite these
ghost prisoners with their legal rights."
Note: For many other investigations of the reality of the "war on terror", click here.
Economist challenges government data

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/24/BU6K10JTEF.DTL
Oakland economist John Williams doesn't seem like the kind of guy to pick fights with the
government. He's slow moving and soft spoken, conservative in politics and personal habits, a
pale and portly 59-year-old who favors Oxford shirts, Rep ties and sensible shoes. Williams is the
sort who pays his taxes on time, waits when the signal says "Don't Walk" and snaps to attention
when the national anthem is played. But don't be fooled. The New Jersey native is leading a oneman crusade to expose official economic data as grossly misleading at best and, at worst, a pack
of lies. His Shadow Government Statistics Web site (shadowstats.com) has become a magnet for
those convinced that official data put a happy-talk gloss on the nation's economy. The growing
popularity of the site ... is testimony to the deep suspicion many Americans harbor about
government information as the economy falls into a swoon. By Williams' estimation, the
government's calculation that unemployment was 5 percent in April and that inflation was 4
percent and economic growth 2 percent over the last year, is fantasy. It might even be
disinformation. By his reckoning, the economy shrank 2.5 percent in the year that ended in
March, unemployment is really 13 percent and year-over-year inflation is 7.5 percent.
Government economic data are "out of touch with common experience. That's why people
used to believe the numbers but no longer do," Williams said during an interview.
Note: For lots more on government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Keeping Secrets: In Presidential Memo, A New Designation for

Classifying Information
Sometime in the next few years, if a memorandum signed by President Bush this month ever goes
into effect, one government official talking to another about information on terrorists will have to
begin by saying: "What I am about to tell you is controlled unclassified information enhanced with
specified dissemination." That would mean, according to the memo, that the information requires
safeguarding because "the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure would create risk of substantial
harm." Bush's memorandum ... introduced "Controlled Unclassified Information" as a new
government category that will replace "Sensitive but Unclassified." Such information -- though it
does not merit the well-known national security classifications "confidential," "secret" or "top
secret" -- is nonetheless "pertinent" to U.S. "national interests" or to "important interests of entities
outside the federal government," the memo says. Left undefined are which laws or policies
generated the requirement for protecting such information, and which interests are pertinent. But
Bush's memo does refer to the "global nature of the threats facing the United States" and to the
need to ensure that the "entire network of defenders be able to share information more rapidly."
Some critics described it as continuing an expansion of secrecy in government and a
potential bureaucratic nightmare. The White House "seems to have used the crafting of new
rules as an opportunity to expand the range of government secrecy," said Michael Clark, a
contributing editor to the blog Daily Kos, who first wrote about the Bush memorandum.
Note: For many revealing reports of increasing government secrecy from reliable sources, click
here.
Online warfare research outlined

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/FOREIGN/586297...
Procurement documents released by the U.S. Air Force give a rare glimpse into Pentagon plans
for developing an offensive cyber-war capacity that can infiltrate, steal data from and, if necessary,
take down enemy information-technology networks. The Broad Area Announcement, posted ... by
the Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate, outlines a two-year, $11 million effort
to develop capabilities to "access ... any remotely located open or closed computer
information systems," lurk on them "completely undetected," "stealthily exfiltrate
information" from them and ultimately "be able to affect computer information systems
through Deceive, Deny, Disrupt, Degrade, Destroy (D5) effects." "Of interest," the
announcement says, "are any and all techniques to enable user and/or root-level access to both
fixed [and] mobile computing platforms ... [and] methodologies to enable access to any and all
operating systems, patch levels, applications and hardware." The announcement is the latest
stage in the Air Force's effort to develop a cyber-war capability and establish itself as the service
that delivers U.S. military power in cyberspace. Last year, the Air Force announced it was setting
up a Cyberspace Command ... and was developing military doctrine for the prosecution of cyberwar operations. The developments highlight the murky legal territory on which the cyber-wars of
the future will be fought. More important, because of the difficulties in identifying attackers and
immediately quantifying damage from a cyber-attack, it can be hard to determine when such
attacks constitute an act of war as opposed to crime or even vandalism.
U.S. using food crisis to boost bio-engineered crops

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-food-crops_14may14,0,72299...
The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it
recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of
genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries. The value of genetically modified, or bioengineered, food is an intensely disputed issue in the U.S. and in Europe, where many countries
have banned foods made from genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Opponents of
GMO crops say they can cause unforeseen medical problems. They also contend that the
administration's plan is aimed at helping American agribusinesses. "This is a hot topic now
with the food crisis," said Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers
Association. "I think it's pretty obvious at this point that genetically engineered crops ... don't
increase yields. There are no commercialized crops that are designed to deal with the climate
crisis." Noah Zerbe, an assistant professor of government and politics at Humboldt State
University in California, said that GMO crops might not be appropriate for developing countries.
"You get fantastic yields if you're able to apply fertilizer and water at the right times, and herbicides
to go along with that," Zerbe said. "Unfortunately, most African farmers ... can't afford these
inputs." The U.S. tried to introduce GMO crops to Africa in 2002, with mixed results. European
Union opposition was part of the reason that several African nations that year balked at an offer of
U.S. aid that included corn, some of which was genetically modified. [Despite] a severe drought,
Zambia rejected the U.S. aid altogether.
Note: For an eye-opening overview of the risks of genetically modified foods, click here.
Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens' Property to Balance

Their Budgets
2008-05-12, ABC News Good Morning America
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4832471
The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that
they're supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But ... some states aggressively seize
property that isn't really unclaimed and then use the money -- your money -- to balance
their budgets. Unclaimed property consists of things like forgotten apartment security deposits,
uncashed dividend checks and safe-deposit boxes abandoned when an elderly relative dies.
Banks and other businesses are required to turn that property over to the state for safekeeping.
The problem is that the states return less than a quarter of unclaimed property to the rightful
owners. San Francisco resident Carla Ruff's safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over
to the state of California, marked "owner unknown." Unknown? Carla's name was right on
documents in the box at the Noe Valley Bank of America location. So was her address -- a house
about six blocks from the bank. Carla had a checking account at the bank, too -- still does -- and
receives regular statements. Plus, she has receipts showing she's the kind of person who paid her
box rental fee. And yet, she says nobody ever notified her. To make matters worse, Ruff
discovered the loss when she went to her box to retrieve important paperwork she needed
because her husband was dying. Those papers had been shredded. And that's not all. Her greatgrandmother's precious natural pearls and other jewelry had been auctioned off. They were sold
for just $1,800, even though they were appraised for $82,500.
Safe websites let you embarrass people in high places

2008-05-08, New Scientist magazine
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826555.400-safe-websites-let-you-emba...
Just how accurate are GPS-guided precision bombs, and what is most likely to send them offtarget? Now you can find out by simply reading the smart bombs tactical manual on the internet.
No, the Pentagon didnt slip up and post the instructions online. Rather, a whistle-blower leaked
the manual via Wikileaks, a website that uses anonymising technology to disguise the source of
leaked information. Launched online in early 2007, Wikileaks is run by an informal group of open
government and anti-secrecy advocates who want to allow people living under oppressive
regimes, or with something to say in the public interest, to anonymously leak documents that have
been censored or are of ethical, political or diplomatic significance. Thanks to Wikileaks, potential
whistle-blowers are now far more willing to come forward, says John Young, who runs the longstanding site Cryptome.org, which specialises in posting documents on espionage, intelligence
and cryptography issues. We started getting a lot less information after 9/11 as people
became more cautious when law enforcement agencies got more draconian powers. So we
are very happy to see Wikileaks doing what they are doing so aggressively. This flood of
leaked documents has been made possible by internet technology that allows whistle-blowers to
post documents online without revealing their identity or IP address.
Note: To read the full article for free, click here.
FBI Backs Off From Secret Order for Data After Lawsuit
The FBI has withdrawn a secret administrative order seeking the name, address and online activity
of a patron of the Internet Archive after the San Francisco-based digital library filed suit to block
the action. It is one of only three known instances in which the FBI has backed off from such a
data demand, known as a "national security letter," or NSL, which is not subject to judicial approval
and whose recipient is barred from disclosing the order's existence. NSLs are served on phone
companies, Internet service providers and other electronic communications service
providers, but because of the gag order provision, the public has little way to know about
them. FBI officials now issue about 50,000 such orders a year. The order against the Internet
Archive was served Nov. 26, and the nonprofit challenged it based on a provision of the
reauthorized USA Patriot Act, which protects libraries from such requests. The privacy advocacy
group Electronic Frontier Foundation represented the archive in the suit, which was joined by the
American Civil Liberties Union. The archive also alleged that the gag order that accompanied the
data demand violated the Constitution. As part of their settlement, the FBI agreed to drop the gag
order and the archive agreed to withdraw the complaint. The case was unsealed Monday.
Yesterday, redacted versions of key documents were filed, allowing the parties to discuss the case.
"We see this as an unqualified success," said Brewster Kahle, the archive's co-founder and digital
librarian. "The goal here was to help other recipients of NSLs to understand that you can push
back."
Note: The Internet Archive has now posted excellent information on how to deal with cases like
this at http://government.zdnet.com/?p=3795. Three cheers for the Internet Archive!
Judge orders stun gun references removed from autopsies

2008-05-03, KTAR/Associated Press
http://www.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=826236
A medical examiner must change her autopsy findings to delete any reference that stun guns
contributed to the deaths of three people involved in confrontations with law enforcement officers,
a judge ruled. [The] decision was a victory for Taser International Inc., which had challenged
rulings by Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler, including a case in which five sheriff's
deputies are charged in the death a jail inmate who was restrained by the wrists and ankles and hit
with pepper spray and a stun gun. Kohler ruled that the 2006 death of Mark McCullaugh Jr., 28,
was a homicide and that he died from asphyxiation due to the "combined effects of chemical,
mechanical and electrical restraint." Visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman said in his ruling that there
was no expert evidence to indicate that Taser devices impaired McCullaugh's respiration. "More
likely, the death was due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia brought on by severe heart disease," the
judge wrote. Schneiderman ordered Kohler to rule McCullaugh's death undetermined and to delete
any references to homicide. The judge also said references to stun guns contributing to the deaths
of two other men must be deleted from autopsy findings. Steve Tuttle, vice president of
communications for Taser International, said the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company is pleased with
Schneiderman's ruling. John Manley, a Summit County prosecutor who represented Kohler,
said the judge's order went too far. The county is considering an appeal, he said. "Taser is
quite a force to be reckoned with and does everything to protect their golden egg, which is
the Model X26," Manley said.
Note: This AP article was not picked up by any major or even local media other than this Phoenix,
AZ talk radio station. Considering the lack of reporting on Taser International's stunning 69
victories before its first loss in the courts, do you think there might be some bias in the news
coverage?
White House Undermines EPA On Cancer Risks, GAO Says

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/28/ap/tech/main4052341.shtml
The Bush administration is undermining the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to determine
health dangers of toxic chemicals by letting nonscientists have a bigger -- often secret -- say,
congressional investigators say in a report obtained by The Associated Press. The administration's
decision to give the Defense Department and other agencies an early role in the process adds to
years of delay in acting on harmful chemicals and jeopardizes the program's credibility, the
Government Accountability Office concluded. At issue is the EPA's screening of chemicals used in
everything from household products to rocket fuel to determine if they pose serious risk of cancer
or other illnesses. A new review process begun by the White House in 2004 is adding more
speed bumps for EPA scientists, the GAO said in its report. A formal policy effectively
doubling the number of steps was adopted two weeks ago. Cancer risk assessments for
nearly a dozen major chemicals are now years overdue, the GAO said, blaming the new
multiagency reviews for some of the delay. GAO investigators said extensive involvement by EPA
managers, White House budget officials and other agencies has eroded the independence of EPA
scientists charged with determining the health risks posed by chemicals. The Pentagon, the
Energy Department, NASA and other agencies -- all of which could be severely affected by EPA
risk findings -- are being allowed to participate "at almost every step in the assessment process,"
said the GAO. Those agencies, their private contractors and manufacturers of the chemicals face
restrictions and major cleanup requirements, depending on the EPA's scientific determinations.
Note: For many other revealing reports on health issues, click here.
Congress Forgets Ban on Pet Projects

2008-03-31, Associated Press
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hIQRyA_LQgDYhjkXMc7f7EIacQHwD8VOOJ5G0
Get out the trough, it's feeding time. Congress has decided that an election year with recession
written all over it is not the time to be giving up those job-producing "pork" projects bemoaned by
both parties' presidential candidates. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has quietly shelved the idea of
a one-year moratorium on so-called earmarks, the $18 billion or so in pet projects that lawmakers
sent to their home states this year. Senators in both parties have voted to kill the idea. The
response to the Senate vote from rank-and-file lawmakers: They sent in so many last-minute
earmark requests that a House Appropriations Committee web site seized up and the
deadline for requesting pork had to be extended. Earmarks for road and bridge projects,
contracts for local defense companies and grants to local governments and nonprofits can mean
jobs back home. Then there's the political boost that lawmakers running for re-election reap from
earmarks, especially endangered freshmen like Nancy Boyda, D-Kan. Boyda requested 67
earmarks this spring, ranging from $13,800 to help the Erie Police Department purchase
surveillance cameras to $8.5 million for Kansas-produced ammunition for NATO allies fighting in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Few if any of the 12 spending bills that carry earmarks are likely to be sent
to President Bush before then, much less be signed by him. One possible exception is the annual
defense appropriations bill, slated to exceed $500 billion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1. The
... version passed last year contained $6 billion in earmarks disclosed by lawmakers, according to
Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group that tracks earmarks closely.
Note: Isn't it strange that this important story by the Associated Press was not picked up by most
major newspapers? For many revealing reports on government corruption from reliable sources,
click here.
President weakens espionage oversight

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/03/14/president_we...
Almost 32 years to the day after President Ford created an independent Intelligence Oversight
Board made up of private citizens with top-level clearances to ferret out illegal spying activities,
President Bush issued an executive order that stripped the board of much of its authority. The
White House did not say why it was necessary to change the rules governing the board when it
issued Bush's order [on February 29]. But critics say Bush's order is consistent with a pattern of
steps by the administration that have systematically scaled back Watergate-era intelligence
reforms. "It's quite clear that the Bush administration officials who were around in the 1970s
are settling old scores now," said Tim Sparapani, senior legislative counsel to the American Civil
Liberties Union. "Here they are even preventing oversight within the executive branch. They
have closed the books on the post-Watergate era." Ford created the board following a 1975-76
investigation by Congress into domestic spying, assassination operations, and other abuses by
intelligence agencies. The probe prompted fierce battles between Congress and the Ford
administration, whose top officials included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the current
president's father, George H. W. Bush. Some analysts said the order is just the latest example of
actions the administration has taken since the 2001 terrorist attacks that have scaled back
intelligence reforms enacted in the 1970s. Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr., the former chief counsel to
the Senate committee that undertook the 1975-76 investigation into intelligence abuses, said "It's
profoundly disappointing if you understand American history, and it's profoundly harmful to the
United States."
Note: For many key articles on government secrecy, click here.
Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2008/03/06/top_iraq_contractor_skir...
Kellogg Brown & Root, the nation's top Iraq war contractor and until last year a subsidiary of
Halliburton Corp., has avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and
Social Security taxes by hiring workers through shell companies based in [the Cayman Islands].
More than 21,000 people working for KBR in Iraq - including about 10,500 Americans - are listed
as employees of two companies that exist in a computer file on the fourth floor of a building on a
palm-studded boulevard here in the Caribbean. Neither company has an office or phone number in
the Cayman Islands. The Defense Department has known since at least 2004 that KBR was
avoiding taxes by declaring its American workers as employees of Cayman Islands shell
companies. With an estimated $16 billion in contracts, KBR is by far the largest contractor in Iraq,
with eight times the work of its nearest competitor. The no-bid contract it received in 2002 to
rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure and a multibillion-dollar contract to provide support services
to troops have long drawn scrutiny because Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's
chief executive from 1995 until he joined the Republican ticket with President Bush in 2000.
The largest of the Cayman Islands shell companies - called Service Employers International Inc.,
which is now listed as having more than 20,000 workers in Iraq, according to KBR - was created
two years before Cheney became Halliburton's chief executive. But a second Cayman Islands
company called Overseas Administrative Services, which now is listed as the employer of 1,020
mostly managerial workers in Iraq, was established two months after Cheney's appointment.
Note: To read a powerful personal statement about the reality of war profiteering by a highly
decorated Marine Corps general, click here.
U.S. tops world in prison inmates

2008-02-29, San Francisco Chronicle/Washington Post
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/29/MN98VARN7.DTL
More than 1 percent of adult Americans are in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state
governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal
government, according to a report released Thursday. With more than 2.3 million people behind
bars at the start of 2008, the United States leads the world in both the number and the
percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving even far more populous China a distant
second, noted the report by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States. The ballooning prison
population is largely the result of tougher state and federal sentencing laws enacted since the mid1980s. Minorities have been hit particularly hard: One in 9 black men age 20 to 34 is behind bars.
For black women age 35 to 39, the figure is 1 in 100, compared with 1 in 355 white women in the
same age group. When it comes to preventing repeat offenses by nonviolent criminals - who make
up about half of the incarcerated population - alternative punishments such as community
supervision and mandatory drug counseling that are far less expensive may prove just as or more
effective than jail time. About 91 percent of incarcerated adults are under state or local jurisdiction,
and the report documents the trade-offs state governments have faced as they have devoted ever
larger shares of their budgets to house them. For instance, over the past two decades, state
spending on corrections (adjusted for inflation) increased by 127 percent, while spending on higher
education rose by 21 percent.
U.S. expanding the law - domestic and foreign - to benefit corporations

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/17/EDR1V0LCD.DTL
As a U.S. taxpayer, you may be contributing to fewer cheap drugs on international shelves. Public
dollars support the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the trade agency with authority to
pressure foreign governments to change their domestic intellectual property laws. As such, the
agency actively presses for laws that would keep generic drugs out of markets worldwide.
Congress is considering legislation to create a separate executive branch office dedicated to using
government resources for lobbying other countries to change their laws, sometimes exclusively to
benefit certain U.S. companies. That's a bad idea for patients here and abroad, because it would
give the U.S. government more power in an area where it should instead have less. The trade
agency's interpretation of what other countries' domestic laws need to cover expands beyond the
broadest definitions within U.S. law. To give one example, data gathered during clinical trials of
new drugs are not protected by copyright, patent or trademark in the United States. The Food and
Drug Administration restricts use of test results finding that a brand-name drug is safe when
considering the safety of identical generic drugs. The trade representative is using its authority to
press for comparable rules restricting the approval process for generic drugs in other countries. It
doesn't take much sleuthing to follow the money back to the U.S. pharmaceutical
manufacturers on the trade agency's advisory panel, who can maintain monopolist profits
while a generic drug is blocked from the market in Guatemala, Malaysia or any of the dozen
other countries that the trade agency is pressuring to adopt U.S.-style restrictions on
generic drug approval.
Note: For more reports on the power of the pharmaceutical industry to influence government
policy, click here.
Fraud Crackdown Comes With a Loophole

A Bush administration plan to crack down on contract fraud has a multibillion-dollar loophole: The
proposal to force companies to report abuse of taxpayer money will not apply to work overseas,
including projects to secure and rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. For decades, contractors have been
asked to report internal fraud or overpayment on government-funded projects. Compliance has
been voluntary, and over the past 15 years the number of company-reported fraud cases has
declined steadily. Now, the Justice Department wants to force companies to notify the government
if they find evidence of contract abuse of more than $5 million. Failure to comply could make a
company ineligible for future government work. The proposal, now in the final approval stages,
specifically exempts "contracts to be performed outside the United States," according to a notice
published last month in the Federal Register. Critics including the watchdog group Taxpayers
Against Fraud said the overseas exemption raises suspicions. "I hate to sound cynical, but what
lobbyist working for a contractor in Iraq wanted this get-out-of-jail card?" asked Patrick
Burns, spokesman for the government watchdog group. "I'm not saying that's the way it
went - I'm just suggesting that's the most logical line to draw. I think somebody's got some
explaining to do." After the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. poured billions of dollars
into projects [in] those nations. With the money came the fraud. At least $14 million has been lost
in bribes alone over the past five years in Iraq and Afghanistan. An estimated $350 billion is spent
on government contracts annually, according to the White House Office of Federal Procurement
Policy.
Note: For many additional reports from reliable sources on war profiteering, click here.
New UFO Sighting Reported In Stephenville Texas

2008-02-12, washingtonpost.com
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/02/new_ufo_sighting_reported_in_s...
The truth may be out there, but, when it comes to UFO stories, it is sure hard to find. Conjecture
breeds conspiracy theories. Any official denial can be labeled a cover-up. In the end, it often boils
down to a he-said-she-said scenario. Such is the case in Stephenville, Texas, a small, rural
community thrust into the spotlight after several unexplained disturbances in January. Though that
spotlight has now faded, the town remains altered. Some members of the community want to
move on; others cannot let go. And some, if you believe them, say that UFOs are still there.
According to Angelia Joiner, the reporter who wrote the original UFO stories, there was another
UFO sighting on Saturday. "If the military is testing a secret military device, why do they keep
doing it here?" she asked me. "If it's not a secret why do they keep scaring the bejesus out
of people?" Adding a further wrinkle to this story, Joiner was fired from The Empire-Tribune
a week ago. She claims she had been told to back off the story and thinks the town's "upper crust"
was "embarrassed" by all the attention. The Empire-Tribune has avoided comment, which of
course only fans the flames of the conspiracy theories. For its part, the military has done itself no
favors, first denying that it had any aircraft in the area, then flip-flopping a few days later -- after
more witnesses came forward. A spokesperson blamed internal miscommunication for the mix-up.
Others, including CNN's Larry King, have asked whether it wasn't a cover-up. But who can we
believe? The truth remains unidentified.
Note: As revealed in this commentary, the courageous reporter, Angelia Joiner, who gave the
Stephenville UFO story legs and led to more sales of her newspaper than ever before, has now
been fired. To read highly revealing information about this bizarre twist, click here and here.
Ex-9/11 Panel Chief Denies Secret White House Ties

2008-01-30, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4218157
The former executive director of the 9/11 Commission denies explosive charges of undisclosed
ties to the Bush White House or interference with the panel's report. The charges are ... contained
in New York Times reporter Philip Shenon's [new] book, The Commission: The Uncensored History
of the 9/11 Investigation, [and are] confirmed by the book's publisher. [When] 9/11 Commission cochairs [Thomas] Kean and Lee Hamilton hired former Condoleezza Rice aide Philip Zelikow to be
executive director, Zelikow failed to tell them ... that he was "instrumental" in demoting Richard
Clarke, the onetime White House counterterrorism czar. In his book, Shenon also says that while
working for the panel, Zelikow appears to have had private conversations with former White
House political director Karl Rove, despite a ban on such communication. Shenon reports
that Zelikow later ordered his assistant to stop keeping a log of his calls. Zelikow told ABC
News he was under no prohibition that barred his conversations with Rove, and did not recall
asking his assistant to stop logging his calls. Shenon directed calls to his publisher, Twelve Books,
a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group. Cary Goldstein, a spokesman for Hachette, confirmed the
[above] characterization of the book's contents, but said he could not confirm direct quotes. "It's
not a surprise," Goldstein said when asked his reaction to the leak of the book's details before its
Feb. 5 publication date. "I think people are really curious to see what the report had looked like if it
hadn't been neutered in [the panel's] effort to be unanimous."
Note: Philip Zelikow co-authored a 1998 Foreign Affairs article, "Catastrophic Terrorism: Tackling
the New Danger," which warned of a possible catastrophic attack on the World Trade Center and
accurately predicted the governmental aftermath of 9/11. And a highly significant fact is that before
he was selected as Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission, he authored the Bush
administration's National Security Strategy of the United States of America for 2002. This
document for the first time asserted a national policy of pre-emptive war (the "Bush Doctrine"), and
paved the way for the war on Iraq.
FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft

2008-01-20, Sunday Times (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
The FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt
government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets. The assertion
follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI
whistleblower, who worked on the agencys investigation of the network. She says the FBI was
investigating a Turkish- and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal
nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries
such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. One of the documents relating to the case was marked
203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information
request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The
Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of
the file. The freedom of information request ... was made ... by an American human rights group
called the Liberty Coalition, acting on a tip-off it received from an anonymous correspondent.
Edmonds [said] that members of the Turkish political and diplomatic community in the US had
been actively acquiring nuclear secrets. They often acted as a conduit, she said, for Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Pakistans spy agency, because they attracted less suspicion. She claimed
corrupt government officials helped the network, and venues such as the American-Turkish
Council in Washington were used as drop-off points. Edmonds is the subject of a number of statesecret gags preventing her from talking further about the investigation she witnessed. [These
gags were] invoked not to protect sensitive diplomatic relations but criminal activities involving US
officials who were endangering US national security, she said.
Note: For an important commentary by Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg on this
Sunday Times story, click here. For other excellent media articles on the courageous Ms.
Edmonds, click here.
For sale: Wests deadly nuclear secrets

A whistleblower has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials
allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets. Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old
former Turkish-language translator for the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted
conversations while based at the agencys Washington field office. Edmonds described how
foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in
sensitive military and nuclear institutions. Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says
she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was
being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black
market buyers, including Pakistan. The name of the official who has held a series of top
government posts is known to The Sunday Times. He strongly denies the claims. However,
Edmonds said: He was aiding foreign operatives against US interests by passing them highly
classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange
for money, position and political objectives. She claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence
against senior Pentagon officials including household names who were aiding foreign agents.
If you made public all the information that the FBI have on this case, you will see very high-level
people going through criminal trials, she said. Her story shows just how much the West was
infiltrated by foreign states seeking nuclear secrets. It illustrates how western government officials
turned a blind eye to, or were even helping, countries such as Pakistan acquire bomb technology.
Note: Although not naming the high-level individuals it acknowledges were identified by Edmonds,
this important expos in the London Sunday Times should be read in its entirety for the many other
details of her allegations that it reveals. For an excellent commentary on these new revelations,
click here. For many revealing articles on the ongoing efforts by longtime whistleblower Sibel
Edmonds to tell her story, click here.
Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/washington/23habeas.html?ex=1356066000&en=5...
A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000
Americans he suspected of disloyalty. Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12
days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons.
Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to protect the
country against treason, espionage and sabotage. The F.B.I would apprehend all individuals
potentially dangerous to national security, Hoovers proposal said. The arrests would be
carried out under a master warrant attached to a list of names provided by the bureau.
The names were part of an index that Hoover had been compiling for years. The index now
contains approximately twelve thousand individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven per cent
are citizens of the United States, he wrote. In order to make effective these apprehensions, the
proclamation suspends the Writ of Habeas Corpus, it said. Habeas corpus, the right to seek relief
from illegal detention, has been a fundamental principle of law for seven centuries. Hoovers plan
called for the permanent detention of the roughly 12,000 suspects at military bases as well as in
federal prisons. The prisoners eventually would have had a right to a hearing under the Hoover
plan. The hearing board would have been a panel made up of one judge and two citizens. But the
hearings will not be bound by the rules of evidence, his letter noted. The only modern precedent
for Hoovers plan was the Palmer Raids of 1920, named after the attorney general at the time. The
raids, executed in large part by Hoovers intelligence division, swept up thousands of people
suspected of being communists and radicals.
Note: For understandable reasons, many are concerned at how the current administration has
weakened habeas corpus in recent years. Any cititzen who is declared an enemy combatant is no
longer protected.
If a Scandal Has Legs, It's on the List

Tough competition for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's inaugural list of the
year's top 10 ethics scandals. The government watchdog's list, posted at
http://www.citizensforethics.org, pays special attention to scandals that appear likely to blow into
something bigger next year, said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director. The list "seemed
like a good way at the end of the year to keep track of what happened and what's on the
horizon," Sloan said. The scandals, with headings taken from the CREW report, are not
listed in order of magnitude. They're all pretty bad, the CREW people say. 1. No new
enforcement mechanisms for congressional ethics. 2. Ted Stevens still sitting on Senate
Appropriations. 3. Senate Ethics Committee looking into Sen. Larry Craig, but not Sen. David
Vitter. 4. Millions of missing White House e-mails still unaccounted for. 5. Rep. Murtha's abuse of
the earmarking process remains unchecked. 6. Lurita Doan remains chief of GSA despite illegal
conduct. 7. White House ... covering up its role in the firings of the U.S. attorneys. 8. No Child Left
Behind funds directed to Bush fundraisers who provide inadequate reading materials for kids. 9.
Court decision regarding search of Jefferson's office limits ability of Justice Department to
investigate corrupt lawmakers. 10. FEMA knowingly let Katrina victims live in hazardous trailers.
Note: For a treasure trove of powerful reports on government corruption, click here.
Here come the thought police

2007-11-19, Baltimore Sun (Baltimore's leading newspaper)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.thoughtpolice19nov19,0,2...
With overwhelming bipartisan support, Rep. Jane Harman's "Violent Radicalization and
Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act" passed the House 404-6 late last month. Swift Senate
passage appears certain. Not since the "Patriot Act" of 2001 has any bill so threatened our
constitutionally guaranteed rights. Diverse groups vigorously oppose Ms. Harman's effort to stifle
dissent. Unfortunately, the mainstream press and leading presidential candidates remain silent.
Ms. Harman ... thinks it likely that the United States will face a native brand of terrorism in the
immediate future and offers a plan to deal with ideologically based violence. But her plan is a
greater danger to us than the threats she fears. Her bill tramples constitutional rights by creating a
commission with sweeping investigative power and a mandate to propose laws prohibiting
whatever the commission labels "homegrown terrorism." The proposed commission is a menace
through its power to hold hearings, take testimony and administer oaths, an authority granted to
even individual members of the commission - little Joe McCarthys - who will tour the country to
hold their own private hearings. Ms. Harman's proposal includes an absurd attack on the Internet
... and legalizes an insidious infiltration of targeted organizations. While Ms. Harman denies that
her proposal creates "thought police," it defines "homegrown terrorism" as "planned" or
"threatened" use of force to coerce the government or the people in the promotion of
"political or social objectives." That means that no force need actually have occurred as
long as the government charges that the individual or group thought about doing it. Any
social or economic reform is fair game. The bill defines "violent radicalization" as promoting an
"extremist belief system." But American governments, state and national, have a long history of
interpreting radical "belief systems" as inevitably leading to violence to facilitate change.
Note: For many major media reports on serious new threats to civil liberties, click here.
Blackwater's Owner Has Spies for Hire

The Prince Group, the holding company that owns Blackwater Worldwide, has been building an
operation that will [develop] intelligence ... for clients in industry and government. The operation,
Total Intelligence Solutions, has assembled a roster of former ... high-ranking figures from
agencies such as the CIA and defense intelligence. Its chairman is Cofer Black, the former head of
counterterrorism at CIA known for his leading role in many of the agency's more controversial
programs, including the rendition and interrogation of ... suspects and the detention of some of
them in secret prisons overseas. Its chief executive is Robert Richer, a former CIA associate
deputy director of operations who was heavily involved in running the agency's role in the Iraq war.
Because of its roster and its ties to owner Erik Prince, the multimillionaire former Navy SEAL, the
company's thrust into this world highlights the blurring of lines between government, industry and
activities formerly reserved for agents operating in the shadows. Richer, for instance, once
served as the chief of the CIA's Near East division and is said to have ties to King Abdullah
of Jordan. The CIA had spent millions helping train Jordan's intelligence service in
exchange for information. Now Jordan has hired Blackwater to train its special forces.
"Cofer can open doors," said Richer, who served 22 years at the CIA. "I can open doors. We can
generally get in to see who we need to see. We ... can deal with the right minister or person."
"They have the skills and background to do anything anyone wants," said RJ Hillhouse, who writes
a national security blog called The Spy Who Billed Me. "There's no oversight. They're an
independent company offering freelance espionage services. They're rent-a-spies."
Edits To Global Warming Testimony Slammed
2007-10-25, CBS News

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill blasted the Bush administration for forcing edits in the testimony of a
government expert speaking to Congress about the health effects of global warming. When [Julie
Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,] testified about the health
effects of global warming, her testimony was a bit vague. "Weather is inextricably linked to health,"
she said. It turned out six pages of specific warnings about diseases that could spread because of
global warming were edited out by the White House, as well as a line that the CDC considered this
a serious public health concern that remained "largely unaddressed." When a draft of Gerberding's
testimony went to the White House for review, two sections - "Climate Change is a Public Health
Concern" and "Climate Change Vulnerability" - were removed, cutting the 12-page document in
half. The original draft contained much greater detail on the potential disease and other health
effects of climate change than was in either Gerberding's prepared remarks or in her other
comments during the hearing. "The public health effects of climate change remain largely
unaddressed. CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," the draft says. The
phrase was not in the testimony given the committee or in her other remarks at the hearing. It
appears the White House has denied a Congressional committee access to scientific
information about health and global warming," said Dr. Michael McCally, Executive Director of
Physicians for Social Responsibility. "This misuse of science and abuse of the legislative
process is deplorable.
4 colonels relieved of command over nuclear-armed flight

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/10/20/4_colonels_r...
Four Air Force colonels have been relieved of their commands and more than 65 lowerranking officers and airmen have been disciplined over a series of errors that led to a B-52
flight from North Dakota to Louisiana with six nuclear-armed cruise missiles that no one
realized were under the wing. The Fifth Bomb Wing commander at Minot, Colonel Bruce Emig,
was removed from command, along with his chief munitions officer and the operations officer of
the B-52 unit at Barksdale. The munitions squadron commander at Minot was relieved of
command shortly after the incident. The problems began with a breakdown in the formal
scheduling process used to prepare the AGM-129 cruise missiles in question for decommissioning.
In March, the Pentagon decided to retire it in favor of an older AGM-86. Part of the preparation
involved removing the W-80 nuclear warhead and replacing it with a steel dummy on missiles to be
flown aboard B-52s to Barksdale for destruction. On the morning of Aug. 29, the loading crew at
Minot used a paper schedule that was out of date when members picked up 12 missiles from a
guarded weapons-storage hangar, six with dummy warheads and six they did not realize had
nuclear warheads. The trailer that would carry the pylons to the B-52 arrived early, and its crew did
not inspect the missiles as it should have before loading them on the trailer. The driver called the
munitions control center to verify the numbers, but the staff there failed to check them. At the
aircraft, the crew that loaded the pylons, one under each wing, failed again to check the missiles,
which have a small glass porthole to view whether a dummy or nuclear warhead is installed. The
next morning, Aug. 30, the plane's navigator failed to do a complete check of the missiles, as
required, looking under only one wing and not the one where the nuclear-armed missiles were.
Note: How is it possible that 65 military people were involved in this? Could it be that they were
part of a rogue operation that was uncovered? There's more here than meets the eye.
Cheney's Law
2007-10-16, Frontline (PBS)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cheney/etc/synopsis.html
For three decades Vice President Dick Cheney conducted a secretive, behind-closed-doors
campaign to give the president virtually unlimited wartime power. Finally, in the aftermath of 9/11,
the Justice Department and the White House made a number of controversial legal decisions.
Orchestrated by Cheney and his lawyer David Addington, the department interpreted executive
power in an expansive and extraordinary way, granting President George W. Bush the power to
detain, interrogate, torture, wiretap and spy -- without congressional approval or judicial review.
"The vice president believes that Congress has very few powers to actually constrain the
president and the executive branch," former Justice Department attorney Marty Lederman
tells Frontline. "He believes the president should have the final word -- indeed the only
word -- on all matters within the executive branch." After Sept. 11, Cheney and Addington
were determined to implement their vision -- in secret. The vice president and his counsel found an
ally in John Yoo, a lawyer at the Justice Department's extraordinarily powerful Office of Legal
Counsel. In concert with Addington, Yoo wrote memoranda authorizing the president to act with
unparalleled authority. "There were extravagant and unnecessary claims of presidential power that
were wildly overbroad to the tasks at hand," [former Assistant Attorney General Jack L. Goldsmith]
says. As the White House and Congress continue to face off over executive privilege, the terrorist
surveillance program, and the firing of U.S. attorneys, Frontline tells the story of what's formed the
views of the man behind what some view as the most ambitious project to reshape the power of
the president in American history.
Note: To watch this revealing Frontline video, click here.
U.S. worked on secret Cold War weapon

In one of the longest-held secrets of the Cold War, the U.S. Army explored the potential for
using radioactive poisons to assassinate "important individuals" such as military or civilian
leaders, according to newly declassified documents. Approved at the highest levels of the
Army in 1948, the effort was a well-hidden part of the military's pursuit of a "new concept of
warfare" using radioactive materials from atomic bombmaking to contaminate swathes of enemy
land or to target military bases, factories or troop formations. Military historians who have
researched the broader radiological warfare program said in interviews that they had never before
seen evidence that it included pursuit of an assassination weapon. No targeted individuals are
mentioned in references to the assassination weapon in the government documents declassified in
response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the AP in 1995. The decades-old
records were released recently to the AP, heavily censored by the government to remove specifics
about radiological warfare agents and other details. The documents give no indication whether a
radiological weapon for targeting high-ranking individuals was ever used or even developed by the
United States. They leave unclear how far the Army project went. One memo from December 1948
outlined the project and another memo that month indicated it was under way. The main sections
of several subsequent progress reports in 1949 were removed by censors before release to the
AP. The broader effort on offensive uses of radiological warfare apparently died by about 1954, at
least in part because of the Defense Department's conviction that nuclear weapons were a better
bet. Whether the work migrated to another agency such as the CIA is unclear.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on government-sponsored assassinations
and assassination programs, click here.
Supreme Court denies hearing for fired 'honk for peace' teacher
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/02/MNEASHSN0.DTL
An elementary-school teacher who was dismissed after telling her class on the eve of the Iraq war
that "I honk for peace" lost [her] U.S. Supreme Court appeal. The justices ... denied a hearing to
Deborah Mayer, who had appealed lower-court decisions upholding an Indiana school district's
refusal to renew her contract in June 2003. The most-recent ruling, by a federal appeals court in
Chicago, said teachers in public schools have no constitutional right to express personal opinions
in the classroom. A teacher's speech is "the commodity she sells to an employer in exchange for
her salary," the [court] said in January. "The Constitution does not enable teachers to present
personal views to captive audiences against the instructions of elected officials." The appellate
ruling is ... one of a series of recent decisions taking a narrow view of free speech for teachers,
other government employees and students. Mayer, who now teaches sixth grade in Florida, was
distraught. "I don't know why anybody would want to be a teacher if you can be fired for
saying four little words," she said Monday. "I'm supposed to teach the Constitution to my
students. I'm supposed to tell them that the Constitution guarantees free speech. How am I
going to justify that?" She said her class of fourth- through sixth-graders was discussing an
article in the children's edition of Time magazine, part of the school-approved curriculum, on
protests against U.S. preparations for an invasion of Iraq in January 2003. When a student asked
her whether she took part in demonstrations, Mayer said, she replied that she blew her horn
whenever she saw a "Honk for Peace" sign, and that peaceful solutions should be sought before
going to war. After a parent complained, the principal ordered Mayer never to discuss the war or
her political views in class.
Note: To read further reliable reports of threats to our civil liberties, click here.
Report Says Firm Sought to Cover Up Iraq Shootings

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/washington/02blackwater.html?ex=1348977600&...
Employees of Blackwater USA have engaged in nearly 200 shootings in Iraq since 2005, in [the]
vast majority of cases firing their weapons from moving vehicles without stopping to count the
dead or assist the wounded, according to a new report from Congress. In at least two cases,
Blackwater paid victims family members who complained, and sought to cover up other
episodes, the Congressional report said. It said State Department officials approved the
payments in the hope of keeping the shootings quiet. In one case last year, the department
helped Blackwater spirit an employee out of Iraq less than 36 hours after the employee, while
drunk, killed a bodyguard for one of Iraqs two vice presidents on Christmas Eve. The report ...
adds weight to complaints from Iraqi officials, American military officers and Blackwaters
competitors that company guards have taken an aggressive, trigger-happy approach to their work
and have repeatedly acted with reckless disregard for Iraqi life. But the report is also harshly
critical of the State Department for exercising virtually no restraint or supervision of the private
security companys 861 employees in Iraq. There is no evidence in the documents that the
committee has reviewed that the State Department sought to restrain Blackwaters actions, raised
concerns about the number of shooting episodes involving Blackwater or the companys high rate
of shooting first, or detained Blackwater contractors for investigation, the report states. Based on
437 internal Blackwater incident reports as well as internal State Department correspondence, the
report said Blackwaters use of force was frequent and extensive, resulting in significant
casualties and property damage. The State Department ... has paid Blackwater more than $832
million for security services in Iraq and elsewhere, under a diplomatic security contract it shares
with two other companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy.
Bleakonomics
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Stiglitz-t.html?ex=1348804800&...
The Shock Doctrine is [Naomi] Kleins ambitious look at the economic history of the last 50 years
and the rise of free-market fundamentalism around the world. Disaster capitalism, as she calls it,
is a violent system that ... requires terror to do its job. Extreme capitalism loves a blank slate, often
finding its opening after crises or shocks. Klein compares radical capitalist economic policy to
shock therapy administered by psychiatrists. She interviews Gail Kastner, a victim of covert C.I.A.
experiments in interrogation techniques that were carried out by the scientist Ewen Cameron in the
1950s. His idea was to use electroshock therapy to break down patients. Once complete
depatterning had been achieved, the patients could be reprogrammed. For Klein the larger
lessons are clear: Countries are shocked by wars, terror attacks, coups dtat and
natural disasters. Then they are shocked again by corporations and politicians who
exploit the fear and disorientation of this first shock to push through economic shock
therapy. People who dare to resist are shocked for a third time, by police, soldiers and
prison interrogators. Klein offers an account of Milton Friedman she calls him the other
doctor shock. In the 1950s, as Cameron was conducting his experiments, the Chicago School
was developing the ideas that [dominate capitalist planning today]. She quotes the Chilean
economist Orlando Letelier on the inner harmony between the terror of the Pinochet regime and
its free-market policies. Letelier said that Milton Friedman shared responsibility for the regimes
crimes, rejecting his argument that he was only offering technical advice. Letelier was killed in
1976 by a car bomb planted in Washington [DC]. For Klein, he was another victim of the Chicago
Boys who wanted to impose free-market capitalism on the region. In the Southern Cone, where
contemporary capitalism was born, the war on terror was a war against all obstacles to the new
order, she writes.
Note: For highly revealing, verifiable information on government mind control programs, click here.
Consumers lose most credit card disputes

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-19878484.htm
A consumer advocacy group [has] released a study alleging credit card companies use arbitration
firms that they know will rarely rule in favor of consumers. Nearly all credit card customer service
agreements mandate binding arbitration because it is a cheaper and faster way to resolve
disputes, industry officials say. Public Citizen though says the companies hire arbitration firms that
almost always rule in favor of the card issuer. Arbitration firms used by companies such as
Mastercard Inc., Visa, Discover Financial Services LLC and American Express Co. ruled
against consumers in 32,300 of 34,000 disputes that went to arbitration, according to Public
Citizen's study. 'This is a system that is unfair to consumers,' Joan Claybrook, the group's
president said at a press briefing. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. and Rep Hank Johnson, D-Ga.,
attended the briefing to say they have introduced legislation that would let credit card customers
choose arbitration or civil court in a dispute. 'People shouldn't have to give up their legal rights just
to get a credit card,' Claybrook said. Public Citizen's study singled out arbitration disputes in
California because it is the only state that requires arbitration resolutions be disclosed. Public
Citizen also singled out the Minneapolis-based National Arbitration Forum, which has arbitrated
many of the disputes analyzed.
Doctors accuse US of 'unethical practices' at Guantanamo Bay

2007-09-07, Independent (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2938962.ece
More than 260 doctors from around the world have launched an unprecedented attack on the
American medical establishment for its failure to condemn unethical practices by medical
practitioners at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. In a letter to The Lancet, the doctors
from 16 countries, including Britain and America, say the failure of the US regulatory authorities to
act is "damaging the reputation of US military medicine". They compare the actions of the
military doctors, whom they accuse of being involved in the force-feeding of prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay and of turning a blind eye to evidence of torture in Iraq and elsewhere, to
those of the South African security police involved in the death of the anti-apartheid activist
Steve Biko 30 years ago. The group highlighted the force-feeding of prisoners at Guantanamo
Bay last year and suggested the physicians involved should be referred to their professional
bodies for breaching internationally accepted ethical guidelines. The doctors wrote: "No healthcare
worker in the War on Terror has been charged or convicted of any significant offence despite
numerous instances documented including fraudulent record-keeping on detainees who have died
as a result of failed interrogations ... The attitude of the US military establishment appears to be
one of 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'." The US introduced the policy of force-feeding, in
which prisoners are strapped to a chair and a tube is forced down the throat into the stomach, after
more than 100 prisoners went on hunger strike in 2005. "Fundamental to doctors' responsibilities
in attending a hunger striker is the recognition that prisoners have a right to refuse treatment," the
doctors wrote.
Destabilizing Iraq, Broadly Defined

Be careful what you say and whom you help -- especially when it comes to the Iraq war and the
Iraqi government. President Bush issued an executive order last week titled "Blocking Property of
Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq." It could be interpreted as targeting the
financial assets of any American who directly or indirectly aids someone who has committed or
"poses a significant risk of committing" violent acts "threatening the peace or stability of Iraq" or
who undermines "efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform" in the war-torn
country. The text of the order, if interpreted broadly, could cast a far bigger net to include not just
those who commit violent acts or pose the risk of doing so in Iraq, but also third parties -- such as
U.S. citizens in this country -- who knowingly or unknowingly aid or encourage such people. The
targeting of not just those who support perpetrators of violence but also those who support
individuals who "pose a significant risk" of committing violence goes far beyond normal
legal language related to intent and could be applied in a highly arbitrary manner, said Bruce
Fein, a senior Justice Department official in the Reagan administration. Fein also questioned the
executive order's inclusion of third parties, such as U.S. citizens who assist, sponsor or make "any
contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services" to assist people on the Treasury list. "What
about a lawyer hired to get someone off the list?" Fein asked. The Treasury Department's Office of
Foreign Assets Control keeps a "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons" roll that
includes those covered by several such executive orders. It most recently ran to 276 pages.
Note: To read the full text of the Executive Order, "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who
Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq," click here.
Is this the real president of the United States?

2007-07-23, Guardian (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2132603,00.html
Obscurity has been Cheney's hallmark since he took office in January 2001, and that's the
way he likes it. "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his
hole?" he quipped in 2004. "It's a nice way to operate, actually." Cheney is ... the most
powerful vice- president in American history. "He has expanded the power of the vice-president
fiftyfold," says Bruce Fein, a lawyer who served in the Reagan administration. So dominant has he
been in a traditionally submissive role that some commentators are now wondering whether it is
time to drop the "V" from his title. "Cheney is de facto president in all areas of policy, bar just a few
aspects of the domestic agenda," Fein says. It was obvious the Cheney vice-presidency was never
going to stick to convention from the day in July 2000 George Bush announced his running mate.
After all, the man who recommended Cheney for the job was ... Cheney. The Bush cabinet was
formed in Cheney's image. Figures who were to become seminal -- Donald Rumsfeld, Paul
Wolfowitz, John Bolton, Scooter Libby -- were all Cheney's people. September 11 2001 ... was the
moment for which Cheney had been preparing for many years. Since his days as White House
chief-of-staff to Gerald Ford, living with the fallout of Nixon's destruction, Cheney had harboured
ambitions to hit back at Congress and reinstate the untrammelled authority of the president. Within
hours of the attacks on New York and Washington, while Bush was still floundering around in Air
Force One, Cheney had assembled a legal team within his own office and was actively planning
how to roll back the restraints on the president's executive power that had been introduced in the
wake of Vietnam and Watergate.
Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the
dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be
allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the
president has invoked executive privilege. Under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the
House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, "whose duty it
shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action." But administration officials argued
yesterday that Congress has no power to force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in
cases, such as the prosecutor firings, in which the president has declared that testimony or
documents are protected from release by executive privilege. Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public
policy at George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the
administration's stance "astonishing. That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in
this system of separation of powers," Rozell said. "What this statement is saying is the president's
claim of executive privilege trumps all." The administration's stance "is almost Nixonian in its
scope and breadth of interpreting its power. Congress has no recourse at all, in the
president's view. . . . It's allowing the executive to define the scope and limits of its own
powers," [Rozell said].
Gov't settles with CIA brainwashing survivor

2007-07-03, CTV (Canada's largest private broadcaster)
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070703/cia_lawsuit_0707...
A Montreal senior who survived Cold War-era brainwashing experiments picked up a cheque for
compensation from the [Canadian] federal government on Tuesday. Janine Huard, 79, accepted
an offer to end her class-action lawsuit against the federal government, which jointly funded the
experiments with the [U.S.] Central Intelligence Agency. The terms of the settlement are
confidential, but Huard says it will allow her to live out her days in peace, with some peace of mind.
"I was really so exhausted from fighting for so many years,'' Huard told The Canadian Press in an
interview. Huard was a young mother of four suffering from post-partum depression when she
checked herself into McGill's renowned Allen Memorial Institute in 1950. On and off for the next 15
years, she was one of hundreds of patients of Dr. Ewan Cameron subjected to experimental
treatments that included massive electroshock therapy, experimental pills and LSD. The
patients were induced into comas and exposed to repetitive messages for days on end to
brainwash them. Cameron pioneered a technique called psychic driving, which he believed could
erase harmful memories and rebuild psyches without psychiatric defect. The idea intrigued the
CIA, which recruited him to experiment with mind control beginning in 1950. Until 1964, Cameron
conducted a range of experiments at the McGill institute, often without the knowledge or the
permission of his patients. The experiments were part of a larger CIA program called MK-ULTRA,
which saw LSD administered to U.S. prison inmates and patrons of brothels without their
knowledge. Huard said the treatment left her unable to care for her children. She suffered memory
loss and migraines for many years.
Note: For a powerful summary of MK-ULTRA and other CIA mind-control experiments, click here.
Dead Airman's Affidavit: Roswell Aliens Were Real

2007-07-03, FOX News
Sixty years ago ... military authorities issued a press release, which began: "The many rumors
regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence officer of the 509th
Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain
possession of a disc." The headlines screamed: "Flying Disc captured by Air Force". Yet, just 24
hours later, the military changed its story and claimed the object it had first thought was a "flying
disc" was a weather balloon. The key witness was U.S. Army Maj. Jesse Marcel, the intelligence
officer who had gone to the ranch to recover the wreckage. He described the metal as being
wafer-thin but incredibly tough. It was as light as balsa wood, but couldn't be cut or burned. These
and similar accounts of the incident have largely been dismissed by all except the most dedicated
believers. But last week came an astonishing new twist to the Roswell mystery. Lt. Walter Haut
was the public-relations officer at the base in 1947 and was the man who issued the original and
subsequent press releases after the crash on the orders of the base commander, Col. William
Blanchard. Haut died in December 2005, but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his
death. Last week, the text was released. It asserts that the weather-balloon claim was a cover
story and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. He
described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies. He wasn't the first Roswell witness to
talk about alien bodies. Local undertaker Glenn Dennis had long claimed that he was contacted
by authorities at Roswell shortly after the crash and asked to provide a number of child-sized
coffins.
Note: This article abridged by FOX News was originally published in the U.K.'s popular Daily Mail.
It was written by the staff at the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense (MOD) assigned to investigate UFO
phenomenon, Nick Pope. To see his website, click here. Note also that Walter Haut revealed the
cover-up before he died. For more on this, click here. For a concise summary of highly credible
reports of UFO evidence, click here.
Roswell officer's amazing deathbed admission raises possibility that

aliens DID visit
2007-06-30, Daily Mail (U.K.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=4...
[Walter] Haut is the only one of the original participants to claim to have seen alien bodies. Haut's
affidavit talks about a high-level meeting he attended with base commander Col. William
Blanchard and the Commander of the Eighth Army Air Force, Gen. Roger Ramey. Haut states that
at this meeting, pieces of wreckage were handed around for participants to touch, with nobody
able to identify the material. Haut also spoke about a clean-up operation, where for months
afterward military personnel scoured both crash sites searching for all remaining pieces of debris,
removing them and erasing all signs that anything unusual had occurred. This ties in with claims
made by locals that debris collected as souvenirs was seized by the military. Haut then tells how
Colonel Blanchard took him to "Building 84" one of the hangars at Roswell and showed him
the craft itself. He describes a metallic egg-shaped object around 12-15 feet in length and around
6 feet wide. He said he saw no windows, wings, tail, landing gear or any other feature. He saw two
bodies on the floor, partially covered by a tarpaulin. They are described in his statement as about 4
feet tall, with disproportionately large heads. Another military witness who claimed to know
that the Roswell incident involved the crash of an alien spacecraft is Colonel Philip J.
Corso, a former Pentagon official. Corso died of a heart attack shortly after making these
claims, prompting a fresh round of conspiracy theories. Corso's story ... has support from a
number of unlikely sources, including former Canadian Minister of Defence Paul Hellyer, who
spoke out recently to say that he'd checked the story with a senior figure in the U.S. military who
confirmed it was true.
Note: WantToKnow.info does not normally summarize articles from the British tabloid Daily Mail.
This excellent article, however, was written by former U.K. Minister of Defense researcher Nick
Pope, and was republished by FOX News in an abridged form. To read Col. Corso's fascinating
tell-all book The Day After Roswell, click here. For a concise summary of highly credible reports of
UFO evidence, click here.
Food Conscious
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/27/FDGFMQJFG21.DTL
Opponents of GE [genetically engineered] food ... say problems suggested in some health
studies could take years to show up. Meanwhile, we're eating lots of GE foods anyway,
whether we know it or not -- especially in processed foods, because corn, soy and canola
are the Big 3 GE food crops." Since our government has refused to label these foods, how do we
avoid buying and eating these foods?" asks [Andrew] Kimbrell, an attorney who heads the
Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety, a vocal opponent of GE foods. His new book,
Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food ... answers that
question. For conscious eaters, the heart of the book is a 14-page guide to your local supermarket.
It tells you which foods are the most likely to contain GE ingredients (chips, snacks and baby
formula), which aren't (fruits, vegetables, wheat), and how to read labels for "hidden ingredients"
derived from corn, soy or canola (hint: look for high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin and canola
oil). A passport-size version of the guide, small enough to slide into most pockets or purses, comes
along with the book. "I wanted to give people a usable tool to avoid these foods so they don't feel
so helpless," said Kimbrell. The book isn't intended to present the pros and cons of GE foods.
Kimbrell is 100 percent against the technology and spends a lot of time in court fighting companies
like Monsanto, to keep GE crops from spreading. The Center for Food Safety also opposes
irradiation and food animal cloning, and has labored to keep industry from weakening federal
organic standards. In fact, Kimbrell is the man who calls the current administration's efforts to
protect food safety "Katrina on a plate."
Special Operations Prepared for Domestic Missions

2007-06-22, washingtonpost.com
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/06/special_operations_prepar...
The U.S. Northern Command, the military command responsible for "homeland defense," has
asked the Pentagon if it can establish its own special operations command for domestic missions.
The request ... would establish a permanent sub-command for responses to incidents of domestic
terrorism as well as other occasions where special operators may be necessary on American soil.
The establishment of a domestic special operations mission, and the preparation of contingency
plans to employ commandos in the United States, would upend decades of tradition. Military
actions within the United States are the responsibility of state militias (the National Guard), and
federal law enforcement is a function of the FBI. Employing special operations for domestic
missions sounds very ominous, and NORTHCOM's request earlier this year should receive
the closest possible Pentagon and congressional scrutiny. There's only one problem:
NORTHCOM is already doing what it has requested permission to do. When NORTHCOM
was established after 9/11 to be the military counterpart to the Department of Homeland Security,
within its headquarters staff it established a Compartmented Planning and Operations Cell (CPOC)
responsible for planning and directing a set of "compartmented" and "sensitive" operations on
U.S., Canadian and Mexican soil. In other words, these are the very special operations that
NORTHCOM is now formally asking the Pentagon to beef up into a public and acknowledged subcommand.
Osama Flight Shocker

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06212007/news/nationalnews/osama_flight_shocker_n...
Osama bin Laden was suspected of chartering a plane that carried his family and other
Saudis from the United States shortly after 9/11, according to FBI documents released
yesterday. One FBI document referred to a Ryan Air 727 plane that left Los Angeles on Sept. 19,
2001, carrying Saudi nationals. "The plane was chartered either by the Saudi Arabian royal family
or Osama bin Laden," according to the document obtained by Judicial Watch. The flight made
stops in Orlando, Washington, D.C. and Boston, and terminated in Paris. Asked about the
documents' assertion, an FBI spokesman said, "There is no new information here. Osama bin
Laden did not charter a flight out of the U.S."
Note: To read an excellent article on the implications of this brief report, click here.
FBI Terror Watch List

2007-06-13, ABC News
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/fbi_terror_watc.html
A terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million
names. Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing uncontrollably, threatening its
usefulness in the war on terror. The bureau says the number of names on its terrorist watch list is
classified. A portion of the FBI's unclassified 2008 budget request posted to the Department of
Justice Web site, however, refers to "the entire watch list of 509,000 names." A spokesman for the
interagency National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which maintains the government's list of all
suspected terrorists with links to international organizations, said they had 465,000 names
covering 350,000 individuals. Many names are different versions of the same identity. In addition to
the NCTC list, the FBI keeps a list of U.S. persons who are believed to be domestic terrorists abortion clinic bombers, for example, or firebombing environmental extremists, who have no
known tie to an international terrorist group. Combined, the NCTC and FBI compendia comprise
the watch list used by federal security screening personnel on the lookout for terrorists. While the
NCTC has made no secret of its terrorist tally, the FBI has consistently declined to tell the public
how many names are on its list. "It grows seemingly without control or limitation," said ACLU
senior legislative counsel Tim Sparapani of the terrorism watch list. Sparapani called the 509,000
figure "stunning. If we have 509,000 names on that list, the watch list is virtually useless,"
he told ABC News. "You'll be capturing innocent individuals with no connection to crime or
terror." U.S. lawmakers and their spouses have been detained because their names were on the
watch list.
Coming clean on witness protection

2007-06-05, Globe and Mail (One of the Canada's leading newspapers)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article793101.ece
The U.S. government has had to make many ... embarrassing admissions to victims of crime and
grieving family members: Just so you know, the person who just stabbed you or murdered your
relative was an agent of the state. The Mounties insist that a provision in the Witness Protection
Program Act forces them to hide problem cases. However, other witness protection programs including the provincial one in Quebec and the U.S. federal program - are quite public about their
mistakes. About 1,000 people - 700 RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) witnesses, and
about 300 from other police services - have been admitted to the program and disappeared into
new communities with new identities. It is a criminal offence to knowingly reveal, directly or
indirectly, anything about their new identities. Because of this Canadians have been barred from
seeing the dark side to protecting known criminals. For instance, one family somewhere in
Canada has no idea their loved one was killed by protected witness, a man who some
lawyers have argued didn't deserve a new identity or the more than $100,000 he was paid.
Note: For those who really want to know a deep, dark side of politics which incriminates Stockwell
Day, the former Canadian Minister of Public Safety and current Minister of International trade and
many others, see the compelling evidence provided at www.transfixed.net. For the most revealing
webpage there, click here.
Sicko? The truth about the US healthcare system

2007-06-04, The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2611736.ece
Within a few hours, Cynthia Kline was dead. She died in an American city with one of the highest
concentrations of top-flight medical specialists in the world. And it happened largely because of
America's broken health care system - one where 50 million people are entirely without insurance
coverage and tens of millions more struggle to have the treatment they need approved. As a
result, medical problems go unattended until they reach crisis point. America's health system
offers a tremendous paradox. In medical technology and in the scientific understanding of
disease, it is second-to-none. And yet many, if not most, Americans are unable to reap the
advantages of this. In fact, as The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has argued, the very
proliferation of research and high-tech equipment is part of the reason for the imbalance in
coverage between the privileged few and the increasingly underserved masses. "[The system]
compensates for higher spending on insiders, in part, by consigning more people to outsider status
--robbing Peter of basic care in order to pay for Paul's state-of-the-art treatment," Krugman wrote.
"Thus we have the cruel paradox that medical progress is bad for many Americans' health."
Having the system run by for-profit insurance companies turns out to be inefficient and expensive
as well as dehumanising. America spends more than twice as much per capita on health care as
France, and almost two and a half times as much as Britain. And yet it falls down in almost every
key indicator of public health, starting ... with infant mortality, which is 36 per cent higher than in
Britain.
'USS Liberty' veterans demand investigation

2007-06-03, Arizona Republic (Arizona's leading newspaper)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0603liberty0603....
In demanding a congressional investigation into the aborted rescue during the attack of the USS
Liberty and subsequent alleged cover-up [the following] conclusions [were] submitted in October
2003 to the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense by the USS Liberty Veterans Association, Inc.:
1. That on June 8, 1967 ... Israel launched a two-hour air and naval attack against USS Liberty ...
inflicting 34 dead and 173 wounded American servicemen; 2. That ... unmarked Israeli aircraft
dropped napalm canisters on USS Liberty's bridge and fired 30mm cannons and rockets into [the]
ship; 3. That the torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but the machinegunning of Liberty's firefighters and stretcher-bearers as they struggled to save their ship and
crew; the Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty's
life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded;
4. That there is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy
an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by
statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former
CIA Director Richard Helms, former NSA Directors Lt. Gen. William Odom, USA (Ret.), Adm.
Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.), and Marshal Carter; former NSA deputy directors Oliver Kirby and
Maj. Gen. John Morrison, USAF (Ret.); 6. The White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy
from coming to the defense of USS Liberty by recalling Sixth Fleet military rescue support while
the ship was under attack.
Note: To view the BBC documentary about the USS Liberty attack, "Dead in the Water," click here.
For more information about the USS Liberty, click here.
Claims of 9/11 conspiracy have suspect running scared

2007-05-25, Rocky Mountain News (One of Denver's two leading newspapers)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5555425,00...
A former Federal Emergency Management Agency videographer accused of killing his wife in
Denver is seeking political asylum in Argentina, claiming the U.S. government wants him silenced
for what he saw in the smoldering ruins of the Twin Towers after 9/11. Kurt Sonnenfeld's efforts to
avoid extradition have gained interest from human rights organizations in South America and
broad attention from conspiracy theorists on the Internet. Sonnenfeld, 44, is charged with firstdegree murder in the New Year's Day 2002 shooting death of his 36-year-old wife, Nancy.
Sonnenfeld is quoted by the Argentine newspaper el Pais as saying, "I realized that they were
after something else: the tapes of Ground Zero in my possession." Sonnenfeld said he was
arrested by Interpol agents on the new Denver charges a week after delivering a demo
video of 9/11 footage to a TV producer in Argentina. "I find that extremely coincidental," he
said. In other interviews with Argentine media, Sonnenfeld is quoted as saying, "What I saw (at
9/11) leads me to the terrible conclusion that there was foreknowledge of what was going to
happen the precautions that were taken to save certain things that the authorities there
considered irreplaceable or invaluable. For example, certain things were missing that could only
have been removed with a truck. Yet after the first plane hit one of the towers, everything in
Manhattan collapsed and no one could have gotten near the towers to do that." Sonnenfeld is
quoted as saying documentation was removed from U.S. intelligence agencies in the World Trade
Center, including the CIA, prior to the attacks.
Note: To read a more recent, powerful Voltaire Network interview with Kurt Sonnenfeld, click here.
The truth is coming out more all the time!
Scientists Cast Doubt on Kennedy Bullet Analysis

In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that
includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to
conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald alone shot the two bullets that struck and killed President John
F. Kennedy in 1963. The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed,"
concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist
William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.
The researchers' re-analysis involved new statistical calculations and a modern chemical analysis
of bullets from the same batch Oswald is purported to have used. "This finding means that the
bullet fragments from the assassination that match could have come from three or more
separate bullets," the researchers said. "If the assassination fragments are derived from
three or more separate bullets, then a second assassin is likely." [They] urged that authorities
conduct a new and complete forensic re-analysis of the five bullet fragments left from the
assassination in Dallas.
Note: For more reliable, verifiable information on the JFK and other assassinations, click here.
Tenet Says He Was Made a Scapegoat Over Iraq War

Former CIA director George J. Tenet bitterly complains in a forthcoming television interview that
White House officials set him up as a scapegoat when they revealed that he had assured
President Bush the intelligence on Iraq's suspected weapons arsenal was a "slam dunk." Tenet,
who was one of the longest-serving CIA directors in U.S. history, resigned abruptly in June 2004
after administration infighting over the flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. Bush
awarded him the Medal of Freedom six months later. Tenet then remained publicly silent about his
role in the presentation of prewar intelligence that turned out to be wrong. CBS News's "60
Minutes" released excerpts of its Tenet interview. In the interview, Tenet acknowledged that he
used the phrase "slam dunk" during a conversation with Bush and other key advisers in December
2002. But Tenet said the phrase was an offhand remark used to describe the ease with which a
public case for war could be made. Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward
first wrote about the conversation between Tenet and Bush in his 2004 book "Plan of Attack." Bush
told Woodward then that Tenet's "slam dunk" assurance had been "very important" as he weighed
decisions about the invasion. In the television interview, Tenet takes special exception with Bush's
comments. Tenet initially denied having used the phrase "slam dunk." But, in a 2005 speech
at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, he said he regretted using the phrase to describe
the case against Iraq. "Those were the two dumbest words I ever said," Tenet said.
Note: The head of the CIA admits he lied about something as vital as the use of a phrase involving
gross manipulation of the public in support of war. Who else is lying here?
The secrets and lies that a Cold-War warrior took to his grave
When the old spymaster thought he was dying, his eldest son came to visit him. In the CIA,
[Howard Hunt] had helped to mastermind the violent removal of a duly elected leftist president in
Guatemala and assisted in subterfuges that led to the murder of Che Guevara. But his first-born
son, [Saint] was by his side now. For years, he and Saint had hardly spoken. Then Saint came to
him wanting to know if he had any information about JFKs assassination. His father had sworn in
two government investigations that he didnt. But now, in August 2003, propped up in his sick bed,
he began to write down the names of men who participated in a plot to kill the president. He
scribbled the initials LBJ, standing for Kennedys vice-president, Lyndon Johnson. Under LBJ,
connected by a line, he wrote the name Cord Meyer. Meyer was a CIA agent whose wife had an
affair with JFK; later she was murdered, a case that has never been solved. Next, his father
connected to Meyers name the name Bill Harvey, another CIA agent; also connected to Meyers
name was the name David Morales, another CIA man and a well-known, vicious black-operations
specialist. Then his father connected to Moraless name, with a line, the framed words French
Gunman Grassy Knoll. So there it was: according to Hunt, LBJ had Kennedy killed. And that
Lee Harvey Oswald wasnt the only shooter in Dallas. There was also, on the grassy knoll, a
French gunman, presumably the Corsican mafia assassin Lucien Sarti. A few weeks later, Saint
received in the mail a tape recording from his dad. Hunts voice on the cassette is weak and
grasping, but he essentially remakes the same points he made in his handwritten narrative.
Note: Though this article interesting refers to Saint as a "conspiracy nut," if you take the time to
read it, you will find it raises many serious questions about the Kennedy assassination. The History
Channel has an excellent documentary series showing beyond doubt there was more than one
gunman. To order, click here. For the banned final episode of this series, which presents powerful
evidence LBJ was directly involved in the JFK assassination, click here
Income tax is an old American story that just grows more taxing
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/15/INGO8P5G3B1.DTL
Millions of us are engaging in one of life's least-enjoyable activities. We're doing our taxes. We can
thank the 16th Amendment for all this unpleasantness. Much maligned, much misunderstood,
this amendment, ratified in February 1913, permits Congress to "lay and collect taxes on
incomes from whatever source derived." Proposed by a Republican president, William Howard
Taft, but commonly blamed on -- or credited to -- his Democratic successor, Woodrow Wilson, it
was promptly denounced by unhappy members of both parties. Only in 1862 did Congress, facing
Civil War expenses, impose a federal income tax. There were two marvelous things about this Civil
War income tax. One was that you declared your own income. The second was that it was
abolished after 10 years. The main reason this Civil War income tax disappeared was not that the
government felt it no longer needed the money (alas, this is never true). The tax was lifted
because wealthy Northeast manufacturers, the war's major taxpayers, possessed the
congressional clout to replace income taxes with protective tariffs that shielded their manufactured
goods. In 1894, [a] new income tax became law, only to be declared unconstitutional one year
later. When the 16th Amendment was first put into practice, it would indeed be the "rich man's tax,"
both sides predicted. With generous deductions and a $3,000 exemption (about $55,000 today),
most people didn't feel a thing. Best of all, the instructions were only one page long. Soon, of
course, all this changed, in ways that nobody, pro-tax or con, could have foreseen.
Note: Many are unaware that the U.S. functioned without income tax for much of its history. The
public never would have supported the 16th Amendment in 1913 if they thought it would tax the
common worker. Were we duped? The 16th Amendment coincidentally was passed in the same
year that the Federal Reserve (which took over the printing of U.S. money) was established. Few
know that the Federal Reserve is neither truly federal or a full reserve. For more on this very well
hidden fact and other cover-ups around banking, click here.
CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90

2007-04-14, CIA Website
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publicat...
An extraordinary 95 percent of all Americans have at least heard or read something about
Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), and 57 percent believe they are real. Former US Presidents
Carter and Reagan claim to have seen a UFO.... In January 1953, [CIA Deputy Director H.
Marshall] Chadwell and H. P. Robertson, a noted physicist from the California Institute of
Technology, put together a distinguished panel of nonmilitary scientists to study the UFO issue.
The panel ... worried that potential enemies contemplating an attack on the United States might
exploit the UFO phenomena and use them to disrupt US air defenses. To meet these problems,
the panel recommended that the National Security Council debunk UFO reports and
institute a policy of public education to reassure the public of the lack of evidence behind
UFOs. It suggested using the mass media, advertising, business clubs, schools, and even the
Disney corporation to get the message across. Reporting at the height of McCarthyism, the panel
also recommended that such private UFO groups as the Civilian Flying Saucer Investigators in Los
Angeles and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization in Wisconsin be monitored for
subversive activities.
Note: Though this compilation largely debunks the UFO phenomenon, it also contains a few
revealing facts. Why was the CIA involved in debunking the phenomenon? And why would they
start this paper with the statement "at least 95 percent of all Americans have at least heard or read
something about UFOs," when that number is clearly 100 percent, and is not extraordinary. Of
course, everyone has heard of UFOs. Could this document itself be a form of government
disinformation meant to further muddy the waters?
Former Arizona Governor's Close Encounter With UFO

2007-03-30, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2994569
For six years, Fife Symington was governor of Arizona. He now says that while he was
governor, he had a brush with something not from America or from this planet. "It was
absolutely breathtaking," Symington said. "I mean when I saw it, I said this is definitely a UFO. I
have never seen anything like this in my life." It was an event that is now the stuff of legend, called
the Phoenix Lights. There was video taken in 1997 of those mysterious lights flying in formation in
the Arizona night sky, and was witnessed by thousands. Symington recently described his sighting
of the Phoenix Lights as "a geometric form with extremely bright lights on the leading edge." That's
a different story than Symington gave when he was governor, when he held a fake news
conference to present the source of the glowing lights: his chief of staff in a Martian costume.
Symington now says that he was just trying to keep everyone calm. The Air Force claimed that the
famed Phoenix Lights were nothing more than flares that had been dropped by military aircraft
during training exercises. But Symington believes otherwise. "There is always that 5 percent of
sightings, which are inexplicable, which leads me to believe there are definitely UFOs," he said.
Many people agree with Symington. Just this week, France became the first country to put all its Xfiles online about 100,000 documents were released, describing many sightings over the last 70
years. There was so much public interest, the Web site crashed within two hours.
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information suggesting a major UFO cover-up, click here.
Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html?ex=1332820800&en=fb472e...
Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans those with
incomes that year of more than $348,000 receiving their largest share of national income since
1928. The top 10 percent, roughly those earning more than $100,000, also reached a level of
income share not seen since before the Depression. While total reported income in the United
States increased almost 9 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which such data is
available, average incomes for those in the bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared
with the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent. The gains went largely to the top 1
percent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of more
than $139,000, or about 14 percent. The new data also shows that the top 300,000 Americans
collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. The top group
received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the
gap from 1980. The disparities may be even greater. The [IRS] estimates that it is able to
accurately tax 99 percent of wage income but that it captures only about 70 percent of business
and investment income, most of which flows to upper-income individuals. For Americans in the
middle, the share of income taken by federal taxes has been essentially unchanged across four
decades. By comparison, it has fallen by half for those at the very top of the income ladder.
[Incomes of] the top tenth of a percent and top one-hundredth of a percent ... soared by about a
fifth in one year, largely because of the rising stock market and increased business profits.
French get a look at nation's UFO files

2007-03-22, MSNBC/Washington Post
[A] voluntary decision by France's National Center for Space Studies to dump more than 100,000
pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage and audiotapes from its secret UFO
archives onto its Internet site for worldwide viewing is an unprecedented move among Western
countries. Most of them, the United States included, consider such records classified matters of
national security. Within three hours of posting the first cases Thursday morning, the French
space agency's Web server crashed, overwhelmed by the flood of viewers seeking the first
glimpses of official government evidence on a subject long a target of both fascination and
ridicule. The material dates as far back as 1954. Over the next several months, the space agency
will post it to enhance scientific research seeking to explain what the French government calls
"unexplained aerospace phenomena." One of the most detailed inquiries involved the report of an
Air France crew flying near Paris on Jan. 28, 1994. Three crew members spotted a large reddish
brown disk "whose form is constantly changing and which seems very big in size." As the
passenger plane crossed its trajectory, the object "disappeared on the spot," the report said. Radar
signatures confirmed an object of the same size and location described by the crew and led
investigators to conclude that "the phenomenon is not explained to date and leaves the door open
to all the assumptions."
Note: Why do governments keep information on UFOs secret for reasons of national security? For
highly reliable information from high-level government officials revealing a major cover-up of
UFOs, click here. For a four-minute video clip of government witnesses to the UFO cover-up, click
here.
Are GM Crops Killing Bees?

2007-03-22, Der Spiegel (Germany's leading magazine)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,473166,00.html
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar
phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. In the United
States ... bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic consequences could
soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe
that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor. Since last
November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous
incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that
they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has
seen a decline of up to 60 percent. Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon "Colony Collapse
Disorder" (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe. A number of universities and
government agencies have formed a "CCD Working Group" to search for the causes of the
calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. They are already referring to the problem as a
potential "AIDS for the bee industry." Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group ...
said that the bees' death is accompanied by a set of symptoms "which does not seem to match
anything in the literature." Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with
fungi -- a sign, experts say, that the insects' immune system may have collapsed. The fact that
genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United
States could be playing a role.
Note: Bees play a vital role in fertilizing most flowers and crops. The consequences of this bee
calamity could be far reaching. For an abundance of reliable, verifiable evidence that genetically
modified crops, which are already a part of the normal U.S. diet, can be very damaging to the
health of bees and humans, click here.
Scientists muzzled, Congress told

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/scientists-muzzled/2007/03/20/11741530...
The Bush Administration has run a systematic campaign to play down the dangers of climate
change, demanding hundreds of politically motivated changes to scientific reports and muzzling a
pre-eminent expert on global warming, the US Congress has been told. The testimony ... painted
the Administration as determined to maintain its line on climate change even when it clashed with
the findings of scientific experts. The Administration has moved to exercise control over
environmental agencies by installing political appointees including a former oil industry lobbyist,
Philip Cooney, as chief of staff of the Council on Environmental Quality. In 2003 Mr Cooney and
other senior appointed officials made at least 181 changes to a strategic plan on climate
change to play down the scientific consensus on global warming. They made a further 113
alterations to minimise the human role in climate change. "These changes must be made," a note
in Mr Cooney's handwriting says. Under heated questioning, Mr Cooney admitted the changes
were all intended to cast doubt on the impact of global warming. Control from the White House
became the norm, [NASA's Dr. James] Hansen told the committee. "Scientific press releases were
going to the White House for editing," he said. "It's very unfortunate that we developed this
politicisation of science. The public relations office should be staffed by expert appointees otherwise they become offices of propaganda." Hansen was also restrained from giving press
interviews by a junior political appointee, George Deutsch. Mr Deutsch left NASA early last year
after it emerged he had falsified his CV.
U.S. bars talk of climate change effects on bears

2007-03-08, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (One of Seattle's two leading newspapers)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/306820_bears09.html
The Bush administration is ordering federal wildlife officials headed for international meetings on
polar bears not to talk about how climate change and melting ice are affecting the imperiled
animals. It is the latest in a string of cases in which the administration has carefully
controlled or even banned government employees' public speech about global warming.
This latest chapter involves two memorandums written in late February that put strict limits on what
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees could discuss at meetings in Norway and Russia. A third
memo says the policy will apply for trips to those two nations as well as Canada and "any northern
country." The memos came just months after the administration, under pressure from a suit
brought by conservationists, announced that it would consider protecting the bears under the
Endangered Species Act. Top-down control of government scientists' discussions of climate
change became controversial last year, after appointees at NASA kept journalists from interviewing
climate scientists and discouraged news releases on global warming. In June, a high-ranking
official in [NASA admitted] the agency "inappropriately" denied a journalist's request to interview
James Hansen, an outspoken scientist who heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. In
September, news accounts revealed that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
had suppressed an internal agency e-mail intended to summarize scientists' consensus on
evidence of a link between hurricanes and climate change.
Bird flu drug probe after 18 teenage deaths in Japan

http://www.smh.com.au/news/health/bird-flu-vaccine-linked-to-18-teenage-suici...
Japanese health authorities are investigating a flu medicine that is also available in
Australia after a teenager jumped 11 storeys to his death after taking the drug. It was the
18th juvenile fatality linked to Tamiflu in 17 months. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
has asked the Japanese importer of Tamiflu, an anti-viral drug regarded as the most important
shield against bird flu in humans, to collect information about the conditions of patients who take
the drug. The 14-year-old boy's death follows a similar case two weeks ago, when a girl also 14,
died after jumping from an apartment building at Gamagori, in central Japan. It also comes after a
warning by the US Food and Drug Administration late last year about the dangers of giving
children Tamiflu. The drug is being stockpiled in Australia as the first line of defence against bird
flu. In Australia, as in Japan, it is only available by prescription. Drug companies reported that 54
people using Tamiflu died in Japan before November, the ministry said.
Note: Tamiflu is the vaccine on which Donald Rumsfeld profited $5 million and on which the U.S.
government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars stockpiling, even though it might not work.
Feds miss energy standards by up to 15 years

The government for decades has failed to meet legal deadlines for tougher energy efficiency
standards for appliances and other equipment, costing consumers and industry tens of billions of
dollars in electric costs, a congressional study said Thursday. The Government Accountability
Office reported that over several decades the Energy Department has "missed all 34
congressional deadlines for setting efficiency standards," with delays ranging from several
months to as long as 15 years. The standards approved by Congress seek to reduce energy use
from a broad range of products from refrigerators and home heating systems to electricity grid
transformers and electric motors in factories. If the deadlines had been met on only four widely
used consumer products - refrigerators, freezers, central air conditioners and heat pumps consumers would have saved $28 billion in accumulated energy costs by 2030 - because more
energy efficient products would have been on the market sooner. Andy Karsner, the department's
assistant secretary in charge of energy efficiency programs, acknowledged the department has
had "a simply abysmal" record on meeting efficiency standard deadlines set by Congress.
Note: Could it be that the powerful energy lobby didn't want these policies instituted? For more,
click here.
CIA Recruited Japanese War Criminals

Col. Masanobu Tsuji was a fanatical Japanese militarist and brutal warrior, hunted after
World War II for massacres of Chinese civilians. And then he became a U.S. spy. Newly
declassified CIA records ... document more fully than ever how Tsuji and other suspected
Japanese war criminals were recruited by U.S. intelligence in the early days of the Cold War. The
records [were] declassified in 2005 and 2006 under an act of Congress in tandem with Nazi war
crime-related files. In addition to Tsuji ... conspicuous figures in U.S.-funded operations included [a]
mob boss and war profiteer [and] former private secretary to Hideki Tojo, the wartime prime
minister hanged as a war criminal in 1948. The assessments ... show evidence that other U.S.
agencies, such as the Air Force, were also looking into using some of the same people as spies,
and that the CIA itself had contacts with former Japanese war criminals. Historians long ago
concluded that the Allies turned a blind eye to many Japanese war crimes, particularly those
committed against other Asians. Some of Japan's most notorious wartime killers [came] under
U.S. sponsorship. Tsuji, for instance, was wanted for involvement in the Bataan Death March of
early 1942, in which thousands of Americans and Filipinos perished. The U.S. Air Force attempted
unsuccessfully to recruit him after he was taken off the war crimes list in 1949. The Army
considered him a potentially valuable source. [Yet] a CIA assessment from 1954 ... says: "Tsuji is
the type of man who, given the chance, would start World War III without any misgivings."
Note: Those who claimed the U.S. government had links to former Nazi and Japanese war
criminals were once called "conspiracy theorists." Why does it take over 50 years for the truth to
come out? For more, click here.
Safety Second?
2007-02-23, WXYZ - Detroit's ABC News Affiliate
http://www1.wxyz.com/wxyz/ys_investigations/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15949_5373880...
The Pentagon has said it, the President has said it, everybody says it: "Our troops deserve nothing
but the best when we send them into combat." Its a goal that isnt always met. Did a retired Marine
colonels connections count more than the best design for a new vehicle for the troops? Jerry
Bazinski has made a career of designing and helping to develop new vehicles here in Detroit for
years. So when the Marines called for new vehicle small enough to load into an Osprey helicopter
but lean and mean enough to allow soldiers to move quickly and launch attacks deep into enemy
territory, Jerry and a team of veteran Detroit vehicle designers came up with [a model that] met or
exceeded all the specifications. It was designed to provide for bullet-proof protection from enemy
gunfire. It included a sturdy built-in roll-cage. And the Marines were impressed, as you can see
from the report card that shows a whole list of many strengths ... and "no significant weaknesses."
Well, heres what the Marines ultimately bought ... a model known as the Growler that sort of looks
like a dune buggy with a machine gun. Though it may seem it should have a lower sticker price, its
turned out to cost us upwards of $127,000 a copy. Former Colonel Terry Crews ... sold the Marines
on the Growler. [Investigative Reporter Steve] Wilson to Wayne Blake/Growler Plant Manager:
Thats how he got this contract, he had some friends, didnt he? Blake: Yeah, he lives 15
miles from the Pentagon. And the military version is $127,000. And if you bought it as a
civilian version? 17,000.
Note: This article has disappeared from the website, though you can try this Google cache
version. For a highly revealing, two-page summary by a top U.S. general on major war corruption,
click here.
Going to Canada? Check your past

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/23/MNGCAO9NSB1.DTL
Welcome to the new world of border security. Unsuspecting Americans are turning up at
the Canadian border expecting clear sailing, only to find that their past -- sometimes their
distant past -- is suddenly an issue. There was a time not long ago when a trip across the
border from the United States to Canada was accomplished with a wink and a wave of a driver's
license. Those days are over. Take the case of 55-year-old Lake Tahoe resident Greg Felsch.
Stopped at the border in Vancouver this month at the start of a planned five-day ski trip, he was
sent back to the United States because of a DUI conviction seven years ago. Not that he had any
idea what was going on when he was told at customs: "Your next stop is immigration." Felsch was
ushered into a room. "There must have been 75 people in line," he says. "We were there for three
hours. One woman was in tears. A guy was sent back for having a medical marijuana card. I felt
like a felon with an ankle bracelet." Or ask the well-to-do East Bay couple who flew to British
Columbia this month for an eight-day ski vacation at the famed Whistler Chateau, where rooms run
to $500 a night. They'd made the trip many times, but were surprised at the border to be told that
the husband would have to report to "secondary" immigration. There, in a room he estimates was
filled with 60 other concerned travelers, he was told he was "a person who was inadmissible to
Canada." The problem? A conviction for marijuana possession ... in 1975. This is just the
beginning. Soon other nations will be able to look into your past when you want to travel there.
Nichols says bombing was FBI op

2007-02-22, Deseret News (One of Utah's two leading newspapers)
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660197443/Nichols-says-bombing-was-FBI-op....
The only surviving convicted criminal in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in Oklahoma City is saying his co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, told him he was
taking orders from a top FBI official in orchestrating the bombing. A declaration from Terry Lynn
Nichols ... was filed as part of Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue's pending wrongful death
suit against the government for the death of his brother in a federal corrections facility in Oklahoma
City. Trentadue claims his brother was killed during an interrogation by FBI agents when agents
mistook his brother for a suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. The most shocking
allegation in the 19-page signed declaration is Nichols' assertion that the whole bombing
plot was an FBI operation and that McVeigh let slip during a bout of anger that he was
taking instruction from former FBI official Larry Potts. Potts was no stranger to antigovernment confrontations, having been the lead FBI agent at Ruby Ridge in 1992, which led to
the shooting death of Vicki Weaver, the wife of separatist Randy Weaver. Potts also was reportedly
involved in the 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in 1993, which
resulted in a fire that killed 81 Branch Davidian followers. Potts retired from the FBI under intense
pressure and criticism for the cover-up of an order to allow agents to shoot anyone seen leaving
the Weaver cabin at Ruby Ridge.
Note: For an excellent article and video clearly showing major deception around the Oklahoma
City bombing, click here. For lots more from reliable sources on the deceptive manipulations of
CIA files show how postwar 'spies' snookered U.S. intelligence

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-24-japan-postwar_x.htm
Col. Masanobu Tsuji was a fanatical Japanese militarist and brutal warrior, hunted after
World War II for massacres of Chinese civilians and complicity in the Bataan Death March.
And then he became a U.S. spy. Newly declassified CIA records, released by the U.S. National
Archives and examined by The Associated Press, document more fully than ever how Tsuji and
other suspected Japanese war criminals were recruited by U.S. intelligence in the early days of the
Cold War. In addition to Tsuji, who escaped Allied prosecution and was elected to parliament in the
1950s, conspicuous figures in U.S.-funded operations included mob boss and war profiteer Yoshio
Kodama, and Takushiro Hattori, former private secretary to Hideki Tojo, the wartime prime minister
hanged as a war criminal in 1948. The CIA also cast a harsh eye on its counterparts and
institutional rivals at G-2, the occupation's intelligence arm, providing evidence for the first time
that the Japanese operatives often bilked gullible American patrons, passing on useless
intelligence and using their U.S. ties to boost smuggling operations and further their efforts to
resurrect a militarist Japan.
Merck Suspends Lobbying for Vaccine

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/21/ap/business/mainD8NDU4AG0.shtml
Pediatricians, gynecologists and even health insurers all call Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent
cervical cancer, a big medical advance. But medical groups, politicians and parents began
rebelling after disclosure of a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by Gardasil's maker,
Merck & Co., to get state legislatures to require 11- and 12-year-old girls to get the threedose vaccine as a requirement for school attendance. Some parents' groups and doctors
particularly objected because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted disease.
Vaccines mandated for school attendance usually are for diseases easily spread through casual
contact, such as measles and mumps. Bowing to pressure, Merck said Tuesday that it is
immediately suspending its controversial campaign, which it had funded through a third party.
Legislatures in roughly 20 states have introduced measures that would mandate girls have the
vaccine to attend school. Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Feb. 2 issued an executive order requiring
Texas girls entering the sixth grade as of 2008 get the vaccinations. Dr. Anne Francis, who chairs
an American Academy of Pediatrics committee [stated] "I believe that their timing was a little bit
premature," she said, "so soon after (Gardasil's) release, before we have a picture of whether
there are going to be any untoward side effects." The country has been "burned" by some drugs
whose serious side effects emerged only after they were in wide use, including Merck's withdrawn
painkiller Vioxx. The vaccine also is controversial because of its price - $360 for the three doses
required.
Note: $360 for every girl in school would amount to quite a hefty transfer of funds from taxpayers
into the pockets of Merck. Could profit and campaign contributions be behind the move to make
this mandatory?
Auditors: Billions of U.S. tax dollars wasted in Iraq

2007-02-16, CNN News/Associated Press
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/16/iraq.reconstruction.ap
The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in
Iraq contracts found that ... about $10 billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq
reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses. Of the $10
billion in overpriced contracts or undocumented costs, more than $2.7 billion were charged by
Halliburton Co., the oil-field services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Federal investigators warned Thursday that significantly more taxpayer money is at risk. More
than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported,
nearly triple the amount of waste the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall.
"There is no accountability," said David M. Walker, who heads the auditing arm of Congress.
"Organizations charged with overseeing contracts are not held accountable. Contractors are not
held accountable. The individuals responsible are not held accountable." The investigators urged
the Pentagon to reconsider its growing reliance on outside contractors. Layers of subcontractors,
poor documentation and lack of strong contract management are rampant. Walker complained that
GAO investigators have difficulty getting basic detail about reconstruction contracts such as
expenses and subcontractors involved because many Pentagon divisions fail to consistently track
or fully report them. Noting that auditors still have $300 billion of Iraq spending to review, Waxman
said the total amount of waste, fraud and abuse "could be astronomical."
Note: To understand how so much money can go missing, read what a top U.S. general has to say
here. And for major media articles claiming hundreds of billions of dollars are missing, click here.
An explosion of disbelief - fresh doubts over 9/11

2007-02-09, The Daily Mail (The U.K.'s second most popular newspaper)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article...
A recent poll by the respected New York Times revealed that three out of four Americans now
suspect the U.S. government of not telling the truth about 9/11. This proportion has shot up from a
year ago, when half the population said they did not believe the official story. [The] accepted
version of what happened on 9/11 is being challenged by a 90-minute internet movie, [Loose
Change, which is] so popular that up to 100 million viewers have watched [it]. Why were no military
aircraft scrambled in time to head off the attacks? How could a rookie pilot - as one of the terrorists
was - fly a Boeing 757 aircraft so precisely into the Pentagon? The movie's assertions are being
explored by a number of commentators in America and Britain. Former Labour Cabinet Minister
Michael Meacher ... has said of 9/11: "Never in modern history has an event of such cataclysmic
significance been shrouded in such mystery." These words were written in a foreword for Professor
David Ray Griffin's bestselling book, The New Pearl Harbour. Griffin ... is emeritus professor at the
Claremont School of Theology in California and a respected philosopher. Together, the book and
the movie have raised the question: could the attack be a carbon copy of Operation
Northwoods, an aborted plan by President Kennedy to stage terror attacks in America and
blame them on Communist Cuba as a pretext for a U.S. invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro?
Initially ... Professor Griffin dismissed claims the attacks could have been an inside job. It was only
a year later ... that the professor was sent a 'timeline' on the day's events based entirely on
newspaper and television accounts. It was then that he changed his mind.
Note: The timeline which opened Prof. Griffin's eyes was the two-page 9/11 timeline from
WantToKnow.info available at http://www.WantToKnow.info/9-11cover-up. This is the most
supportive article yet by the mainstream media. The word is spreading. For lots more reliable,
verifiable information on 9/11, click here.
Bio Weapons Spurned by Hitler Were Tested on Adventists

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&refer=muse&sid=arAEZnV8MUs4
In 1969, a year after he was elected U.S. president, Richard Nixon renounced the "use of any form
of deadly biological weapons that either kill or incapacitate." Nixon's declaration is one of the few
cheerful spots in "The Living Weapon," a PBS program that [aired] Feb. 5. The U.S. got into the
germ-warfare business in 1942 at the request of Britain, which feared that Adolf Hitler was cooking
up world-class pestilence in his labs. As it turns out, Hitler early on ordered that "there was to be
no offensive biological weapons research." His benevolence may have been the result of having
been gassed in World War I, the show suggests. The U.S. program, headquartered at Fort
Detrick, Maryland, ... used human subjects, though many were volunteers. Most were
Seventh-Day Adventists, who as conscientious objectors refused to bear arms. About 2,200
of them agreed to inhale various non-lethal agents that made them, as one expert says, "pig
sick." The idea behind the experiment, the show says, was that a sick soldier in the field creates a
much greater strain on an army than a dead one. The government also bombarded several U.S.
cities with simulants -- non-infectious bacteria -- to assess how biological agents spread. Targets in
that super-secret program included San Francisco, St. Louis and Minneapolis. The end to the U.S.
development program may have been partly the result of a 1969 Utah incident in which an "errant
cloud" of nerve gas was held responsible for killing some 6,000 sheep.
Note: The "non-infectious bacteria" sprayed on the public infected a dozen people and killed at
least one man, according to this media report, and likely more. For key reports from reliable
sources on US government experimentation on human subjects, click here.
'They're all forced to listen to us'

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1998430,00.html
Like it or loathe it, you can't ignore Loose Change ... the most successful movie to emerge
from what followers call the 9/11 Truth Movement. They believe ... that the attacks in New
York and Washington on September 11 2001 were [the work of] of elements within the US
government. Recent polls suggest more than a third of Americans believe that either the official
version of events never happened, or that US officials knew the attacks were imminent, but did
nothing to stop them. Google Video acts as a portal for the movie. The running tally of the number
of times it has been viewed since last August ... stands at 4,048,990. On top of that, the movie was
shown on television to up to 50 million people in 12 countries on September 11 last year; 100,000
DVDs have been sold and 50,000 more given away free. The film gained airplay on old media
platforms such as Air America and Pacifica radio stations, local Fox TV outlets and on stations
around the world, including state outlets in Belgium, Ireland and Portugal. The power of the film is
that it lays down layer upon layer of seemingly rational analysis to end up with a conclusion many
would find incredible. It is compiled from original footage from numerous news sources. Yet to
come [is] Loose Change: the Final Cut, [which] filmed original interviews with Washington players,
employed lawyers to iron out copyright issues with borrowed footage, [and] commissioned 3D
graphics from Germany. The end result ... will be seen at Cannes and have a cinema release in
America and across the world on the sixth anniversary of 9/11.
Note: To view this highly revealing 9/11 documentary, click here. For an abundance of reliable,
verifiable information suggesting a 9/11 cover-up, click here.
Iran Gets Army Gear in Pentagon Sale

The U.S. military has sold forbidden equipment at least a half-dozen times to middlemen for
countries including Iran and China who exploited security flaws in the Defense Department's
surplus auctions. The sales include fighter jet parts and missile components. In one case ... a
Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his
release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company
that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents
... say those parts made it to Iran. In [another] case, convicted middlemen for Iran bought
Tomcat parts from the Defense Department's surplus division. Customs agents confiscated
them and returned them to the Pentagon, which sold them again -- customs evidence tags
still attached -- to another buyer, a suspected broker for Iran. That incident appalled even an
expert on weaknesses in Pentagon surplus security controls. Sensitive military surplus items are
supposed to be demilitarized or "de-milled" rendered useless for military purposes or, if auctioned,
sold only to buyers who promise to obey U.S. arms embargoes, export controls and other laws.
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found it alarmingly easy to acquire sensitive surplus.
Last year, its agents bought $1.1 million worth including rocket launchers, body armor and
surveillance antennas by driving onto a base and posing as defense contractors. Investigators
have found the Pentagon's inventory and sales controls rife with errors.
Montreal woman seeks compensation in '50s brainwashing case

2007-01-08, CBC (One of Canada's top TV stations)
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/01/08/brainwashing-suit.html
A Montreal woman is seeking to launch a class-action lawsuit more than 50 years after she says
she was subjected to controversial psychiatric treatments funded by the Canadian government and
the CIA. Janine Huard, 78, was a patient at McGill University's Allan Memorial Institute when a
doctor there was conducting brainwashing experiments. Dr. Ewen Cameron, an American doctor
who believed he could erase the memories of patients and rebuild their psyches, was recruited by
the CIA to experiment with mind-control techniques beginning in 1950. Cameron gave patients
LSD and subjected them to massive and multiple electroshock treatments. Some underwent sleep
deprivation or total sensory deprivation. Others were kept in drug-induced comas for months
on end while speakers under their pillows broadcast messages for up to 16 hours a day.
The experiments were part of a larger CIA program called MK-ULTRA, which also saw LSD
administered to U.S. prison inmates and patrons of brothels without their knowledge,
according to testimony before a 1977 U.S. Senate committee. The CIA eventually settled a classaction lawsuit by test subjects, including Huard, and the Canadian government ordered a judicial
report into Cameron's experiments. The McGill experiments were jointly funded by the U.S. spy
agency and the Canadian government.
Note: What this article fails to mention is that Dr. Cameron was also the president of both the
American Psychicatric Association and the World Psychiatric Association. For more reliable
information, click here.
Ex-Iraq expert: Britain saw no threat before war

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/15/iraq.uk.report
Britain's former top Iraq expert at the United Nations said in previously secret testimony that most
government officials did not believe Iraq posed a threat in the months leading to the U.S.-led
invasion. Carne Ross ... told a House of Commons committee that he and other analysts believed
that Iraq had only a "very limited" ability to mount an attack of any kind, including one using
weapons of mass destruction. The committee published Ross' testimony after assuring him that
parliamentary privilege would protect him from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. "It was
the commonly held view among officials that the threat had been contained," Ross said in
the written testimony. "Iraq's ability to launch a WMD or any form of attack was very limited.
Iraq's air force was depleted to the point of total ineffectiveness; its army was but a pale shadow of
its earlier might; there was no evidence of any connection between Iraq and any terrorist
organization that might have planned an attack," he wrote. During the months leading up to the
war, he said, there was no new evidence that Saddam Hussein posed a threat. "What changed
was the government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he
testified. Ross told the committee that he resigned from the government in September 2004
because of his misgivings over the war. John Major, Britain's former prime minister, raised
concerns ... that other issues remain to be resolved, including the distribution of oil revenues.
Note: This recently released testimony was given in 2004, but kept secret for reasons of "national
security."
Has Politics Contaminated the Food Supply?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/opinion/11schlosser.html?ex=1323493200&en=4...
One hundred years ago, companies were free to follow their own rules. The publication of Upton
Sinclairs novel The Jungle in 1906 with its descriptions of rat-infested slaughterhouses and
rancid meat created public outrage over food safety. Even though the book was written by a
socialist agitator, a Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, eagerly read it. After confirming
Sinclairs claims, Roosevelt battled the drug companies, the big food processors and the
meatpacking companies to protect American consumers from irresponsible corporate behavior.
Over the past 40 years, the industrialization and centralization of our food system has greatly
magnified the potential for big outbreaks. As a result, a little contamination can go a long way. The
Taco Bell distribution center in New Jersey now being investigated as a possible source of E. coli
supplies more than 1,100 restaurants in the Northeast. Since 2000, the fast-food and meatpacking
industries have given about four-fifths of their political donations to Republican candidates for
national office. In return, these industries have effectively been given control of the agencies
created to regulate them. The current chief of staff at the Agriculture Department used to be
the beef industrys chief lobbyist. The person who headed the Food and Drug
Administration until recently used to be an executive at the National Food Processors
Association. Cutbacks in staff and budgets have reduced the number of food-safety inspections
conducted by the F.D.A. to about 3,400 a year from 35,000 in the 1970s.
Note: If you care about the health of our nation's food supply, write your political and media
representatives encouraging the passage of the Safe Food Act mentioned in this article, which by
the way, was written by the author of the most excellent book, Fast Food America.
Hotel security video shows 9/11 Pentagon blast, but no plane

2006-12-02, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/02/saturday/index.html
A hotel security camera video released by the U.S. government showed the explosion that
followed the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001,
but the low-quality recording did not capture an image of the 757 jetliner. The video,
recorded by a security camera at the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, was released to public interest
group Judicial Watch and others who filed a lawsuit seeking the tape and other videos from that
day. CNN filed a Freedom of Information request for the video in February 2002, after the manager
of the hotel disclosed its existence to CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and
said it had been confiscated by the FBI. CNN's FOI request was denied because at the time the
tape was considered evidence in the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has since been
convicted. There was speculation that this video might show the American Airlines 757 jetliner
before it crashed, but a close examination by CNN only revealed the subsequent explosion and no
image of the jet. The only known record of the plane is on images from the Pentagon security
camera, first broadcast by CNN in March of 2002, and officially released in their entirety May of
this year.
Note: Scroll down at the link above to find this news clip. To watch this intriguing video footage,
click here. How would this video impact the trial of Moussaoui? Why was it confiscated right after
9/11 rather than broadcast widely? The "only known record of the plane" cited in the article is also
a highly debatable claim, as it is impossible to tell in this video what actually hit the Pentagon. For
deeply revealing information on the 9/11 attacks, click here.
Genetically Engineered Rice Wins USDA Approval

The Department of Agriculture declared safe for human consumption yesterday an experimental
variety of genetically engineered rice found to have contaminated the U.S. rice supply this
summer. The move ... to deregulate the special long-grain rice, LL601, was seen as a legal boon
to its creator, Bayer CropScience. The company applied for approval shortly after the widespread
contamination was disclosed in August and now faces a class-action lawsuit filed by hundreds of
farmers in Arkansas and Missouri. The experimental rice ... escaped from Bayer's test plots after
the company dropped the project in 2001. The resulting contamination, once it became public,
prompted countries around the world to block rice imports from the United States, sending rice
futures plummeting and farmers into fits. In approving the rice, the USDA allowed Bayer to take a
regulatory shortcut and skip many of the usual safety tests. Joseph Mendelson, legal director of
the nonprofit Center for Food Safety, said the quick approval shows that the USDA is more
concerned about the fortunes of the biotechnology industry than about consumers' health. "USDA
is telling agricultural biotechnology companies that it doesn't matter if you're negligent, if
you break the rules, if you contaminate the food supply with untested genetically
engineered crops, we'll bail you out," Mendelson said in a statement. Officials in Europe, where
genetically altered rice is derisively dubbed "Frankenfood," made clear as recently as last week
that European countries will not accept any U.S. rice, he said.
Note: For reliable information on the deception and dangers of GM (Genetically Modified) food,
click here.
'State secrets privilege' blocks fired translator from suing FBI

2006-11-24, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-23-whistleblower-translator_x...
Sibel Edmonds, who formed the 100-plus member National Security whistle-blowers Coalition in
2002, began working as a linguist for the FBI the week after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
Several months into her contract, she discovered "shoddy" translations relevant to 9/11 created by
translators who had "failed the proficiency exams." Edmonds says the translator was sent to
Guantanamo Bay to translate "the most sensitive terrorist-related information" from interviews of
detainees. Edmonds also notified her superiors that a co-worker was responsible for translating
wiretaps of a company the latter used to work for. [Edmonds] was fired in March 2002. When
Edmonds asked why, she received a letter saying her contract had been "terminated completely
for the government's convenience." In its final report, the inspector general concluded that "we
believe that many of (Edmonds') allegations were supported, that the FBI did not take them
seriously enough, and that her allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's
decision to terminate her services." The same month the report was released, Edmonds' lawsuit to
contest her firing was dismissed. Legal briefs show the government had invoked the so-called
state secrets privilege, arguing that the lawsuit would jeopardize national security. "Instead of
protecting and standing up for whistle-blowers, this is just giving the complete green light
to retaliate," says Edmonds, who lost her appeal.
Note: This article fails to mention that Edmonds has repeatedly stated in public forums and in the
press that she has specific information on the involvement of certain high officials in 9/11. For more
on this vital topic, click here.
Pentagon boosts 'media war' unit

2006-10-31, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6100906.stm
The US defence department has set up a new unit to better promote its message across 24-hour
rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet. The Pentagon said the move would boost its
ability to counter "inaccurate" news stories and exploit new media. The newly-established unit
would use "new media" channels to push its message and "set the record straight",
Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff said. A Pentagon memo seen by the Associated Press
news agency said the new unit would "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and aim to
"correct the record". The unit would reportedly monitor media such as weblogs and would also
employ "surrogates", or top politicians or lobbyists who could be interviewed on TV and radio
shows.
President Bush is trying to pardon himself

2006-09-27, CNN The Situation Room
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/27/sitroom.02.html
BLITZER: Let's check in with Jack Cafferty right now. JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The
House just passed President Bush's bill to redefine the treatment of detainees, and the Senate's
expected to do the same thing tomorrow. Buried deep inside this legislation is a provision that
will pardon President Bush and all the members of his administration of any possible
crimes connected with the torture and mistreatment of detainees dated all the way back to
September 11, 2001. At least President Nixon had Gerald Ford to do his dirty work.
President Bush is trying to pardon himself. Under the War Crimes Act, violations of the Geneva
Conventions are felonies. In some cases, punishable by death. When the Supreme Court ruled the
Geneva Conventions applied to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, President Bush and his boys
were suddenly in big trouble. They had been working these prisoners over pretty good. In an effort
to avoid possible prosecution, they're trying to cram this bill through Congress before the end of
the week when Congress adjourns. The reason there's such a rush to do this, if the Democrats get
control of the House in November, well, this kind of legislation probably wouldn't pass. You want to
know the real disgrace of what these people are about to do or are in the process of doing?
Senator Bill Frist and Congressman Dennis Hastert and their Republican stooges apparently don't
see anything wrong with this. I really do wonder sometimes what we're becoming in this country.
The question is this: Should Congress pass a bill giving retroactive immunity to President Bush for
possible war crimes?
Note: To watch a video clip of this broadcast, click here.
Senior Government Officials Question 9/11 Commission Report

2006-09-11, Boston Globe/Fox News/Wall Street Journal, More
http://www.WantToKnow.info/officialsquestion911commissionreport
Many respected senior members of the U.S. military, intelligence services, and government have
expressed significant criticism of the 9/11 Commission Report. Some even allege government
complicity in the terrible acts of 9/11. Below are the highly revealing statements on this vital topic of
over 50 prominent public servants with links for verification and further investigation. The
collective voices of these respected senior officials give credibility to the claim that the 9/11
Commission Report is tragically flawed. These dedicated individuals from both political parties
cannot be simply dismissed as irresponsible believers in some 9/11 conspiracy theory. Their
sincere concern, backed by decades of service to their country, demonstrate that criticism of the
9/11 Commission Report is not only reasonable and responsible, it is in fact a patriotic duty.
Alphabetized List
Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings?

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is a longtime and prominent member of the FBI's "Ten Most
Wanted" list, which notes his role as the suspected mastermind of the deadly U.S. embassy
bombings in East Africa on Aug. 7, 1998. But another more infamous date -- Sept. 11, 2001 -- is
nowhere to be found on the same FBI notice. The curious omission underscores the Justice
Department's decision, so far, to not seek formal criminal charges against bin Laden for
approving al-Qaeda's most notorious and successful terrorist attack. The notice says bin
Laden is "a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world" but does not provide details.
The absence has also provided fodder for conspiracy theorists who think the U.S. government or
another power was behind the Sept. 11 hijackings. From this point of view, the lack of a Sept. 11
reference suggests that the connection to al-Qaeda is uncertain. FBI officials say the wanted
poster merely reflects the government's long-standing practice of relying on actual criminal
charges. Bin Laden was placed on the Ten Most Wanted list in June 1999 after being indicted for
murder, conspiracy and other charges in connection with the embassy bombings, and a $5 million
reward was put on his head at that time. The listing was updated after Sept. 11, 2001, to include a
higher reward of $25 million, but no mention of the attacks was added.
Note: For an article in the Ithaca Journal which probes much deeper into this matter, click here. To
see the FBI's page on bin Laden: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm. Many
people forget that Bin Laden initially stated that though he applauded the attacks, he did not plan
them. To see this reported on CNN, click here. Why would he deny involvement? For lots more,
click here.
Senator who put 'secret hold' on bill to open federal records is a secret
2006-08-23, Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4137637.html
In an ironic twist, legislation that would open up the murky world of government contracting to
public scrutiny has been derailed by a secret parliamentary maneuver. An unidentified senator
placed a "secret hold" on legislation introduced by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack
Obama, D-Ill., that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants,
insurance, loans and financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. The database would bring
transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search. The
measure had been unanimously passed in a voice vote last month by the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. It was on the fast track for floor action before
Congress recessed Aug. 4 when someone put a hold on the measure. Now the bill is in political
limbo. Under Senate rules, unless the senator who placed the hold decides to lift it, the bill
will not be brought up for a vote. "It really is outrageous to do this in the dead of night as
Congress is recessing," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a budget watchdog
group based in Washington. "The public has a right to know how the government spends money."
Porkbusters.org...posted photographs of all senatorial suspects underneath a bold-faced headline
asking, "Who is the Secret Holder?" There is no conceivable, rational explanation for killing this
legislation unless they have something to hide.
The CIA-Contra-Crack Connection, 10 Years Later

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-schou18aug18,0,2765183.story
Ten years ago today, one of the most controversial news articles of the 1990s quietly appeared on
the front page of the San Jose Mercury News. Titled "Dark Alliance"...the three-part series by
reporter Gary Webb linked the CIA and Nicaragua's Contras to the crack cocaine epidemic that
ripped through South Los Angeles in the 1980s. Most of the nation's elite newspapers at first
ignored the story. A public uproar, especially among urban African Americans, forced them to
respond. What followed was one of the most bizarre, unseemly and ultimately tragic scandals in
the annals of American journalism. Top news organizations closed ranks to debunk claims Webb
never made, ridicule assertions that turned out to be true and ignore corroborating evidence when
it came to light. The whole shameful cycle was repeated when Webb committed suicide in
December 2004. At first, the Mercury News defended the series, but after nine months, Executive
Editor Jerry Ceppos wrote a half-apologetic letter to readers that defended "Dark Alliance" while
acknowledging obvious mistakes. Webb privately (and accurately) predicted the mea culpa would
universally be misperceived as a total retraction, and he publicly accused the paper of cowardice.
He resigned a few months later. Meanwhile, spurred on by Webb's story, the CIA conducted
an internal investigation that acknowledged in March 1998 that the agency had covered up
Contra drug trafficking for more than a decade. History will tell if Webb receives the credit he's
due for prodding the CIA to acknowledge its shameful collaboration with drug dealers.
Note: Many thanks to the Los Angeles Times for the courage to report this story. For more on this
incredibly revealing, yet very tragic case which reveals corruption in both the government and
media at the highest levels: http://www.WantToKnow.info/mediacover-up#webb
Sickened Iraq Vets Cite Depleted Uranium

A shell coated with depleted uranium pierces a tank like a hot knife through butter. It also leaves
behind a fine radioactive dust with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Depleted uranium is the garbage
left from producing enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and energy plants. At Walter Reed
Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., [Herbert Reed] ran into a buddy from his unit. And
another, and another. They began to talk. [They] all have depleted uranium in their urine. The
veterans, using their positive results as evidence, have sued the U.S. Army, claiming officials knew
the hazards of depleted uranium, but concealed the risks. The Department of Defense says
depleted uranium is powerful and safe. Military research on mice shows that depleted uranium can
enter the bloodstream and come to rest in bones, the brain, kidneys and lymph nodes. Other
research in rats shows that DU can result in cancerous tumors and genetic mutations. Fifteen
years after it was first used in battle, there is only one U.S. government study monitoring veterans
exposed to depleted uranium. Number of soldiers in the survey: 32. Depleted uranium falls into the
quagmire of Gulf War Syndrome, from which no treatment has emerged. About 30 percent of the
700,000 men and women who served in the first Gulf War still suffer [this] baffling array of
symptoms. Depleted uranium has long been suspected as a possible contributor. It took
more than 25 years for the Pentagon to acknowledge that Agent Orange...was linked to [major
disease and] sufferings. It took 40 years for the military to compensate sick World War II vets
exposed to massive blasts of radiation during tests of the atomic bomb.
Note: Why isn't the media reporting more on this health disaster? For lots more on how veterans
suffer from corporate and governmental denial and manipulations, see what a highly decorated
U.S. General has to say on the suffering of soldiers at http://www.WantToKnow.info/warcoverup.
For an amazingly revealing documentary with interviews from top sources on the depleted uranium
Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota

2006-07-21, The Denver Channel 7 (Denver ABC affiliate)
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9559707/detail.html
You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an
airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even
though some top officials deny it. The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told
7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise,
no bonus, no awards and no special assignments. "Innocent passengers are being entered into
an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious
manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal. These
unknowing passengers who are doing nothing wrong are landing in a secret government document
called a Surveillance Detection Report, or SDR. Air marshals told 7NEWS that managers in Las
Vegas created and continue to maintain this potentially dangerous quota system. "Do these
reports have real life impacts on the people who are identified as potential terrorists?" 7NEWS
Investigator Tony Kovaleski asked. "Absolutely," a federal air marshal replied. "That could have
serious impact ... They could be placed on a watch list. They could wind up on databases that
identify them as potential terrorists or a threat to an aircraft. It could be very serious," said Don
Strange, a former agent in charge of air marshals in Atlanta. He lost his job attempting to change
policies inside the agency.
Note: For further reports on key civil liberties issues, click here.
Secretive society's big names include Kissinger, Rockefeller, a queen

2006-06-09, Toronto Star (one of Canada's leading newspapers)
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Articl...
Among prominent attendees at this year's conference of the Bilderberg group, a secretive
society that includes some of the world's most powerful people: Jacques Aigrain, CEO of
Swiss Re. Ahmad Chalabi, former deputy prime minister of Iraq and long-time opponent of
Saddam Hussein. George A. David, chairman of Coca-Cola. Paul Desmarais, CEO of Power
Corporation. Richard Holbrooke, key American negotiator for 1995 Bosnian peace accords.
Vernon Jordan, friend and onetime presidential aide to Bill Clinton. Henry Kissinger, foreignpolicy guru and secretary of state under Richard Nixon. Ed Kronenburg, director of NATO's private
office. Bernardino Leon Gross, Spain's foreign minister. Ronald S. Lloyd, chairman of Credit
Suisse First Boston. Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands. Gordon Nixon, Royal Bank of Canada
president, CEO. George Pataki, governor of New York state. Richard Perle, senior foreign policy
adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush. David Rockefeller, retired banker, heir to oil fortune.
Dennis Ross, former Clinton Mideast negotiator. Giulio Tremonti, VP of Italy's chamber of deputies.
James Wolfensohn, U.S. Mideast envoy, former head of the World Bank. Robert Zoellick, deputy
U.S. secretary of state.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For those who know about the pre-war manipulations
involving weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the participation of Ahmed Chalabi speaks
volumes. And for a revealing three-minute video clip on CNN about this highly secretive group,
click here.
Planted fake news stories on American TV

Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for
broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing
them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or
promoted the companies' products. Investigators from the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) are seeking information about stations across the country after a report produced...by the
non-profit group Centre for Media and Democracy found that over a 10-month period at least 77
television stations were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases
(VNRs). Not one told viewers who had produced the items. The FCC has declined to comment on
the investigation but investigators from the commission's enforcement unit recently approached Ms
Farsetta for a copy of her group's report. Among items provided by the Bush administration to
news stations was one in which an Iraqi-American in Kansas City was seen saying "Thank
you Bush. Thank you USA" in response to the 2003 fall of Baghdad. The footage was
actually produced by the State Department, one of 20 federal agencies that have produced and
distributed such items. The FCC was urged to act by a lobbying campaign organised by Free
Press, another non-profit group that focuses on media policy. More than 25,000 people [have]
written to the FCC about the VNRs.
Intelligence Czar Can Waive SEC Rules

2006-05-23, BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2006/nf20060523_2210.htm
President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad
authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual
accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry
in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye. Unbeknownst to
almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy
Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects
from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that
they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside
the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver
under this provision. The timing of Bush's move is intriguing. On the same day the President
signed the memo, Porter Goss resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Only
six days later ... USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had obtained
millions of calling records of ordinary citizens provided by three major U.S. phone
companies. Negroponte oversees both the CIA and NSA in his role as the administration's top
intelligence official. In addition to refusing to explain why Bush decided to delegate this authority to
Negroponte, the White House declined to say whether Bush or any other President has ever
exercised the authority and allowed a company to avoid standard securities disclosure and
accounting requirements.
Note: For many revealing reports on government secrecy from major media sources, click here.
NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying

2006-05-11, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1491889&WNT=true
Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency
would like to keep quiet. For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States
spy on other people's conversations around the world. "I specialized in what's called special
access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and
operations." But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret "black world" operations run
by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell
Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense
Department and the NSA. Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every
domestic and international phone call...and to search for key words or phrases that a
terrorist might use. President Bush has admitted that he gave orders that allowed the NSA to
eavesdrop on a small number of Americans without the usual requisite warrants. But Tice
disagrees. He says the number of Americans subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the
millions. The NSA revoked Tice's security clearance in May of last year based on what it called
psychological concerns and later dismissed him. Tice calls that bunk and says that's the way the
NSA deals with troublemakers and whistleblowers.
Note: For many years, both the U.S. and U.K. denied the existence of Echelon, which according to
the BBC article below is a "spying network that can eavesdrop on every single phone call, fax or email, anywhere on the planet." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/503224.stm
FBI Keeps Watch on Activists

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fbi27mar27,0,5815737.story
The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources
gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed
vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show. For years, the FBI's
definition of terrorism has included violence against property. That definition has led FBI
investigations to online discussion boards, organizing meetings and demonstrations of a wide
range of activist groups. The FBI's encounters with activists are described in hundreds of pages of
documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act
after agents visited several activists before the 2004 political conventions. ACLU attorneys
acknowledge that the FBI memos are heavily redacted and contain incomplete portraits of some
cases. Still, the attorneys say, the documents show that the FBI has monitored groups that were
not suspected of any crime. FBI officials respond that there is nothing improper about agents
attending a meeting or demonstration.
FBI Agent Slams Bosses at Moussaoui Trial

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/21/ap/national/mainD8GFLTIGA.shtml
The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 testified Monday he spent almost
four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but "criminal
negligence" by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks. Samit told
MacMahon he couldn't persuade FBI headquarters or the Justice Department to take his fears
seriously. Samit's complaints echoed those raised in 2002 by Coleen Rowley, the bureau's
agent-lawyer in the Minneapolis office. Rowley went public with her frustrations, was
named a Time magazine person of the year for whistleblowing. Samit revealed far more than
Rowley of the details of the investigation. For each nugget of information, MacMahon asked Samit
if Washington officials called to assess the implications. Time after time, Samit said no.
The Bullying of the Press

http://timesonline.typepad.com/mick_smith/2006/02/the_bullying_of.html
I reported on eight of the [Downing Street] memos while working at the Daily Telegraph in
September 2004. I then moved to the Sunday Times, where I obtained the other two memos.
Why did the US newspapers take so long to pick up on the story? The memos were so
momentous in what they told us about how Bush and Blair went to war...that they surely had to be
reported. They were not only the smoking gun that proved all the lies; they also proved the lack
of planning for the aftermath; the fraudulent use of the UN to make the war legal; and...the way in
which the allies began the war...months before they went to the UN or Congress to get backing for
war. The memo actually says...that the Prime Minister agreed at Crawford in April 2002 to go to
war, so the British needed to "create the conditions" which would make the war legal under
international law. In the wake of 9/11, the US media were initially prevented from any criticism of
the administration. Then when the need to criticize became unavoidable, they were cowed by
administration claims that it helped the terrorists. There is something grotesque about Bush saying
that his administration is setting a forward strategy for freedom around the world while it is
attempting at the same time to bully the US press back into submission at home. I dont for one
moment believe it will succeed. But none of us can afford to be complacent.
MI5 rebels expose Tube bomb cover-up

MI5 is facing an internal revolt by officers alarmed about intelligence failures and the lack of
resources to fight Islamic terrorism. To illustrate their concern, agents have leaked more topsecret
documents to The Sunday Times because they want a public inquiry into the missed intelligence
leading up to the July attacks in London. They believe ministers have withheld information from the
public about what the security services knew about the suspects before the bombing of July 7 and
the abortive attacks of July 21. The documents include an admission by John Scarlett, head
of SIS, the secret intelligence service (also known as MI6), that one of the July 21 suspects
was tracked on a trip to Pakistan just months before the attempted bombings. MI5, which is
responsible for national security, allowed the July 21 suspect to travel to Pakistan after he was
detained and interviewed at a British airport. It stopped monitoring him because it said the
Pakistani authorities assessed that he was doing nothing of significance. They are critical of Blair,
who has ruled out an inquiry saying it would distract the security services from fighting terrorism.
The assessment echoes a decision by MI5 to halt surveillance on two of the July 7 bombers 16
months before the attacks. Both were filmed and taped by MI5 agents as they met two men
allegedly plotting to carry out a terrorist attack in England.
Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/earth/29climate.html?ex=1296190800&...
After [a] speech and the release of data by Dr. Hansen on Dec. 15 showing that 2005 was
probably the warmest year in at least a century, officials at the headquarters of the space
agency repeatedly [warned] Dr. Hansen that there would be "dire consequences" if such
statements continued. Hansen, longtime director of the agency's Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, said in an interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff
to review his coming lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for
interviews from journalists. Dean Acosta, deputy assistant administrator for public affairs at the
space agency, said...the restrictions on Dr. Hansen applied to all [NASA] personnel. "This is not
about any individual or any issue like global warming," he said. Dr. Hansen strongly
disagreed...saying such procedures had already prevented the public from fully grasping recent
findings. Dr. Hansen said that nothing in 30 years equaled the push made since early December to
keep him from publicly discussing what he says are clear-cut dangers from further delay in curbing
carbon dioxide. The fight between Dr. Hansen and administration officials echoes other recent
disputes. At climate laboratories of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for
example, many scientists who routinely took calls from reporters five years ago can now do so only
if the interview is approved by administration officials in Washington, and then only if a public
affairs officer is present or on the phone.
Most powerful hurricanes of 2005 were filled with mysterious lightning

2006-01-09, NASA
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/09jan_electrichurricanes.htm?list115530
The boom of thunder and crackle of lightning generally mean one thing: a storm is coming.
Curiously, though, the biggest storms of all, hurricanes, are notoriously lacking in lightning.
Hurricanes blow, they rain, they flood, but seldom do they crackle. During the record-setting
hurricane season of 2005, three of the most powerful storms--Rita, Katrina, and Emily--did have
lightning, lots of it. And researchers would like to know why. Richard Blakeslee of the Global
Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC) in Huntsville, Alabama, was one of a team of scientists
who explored Hurricane Emily. "Hurricanes are most likely to produce lightning when they're
making landfall," says Blakeslee. But there were no mountains beneath the "electric
hurricanes" of 2005 -- only flat water. It's tempting to think that, because Emily, Rita and Katrina
were all exceptionally powerful, their sheer violence somehow explains their lightning. But
Blakeslee says that this explanation is too simple. "Other storms have been equally intense and
did not produce much lightning," he says. "There must be something else at work."
Note: A number of researchers suspect there may have been clandestine involvement in Katrina
and other recent hurricanes, possibly using HAARP technologies, which have been well
documented. For an excellent summary of this, click here. For more on HAARP, click here.
'National interest' halts arms corruption inquiry

http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1972749,00.html
A major criminal investigation into alleged corruption by the arms company BAE Systems and its
executives was stopped in its tracks yesterday when the prime minister claimed it would endanger
Britain's security. The remarkable intervention was announced by the attorney general, Lord
Goldsmith, who took the decision to end the Serious Fraud Office [SFO] inquiry into alleged bribes
paid by the company to Saudi officials. BAE and the Saudi embassy had frantically lobbied the
government for the long-running investigation to be discontinued, with the company insisting it was
poised to lose another lucrative Saudi contract. This came at a time when the SFO appeared to
have made a significant breakthrough, with investigators on the brink of accessing key Swiss bank
accounts. Lord Goldsmith consulted the prime minister, the defence secretary, foreign
secretary, and the intelligence services, and they decided that "the wider public interest"
"outweighed the need to maintain the rule of law". The decision was condemned last night as
naked political interference in a criminal case. The Liberal Democrat chief of staff said the
government had succumbed to Saudi pressure. The UK made overseas bribery illegal in 2002,
under US pressure. No prosecutions have taken place under the new law. Clare Short, Mr Blair's
former cabinet colleague, said: "The message it sends to corrupt businessmen is carry on - the
government will support you."
Note: It's interesting how "the wider public interest" is so often tied to lucrative contracts and
profits.
Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/politics/15cnd-program.html?pagewanted=2&ei...
The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could
jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under
scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper
delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration
officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted. While many details about the
program remain secret, officials familiar with it said the N.S.A. eavesdropped without warrants on
up to 500 people in the United States at any given time.
Note: The above quote is from page two of a ten-page article on the Times website. Isn't it
interesting that the White House can keep vital news from being reported? See Media Information
Center for more.
Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/politics/11propaganda.html?ex=1291957200&en...
The media center in Fayetteville, N.C., would be the envy of any global communications company.
The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and [its] writers and
producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg
turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States
government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are onesided and their American sponsorship is hidden. Army psychological operations units
sometimes pay to deliver their message, offering television stations money to run unattributed
segments. The United States does not ban the distribution of government propaganda overseas,
as it does domestically. Typically, Lincoln [a company under government contractor] paid
newspapers from $40 to $2,000 to run the articles as news articles or advertisements. More than
1,000 articles appeared in 12 to 15 Iraqi and Arab newspapers, according to Pentagon documents.
The publications did not disclose that the articles were generated by the military.
Note: For an abundance of reliable information on major cover-ups around war, visit our War
Information Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/warinformation
More than half of the U.S. House of Representatives wants open

hearings on Able Danger
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland
Security Committees, has sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld signed by
over half of the House of Representatives requesting that he allow "former participants in
the intelligence program known as ABLE DANGER to testify in an open hearing before the
United States Congress." The letter has 246 signatures (144 Republicans, 101 Democrats, and
one Independent), including senior members and leadership on both sides of the isle. "The full
story of ABLE DANGER deserves to be heard by the American people," said Weldon. "Secretary
Rumsfeld must understand that the will of Congress is behind allowing members of the ABLE
DANGER effort to testify in an open hearing about the work they were doing prior to 9-11 to track
the linkages and relationships of al-Qaeda worldwide. Congressional efforts to investigate ABLE
DANGER have been obstructed by Department of Defense insistence that certain individuals with
knowledge of ABLE DANGER be prevented from freely and frankly testifying in an open hearing.
Note: Why did no media found this key story worth covering? The request was never granted,
while the investigation was eventually declared closed by the military without any significant
outside investigation.
National Security Watch: Disquieted whistleblowers

2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
The first annual National Security Whistleblowers Conference...has to be one of the more unusual
gatherings of intelligence veterans in recent years. The nearly 20 current or former officials from
the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and even the supersecret National Security Agency
who make up the core of the conference share an unusual distinction: They are all deeply out of
favor with their longtime employers. Most cannot discuss the allegations they are making in detail
because the specifics are highly classified. The agencies they work for also refuse to answer
questions. The current and former officials at the conference said that today's climate in
Washington has never been worse for whistleblowers. One of the biggest names of the
conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military intelligence
operative who...went public with a controversial claim that a year before September 11, his topsecret task force "Able Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be the lead
hijacker [on 9/11]. Shaffer was slated to speak but instead sat quietly by as his lawyer, Mark Zaid,
spoke for him. "Tony is not allowed to talk," Zaid said. "He is gagged from talking to Congress."
The conference was organized by Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who was pushed out of
the bureau after raising accusations of wrongdoing by other FBI translators. She has been barred
from discussing the details of her case by the FBI. She created the National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition www.nswbc.org to bring whistleblowers like her together to push for legal
reforms.
Note: For a detailed article in Vanity Fair on Sibel Edmonds' courageous efforts to expose the
truth, click here. For the whistleblowing action which drew international media attention by
WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks, click here.
'The Future of Food'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/30/DDGHOEVICB1.DTL#f...
Food insiders may already know the disturbing facts highlighted by this film, but the general public
is in for a shock at how corporations are using misleading campaigns -- and scare tactics -- to
ensure that people around the world become dependent on genetically modified food. Monsanto
and other corporate behemoths are motivated (not surprisingly) by profits, according to farmers,
academics and others who talk to documentarian Deborah Koons Garcia. Canadian farmer Percy
Schmeiser was targeted by Monsanto's lawyers because some of the corporation's patented
seedlings were found on his property. Schmeiser didn't plant them there; wind blew the insecticideresistant seeds onto his farm from another farm, or the seeds fell off a passing truck. Monsanto
didn't care, ordering Schmeiser to kill all his family's seed because they'd potentially been
contaminated by its patented product. Schmeiser ... fought Monsanto, spending his retirement
money against the sort of legal attack that has already scared farmers throughout North America.
Incredibly, a judge ruled in favor of Monsanto. Garcia's documentary shows how much the U.S.
federal government favors these corporations, especially through lax oversight (the [FDA] and the
Department of Agriculture seem to rubber-stamp every corporate project having to do with
genetically modified food). In the past 20 years, Monsanto's alumni have occupied the high
reaches of American power. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for example, did
legal work for the corporation, while Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was president
of a Monsanto subsidiary.
Note: To view this highly educational film, click here. To read another excellent review of this
important documentary, click here.
FEMA twice failed to give Congress plan to evacuate New Orleans

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/17/katrina.evacuation.ap
Eight years ago Congress...set aside $500,000 for FEMA to create "a comprehensive analysis and
plan of all evacuation alternatives for the New Orleans metropolitan area." Frustrated two years
later that no study had materialized, Congress strengthened its directive. This time it ordered "an
evacuation plan for a Category 3 or greater storm, a levee break, flood or other natural disaster for
the New Orleans area." The $500,000 that Congress appropriated for the evacuation plan
went to a commission that studied future options for the 24-mile bridge over Lake
Pontchartrain.
Shocking ruling
2005-09-13, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-09-13-other-news-edit_x.htm
Jose Padilla, who was born in New York and grew up in Chicago, landed at O'Hare airport more
than three years ago and hasn't been seen since. He disappeared into a succession of jails and
military prisons without being charged with a crime, without trial and without even a hearing on the
allegations against him. In a ruling that puts the liberties of every citizen at risk, a federal appeals
court said Friday there's nothing wrong with that. Worse, the ruling -- expected to be appealed -isn't limited to O'Hare airport or to Padilla. The court said Congress has given the president
authority to order the jailing of anyone anywhere for as long as he wishes, as long as he
claims it's connected to the war on terrorism. That sounds more like the power accorded a
dictator than the president of the United States. Repeal of the Constitution's Fourth, Fifth and Sixth
amendments wasn't part of the package when Congress passed that anti-terrorism resolution after
the 9/11 attacks.
Hurricane Katrina: Compilation of FEMA's Rejections of Qualified Help

2005-09-12, Chicago Tribune/New York Times/Washington Post/CNN/More
http://www.WantToKnow.info/femafailureskatrina
FEMA refuses hundreds of personnel, dozens of vehicles - Chicago Tribune, 9/2/05
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050902daley,1,2011979.story
FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/3/05
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm
FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board - Chicago Tribune, 9/4/05
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509040369sep04,1,4144825.story
FEMA turns away state-of-the-art mobile hospital from Univ. of North Carolina - CNN, 9/5/05
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/09/04/katrina.sick.redtape.ap/
FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations - Financial Times, 9/5/05
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/84aa35cc-1da8-11da-b40b-00000e
FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks - New York Times, 9/6/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html
FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel - New York Times, 9/6/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html
FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid - News Sentinel, 9/8/05
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/12595873.htm
FEMA asks media not to take pictures of dead - Washington Post, 9/8/05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702126.html
FEMA turns back German government plane loaded with 15 tons of food - Spiegel, 9/12/05
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,374268,00.html
FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond" Unless Dispatched - FEMA's own website
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470
For those who are ready to go even deeper, read about FEMA's shady beginnings by clicking
here. Then, to see Online Journal's revealing analysis article "New Orleans: Dress rehearsal for
lockdown of America," click here.
Britain now faces its own blowback

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1566919,00.html
Omar Sheikh...at the behest of General Mahmood Ahmed, head of the ISI [Pakistan's secret
service], wired $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, the leading 9/11 hijacker, before the New York
attacks, as confirmed by Dennis Lormel, director of FBI's financial crimes unit. Yet neither
Ahmed nor Omar appears to have been sought for questioning by the US about 9/11. Indeed, the
official 9/11 Commission Report of July 2004 sought to downplay the role of Pakistan with the
comment: "To date, the US government has not been able to determine the origin of the money
used for the 9/11 attacks. Ultimately the question is of little practical significance" - a statement of
breathtaking disingenuousness. All this highlights the resistance to getting at the truth about the
9/11 attacks and to an effective crackdown on the forces fomenting terrorist bombings in the west.
Banished Whistle-Blowers
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/opinion/01thu3.html?ex=1283227200&en=52a19d...
The Bush administration is making no secret of its determination to punish whistle-blowers and
other federal workers who object to the doctoring of facts that clash with policy and spin. The
blatant retaliation includes the Army general sidelined for questioning the administration's
projections about needed troop strength in Iraq, the Medicare expert muted when he tried
to inform Congress about the true cost of the new prescription subsidies and the White
House specialist on climate change who was booted after complaining that global warming
statistics were being massaged by political tacticians. The latest victims include Bunnatine
Greenhouse, a career civilian manager at the Pentagon. She was demoted from her job as the top
contract overseer of the Army Corps of Engineers after she complained of irregularities in the
awarding of a multibillion-dollar no-bid Iraq contract to a subsidiary of Halliburton, the Texas-based
oil services company run by Dick Cheney before he became vice president.
Blocked
It is disappointing to learn that the Central Intelligence Agency filed motions in federal
court in May 2005 to block disclosure of records related to the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy forty-one years ago. The spirit of the law is clear. The JFK Records Act of
1992, approved unanimously by Congress, mandated that all assassination-related records be
reviewed and disclosed "immediately." When Morley filed his lawsuit in December 2003, thirteen
published JFK authors supported his request for the records in an open letter to The New York
Review of Books (www.nybooks.com/articles/16865). Eighteen months later, the CIA is still
stonewalling. The agency now acknowledges that it possesses an undisclosed number of

documents...which it will not release in any form. Thus records related to Kennedy's assassination
are still being hidden for reasons of "national security."
Note: This letter to the editor was signed by Norman Mailer, Oliver Stone, and others. Why isn't
the media covering this important development? For two highly revealing videos on the JFK
assassination, read here.
Who Blew the Leads?

In the wake of 9/11, Saudi authorities came under criticism in the U.S. for sluggishness in
investigating the attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens. Now it appears that
the U.S. bears some responsibility for the slackness with which leads were pursued. According to
several former employees of the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, the FBI legal attach's office housed
within the embassy was often in disarray during the months that followed 9/11. When an FBI
supervisor arrived to clean up the mess, she found a mountain of paper and, for security reasons,
ordered wholesale shredding that resulted in the destruction of unprocessed documents relating to
the 9/11 investigations. In 2001 the FBI's Saudi office comprised a secretary and two agents. The
FBI sent reinforcements within two weeks of 9/11, but it appears that the bureau's team never got
on top of the thousands of leads flowing in from the U.S. and Saudi governments. When the senior
FBI supervisor was sent to the Riyadh office nearly a year after 9/11, she found secret documents
literally falling out of file drawers, stacked in binders on tables and wedged behind cabinets,
according to an FBI briefing to Congress. The process of sending classified material to the
U.S. had fallen so far behind that a backlog of boxes, each filled with three feet of paper
containing secret, time-sensitive leads, had built up. The supervisor ordered the shredding
of hundreds, perhaps thousands of pages, many of them related directly to the ongoing
9/11 investigation, an FBI briefer told Congress.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on questions surrounding
the official explanations of the 9/11 attacks, click here.
UPI Hears...
2005-06-13, Washington Times/United Press International
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-102755-6408r.htm
A former Bush team member during his first administration is now voicing serious doubts about the
collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Former chief economist for the Department of
Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the
official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a
controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. Reynolds, who
also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis in
Dallas and is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University said, "If demolition destroyed three
steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a
government attack on America would be compelling." Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M
office, "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause of the collapse
of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is,
then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The
government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition
appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings."
Note: If the above link fails, click here. Why wasn't this widely reported? For 50 other senior
government officials who have seriously questioned the 9/11 Commission Report, click here.
MI6 protected Nazi who killed 100 British agents

ONE of Hitlers top intelligence officers, who ordered the murders of more than 100 British secret
agents in concentration camps, was spared execution as a war criminal and selected to work for
MI6. Newly opened papers contain startling evidence that...British Intelligence turned Horst
Kopkow, faked his death and used him to fight the Cold War. The Atkins documents have been
corroborated by newly declassified secret papers in the British and American National Archives.
Britain has denied that it engaged in the dark arts used by the Americans, whose employment of
Nazis to catch Communists has been well-documented. British intelligence sources pointed out
that Kopkow was not in the league of the butcher of Lyons, a reference to Klaus Barbie, the most
notorious war criminal employed by the Americans. The Kopkow case is uniquely chilling
because the MI6 men who spared him were colleagues and handlers of his victims.
Among those whose torture and death he sanctioned were men and women of the SOE and MI6
agents.
Controllers' tale of Flight 11

http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0913/p1s2-usju.html
Flight 11's transponder had stopped working. It was no longer sending a radar pulse. The
plane's altitude also became a matter of guesswork for controllers, though the Boeing 767
was still visible on radar. Two F-15 jets were reportedly dispatched from Otis Air Force Base.
Just before or after the military planes got off the ground, however, the controllers report they lost
site of Flight 11's radar signal over Manhattan. The controller who had handled the plane from the
beginning of the ordeal was stunned. A few minutes later, the Nashua controllers heard reports
that a plane had crashed into a building.
Note: According to the official story, once the transponders were turned off in the four 9/11
airplanes, they could no longer be tracked. As the above article and air traffic controllers will tell
you, though the altitude is no longer reported, planes are still visible on radar once the transponder
is off. The plane that flew into the Pentagon was known to be hijacked for over half an hour before
it struck. Military radar also can rapidly track incoming missiles that obviously don't send out
transponder signals. So how is it possible that the military headquarters of the entire United States
was hit, when radar must have tracked this plane on it's way there?
True Tales Odd Enough to Stop a Farm Animal's Heart

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01EFDD163EF934A35757C0A9639C...
At the start of the twisted treasure hunt that is "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the journalist Jon
Ronson appears to be looking for furtive, paranoid quacks who play mind games. Take the goats
of the title: Mr. Ronson cites a hundred of them. They have been used in top-secret
experiments by psychic spies whose existence is not officially acknowledged by the United
States Army. Military psychics are so well hidden that they aren't covered by the Army's
coffee budget. It makes them cranky to have to bring their own coffee to work. "The damn psychic
spies should be keeping their damn mouths shut, instead of chitchatting all over town about what
they did." So says retired Maj. Gen. Albert N. Stubblebine III, the first of the many characters
redolent of "Dr. Strangelove" who are found in this jaw-dropper of a -- hard to believe, but, yes -nonfiction story. Some of these experts contend that a goat's heart can be stopped by the intense
gaze of a certain kind of supersoldier. "Goat didn't have a chance," one of these tough guys [says].
Mr. Ronson ... describes the effort to deploy a Moscow scientist who had previously sent
subliminal messages to Red Army troops ... in the Branch Davidian standoff. This scientist didn't
work out because he was unwilling to transmit ... a bogus voice of God. He finds a prologue in MKULTRA, the real C.I.A. "Manchurian Candidate" research of the 1950's, which involved the
disastrous use of LSD as a potential truth serum. And somehow Mr. Ronson is able to keep his
book both light and nightmarish. [He] remains terrifically adept at capturing the horror of these
developments without losing track of their lunacy.
Note: For the above article and lots more reliable information on these mind control programs,
click here. For another excellent book by Ronson titled "Them: Adventure with Extremists," click
here.
Congressional Testimony Reveals Four Wargames on 9/11

2005-03-11, WantToKnow.info/C-SPAN
http://www.wanttoknow.info/050317wargames911
CMK [Congresswoman Cythia McKinney]: Mr. Secretary, after the last Hearing, I thought that my
office was promised a written response to my question regarding the four wargames on September
11th. I have not yet received that response. The question was ... whether or not the activities of
the four wargames going on on September 11th actually impaired our ability to respond to
the attacks. RM [Top Pentagon Chief, General Richard Myers]: The answer to the question is no,
it did not impair our response, in fact General Eberhart who was in the command of the North
American Aerospace Defense Command as he testified in front of the 9/11 Commission I believe I believe he told them that it enhanced our ability to respond, given that NORAD didn't have the
overall responsibility for responding to the attacks that day. That was an FAA responsibility. But
they were two CPXs; there was one Department of Justice exercise that didn't have anything to do
with the other three; and there was an actual operation ongoing because there was some Russian
bomber activity up near Alaska. CMK: Who was in charge of managing those wargames? RM: The
important thing to realize is that North American Aerospace Defense Command was responsible.
These are command post exercises; what that means is that all the battle positions that are
normally not filled are indeed filled; so it was an easy transition from an exercise into a real world
situation. It actually enhanced the response; otherwise, it would take somewhere between 30
minutes and a couple of hours to fill those positions, those battle stations, with the right staff
officers.
Note: For the full transcript of this testimony and more, click here. Why to this day have all
media (other than C-SPAN) and the 9/11 Commission Report failed to inform the public that
there were four wargames happening at the time of the 9/11 attacks? For possible answers,
click here.
U.S. corporations paying less in taxes

2004-09-23, MSNBC/Forbes
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6080561/
The effective tax rate for America's largest and most profitable corporations has sharply
declined in recent years, and one third of such companies paid zero taxes -- or less -- in at
least one of the last three years. In 2003 alone, 46 of the 275 companies...paid no taxes at all in
2003, despite reporting a total of $42.6 billion in pre-tax profits. Indeed, these companies received
$5.4 billion in tax rebates that year. Half of the "tax-break dollars" over the three-year period went
to just 25 companies. All told, 82 companies paid zero or negative taxes in at least one of the
last three years and 28, including Boeing, paid negative taxes for the entire period. The
largest beneficiaries were some of the most profitable companies: General Electric, SBC
Communications, Citigroup, IBM and Microsoft. Of the 10 most profitable U.S.-based companies
on the Forbes 2000, only Wal-Mart and Freddie Mac do not appear on the study's list of top 25 tax
break beneficiaries. At the same time, IRS data indicates that the overall share of federal taxes
paid by corporations in now less than 10 percent, down from nearly 13 percent in 1997. This trend
occurred against a backdrop of rising corporate earnings. The study attributes the trend to the
widening availability of offshore tax shelters and other lawful avoidance techniques.
RNC [Republican National Convention] to Feature Unusual Forms of
Sound
2004-08-25, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=99472
Outside the convention hall, New York City police plan to control protesters using a device that
directs sound for up to 1,500 feet in a spotlight-like beam. Meanwhile, a display of former
Republican presidents inside the hall will feature campaign speeches that are funneled to listeners
through highly focused audio beams. Both technologies feature unprecedented manipulation of
sound, but for very different purposes. And while both technologies have unique, "gee-whiz"
factors, some remain uneasy with the idea of using sound to control crowds. When in weapon
mode, LRAD blasts a tightly controlled stream of caustic sound that can be turned up to
high enough levels to trigger nausea or possibly fainting. LRAD ... has been used by the
U.S. military in Iraq and at sea as a non-lethal force. In these settings, operators can use the
device not only to convey orders, but also as a weapon. In tests, police have shown how they can
convey orders in a normal voice to someone as far as four blocks away. The sound beam is even
equipped with a viewfinder so the operator can precisely target the audio by finding a person in
cross hairs. Rather than using pure volume to throw sound far, the LRAD reaches distant ears by
focusing the audio beam. Wherever the beam makes contact with air, the air molecules interact in
a way that isolates the original audible sound. So if you're standing in front of the ultrasonic sound
wave, you can hear the sound. If you're a few inches away, you hear nothing. Already, some CocaCola machines in Japan are equipped with the technology so passers-by hear the enticing sound
of soda being poured into a glass of ice.
Note: For more reliable information on these "non-lethal weapons," click here.
Dayton: FAA, NORAD hid 9/11 failures

2004-07-31, Minneapolis Star Tribune (leading newspaper of Minneapolis)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1576/4904237.html
Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., charged Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) have covered up "catastrophic failures"
that left the nation vulnerable during the Sept. 11 hijackings. "For almost three years now, NORAD
officials and FAA officials have been able to hide their critical failures that left this country
defenseless during two of the worst hours in our history," Dayton declared during a Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. Dayton told leaders of the Sept. 11 commission, that,
based on the commission's report, a NORAD chronology ... said the FAA notified the military's
emergency air command of three of the hijackings while those jetliners were still airborne. Dayton
cited commission findings that the FAA failed to inform NORAD about three of the planes until after
they had crashed. Dayton said NORAD officials "lied to the American people, they lied to
Congress and they lied to your 9/11 commission to create a false impression of
competence, communication and protection of the American people." He [said] if the
commission's report is correct, President Bush "should fire whoever at FAA, at NORAD ... betrayed
their public trust by not telling us the truth." Dayton argued that if the FAA had promptly sent a
systemwide message about the hijackings, the pilot of the fourth plane seized, United Airlines
Flight 93, might have been able to secure the cockpit doors and land the plane. Dayton said
NORAD also falsely claimed that during the hijackings, it had F-16 Combat Air Patrol planes in
place at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and an AWAC command ship in the air to protect the
nation's capital.
Note: Click here to visit the Internet archive, where you will see this article was removed not long
after it was published. No other major media reported this vital news. To see the original, click here
or here.
Enough evidence for trial of CIA drugging

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/25/BAGMH6R8OU1.DTL
A San Jose man who claimed the CIA secretly had given him LSD in 1957 as part of a mindcontrol experiment -- causing him to try to hold up a San Francisco bar ... offered enough evidence
of possible drugging to go to trial on his $12 million damages suit. The decision by Chief U.S.
District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel cited what appeared to be an admission by a former operative in
the CIA program ... that he had slipped LSD into one of Wayne Ritchie's drinks. "I drugged guys
involved in about 10, 12 (instances)," former federal narcotics agent Ira Feldman, who worked for
the CIA's Project MKULTRA, told Ritchie's lawyer. The [MKULTRA] program ... was an attempt to
find chemicals or techniques that could control human consciousness. The CIA and federal
narcotics agents started giving mind-altering drugs to unsuspecting government
employees, private citizens and prison volunteers in the early 1950s. Ritchie believes he was
drugged during an office Christmas party. He ... was overcome with depression and a feeling that
everyone had turned against him. He ... drove to a Fillmore District bar, demanded money ... and
was hit over the head and knocked unconscious. He pleaded guilty to attempted robbery. Ritchie
quit his job in disgrace, found work as a housepainter and spent years fighting off suicidal urges.
Then in 1999, he read the obituary of MKULTRA's director, Sidney Gottlieb, and began to believe
he had been one of the program's guinea pigs -- especially after the diary of a now-deceased
MKULTRA agent showed he might have attended the same Christmas party.
Note: Though Ritchie lost the first round in court, he plans to appeal. For an abundance of reliable,
verifiable information on secret government mind control programs, click here.
America's Deep, Dark Secret

2004-05-02, CBS 60 Minutes
Starting in the early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of American children were warehoused in
institutions by state governments. And the federal government did nothing to stop it. The
justification? The kids had been labeled feeble-minded, and were put away in conditions that can
only be described as unspeakable. A large proportion of the kids who were locked up were not
retarded at all. They were simply poor, uneducated kids with no place to go, who ended up in
institutions like the Fernald School in Waltham, Mass. The Fernald School, and others like it, was
part of a popular American movement in the early 20th century called the Eugenics movement.
The idea was to separate people considered to be genetically inferior from the rest of
society, to prevent them from reproducing. Eugenics is usually associated with Nazi
Germany, but in fact, it started in America. Not only that, it continued here long after Hitler's
Germany was in ruins. Few of the attendants [at Fernald] showed any kindness. And ... there
was sexual abuse. The place was tailor made for it. The school [also] allowed them to be used as
human guinea pigs. In 1994 Senate hearings, it came out that scientists from MIT had been giving
radioactive oatmeal to the boys ... in a nutrition study for Quaker Oats. All they knew is that they'd
been asked to join a science club. The boys were recruited with special treats [like] extra milk. But
they forgot to mention the milk was radioactive, says David White-Lief, an attorney who worked on
the state task force investigating the science club. These experiments, because of the lack of
informed consent, violated the Nuremburg Code established just 10 years earlier, says White-Lief.
Note: The extreme racism of the Nazis was quite popular among certain groups in the U.S. For
lots more on how these ideas came to pervade some groups in U.S. intelligence services, click
here. For a powerful list of military and government sponsored experiments on human guinea pigs
with links for verification, click here.
Columbine: Were There Warnings?

2004-02-26, CBS News
A report on the Columbine High School massacre ... could answer questions about what police
knew before the shootings that left 13 victims and two gunmen dead. The families of the victims of
the April 20, 1999 massacre were the first to see, in private, [a] mountain of evidence. Some of the
evidence is expected to show that Harris and Klebold were on police radar nearly two years before
the attack. Brian Rohrbough, whose son, Danny, died at Columbine, said he was hopeful that he
would get the answers he and other family members have been seeking. Rohrbough [has] been
one of the most vocal critics of the sheriff department's failure to follow up on tips about Harris in
the 18 months before Columbine. "I have a hard time sleeping at night because I cannot share
with you what I know," he said hours before the report was to be released. Rohrbough and
some other relatives of victims have seen a deposition given by Wayne Harris, father of Eric
Harris. A federal magistrate has ordered the deposition, which is already sealed, destroyed.
Rohrbough also is pressing for release of an investigation by the school district, which the district
insists it must withhold because teachers questioned during the probe haven't given their
permission. Rohrbough is convinced school staff saw a video the teen killers made that gave a hint
of their plans. "We were lied to about a number of things and it seems like that things were hidden
from us and we never understood why," said Scott. "And I honestly think the answers are not in the
things we looked at yesterday. I think they're in sealed reports and possibly things that have been
destroyed," he said.
Note: Why is the government destroying key evidence in this crucial case? Could it be that the
government is somehow implicated? To explore this disturbing possibility, click here.
Plum I. Was Ready For Its Close-Up

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/nyregion/plum-i-was-ready-for-its-close-up....
Eight months have passed since the Department of Homeland Security took over the management
of Plum Island from the Agriculture Department. Last week, Homeland Security officials offered a
rare glimpse into this veiled and mysterious island. The timing of the tour for a dozen
journalists coincided with the publication of a new book, ''Lab 257,'' by Michael Christopher
Carroll, who argues that the Plum Island laboratories have an appalling safety record and
can be linked to outbreaks of Lyme disease and West Nile virus. There have long been
questions about the safety of Plum Island's operations, but they became more prevalent after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mr. Carroll, a lawyer from Bellmore, writes that in 2002 American forces
in Afghanistan found a file on the Plum Island laboratory in the home of a nuclear physicist
identified by American officials as an associate of Osama bin Laden. Mr. Carroll, who calls the lab
a ticking biological time bomb, describes low employee morale and a decline in security after a
private company took over support functions in 1991. A report from the General Accounting Office
released in October also criticized security at the center, saying that officials did not control access
to dangerous pathogens that could be adapted for germ warfare. The report also cited door alarms
and sensors that did not work ... and insufficient background checks. Plum Island and Homeland
Security officials said there have been no direct terrorist threats against the lab, which studies footand-mouth disease and swine fever, among other diseases.
Lyme, Conn., famous as the epicenter of the Lyme disease outbreak. For a powerful, multiple
award-winning film showing shocking ignorance and even political corruption on the part of the
medical community about the Lyme disease epidemic spreading across the US and even around
the world, click here. It shows evidence that Lyme may be even the cause of many cases of ALS,
Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease.
Biotech critics at risk : Economics calls the shots in the debate

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/11/INGH...
Between 1999 and 2001, unbeknownst to the others, each [of four scientists] made a simple but
dramatic discovery that challenged the catechism of the same powerful industry -- biotechnology -that by then had become the handmaiden of industrial agriculture and the darling of venture
capitalists. When he was the principal scientific officer of the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen,
Scotland, Hungarian citizen Arpad Pusztai fed transgenically modified [GMO] potatoes to rodents
in one of the few experiments that have ever tested the safety of genetically modified food. Almost
immediately, the rats displayed tissue and immunological damage. After he reported his
findings, which eventually underwent peer review and were published in the United
Kingdom's leading medical journal, Lancet, Pusztai's home was burglarized and his
research files taken. Soon thereafter, he was fired from his job at Rowett, and he has since
suffered an orchestrated international campaign of discreditation. [Read full article for the
other three distrubing stories of scientific suppression] These four men were not attacked because
of flawed or imperfect experiments but because the findings of their work have a potential
economic effect. The sad part is that the academies and other allegedly independent institutions
that once defended scientific freedom and protected employees like Hayes, Chapela, Losey and
Pusztai are abandoning them to the wolves of commerce, the brands of which are being engraved
over the entrances to a disturbing number of university labs.
Note: Big money is clearly stifling good science and keeping the public in the dark about genetic
modifications in the food we eat. To educate yourself on this most important topic, click here.
Bush's Grandfather Directed Bank Tied to Man Who Funded Hitler

President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because
of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government
documents show. Prescott Bush was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp., a New
York investment bank owned by a bank controlled by the Thyssen family, according to
recently declassified National Archives documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Fritz
Thyssen was an early financial supporter of Hitler. Reports of Bush's involvement with the
seized bank have been circulating on the Internet for years and have been reported by some
mainstream media. The newly declassified documents provide additional details about the Union
Banking-Thyssen connection. Union Banking was owned by a Dutch bank, Bank voor Handel en
Scheepvaardt N.V., which was "closely affiliated" with the German conglomerate United Steel
Works, according to an Oct. 5, 1942, report from the federal Office of Alien Property Custodian.
The Dutch bank and the steel firm were part of the business and financial empire of Thyssen and
his brother, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the report said. The 4,000 Union Banking shares
owned by the Dutch bank were registered in the names of the seven U.S. directors, [including
Prescott Bush and E. Roland Harriman, the bank chairman and brother of former New York Gov.
W. Averell Harriman]. Both Harrimans and Bush were partners in the New York investment firm of
Brown Brothers, Harriman and Co., which handled the financial transactions of the bank as well as
other financial dealings with several other companies linked to Bank voor Handel.
Ex-minister attacks US over war

2003-09-06, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3085656.stm
Former minister Michael Meacher has blamed the Iraq war on the US desire for world domination.
Mr Meacher also suggested the Americans might have failed to prevent 11 September as it
gave a pretext for military action. Mr Meacher was environment minister until three months ago
and has already spoken out in opposition to the war. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Mr
Meacher said the 11 September attacks gave an invaluable excuse for attacking Afghanistan. And
he said the US Government intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not
Saddam Hussein was in power because of its need for further secure oil supplies. In his piece Mr
Meacher wrote: "It seems that the so-called war on terrorism is being used largely as a bogus
cover for achieving wider US strategic geopolitical objectives. The evidence again is quite clear
that plans for military action against Afghanistan and Iraq were in hand well before 11 September.
The global war on terrorism has all the hallmarks of a political myth propagated to pave the way for
a wholly different agenda - the US goal of world hegemony, built around securing by force
command over the oil supplies required to drive the whole project." Speaking on BBC Radio 4's
Today programme, he said this agenda had been outlined by the Project for the New American
Century (PNAC) - a thinktank associated with leading neoconservative hawks within the US
administration. In his article, Mr Meacher also said the US had passed up opportunities to catch
Osama Bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda figures.
Note: Mr. Meacher's comments were actually much stronger than the BBC reports. He stated
publicy on the front page of the Guardian his belief that the U.S. government was very possibly
behind the 9/11 attacks. To verify this, see the Guardian article mentioned in the BBC article above
available here.
NIH Scientist Says He's Paid To Do Nothing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6791-2003Jul3
Edward McSweegan ... has an office in Bethesda, a job title -- health scientist administrator -- and
an annual salary of about $100,000. What McSweegan says he does not have -- and has not had
for the last seven years -- is any real work. He was hired by the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases in 1988, but says his bosses transferred the research grants he administered
to other workers eight years later, leaving him with occasional tasks more suitable for a typist or
"gofer." McSweegan used to be NIH's program officer for Lyme disease but was removed from the
post in June 1995 after a dispute over his repeated criticism of a politically influential support group
for sufferers and his allegations that NIH had been too accommodating of the group. He had
publicly described the Lyme Disease Foundation as "wacko" because he disagreed with its
theories about the disease. The dispute led to his suspension without pay for two weeks for
insubordination. According to NIH, McSweegan is director of the U.S.-Indo Vaccine Action
Program, and has traveled to countries such as Russia representing the agency. He has also
"produced reports and other work products." But McSweegan said he has never been told he was
director of the program. McSweegan said he struggles to fill his eight-hour workdays by reading,
exercising and writing fiction. He has self-published a bioterrorism thriller and a science fiction
novel. But he says his six-page job description is the ultimate work of creative writing and
describes his position as "a bizarre, surreal situation -- part Orwell, part Kafka and part
Dilbert."
Buffett warns on investment 'time bomb'

2003-03-04, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2817995.stm
The rapidly growing trade in derivatives poses a "mega-catastrophic risk" for the economy and
most shares are still "too expensive", ... investor Warren Buffett has warned. The derivatives
market has exploded in recent years, with investment banks selling billions of dollars worth of
these investments to clients as a way to off-load or manage market risk. But Mr Buffett argues
that such highly complex financial instruments are time bombs and "financial weapons of
mass destruction" that could harm not only their buyers and sellers, but the whole
economic system. Derivatives are financial instruments that allow investors to speculate on the
future price of, for example, commodities or shares - without buying the underlying investment.
Outstanding derivatives contracts - excluding those traded on exchanges such as the International
Petroleum Exchange - are worth close to $85 trillion, according to the International Swaps and
Derivatives Association. Some derivatives contracts, Mr Buffett says, appear to have been devised
by "madmen". He warns that derivatives can push companies onto a "spiral that can lead to a
corporate meltdown", like the demise of the notorious hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management
in 1998.
Note: Though written in 2003, this excellent article reveals the incredible risk of creating
derivatives that have more value than the entire GDP of the world. The risk has increased
tremendously since then.
Gore Vidal claims 'Bush junta' complicit in 9/11

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/27/books.featuresreview
[Famed US novelist] Gore Vidal has launched the most scathing attack to date on George W
Bush's Presidency, calling for an investigation into the events of 9/11 to discover whether the Bush
administration deliberately chose not to act on warnings of Al-Qaeda's plans. Vidal's highly
controversial 7000 word polemic titled 'The Enemy Within' - published in the print edition of The
Observer today - argues that what he calls a 'Bush junta' used the terrorist attacks as a pretext to
enact a pre-existing agenda to invade Afghanistan and crack down on civil liberties at home. Vidal
writes: 'We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true
purpose.' Vidal argues that the real motive for the Afghanistan war was to control the
gateway to Eurasia and Central Asia's energy riches. But, Vidal argues, US administrations,
both Democrat and Republican, were aware that the American public would resist any war
in Afghanistan without a truly massive and widely perceived external threat. 'Osama was
chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long-contemplated invasion and
conquest of Afghanistan ... [because] the administration is convinced that Americans are so
simple-minded that they can deal with no scenario more complex than the venerable, lone, crazed
killer ... who does evil just for the fun of it 'cause he hates us because we're rich 'n free 'n he's not.'
Vidal also attacks the American media's failure to discuss 11 September and its consequences:
'Apparently, "conspiracy stuff" is now shorthand for unspeakable truth. It is an article of faith that
there are no conspiracies in American life.
Note: "The Enemy Within" by Gore Vidal is available here. For more on Vidal's writings on the 9/11
attacks and the reasons behind them, click here. For a video clip of Vidal recommending The New
Pearl Harbor by David Ray Griffin, which reveals a major 9/11 cover-up, click here.
Museum Gives Voice to Doubts on Dr. King's Killer

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/16/us/museum-gives-voice-to-doubts-on-dr-king-...
James Earl Ray, a drifter and ex-convict, shot and killed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a
single bullet here on an April evening in 1968. That is the official story, the reason Mr. Ray spent
the last three decades of his life in prison. Everybody knows it. But not everybody accepts it.
Almost as soon as Dr. King was cut down -- and even more so after Mr. Ray recanted his guilty
plea -- conspiracy theories abounded. Some said the assassin was an army sniper. Mr. Ray
insisted he had been framed by a man named Raul, hired by the C.I.A. There was even a report
that one of Dr. King's entourage had helped to kill him. Now ... the conspiracy theories have stirred
to life again at the National Civil Rights Museum, in the former Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was
shot. The museum recently opened an exhibit in a new $11 million wing primarily to document the
assassination and the mystery that still surrounds it, at least in some people's minds. On display
are 200 pieces of evidence, freshly unsealed from police archives. The gun. The 30.06-caliber
bullet tweezed out of Dr. King's body. A fake passport and guidebook to Rhodesia found on Mr.
Ray, curious artifacts for an unemployed ex-convict supposedly working solo. Questions are
stamped on the wall, in bold letters. "Did Ray have help? Did someone else do it? Was the
Memphis Police Department part of the conspiracy?" The King family believes that Mr. Ray, who
died of liver disease in 1998, was not the killer. Dexter King, Dr. King's son, visited Mr. Ray
on his deathbed. The government killed my father, Dexter King told him, not you. Mr. Ray's
family said they were finally getting the vindication they deserved.
Note: In one of the biggest media cover-ups ever, the government was found guilty of consipiring
to murder King in a 1999 civil trial in Memphis. The press strangely boycotted the historic trial. For
more on this amazingly well kept secret, click here. For many revealing reports on the major US
political assassinations, which consistently cast doubts on the official accounts of how they
occurred, click here.
UK 'sells' bomb material to Iran
2002-09-23, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2275249.stm
British officials have approved the export of key components needed to make nuclear
weapons to Iran and other countries known to be developing such weapons. An investigation
by BBC Radio 4 programme File on Four will disclose that the Department of Trade and Industry
allowed a quantity of the metal, Beryllium, to be sold to Iran last year. That metal is needed to
make nuclear bombs. Britain has had an arms embargo to Iran since 1993 and has signed up to
an international protocol which bans the sale of Beryllium to named countries, including Iran.
Beryllium is a metal with a limited number of high-tech uses in civilian industry, but is mostly used
in defence applications and is a vital component in a nuclear bomb. The programme has also
interviewed a leading nuclear weapons expert in the UK who says that the Beryllium and other
items which the DTI has licensed to Iran add up to a shopping list for a nuclear weapons
programme. The UK has an arms embargo against Iran, but not a trade embargo. The programme
highlights the weaknesses in the UK's new export control system, which was set up to stop the
proliferation of nuclear weapons. Iranian procurement agents have been working in the UK to get
sensitive material back to Iran, and that Pakistan has also been successful in procuring material
for its nuclear programme from here.
Unanswered questions: The mystery of Flight 93

2002-08-13, Independent (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
The shortage of available facts [about the crash of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001] did not
prevent the creation of an instant legend ... that the US government and the US media were
pleased to propagate, and that the American public have been eager, for the most part, to accept
as fact. The absence of official information has led to lively and often well-informed debate [on] the
internet (see www.flight93crash.com.) There are ... a number of important unanswered
questions ... based on evidence, as well as on a manifest absence of candour on the part of
the authorities which the national US media, typically so sceptical and inquisitive, have
shown a curious reluctance to ask. The alternative theories, both of which have been denied by
the US military and the FBI, are a) that Flight 93 was brought down by a US government plane;
and b) that a bomb went off aboard. If doubts remain despite the denials, if conspiracy theories
flourish, it is in large part because of the authorities' failure to address head-on questions,
[including:] 1. The wide displacement of the plane's debris, one explanation for which might be an
explosion of some sort aboard prior to the crash. Letters ... and other papers from the plane were
found eight miles (13km) away from the scene of the crash. A sector of one engine weighing one
ton was found [more than a mile] away . Other remains of the plane were found two miles away
near a town called Indian Lake. 2. A federal flight controller [was quoted] a few days later in a
newspaper [stating] that an F-16 had been "in hot pursuit" of the hijacked United jet and "must
have seen the whole thing". Everything is speculation that is the problem with the story of Flight
93.
Note: For a treasure trove of revealing articles from major media sources that raise numerous
questions about what really happened on 9/11, click here.
Bush asks Daschle to limit Sept. 11 probes

2002-01-29, CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2002-01-29/politics/inv.terror.probe_1_daschle-house-...
President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle ... to limit the congressional
investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN.
The request was made at a private meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday morning. Sources
said Bush initiated the conversation. He asked that only the House and Senate intelligence
committees look into the potential breakdowns among federal agencies that could have allowed
the terrorist attacks to occur, rather than a broader inquiry that some lawmakers have proposed,
the sources said. Tuesday's discussion followed a rare call to Daschle from Vice President Dick
Cheney last Friday to make the same request. Although the president and vice president told
Daschle they were worried a wide-reaching inquiry could distract from the government's
war on terrorism, privately Democrats questioned why the White House feared a broader
investigation to determine possible culpability. "We will take a look at the allocation of
resources. Ten thousand federal agents -- where were they? How many assets were used, and
what signals were missed?" a Democratic senator told CNN.
Note: For many questions raised by highly-respected former government officials about the
investigation that was, after four years, finally authorized, click here.
Threat of US strikes passed to Taliban weeks before NY attack

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/sep/22/afghanistan.september113
Osama bin Laden and the Taliban received threats of possible American military strikes
against them two months before the terrorist assaults on New York and Washington, which
were allegedly masterminded by the Saudi-born fundamentalist, a Guardian investigation has
established. The threats of war unless the Taliban surrendered Osama bin Laden were passed to
the regime in Afghanistan by the Pakistani government, senior diplomatic sources revealed
yesterday. The warning to the Taliban originated at a four-day meeting of senior Americans,
Russians, Iranians and Pakistanis at a hotel in Berlin in mid-July. The conference, the third in a
series dubbed "brainstorming on Afghanistan", was part of a classic diplomatic device known as
"track two". "The Americans indicated to us that in case the Taliban does not behave and in
case Pakistan also doesn't help us to influence the Taliban, then the United States would be
left with no option but to take an overt action against Afghanistan," said Niaz Naik, a former
foreign minister of Pakistan, who was at the meeting. "I told the Pakistani government, who
informed the Taliban via our foreign office and the Taliban ambassador here." The three Americans
at the Berlin meeting were Tom Simons, a former US ambassador to Pakistan, Karl "Rick"
Inderfurth, a former assistant secretary of state for south Asian affairs, and Lee Coldren, who
headed the office of Pakistan, Afghan and Bangladesh affairs in the state department until 1997.
DOD Inspector General's Report to Congress

2001-09-10, U.S. Department of Defense website
http://www.defense.gov/Speeches/Speech.aspx?SpeechID=430
Remarks as Delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon, September
10, 2001: The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of
the United States of America. This adversary is one of the world's last bastions of central planning.
It governs by dictating five-year plans. From a single capital, it attempts to impose its demands
across time zones, continents, oceans and beyond. With brutal consistency, it stifles free thought
and crushes new ideas. It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men
and women in uniform at risk. The adversary [is] the Pentagon bureaucracy. An average
American family works an entire year to generate $6,000 in income taxes. Here we spill
many times that amount every hour by duplication and by inattention. According to some
estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions. This is not just about money. It's not
about waste. It's about our responsibility to the men and women in uniform who put their lives at
risk. It's about respect for taxpayers' dollars. A cab driver in New York City ought to be able to feel
confident that we care about those dollars.
Note: Is it possible that this is more than just problems with a bureaucracy? When we are talking
about trillions of dollars, could it be that major corruption at very high levels may be involved? For
a couple striking examples of major corruption not adequately covered by the media from highly
respected sources, click here.
History's Mysteries: Mind Control: America's Secret War

2001-08-01, History Channel
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=73738&browseCategoryId=&loc...
It is one of the ill-kept secrets of America's intelligence agencies--for decades, they have worked
virtually non-stop to perfect means of controlling the human mind. But while many have suspected
the existence of these projects, the details have long been preserved. MIND CONTROL blows the
lid off years of chilling experiments, drawing on documents reluctantly released through
the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with some of the victims, including a woman
whose past was literally taken away. Hear from John Marks, the author of In Search of the
Manchurian Candidate, who broke the story of the CIA's abuses by unraveling the mysteries
contained in financial records. All the other records pertaining to the experiments were destroyed
by the agency in an attempt to prevent the details from ever being known.
Note: Interviews in this eye-opening documentary with top psychiatrists, lawyers, and victims send
chills up the spine. A former head of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Ewen Cameron, is
one of many highly respected doctors who erased the personalities of thousands of unsuspecting
victims, while many in the profession simply turned a blind eye. To watch this powerful
documentary free online, click here.
Britain snatched babies' bodies for nuclear labs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/jun/03/highereducation.research
Britain's nuclear industry was involved in a top secret international operation to steal dead
babies for up to three decades, according to newly declassified documents. The papers,
released by the American Department of Energy, show that scientists from the UK Atomic Energy
Authority removed children's bones and bodies to ship to the United States for classified nuclear
experiments. Letters exchanged between American and British government scientists ... discuss
levels of radiation in the ribs of stillborn babies and lists of dead children's bodies ... spirited to
American nuclear laboratories. The human 'guinea pigs' are not named, but assigned
codenames. Baby B-1102, for example, is listed as a boy who died aged eight months. Baby
B-595 was a girl who was 13 months old when she died. The report listing them [was] stamped
'top secret'. Although the US government has released hundreds of documents about the
operation, it has retained even more sensitive papers thought to detail some of the most
embarrassing aspects of collusion between the British and American authorities. An investigation
into the 'body snatching' programme - codenamed Project Sunshine - ordered by former President
Bill Clinton, was scathing: 'Researchers employed deception in the solicitation of bones of
deceased babies from intermediaries with access to human remains.' Among the documents
obtained ... is the transcript of a secret meeting in Washington of Project Sunshine's keenest
minds. They show that Willard Libby, a renowned scientist who later won the Nobel prize ...
instructed colleagues to skirt the law in their search for bodies.
Note: For a highly revealing list of military and government sponsored experiments on human
guinea pigs with links for verification, click here.
Terrorists 'helped by CIA' to stop rise of left in Italy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/mar/26/terrorism
US intelligence services instigated and abetted rightwing terrorism in Italy during the 1970s, a
former Italian secret service general has claimed. The allegation was made by General Gianadelio
Maletti, a former head of military counter-intelligence, at the trial last week of rightwing extremists
accused of killing 16 people in the bombing of a Milan bank in 1969 - the first time such a charge
has been made in a court of law by a senior Italian intelligence figure. Gen Maletti, commander of
the counter-intelligence section of the military intelligence service from 1971 to 1975, said his men
had discovered that a rightwing terrorist cell in the Venice region had been supplied with military
explosives from Germany. Those explosives may have been obtained with the help of members of
the US intelligence community, an indication that the Americans had gone beyond the infiltration
and monitoring of extremist groups to instigating acts of violence, he said. "The CIA ... following
the directives of its government, wanted to create an Italian nationalism capable of halting
what it saw as a slide to the left and, for this purpose, it may have made use of rightwing
terrorism," Gen Maletti told the Milan court. "I believe this is what happened in other countries
as well."
Note: For an excellent overview of false-flag operations, click here.
Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops

2000-09-08, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836#.UMuV...
A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an
intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city. The 2nd U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower courts decision that the city did not discriminate
against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.
This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain
class, Jordan said today from his Waterford home. I maintain you have no more control
over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else. Jordan, a
49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ
of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory
that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing
costly training. The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ
of 104, or just a little above average. Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was
discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal
protection under the law. But the U.S. District Court found that New London had shown a rational
basis for the policy. In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy
might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover. Jordan has worked as a prison
guard since he took the test.
C.I.A. Admits Government Lied About U.F.O. Sightings

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3DF133DF930A3575BC0A96195...
In the darkest days of the cold war, the military lied to the American public about the true
nature of many unidentified flying objects in an effort to hide its growing fleets of spy
planes, a Central Intelligence Agency study says. The deceptions were made in the 1950's and
1960's amid a wave of U.F.O. sightings that alarmed the public and parts of official Washington.
The C.I.A. study says the Air Force knew that most reports by citizens and aviation experts were
based on fleeting glimpses of U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, which fly extremely high. Rather than
acknowledging the existence of the top-secret flights or saying nothing about them publicly, the Air
Force decided to put out false cover stories, the C.I.A. study says. For instance, unusual
observations that were actually spy flights were attributed to atmospheric phenomena like ice
crystals and temperature inversions. ''Over half of all U.F.O. reports from the late 1950's through
the 1960's were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights'' over the United States, the
C.I.A. study says. ''This led the Air Force to make misleading and deceptive statements to the
public in order to allay public fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive national security
project.'' The admission of Federal deception on the issue appears to be a first, experts said
in interviews. ''It's very significant,'' said Richard Hall, chairman of the Fund for U.F.O. Research,
a group in Washington.
Note: For key resources on the UFO controversy, see our UFO Information Center.
Conference on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S.

Strategy
1997-04-28, Defense Link (Official Website of U.S. Department of Defense)
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/1997/t042897_t0428coh.html
Some countries have been trying to construct something like an Ebola Virus, and that would be a
very dangerous phenomenon, to say the least. Alvin Toeffler has written about this in terms of
some scientists in their laboratories trying to devise certain types of pathogens that would be
ethnic specific so that they could just eliminate certain ethnic groups and races; and others are
designing some sort of engineering, some sort of insects that can destroy specific crops. Others
are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off
earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves. So there are
plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror
upon other nations. It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our efforts.
If terrorist organizations have the capability to set off earthquakes and other major natural
disasters, do you think huge military research laboratories with vast budgets might have some of
the same capabilities? For more, click here and here.
A Missing H-Bomb Ruffles Japanese

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/11/world/a-missing-h-bomb-ruffles-japanese.html
Japan's Foreign Minister said today that his country was ''seriously concerned'' about the loss of a
hydrogen bomb off Okinawa 24 years ago, and said Japan would press for ''full details'' about the
incident from the United States. The comments by the official, Sosuke Uno, came after the
Government was sharply criticized both by the Japanese press and by some civic and anti-nuclear
groups for playing down reports that the lost bomb is still under the ocean 80 miles from a
Japanese island. Over the last two days the Pentagon has provided the first details of the 1965
accident, admitting for the first time that the accident happened off Japan's shores rather
than 500 miles from land, as it originally contended. The aircraft carrier Ticonderoga, which
was carrying the weapon when it was lost overboard with an A-4 aircraft, was reportedly
heading to Yokosuka, the naval base south of Tokyo, from Vietnam. This morning the Asahi
Shimbun, the most liberal of Japan's major dailies, castigated the Japanese Foreign Ministry for
ignoring the first reports of the accident. In an editorial, the newspaper said that ''an unexpectedly
profound gap'' exists between ''the people's feelings'' about the presence of nuclear weapons and
the Government's willingness to ignore the presence of the weapons in the interest of avoiding
strains with the United States.
JUSTICES GRANT C.I.A. WIDE DISCRETION ON SECRECY

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F40911FC3A5C0C748DDDA...
The Supreme Court today gave the Central Intelligence Agency broad discretion to withhold the
identities of its sources of intelligence information from public disclosure. The exemption applies
regardless of whether the information is shown to have a bearing on national security and
regardless of whether the source of the information is a newspaper or magazine in general
circulation. The decision, written by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, overturned a ruling by the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. That court, in ordering the release of
the names of researchers who participated in a long-running C.I.A. study of the control of human
behavior, had adopted a considerably narrower definition of the ''intelligence sources'' entitled to
exemption. The C.I.A. project, code-named MKULTRA, was in existence from 1953 to 1966
and was designed to develop techniques for controlling human behavior. At least 185
private researchers and 80 institutions participated in the research. Officials of two
organizations ... filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act in 1977 for the names of the
researchers. Last fall Congress partly excluded from the Freedom of Information Act the C.I.A.'s
''operational files,'' which involve intelligence methods and sources.
Note: The official story is that all of the experiments to control human behavior failed. Yet if this is
true, why did they spend so much money and so many years on it? And why is it necessary to
keep secret who the researchers were? For reliable, verifiable information suggesting not only that
the experiments were quite successful, but that they may be ongoing to this day, click here.
'Saucer' Outran Jet, Pilot Reveals

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/121378398.html?F...
Military secrecy veils an investigation of the mysterious, glowing aerial objects that showed
up on radar screens in the Washington area Saturday night for the second consecutive
week. A jet pilot sent up by the Air Defense Command to investigate the objects reported he was
unable to overtake the glowing lights moving near Andrews Air Force Base. Methods of the
investigations were classified as secret, a spoken said. "We have no evidence they are flying
saucers; conversely we have no evidence they are not flying saucers. We don't know what they
are," a spokesman added. [Three] radar screens in the area picked up the objects. A traffic control
center spokesman said the nature of the signals on the radar screen ruled out any possibility they
were from clouds or any other "weather" disturbance. The objects, "flying saucer" or what have
you, appeared on the radar scope at the airport center at 9:08 PM. Varying from four to 12 in
number, the objects appeared on the screen until 3:00 AM., when they diappeared. One jet pilot
observed four lights in the vicinity of Andrews Air Force Base, but was not able to over-take them,
and they disappeared in about two minutes. The jet pilot reported he had no apparent "closing
speed" when he attempted to reach the lights he saw near Andrews Air Force Base. That means
the lights were moving at least as fast as his top speed-a maximum of 600 mph.
Note: The above link to this article requires payment. For a free copy of the article, click here. For
an abundance of media articles suggesting a major UFO cover-up, click here. For lots more
reliable, verifiable information on UFOs, see our UFO Information Center.
Have We Visitors From Space?

1952-04-07, Life magazine
http://books.google.com/books?id=ElYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=%22four+yea...
For four years the U.S. public has wondered [about] the strange and insistent tales of eerie objects
streaking across American skies. Last week the U.S. Air Force made known to LIFE the following
facts: As a result of continuing flying saucer reports the Air Force maintains constant intelligence
investigation and study of unidentified aerial objects. A policy of positive action has been adopted
to find out, as soon as possible, what is responsible for observations that have been made. For the
first time the Air Force (while in no way identifying itself with any particular conclusions) has
opened its files for study. Out of this exhaustive inquiry these propositions seem firmly shaped by
the evidence: * 1. Disks, cylinders and similar objects of geometrical form, luminous quality and
solid nature for several years have been, and may be now, actually present in the atmosphere of
the earth. * 2. Globes of green fire also, of a brightness more intense than the full moon's, have
frequently passed through the skies. * 3. These objects cannot be explained by present
science as natural phenomena -- but solely as artificial devices, created and operated by a
high intelligence. * 4. Finally, no power plant known or projected on earth could account for
the performance of these devices.
Note: This is a copy of the Apr. 7, 1952 Life magazine article as reproduced by Google at the link
above. Another copy of the article with several letters to the editor added at the bottom is available
here.
New York City Mayor Hylan Foresees A Revolt

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F07EED6153AEF33A25753C1A96...
One of the most astounding facts about our American life is that the wealth and property of the
country and the control of the machinery of government are in the hands of less than 2 per cent of
the inhabitants. A small group of excessively wealthy individuals, members of the
Republican and Democratic Parties alike, have, through the exercise of powerful, sinister
and, too often, unlawful influence, usurped the government and seized public property on
such a wholesale scale that they have become ... virtual dictators. A small group of
international bankers and money lenders, public utility exploiters and tariff beneficiaries have
actually dictated nominations for offices up to the Presidency. They have placed the slickest,
cleverest, and most cunning manipulators in official positions, even in the minor posts, where they
could be of service when called upon by the invisible power which, utterly devoid of all humanity,
seeks but to wallow in riches. So absolute is the power of America's secret dynastic rulers that
they have, without hindrance, written the very platforms and pledges of political parties, and
because of substantial contributions to campaign chests they have arrogated to themselves the
right to dictate the governmental policies of the administration elected to office regardless of party.
Woe to the public officials who dare to resent their dictatorship! If there be such public officials who
will not submit to their imperious dictation, then the flood-gates of lying press propaganda are
released, sweeping the unhappy public servant to an earthly as well as political grave, or
compelling him to compromise with his conscience and become their subservient tool to the end of
his term.
Note: John F. Hylan was Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925. New York has long been the
US banking and financial headquarters, with the mayor's office about a half-mile from the New
York Stock Exchange. The rest of this important article can be accessed at this link as well as the
one above. It is interesting to note that this article was published not long after the Federal
Reserve was created, turning over huge amounts of control of the U.S. economy to the most
powerful bankers in the country. For more on this, click here.
Nike isnt breaking rules; they were broken already

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Nike-isn-t-breaking-rules-they-we...
President Obama chose Nike headquarters ... to deliver a defense last week of his proposed
Trans-Pacific Partnership. It was an odd choice of venue. While Nike still makes some shoe
components in the United States, it hasnt assembled shoes here since 1984. Last year, a third of
Nikes remaining 13,922 American production workers were laid off. Most of Nikes products are
made by 990,000 workers in low-wage countries whose abysmal working conditions have
made Nike a symbol of global sweatshop labor. America has a huge and growing problem of
inequality. Most Americans are earning no more than the typical American earned 30 years ago,
adjusted for inflation even though the U.S. economy is almost twice as big. Since then, almost
all the economic gains have gone to the top. The so-called economic recovery that began in 2009
has ... had no effect on the wages of most Americans. Jobs are coming back, but wages are still
stuck in the mud. Heres where Nike comes in. Congressional Republicans and the president
want a giant trade deal that protects corporate investors but will lead to even more offshoring of
lower-skilled American jobs. We know that when Americans displaced from manufacturing jobs
join the glut of Americans competing for personal service jobs ... their wages decline. Its not Nikes
fault. Nike is simply playing by the rules. But the rules are tilted against the interests of most
American workers.
Note: The above article further clarifies why the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a pending disaster.
The article was written by former US Secretary of Labor and current professor of public policy at
UC Berkeley Robert Reich, who also released a two minute video to educate the public about the
dangers of the TPP. For more, see concise summaries of deeply revealing income inequality news
Military Contractors Behind New Pressure Group Targeting Presidential

Candidates
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/09/military-contractors-form-group...
Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers has formed a new pressure group ...
to serve as the premiere national security and foreign policy organization during the 2016 debate
and to help elect a president who supports American engagement and a strong foreign policy.
Rogers group, Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security, is hosting candidate events
and intends to host a candidate forum later this year. A look at the business executives
helping APPS steer presidential candidates towards more hawkish positions reveals that
many are defense contractors who stand to gain financially from continued militarism.
Rogers may have a conflict of interest as well. Explaining the goals of his group to a news outlet in
Indiana, Rogers lamented the lack of surveillance capabilities and warned of increasing threat of
cyberwarfare. Its not unusual for the arms industry to use front groups to press for a more
aggressive foreign policy, says William Hartung, director of the Arms & Security Project at the
Center for International Policy. It sounds a lot more credible when a group called Americans for
Peace, Prosperity and Security calls for a policy shift than if the same argument comes out of the
mouth of an arms executive or lobbyist whose livelihood is tied to the spread of tension and
conflict, Hartung said.
Note: Read a powerful essay by a top US general exposing the war machine titled "War is a
Racket." For more, see concise summaries of deeply revealing electoral process corruption news
Coverup claims over revelation that Germany spied on EU partners for

US
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/30/germany-spied-on-european-partne...
Germany has been spying and eavesdropping on its closest partners in the EU and passing the
information to the US for more than a decade, a parliamentary inquiry in Berlin has found,
triggering allegations of lying and coverups reaching to the very top of Angela Merkels
administration. Under a 2002 pact between German intelligence (BND) and the NSA, Berlin
used its largest electronic eavesdropping facility in Bavaria to monitor email and telephone
traffic at the lyse Palace, the offices of the French president, and of key EU institutions in
Brussels including the European commission. The BNDs biggest listening post at Bad Aibling in
Bavaria was abused for years for NSA spying on European states. The core is the political spying
on our European neighbours and EU institutions, an unnamed source said to be familiar with the
evidence told the Sddeutsche. As well as the political intelligence activities, the NSA also got the
BND to spy on European aerospace and defence firms. German and American individuals and
companies were not monitored. The Bad Aibling complex of listening posts was an NSA facility for
years. Under an agreement in 2002, it was handed over to the Germans in 2004. Since then, much
of the information gleaned was routinely passed to the Americans. According to the Sddeutsche,
the Americans supplied search terms on a weekly basis to the Germans totalling 690,000 phone
numbers and 7.8m IP addresses up until 2013.
Note: Many countries claim they don't spy on their own citizens. What they do is have agreements
to spy on each other's citizens so that they can then share the information and still technically
claim they are not breaking any laws. This article shows how it works. For more along these lines,
see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about government corruption and the
erosion of privacy rights from reliable major media sources.
Lobbyists for Spies Appointed To Oversee Spying

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/04/09/lobbyists-for-spies-appointed-t...
After the first revelations of domestic surveillance by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden,
President Obama defended the spying programs by claiming they were subject to congressional
oversight and congressional reauthorization and congressional debate. But as Rep. Alan
Grayson, D-Fla., and other members of Congress have pointed out, there is essentially a "twotiered" system for oversight, with lawmakers and staff on specialized committees, such as the
House and Senate committees on Intelligence and Homeland Security, controlling the flow of
information and routinely excluding other Congress members. A large number of lobbyists and
consultants [pass] through the revolving door between the intelligence community and the
watchdogs who purportedly oversee the intelligence community. Lobbyist influence is a
particularly sensitive issue when it comes to intelligence committees, since those committees
oversee secret black budgets in which money is disbursed with greatly reduced public
oversight. The potential for self dealing is significant; former Rep. Randy Duke Cunningham, RCalif., was caught accepting bribes to essentially earmark government contracts into a black
budget. Lobbyist control over the House and Senate intelligence and homeland security
committees may have a profound impact on a range of surveillance issues debated by Congress
this year, including the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act and the Patriot Act.
Note: The above article details several examples of industry lobbyists now operating in key
government oversight positions within an unaccountable intelligence establishment. For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about corruption in
government and in intelligence agencies.
Lawyers for Billionaire Sex Offender Linked to Prince Andrew Scandal

Ask Judge to Keep Documents Sealed
2015-01-27, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/lawyers-billionaire-sex-offender-linked-p...
Attorneys for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein claim in a new court filing that the billionaire
financier will be "irreparably harmed" if emails and letters his lawyers sent to federal prosecutors
during plea negotiations are made public. Epstein's legal brief ... represents his first formal
statements since explosive allegations emerged last month that he had forced a then-17-year-old
girl to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew and other powerful men. Virginia Roberts, 31, [has
recently] claimed in court documents that Epstein had kept her for sex for years as a teenager, [as
well as] trafficked her for sex with a host of his prominent associates, including ... Prince Andrew
[and] Harvard legal professor Alan Dershowitz. Epstein ... was the subject of wide-ranging state
and federal investigations, beginning in 2005, looking into claims that he had illegal sexual contact
with dozens of minor girls at his Palm Beach mansion and elsewhere. By mid-2007, he was facing
a potential federal indictment for alleged sex crimes involving nearly three-dozen teenage girls. If
charged and convicted, he could have faced 10 years to life in prison. Instead, Epstein
entered into [an] unusual and, at the time, confidential non-prosecution agreement with the
federal government. Dershowitz was among a group of prominent attorneys who helped
Epstein secure the deal, which also granted federal immunity to any possible coconspirators who may have assisted Epstein in the commission of the alleged crimes.
media sources.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership won't deliver jobs or curb China's power

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-prestowitz-tpp-trade-pact-20150123...
What President Obama called for in his State of the Union: completion and adoption of the TransPacific Partnership free-trade agreement, or TPP, for the Asia-Pacific region. The president [and
other TPP supporters] make two major arguments. One is that the trade pact would create lots of
new jobs and raise American incomes and living standards. The other is that it would strengthen
U.S. alliances in Asia while curbing Chinese influence. Over the last 35 years, the U.S. has ...
concluded many free-trade agreements. In advance of each, U.S. leaders promised the
deals would create high-paying jobs, reduce the trade deficit, increase GDP and raise living
standards. None of these [promises] came true. In fact, the U.S. non-oil trade deficit continued
to grow, millions of jobs were offshored and mean household income has hardly risen since 2000.
And economists overwhelmingly agree that rising U.S. income inequality is being driven in part by
international trade. The ever-closer linking of the U.S. economy to those of the TPP countries over
the last 35 years has not ... deterred U.S. trade partners and allies from developing ever closer ties
with China. The TPP is not going to bring together nations such as Mexico, Peru, Chile, New
Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei to gang up against China. That is just not
going to happen. Thus the TPP fails on both economic and political grounds.
Note: Read an excellent Washington Post article showing how the claim of 65,000 jobs created
with the TPP is a blatant lie and manipulation. Then watch an excellent, two-minute video by
former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on the TPP titled "The Worst Trade Deal You've
Never Heard of," or read leaked draft texts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership for yourself.
Go to the bank, go to jail

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Go-to-the-bank-go-to-jail-59...
[Making bank deposits of] less than $10,000 is illegal if it is done to evade a federal bank
reporting requirement. [By] a practice known as civil asset forfeiture, prosecutors can seize
[such bank deposits]. As an individual, you may be presumed innocent unless or until you are
proven guilty, but your money and possessions have no such protections. To get your money
back, you have to go to court essentially to prove that you and your assets are not guilty.
Federal agents have used this power to seize medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have
legalized medical marijuana ... to shut down what are legal businesses under California law
without having to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the owners violated federal drug laws.
Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and President Obamas
nominee to succeed Eric Holder as Attorney General, has been an aggressive practitioner of asset
seizures. Lynchs office has served as a major forfeiture operation, bringing in more than $113
million in civil actions from 123 cases between 2011 and 2013. [One] case involves Bi-Country
Distributors, a Long Island family business that stocks convenience stores. In May 2012, federal
agents seized more than $400,000 from the business bank account. Brothers Jeffrey, Richard and
Mitch Hirsch who run the business ... made frequent deposits under $10,000. Federal prosecutors
grabbed the money, but didnt charge the Hirsches with a crime.
Note: This story references facts from a Wall Street Journal article that calls civil asset forfeiture
"an all-purpose cash machine for police departments and prosecutors." For more along these
lines, see this deeply revealing summary of a New York Times article that shows how cops steal
from innocents to pad police department budgets.
Child abuse inquiry is being deliberately sabotaged by Government

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11307460/Simon-Danczuk-child-abu...
The Government is deliberately sabotaging the inquiry into historic claims of child abuse to
protect high profile figures, a Labour MP has claimed. A letter leaked at the weekend
showed that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is considering abandoning the current
panel, amid a catalogue of problems including the resignations of two chairman. [Labour MP
Simon Danczuk] told BBC Radio 4s Today Programme: If Government are set on doing this then
it can be achieved, but you cant help thinking that they arent intent on getting this right. Theres a
catalogue of mistakes that have been made, some of them fairly basic, and you cant blame the
survivors of child abuse for wondering [if] some of this is quite deliberate. Asked why the
Government would want to sabotage the probe, he went on: Well, because they dont want to get
to the truth. The Home Secretary in this process is in complete disarray. Were not moving forward
and its been six months now. I think that people will turn to more direct action and you can hardly
blame them. Peter Saunders, of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, [says
that] The only people who want to see this fail, to not get off the ground and to not do the work
that it potentially would be able to do are abusers themselves or those people who have covered
up in the past. I have yet to encounter any survivors themselves who have any confidence in the
process and in the panel as it is currently constituted."
media sources.
Alleged victim of VIP paedophile ring Martin Allen lived on grounds of

Australian high commission in London
http://www.smh.com.au/world/alleged-victim-of-vip-paedophile-ring-martin-alle...
The son of a former chauffeur to the Australian high commissioner may have been
murdered by a VIP paedophile ring in London more than three decades ago, according to
shocking claims being investigated by British police. Martin Allen was 15 when he
disappeared on November 5, 1979. His body has never been found. He lived with his parents
on the grounds of the Australian high commission in London his father was chauffeur to the then
high commissioner, Sir Gordon Freeth. A key witness has come forward to police, with allegations
about sexual abuse and murder by a paedophile ring with links to government, spy chiefs and
prominent military figures. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who is in charge of the
investigation dubbed Operation Midland, said no bodies have been recovered. "At this stage in the
investigation, it is not possible to say if Martin's disappearance is linked [to the organised sexual
abuse]," Superintendent McDonald said. "However, officers will keep the family updated on the
progress of their investigation." In 2009 Allen's parents made a fresh appeal for information about
their son's fate. Tom and Eileen Allen said they had lost hope of seeing him alive and feared they
would die before his body was found. "We just want to know what happened," Mrs Allen said.
"Somebody must know something. Please tell us so we can move on."
media sources.
London police: we believe claims of VIP child sex abuse and murder
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/18/london-police-vip-child-sex-ab...
Scotland Yard says victims allegations against prominent political and establishment figures are
credible and true. They believe allegations that a ring of prominent politicians and members of
the establishment abused and terrorised children as young as seven more than 30 years
ago and went on to kill three young boys. Detectives appealed for victims and witnesses to
come forward and identified a flat in Dolphin Square, London, near the Houses of Parliament, as a
scene of some of the alleged abuse, as well as military premises and other locations across
London and the home counties. So far one victim, known by the pseudonym Nick, has come
forward. Police as yet have no bodies, full names of those abused or killed, or exact locations
where the killings took place. But the detective in charge of the investigation pointedly described
Nicks allegations as true and said Nick had been abused from 1975 to 1984, between the ages
of seven and 16. It is clear detectives are not just investigating but building criminal cases to take
to court. Police said their inquiries into claims that prominent people abused children, and
[into] the cases [that] may have been overlooked or covered up now spanned 18 separate
investigations, including one into the Elm Guest House in London. The police inquiries followed
allegations of abuse involving senior politicians and high-profile figures made by the Labour MP
Tom Watson.
media sources.
The CIA Didnt Just Torture, It Experimented on Human Beings

http://www.thenation.com/article/193185/cia-didnt-just-torture-it-experimente...
The war on terror is not the CIAs first venture into human experimentation. At the dawn of the
Cold War, German scientists and doctors with Nazi records of human experimentation were given
new identities and brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip. In 1953, the CIA
established the MK-ULTRA program, [which] evolved into experiments in psychological torture.
During the Vietnam War, the CIA developed the Phoenix program, which combined psychological
torture with brutal interrogations, human experimentation and extrajudicial executions. In 1963, the
CIA produced a manual titled Kubark Counterintelligence Interrogation to guide agents in the art
of extracting information. An updated version of the Kubark guide [was] produced in 1983 and
titled Human Resource Exploitation Manual [for CIA supported] right-wing regimes in Latin
America and Southeast Asia. Here we are again. On April 15, 2002, [psychologists hired by the
CIA] Mitchell and Jessen arrived at a black site in Thailand to supervise the interrogation of
Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee captured by the CIA. From then ... at least
thirty-eight people were subjected to psychological and physical torments, and the results
were methodically documented and analyzed. That is the textbook definition of human
experimentation.
Note: For more along these lines, see this list depicting the rampant use of humans as guinea pigs
in government, military, and medical experiments over the last century, or watch "Human
Resources", a two-hour documentary on the subject. For more, see the excellent, reliable
resources provided in our Mind Control Information Center.
Sharyl Attkissons computer intrusions: Worse than anything Nixon

ever did
2014-10-27, Washington Post Blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/10/27/sharyl-attkisso...
The intrusions into former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkissons computers constitute the
narrative spine of the reporters new book Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of
Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obamas Washington. In October 2012, right in the
midst of the Benghazi story ... a person whos identified as Jeff warns Attkisson: Ive been
reading your reports online about Benghazi. Its pretty incredible. Keep at it. But youd better watch
out. So CBS News hires an independent computer analyst whom Attkisson identifies as
"Jerry Patel." He finds a massive amount of suspicious activity in the computer. Intrusions
of this caliber, concludes Patel, are far beyond the the abilities of even the best
nongovernment hackers. In summing up, Attkisson writes, Everything Patel has found serves
to confirm my January source and analysis. Patel tells me that only a few entities possess these
skills. One of them is the U.S. government. [Computer security specialist] Don Allison ... takes a
close look at Attkissons iMac. The results: While a great deal of data has been expertly wiped in
an attempt to cover-up the deed, Don is able to find remnants of what was once there. Theres key
evidence of a government computer connection to my computer. A sort of backdoor link that leads
to an ISP address for a government computer that cant be accessed by the general public on the
Web. Its an undeniable link to the U.S. government.
Note: For lots more on this courageous reporter and suppression of vital news, read this article
and this one. Then read even more mind-blowing reports of news suppression by top journalists.
Free Pigs From the Abusive Crates

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/opinion/free-pigs-from-the-abusive-crates.html
Would you cram a dog into a crate for her entire life, never letting her out, until you took her to the
pound to kill her? Of course you wouldnt, and yet thats effectively what happens to most mother
pigs in this country. They spend their lives in what are called gestation crates ... immobilized
in these crates until they are taken to the slaughterhouse. Pigs are smart. They learn
rudimentary video games as quickly as chimpanzees. When abnormally enclosed, their muscles
and bones waste away, and they go insane from boredom. Fortunately, were seeing changes.
Were seeing policies to get rid of these crates from the likes of McDonalds, Burger King and
Smithfield Foods. Weve also seen bills or initiatives passed in nine states that require that
all pigs be given at least enough space to turn around. Its a modest improvement, but the
pork producers are fighting it. These laws are bipartisan. A poll conducted last month by MasonDixon Polling and Research found that 93 percent of New Jersey voters wanted to see these
crates banned. A year ago, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a ... bill (to ban gestation crates) that had
passed the Assembly and Senate by huge bipartisan majorities.
Note: For more along these lines, see this excerpt of a deeply revealing ABC News article about
standardized animal cruelty in chicken farming.
Travelers, say bon voyage to privacy

2014-10-16, Dallas News
http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/watchdog/20141016-watchdog-travelers...
Did you know that when you buy an airline ticket and make other travel reservations, the federal
government keeps a record of the details in a file called Passenger Name Record or PNR? If
airlines dont comply, they cant fly in the U.S., explains Ed Hasbrouck, a privacy expert with the
Identity Project who has studied the records for years and is considered the nations top expert.
Before each trip, the system creates a travel score for you, generated by your PNR. Before an
airline can issue you a boarding pass, the system must approve your passage, Hasbrouck
explains. Thats one way people on the No Fly List are targeted. The idea behind extensive
use of PNRs, he says, is not necessarily to watch known suspects but to find new ones.
Want to appeal the process? Its a secret administrative process based on the score you dont
know, based on files you havent seen, Hasbrouck says. The program collects seemingly trivial
details. If you have an argument with an airline gate agent and that agent enters a notation ... that
record stays in your PNR. The U.S. government is getting the data and sharing it in ways we dont
fully know about with other governments, Hasbrouck says. The information collected by the
airlines is shared with third-party data companies who store it. Where? In the cloud. Make you feel
safer? In Canada and the European Union, the collection of this information spurred public debate.
But not here.
Note: Read this excellent article for lots more details on how the government spies on your travels.
For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing civil liberties news articles
from reliable sources.
Journalist Talks Confidential Sources, Getting Subpoenaed And His

New Book
2014-10-14, National Public Radio
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/14/356121289/journalist-talks-confidential-sources...
TERRY GROSS: James Risen [is] an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He, along
with Eric Lichtbau, broke the story about warrantless wiretapping. Now Risen is facing a prison
sentence for refusing to reveal his source or sources for that story. [Risen] has a new book called
"Pay Any Price: Greed, Power And Endless War," which is a series of investigations into who's
making money on the War on Terror and what are some of the secret operations within it. You
recently wrote an article in The New York Times with Laura Poitras who broke the Edward
Snowden story along with Glenn Greenwald. And you reported on how American intelligence is
trying to harvest facial imagery with the intention of - what's it for? RISEN: Facial recognition ...
in a way that no [one] really understood before has become a central focus of the NSA
today. They can link that up with a signals intelligence, which is the communications that
they intercept [and] basically find where you are, what you're doing, who you're seeing and
virtually anything about you in real time. GROSS: So ... your big story turned out kind of
differently than the celebrations facing Woodward and Bernstein. RISEN: I think the times have
changed. We had this period in journalism for about 30 years where there was the government
and the press. The government ... wouldn't go after whistleblowers or reporters very aggressively.
It's only after the - after 9/11 and after the plane case, which you may remember where Judy Miller
was sent to jail. I think the post-9/11 age, the government has decided to become much more
aggressive against reporters and whistleblowers.
Note: The above quotes are from the transcript of a radio interview that you can listen to by
clicking on the news story link provided. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of
deeply revealing stories about high level manipulation of mass media from reliable sources.
Publics rights getting slowly pared back

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article...
Last week, a federal judge told us what we already knew. Namely, that police in Ferguson, Mo.
violated the rights of protesters demonstrating against the shooting death of Michael Brown. U.S.
District Judge Catherine Perry struck down an ad hoc rule under which cops had said people could
not stand still while peacefully protesting. Still, ones sense of righteous vindication is tempered by
the fact that police felt free to try this absurd stratagem in the first place and by the fact that this
was hardly the only recent example of police using the Constitution for Kleenex. Ferguson, let us
not forget, is also the town where reporters were tear gassed and jailed and photographers
ordered to stop taking pictures. In our unthinking mania for laws to get tough on crime, we
actually made it tougher on ourselves, altering the balance of power between people and police to
the point where a cop can now take your legally-earned money off your sovereign person and
theres little you can do about it. Indeed, at the height of the Ferguson protests, an L.A. cop
named Sunil Dutta published in the Washington Post an Op-Ed advising that, if you dont
want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just
do what I tell you. Dont argue, he said, even if you believe (or know) your rights are
being violated. Deal with it later. Its all well and good that now, several weeks after the fact, a
court affirms the rights Ferguson police denied. But thats a poor consolation prize. An argument
can be made that rights which arent respected in the moment they are asserted are not really
rights at all.
Note: For more on the history of civil rights violations in Ferguson, MO, see this deeply revealing
news article. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of recent news articles about the
erosion of our civil liberties from reliable major media sources.
G.O.P. Error Reveals Donors and the Price of Access

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/us/republicans-corporate-donors-governors.html
Republicans and Democrats, and groups sympathetic to each, spend millions on sophisticated
technology to gain an advantage. But sometimes, a simple coding mistake can lay bare
documents and data that were supposed to be concealed from the prying eyes of the public. Such
an error by the Republican Governors Association recently resulted in the disclosure of exactly the
kind of information that political committees given tax-exempt status usually keep secret, namely
their corporate donors and the size of their checks. The documents, many of which the Republican
officials have since removed from their website, showed that many of Americas most prominent
companies, from Aetna to Walmart, had poured millions of dollars into the campaigns of
Republican governors since 2008. This is a classic example of how corporations are trying
to use secret money, hidden from the American people, to buy influence, and how the
governors association is selling it, said Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21. The
trove of documents, discovered by watchdogs at the Democrat-aligned Citizens for Responsibility
and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, sheds light on the secretive world of 501(c)(4) political
groups, just as the battle over their future intensifies. The tax-exempt Republican Governors Public
Policy Committee is not required to disclose anything, even as donors hit the links, rub shoulders
and trade policy talk with governors and their top staff members. In a tit for tat, the Republican
association unearthed documents from the Democratic Governors Association that also name
corporate donors and the benefits.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing elections corruption news
Obama's legal rationale for ISIS strikes: shoot first, ask Congress later
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/11/obama-isis-syria-air-strikes-leg...
In the space of a single primetime address on [September 10], Barack Obama dealt a crippling
blow to a creaking, 40-year old effort to restore legislative primacy to American warmaking. The
administrations rationale, at odds with the war it is steadily expanding, is to forestall an endless
conflict foisted upon it by a bloodthirsty legislature. Yet one of the main authorities Obama is
relying on for avoiding Congress is the 2001 ... document known as the Authorization to
Use Military Force (AUMF) that few think actually applies to ISIS. Taken together with the
congressional leaderships shrug, Obama has stripped the veneer off a contemporary fact
of American national security: presidents make war on their own, and congresses
acquiesce. An allergy to congressional authorisation is enmeshed with the presidents stated
desire to end what he last year termed a perpetual war footing. It has led Obama in directions
legal scholars consider highly questionable. Not only has Obama rejected restrictions of his
warmaking power, he has also rejected legislative expansions of it - a more curious choice. Obama
has been wary that Congress will offer up new laws that entrench and expand an amorphous war
that, in his mind, he has waged with the minimum necessary amount of force. Obama last year
advocated the eventual repeal of the 2001 authorisation - as well as the 2002 congressional
approval of the Iraq war - to aid in turning a page on a long era of US warfare. [After Obama's
address] a senior administration official told reporters that the 2001 authorisation covered the war
against ISIS.
Note: The war machine marches on as the US presidency claims ever more power over
Congress. For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war news articles from
CIA 'tortured al-Qaeda suspects close to the point of death by drowning

them in water-filled baths'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/11080450/CIA-tortured-al-Q...
The CIA brought top al-Qaeda suspects close to the point of death by drowning them in waterfilled baths during interrogation sessions in the years that followed the September 11 attacks, a
security source has told The Telegraph. The description of the torture meted out to at least two
leading al-Qaeda suspects, including the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, far
exceeds the conventional understanding of waterboarding, or simulated drowning so far admitted
by the CIA. They werent just pouring water over their heads or over a cloth, said the
source who has first-hand knowledge of the period. They were holding them under water
until the point of death, with a doctor present to make sure they did not go too far. This was
real torture. The account of extreme CIA interrogation comes as the US Senate prepares to
publish a declassified version of its so-called Torture Report a 3,600-page report document
based on a review of several million classified CIA documents. Publication of the report is currently
being held up by a dispute over how much of the 480-page public summary should remain
classified, but it is expected to be published within weeks. A second source who is familiar with the
Senate report told The Telegraph that it contained several unflinching accounts of some CIA
interrogations which the source predicted would deeply shock the general public.
White House should release 9/11 documents

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/09/03/4317165/white-house-should-release-911....
Floridas former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham ... has been fighting both the Bush and Obama
administrations to declassify 28 pages of a 9/11 intelligence report that may detail and expose the
efforts of members of the Saudi Arabian royal family in aiding and abetting [9/11] terrorists in
Florida, many who were themselves Saudi. Graham is befuddled as to why the Obama
administration does not release these documents, which he read when he was chair of the Senate
Select Intelligence Committee and co-chair of a congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. As a
result, he has joined a Freedom of Information Act request alongside others, asking that 80,000
pages of information on a Saudi family that disappeared just before the attacks be made public. It
isnt credible that 19 people most [of whom] could not speak English well and did not have
experience in the United States could carry out such a complicated task without external
assistance, Graham insists. The Saudi family living in Sarasota fled to Saudi Arabia just prior
to the 9/11 attacks. Were they tipped off that they should leave? If so, by whom? Graham
believes that there was a deliberate effort to cover up Saudi involvement in the tragedy of
9/11 by the Bush administration, one, he says, that the Obama administration appears to
support. The American public needs to know. The families of those who were lost to the 9/11
attacks or those who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq deserve an answer as well.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing 9/11 news articles from
Cost Of Military Jet Could House Every Homeless Person In U.S. With
$600,000 Home
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/11/military-jet-spending_n_5575045.html
The $400 billion program to create a fleet of F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets, which ... is seven years
behind schedule, ... could have housed every homeless person in the U.S. with a $600,000 home.
The amount spent per year to build the F-35 jets could easily fulfill a $16.7 billion request by the
United Nations Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs to save countless lives from
preventable causes [of death] and then have enough left over to fund UNICEF's budget
request, too. The full cost of the jets program could also fund the National School Lunch Program,
which feeds about 31 million students annually, for the next 24 years. "Spending our taxes on
the military doesn't yield much to make our lives or our communities better," [Steven] Conn,
a professor [at] Ohio State University, wrote ... in April. "Big weapons systems and overseas
military installations, to say nothing of feckless military adventures in Vietnam or Iraq, have
done very little to fix our roads, improve our kids' education, or push the boundaries of
medical research." According to data provided by the Office of Management and Budget, the
federal government spent roughly 19 times more on defense and international security assistance
than it did on education in 2013. The U.S. spends more on defense than China, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, France, the U.K., Germany, Japan and India combined.
Note: If you do the math and divide $400 billion by the US population of 320 million, you'll find that
every US citizen paid an average of over $1,000 for the F-35. For more on this, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing military corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Prosecutors Rarely Bring Charges In College Rape Cases

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/college-rape-prosecutors-press-charg...
Although roughly 1 in 6 women nationwide are victims of sexual assault -- with the rate being
higher for women in college, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey -- rapists often
escape jail time. Only between 8 percent and 37 percent of rapes ever lead to prosecution,
according to research funded by the Department of Justice, and just 3 percent to 18 percent of
sexual assaults lead to a conviction. The likelihood of conviction inevitably factors into the decision
of whether or not to pursue a case, explained Michelle J. Anderson, dean and professor of law at
the City University of New York. The reasoning is based in how to spend limited time and
resources. "What you don't want is the police and prosecutor's office to be more concerned with
the win-loss record rather than justice," Anderson said. Recent legislation proposed in California
and New York would require colleges to submit all reports of sexual assault to local police. The bill
in California was developed at the urging of LAPD officers after it was revealed that USC and
Occidental had underreported the number of assaults on campus. [But] the reality is [that] the
criminal justice system often decides against prosecuting cases of acquaintance rape and
date rape. An analysis of the National Violence Against Women Survey by the group End
Violence Against Women International concluded that roughly 5 percent of rapes are ever
prosecuted. Conviction rates present a "perverse incentive" for prosecutors to pursue only the
strongest cases that offer the highest probability that a DA can win the case.
Internet Giants Erect Barriers to Spy Agencies

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/07/technology/internet-giants-erect-barriers-t...
[Google engineers] are making it far more difficult and far more expensive for the National
Security Agency and the intelligence arms of other governments around the world to pierce their
systems. As fast as it can, Google is sealing up cracks in its systems that Edward J. Snowden
revealed the N.S.A. had brilliantly exploited. It is encrypting more data as it moves among its
servers and helping customers encode their own emails. Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo are
taking similar steps. After years of cooperating with the government, the immediate goal now is to
thwart Washington as well as Beijing and Moscow. The strategy is also intended to preserve
business overseas in places like Brazil and Germany that have threatened to entrust data only to
local providers. A year after Mr. Snowdens revelations, the era of quiet cooperation is over.
Telecommunications companies say they are denying requests to volunteer data not
covered by existing law. A.T.&T., Verizon and others say that compared with a year ago,
they are far more reluctant to cooperate with the United States government in gray areas
where there is no explicit requirement for a legal warrant. But governments are fighting back,
harder than ever. The cellphone giant Vodafone reported ... that a small number of governments
around the world have demanded the ability to tap directly into its communication networks [and]
noted that some countries did not issue warrants to obtain phone, email or web-searching traffic,
because the relevant agencies and authorities already have permanent access to customer
communications via their own direct link.
Everyone should know just how much the government lied to defend
the NSA
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/government-lies-nsa-just...
Just before Edward Snowden became a household name, the ACLU argued before the supreme
court that the FISA Amendments Act one of the two main laws used by the NSA to conduct mass
surveillance was unconstitutional. In a sharply divided opinion, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4,
that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs didn't have "standing". The court relied on
two claims by the Justice Department to support their ruling: 1) that the NSA would only get the
content of Americans' communications without a warrant when they are targeting a foreigner
abroad for surveillance, and 2) that the Justice Department would notify criminal defendants who
have been spied on under the Fisa Amendments Act, so there exists some way to challenge the
law in court. It turns out that neither of those statements were true. One of the most explosive
Snowden revelations exposed a then-secret technique known as "about" surveillance. As the New
York Times first reported, the NSA "is searching the contents of vast amounts of Americans' e-mail
and text communications into and out of the country, hunting for people who mention information
about foreigners under surveillance." In other words, the NSA doesn't just target a contact
overseas it sweeps up everyone's international communications into a dragnet and
searches them for keywords. The Snowden leaks also pushed the Justice Department to
admit ... that the government hadn't been notifying any defendants they were being charged
based on NSA surveillance.
Intelligence Chief Issues Limits on Press Contacts

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/us/politics/intelligence-chief-issues-limit...
The Obama administration has barred officials at 17 agencies from speaking to journalists about
unclassified intelligence-related topics without permission, according to a newly disclosed
directive. The directive, issued by James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, also
requires the agencies employees to report any unplanned contact with journalists. Officials who
violate the directive may be disciplined or fired, the directive says. The directive prohibits
unauthorized contact with the media about intelligence-related information, including intelligence
sources, methods, activities and judgments, without regard to whether it is classified. It says that
employees who violate the policy may be subject to administrative actions that may include
revocation of security clearances or termination of employment. At a minimum, the directive adds,
any violation of the policy will be handled in the same manner as a security violation. Mr. Clapper
signed the directive on March 20, and it was quietly posted on the offices website last week. The
directive limiting contact with reporters was reported Monday by Steve Aftergood, a government
secrecy specialist for the Federation of American Scientists. In a blog post, Mr. Aftergood
portrayed the directive as seeking to ensure that the only news about intelligence is to be
authorized news. He criticized the policy as going too far, arguing that routine interactions
between agency employees and reporters about unclassified matters did not pose a threat
to national security, but that limiting them would hurt the public.
Note: Yet another major effort to muzzle whistleblowers. For more on government secrecy, see the
Covert Inquiry by F.B.I. Rattles 9/11 Tribunals

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/us/politics/covert-inquiry-by-fbi-rattles-9...
Two weeks ago, a pair of F.B.I. agents appeared unannounced at the door of a member of the
defense team for one of the men accused of plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As a contractor
working with the defense team at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, the man was bound by the same
confidentiality rules as a lawyer. But the agents wanted to talk. They asked questions, lawyers say,
about the legal teams for Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other accused
terrorists who will eventually stand trial before a military tribunal at Guantnamo. Before they left,
the agents asked the contractor to sign an agreement promising not to tell anyone about the
conversation. With that signature, Mr. bin al-Shibhs lawyers say, the government turned a member
of their team into an F.B.I. informant. The F.B.I.s inquiry became the focus of the pretrial hearings
at Guantnamo this week, after the contractor disclosed it to the defense team. It was a reminder
that, no matter how much the proceedings at the island military prison resemble a familiar
American trial, the invisible hand of the United States government is at work there in ways
unlike anything seen in typical courtrooms. Its a courtroom with three benches, said
Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School. Theres one person
pretending to be the judge, and two other agencies behind the scenes exerting at least as
much influence. Thirteen years after 9/11, nobody has been convicted in connection with the
attacks.
Window Opens on Secret Camp Within Guantanamo

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/window-opens-secret-camp-guanta...
Attorney James Connell has visited his client inside the secret Guantanamo prison complex known
as Camp 7 only once, taken in a van with covered windows on a circuitous trek to disguise the
route on the scrub brush-and-cactus covered military base. Connell is allowed to say virtually
nothing about what he saw in the secret camp where the most notorious terror suspects in U.S.
custody are held except that it is unlike any detention facility he's encountered. "It's much more
isolating than any other facility that I have known," the lawyer says. "I've done cases from the
Virginia death row and Texas death row and these pretrial conditions are much more isolating."
The Camp 7 prison unit is so shrouded in secrecy that its location on the U.S. base in Cuba
is classified and officials refuse to discuss it. Camp 7 has never been part of the scripted
tours of Guantanamo offered to journalists and there are no published photos. It's not even
mentioned on a military media handout about the detention center. Military officials, while
insisting that they adhere to international human rights standards, refuse to describe Camp 7. A
few facts have come out through government reports and court testimony. It apparently holds 15 of
the 154 prisoners at Guantanamo. The men are apparently held in solid-walled cells as
opposed to the cage-like structures used soon after the U.S. began using Guantanamo as a prison
in 2002 that are intended to limit their ability to communicate with each other. The secret camp
also is apparently falling apart.
White House Defends 'Cuban Twitter' to Stir Unrest

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/white-house-defends-cuban-twitter-st...
The Obama administration on [April 3] defended its creation of a Twitter-like Cuban
communications network [called ZunZuneo] to undermine the Communist government, declaring
the secret program was "invested and debated" by Congress and wasn't a covert operation that
required White House approval. But two senior Democrats on congressional intelligence and
judiciary committees said they had known nothing about the effort. An Associated Press
investigation found that the network was built with secret shell companies and financed through a
foreign bank. The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of
subscribers, sought to evade Cuba's stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media
platform. First, the network was to build a Cuban audience, mostly young people. Then, the
plan was to push them toward dissent. Yet its users were neither aware it was created by
[USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development] with ties to the State Department,
nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that
the information might be used someday for political purposes. Josefina Vidal, director of U.S.
affairs at Cuba's Foreign Ministry, said ... that the ZunZuneo program "shows once again that the
United States government has not renounced its plans of subversion against Cuba, which have as
their aim the creation of situations of destabilization in our country to create changes in the public
order and toward which it continues to devote multimillion-dollar budgets each year."
Note: If any other country did this to the U.S., how do you think the U.S. government would
respond?
CIA lied about torture to justify using it

2014-04-01, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cia-lied-about-torture-justify-using-it
A Senate intelligence committee investigation found that the Central Intelligence Agency employed
brutal interrogation methods that turned out to be largely useless and then lied about their
effectiveness. The Senate report contradicts the main defenses of the Bush-era torture program:
That harsh methods were needed to produce "actionable results," and that the program itself
helped save American lives by foiling terror attacks. Instead, the CIA overstated the
effectiveness of the program and concealed the harshness of the methods they used.
Intelligence breakthroughs credited to the enhanced interrogation program by the CIA
were instead gleaned through other means, and then used by the agency to bolster
defenses of the program. Conservative media figures incessantly hyped former Bush
administration officials at times verifiably false claims about the efficacy of the program. The Bush
administrations trip to the dark side provided pundits, op-ed columnists, and other media
personalities an endless stream of satisfaction from talking like the greased up protagonists of
1980s action films.
Note: For an article explaining how even though this report may be declassified, the public will not
have access to most of it, click here. For more on the realities of intelligence agency operations,
Report: Judge said du Pont heir wouldn't "fare well" in prison

2014-03-31, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-judge-says-du-pont-heir-wont-fare-well-in-...
A judge who sentenced a wealthy du Pont heir to probation in the rape of his three-year-old
daughter said in court documents that he would "not fare well" in prison. The rape case against
Robert H. Richards IV became public this month after his ex-wife reportedly filed a lawsuit seeking
damages for the abuse of his daughter. According to a lawsuit filed by his ex-wife, Richards raped
his daughter, now 11, in 2005 when she was 3, telling her "to keep what he had done to her a
secret." The girl told her grandmother in October 2007, and Richards pleaded guilty in June 2008
to one count of fourth-degree rape to avoid jail time, court records show. The lawsuit also alleged
that Richards abused his toddler son. Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden's sentencing order for
Richards suggested that he needed treatment instead of prison time and considered unique
circumstances when deciding his fate, reports the [News Journal of Delaware]. Attorney General
Beau Biden initially indicted Richards on two counts of second-degree rape of a child, punishable
by ten years in prison for each count. But as part of a plea agreement days before his 2008 trial,
Richards pleaded guilty to fourth-degree rape -- reportedly a Class C violent felony that can bring
up to 15 years in prison, though guidelines suggest zero to 2 1/2 years. At Richards' 2009
sentencing, prosecutor Renee Hrivnak recommended probation. Richards, a greatgrandson of du Pont patriarch Irenee du Pont, is unemployed and supported by a trust
fund, [and] owns a 5,800-square-foot mansion in Greenville and a home in the exclusive
North Shores neighborhood near Rehoboth Beach.
Note: For more on sexual abuse scandals, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Defense lawyers: Did FBI pressure push Boston bomber over the edge?
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/0329/Defense-lawyers-Did-FBI-pressu...
Three days after an FBI agent was cleared of wrongdoing in the bizarre killing of an associate of
slain Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the only
surviving bombing suspect, alleged that the FBI attempted to recruit the elder Tsarnaev as
an informant. Dzhokhar Tsarnaevs defense team said that new information suggests the
FBI interviewed Tamerlan on several occasions before the attack, and even pressured him
to surreptitiously report on the Chechen underworld. The Bureau has continued to
emphatically state that it didnt know the identities of the two suspected bombers until they were
fingerprinted, and have denied any involvement with the brothers aside from following up on a tip
from a Russian emissary that the elder Tsarnaev may have been seeking jihad. In the case of
Ibragim Todashev, who allegedly took part with Tamerlan in a robbery turned triple-homicide in
Waltham, in 2011, family members have also stated that FBI pressure may have pushed the 20something ethnic Chechen and mixed martial arts fighter to the brink of violence. Since the terrorist
attacks of 9/11, the Bureau has stepped up surveillance of specific racial, ethnic and religious
communities, including the use of informants. The tactics have ... left the Bureau open to charges
of entrapment, not to mention assorted Internet conspiracy theories. Part of those post-9/11 tactics
are the use of voluntary interviews often encouraging interviewees to serve as informants in
their communities, writes the American Civil Liberties Union.
Note: Why didn't the FBI reveal its attempt to recruit the elder Tsarnaev when the bombing
happened? Something is quite fishy here.
Ukraine crisis is about Great Power oil, gas pipeline rivalry

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/06/ukraine-cris...
Russia's armed intervention in the Crimea undoubtedly illustrates President Putin's ruthless
determination to get his way in Ukraine. But less attention has been paid to the role of the United
States in interfering in Ukrainian politics and civil society. Both powers are motivated by the desire
to ensure that a geostrategically pivotal country with respect to control of critical energy pipeline
routes remains in their own sphere of influence. The reported leak of the recording of an
alleged private telephone conversation between US assistant secretary of state Victoria
Nuland and US ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey Pyatt ... suggests active US government
interference. A recent US State Department-sponsored report notes that "Ukraine's strategic
location between the main energy producers (Russia and the Caspian Sea area) and consumers
in the Eurasian region ... make the country "a potentially crucial player in European energy transit"
- a position that will "grow as Western European demands for Russian and Caspian gas and oil
continue to increase." Ukraine is caught hapless in the midst of this accelerating struggle to
dominate Eurasia's energy corridors in the last decades of the age of fossil fuels. For those who
are pondering whether we face the prospect of a New Cold War, a better question might be did the Cold War ever really end?
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles from
New surveillance technology can track everyone in an area for several

hours at a time
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-surveillance-technology...
From 10,000 feet up, tracking an entire city at one glance: Ohio-based Persistent Surveillance
Systems is trying to convince cities across the country that its surveillance technology can help
reduce crime. Its new generation of camera technology is far more powerful than the police
cameras to which America has grown accustomed. But these newer cameras have sparked some
privacy concerns. A new, far more powerful generation is being quietly deployed [from small
aircraft] that can track every vehicle and person across an area the size of a small city, for several
hours at a time. Although these cameras cant read license plates or see faces, they provide such
a wealth of data that police, businesses and even private individuals can use them to help identify
people and track their movements. Already, the cameras have been flown above major public
events such as the Ohio political rally where Sen. John McCain named Sarah Palin as his running
mate in 2008. Theyve been flown above Baltimore; Philadelphia; Compton, Calif.; and Dayton
[OH] in demonstrations for police. Theyve also been used for traffic impact studies, [and] for
security at NASCAR races. Defense contractors are developing similar technology for the
military, but its potential for civilian use is raising novel civil liberties concerns. In Dayton,
where Persistent Surveillance Systems is based, city officials balked last year when police
considered paying for 200 hours of flights, in part because of privacy complaints. The
Supreme Court generally has given wide latitude to police using aerial surveillance as long as the
photography captures images visible to the naked eye.
Note: For more on surveillance by government agencies and corporations, see the deeply
Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his missions

accomplished
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-after-mo...
Taken together, the [Edward Snowden] revelations have brought to light a global surveillance
system that cast off many of its historical restraints after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Secret legal
authorities empowered the NSA to sweep in the telephone, Internet and location records of whole
populations. Six months after the first revelations ... Snowden agreed to reflect at length on the
roots and repercussions of his choice. He was relaxed and animated over two days of nearly
unbroken conversation. Snowden offered vignettes from his intelligence career and from his recent
life as an indoor cat in Russia. But he consistently steered the conversation back to surveillance,
democracy and the meaning of the documents he exposed. For me, in terms of personal
satisfaction, the missions already accomplished, he said. I already won. As soon as the
journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated.
Because, remember, I didnt want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to
determine if it should change itself. All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in
how they are governed, he said. Snowden ... had come to believe that a dangerous machine of
mass surveillance was growing unchecked. Closed-door oversight by Congress and the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court was a graveyard of judgment, he said, manipulated by the agency
it was supposed to keep in check. The NSAs business is information dominance, the use of
other peoples secrets to shape events. At 29, Snowden upended the agency on its own turf.
The most important political story you havent heard about

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/12/18/the-most-important-...
Money is flooding into federal elections in the post-Citizens United era. And yet the agency tasked
with monitoring and regulating all of that activity is close to crippled due to staff cuts and partisan
bickering. Thats according to Dave Levinthal of the Center for Public Integrity, which released a
massive analysis on the Federal Election Commission and its problems earlier this week. Among
the problems with the agency Levinthal identified include: * The commission over the past year has
reached a paralyzing all-time low in its ability to reach consensus, stalling action on dozens of
rulemaking, audit and enforcement matters, some of which are years old. * Despite an explosion in
political spending hastened by key Supreme Court decisions, the agencys funding has remained
flat for five years and staffing levels have fallen to a 15-year low. * Analysts charged with scouring
disclosure reports to ensure candidates and political committees are complying with laws have a
nearly quarter-million-page backlog. This is the rule-making and rule-enforcing entity for all
federal money in politics. We live in an age in which public financing of presidential
elections is a thing of the past 2012 is the first election since Watergate where neither
major party nominee accepted public funds for the general election and, thanks to super
PACs, wealthy individuals have more power than ever. The price tag for the 2012 election
topped $6 billion, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. As Levinthal puts it: As the
nation heads into what will undoubtedly be the most expensive midterm election in history and a
2016 presidential election that, in no small way, has already begun, the FEC is rotting from the
inside out.
Note: For more on deep problems in the US electoral system, see the deeply revealing reports
What 'charity' should really mean

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2013/1216/What-charity-should-...
As the tax year draws to a close, the charitable tax deduction beckons. Americas wealthy are its
largest beneficiaries. According to the Congressional Budget Office, $33 billion of last years $39
billion in total charitable deductions went to the richest 20 percent of Americans, of whom the
richest 1 percent reaped the lions share. The generosity of the super-rich is sometimes proffered
as evidence theyre contributing as much to the nations well-being as they did decades ago when
they paid a much larger share of their earnings in taxes. Think again. A large portion of the
charitable deductions now claimed by Americas wealthy are for donations to culture
palaces operas, art museums, symphonies, and theaters where they spend their leisure
time hobnobbing with other wealthy benefactors. Another portion is for contributions to the
elite prep schools and universities they once attended or want their children to attend.
These arent really charities as most people understand the term. Theyre often investments in the
life-styles the wealthy already enjoy and want their children to have as well. Increasingly, being rich
in America means not having to come across anyone whos not. As with all tax deductions, the
government has to match the charitable deduction with additional tax revenues or spending cuts;
otherwise, the budget deficit widens. In economic terms, a tax deduction is exactly the same as
government spending. Which means the government will, in effect, hand out $40 billion this year
for charity thats going largely to wealthy people who use much of it to enhance their lifestyles.
WikiLeaks publishes secret draft chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/nov/13/wikileaks-trans-pacific-partners...
WikiLeaks has released the draft text of a chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
agreement, a multilateral free-trade treaty currently being negotiated in secret by 12 Pacific Rim
nations. Negotiations for the TPP have ... been conducted behind closed doors. Even members of
the US Congress were only allowed to view selected portions of the documents under supervision.
The 30,000 word intellectual property chapter contains proposals to increase the term of patents,
including medical patents, beyond 20 years, and lower global standards for patentability. It also
pushes for aggressive measures to prevent hackers breaking copyright protection, although that
comes with some exceptions: protection can be broken in the course of "lawfully authorised
activities carried out by government employees, agents, or contractors for the purpose of law
enforcement, intelligence, essential security, or similar governmental purposes". WikiLeaks claims
that the text shows America attempting to enforce its highly restrictive vision of intellectual property
on the world and on itself. "The US administration is aggressively pushing the TPP through
the US legislative process on the sly," says Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of
WikiLeaks. "If instituted," Assange continues, "the TPPs intellectual property regime would trample
over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and
creative commons. If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm
or consume food; if youre ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its
crosshairs."
Note: To read the Wikileaks release of the secret agreements from the TPP, click here. For further
critical analysis of the TPP text, click here.
My day in court as a juror

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/My-day-in-court-as-a-juror-49...
This summer, I was selected for jury duty in Los Angeles. I took my civic duty seriously and kept an
open mind. Although our criminal justice system is imperfect, I believed that it was one of the
fairest in the world. But the longer I spent in that dingy wood paneled courtroom, the more
disillusioned I became with our justice system. Jurors were treated like convicted criminals. The
judge quizzed us on legal principles without giving us any information beforehand and yelled at us
for our poor legal knowledge. Then, he threatened to charge us with contempt of court if we were a
minute late from lunch or spoke in the courtroom. As bad as all of this was, I was most appalled by
the ineffective way the trial was conducted. At one point, a reluctant witness mumbled through
his testimony. It was impossible to hear him over the clerk talking on the phone and bailiffs
gossiping. Yet, jurors couldn't say anything for fear of being charged with contempt. Later,
a key video was presented, but the AV was antiquated, the screen was as small as a
washcloth and the people depicted were but blurry figures. How could we decipher anything
useful from this footage? Several people could be sent to jail based on this evidence. If the
government wants to guarantee fair trials, it should take the money it wastes on conscripting jurors
and buy decent projectors and cell phones for clerks so their administrative duties don't interrupt
trials.
Security Check Now Starts Long Before You Fly

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/business/security-check-now-starts-long-bef...
The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they
arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can
include records like car registrations and employment information. It is unclear precisely what
information the agency is relying upon to make these risk assessments, given the extensive range
of records it can access, including tax identification number, past travel itineraries, property
records, physical characteristics, and law enforcement or intelligence information. The measures
go beyond the background check the government has conducted for years, called Secure Flight, in
which a passengers name, gender and date of birth are compared with terrorist watch lists. Now,
the search includes using a travelers passport number, which is already used to screen people at
the border, and other identifiers to access a system of databases maintained by the Department of
Homeland Security. I think the best way to look at it is as a pre-crime assessment every time
you fly, said Edward Hasbrouck, a consultant to the Identity Project, one of the groups that
oppose the prescreening initiatives. The default will be the highest, most intrusive level of
search, and anything less will be conditioned on providing some additional information in
some fashion. Critics argue that the problem with what the agency calls an intelligence-driven,
risk-based analysis of passenger data is that secret computer rules, not humans, make these
determinations. Civil liberties groups have questioned whether the agency has the legal authority
to make these assessments.
Arizona Air National Guard swept up in fraud scam

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57608534/arizona-air-national-guard-swept...
Nearly two dozen current and former members of the Arizona Air National Guard responsible for
remotely operating drones to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have been indicted on
charges including theft and money laundering in a $1.4 million scam to defraud the federal
government. The eight officers and 13 enlisted men and women, including the colonel and former
commander of the 214 Reconnaissance Group, falsified their records and used fake home
addresses in order to receive money meant for those traveling outside of their home regions for
duty assignments, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said. Between November 2007 and
September 2010, authorities said some of the defendants took home salaries that were up to five
times the amount they should have been receiving. Some of the suspects defrauded the
government of more than $100,000 each, Horne said. "In this case, all of these people lived in
Tucson and put down fraudulent homes of record in other states" to qualify for the extra pay, Horne
added. The suspects worked out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson and were part
of an elite military unit tasked with flying drones over Iraq and Afghanistan aimed at
providing vital information to troops on the ground. The charges include conspiracy,
conducting an illegal enterprise, fraud, theft and money laundering. Authorities said, if
convicted, some of the defendants could be sentenced to up to 12.5 years in prison with the
commander facing more serious charges for using his position of power to help facilitate the scam.
Note: For more on military corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-isra...
The National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it
to remove information about US citizens, a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by
whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals. Details of the intelligence-sharing agreement are laid out
in a memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart that shows the US
government handed over intercepted communications likely to contain phone calls and emails of
American citizens. The agreement places no legally binding limits on the use of the data by the
Israelis. The disclosure that the NSA agreed to provide raw intelligence data to a foreign
country contrasts with assurances from the Obama administration that there are rigorous
safeguards to protect the privacy of US citizens caught in the dragnet. The five-page
memorandum, termed an agreement between the US and Israeli intelligence agencies "pertaining
to the protection of US persons", repeatedly stresses the constitutional rights of Americans to
privacy and the need for Israeli intelligence staff to respect these rights. But this is undermined by
the disclosure that Israel is allowed to receive "raw Sigint" signal intelligence. The memorandum
says: "Raw Sigint includes, but is not limited to, unevaluated and [unredacted] transcripts, gists,
facsimiles, telex, voice and Digital Network Intelligence metadata and content." According to the
agreement, the intelligence being shared would not be filtered in advance by NSA analysts to
remove US communications.
Zimmerman's wife won't press charges despite call

2013-09-09, Miami Herald (Miami, FL's leading newspaper)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/09/3616133/fla-police-called-on-george-zim...
The sobbing wife of George Zimmerman called 911 [on September 9] to report that her estranged
husband was threatening her with a gun and had punched her father in the nose, but hours later
she decided not to press charges against the man acquitted of all charges for fatally shooting
Trayvon Martin. Police officers in Lake Mary, Fla., were still investigating the encounter as a
domestic dispute. Shellie Zimmerman left the house after being questioned by police. George
Zimmerman remained there into the early evening and his attorney denied any wrongdoing by his
client. George Zimmerman was not arrested. Shellie Zimmerman, 26, who has filed for divorce,
initially told a 911 dispatcher that her husband had his hand on his gun as he sat in his car
outside the home she was at with her father. She said she was scared because she wasn't
sure what the 29-year-old Zimmerman was capable of doing. Hours later she changed her
story and said she never saw a firearm, said Lake Mary Police Chief Steve Bracknell. For the
time being, "domestic violence can't be invoked because she has changed her story and says she
didn't see a firearm," Bracknell said. "We didn't find a gun," Lake Mary police spokesman Zach
Hudson said. "We didn't find anything that indicated he had a gun on his person." Hudson said
Zimmerman was released from investigative detention at around 6:30 p.m. and "he just walked
back into the house." "Right now he's not a suspect in anything per se, but were still viewing the
video and trying to ascertain what new information that may yield," he said, referring to video from
home surveillance cameras outside the house.
Note: Isn't it strange that Zimmerman's wife would change her story in such an extreme way after
being questioned by the police? Could she have been pressured to do so? There are many
strange aspects to the Zimmerman acquittal in the killing of Martin.
Serco: the company that is running Britain

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/29/serco-biggest-company-never-h...
In May this year, a huge company listed on the London Stock Exchange found itself in the midst of
controversy about a prison it runs for the government Thameside, a newly built jail ... in southeast London. Two months later, the same company was the subject of a high- profile report
published by the House Of Commons. Again, the verdict was damning: data had been falsified,
national standards had not been met, there was a culture of "lying and cheating", and the service
offered to the public was simply "not good enough". Three weeks ago, there came grimmer news.
The company ... was one of two contractors that had somehow overcharged the government for its
services, possibly by as much as 50m; The firm that links these three stories together is Serco.
Its range of activities, here and abroad, is truly mind-boggling. As a private firm it's not
open to Freedom of Information requests, so looking into the details of what it does is
fraught with difficulty. But the basic facts are plain enough. As well as five British prisons and the
tags attached to over 8,000 English and Welsh offenders, Serco sees to two immigration removal
centres. You'll also see its logo on the Docklands Light Railway and Woolwich ferry. But even this
is only a fraction of the story. Serco is responsible for air traffic control in the United Arab Emirates,
parking-meter services in Chicago, driving tests in Ontario, and an immigration detention centre on
Christmas Island.
Note: Serco is possibly the largest company you've never heard of. Did you know that the Obama
administration awarded Serco a $1.25 billion contract to help implement online health insurance
exchanges under Obamacare, as reported in this Reuters article? Watch this video to see just how
powerful and pervasive they are.
Democratic establishment unmasked: prime defenders of NSA bulk

spying
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/25/democratic-establishment...
When it comes to foreign policy, war, assassinations, drones, surveillance, secrecy, and civil
liberties, President Obama's most stalwart, enthusiastic defenders are often found among the most
radical precincts of the Republican Party. The extraordinary events that took place in the House of
Representatives [on July 24] are perhaps the most vivid illustration yet of this dynamic. The House
voted on an amendment sponsored by Justin Amash, the young Michigan lawyer elected in 2010
as a Tea Party candidate, and co-sponsored by John Conyers, the 24-term senior Democrat on the
House Judiciary Committee. The amendment was simple. It would de-fund one single NSA
program: the agency's bulk collection of the telephone records of all Americans. The amendment
yesterday was defeated. A majority of House Democrats supported the Amash/Conyers
amendment, while a majority of Republicans voted against it. As the New York Times put it in its
account of yesterday's vote: "Conservative Republicans leery of what they see as Obama
administration abuses of power teamed up with liberal Democrats long opposed to intrusive
intelligence programs. The Obama administration made common cause with the House
Republican leadership to try to block it." The fate of the amendment was sealed when the
Obama White House ... announced its vehement opposition to it, and then sent NSA
officials to the House to scare members that barring the NSA from collecting all phone
records of all Americans would "Help The Terrorists."
U.K. Bankers Face Decade Bonus Delay and Criminal Sanctions

2013-06-19, Bloomberg/Washington Post
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-MOLK2O07SXL101-0E799136C7JHEP4...
Senior employees at U.K. banks may face a 10-year wait for bonuses under proposals put forward
by a committee investigating the failures of the industry, which also recommended making
reckless management of lenders a crime. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards'
... proposal to introduce a criminal offence for mismanagement, which could see executives of
failed firms facing jail time, was endorsed by Prime Minister David Cameron. The potential
rewards for fleeting short-term success have sometimes been huge, but the penalties for failure,
often manifest only later, have been much smaller or negligible, the authors of the report said.
"Performance should be assessed using a range of measures rather than just return on
equity, which creates perverse incentives, the committee said. "Taxpayers have bailed out
the banks. The public have the sense that advantage has been taken of them, that bankers have
received huge rewards, that some of those rewards have not been properly earned, and in some
cases have been obtained through dishonesty, and that these huge rewards are excessive,
bearing little or no relationship to the value of the work done. The committee recommended
introducing an offence for reckless misconduct and potential prison time for bankers
found responsible for the worst mismanagement, the first such sanctions."
Note: For a related article in the London Review of Books, which starts "the blame in Spain falls
mainly on the banks as it does in Ireland, in Greece, in the US, and pretty much everywhere else
too," click here. For more on financial corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable
The Real War on Reality

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/the-real-war-on-reality/
The modern American surveillance state is not really the stuff of paranoid fantasies; it has arrived.
The revelations about the National Security Agencys PRISM data collection program have raised
awareness ... about the reach and power of secret intelligence gatherers operating behind the
facades of government and business. But those revelations ... have been partial they primarily
focus on one government agency and on the surveillance end of intelligence work, purportedly
done in the interest of national security. What has received less attention is the fact that most
intelligence work today is not carried out by government agencies but by private
intelligence firms and that much of that work involves another common aspect of
intelligence work: deception. That is, it is involved not just with the concealment of reality,
but with the manufacture of it. Important insight into the world [of] these companies came from a
2010 hack by a group best known as LulzSec ... which targeted the private intelligence firm
HBGary Federal. That hack yielded 75,000 e-mails. Team Themis (a group that included HBGary
and the private intelligence and security firms Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and
Endgame Systems) was effectively brought in to find a way to undermine the credibility of
WikiLeaks and the journalist Glenn Greenwald (who recently broke the story of Edward Snowdens
leak of the N.S.A.s Prism program), because of Greenwalds support for WikiLeaks. The plan
called for actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization including a plan to submit
fake documents and then call out the error.
Note: For more on the games intelligence agencies play, see the deeply revealing reports from
Connecting the Dots on PRISM, Phone Surveillance, and the NSAs

Massive Spy Center
2013-06-12, Wired Magazine
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/nsa-prism-verizon-surveillance
Long before Edward Snowden walked out of the NSA with his trove of documents, whistleblowers
there had been trying for years to bring attention to the massive turn toward domestic spying that
the agency was making. Last year in my Wired cover story on the enormous new NSA data center
in Utah, Bill Binney, the man who largely designed the agencys worldwide eavesdropping system,
warned of the secret, nationwide surveillance. He told how the NSA had gained access to billions
of billing records not only from AT&T but also from Verizon. I also wrote about Adrienne J. Kinne,
an NSA intercept operator who attempted to blow the whistle on the NSAs illegal eavesdropping
on Americans following the 9/11 attacks. She [attempted and failed] to end the illegal activity with
appeals all the way up the chain of command to Major General Keith Alexander. The deception
by General Alexander is especially troubling. In my new cover story for Wireds July issue ...I
show how he has become the most powerful intelligence chief in the nations history. Never
before has anyone in Americas intelligence sphere come close to his degree of power, the
number of people under his command, the expanse of his rule, the length of his reign, or
the depth of his secrecy. A four-star Army general, his authority extends across three domains:
He is director of the worlds largest intelligence service, the National Security Agency; chief of the
Central Security Service; and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command. As such, he has his own
secret military, presiding over the Navys 10th Fleet, the 24th Air Force, and the Second Army.
Note: James Bamford, the author of this article, was the ABC producer responsible for breaking
the story on Operation Northwoods, which proved a level of deception almost beyond belief at
the very highest levels of the Pentagon. For more on this, click here. For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on the realities of intelligence agency activity, click here.
Hacker who outed Ohio rapists faces longer jail time than the rapists
2013-06-07, MSN
http://now.msn.com/deric-lostutter-hacker-faces-longer-jail-time-than-the-rap...
If it weren't for Deric Lostutter (aka KYAnonymous), the Steubenville High School rape scandal
may not have received the national attention it did. Lostutter is responsible for exposing the
suspects' tweets, videos and Instagram photos that had bragged about the incident and were
circulated among other students. But due to his ties to other hackers who (he claims)
compromised the school's football team fan page, the FBI raided his home. If convicted for the
hacking, Lostutter could face up to 10 years behind bars. The football players found guilty
of raping the 16-year-old victim? One player received a year in jail, the other received two
years.
Note: For the full, revealing story on this, click here.
GM wheat find threatens exports, stokes consumer fears

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/52045235#.UaoRJtjfKSo
Unapproved genetically modified wheat found growing in the United States is threatening the
outlook for U.S. exports of the world's biggest traded food commodity, with importers keenly aware
of consumer sensitivity to gene-altered food. Major importer Japan has canceled a tender offer to
buy U.S. western white wheat, while other top Asian wheat importers South Korea, China and the
Philippines said they were closely monitoring the situation. The European Union is preparing to
test incoming shipments, and will block any containing GM wheat. GM wheat was discovered
this spring on a farm [in] Oregon, in a field that grew winter wheat in 2012. Scientists found
the wheat was a strain field-tested from 1998 to 2005 and deemed safe before St. Louisbased biotech giant Monsanto withdrew it from the regulatory approval process on
worldwide opposition to genetically engineered wheat. No GM wheat varieties are approved
for general planting in the U.S. or elsewhere, the USDA said. The EU has asked Monsanto for a
detection method to allow its controls to be carried out. With high consumer wariness to
genetically-modified food, few countries allow imports of such cereals for direct human
consumption. However, the bulk of U.S. corn and soybean crops are genetically modified.
GMOs, click here.
Political intelligence firms set up investor meetings at White House

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/political-intelligence-firms-set-up-in...
Wall Street investors hungry for advance information on upcoming federal health-care decisions
repeatedly held private discussions with Obama administration officials, including a top White
House adviser helping to implement the Affordable Care Act. The private conversations show that
the increasingly urgent race to acquire political intelligence goes beyond the communications
with congressional staffers that have become the focus of heightened scrutiny in recent weeks.
White House records show that Elizabeth Fowler, then a top health-policy adviser to President
Obama, met with executives from half a dozen investment firms in 2011 and 2012. Among
them was Kris Jenner, a stock picker with T. Rowe Price Investment Services who managed
its $6 billion Health Sciences Fund. Separately, [Andrew Shin,] an official in the agency that
oversees Medicare and Medicaid spoke in December with managers of hedge funds, pension
plans and mutual funds in a conference call. That call and the White House meetings Fowler
attended were arranged by political-intelligence firms, an expanding class of consultants in
Washington that specialize in providing government information to Wall Street. Hedge fund
executives and other investors are increasingly interested in the timing and nature of health-policy
decisions in Washington because they directly affect the profits and stock prices of
pharmaceutical, insurance, hospital and managed-care companies. Similar interest surrounds
other industry sectors, such as defense, agriculture and energy, whose fortunes are especially
dependent on government decisions.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corporate and
government corruption, click here and here.
Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/17/endless-war-on-terror-obama
On [May 16], the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis
for [the "Global War on Terror"] - the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) - should be
revised (meaning: expanded). Asked at a Senate hearing today how long the war on terrorism will
last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity
conflict, answered, 'At least 10 to 20 years.' The military historian Andrew Bacevich has spent
years warning that US policy planners have adopted an explicit doctrine of "endless war". Obama
officials, despite repeatedly boasting that they have delivered permanently crippling blows to alQaida, are now, as clearly as the English language permits, openly declaring this to be so. It is
hard to resist the conclusion that this war has no purpose other than its own eternal
perpetuation. This war is not a means to any end but rather is the end in itself. The "war on
terror" cannot and will not end on its own [because] the nation's most powerful political
and economic factions reap a bonanza of benefits from its continuation. The genius of
America's endless war machine is that, learning from the unpleasantness of the Vietnam war
protests, it has rendered the costs of war largely invisible.
Note: A top US general long ago exposed the corrupt roots of war in his penetrating book War is a
Racket. For a concise, two-page summary of this revealing book, click here. For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on the atrocities carried out by the US and UK in their
global wars of aggression, click here.
Boston chief: Wasn't told FBI got Tsarnaev warning

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Boston-chief-Wasn-t-told-FBI-got-Tsar...
The FBI did not initially share with Boston police the warnings it had received from Russia
about one suspect in last month's marathon bombings, despite the work of four city police
representatives on a federal terrorism task force, Boston's police commissioner told
Congress on [May 9]. Boston police learned about the Russian security service warnings only
later. The congressional hearing was the first in a series to review the government's initial
response to the attacks, ask what information authorities received about Tsarnaev and his brother
before the bombings and consider whether everything was handled correctly. Some lawmakers
questioned whether Boston police could have more thoroughly investigated Tsarnaev after 2011,
based on Russia's vague warnings then to the FBI and CIA or the discovery by the Homeland
Security Department in 2012 that he was traveling to Russia for six months, and whether Justice
Department rules intended to protect civil liberties constrained the FBI's own inquiry. Led by the
FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Forces operate in many cities as a way to bring federal, state and local
officials together to share information. The model has existed for decades but, after 9/11, task
forces sprouted up in cities nationwide to ensure that police were not out of the loop on
investigations like the one the FBI conducted into Tsarnaev.
Note: For a powerful 11-minute video presenting undeniable evidence that the Boston bombers'
uncle was closely linked to both the CIA and terrorist organizations, click here. Many are
questioning whether the recent Boston bombing was a false flag operation. Though it is not
conclusive, you can find some very reliable evidence that this might be the case at this link and
this one. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the deceptions of
Why Julian Assange would target Henry Kissinger

2013-04-11, BBC News
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has released a database of diplomatic records by Henry
Kissinger, who ran American foreign policy under two presidents. Assange has compiled a
database of State Department cables that Kissinger signed during the 1970s. The documents were
not classified and had been available in national archives, which is where Wikileaks researchers
obtained them. Six years after Wikileaks was founded, Assange and his organisation are under
pressure. He worked on the database at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he is now
living. Critics deplore what Kissinger has done. They point out that after the US secretly bombed
Cambodia in 1970, Kissinger tried to control leaks of information about government
activities by setting up wiretaps at the homes of journalists. Critics also say Kissinger
encouraged the overthrow of Socialist president of Chile, Salvador Allende, in 1973.
Because of his role in the wiretapping of Americans and his comments about Chile, among other
things, Kissinger has been the subject of intense scrutiny over the years. Kissinger would
"sanitise" official accounts of meetings, says Princeton University's Gary Bass, author of a
forthcoming book called The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. "He
would tell his note-takers to leave out something, so we don't have a complete record."
Note: It is quite unusual that this article and very few media have reported on a key quote by
Kissinger that was released in these files. He says, The illegal we do immediately; the
unconstitutional takes a little longer." You can see an image of the document with this quote at
this link.
The 1% aren't like the rest of us

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-page-wealth-and-politics...
Over the last two years, President Obama and Congress have put the country on track to reduce
projected federal budget deficits by nearly $4 trillion. Yet when that process began, in early 2011,
only about 12% of Americans in Gallup polls cited federal debt as the nation's most important
problem. Two to three times as many cited unemployment and jobs as the biggest challenge facing
the country. So why did policymakers focus so intently on the deficit issue? One reason may be
that the small minority that saw the deficit as the nation's priority had more clout than the majority
that didn't. We recently conducted a survey of top wealth-holders (with an average net worth of
$14 million) in the Chicago area, one of the first studies to systematically examine the political
attitudes of wealthy Americans. Our research found that the biggest concern of this top 1% of
wealth-holders was curbing budget deficits and government spending. When surveyed,
they ranked those things as priorities three times as often as they did unemployment
and far more often than any other issue. Our Survey of Economically Successful Americans
[found that] two-thirds of the respondents had contributed money (averaging $4,633) in the most
recent presidential election, and fully one-fifth of them "bundled" contributions from others. About
half recently initiated contact with a U.S. senator or representative, and nearly half (44%) of those
contacts concerned matters of relatively narrow economic self-interest rather than broader national
concerns. This kind of access to elected officials suggests an outsized influence in Washington.
The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixon's 'treason'

2013-03-22, BBC News
Declassified tapes of President Lyndon Johnson's telephone calls provide a fresh insight into his
world. Among the revelations - he caught Richard Nixon sabotaging the Vietnam peace talks...
but said nothing. By the time of the election in November 1968, LBJ had evidence Nixon
had sabotaged the Vietnam war peace talks - or, as he put it, that Nixon was guilty of
treason and had "blood on his hands". Now, for the first time, the whole story can be told. It
begins in the summer of 1968. Nixon feared a breakthrough at the Paris Peace talks designed to
find a negotiated settlement to the Vietnam war, and he knew this would derail his campaign. He
therefore set up a clandestine back-channel involving Anna Chennault, a senior campaign adviser.
At a July meeting in Nixon's New York apartment, the South Vietnamese ambassador was told
Chennault represented Nixon and spoke for the campaign. If any message needed to be passed to
the South Vietnamese president, Nguyen Van Thieu, it would come via Chennault. In late October
1968 there were major concessions from Hanoi which promised to allow meaningful talks to get
underway in Paris - concessions that would justify Johnson calling for a complete bombing halt of
North Vietnam. This was exactly what Nixon feared. Chennault was despatched to the South
Vietnamese embassy with a clear message: the South Vietnamese government should withdraw
from the talks, refuse to deal with Johnson, and if Nixon was elected, they would get a much better
deal. So on the eve of his planned announcement of a halt to the bombing, Johnson learned the
South Vietnamese were pulling out.
click here.
Russian Meteor Kicks Up Cloud of Mistrust

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-19/russian-meteor-kicks-up-cloud-of-mis...
The world saw the meteor ... that exploded over the Ural Mountains city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15
... thanks to the dashboard cameras that are so common in Russian cars. Russians use the
devices because they cannot trust police, judges, insurance companies or witnesses in case of a
fender bender. In the case of the meteor, however, the cameras were not enough to overcome
mistrust. Liberal columnist Yulia Latynina was quick to publish a column in Novaya Gazeta,
strongly suggesting that the fiery object in the sky was no celestial body but a misfired missile from
a nearby testing ground where a military exercise was taking place. At the other end of the political
spectrum, ultra- nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky suggested it was a U.S. missile that blew
up over Chelyabinsk. These are not meteors falling but Americans testing new weapons,
Zhirinovsky said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. Why the trust deficit? Sociologist Lev
Gudkov offered some explanation. Trust is higher in societies with stable and open
institutional systems, and lower in societies with a high level of violence, aggression, an
authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. In repressive societies, mistrust
becomes an important strategic resource for social survival, success and upward mobility.
In 2008, only 27 percent of Russians agreed that people were generally to be trusted, while 68
percent were in favor of caution. The situation was reversed in Denmark, with 70 percent trusting
and 29 percent not so much. In the U.S., 42 percent trusted their fellow citizens and 57 percent
believed them relatively untrustworthy.
The blind theology of militarism

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/The-blind-theology-of-militarism-428639...
Drone war proponents are facing inconvenient truths. This month, for instance, they are facing a
new United Nations report showing that President Obama's escalation of the Afghanistan
War - in part by an escalation in drone air strikes - is killing hundreds of children "due
notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force." Dronewar cheerleaders will no doubt find this news difficult to explain away. Sen. Angus King [justified]
the drone war earlier this month. "Drones are a lot more civilized than what we used to do," he told
a cable television audience. "I think it's actually a more humane weapon because it can be
targeted to specific enemies and specific people." Designed to obscure mounting civilian
casualties, King's phrase "humane weapon" is the crux of the larger argument. The idea is that an
intensifying drone war is necessary - and even humane! - because it is more surgical than violent
global ground war, which is supposedly America's only other option. In a country whose culture so
often (wrongly) portrays bloodshed as the most effective problem solver, many Americans hear
this now-ubiquitous drone-war argument and reflexively agree with its suppositions. By deliberately
ignoring any other less violent option, drone-war proponents who employ choice-narrowing
language are ... precluding America from making more prudent, informed and dispassionate
national security decisions - the kind that might stop us from repeating the worst mistakes of our
own history.
Note: For a revealing 27-minute documentary on drones which operate in swarms and pose
serious ethical questions in both peace and war, click here.
The co-author of Hubris on torture, secretsand what we still dont

know
2013-02-17, MSNBC
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/17/the-co-author-of-hubris-on-torture-secrets-and...
NBC News National Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff co-authored the best-selling book
Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War with David Corn. Their
book is the basis for the new MSNBC documentary, "Hubris: Selling the Iraq War". The reporting ...
at a time when the movie "Zero Dark Thirty" has drawn attention to the issue, shows viewers the
role that torture played in intelligence-gathering after 9/11. The real-life role of torture in pre-Iraq
war intelligence, which is reported in Hubris, has far scarier implications than the Hollywood
version. MSNBC: What was the single most shocking thing you discovered? [Isikoff:] I still find the
Ibn Shaykh al-Libi story ... the most shocking of all. At first, hes questioned by the FBIthen
rendered by the CIA in early 2002 to Egypt, where he was subjected to torture: beatings [and] a
mock burial. He suddenly coughed up a storythat Iraq was training al-Qaida members in chemical
and biological weaponsthat nobody in the U.S. intelligence community really believed. The CIA
internally even wrote an assessment concluding that al-Libi was likely fabricating much of what he
told the Egyptians. Yet suddenly in September 2002, the White House starts using the claim
that Iraq is training al-Qaida in poisons and gasesa claim based entirely on al-Libi. After
the war, al-Libi is returned to U.S. custody and recants the whole thing, saying he made it
up because the Egyptians were torturing him. Anybody who saw "Zero Dark Thirty" and thinks
it vindicates waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques should watch "Hubris".
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on torture and other war
crimes committed by the US, click here.
Aboriginal groups protest at border crossing, highways across Canada

in treaty rights dispute
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/aboriginal-groups-protest-at...
Aboriginals slowed highway traffic, snarled a rail line and protested at the busiest Canada-US
crossing point on [January 16] as part of a day of action in their ongoing dispute with the
Canadian government over treaty rights. The Idle No More movement, which has shown unusual
staying power and garnered a worldwide following through social media, has reopened
constitutional issues involving the relationship between the federal government and the million-plus
strong Aboriginal community. The protests erupted almost two months ago against a budget
bill that affects Canadas Indian Act and amends environmental laws. Protesters say the bill
undermines century-old treaties by altering the approval process for leasing Aboriginal
lands to outsiders and changing environmental oversight in favor of natural resource
extraction. Hundreds of supporters of the Idle No More movement gathered at one entrance of
the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario. At one point, trucks were lined up for about almost a
mile (2 kilometers). In northern Ontario, a group of people set up a blockade on a rail line
Wednesday. Marchers also temporarily diverted traffic from a bridge in New Brunswick. About 200
First Nations protesters also took part in a 45-minute highway blockade north of Victoria.
Protesters were also blocking the Canadian National rail line through Kitwanga, in northwest
British Columbia.
Note: For more information on Idle No More, click here.
The inspiring heroism of Aaron Swartz

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/12/aaron-swartz-heroism-suic...
Aaron Swartz, the computer programmer and internet freedom activist, committed suicide on
[January 11] in New York at the age of 26. Much of Swartz's tragically short life was filled with acts
that are genuinely and, in the most literal and noble sense, heroic. He became something of a
legend in the internet and programming world before he was 18. His path to internet mogul status
and the great riches it entails was clear, easy and virtually guaranteed: a path which so many other
young internet entrepreneurs have found irresistible, monomaniacally devoting themselves to
making more and more money long after they have more than they could ever hope to spend.
Swartz had little interest in devoting his life to his own material enrichment, despite how easy it
would have been for him. He committed himself to the causes in which he so passionately
believed: internet freedom, civil liberties, making information and knowledge as available as
possible. Critically, Swartz didn't commit himself to these causes merely by talking about
them or advocating for them. He repeatedly sacrificed his own interests, even his liberty, in
order to defend these values and challenge and subvert the most powerful factions that
were their enemies. Nobody knows for sure why federal prosecutors decided to pursue Swartz so
vindictively. I believe it ... was waged as part of ... the war over how the internet is used and who
controls the information that flows on it - and that was his real crime in the eyes of the US
government: challenging its authority and those of corporate factions to maintain a stranglehold on
that information.
Note: For a video showing the inspiring activism of this young man, click here. This video shows
why this courageous man was likely targeted to stop him from empowering others. Please spread
the word.
Richard Nixon at 100: not just criminal, but treasonous too

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/10/richard-nixon-100-crimina...
This week saw the 100th birthday of America's 37th president, Richard Milhous Nixon. Here was
the man who "went to China", spurred dtente with the Soviets, signed into law the establishment
of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), took America off the gold standard and ended the Vietnam war. Of course, on the
flip side, he also prolonged the Vietnam war, obstructed justice from the Oval Office, used the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to go after his political enemies, launched an illegal war in
Cambodia, waged a dirty tricks campaign against his opponents, ... kept an "enemies list", ...
ended the Vietnam war with neither peace nor honor, was impeached by Congress, resigned the
presidency and left a permanent stain on American democracy. Oh, and also, he committed
treason. That is ... the view of President Lyndon B Johnson, who, in the final days of the 1968
presidential election, became convinced that Richard Nixon... and his campaign associates
were working surreptitiously with the South Vietnamese government to obstruct peace
talks between the US and North Vietnam. It is one of the most duplicitous and pernicious
moments in Nixon's political career which, considering his larger crimes, is really saying
something.
click here.
Secrecy of Memo on Drone Killing Is Upheld

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/us/judge-rules-memo-on-targeted-killing-can...
A federal judge in Manhattan refused on [January 2] to require the Justice Department to disclose
a memorandum providing the legal justification for the targeted killing of a United States citizen,
Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. The ruling, by Judge Colleen
McMahon, was marked by skepticism about the antiterrorist program that targeted him, and
frustration with her own role in keeping the legal rationale for it secret. I can find no way around
the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our
government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face
incompatible with our Constitution and laws while keeping the reasons for their conclusion
a secret, she wrote. The Alice-in-Wonderland nature of this pronouncement is not lost on me,
Judge McMahon wrote, adding that she was operating in a legal environment that amounted to a
veritable Catch-22. Judge McMahons opinion included an overview of what she called an
extensive public relations campaign by various government officials about the American role in
the killing of Mr. Awlaki and the circumstances under which the government considers targeted
killings, including of its citizens, to be lawful. The governments public comments were as a whole
cryptic and imprecise, Judge McMahon said. Even as she ruled against the plaintiffs, the judge
wrote that the public should be allowed to judge whether the administrations analysis holds water.
Note: For analysis of the significance of this reluctant court ruling upholding continued secrecy of
the drone assassinations, click here.
Lawmakers say CIA may have misled Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers on
harsh interrogation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/lawmakers-say-cia-may-have-misled...
Lawmakers accused the CIA of misleading the makers of the Osama bin Laden raid film Zero
Dark Thirty by allegedly telling them that harsh interrogation methods helped track down the
terrorist mastermind. The film shows waterboarding and similar techniques as important, if not key,
to finding bin Laden in Pakistan, where he was killed by Navy SEALs in 2011. A Senate
Intelligence Committee investigation into the CIAs detainee program found that such
methods produced no useful intelligence. In a letter to the CIA this week, Sens. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., John McCain, R-Ariz., and others asked [the CIA] to share documents
showing what the filmmakers were told. The senators contend that that the CIA detainee who
provided the most accurate information about the courier who was tracked to bin Ladens hiding
place provided the information prior to being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques,
according to a statement ... from Feinstein. The CIA says it will cooperate.
Note: Note that this "critique" of the CIA by US Senators serves to maintain the claim that Osama
bin Laden was killed by the Navy SEALs raid in Pakistan in 2011. But there have been numerous
reports of bin Laden's death before the "official" killing. Click here and here for two intriguing BBC
reports on this. WantToKnow team member David Ray Griffin's book establishing the likelihood
that Osama bin Laden died in December 2001, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?, is available
here.
'Zero Dark Thirty': Why the fabrication?

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/23/opinion/la-oe-1223-mcdermott-torture-...
The new Kathryn Bigelow movie "Zero Dark Thirty" has renewed the debate on the efficacy of
torture. The film obliquely credits the discovery of the key piece of information in the search
for [Osama] Bin Laden to the torture of an Al Qaeda prisoner held by the CIA. This is at
odds with the facts as they have been recounted by journalists reporting on the manhunt, by
Obama administration intelligence officials and by legislative leaders. Bigelow and her writing
partner, Mark Boal, are promoting "Zero Dark Thirty" in part by stressing its basis in fact. It's
curious that they could have gotten this central, contentious point wrong. And because they
originally set out to make a movie about the frustrating failure to find Bin Laden, it's hard to believe
their aim was to celebrate torture. But that's in effect what they've done. It was Dick Cheney's idea
that the United States could solve complicated problems just by being brave enough, or tough
enough, or both. Despite the fact that the world doesn't seem to work that way, Cheney's argument
had a force and a tenor that fits with our national narrative of exceptionalism. It's satisfying. We are
willing to believe there is something heroic, justifiable about torture. There is not. The moral
objection ought to be obvious. We've had laws against torture for decades. We've had these laws
for the simplest of reasons we decided it was wrong. In almost no contemporary culture is it
presumed to be not wrong.
Note: There have been numerous reports of bin Laden's death before the "official" killing. Click
here and here for two intriguing BBC reports on this. WantToKnow team member David Ray
Griffin's book establishing the likelihood that Osama bin Laden died in December 2001, Osama bin
Laden: Dead or Alive?, is available here.
Homeland Security grant spending questioned

2012-12-05, Seattle Times/Associated Press
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019840659_spending06.html
The Homeland Security Department paid for an underwater robot in a Midwest city with no major
rivers or lakes nearby, a hog catcher in rural Texas and a fish tank in a Texas town, according to a
new congressional report highlighting what it described as wasteful spending of tax money. Sen.
Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said in his report that while much of the spending for the department's
Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) appeared to be allowed under the program's rules, it was
inappropriate in an age of budget austerity and as the federal government faces a $16 trillion
national debt. Since 2003, the Homeland Security program has ballooned from 12 major
metropolitan areas to 31 jurisdictions. The study found that some cities and towns had
created implausible attack scenarios to win federal grants, and had scrambled at the end of
each fiscal year to buy extra, unnecessary gadgets to spend excess cash. The Homeland
Security Department has pumped billions to states in the past decade under the program that puts
states in control of how the money is spent. The department has no way of tracking how the
money is spent and has not produced adequate measures to gauge what states and communities
need, Coburn said.
Note: Could it be that the "war on terror", even domestically, is really just a ruse to allow corrupt
government and corporate profiteering? For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources on war profiteering, click here.
Former Fla. GOP leaders: New election law meant to suppress vote
2012-11-26, Seattle Times (One of Seattle's leading newspapers)
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019771284_floridavoting28.html
A new Florida law that contributed to long voter lines and caused some to abandon voting
altogether was intentionally designed by Florida GOP staff and consultants to inhibit Democratic
voters, former GOP officials and current GOP consultants have told The Palm Beach Post.
Republican leaders said in proposing the law that it was meant to save money and fight voter
fraud. But a former GOP chairman and former Gov. Charlie Crist, both of whom have been ousted
from the party, now say that fraud concerns were advanced only as subterfuge for the law's main
purpose: GOP victory. Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer says he attended
various meetings, beginning in 2009, at which party staffers and consultants pushed for reductions
in early voting days and hours. "The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they
firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates," Greer told The
Post. "It's done for one reason and one reason only. ... 'We've got to cut down on early
voting because early voting is not good for us,"' Greer said he was told by those staffers and
consultants. "They never came in to see me and tell me we had a (voter) fraud issue," Greer said.
"It's all a marketing ploy." Greer's statements about the motivations for the party's legislative
efforts, implemented by a GOP-majority House and Senate in Tallahassee in 2011, are backed by
Crist also now on the outs with the party and two veteran GOP campaign consultants.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption of the US
Bradley Manning deserves Americans' support for military

whistleblowing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/16/bradley-manning-americans...
Last week, PFC Bradley Manning offered to accept responsibility for releasing classified
documents as an act of conscience not as charged by the US military. The military under the
Obama administration has displayed a desire to over-prosecute whistleblowing with life-in-prison
charges including espionage and "aiding the enemy", a disturbing decision which is no doubt
intended to set an example. With today's advanced military technology and the continued ability of
business and political elites to filter what information is made public, there exists a great barrier to
many citizens being fully aware of the realities and consequences of conflicts in which their country
is engaged. Responsible governance requires fully informed citizens who can question their
leadership. For those citizens worldwide who do not have direct, intimate knowledge of war, yet
are still affected by rising international tensions and failing economies, WikiLeaks releases
attributed to Bradley Manning have provided unparalleled access to important facts.
Revealing covert crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and corporations' pervasive influence in
governance, this window into the realities of modern international relations has changed
the world for the better. Bradley Manning ... went through a profound moral struggle between the
time he enlisted and when he became a whistleblower. Through his experience in Iraq, witnessing
suffering of innocent civilians and soldiers alike, he became disturbed by top-level policy that
undervalued human life. Like other courageous whistleblowers, he was driven foremost by a desire
to reveal the truth.
Note: For further information, visit the Bradley Manning Support Network. For deeply revealing
reports from reliable major media sources on military corruption, click here.
Mystery surrounds graves at boys' reform school

2012-10-13, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/13/us/florida-graves-mystery/index.html
This Florida panhandle town is the home of a mystery that has been lost to time. A small cemetery
buried deep into the grounds of a now-defunct boys reform school dates back to the early 1900s.
Rusting white steel crosses mark the graves of 31 unidentified former students. Former students
said the deaths were at the hands of abusive administrators. A 2009 state investigation determined
there was no evidence of criminal activity connected with any of the deaths. But the investigation
did not clear up the mystery over the fate of 50 other students who died at the school and whose
bodies have not been accounted for. In the wake of that investigation, more former students -who are now senior citizens -- have come forward with stories of abuse at the school,
including alleged beatings, killings and the disappearance of students, during the 1940s,
'50s and '60s. "These are children who came here and died, for one reason or another, and
have just been lost in the woods," said Dr. Erin Kimmerle, an anthropologist from the University
of South Florida who is leading a scientific search on the grounds of what used to be the Florida
Industrial School for Boys. Using ground-penetrating radar, Kimmerle's team has located what she
says appear to be 18 more remains than previously thought to have been buried there. After
clearing the area, her team has determined that a total of 49 graves exist. All are unidentified. "We
found burials within the current marked cemetery, and then we found burials that extend beyond
that," Kimmerle said.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on institutional abuse of
children, click here.
The Pacific free trade deal that's anything but free

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/27/pacific-free-trade-deal
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a pact that the United States is negotiating with
Australia, Canada, Japan and eight other countries in the Pacific region ... is packaged as a "free
trade" agreement. This label will force all of the respectable types in Washington to support it. The
TPP is an effort ... to impose conditions and override domestic laws in a way that would be almost
impossible if the proposed measures had to go through the normal legislative process. The
expectation is that by lining up powerful corporate interests, the governments will be able to ram
this new "free trade" pact through legislatures on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. At this point, it's not
really possible to discuss the merits of the TPP since the governments are keeping the
proposed text a secret from the public. Only the negotiators themselves and a select group
of corporate partners have access to the actual document. One major focus ... will be stronger
protection for intellectual property. In the case of recorded music and movies, we might see
provisions similar to those that were in the Stop Online Privacy Act (Sopa). Since these measures
were hugely unpopular, Sopa could probably never pass as a standalone piece of legislation. But
tied into a larger pact and blessed with "free trade" holy water, the entertainment industry may be
able to get what it wants. The pharmaceutical industry is also likely to be a big gainer from this
pact. It has decided that the stronger patent rules that it inserted in the 1995 WTO agreement don't
go far enough. It wants stronger and longer patent protection and also increased use of "data
exclusivity".
Note: For more information and a petition against the TPP, click here. For deeply revealing reports
from reliable major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Don't lose sight of why the US is out to get Julian Assange

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/21/why-us-is-out-to-get-assange
Considering he made his name with the biggest leak of secret government documents in history,
you might imagine there would be at least some residual concern for Julian Assange among those
trading in the freedom of information business. But the virulence of British media hostility towards
the WikiLeaks founder is now unrelenting. This is a man, after all, who has yet to be charged, let
alone convicted, of anything. The ostensible reason for this venom is of course Assange's attempt
to resist extradition to Sweden (and onward extradition to the US) over sexual assault allegations.
But as the row over his embassy refuge has escalated into a major diplomatic stand-off, with the
whole of South America piling in behind Ecuador, such posturing looks increasingly specious. Can
anyone seriously believe the ... British government would have made its asinine threat to
suspend the Ecuadorean embassy's diplomatic status and enter it by force, or that scores
of police would have surrounded the building, swarming up and down the fire escape and
guarding every window, if it was all about one man wanted for questioning over sex crime
allegations in Stockholm? To get a grip on what is actually going on, rewind to WikiLeaks'
explosive release of secret US military reports and hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables two
years ago. They disgorged devastating evidence of US war crimes and collusion with death
squads in Iraq on an industrial scale, the machinations and lies of America's wars and allies, its
illegal US spying on UN officials as well as a compendium of official corruption and deceit across
the world.
click here.
Company once known as Blackwater settles arms case

http://articles.boston.com/2012-08-08/nation/33081023_1_blackwater-arms-case-...
The international security contractor formerly known as Blackwater [and now called Academi LLC]
has agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle federal criminal charges related to arms smuggling
and other crimes. The list of 17 violations includes possessing automatic weapons in the
United States without registration, lying to federal firearms regulators about weapons
provided to the king of Jordan, passing secret plans for armored personnel carriers to
Sweden and Denmark without US government approval, and illegally shipping body armor
overseas. Federal prosecutors said the company, which has held billions in US security contracts
in Iraq and Afghanistan, repeatedly flouted US laws. Compliance with these laws is critical to the
proper conduct of our defense efforts and to international diplomatic relations, said Thomas G.
Walker, the US attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. This prosecution is an important
step to ensuring that our corporate citizens comply with these rules in every circumstance.
Blackwater was founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince. The company rose to national
attention after winning massive no-bid security contracts from the US government at the Iraq Wars
start. In 2010, after several high-profile controversies, the company reached a $42 million
settlement with the Department of State over repeated violations of the Arms Export Control Act
and the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations.
click here.
A Decade and $451M Later, FBI Computers Just Now Working Together
2012-08-01, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/sentinel-decade-451m-fbi-computers-now-working/...
After years of frustration and hundreds of millions of dollars lost on a system that didn't work, the
FBI has finally deployed a new $451 million computer system called Sentinel. The web-based
interface allows agents to widely search all FBI case files and data as they work investigations and
track down leads, effectively moving FBI agents and analysts away from paper based files to a
streamlined computer program. The system allows agents to conduct searches of related case
information to "connect the dots." The FBI was sharply criticized after the 9/11 attacks for
failing to piece together information about suspected terrorists obtaining flight training in
the United States. The FBI was first warned in July 2001 by FBI Agent Ken Williams, who
was assigned to the Phoenix Field Office, that individuals associated with Osama Bin
Laden were undertaking a coordinated effort to obtain flight training in Arizona. The memo
he wrote recommending that the FBI have liaison with flight schools in their areas was not widely
read or acted upon. In August 2001 officials at FBI headquarters did not realize the significance of
the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui who was seeking flight training in Minnesota and had financial
connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
Up to $2.3 billion in California public funds hiding in plain sight

2012-07-26, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose's leading newspaper)
http://www.mercurynews.com/california-budget/ci_21168552/up-2-3-billion-calif...
A week after uncovering a hidden-funds scandal at the state parks department, finance
officials are now trying to piece together why the balance sheets for similar "special funds"
are off by $2.3 billion -- money that appeared to be right under their noses amid California's
financial meltdown. An analysis by this newspaper of California's little-known 500-plus special
funds -- like the ones that included $54 million in parks money shielded from the Department of
Finance -- shows tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies in numerous accounts. The fund that
gives restitution to violent crime victims was off by $29 million. The one that provides children with
low-cost health insurance was $30 million out of balance. The fund that rewards people for
recycling bottles and cans was $113 million off. "Where are these dollars?" asked state Senate
budget chairman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who said it was a "big problem" that the special
funds "clearly have not been getting enough attention." The newspaper's review found at least 17
accounts that appeared to have significantly more reserve cash than what individual departments
reported to the finance department, though it's unclear why. The problem could date back decades
and is only now coming to light after discrepancies were discovered in the parks funds, costing
longtime parks director Ruth Coleman and deputy director Michael Harris their jobs.
Note: Could these funds be related to the CAFR reports which have gone so underreported? For
more, see this link.
Frackers Fund University Research That Proves Their Case

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-23/frackers-fund-university-research...
Pennsylvania remains the largest U.S. state without a tax on natural gas production, thanks in part
to a study released under the banner of the Pennsylvania State University. The 2009 report
predicted drillers would shun Pennsylvania if new taxes were imposed, and lawmakers cited it the
following year when they rejected a 5 percent tax proposed by then-Governor Ed Rendell. What
the study didnt do was note that it was sponsored by gas drillers and led by an economist with a
history of producing industry-friendly research on economic and energy issues. As the U.S.
enjoys a natural-gas boom from a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,
producers are taking a page from the tobacco industry playbook: funding research at
established universities that arrives at conclusions that counter concerns raised by critics.
Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, who made the
tobacco analogy, said companies and their trade associations are buying the prestige of
universities that are sometimes not transparent about funding nor vigilant enough to prevent
financial interests from shaping research findings. The Penn State report is not the only example.
A professor at the University of Texas at Austin led a February study that found no evidence of
ground-water contamination from fracking. He did not reveal that he is a member of the board of a
gas producer. Company filings examined by Bloomberg indicate that in 2011, he received more
than $400,000 in compensation from the company, which has fracking operations in Texas.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government and
corporate corruption, click here and here.
The rotten heart of finance

2012-07-07, The Economist Magazine
http://www.economist.com/node/21558281
The rapidly spreading scandal of LIBOR (the London inter-bank offered rate) ... is beginning to
assume global significance. The number that the traders were toying with determines the prices
that people and corporations around the world pay for loans or receive for their savings. It is used
as a benchmark to set payments on about $800 trillion-worth of financial instruments, ranging from
complex interest-rate derivatives to simple mortgages. The number determines the global flow of
billions of dollars each year. Yet it turns out to have been flawed. Over the past week damning
evidence has emerged, in documents detailing a settlement between Barclays and regulators in
America and Britain, that employees at the bank and at several other unnamed banks tried to rig
the number time and again over a period of at least five years. And worse is likely to emerge.
Investigations by regulators in several countries, including Canada, America, Japan, the
EU, Switzerland and Britain, are looking into allegations that LIBOR and similar rates were
rigged by large numbers of banks. As many as 20 big banks have been named in various
investigations or lawsuits alleging that LIBOR was rigged. The scandal also corrodes further what
little remains of public trust in banks and those who run them.
Lawmakers press for open Trans-Pacific trade talks

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47985609/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/t/lawmake...
A California congressman at the center of a legal battle with the White House ... asked U.S. trade
officials to let him sit in on negotiations in San Diego next week between the United States and
other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. "Given the immense impact that this agreement will have
on many areas of the American economy, including intellectual property, I respectfully request that
you allow me and certain members of my staff to be present as observers for this round of
negotiations," Republican lawmaker Darrell Issa said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron
Kirk. The unusual request to join the San Diego talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) pact, and a separate letter on Wednesday from about 130 congressional
Democrats, reflect the anxiety many lawmakers are feeling about trade agreements, even
though Congress last year overwhelmingly approved three such pacts -- with South Korea,
Colombia and Panama. The roughly 130 Democratic lawmakers, in their letter, urged U.S. Trade
Representative Ron Kirk to release draft texts under negotiation and "to engage in broader and
deeper consultations" with members of Congress on U.S. laws and regulations they said he could
be affected by the pact. Those include areas such as labor, patent and copyright, land use, food,
agriculture, natural resources, the environment, state-owned enterprises, government procurement
and regulations for financial services, healthcare, energy and telecommunications, the lawmakers
said.
Note: For more information and a petition against the TPP, click here. For deeply revealing reports
from reliable major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Police shootings rise as crime falls

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/15/INLN1MO222.DTL
It's a curious paradox: Crime rates continue to fall in California, but the number of people killed by
the police keeps rising. In Los Angeles County, for example, the number of 2011 homicides
was a historic low of 612 people. But the number of fatal police shootings skyrocketed by
nearly 70 percent that same year, to 54. That number of fatal shootings by officers was
almost equal to 10 percent of the county's homicides last year. Los Angeles is not alone.
Nationwide, officer-involved shootings are on the rise, with cities as disparate as Dallas and
Albuquerque registering sharp spikes in fatal police shootings. What's going on? It's too soon to
know whether 2011 was just an unusual year or the start of a trend. In 2011, 72 officers across the
country were killed by perpetrators - a 75 percent increase from 2008. This rough equation makes
some sense - if the police are encountering suspects who are more likely to fire on them, they're
going to fire back. California is struggling with decades-old budget decisions that have left far too
many mentally ill people out on the street, where they can be a danger to themselves and others.
Police officers, not caseworkers, are all too often first responders to the mentally unstable. [And]
California's ... draconian sentencing laws - followed by prison overcrowding and early release
programs - haven't made anyone safer. Legislators and governors have tinkered around the edges
of these issues without attempting a full overhaul, but a full overhaul is what the state needs.
Note: For more on corruption within the judicial system and "prison-industrial complex," click here.
Expert Panel Reports False Accounts of U.S. Political and Military

Leaders on 9/11
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expert-panel-reports-false-accounts-of-us-po...
New evidence shows that the September 11th activities of former President George W. Bush, Vice
President Dick Cheney, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were falsely reported by official
sources. The 20-member 9/11 Consensus Panel analyzed evidence from press reports, FOIA
requests, and archived 9/11 Commission file documents to produce eight new studies, released
today. The international panel also [determined] that four massive aerial practice exercises
traditionally held in October were in full operation on 9/11. The largest, Global Guardian, held
annually by NORAD and the U.S. Strategic and Space Commands, had originally been scheduled
for October 22-31 but was moved, along with Vigilant Guardian, to early September. Although
senior officials claimed no one could have predicted [the use of] hijacked planes as weapons, the
military had been practicing similar exercises on 9/11 itself -- and for years before it. Official
sources claimed neither Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs of Staff Acting Chairman
General Richard Myers (filling in for General Hugh Shelton), nor war-room chief General
Montague Winfield were available to take command until well after the Pentagon was struck
about 9:37. Yet emerging documents and memoirs show that top leaders were engaged earlier -and later discussed a shootdown of [United Airlines] Flight 93 before debris was scattered widely
around its alleged Shanksville, Pennsylvania crash site. Most intriguing is the mystery of who was
running the Pentagon's war-room during the critical early hours.
Note: To examine the evidence presented by the 9/11 Consensus Panel which refutes the
questionable accounts of the whereabouts and activities of key political and military leaders
provided by The 9/11 Commission Report, as well as the best evidence concerning other claims of
the official story of 9/11, click here.
Time for America to revisit its nuclear policy

2012-06-01, Dallas Morning News (leading newspaper of Dallas, TX)
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20120601-ronnie-dugger-ti...
Could we be overlooking profound questions and truths about the again-rising likelihood of the
decimation or the end of life on Earth in an H-bomb holocaust? The actual and prospective nuclear
policy and practice of the United States, Israel and Britain has moved from the nuclear
disarmament promised in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty into attacking nations that ... insist
on getting the same weapons we have. More nations keep getting the H-bomb and the systems to
deliver it wherever they want to. There is still no international control of these weapons that
can end life on Earth. Jonathan Schell reports in The Seventh Decade that 50 more nations
know how to make H-bombs. Its a secret no more. Why are possibly apocalyptic facts
about them blocked from us by nine systems of military secrecy? For just one example, does
Israel, as indicated in Ron Rosenbaums recent well-sourced book How the End Begins, have five
German-made nuclear-armed submarines in the Mediterranean poised to fire H-bombs in
retaliation even if Israels leadership has been decapitated? The U.S. should be leading the world
toward near zero or the abolition of these weapons. We should be challenging our officials and
military for risking our deaths, the lives of our fellow human beings and our national honor by
keeping, maintaining and implicitly threatening to use our own weapons of mass murder.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption in the nuclear
power and weapons industries, click here.
Q & A With Bulger Biographer

2012-05-30, WBUR-FM (Boston's NPR news station)
http://www.wbur.org/2012/05/30/dick-lehr
Dick Lehr is the co-author of the book Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devils Deal. First
published in 2001, the book has undergone a number of revisions as the story of Bulger and the
FBI has unfolded. Its latest revision has been published this month. Lehr and his co-author Gerry
ONeill are former reporters for the Boston Globe, whose ... report in September 1988 on the tale
of the two Bulger brothers first raised the issue in public of Bulgers special relationship to the
FBI. Dick Lehr: [Whitey Bulger] goes down into history as one of the 20th centurys most
notorious gangsters. He did something no other gangster that we know of has ever done
and thats compromise the FBI, bring it to its knees, not just in a single case, but as a way
of life. He had sold everybody a story that would explain why someone might see him and [FBI
agent John] Connolly. And that was that Connolly was their source, that it was one-way, and that
Connolly was a corrupted agent, which was true, but it didnt tell the whole story. But it did become
Whiteys cover. So if anybody ever saw him with Connolly and asked, Hey what are you doing with
that FBI guy? Whitey could say, Hey, thats my guy hes my rat. Throughout a lifetime hes
strategically always been able to anticipate and plant seeds in the event something happens down
the road and hes already a step ahead in terms of everyone, strategy and analysis.
Note: To go much deeper into this bizarre story of FBI strangeness, read the interview in the
Boston Globe at this link. And for additional reliable information on intense corruption in
9/11 defense attorneys call Guantnamo detention, trial rules unjust

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/06/2786539/911-defense-attorneys-call-guan...
The five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks used their weekend war court appearances
to stage peaceful resistance to an unjust system being used for political reasons, defense
lawyers said Sunday a day after the 9/11-accused turned the judges plans to hold a simple
arraignment into a 13-hour marathon of prayer and protest. The system is a rigged game to
prevent us from doing our jobs, argued criminal defense attorney David Nevin, accusing
the prison camp commander of making it impossible to learn from alleged mastermind
Khalid Sheik Mohammed how the CIA waterboarded him 183 times and used other sinceoutlawed techniques to break him. The government wants to kill Mr. Mohammed, Nevin said,
to extinguish the last eyewitness to his torture. Each of the accused steadfastly refused to
answer basic questions posed to them by Army Col. James L. Pohl, the war courts chief judge, on
whether they accepted their Pentagon-appointed attorneys. Instead, they periodically disrupted the
proceedings with demonstrations of Muslim prayer and protests of prison conditions. These men
have endured years of inhumane treatment and torture that will infect every aspect of this military
commission tribunal, attorney James Connell III warned.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on the destruction of civil liberties in the name of the
"global war on terror," click here.
Where drones in Pakistan undermine U.S. interests

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/13/INLN1MNVED.DTL
The CIA's use of unmanned aircraft to kill ... began under President George W. Bush in 2004. The
covert operations became more frequent under the Obama administration, which viewed them as
a way ... to hit Taliban fighters headed to the Afghanistan battlefield from sanctuaries in Pakistan's
remote tribal areas. To Pakistanis, the drone strikes represent a brazen breach of their
nation's sovereignty and a callous disregard for the lives of civilians who are in the vicinity
of the so-called smart missiles. There is no precise count of casualties, but Pakistani
officials suggest the deaths have numbered in the hundreds, with thousands more
wounded. Opposition to the drone strikes is one of the rare issues that unites a country that is
riven with divisions of geography, class, culture and tribal affiliations. Because the drone
operations are covert, the Obama administration refuses to answer substantive questions about
their necessity or results. In a recent meeting with U.S. journalists, diplomats at the American
Embassy in Islamabad refused to discuss the program even on a background basis. Unlike the
Bush team, the Obama administration has refused to keep Pakistani military leaders in the loop.
Note: For lots more on the illegal methods employed by the CIA and Pentagon in its "endless war",
click here.
Feinstein detainee bill for citizens, residents

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/29/MN701NDUR3.DTL
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said [on February 29] that her legislation to roll back an antiterror law, which
allows the military to indefinitely detain people in the United States suspected of ties to al Qaeda or
"associated forces," would have to be limited to citizens and permanent legal residents. Her bill,
the Due Process Guarantee Act, ... would ensure that the detainee portions of last year's National
Defense Authorization Act, or any declaration of war or congressional authorization to use military
force, would not allow the military to imprison without trial citizens and green card holders living in
the United States. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove (Sacramento County) has introduced a
companion bill in the House. The detainee provisions of the law ... have generated a rare
combination of outrage from liberals and conservatives who say it violates constitutional
liberties and habeas corpus rights that provide an individual redress to unlawful
imprisonment by the state. Civil liberties groups have argued that the Constitution's Bill of Rights
extends to all people, regardless of their citizenship. Noncitizens include tourists, students and
business travelers as well as illegal immigrants. Feinstein said including noncitizens in her bill is
not politically feasible. Feinstein described her bill as a follow-on to the 1971 Non-Detention Act, a
response to the Japanese internment that was signed by former President Richard Nixon. The act
bars imprisonment of citizens suspected of sabotage without explicit congressional approval.
Note: The NDAA clearly violates the U.S. Bill of Rights, which clearly states in the fifth amendment
that no person shall be held to answer for a crime "without due process of law," and in the sixth
amendment which states that "the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial." It is
simply amazing that the American public is not loudly protesting this breach of the constitution.
Greek debt nightmare laid bare

2012-02-21, CNN/Financial Times
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/20/business/greece-debt-report/index.html
A "strictly confidential" report on Greece's debt projections prepared for eurozone finance ministers
reveals Athens' rescue programme is way off track. The ... debt sustainability analysis ... found that
even under the most optimistic scenario, the austerity measures being imposed on Athens risk
a recession so deep that Greece will not be able to climb out of the debt hole over the
course of a new three-year, 170bn bail-out. It warned that two of the new bail-out's main
principles might be self-defeating. Forcing austerity on Greece could cause debt levels to rise by
severely weakening the economy. The report made clear why the fight over the new Greek bail-out
has been so intense. A German-led group of creditor countries -- including the Netherlands
and Finland -- has expressed extreme reluctance to go through with the deal since they
received the report. A "tailored downside scenario" in the report suggests Greek debt could fall
far more slowly than hoped, to only 160 per cent of economic output by 2020 -- well below the
target of 120 per cent set by the International Monetary Fund. Under such a scenario, Greece
would need about 245bn in bail-out aid, far more than the 170bn under the "baseline"
projections eurozone ministers were using in all-night negotiations in Brussels on Monday.
Note: For key reports from major media sources exposing the interests served by the imposition of
austerity on Greece and other countries, click here.
Corrections Corp of America on Buying Spree - State Prisons For Sale?

2012-02-14, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2012/02/14/corrections-corp-of-americ...
Corrections Corporation of America ... president and CEO, Damon Hininger, [spoke] in a
conference call with analysts ... about the recent purchase (January 2012) of a state prison in
Ohio. CCA purchased the Lake Erie Correctional Institution for $72.7 million as part of Governor
John Kashichs ... prison privatization program. According to a press release from the state, tax
payers will realize an estimated $3 million in annual savings. CCA is not stopping at Ohio though.
CCAs Chief Corrections Officer Harvey Lappin, former Director of the Bureau of Prisons who
joined CCA less than a year ago, is making similar offers to buy prisons in other states. CCA offers
to buy the states prison with cash up front in exchange for a 20-year management contract plus
an assurance that the prison will remain 90% full over that period. In Ohios case, that meant
that for the big chunk of cash up front, it would guarantee payments to CCA for 20 years for
inmate per diem, occupancy fee ($3 million/year) and a guarantee that the minimum inmate
population would be no less than 90% of capacity. Selling the facility has its downfalls. Once a
state has sold its facility, it leaves little opportunity to contract with another prison management
company in the event of a dispute or to save money. CCA, in the case of buying a prison, could be
in the drivers seat to dictate prison policy to the state.
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on corruption in the prison-industrial
complex, click here.
Calif. 'downer' pig ban blocked by Supreme Court

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/23/MNUN1MTDBQ.DTL
California's ban on the sale of pork from "downer" pigs, those that were too feeble to walk
before being slaughtered, can't be enforced because a less stringent federal law regulates
slaughterhouse inspections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously [on January 23].
State lawmakers enacted the ban in 2008 after a Humane Society video showed immobile cows
being kicked, dragged, shocked and rammed with forklifts at a warehouse in San Bernardino
County. Advocates said meat from those animals was more likely to be diseased. Federal law
forbids the sale of meat from animals suffering from serious diseases, a ban that recent
regulations extended to cattle that were unable to walk. But federal law allows meat sales from
downer pigs and other nonambulatory animals, like sheep and goats, that pass federal inspection.
Court challenges from meat processors and packers prevented the California law from taking
effect. A federal appeals court upheld the California statute in 2010, but the Obama administration
joined the National Meat Association in a successful Supreme Court appeal. The ruling dismayed
the Humane Society of the United States, which has unsuccessfully lobbied Congress and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture for nationwide rules like California's. "The meat industry has the
USDA and Congress in its tight grips," said the society's president, Wayne Pacelle.
and here.
A Judge Rules Vermont Cant Shut Nuclear Plant

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/science/earth/vermont-cant-shut-down-nuclea...
A federal judge on [January 19] blocked Vermont from forcing the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor
to shut down when its license expires in March, saying that the state is trying to regulate nuclear
safety, which only the federal government can do. The judge [said] in his ruling that ... state
lawmakers and witnesses made clear that their effort to close the plant was "grounded in
radiological safety concerns" - the province of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The
commission has already granted Vermont Yankee a 20-year license extension. The ruling is
almost certain to be appealed by the state and an array of private groups that want the plant
shut down because of leaks of radioactive tritium and other issues. Since Entergy bought
Vermont Yankee 10 years ago, public opinion has turned sharply against the plant. After
several plants around the country suffered leaks of radioactive water into the soil, state officials
asked Vermont Yankee executives in 2009 whether their plant might be susceptible to that
problem. The executives said that Vermont Yankee had no underground pipes carrying radioactive
material. But it did - and the pipes leaked. The State Senate voted 26 to 4 in 2010 not to authorize
the needed certificate.
Note: How convenient for the nuclear power industry that federal judges can block state legislation
to shut down dangerous nuclear power plants. For more on corporate and government corruption,
Ten years later, Guantanamo still harms us all

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/ED2F1MNA60.DTL
It has been 10 years since Guantanamo Bay became a prison. Today, 171 men are still held there
with no real prospect of either trial or release. Bush administration officials have admitted ordering
torture against prisoners in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq and secret sites in [other] countries, yet
no one has been held to account for violating U.S. law. Their illegal actions and the recent passage
- and signing by President Obama - of the National Defense Authorization Act have undermined
fundamental structures of law and morality that are our heritage as Americans. More than 80
percent of Americans self-identified as "religious" in a 2011 Pew poll. Today, 312 U.S. faith groups
are members of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Organized in 2006, it is a
vehicle for people of faith seeking to denounce abusive practices by the United States. Under
President Obama, we have held no one accountable for torture. With the passage of the Defense
Act, indefinite detention without trial has become law ... including even American citizens
captured on U.S. soil, a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The
loss of habeas corpus rights under the Defense Act now puts every ordinary person at risk
of indefinite detention. As citizens, it is our right and responsibility to demand that our
government investigate the U.S. torture program and uphold our constitutional rights. As a nation
of people of faith, this is our sacred duty.
Note: The author, Louise Specht, is the convener of the Bay Area Religious Campaign Against
Torture, the Northern California affiliate of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
The US schools with their own police

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/09/texas-police-schools
More and more US schools have police patrolling the corridors. Pupils are being arrested for
throwing paper planes and failing to pick up crumbs from the canteen floor. Why is the state
criminalising normal childhood behaviour? Like hundreds of schools in the state, and across large
parts of the rest of the US, Fulmore Middle [school] has its own police force with officers in uniform
who carry guns to keep order in the canteens, playgrounds and lessons. Each day, hundreds of
schoolchildren appear before courts in Texas charged with offences such as swearing,
misbehaving on the school bus or getting in to a punch-up in the playground. Children have been
arrested for possessing cigarettes, wearing "inappropriate" clothes and being late for
school. In 2010, the police gave close to 300,000 "Class C misdemeanour" tickets to
children as young as six in Texas for offences in and out of school, which result in fines,
community service and even prison time. What was once handled with a telling-off by the
teacher or a call to parents can now result in arrest and a record that may cost a young person a
place in college or a job years later. "We've taken childhood behaviour and made it criminal," said
Kady Simpkins, a lawyer. "They're kids." The very young are not spared. Texas records show more
than 1,000 tickets were issued to primary schoolchildren over the past six years .
Note: For a long list of bizarre arrests of children, for behavior not at all unusual, that have been
reported in the mainstream media, click here.
Cambodia: Life sentence for former anti-drug head

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/05/MNHM1MLB7G.DTL
The former head of Cambodia's antidrug office was sentenced to life in prison ... for masterminding
a drug ring from his office, a court official said. Lt. Gen. Mok Dara, secretary-general of the
National Authority for Combating Drugs until his arrest last January, faced more than 30 counts of
bribery and drug trafficking and was given a life sentence. An associate, anti-drug officer Chea
Leang, also received a life sentence, while a third defendant, Morn Doeun, who was at large, was
sentenced to 25 years by the court in the northwestern province, which borders Thailand. The
case, which lasted several weeks, was one of the largest to go through Cambodia's court
system and involved the testimonies of scores of witnesses. Cambodia has been working
in recent years to reduce corruption. Mok Dara's is the latest in a string of cases brought by
the government's new Anti-Corruption Unit. Mok Dara maintained he was innocent, people
attending the proceedings said. Nop Virak, a trial monitor at the Cambodian Center for Human
Rights who observed the case, said Mok Dara's sentencing will serve as a warning to corrupt
officials.
Note: How long before the rogue elements in Western governments running drug operations are
arrested? It's only a matter of time.
Regulators approve nuclear reactor design for Southeast utilities

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/22/2558385/regulators-approve-nuclear-reac...
Federal regulators on [December 22] signed off on a next-generation nuclear reactor slated for
Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point plant and five other utilities in the Southeast, paving the way
for construction of the first new reactors in the U.S. in three decades. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's approval of the Westinghouse AP 1000 design was a major milestone for the
nuclear power industry, which hasn't built a new reactor since the Three Mile Island
accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Opponents of the AP 1000 ... bristled at the decision. [Some
elected officials and] environmental groups ... contend the NRC "fast-tracked" the AP 1000 without
thoroughly addressing potential safety concerns or incorporating lessons learned from the March
meltdown of the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, disabled by an earthquake and tsunami. Arnie
Gunderson, an outside expert ... warned the design might be vulnerable to rust that could cause
dangerous holes and cracks in the steel reactor containment vessel - a particular problem in the
marine environment of Turkey Point. Another study, commissioned by NC Warn, a North Carolina
anti-nuclear group, and Friends of the Earth, argued the safety margin for an accidental high
pressure build-up inside the reactor was dangerously slim.
here.
Can Congress Steal Your Constitutional Freedoms?

2011-12-01, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/01/can-congress-steal-your-constitutio...
Can the president use the military to arrest anyone he wants, keep that person away from a judge
and jury, and lock him up for as long as he wants? In the Senates dark and terrifying vision of the
Constitution, he can. Last week ... the Senate Armed Services Committee decided to meet in
secret. Behind closed doors, it drafted an amendment to a bill appropriating money for the
Pentagon. The amendment would permit the president to use the military for law enforcement
purposes in the United States. Essentially, this legislation would enable the president to divert from
the criminal justice system, and thus to divert from the protections of the Constitution, any person
he pleases. And that person, under this terrifying bill, would have no recourse to a judge to require
the president either to file charges against him or to set him free. The Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution says, No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process
of law. Note, the Founders used the word person. Thus, the requirement of due process must
be accorded to all human beings held by the government -- not just Americans, not just
nice people, but all persons. If this legislation becomes law, it will be dangerous for anyone
to be right when the government is wrong. It will be dangerous for all of us. Just consider what
any president could get away with. Who would he make disappear first? Might it be his political
opponents? Might it be you?
Note: The author of this op-ed, Andrew P. Napolitano, is a former judge of the Superior Court of
New Jersey. His most recent book is It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong:
The Case for Personal Freedom.
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion Undisclosed to Congress

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-28/secret-fed-loans-undisclosed-to-cong...
The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the
largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The
Fed didnt tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion
on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didnt mention that they took tens of
billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their
firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13
billion of income by taking advantage of the Feds below-market rates. Saved by the bailout,
bankers lobbied against government regulations, a job made easier by the Fed, which never
disclosed the details of the rescue to lawmakers even as Congress doled out more money and
debated new rules aimed at preventing the next collapse. Details suggest taxpayers paid a price
beyond dollars as the secret funding helped preserve a broken status quo and enabled the biggest
banks to grow even bigger. When you see the dollars the banks got, its hard to make the case
these were successful institutions, says Sherrod Brown, a Democratic Senator from Ohio who in
2010 introduced an unsuccessful bill to limit bank size. This is an issue that can unite the Tea
Party and Occupy Wall Street.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on corruption and collusion between
government officials and the largest financial firms, click here.
Retired Police Captain Arrested At OWS

2011-11-17, Fox News (Philadelphia Fox affiliate)
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/Retired_Police_Captain_Ray_Lew...
A retired Philadelphia police captain has been arrested in New York at an Occupy Wall
Street demonstration. Ray Lewis retired from the Philadelphia Police Department in 2004. It
was Philadelphia police who confirmed Lewis' arrest in New York on Thursday morning. Any
additional details, they said, would have to come from NYPD. First news of the arrest was
broadcast over Twitter around 9:15 a.m. by the protest group ... stating, "Philly Police Captain
(Retired) has just been ARRESTED!" The group then tweeted, "The arrested retired police
captain's name is Captain Ray Lewis. Immense cheers and music as he is taken away." Video
posted to YouTube by RT America and linked to by Occupy Wall Street appears to show Lewis'
arrest. There were messages online stating that Lewis had joined the protesters, including a
photo of him holding a sign that read "NYPD Don't Be Wall Street Mercenaries," and talking
with a helmeted New York police officer at Zuccotti Park.
Note: For a four-minute video interview with Officer Lewis, click here. For a treasure trove of
reports from reliable sources on the reasons why protestors worldwide are occupying their city
centers to protest against the "1 percent", click here.
JPMorgan Joins Goldman Keeping Italy Derivatives Risk in Dark

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LURLN51A1I4K01-4BQL...
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., among the world's biggest traders of
credit derivatives, disclosed to shareholders that they have sold protection on more than $5 trillion
of debt globally. Just don't ask them how much of that was issued by Greece, Italy, Ireland,
Portugal and Spain, known as the GIIPS. As concerns mount that those countries may not be
creditworthy, investors are being kept in the dark about how much risk U.S. banks face
from a default. Firms including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan don't provide a full picture of
potential losses and gains in such a scenario, giving only net numbers or excluding some
derivatives altogether. Goldman Sachs discloses only what it calls funded exposure to GIIPS
debt -- $4.16 billion before hedges and $2.46 billion after, as of Sept. 30. Those amounts exclude
commitments or contingent payments, such as credit-default swaps. JPMorgan said ... its net
exposure was no more than $1.5 billion, with a portion coming from debt and equity securities. The
company didn't disclose gross numbers or how much of the $1.5 billion came from swaps, leaving
investors wondering whether the notional value of CDS sold could be as high as $150 billion.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on the reasons why protestors
worldwide are occupying their city centers to protest against the "1 percent", click here.
Armed forces minister sorry for misleading MPs over depleted uranium
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/nov/14/minister-sorry-dangers-deplete...
The armed forces minister has been forced to apologise over misleading statements he made
regarding the legality and dangers of depleted uranium weapons. Nick Harvey admitted that he
had inadvertently misled MPs about a Ministry of Defence review that he said had
concluded the weapons were permissible on humanitarian and environmental grounds
under the Geneva conventions. It subsequently emerged that the review had never
happened. The revelations come as a cross-party campaign is launched to pile pressure on the
MoD to phase out the use of depleted uranium (DU). The tank shells that depend on it have to be
renewed in 2013. The British army fired shells containing 2.3 tonnes of DU during the Gulf wars in
1990-91 and 2003. DU is used to harden 'Charm3' armour-piercing shells carried by British
Challenger tanks. In 1998 the UK government ratified additional protocol 1 of the Geneva
conventions. Article 36 of that requires that all weapons are subject to a legal review to assess
whether they are "capable of being used discriminately", or cause "widespread and severe
damage to the natural environment".
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
The bankers' blockade of WikiLeaks must end

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/24/bankers-wikileaks-free-sp...
In December 2010 three of the world's biggest payment providers, Visa, Mastercard and Paypal,
cut off funding to WikiLeaks. Ten months later, Julian Assange has announced the whistleblowing
site will suspend operations until the blockade is lifted and warned WikiLeaks does not have the
money to continue into 2012 at current levels of funding. The banking blockade against
WikiLeaks is one of the most sinister developments in recent years, and perhaps the most
extreme example in a western democracy of extrajudicial actions aimed at stifling free
speech. Payment companies representing more than 97% of the global market have shut off
the funding taps between WikiLeaks and those who would donate to it. Unlike many of the
country's leading corporations, WikiLeaks has neither been charged with, nor convicted of, any
crime at either state, federal, or international level. Visa and Mastercard are already inescapable.
As the world becomes ever-more digital ... they will become still more pervasive. If they are
allowed to cut off payment to lawful organisations with whom they disagree, the US's first
amendment, the European convention on human rights' article 10, and all other legal free speech
protections become irrelevant. Those who value free expression, whether they like WikiLeaks or
loathe it, should hope it wins its current battle.
Note: For more on this from BBC, click here.
Tepco: radiation from Fukushima plant declines further

2011-10-17, Scientific American/Reuters
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tepco-radiation-from-fukushi...
The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant [Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)]
said the amount of radiation being emitted from the complex has halved from a month ago, in the
latest sign that efforts to bring the plant under control are progressing. In light of the progress
being made in cooling its damaged reactors, which suffered nuclear fuel meltdowns in the first
days of the crisis, Tepco formally brought forward its plan to bring the plant to a state of "cold
shutdown" within this year. Technically, a cold shutdown is a state in which water used to cool
nuclear fuel rods remains below 100 degrees Celsius, preventing the fuel from reheating.
Declaring a cold shutdown will have repercussions well beyond the plant as it is one of the criteria
the government said must be met before it begins allowing about 80,000 residents evacuated from
within a 20 km (12 mile) radius of the plant to go home. Japan faces a massive cleanup task if
these residents are to be returned home -- the environmental ministry says about 2,400 square
km (930 square miles) of land surrounding Daiichi may need decontamination. Even if a
cold shutdown is declared Tepco has acknowledged that it may not be able to remove the
fuel from the reactors for another 10 years and that the cleanup at the plant could take
several decades.
Note: For more on the Fukushima situation from the standpoint of the tens of thousands of
evacuees, click here.
Holder's 'Fast and Furious' comments in question

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/04/MNP21LDCQT.DTL
Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, ... demanded an independent
investigation of whether Attorney General Eric Holder misled Congress on what he knew about the
botched gun-tracking operation known as "Fast and Furious" - and when he found out about it. The
Associated Press reported that the George W. Bush administration conducted a program similar to
Fast and Furious, in which Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were
instructed to let Mexican drug cartel straw purchasers buy guns in the Phoenix area to follow the
trail to higher-ups. Known as Operation Wide Receiver, the Bush-era operation also let guns be
transferred to suspected arms traffickers. Justice Department prosecutors have brought charges
against nine people involved in the operation, according to AP; two have pleaded guilty. Fast and
Furious was meant to take down Mexican cartels importing U.S.-bought weapons and shipping
drugs to the United States. Phoenix-based ATF agents allowed the gun purchases so they
could take down cartel bosses rather than only arresting lower-level purchasers. But the
agents lost track of more than 1,000 firearms during the operation last year. Several were
later found at the scenes of Mexican drug crimes, according to a report by the House oversight
committee.
Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/25/occupy-wall-st...
Why are people occupying Wall Street? Why has the occupation despite the latest police
crackdown sent out sparks across America, within days, inspiring hundreds of people to send
pizzas, money, equipment and, now, to start their own movements called OccupyChicago,
OccupyFlorida, in OccupyDenver or OccupyLA? We are watching the beginnings of the defiant
self-assertion of a new generation of Americans, a generation who are looking forward to finishing
their education with no jobs, no future, but still saddled with enormous and unforgivable debt. Is it
really surprising they would like to have a word with the financial magnates who stole their future?
Just as in Europe, we are seeing the results of colossal social failure. The occupiers are the
very sort of people, brimming with ideas, whose energies a healthy society would be
marshaling to improve life for everyone. Instead, they are using it to envision ways to bring
the whole system down. But the ultimate failure here is of imagination. If the occupiers finally
manage to break the 30-year stranglehold that has been placed on the human imagination ...
everything will once again be on the table and the occupiers of Wall Street and other cities
around the US will have done us the greatest favour anyone possibly can.
Note: A post on the JP Morgan Chase website confirms an unprecedented $4.6 million gift to the
New York City Police Foundation. The money was donated ostensibly as a "gift ... to strengthen
security in the Big Apple." Now why would this huge bank be donating millions for security in New
York City? For key insights from major media sources into the reasons why so many are protesting
How the world changed after 9/11

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/sep/12/9-11-symposium-charlie-skelton
I found myself at a conference on Walker Street called 'How The World Changed After 9/11'. It was
packed, but I managed to slide in at the back, to hear a guy called Webster Tarpley chant his own
list of names. The names of the 46 military exercises and hijack drills ... that were actually taking
place on the morning of September 11. "The greatest density of drills in US military history,"
Tarpley said. The drills, said Tarpley, were important, because not only did they weaken and
confuse US air defence, but there was also a military drill for each major component of the 9/11
attacks. The drills were cover, and the dummy threats were made real. September 11, he
argues, was a coup carried out by a rogue network within the US military and government.
A cabal of fascists, working with (and for) a banking oligarchy, "the old boys of Wall Street".
"You want to blame Saudi Arabia, or Israel, or Pakistan? You can't. There isn't the evidence." The
evidence, Tarpley says, points towards 9/11 as a false flag attack, carried out by a high level
clique, that forced a shocked and awestruck US public into a vast and still ongoing war. It was
America's very own Reichstag fire. What I heard, from speaker after speaker, was a heartfelt
desire to turn away from the path of destruction, militarism and lies that America has been set
upon after 9/11.
Note: For questions raised about the official story of 9/11 by hundreds of highly-respected citizens
from all walks of life, click here and here. For a four-minute invited commentary at PressTV (Iran)
by Tod Fletcher of WantToKnow on the falsity of the official account of 9/11, click here.
The Whistleblowers How-To Guide

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/11/frederic-whitehurst-more-whi...
Frederic Whitehurst had no idea what being a whistleblower entailed. He simply became outraged
when he witnessed a colleague in the FBI laboratory giving misleading testimony in a criminal case
two decades ago. So the supervisory agent decided to speak up, telling the defense experts about
the inaccuracies. It cost him nearly a decade of his career, almost all his life savings, several
emotionally draining internal investigations, the humiliation of a psychiatric exam, and an epic legal
fight with the bureau. But the proudly stubborn Vietnam veteran persevered and ultimately
prevailed in forcing sweeping ethical and scientific reforms at the vaunted FBI crime lab that began
in the 1990s and still reverberate today. And while hed do it all again, Whitehurst doesnt want
future whistleblowers to make the same mistakes he did. Thats why he and 19 other of
Americas most famous corporate and government muckrakers of the last quarter century
have banded together this month to donate thousands of copies of a book by their lawyer,
Stephen Kohn, to libraries across America. Their goal is to give the next generation of
American whistleblowers a roadmap, a virtual how-to guide to ensure they can call out wrongdoing
successfully, be protected from the customary retributions, and maybe even cash in on False
Claim Act awards that can reach into the millions of dollars. [They] are using their own money to
buy copies of Kohns book, The Whistleblowers Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing Whats
Right and Protecting Yourself, and donating them to libraries around the country.
click here.
A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Americans live in an era of endless war
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-decade-after-the-911-...
This is the American era of endless war. Americas embrace of endless war [has unfolded] in the
10 years since Sept. 11, 2001. In previous decades, the military and the American public viewed
war as an aberration and peace as the norm. Most soldiers and Marines in todays military have
seen their entire careers consumed by combat. During last years 9/11 anniversary, Lt. Col.
Christopher M. Coglianese accompanied his second-grade daughter on her schools annual
Freedom Walk outside Fort Hood, Tex. Basically the whole student body walks around the
grounds of the school wearing patriotic garb and carrying signs about freedom, Coglianese
recalled in an e-mail from Iraq, where he is on his third tour. To be honest there was a certain
surrealism about it, Coglianese wrote. For this very small slice of American children this way of
life is completely normal. The long stretch of war has also isolated the U.S. military from
society. Top military officials fret that the troops are developing a troubling sense that they
are better than the society they serve. Todays Army, including its leadership, lives in a
bubble separate from society, wrote retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, who commanded U.S. forces
in Afghanistan, in an essay for the Web site of Foreign Policy magazine. This splendid military
isolation set in the midst of a largely adoring nation risks fostering a closed culture of
superiority and aloofness. This must change if the Army is to remain in, of, and with the everdiverse peoples of the United States.
Note: For lots more on all facets of America's endless war, click here.
A matter of risk: Radiation, drinking water and deception

2011-09-03, KHOU-TV (Houston, TX)
http://www.khou.com/community/A-Matter-of-Risk--Radiation-Drinking-Water-and-...
For the past year the KHOU 11 News I-Team has been investigating the quality of the tap water in
Texas. What they found was surprising: That many of the state's communities have a real problem
with radioactive contamination in their local drinking water. However, the team also discovered that
many of those consuming it didn't know they were also being exposed to a health risk. State
scientists found some of Texas water could pose a 1 in 400 cancer risk. Neighborhoods
across the state have been getting illegal amounts of a particularly damaging form of
radiation, an exposure that some say was covered-up by Texas officials. Water with underthe-legal-limit amounts of radiation still might not be safe. Concentrated "bursts" of radiation
could be released into your home ... from water pipes that become "a hidden risk" themselves.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
The race is on for Libya's oil, with Britain and France both staking a
claim
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/01/libya-oil
The starting pistol has been fired on bids by Britain and other western powers to secure a slice of
the oil prize in Libya when France said it was "fair and logical" for its companies to benefit. Alain
Jupp, the French foreign minister, [told] the Guardian ... that BP was already holding private talks
with members of Libya's interim government. Rebel leaders had already made clear that
countries active in supporting their insurrection notably Britain and France should
expect to be treated favourably once the dust of war had settled. [But] the new Tripoli
government has denied the existence of a reported secret deal by which French companies would
control more than a third of Libya's oil production in return for Paris's support for the revolution.
The letter referring to the reported deal [was published] in the French daily newspaper Libration.
It purported to show an undertaking by the National Transitional Council (NTC) to reserve "35% of
total crude oil in exchange for the total and permanent support for our council".
Note: The descent of the corporate vultures on the corpse of Libya clearly exposes the profiteering
which motivates modern war. For key reports on corporate and government corruption from major
media sources, click here and here.
UK's secret policy on torture revealed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/04/uk-allowed-interrogate-torture...
A top-secret document revealing how MI6 and MI5 officers were allowed to extract information
from prisoners being illegally tortured overseas has been seen by the Guardian. The interrogation
policy ... instructed senior intelligence officers to weigh the importance of the information being
sought against the amount of pain they expected a prisoner to suffer. It was operated by the British
government for almost a decade. The fact that the interrogation policy document and other
similar papers may not be made public during the inquiry into British complicity in torture
and rendition has led to human rights groups and lawyers refusing to give evidence or
attend any meetings with the inquiry team because it does not have "credibility or
transparency". The decision by 10 groups including Liberty, Reprieve and Amnesty International
follows the publication of the inquiry's protocols, which show the final decision on whether
material uncovered by the inquiry, led by Sir Peter Gibson, can be made public will rest with the
cabinet secretary. Some have criticised the appointment of Gibson, a retired judge, to head the
inquiry because he previously served as the intelligence services commissioner, overseeing
government ministers' use of a controversial power that permits them to "disapply" UK criminal and
civil law in order to offer a degree of protection to British intelligence officers committing crimes
overseas.
Note: Isn't it quite unusual for human rights organizations to refuse to participate in an inquiry into
government abuses of human rights? Evidently the conflicts of interest of the inquiry head Gibson
are so extreme that participation is simply impossible.
Obama sets fuel-efficiency goal: 54.5 mpg by 2025

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/29/BAS81KGSRJ.DTL
Fuel efficiency of automobiles in the United States will increase dramatically under an agreement
reached by the federal government, auto manufacturers and the state of California that was
announced by President Obama on [July 29]. The agreement requires that cars and light-duty
trucks achieve an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, up from the
requirement of 35.5 miles per gallon that is mandated by 2016. The new requirement will ...
reduce oil consumption by 2.2 million barrels per day by 2025. Currently, the United States
imports 9.1 million barrels of oil per day. Thirteen auto manufacturers, which account for 90
percent of vehicles sold in the United States, agreed to the standard. They are Ford, GM, Chrysler,
BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo.
The fuel economy standard is an average for a fleet of cars, which means that the actual miles per
gallon for some vehicles will be lower because fleets also include electric cars and other vehicles
that will far exceed the standard. The average vehicle at a dealership is likely to be closer to 40
miles per gallon, though that is double the average today.
Note: Some people believe the market drives innovation in gas mileage. As this article clearly
shows, this is not the case. For a revealing article showing how car manufacturers have avoided
better gas mileage, click here.
Phone hacking: US authorities preparing to subpoena News Corp

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/22/phone-hacking-authorities-subpoen...
The judicial screws are tightening on Rupert Murdoch's empire in America as the US justice
department prepares to subpoena News Corporation in its investigation into whether the company
broke anti-bribery and hacking laws on both sides of the Atlantic. The news that subpoenas are
being drawn up, reported by News Corp's flagship newspaper the Wall Street Journal, comes a
week after attorney general Eric Holder said he was launching a preliminary investigation into the
media group as a result of the UK phone-hacking scandal. In addition, it has emerged that federal
prosecutors have begun probing allegations that News Corp's advertising arm in the US hacked
into a computer of a competitor as part of a campaign to crush its rival. News Corp also faces a
possibly lengthy and costly federal probe into whether it broke anti-bribery laws as part of
the illegal News of the World phone hacking in the UK. The company is potentially liable
under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which bans US-based companies from
profiting from bribery and corruption in other countries. News Corp is a US-based firm, its
headquarters on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. FCPA experts have suggested that it could be
brought under the auspices of the act because News of the World journalists bribed police officers
in the UK in search of exclusive stories that in turn increased sales and generated profits.
and here.
Another Top Police Official Resigns in British Scandal

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/world/europe/19hacking.html
The phone hacking scandal in Britain claimed another high-profile casualty on [July 18] when John
Yates, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London, resigned his post. His
departure comes a day after the countrys top police officer quit and Rebekah Brooks, the former
chief executive of Rupert Murdochs News International, was arrested on suspicion of illegally
intercepting phone calls and bribing the police. Such is the severity of the crisis swirling around the
Murdoch empire and Britains public life that Prime Minister David Cameron cut short an African
trip on Monday and, bowing to opposition pressure, called a special parliamentary session on
Wednesday to debate the widening scandal. Mr. Murdoch, his son James and Ms. Brooks are set
to testify before a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal on Tuesday. The home secretary,
Theresa May, said on Monday that the countrys Inspectorate of Constabulary, a police
oversight body that reports to her, would investigate possible corruption in the links
between the police and journalists. Mr. Yates has been criticized for his decision not to reopen
the investigation even though the police under his command possessed some 11,000 pages of
largely unexamined evidence. Im not going to go down and look at bin bags, Mr. Yates said.
Note: For lots more on media and government corruption click here and here.
Among The Costs Of War: Billions A Year In Air Conditioning?

2011-06-25, NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137414737/among-the-costs-of-war-20b-in-air-con...
The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan:
$20.2 billion, according to a former Pentagon official. That's more than NASA's budget.
"When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world
escorting, command and control, medevac support when you throw all that infrastructure in,
we're talking over $20 billion," Steven Anderson tells ... All Things Considered. He's a retired
brigadier general who served as chief logistician for Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq. The Pentagon
rejects Anderson's estimate. Still his claims raise questions about how much the US footprint in
Afghanistan really costs especially something like air conditioning. To power an air conditioner at
a remote outpost in landlocked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi,
Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little
more than "improved goat trails," Anderson says. "And you've got risks that are associated with
moving the fuel almost every mile of the way." Anderson calculates that more than 1,000
troops have died in fuel convoys, which remain prime targets for attack. Freestanding tents
equipped with air conditioners in 125-degree heat require a lot of fuel.
Pundit Under Protest

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/opinion/14brooks.html
The two parties contesting this election are unusually pathetic. Their programs are unusually
unimaginative. Their policies are unusually incommensurate to the problem at hand. The election
is happening during a downturn in the economic cycle, but the core issue is the accumulation of
deeper structural problems that this recession has exposed unsustainable levels of debt, an
inability to generate middle-class incomes, a dysfunctional political system, [and] the steady
growth of special-interest sinecures. Workers share of national income has been declining
since 1983. Male wages have been stagnant for about 40 years. The American working
class those without a college degree is being decimated, economically and socially.
Voters are certainly aware of the scope of the challenges before them. Their pessimism and
anxiety does not just reflect the ebb and flow of the business cycle, but is deeper and more
pervasive. Trust in institutions is at historic lows. Large majorities think the country is on the wrong
track, and have for years. Large pluralities believe their children will have fewer opportunities than
they do. Voters are in the market for new movements and new combinations, yet the two parties
have grown more rigid.
Missing Iraqi billions 'probably stolen'

http://www.smh.com.au/world/missing-iraqi-billions-probably-stolen-20110613-1...
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program
that handled funding for reconstruction in postwar Iraq. But despite years of investigations, US
defence officials still cannot say what happened to $US6.6 billion ($6.3 billion) of the cash.
Federal auditors are now suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not
just mislaid in an accounting error. After the US-led invasion in March 2003, the Bush
administration flooded Iraq with so much cash that a new unit of measurement was born.
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $US2.4
billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $US100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash followed
by 20 other flights by May 2004 in a $US12 billion haul that US officials believe to be the biggest
ever international cash airlift. Stuart Bowen, special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, said
the missing $US6.6 billion might be ''the largest theft of funds in national history''. Iraqi officials are
threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets
and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program. Pentagon officials have
contended for the past six years that they could account for the money if given enough time to
track down the records. But repeated attempts to find the documentation, or better yet the cash,
were fruitless.
Israel government 'reckless and irresponsible' says ex-Mossad chief

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/03/israel-government-reckless-mossad...
The former head of Israel's spy service has launched an unprecedented attack on the country's
current government, describing it as "irresponsible and reckless", and has praised Arab attempts
to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Meir Dagan stepped down as the head of
Mossad six months ago but has gone on the offensive in a series of briefings with journalists and
public appearances because he feels that Israel's security is being mismanaged by Binyamin
Netanyahu, the prime minister, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister. Upon leaving his post,
Dagan publicly warned against Israel attacking Iran to stop it from acquiring nuclear
weapons. In his latest comments, he said that if Israel attacks Iran, it will find itself at the
centre of a regional war that would endanger the state's existence. Dagan's intervention is
dangerous for Netanyahu because it comes from the right wing of Israeli opinion rather than the
left, where the prime minister would expect criticism. [Dagan] also criticised Israel's failure to offer
any initiative to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. Dagan also endorsed Saudi Arabia's
peace plan which offered Israel normal relations with all Arab countries if it reaches a peace
agreement with the Palestinians.
Chiquita sued over Colombian paramilitary payments

2011-05-30, Miami Herald/Associated Press
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/30/2242250/chiquita-sued-over-colombian-pa...
Each name is next to a number, in black type on a thick legal document. They are the mothers and
fathers, spouses, sisters and brothers of thousands of Colombians who were killed or vanished
during a bloody civil conflict between leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups whose
victims have largely been civilians. The list has at least 4,000 names, each one targeting
Chiquita Brands International in U.S. lawsuits, claiming the produce giant's payments and
other assistance to the paramilitary groups amounted to supporting terrorists. Cincinnatibased Chiquita in 2007 pleaded guilty to similar criminal charges brought by the Justice
Department and paid a $25 million fine. But if the lawsuits succeed, plaintiffs' lawyers estimate the
damages against Chiquita could reach into the billions. The cases filed around the country are
being consolidated before a South Florida federal judge who must decide whether to dismiss them
or let them proceed. Chiquita has long maintained it was essentially blackmailed into paying the
paramilitary groups - perpetrators of the majority of civilian deaths in Colombia's dirty war.
Raw milk raids leave sour taste

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/EDB11JMIAV.DTL
The government is conducting armed raids on dairies that sell raw milk, [yet it allows us] to buy
food that is so toxic ... it has to carry "safe handling instructions." Factory farms that knowingly
produce chicken and eggs teeming with salmonella are not considered a threat to public health,
but an impeccably clean organic raw milk dairy is treated like a meth lab. I used to think the
"food freedom" activists were being paranoid about this stuff. Not anymore. The federal
government is broke, but we're hiring 18,000 food police, to the tune of hundreds of millions of
dollars. How does this happen? The former CEO of genetically modified organism
powerhouse Monsanto is now our secretary of agriculture and head of food safety. Talk
about the fox guarding the henhouse. Tell your representatives to defund the Food Safety
Modernization Act of 2010, and buy organic and local. While you still can.
Note: For more on this bizarre development, click here and here.
Companies can block customers' class-action lawsuits, Supreme Court

rules
http://www.latimes.com/business/sc-dc-0428-court-class-action-web-20110427,0,...
The Supreme Court gave corporations a major win [on April 27], ruling in a 5-4 decision that
companies can block their disgruntled customers from joining together in a class-action lawsuit.
The ruling arose from a California lawsuit involving cellphones, but it will have a nationwide impact.
In the past, consumers who bought a product or a service had been free to join a class-action
lawsuit if they were dissatisfied or felt they had been cheated. By combining these small claims,
they could bring a major lawsuit against a corporation. But in [the] decision, the high court said that
under the Federal Arbitration Act companies can force these disgruntled customers to arbitrate
their complaints individually, not as part of a group. Consumer-rights advocates said this rule
would spell the end for small claims involving products or services. Justice Antonin Scalia said
companies may require buyers to sign arbitration agreements, and those agreements may
preclude class-action claims. But the dissenters said a practical ban on class action would be
unfair to cheated consumers. Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the California courts had
insisted on permitting class-action claims, despite arbitration clauses that forbade them.
Otherwise, he said, it would allow a company to "insulate" itself "from liability for its own
frauds by deliberately cheating large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums
of money."
Secret intelligence files show disarray at Gitmo

2011-04-24, Seattle Times/McClatchy News
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014867539_gitmo25.html
U.S. officials set up a human-intelligence laboratory at Guantnamo that used interrogation and
detention practices they largely made up as they went along. The secret summaries, which were
obtained via WikiLeaks, help explain why in May 2009 President Obama, after ordering his own
review of wartime intelligence, called ... Guantnamo "quite simply a mess." The documents ...
show an intelligence operation that was tremendously dependent on informants both
prison-camp snitches repeating what they'd heard from fellow captives, and self-described,
at times self-aggrandizing, former al-Qaida insiders turned government witnesses who
Pentagon records show have since been released. Intelligence analysts are at odds with each
other over which informants to trust, at times drawing inferences from prisoner exercise habits.
They ordered DNA tests, tethered Taliban suspects to polygraphs and strung together tidbits in
ways that seemed to defy common sense. The documents also show that in the earliest years of
the prison camp's operation, the Pentagon permitted Chinese and Russian interrogators into the
camps information from those sessions are included in some captives' assessments
something American defense lawyers working free for the foreign prisoners have alleged and
protested for years.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on the prison at Guantanamo and other black sites
where torture and false allegations are the norm, click here.
Foreign Banks Tapped Feds Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-01/foreign-banks-tapped-fed-s-lifeline-...
Dexia SA (DEXB), based in Brussels and Paris, borrowed as much as $33.5 billion through its New
York branch from the Feds discount window lending program, according to Fed documents
released yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Dublin-based Depfa
Bank Plc, taken over in 2007 by a German real-estate lender later seized by the German
government, drew $24.5 billion. The biggest borrowers from the ... discount window as the
program reached its crisis-era peak were foreign banks, accounting for at least 70 percent
of the $110.7 billion borrowed during the week in October 2008 when use of the program
surged to a record. The disclosures may stoke a reexamination of the risks posed to U.S.
taxpayers by the central banks role in global financial markets. Separate data disclosed in
December on temporary emergency-lending programs set up by the Fed also showed big foreign
banks as borrowers. Six European banks were among the top 11 companies that sold the most
debt overall -- a combined $274.1 billion -- to the Commercial Paper Funding Facility. Those
programs also loaned hundreds of billions of dollars to the biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan
Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on the bailout of banks worldwide by
the US taxpayer, click here.
Rights Are Curtailed for Terror Suspects

New rules allow investigators to hold domestic-terror suspects longer than others without giving
them a Miranda warning, significantly expanding exceptions to the instructions that have governed
the handling of criminal suspects for more than four decades. The move is one of the Obama
administration's most significant revisions to rules governing the investigation of terror
suspects in the U.S. The new rules give interrogators more latitude and flexibility to define
what counts as an appropriate circumstance to waive Miranda rights. The Justice
Department believes it has the authority to tinker with Miranda procedures. Making the change
administratively rather than through legislation in Congress, however, presents legal risks. Before
becoming president, Mr. Obama had criticized the Bush administration for going outside traditional
criminal procedures to deal with terror suspects, and for bypassing Congress in making rules to
handle detainees after 9/11. He has since embraced many of the same policies while devising
additional onesto the disappointment of civil-liberties groups that championed his election.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on government threats to civil liberties, click here.
Documents Reveal TSA Research Proposal To Body-Scan Pedestrians,
Train Passengers
2011-03-02, Forbes blog
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/03/02/docs-reveal-tsa-plan-to-body...
Giving Transportation Security Administration agents a peek under your clothes may soon be a
practice that goes well beyond airport checkpoints. Newly uncovered documents show that as
early as 2006, the Department of Homeland Security has been planning pilot programs to deploy
mobile scanning units that can be set up at public events and in train stations, along with mobile xray vans capable of scanning pedestrians on city streets. The non-profit Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC) [has] published documents it obtained from the Department of
Homeland Security showing that from 2006 to 2008 the agency planned a study of of new antiterrorism technologies. The projects range from what the DHS describes as a walk through x-ray
screening system that could be deployed at entrances to special events ... to covert inspection of
moving subjects employing the same backscatter imaging technology currently used in American
airports. The 173-page collection of contracts and reports, acquired through a Freedom of
Information Act request, includes contracts with Siemens Corporations, Northeastern University,
and Rapiscan Systems. One project allocated to Northeastern University and Siemens would
mount backscatter x-ray scanners and video cameras on roving vans, along with other
cameras on buildings and utility poles, to monitor groups of pedestrians, assess what they
carried, and even track their eye movements. Its not clear to what degree the technologies
outlined in the DHS documents have been implemented.
Note: When WantToKnow.info manager Fred Burks worked as a language interpreter with the US
State Department, he accompanied foreign dignitaries on ride-alongs with police where they were
already using equipment like this over 10 years ago in clear violation of privacy laws. For other
major media articles revealing clear violations of civil liberties, click here.
Jose Padilla lawsuit against Pentagon thrown out in US

2011-02-17, BBC
A US judge has quashed a lawsuit by an American who said he was illegally detained and
repeatedly tortured for three years in a US navy jail. Jose Padilla was seeking to sue current US
Defence Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, for violating the
constitution. Judge Richard Gergel ruled that US laws did not offer clear guidelines on the
detention of enemy combatants. Any trial, he wrote, would be "an international spectacle with
Padilla, a convicted terrorist, summoning America's present and former leaders to a federal
courthouse to answer his charges". Ben Wizner, the litigation director at the American Civil
Liberties Union, called Thursday's ruling "troubling". "The court today held that Donald Rumsfeld is
above the law and Jose Padilla is beneath it," he said in a statement. "But if the law does not
protect Jose Padilla, it protects none of us, and the executive branch can simply label
citizens enemies of the state and strip them of all rights, including the absolute right not to
be tortured."
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government threats to civil liberties, click here.
Military Veterans File Suit Over Rape Claims

More than a dozen U.S. veterans who say they were raped or assaulted by comrades filed a classaction suit in federal court [on February 15] attempting to force the Pentagon to change how it
handles such cases. The current and former service members - 15 women and two men - describe
circumstances in which servicemen allegedly got away with rape and other sexual abuse while
their victims were ordered to continue to serve with them. The alleged attackers in the lawsuit
include an Army criminal investigator and an Army National Guard commander. The abuse alleged
ranges from obscene verbal abuse to gang rape. "The problem of rape in the military is not
only service members getting raped, but it's the entire way that the military as a whole is
dealing with it," said Panayiota Bertzikis, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit and claims she was
raped in 2006. "From survivors having to be involuntarily discharged from service, the constant
verbal abuse, once a survivor does come forward your entire unit is known to turn their back on
you. The entire culture needs to be changed."
U.S. anti-drug money wasted in Afghanistan

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-01-30/opinion/27091387_1_opium-poppy-cultivat...
The United States continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on "good governance"
initiatives [in Afghanistan]. This $760 million program, to strengthen government agencies, was
America's single largest nonmilitary expense in Afghanistan over the past year. All of it was money
thrown away. Last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development began promoting
what it calls "Afghanization of aid." Well, in Afghanistan, government leaders have only one
use for foreign aid. They stuff the cash into suitcases and fly it to secret bank accounts in
Dubai. Afghanistan remains the world's largest grower of opium poppies. It supplies 90 percent of
the world's heroin. Many thousands of its citizens are addicts. Earlier this month, the United
Nations put out its annual "Afghanistan Opium Survey" and found that, even after the United
States has spent more than $2 billion on drug enforcement there, "the total area under cultivation"
during 2010 "and the number of families growing opium poppy, remained the same as in 2009" but for one thing. The U.N. found "an alarming increase of 97 percent" in opium-poppy cultivation
among northeastern provinces that are not traditional poppy-growing areas.
Note: For shocking stories by two award-winning journalists suggesting direct involvement by
government agencies in the drug trade, click here. And for key reports from reliable sources on
government corruption, click here.
$170 million mock city rises at Marine base

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41258569/ns/us_news-life
A mock city roughly the size of downtown San Diego has risen in a remote Southern California
desert to train military forces to fight in urban environments. The $170 million urban training center
was unveiled [on January 25] at the Twentynine Palms military base, 170 miles northeast of San
Diego. The 1,560-building facility will allow troops to practice and refine skills that can be used
around the world, the Marine Corps said. The military has been opening a slew of mock
Afghan villages at bases across the country to prepare troops for battle before they are
deployed. The new training center is one of the largest and most elaborate. Seven separate
mock city districts spread across 274 acres of desert. The facility has almost 1,900 feet of
underground tunnels, a manmade riverbed and dozens of courtyards and compounds. More than
15,000 Marines and sailors can train simultaneously in the massive simulator to experience the
difficulties they will face during deployments. The new center expanded a similar training program
called Mojave Viper that launched in 2005 to prepare troops for the Iraq war. In November, the
Marine Corps unveiled a $30 million expansion of its mock Afghan village at Camp Pendleton that
nearly quadrupled its size. Similar immersion training facilities are slated to open this year at
Marine Corps bases in North Carolina, Hawaii and Okinawa.
Note: With the US national debt spiraling out of control and education and welfare being cut, why
is the military spending $170 million on this?
Domestic use of aerial drones by law enforcement likely to prompt

privacy debate
The suspect's house, just west of this city, sat on a hilltop at the end of a steep, exposed driveway.
Agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety believed the man inside had a large stash of
drugs and a cache of weapons. The Texas agents did what no state or local law enforcement
agency had done before in a high-risk operation: They launched a drone. A bird-size device called
a Wasp floated hundreds of feet into the sky and instantly beamed live video to agents on the
ground. The SWAT team stormed the house and arrested the suspect. "The nice thing is it's
covert," said Bill C. Nabors Jr., chief pilot with the Texas DPS, "You don't hear it, and unless you
know what you're looking for, you can't see it." The drone technology that has revolutionized
warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is entering the national airspace. The operation
outside Austin presaged what could prove to be one of the most far-reaching and
potentially controversial uses of drones: as a new and relatively cheap surveillance tool in
domestic law enforcement. By 2013, the FAA expects to have formulated new rules that would
allow police across the country to routinely fly lightweight, unarmed drones up to 400 feet above
the ground - high enough for them to be largely invisible eyes in the sky. Such technology could
allow police to record the activities of the public below with high-resolution, infrared and thermalimaging cameras.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government and corporate threats to privacy, click
here.
Eavesdropping Laws Mean That Turning On an Audio Recorder Could

Send You to Prison
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23cnceavesdropping.html
Christopher Drew is a 60-year-old artist and teacher who wears a gray ponytail and lives on the
North Side [of Chicago]. Tiawanda Moore, 20, a former stripper, lives on the South Side and
dreams of going back to school and starting a new life. About the only thing these strangers have
in common is the prospect that by spring, they could each be sent to prison for up to 15 years. The
crime they are accused of is eavesdropping. The authorities say that Mr. Drew and Ms.
Moore audio-recorded their separate nonviolent encounters with Chicago police officers
without the officers permission, a Class 1 felony in Illinois, which, along with Massachusetts
and Oregon, has one of the countrys toughest, if rarely prosecuted, eavesdropping laws. Before
they arrested me for it, Ms. Moore said, I didnt even know there was a law about eavesdropping.
I wasnt trying to sue anybody. I just wanted somebody to know what had happened to me. Ms.
Moore ... is accused of using her Blackberry to record two Internal Affairs investigators who spoke
to her inside Police Headquarters while she filed a sexual harassment complaint last August
against another police officer. Mr. Drew was charged with using a digital recorder to capture his
Dec. 2, 2009, arrest for selling art without a permit on North State Street in the Loop. Both cases
illustrate the increasingly busy and confusing intersection of technology and the law, public space
and private.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on governmental threats to civil liberties, click here.
AT&T Case Asks High Court to Assign Privacy Rights to Companies

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-19/at-t-case-asks-high-court-to-assi...
A business privacy case that comes before the U.S. Supreme Court today may rekindle a debate
among the justices over whether corporations are like people, even to the point of suffering
embarrassment. The case ... pits the Obama administration against AT&T Inc. over the release of
documents stemming from a government investigation of the company. The question is whether
corporations can invoke a Freedom of Information Act provision that protects against invasions of
personal privacy. In siding with AT&T, a lower court said companies can be embarrassed and
stigmatized just like human beings -- a contention the Obama administration scoffed at. The
courts divisions were on display when it considered whether to overturn decades-old restrictions
on corporate campaign spending. During arguments in 2009, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said
that judges created corporations as persons and that they might have been wrong to
have imbued a creature of state law with human characteristics. Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg said that a corporation, after all, is not endowed by its creator with inalienable rights.
The court majority disagreed, ruling in a 5-4 decision that corporations have the same
constitutional right to spend money on campaign ads as individuals do.
An Assassinations Long Shadow

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/opinion/17hochschild.html
Today, millions of people on another continent are observing the 50th anniversary of an event few
Americans remember, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. The 35-year-old Lumumba was the
first democratically chosen leader of the ... Democratic Republic of Congo. Thousands of Belgian
officials who lingered on did their best to sabotage things: their code word for Lumumba in military
radio transmissions was Satan. Shortly after he took office as prime minister, the C.I.A., with
White House approval, ordered his assassination and dispatched an undercover agent with
poison. The would-be poisoners could not get close enough to Lumumba to do the job, so instead
the United States and Belgium covertly funneled cash and aid to rival politicians who seized power
and arrested the prime minister. On Jan. 17, 1961, after being beaten and tortured, he was shot.
Stephen R. Weissman, a former staff director of the House Subcommittee on Africa,
recently pointed out that Lumumbas violent end foreshadowed todays American practice
of extraordinary rendition. The Congolese politicians who planned Lumumbas murder
checked all their major moves with their Belgian and American backers, and the local C.I.A.
station chief made no objection when they told him they were going to turn Lumumba over
render him, in todays parlance to the breakaway government of Katanga, which, everyone
knew, could be counted on to kill him.
Note: The author of this article, Adam Hochschild, is the author of King Leopolds Ghost: A Story
of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa and the forthcoming To End All Wars: A Story of
Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918.
CalPERS lawsuit shows need for strict ethics rules

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/14/BAB81GQJ8B.DTL
An independent examiner has just recommended stricter ethics rules for managers of the $218.8
billion California Public Employees' Retirement System. According to a suit filed by state Attorney
General Jerry Brown, back in 2007, CalPERS board member-turned-investment broker Alfred
Villalobos took one of the pension fund's senior investment officers on a private jet ride to New
York to attend a Museum of Modern Art fundraiser honoring a client Villalobos was representing.
The client, Leon Black, heads the private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, which was
seeking a $700 million investment from CalPERS. According to the suit, Villalobos and the
investment officer, Leon Shahinian, shared a $1,000-a-night-plus suite at the five-star
Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The suit claims Villalobos' firm billed the trip to Apollo. Sometime
after, the suit claims, Shahinian touted the $700 million investment to the CalPERS board
with nary a mention of the New York trip - and the deal was approved. Shahinian was not
named as a defendant in Brown's suit, which is seeking $95 million in penalties against Villalobos
and CalPERS' former chief executive, Fred Buenrostro - both of whom have denied any
wrongdoing. As for Shahinian, who also maintains he did nothing wrong, he was placed on paid
administrative leave over the incident and four months later resigned from CalPERS, where he
was earning about $350,000 a year.
Note: For lots more on government and corporate corruption from major media sources, click here
and here.
WikiLeaks founder calls for Flanagan charge

2010-12-03, CBC (Canada's public broadcasting station)
http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=26612022
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says Tom Flanagan a former senior adviser to the
[Canadian] prime minister should be charged with incitement to commit murder for calling for
Assange's assassination. "It is correct that Mr. Flanagan and the others seriously making these
statements should be charged with incitement to commit murder," Assange replied. During a panel
interview on the [CBC's "Power & Politics with Evan Solomon" show] Flanagan said U.S. President
Barack Obama "should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something." Assange ...
disputed the contention of Flanagan and numerous governments that his organization's publishing
of secret U.S. diplomatic cables has put people's lives in danger. "WikiLeaks has a four-year
publishing history," Assange said. "During that time there has been no credible allegation,
even by organizations like the Pentagon, that even a single person has come to harm as a
result of our activities. This is despite much-attempted manipulation and spin trying to lead
people to a counter-factual conclusion. We do not expect any change in this regard."
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government and corporate secrecy, click here.
WikiLeaks Julian Assange Wants To Spill Corporate Secrets

2010-11-29, Forbes.com blog
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/wikileaks-julian-assange-wan...
Early next year, Julian Assange says, a major American bank will suddenly find itself turned inside
out. Tens of thousands of its internal documents will be exposed on Wikileaks.org. The data dump
will lay bare the finance firms secrets on the Web for every customer, every competitor, every
regulator to examine and pass judgment on. When? Which bank? What documents? Cagey as
always, Assange wont say. He compares what he is ready to unleash to the damning e-mails that
poured out of the Enron trial: a comprehensive vivisection of corporate bad behavior. You could
call it the ecosystem of corruption, he says, refusing to characterize the coming release in more
detail. Does Assange have unpublished, damaging documents on pharmaceutical
companies? Yes, he says. Finance? Yes, many more than the single bank scandal weve
been discussing. Energy? Plenty, on everything from BP to an Albanian oil firm that he says
attempted to sabotage its competitors wells. Like informational IEDs, these damaging
revelations can be detonated at will. Long gone are the days when Daniel Ellsberg had to
photocopy thousands of Vietnam War documents to leak the Pentagon Papers. Modern
whistleblowers ... can zip up their troves of incriminating documents on a laptop, USB stick or
portable hard drive, spirit them out through personal e-mail accounts or online drop sitesor
simply submit them directly to WikiLeaks.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government and corporate secrecy, click here.
Secret Justice Department Report Details How the U.S. Helped Former
Nazis
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-not...
[Introduction] An internal history of the United States governments Nazi-hunting operation
provides gripping new evidence about some of the most notorious Nazi cases of the last three
decades. The Justice Department kept the 600-page report secret for the last four years,
releasing a heavily redacted version last month to a private research group that sued to
force its release. A complete version was obtained by The New York Times. [From the
document] In the 1970s, the public was shocked to leam that some Nazi persecutors had
emigrated to the United States. There were calls for their expulsion and legislation was passed to
facilitate their deportation. OSI was created in 1979 to handle the caseload. The Office of Special
Investigations (OSI) is often referred to as the government's "Nazi-hunting" organization. While the
cases and projects are individually fascinating, this report was not written simply to recount a
series of unrelated but interesting undertakings. It is designed to serve as a teaching and research
tool for historians, the media, academics, policy makers and the general public. While one would
hope that the Holocaust was such an aberration that its like would never recur, the world has since
learned of new and horrific genocidal undertakings. Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Iraq, Rwanda,
Serbia and Sudan are among the all too-many countries involved. These societies will inevitably
have to confront some of the same issues which faced OSI.
Note: This suppressed report contains clear evidence that top Nazi war criminals were given
aliases and allowed to escape prosection by elements both outside and inside of government. For
even more powerful evidence from released US government documents that top government
leaders felt the need for mind control techniques developed by the Nazi's warranted secretly
protecting and eventually working with some of the most heartless of the Nazis, click here.
Al Qaeda Leader Dined at the Pentagon Just Months After 9/11

2010-10-20, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/20/al-qaeda-terror-leader-dined-pentagon-mo...
Anwar Al-Awlaki may be the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, but he was also a lunch
guest of military brass at the Pentagon within months of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Documents exclusively obtained by Fox News ... state that Awlaki was taken to the Pentagon ... in
the immediate aftermath of the attacks. A current Defense Department employee ... came forward
and told investigators she helped arrange the meeting after she saw Awlaki speak in Alexandria,
Va. The employee "attended this talk and ... she recalls being impressed by this imam. He
condemned Al Qaeda and the terrorist attacks," reads one document. "After her vetting,
Aulaqi (Awlaki) was invited to and attended a luncheon at the Pentagon in the secretary of
the Army's Office of Government Counsel." Awlaki, a Yemeni-American who was born in Las
Cruces, N.M., was interviewed at least four times by the FBI in the first week after the attacks
because of his ties to the three [alleged] hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Hani
Hanjour. The three ... were all onboard Flight 77 that [allegedly] slammed into the Pentagon.
Note: This article certainly raises suspicions that the amazing connections of Awlaki to so many
recent terror incidents may not be unrelated to his now-established connections to the Pentagon
shortly after 9/11.
Reporter Reveals Powerful Conspiracy in True-life Thriller, The Last

Circle
2010-10-01, East County Magazine (San Diego County, CA)
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/4384
Former investigative reporter Cheri Seymour, a San Diego County resident, has written a nonfiction thriller to end all thrillers. The Last Circle is ripped from the headlines of one of our eras
most controversial murder scandals: the killing of investigative journalist Danny Casolaro, whose
discoveries about a shadowy organization that he dubbed The Octopus reached into the Mafia,
the Cali Drug Cartel, and even the U.S. Department of Justice. Casolaro, a Washington D.C.
journalist, began his probe with an investigation into the theft of a revolutionary new software
program that was actually the forerunner of artificial intelligence. It was called PROMIS. Casolaro
worked closely with Bill Hamilton, owner and developer of the PROMIS software, to locate
and identify the persons responsible for illegally modifying the software, installing a
backdoor or Trojan Horse in the program, and selling it worldwide to foreign countries -
thus allowing the U.S. government to secretly monitor intelligence operations in those
countries. In August 1991, Casolaro filled his briefcase with documents and headed out to
Martinsburg, Virginia to bring back the head of the Octopus, according to his closest friends who
said he was ecstatic about something he had recently uncovered. He never returned. He was
found dead at a Martinsburg hotel on August 10, 1991. The coroner ruled his death a suicide, but
all his documents and briefcase were missing from the hotel room and never recovered. Three
months after Casolaros death, Seymour jumped on the investigative trail he left behind, and 18
years later, his story and Seymours are revealed in this riveting book.
Note: For more on Danny Casolaro, click here.
Johnson & Johnson CEO: 'We made a mistake'

2010-09-30, CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/30/news/companies/hearing_johnson_fda_drug_recal...
Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon delivered both a mea culpa and clear admission to [the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform] that his company let the public down through
numerous recent drug recalls. He also admitted that the company secretly bought up defective
drugs without informing regulators and consumers of its actions. The committee has been
investigating circumstances that have led to more than half a dozen recalls this year of nonprescription cold and pain drugs such as Tylenol, Benadryl and Motrin made by Johnson &
Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit. Weldon's [pledge] to never let this happen again was
met with some skepticism. [Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY)] said [the] testimony
indicates some very serious problems in "the way Johnson & Johnson viewed its responsibility to
the public and its day-to-day relationship with the FDA." There is often a thin line between
"working cooperatively" and having a "cozy relationship," he said. "The documents we
have seen in this case indicate this line may have been crossed early and often."
here.
U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html
Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new
regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is
going dark as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone. Essentially,
officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications including encrypted
e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that
allows direct peer to peer messaging like Skype to be technically capable of complying if
served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble
encrypted messages. James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and
Technology, an Internet policy group, said the proposal had huge implications and challenged
fundamental elements of the Internet revolution including its decentralized design. They are
really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and
now pervasive, architecture of the Internet, he said. They basically want to turn back the
clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to
function.
Note: For an analysis of this new government move to spy on US citizens, click here. For lots
more from reliable sources on disturbing government threats to privacy and civil liberties, click here
and here.
How the CIA ran a secret army of 3,000 assassins

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/how-the-cia-ran-a-secret-army-of...
The US Central Intelligence Agency is running and paying for a secret 3,000-strong army of
Afghan paramilitaries whose main aim is assassinating Taliban and al-Qa'ida operatives not
just in Afghanistan but across the border in neighbouring Pakistan's tribal areas. Although
the CIA has long been known to run clandestine militias in Afghanistan, including one from a base
it rents from the Afghan president Hamid Karzai's half-brother in the southern province of
Kandahar, the sheer number of militiamen directly under its control have never been publicly
revealed. [Bob] Woodward's [new] book, Obama's Wars, describes these forces as elite, welltrained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up
campaign against al-Qa'ida and Afghan Taliban havens there. The secret army is split into
"Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams", and is thought to be responsible for the deaths of many
Pakistani Taliban fighters who have crossed the border into Afghanistan to fight Nato and Afghan
government forces there. There are ever-increasing numbers of "kill-or-capture" missions
undertaken by US Special Forces against Afghan Taliban and foreign fighters, who hope to drive
rank-and-file Taliban towards the Afghan government's peace process by eliminating their leaders.
Note: For commentary on this report of the CIA's army of assassins, click here. For key reports on
the realities of the "global war on terror," click here.
US wasted billions in rebuilding Iraq

A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children's hospital
goes unused in the south. A $100 million wastewater treatment system in Fallujah has cost three
times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets. As the U.S. draws down in
Iraq, it is leaving behind hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects. More than $5 billion in
U.S. taxpayer funds has been wasted on these projects - more than 10 percent of the $53.7
billion the US has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog
agency. That amount is likely an underestimate, based on an analysis of more than 300 reports by
auditors with the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. And it does not take into account
security costs, which have run almost 17 percent for some projects. Even completed projects for
the most part fell far short of original goals, according to an Associated Press review of hundreds
of audits and investigations and visits to several sites. The reconstruction program in Iraq has
been troubled since its birth shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The U.S. was forced to
scale back many projects even as they spiked in cost, sometimes to more than double or triple
initial projections.
Note: For key reports on the corruption and profiteering that are the real fuels for war, click here.
Pakistan spot-betting scandal throws cricket into crisis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/aug/29/pakistan-spot-betting-scandal-cri...
Scotland Yard detectives have confiscated the mobile phones of three of the Pakistan cricket
team's leading players as part of an investigation into one of the biggest betting scandals in the
sport's history. The cricketers, captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad
Asif, were questioned along with wicket keeper Kamran Akmal by detectives following allegations
that they were involved in a betting scandal during the Lord's Test match, won by England. As well
as the phones, detectives took away documents and other possessions in plastic bags. The
allegations centre on the timing of three no-balls where the bowler oversteps the line delivered
by Amir and Asif during the game. Undercover reporters from the News of the World, posing
as representatives of a "far east gambling cartel", allegedly paid a middleman 150,000 and
in return were told exactly when the balls would be bowled. The England captain, Andrew
Strauss, said he was "absolutely astonished" by the allegations. "There was no prior warning or
anything like that First astonished, then pretty saddened straight away."
Retired FBI Agent Says Oswald Didn't Kill Kennedy

2010-08-22, WJW-TV (Akron, Ohio Fox Network affiliate)
http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-don-adams-president-kennedy-assassination-s...
A retired FBI agent from Summit County is making claims regarding the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy that go beyond conspiracy theories. Don Adams ... doesn't waiver from his
position that Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. "It is a fact," says
Adams, and he says he has the FBI documents to prove it. One of Adams first assignments was
investigating an extreme right radical, with connections to the States Rights Party and KKK named
Joseph Adams Milteer. One week after completing the investigation, President Kennedy was
gunned down in Dallas. Agent Adams located Milteer in Quintan, Georgia on November 27, 1963,
but according to Adams, the Senior Agent in charge would not allow a proper interrogation. "I
said, 'Boss wait a minute, we have an opportunity to elicit tremendous information from
him' and he replied '5 questions and nothing more'." Years later, while searching the archives
Adams learned that Milteer had threatened to kill President Kennedy November 9, 1963, just
weeks before the assassination, and that FBI agents had allegedly lied about his whereabouts
immediately following [the] threat. An FBI record states that after the assassination, "a jubilant"
Milteer bragged to the informant, "You thought I was kidding when I said he would be killed from a
window with a high powered rifle." Adams questions why Milteer appears in a photograph near
President Kennedy's limousine before the shooting, but was never mentioned in the Warren
Commission Report.
Note: For key articles from reliable sources on many still-unanswered questions about the John
Kennedy and other major political assassinations, click here.
Fidel Castro fascinated by book on Bilderberg Club

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2010/08/18/fidel_castr...
Fidel Castro is showcasing a theory long popular both among the far left and far right: that the
shadowy Bilderberg Group has become a kind of global government, controlling not only
international politics and economics, but even culture. The 84-year-old former Cuban president
published an article [on August 18 to quote] from a 2006 book by Lithuanian-born writer Daniel
Estulin. Estulin's work, The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, argues that the international group
largely runs the world. It has held a secretive annual forum of prominent politicians, thinkers and
businessmen since it was founded in 1954 at the Bilderberg Hotel in Holland. Estulin's book, as
quoted by Castro, described "sinister cliques and the Bilderberg lobbyists" manipulating the public
"to install a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own
self." The prominence of the group is what alarms critics. It often includes members of the
Rockefeller family, Henry Kissinger, senior U.S. and European officials and major international
business and media executives. Castro -- who had an inside seat to the Cold War -- has long
expressed suspicions of back-room plots. He has raised questions about whether the Sept. 11
attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government to stoke military budgets and, more
recently suggested that Washington was behind the March sinking of a South Korean ship
blamed on North Korea.
Note: For lots more on secret societies like the Bildergroup, click here.
The CIA Schemes to Kill Castro with a Seashell

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2008962_200896...
From 1960 to 1965, the CIA brainstormed at least eight plots to assassinate Cuba's Fidel Castro.
According to a report prepared in 1967 and declassified 36 years later, the CIA thought of using
cigars, contaminated air, poisoned pills, fungus and a poison-filled syringe to take out the
Communist leader. One plot, which sought only to damage Castro's image, suggested
placing thallium salt in his shoes, in the hope that his beard would fall out. But one idea
stood out above the rest: the plan to kill Castro with a booby-trapped seashell. You see, the
dictator was a fan of skin diving, so intelligence agents plotted to place an especially spectacular
shell in a reef Castro was known to frequent. The hope was that the shell would be so beautiful
that Castro would pick it up and, by doing so, trigger an explosive. Desmond Fitzgerald, the CIA's
head of Cuban operations, went as far as to buy two books on Caribbean mollusks. But the
elaborate scheme was deemed impractical.
Note: For more on assassinations as a tool of government policy, see the deeply revealing reports
Millions spent on doctor 'gagging orders' by NHS, investigation finds

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/milli...
Hospital doctors who quit their jobs are being routinely forced to sign "gagging orders" despite
legislation designed to protect NHS [National Health Service] whistleblowers. Millions of pounds of
taxpayers' money are being spent on contracts that deter doctors from speaking out about
incompetence and mistakes in patient care. Nearly 90 per cent of severance agreements
hammered out between NHS trusts and departing doctors contain confidentiality clauses. The
widespread use of "gagging orders" against senior NHS staff who could raise patient safety
concerns will intensify the doubts over the protection given to whistleblowers. Campaign
groups claim that NHS managers sometimes resort to intimidatory tactics to deter medics
from coming forward, while others that break cover can face years of expense and uncertainty
before their cases reach court. The result, they say, is that doctors accept the gagging clauses in
order to protect their careers and avoid legal wrangling. Mike Parker, of the Royal College of
Surgeons, said: "The trusts find something upon which they can influence this individual and hold
them virtually to ransom, and say: 'You speak up and this will happen.' It's effectively a form of
bullying, if you like, but we do hear about this sort of thing happening."
Mexican Officials Say Prisoners Acted as Hit Men

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/americas/26mexico.html
Prisoners in a northern Mexico jail were allowed out at night to carry out murder-for-hire
jobs using jail guards weapons and vehicles, officials said [on July 25], revealing a level of
corruption that is stunning even in a country where prison breakouts are common as guards
look the other way. The prisoners carried out three massacres this year in the city of Torren in
which 35 people were killed, Ricardo Njera, the spokesman for the attorney generals office, said
at a news conference. Among them, the authorities said, was last weeks attack on birthday
revelers at a party hall. The gang shot randomly into the crowd, they said, killing 17 people.
Ballistics studies confirmed that four guns used in the shooting were the same as those assigned
to jail guards, Mr. Njera said. The criminals carried out their executions as part of a settling of
scores against members of rival gangs linked to organized crime, he said. Unfortunately, in these
executions the criminals also cowardly murdered innocent civilians and then returned to their
cells.
Raw-food raid highlights a hunger

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-raw-food-raid-20100725,0,4350641,full.story
With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search
warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream
and to step away from the nuts. Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome
Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the
raid's target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk. Cartons of raw goat and cow
milk and blocks of unpasteurized goat cheese were among the groceries seized in the June 30
raid by federal, state and local authorities the latest salvo in the heated food fight over what
people can put in their mouths. On one side are government regulators, who say they are
enforcing rules designed to protect consumers from unsafe foods and to provide a level playing
field for producers. On the other side are " healthy food" consumers [who] seek food in its most
pure form. "This is about control and profit, not our health," said Aajonus Vonderplanitz, cofounder of Rawesome Foods. "How can we not have the freedom to choose what we eat?"
Demand for all manner of raw foods including honey, nuts and meat has been growing,
spurred by heightened interest in the way food is produced. But raw milk in particular has drawn
a lot of regulatory scrutiny, largely because the politically powerful dairy industry has
pressed the government to act.
Ex-US judge pleads guilty to child prison scam

2010-07-23, BBC News
Former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan has pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy
charge for helping put juvenile defendants behind bars in exchange for bribes. He is accused
along with former judge Mark Ciavarella of taking $2.8m (1.8m) from a profit-making detention
centres. Prosecutors in a federal court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, said Conahan had closed a
county-owned juvenile detention centre in 2002, just before signing an agreement to use a
for-profit centre. Prosecutors say Mr Ciavarella, a former juvenile court judge, then
allegedly worked with Mr Conahan to ensure a constant flow of detainees. The two men were
originally charged in early 2009 with accepting money from the builder and owner of a for-profit
detention centre that housed county juveniles in exchange for giving children longer, harsher
sentences. A spokeswoman for the non-profit Juvenile Law Center alleges that Mr Ciavarella gave
excessively harsh sentences to 1,000-2,000 juveniles between 2003 and 2006. Some of the
children were shackled, denied lawyers, and pulled from their homes for offences which included
stealing change from cars and failure to appear as witnesses.
Note: To understand just how corrupt our judicial system is, watch Consipiracy of Silence at this
link.
Calif. town outraged to learn of officials' pay

Residents in this modest blue-collar Los Angeles suburb where one in six lives in poverty were
angry: Their city manager was getting paid more than President Barack Obama and the police
chief more than the commander of the nearly 13,000-member LAPD. They demanded and got the
manager, the chief and another high-salaried official to resign. They looked for the culprits and
found them in the very people they entrusted to lead their city of 40,000 people. Now, they're
campaigning to boot them out of office. Their mayor and three of their four council members,
people they see every day at the grocery store or church, approved the contracts, and put
an obscure measure on the ballot that allowed council members to pay themselves any
amount of money. And they did: collecting between $90,000 and $100,000 a year as part-time
officials. The salaries exploded into public view last week after a Los Angeles Times investigation,
based on California Public Records Act requests, showed that the city payroll was bloated with all
sorts of six-figure salaries: - Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo made $787,637 a year.
Note: Is there something wrong with a system where politicians set their own pay, as is also done
in the US Congress? For lots more on government corruption, click here.
Secret document affirms U.S.-Israel nuclear partnership

2010-07-07, Ha'aretz (One of Israel's leading newspapers)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-secret-document-affirms-...
Israel's Army Radio reported on [July 7] that the United States has sent Israel a secret document
committing to nuclear cooperation between the two countries. The U.S. has reportedly pledged
to sell Israel materials used to produce electricity, as well as nuclear technology and other
supplies, despite the fact that Israel is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty. Other countries have refused to cooperate with Israel on nuclear matters because it has
not signed the NPT, and there has been increasing international pressure for Israel to be more
transparent about its nuclear arsenal. Army Radio's diplomatic correspondent said the reported
offer could put Israel on a par with India, another NPT holdout which is openly nuclear-armed but
in 2008 secured a U.S.-led deal granting it civilian nuclear imports. Israel neither confirms nor
denies having nuclear weapons under an "ambiguity" strategy billed as warding off foes while
avoiding public provocations that can spark regional arms races. The official reticence, and its
toleration in Washington, has long aggrieved many Arabs and Iranians - especially given U.S.-led
pressure on Tehran to rein in its nuclear program.
Note: For many key reports on the government secrecy from reliable sources, click here.
Cases against soldiers have Israel wondering

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/07/world/la-fg-gaza-war-crimes-20100708
A short but growing list of criminal indictments and disciplinary actions stemming from Israel's
offensive in the Gaza Strip 18 months ago [supports] the conclusion last year by [a] United
Nations-appointed panel that Israel committed war crimes, targeted civilians and used
disproportionate force. The facts and findings were dismissed by the government as deeply
flawed, and [UN] panel chairman Richard Goldstone, a Jewish jurist from South Africa, was reviled
in Israel as a traitor and even anti-Semitic. But the military's own investigations during the last six
months have now verified some of the panel's findings. In seven cases disclosed so far, the
military found that a sniper "deliberately targeted" civilians; soldiers used Palestinians, including a
9-year-old boy, as human shields; and commanders authorized at least three separate bomb
attacks that killed and injured several dozen civilians who were taking refuge in a family home, a
U.N. compound and a mosque. "The military is finding out that some of what Goldstone said
is true, even though no one wants to admit it," said Gershon Baskin, a political consultant and
former Labor Party advisor. "This should indicate that there needs to be deeper
investigation."
Note: For many key reports on the horrific realities of the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia,
click here.
Genetically Altered Salmon Get Closer to the Table

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/business/26salmon.html
The Food and Drug Administration is seriously considering whether to approve the first
genetically engineered animal that people would eat salmon that can grow at twice the
normal rate. The salmons approval would help open a path for companies and academic
scientists developing other genetically engineered animals. The salmon was developed by a
company called AquaBounty Technologies and would be raised in fish farms. It is an Atlantic
salmon that contains a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon as well as a genetic onswitch from the ocean pout, a distant relative of the salmon. Under a policy announced in 2008,
the F.D.A. is regulating genetically engineered animals as if they were veterinary drugs and using
the rules for those drugs. And applications for approval of new drugs must be kept confidential by
the agency. Critics say the drug evaluation process does not allow full assessment of the possible
environmental impacts of genetically altered animals and also blocks public input. There is no
opportunity for anyone from the outside to see the data or criticize it, said Margaret Mellon,
director of the food and [agriculture] program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. When
consumer groups were invited to discuss biotechnology policy with top F.D.A. officials last month,
Ms. Mellon said she warned the officials that approval of the salmon would generate a firestorm of
negative response.
Note: For a valuable summary of the dangers of genetically engineered foods, click here.
Fed dodges bullet as House drops audit idea

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1527338120100615
The Federal Reserve scored a political victory ... as Democrats mulling financial reform backed off
measures that would expose monetary policy to audits and make the head of the New York Fed a
political appointee. The U.S. House of Representatives had approved a bill in December that
included a provision, championed by Texas Representative Ron Paul, that would have opened the
Fed's interest rate policy to congressional audits. But in a statement on Tuesday, House
Democrats participating in negotiations over a final financial reform bill signaled a willingness to
live with a narrower Senate audit provision that does not cover monetary policy. The Fed, which
has admitted it was too complacent about regulatory oversight in the run-up to the global financial
crisis, has come under heavy fire for being too close to the banks it regulates. The House
Democrats also said they would try to defeat a plan contained in the Senate bill under debate that
would allow the U.S. president to name the head of the New York Fed, a step that Fed officials
have argued would undercut the central bank's political independence. The U.S. central bank
appears to be emerging largely unscathed by the regulatory reform efforts. It successfully
fought off a Senate push last month that would have stripped it of its oversight of smaller
banks, and is poised to emerge as the most powerful financial regulator when reforms are
complete.
Note: A news search on both Google and Yahoo revealed that MSNBC was the only media to pick
up this Reuters story, yet MSNBC then removed the story. Why might that be?
Oil Spill Outrage

2010-06-07, CNN
http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1006/07/ec.01.html
CAMPBELL BROWN: [There is] growing outrage over the millions of gallons of chemical
dispersants BP is dumping into the gulf. Some local residents insist the chemicals along with the
oil are making them violently ill. Kerry Kennedy from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and
Human Rights has been touring the coast and talking to folks who complain that they are being
exposed to a lot of unknown toxins right now. Kerry, people who have come in contact with the oil
and the dispersants are complaining of nausea, headaches, burning eyes. Talk to me a little bit
about your experience when you were touring these gulf communities. KERRY KENNEDY: People
are getting sick. And the patients, the health care providers cannot properly diagnose what the
problems are because BP will not give them the names of the chemicals that are in the
dispersants. However, we know that they're the same types of illnesses that people reported in
Alaska. Now, the average lifespan of a person who did cleanup on the Exxon Valdez is 51
years old. Almost all those people who did work on the Exxon Valdez are now dead. And BP
still here, once again, is big oil not giving the information to the doctors and health care
officials. A county nurse was not given permission to go on to the BP property. When she finally
did that, the people who work at BP who were coming to see her were only allowed to get band
aids and aspirin from her. And they were told that they only could go to the BP doctors if they
wanted to get treated.
Note: For a powerful, one-minute CNN News video of this segment, click here.
The hijacking of the truth: Film evidence 'destroyed'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-hijacking-of-the-trut...
Six days after the bloody assault that left nine foreign protesters, mainly Turks, dead, nobody can
recount with any conviction precisely what happened that night. The convoy of ships, whose
passengers included writers, politicians and journalists, had been expected for weeks, with
organisers loudly broadcasting their plans to run Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and draw
international attention to the situation there. From the beginning, it was clear that Israeli forces
were concentrating in their largest numbers on the Marmara, a ship carrying some 550 peace
activists. The remaining five boats were much smaller and easily commandeered. After the
Marmara was subdued, the passengers silenced, and their recording equipment confiscated,
Israel disseminated a carefully choreographed account of the events that night that would
dominate the airwaves for the first 48 hours. Only as eyewitnesses, traumatised by their
experiences, started to return to their home countries, were serious questions raised about
the veracity of the Israeli version of events. Israeli commandos initiated the attack on the
Marmara with stun grenades, paintballs and rubber-cased steel bullets. Next, the helicopters
started their approach, hovering overhead as they tried to disgorge commandos.
Note: As revealed last week, Israeli commandos shot and killed the aid activists at close range,
execution-style. Note that these key reports are appearing in the UK but not the US mainstream
press.
Crime rates down for third year, despite recession

Crime in the United States dropped dramatically in 2009, bucking a historical trend that links rising
crime rates to economic woes. Property crimes and violent offenses each declined about 5
percent, the FBI said. It was the third straight year of declines, and this year's drops were
even steeper than those of 2007 and 2008, despite the recession. Last year's decline was 5.5
percent for violent crime, including 7.2 percent for murders. The rate for property crime was down
4.9 percent, the seventh consecutive drop for that category. The declines had been a more modest
1.9 percent for violent crime and 0.8 percent for property crime in 2008 and 0.7 percent and 1.4
percent respectively the previous year.
Note: What this report completely fails to mention is that government statistic show that violent
crime is down over 50% since 1994! Why do the major media consistently fail to report this
awesome news? For reliable, verifiable on this, click here.
U.S. Subpoenas Times Reporter Over Book on C.I.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/us/29justice.html
The Obama administration is seeking to compel a writer to testify about his confidential sources for
a 2006 book about the Central Intelligence Agency, a rare step that was authorized by Attorney
General Eric H. Holder Jr. The author, James Risen, who is a reporter for The New York Times,
received a subpoena on [April 26] requiring him to provide documents and to testify May 4 before a
grand jury in Alexandria, Va., about his sources for a chapter of his book, State of War: The Secret
History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration. The chapter largely focuses on problems
with a covert C.I.A. effort to disrupt alleged Iranian nuclear weapons research. Mr. Risen
referred questions to his lawyer, Joel Kurtzberg, ... who said that Mr. Risen would not
comply with the demand and would ask a judge to quash the subpoena. He intends to
honor his commitment of confidentiality to his source or sources, Mr. Kurtzberg said. We
intend to fight this subpoena. The subpoena comes two weeks after the indictment of a former
National Security Agency official on charges apparently arising from an investigation into a series
of Baltimore Sun articles that exposed technical failings and cost overruns of several agency
programs that cost billions of dollars.
Note: For many key major media articles on the efforts of the government to maintain secrecy,
click here.
German Journalist Seeks Release of Eichmann Files

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=10135007
The basics of Adolf Eichmann's story are well documented: Commonly known as the "architect of
the Holocaust" for his role in coordinating the Nazi genocide policy, he fled Germany, was captured
in Argentina by Israel's Mossad, and hanged after trial in Jerusalem. But Germany's intelligence
service, the BND, is sitting on 4,500 pages of files on Eichmann a reporter thinks could fill in gaps
about his postwar life: Who helped him escape? How much did Germany know about where he
was? Is there more to the story of his capture? The files could also help shed light on claims
that the Vatican helped war criminals hide or escape after World War II allegations
church officials have always strenuously denied. The BND claims that the files need to remain
secret, so freelance reporter Gabriele Weber sued to have them released. They are now being
reviewed in secret by three judges at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. Weber said she
anticipates a ruling in the next month or two, and expects to obtain at least some degree of
access. "I think it's impossible that in Germany we are hiding documents about a convicted
Nazi mass murderer today," she said in a telephone interview. "I can't imagine they will be able
to maintain secrecy 100 percent." The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their
Descendants group has weighed in, urging the release of the files.
Note: The German government is not the only one hiding information about the Nazis. To read
about the CIA's cover-up of its own relationship with Nazis, click here.
Pentagon Sees a Threat From Online Muckrakers

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/us/18wiki.htm
To the list of the enemies threatening the security of the United States, the Pentagon has added
WikiLeaks.org, a tiny online source of information and documents that governments and
corporations around the world would prefer to keep secret. The Pentagon assessed the danger
WikiLeaks.org posed to the Army in a report marked unauthorized disclosure subject to criminal
sanctions. It concluded that WikiLeaks.org represents a potential force protection,
counterintelligence, OPSEC and INFOSEC threat to the U.S. Army or, in plain English, a
threat to Army operations and information. WikiLeaks, true to its mission to publish materials
that expose secrets of all kinds, published the 2008 Pentagon report about itself on [March 15].
WikiLeaks ... has rankled governments and companies around the world with its publication of
materials intended to be kept secret. The Armys interest in WikiLeaks appears to have been
spurred by ... its publication and analysis of classified and unclassified Army documents containing
information about military equipment, units, operations and nearly the entire order of battle for
American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan in April 2007. WikiLeaks also published an ... unclassified
copy of the standard operating procedures at the military prison in Guantnamo Bay, Cuba.
WikiLeaks said the document revealed methods by which the military prevented prisoners from
meeting with the International Red Cross and the use of extreme psychological stress as a
means of torture.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7415082/French-bread-...
A 50-year mystery over the 'cursed bread' of Pont-Saint-Esprit, which left residents suffering
hallucinations, has been solved after a writer discovered the US had spiked the bread with LSD as
part of an experiment. In 1951, a quiet, picturesque village in southern France was suddenly and
mysteriously struck down with mass insanity and hallucinations. At least five people died, dozens
were interned in asylums and hundreds afflicted. For decades it was assumed that the local
bread had been unwittingly poisoned with a psychedelic mould. Now, however, an
American investigative journalist has uncovered evidence suggesting the CIA peppered
local food with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as part of a mind control experiment at the
height of the Cold War. One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten
by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane",
before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for
50 yards. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets.
Note: For lots more reliable information on CIA mind control experiments, click here and here.
NYPD Officer claims pressure to make arrests

2010-03-03, WABC (New York City's ABC News affiliate)
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=7305356
When Officer Adil Polanco dreamed of becoming a cop, it was out of a desire to help people not,
he says, to harass them. "I'm not going to keep arresting innocent people, I'm not going to
keep searching people for no reason, I'm not going to keep writing people for no reason,
I'm tired of this," said Adil Polanco, an NYPD Officer. Polanco says One Police Plaza's obsession
with keeping crime stats down has gotten out of control. He claims Precinct Commanders
relentlessly pressure cops on the street to make more arrests, and give out more summonses, all
to show headquarters they have a tight grip on their neighborhoods. "Our primary job is not to help
anybody, our primary job is not to assist anybody, our primary job is to get those numbers and
come back with them?" said Officer Polanco. Eyewitness News asked, "Why do it?" "They have to
meet a quota. One arrest and twenty summonses," said Officer Polanco. Eyewitness News asked,
"Are you telling me they're stopping people for no reason, is that what you're saying?" "We are
stopping kids walking upstairs to their house, stopping kids going to the store, young adults. In
order to keep the quota," answered Officer Polanco. "I cannot be more honest than I've been.
There's no reason for me to lie, there's no reason for me to get into the trouble I am, cause I just
could've kept quiet and made the money," said Officer Polanco.
Note: If you think this is only a problem in New York City, think again. It is likely a problem in many
major cities.
Watching Certain People

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/opinion/02herbert.html
From 2004 through 2009, in a policy that has gotten completely out of control, New York City
police officers stopped people on the street and checked them out nearly three million times,
frisking and otherwise humiliating many of them. Upward of 90 percent of the people stopped are
completely innocent of any wrongdoing. And yet the New York Police Department is compounding
this intolerable indignity by compiling an enormous and permanent computerized database of
these encounters between innocent New Yorkers and the police. They have been collecting the
names and all sorts of other information about everybody who is stopped and frisked on
the streets, said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union,
which is fighting the departments stop-and-frisk policy and its compiling of data on people who are
innocent. This is a massive database of innocent, overwhelmingly black and Latino
people, she said. Police Commissioner Kelly has made it clear that this monstrous database,
growing by a half-million or so stops each year, is to be a permanent feature of the departments
operations.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on serious threats to civil liberties, click here.
Tap water contaminant 'castrates' frogs

2010-03-02, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-02-1Aatrazine02_ST_N.htm
An herbicide that contaminates the tap water consumed by millions of Americans has been found
to produce gender-bending effects in male frogs, "chemically castrating" some and turning others
into females, a study shows. Frogs in the experiment were exposed to amounts of the
weedkiller atrazine that are comparable to the levels allowed in drinking water by the
Environmental Protection Agency, says lead researcher Tyrone Hayes of the University of
California-Berkeley. In Hayes' earlier studies, atrazine caused male frogs to begin growing eggs in
their testes. In this experiment, 10% of the males exposed to atrazine one of the most
commonly used herbicide in the world actually changed sex; some were able to breed and lay
eggs. Nearly all of the other males had low testosterone and sperm levels, which made them
unable to reproduce, Hayes says. The experiment [raises] new questions about the safety of
atrazine, which other studies have linked to human birth defects, low birth weight, prematurity and
low sperm count. About 75% of stream water samples and 40% of groundwater samples contain
atrazine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Natural Resources Defense Council, an
environmental advocacy group, detected atrazine in 90% of tap water samples from 139 water
systems. The European Union has banned the chemical.
Note: For many key reports from reliable sources on important health issues, click here.
Doctors Without Morals

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/opinion/01xenakis.html
After five years of investigation, the Justice Department has released its findings regarding the
government lawyers who authorized waterboarding and other forms of torture during the
interrogation of suspected terrorists at Guantnamo Bay and elsewhere. In contrast, the
government doctors and psychologists who participated in and authorized the torture of
detainees have escaped discipline, accountability or even internal investigation. It is hardly
news that medical staff at the C.I.A. and the Pentagon played a critical role in developing
and carrying out torture procedures. Psychologists and at least one doctor designed or
recommended coercive interrogation methods including sleep deprivation, stress positions,
isolation and waterboarding. The militarys Behavioral Science Consultation Teams evaluated
detainees, consulted their medical records to ascertain vulnerabilities and advised interrogators
when to push harder for intelligence information. Psychologists designed a program for new
arrivals at Guantnamo that kept them in isolation to enhance and exploit their disorientation
and disorganization.
Note: To learn about top doctors and psychiatrists who abused their positions to forward secret
government mind control programs, click here.
When using open source makes you an enemy of the state

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/feb/23/opensource-intellectual...
An influential lobby group is asking the US government to basically consider open source as the
equivalent of piracy - or even worse. It turns out that the International Intellectual Property Alliance
... has requested with the US Trade Representative to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and
India for its "Special 301 watchlist" because they use open source software. What's Special 301?
It's a report that examines the "adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights"
around the planet - effectively the list of countries that the US government considers
enemies of capitalism. It often gets wheeled out as a form of trading pressure - often around
pharmaceuticals and counterfeited goods - to try and force governments to change their
behaviours. Most FOSS [Free Open Source Software] isn't state-owned: it just takes price
elasticity to its logical conclusion and uses free as a stick to beat its competitors with (would you
ever accuse Google, which gives its main product away for free, of being anti-capitalist?).
Governments don't even need to pass legislation. Even a recommendation can be enough. Last
year the Indonesian government sent around a circular to all government departments and stateowned businesses, pushing them towards open source. But the IIPA suggested that Indonesia
deserves Special 301 status because encouraging (not forcing) such takeup "weakens the
software industry" and "fails to build respect for intellectual property rights."
Corporation Says It Will Run for Congress

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/corporation-says-it-will-run-for...
Following the Supreme Court decision implicitly granting corporations the right to free
speech (by determining that political spending is a kind of speech), a corporation has
decided to take what it believes to be democracys next step: It is running for Congress.
With more than a twinge of irony, Murray Hill Incorporated, a liberal public relations firm, recently
announced that it planned to run in the Republican primary in Marylands 8th Congressional
District.
Note: To watch the companys first campaign ad, click on the link above.
Obama Acts to Ease Way to Construct Reactors

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/science/earth/30nuke.html
The Obama administration [has] moved vigorously on two fronts ... to promote nuclear power,
proposing a tripling of federal loan guarantees for new projects and appointing a high-level
commission to study what to do with nuclear waste. Administration officials confirmed that their
2011 federal budget request next week would raise potential loan guarantees for the projects to
more than $54 billion, from $18.5 billion. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been saying for weeks
that the administration would seek a greater amount of guarantees; commercial investment has
been hard to come by because there is so much uncertainty about the cost and schedule
for building plants. When President Obama said in his State of the Union address on [January
27] that the country should build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants, it was one
of the few times he got bipartisan applause. Opponents have complained that loan guarantees
for projects that cannot attract commercial investment amounted to nuclear socialism.
Note: The US administration is allocating billions in loan guarantees for risky nuclear power plants
in 2010, yet only $320 million for solar energy research, which is on track to become cheaper than
fossil fuel energy generation before long. Could corporate largess have an influence in this? For
lots more, click here.
'Sorry' still seems to be the hardest word on Wall Street

Goldman Sachs Chairman Lloyd Blankfein still doesn't get it. Unemployment is at 10 percent and
Americans are suffering because of the meltdown he and his colleagues helped create. But
Blankfein's firm, generously bailed out by taxpayers, has already returned to its ways of greed.
Blankfein, called to Washington on Wednesday to testify before the federal Financial Crisis Inquiry
Commission, made it plain that he was done apologizing. "Would you look back on some of the
financings as negligent or improper?" asked the commission chairman, former California state
treasurer Phil Angelides. "I think those were very typical behaviors in the context that we were in,"
Blankfein replied. Angelides pointed out that others regarded Goldman's behavior -- in which the
firm sold mortgage securities to customers and then placed bets against those same securities -was "the most cynical" of practices. "That's what a market is," the CEO explained. Angelides ...
tried again to get Blankfein to acknowledge that "excessive risk was being taken." "Look, how
would you look at the risk of a hurricane?" the man from Goldman retorted. "Acts of God
we'll exempt," Angelides said. "These were acts of men and women." But Blankfein seems
to exempt himself from the rules of man.
Note: For many key reports on the corruption underlying the financial crisis and the government
bailout of Wall Street, click here.
Swine flu: Ministers 'preparing to offload millions of unwanted vaccines'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/6952793/Swine-flu-Ministers-prepa...
Ministers are preparing to offload millions of unwanted swine flu vaccines, it has emerged, as
officials predicted that there will be no third wave of the pandemic this winter. Millions of [dollars]
could be wasted if the Government is unable to get out of orders for the vaccine it has placed with
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical giant. Officials confirmed that they are considering
a number of options, including attempting to sell or give away millions of the vaccines.
They also considering whether to stand down the National Pandemic Flu Service, the
network of call centres which diagnose swine flu and hand out antiviral medications. In May, even
before a pandemic had been declared, ministers had signed contracts thought to be worth around
100 million to deliver 90 million vaccines to Britain. Britain has now received almost 29 million
doses of the H1N1 vaccine, but only just over 3.7 million have been given out and in total the
Government has announced plans to inoculate only 14 million people.
Note: For a powerful insight into the corrupt symbiosis between pharmaceutical corporations and
government, read this analysis by Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of
Medicine. For lots more on the swine flu scare, click here.
Government data from around the world. Welcome to our single

gateway
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jan/07/government-data-world
Data, data, data. There's loads of it out there and more coming your way as governments open
their statistics vaults around the world. First the US with data.gov, then Australia and New Zealand
followed suit. Now it's the UK's turn with data.gov.uk. And that's in addition to the cities and US
states that have made government data available too: London launched very recently - you can
get the full set of links for government data sites around the world here. You now have tens of
sites around the world providing you access, but how do you find them? Well, this is now
the place. To coincide with the launch of data.gov.uk, we have created the ultimate gateway
to world government data. At World Government Data you can: Search government data sites
from the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and London ... in one place and download the data
Help us find the best dataset by ranking them Collect similar datasets together from around the
world Browse all datasets by each country.
C.I.A. Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/science/earth/05satellite.html
The nations top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal governments
intelligence assets including spy satellites and other classified sensors to assess the hidden
complexities of environmental change. The collaboration ... has the strong backing of the director
of the Central Intelligence Agency. Secrecy cloaks the monitoring effort ... because the United
States wants to keep foes and potential enemies in the dark about the abilities of its spy satellites
and other sensors. Controversy has often dogged the use of federal intelligence gear for
environmental monitoring. About 60 scientists mainly from academia but including some
from industry and federal agencies run the efforts scientific side. All have secret
clearances. The C.I.A. runs the program and arranges for the scientists to draw on federal
surveillance equipment, including highly classified satellites of the National Reconnaissance
Office. Officials said the effort to restart the program originated on Capitol Hill in 2008 after former
Vice President Al Gore argued for its importance with Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of
California, who was then a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee; she became its
chairwoman in early 2009.
Note: What happens to the public perception of science if research relies increasingly on secret
data and collaboration with spy agencies? How could the results of important studies be verified by
independent researchers? For lots more on the ever-expanding world of government secrecy, click
here.
Commons shut down, opposition furious

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/744459--commons-shut-down-oppositi...
Furious opposition MPs accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of muzzling the House of
Commons after he moved for the second time in a little more than a year to suspend Parliament.
Mired in controversy over an alleged cover-up on the torture of Afghan prisoners and eager to
increase the Conservatives' power in the Senate, the government is closing down Parliament until
March 3, the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday. The decision is "about one thing and one
thing only avoiding the scrutiny of Parliament at a time when this government is facing
tough questions about their conduct in covering up the detainee scandal," Liberal Leader
Michael Ignatieff said in a statement. "Mr. Harper is showing his disregard for the democratic
institutions of our country." Harper spoke Wednesday by telephone with Governor-General
Michalle Jean, who agreed to the suspension. The prorogation of Parliament until after the Winter
Olympics in Vancouver will likely scuttle dozens of pieces of legislation, and give the Tories a
chance to increase their representation on Senate committees. The government has been on the
defensive for weeks over allegations it failed to act on information that prisoners being passed to
Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers were at risk of being tortured.
Note: This is only the second time in Canadian history the Prime Minister has shut down
parliament, with the governor-general's permission. Note that the governor-general is the English
representative in Canadian government who is believed to have only nominal power, yet if you
read this CNN article, you will see how England has more power over Canada than many believe.
Israel court rules Palestinians can use highway

2009-12-29, BBC News
Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the military to let Palestinians use a road that runs through the
West Bank. Palestinians were barred from the Jerusalem to Tel Aviv Highway 443 in 2002 when
militants shot dead a number of Israelis in their cars. The case was brought by Palestinians who
live in the villages along the 12.5-mile (20-km) West Bank section of the road. Human rights
groups hailed the decision saying it was "a huge victory". The court said the military did not have
the authority to impose the kind of sweeping limitation that "in effect transforms the road into a
route designed for 'internal' Israeli traffic alone". The road was built on land appropriated from
the villagers. But villagers are prevented from getting on the highway by concrete barricades
and military checkpoints along its length. The military have five months to implement the ruling and
dismantle the barriers. It is the second time in recent months the court has ordered the
military to open roads to Palestinians. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which provided
legal representation to the Palestinians, said it was "a huge victory". But the ruling was condemned
by Israeli right-wingers.
Goldman Fueled AIG Gambles

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. played a bigger role than has been publicly disclosed in fueling the
mortgage bets that nearly felled American International Group Inc. Goldman was one of 16 banks
paid off when the U.S. government last year spent billions closing out soured trades that AIG made
with the financial firms. A Wall Street Journal analysis of AIG's trades, which were on pools of
mortgage debt, shows that Goldman was a key player in many of them, even the ones involving
other banks. Goldman originated or bought protection from AIG on about $33 billion of the
$80 billion of U.S. mortgage assets that AIG insured during the housing boom. That is
roughly twice as much as Socit Gnrale and Merrill Lynch, the banks with the biggest
exposure to AIG after Goldman. In Goldman's biggest deal, it acted as a middleman between AIG
and banks, taking on the risk of as much as $14 billion of mortgage-related investments. Then
Goldman insured that risk with one trading partner AIG. When the federal government bailed out
the insurer, Goldman avoided losses on its trades with AIG covering a total of $22 billion in assets.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable, verifiable sources on the hidden realities behind
the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Blackwater Guards Tied to Secret C.I.A. Raids

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/us/politics/11blackwater.html
Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.s most
sensitive activities clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being
insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company
employees and intelligence officials. The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly
basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency from 2004 to 2006, with Blackwater personnel
playing central roles in what company insiders called snatch and grab operations. Several former
Blackwater guards said that their involvement in the operations became so routine that the lines
supposedly dividing the Central Intelligence Agency, the military and Blackwater became blurred.
Instead of simply providing security for C.I.A. officers, they say, Blackwater personnel at times
became partners in missions to capture or kill militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, a practice that
raises questions about the use of guns for hire on the battlefield. The secret missions illuminate
a far deeper relationship between the spy agency and the private security company than
government officials had acknowledged. Blackwaters ties to the C.I.A. have emerged in recent
months, beginning with disclosures in The New York Times that the agency had hired the company
as part of a program to assassinate leaders of Al Qaeda and to assist in the C.I.A.s Predator
drone program in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Note: After this report was published, the CIA announced it had terminated contracts with
Blackwater. The reality is that many of Blackwater's services are provided under classified
contracts, with both the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command, so the denial of
"contracts" with Blackwater may be deceptive.
Rules for Congress Curb but Dont End Junkets

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/politics/07trips.html
Despite changes intended to curb Congressional junkets, some lawmakers and even their families
continue to take trips hosted by private groups and companies that revel in their access to
Washington power brokers. An examination by The New York Times of 1,150 trips shows that
some of them bent or broke rules adopted in 2007 to limit corporate influence in Washington.
Others exploited glaring loopholes in the guidelines, enacted with much fanfare after scandals
involving the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The rules are filled with odd contradictions.
Lobbyists themselves are not allowed to pay for trips, but their corporate clients can. And lobbyists
are permitted to give huge sums to nonprofit groups that can sponsor travel. They can also travel
to destinations and meet the lawmakers once they get there, though they cannot go on the same
plane. Seizing on the loopholes, lobbyists and the companies that employ them are still
underwriting trips by dozens of members of Congress, particularly those in the House, the
Times review shows. The companies finance much of this travel indirectly, getting around the
spirit of the rules by giving money to nonprofits, some of which seem to exist largely to sponsor
trips. In fact, the rules may have had the unexpected effect of obscuring who is actually paying for
a lawmakers junket.
Note: For many reports from mainstream sources on government corruption, click here.
A list for those who complain

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/29/IN941APQS7.DTL
In spring 2007, as one of many American air travelers who were inconvenienced when our names
popped up on a federal "watch list," I never could get straight answers from my government. Was
this a mistake, or was I being flagged for some reason? How many Americans were on that watch
list? What were the criteria for getting on it? I filed my appeal with the Department of Homeland
Security's Travel Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP). The Department of Homeland Security received
75,315 requests for redress under the TRIP program as of Oct. 31. Of those requests, 49,826
have been adjudicated, 7,217 are under review, and 18,272 are awaiting supporting
documentation, according to the DHS. "Absolutely, the system didn't work as well as it should
have," said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.
Once an airline receives a passenger's control number, along with full name, date of birth and
gender, that information is transmitted to the government for clearance. Fewer than 2,500 known
and suspected terrorists are actually on the "no fly" list, according to Trevino. And less than 10
percent of them are Americans. [Yet] the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center has acknowledged
that its watch list has more than 1 million entries of names and aliases representing about
400,000 people [with] with an average of 1,600 people who presented a "reasonable
suspicion" being added every day.
Note: For many revealing reports from major media sources on the worsening threats to civil
Health care lessons from Europe

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/11/29/MN3U1AL75B.DTL
Critics point to Canada and Britain as the poster children of what could happen here with a
"government takeover" of health coverage. But three other wealthy nations - the Netherlands,
Switzerland and Germany - offer much closer parallels, as well as lessons. Health care systems in
the three nations more closely resemble the U.S. system of insurance-based coverage. Holland
and Switzerland rely exclusively on private insurance, and all three rely on private doctors. The
three European nations deliver universal coverage and world-class quality at a fraction of
what Americans spend. All of them require that everyone purchase insurance, make sure
everyone can afford it and ban insurers from such practices as refusing to cover the sick
that are common in the United States. European health care is universal, but contrary to popular
perception, it is not all nationalized. Most of Europe spends about 10 percent of its national income
on health care and covers everyone. The United States will spend 18 percent this year and leave
47 million people uninsured. Europe has more doctors, more hospital beds and more patient visits
than the United States. Take Switzerland: 4.9 doctors per thousand residents compared with 2.4 in
the United States. And cost? The average cost for a hospital stay is $9,398 in relatively high-cost
Switzerland and $17,206 in the United States.
Note: Maybe it boils down to whether we want our health controlled more by profit motive or by
government bureaucracies One thing is for sure, the average U.S. citizen is getting much less for a
greater cost than those in other developed countries.
Website Wikileaks publishes '9/11 messages'

2009-11-26, BBC News
A website has published what it says are 573,000 intercepted pager messages sent during the
9/11 attacks in the United States. WikiLeaks says it will not reveal who gave it the messages some of which are from federal agencies as well as ordinary citizens. Internet analysts say they
believe the messages are genuine but federal authorities have refused to comment. The
messages are not all about the attacks. Some are mundane questions about what people are
having for lunch. However, many are about the deadly plane attacks and range from people trying
to find out if their loved ones are safe to government messages. They include messages such as *
This is Myrna, I will not rest until you get home, the second tower is down, I don't want to
have to keep calling you after every event. Pls just go home * Bomb detonated in World
Trade Ctr. Pls get back to Mike Brady w/ a quick assessment of your areas and contact us if
anything is needed. New York's fire and police departments said they could not comment on
whether messages purportedly sent from them were genuine while the US Secret Service refused
to comment. WikiLeaks allows people to anonymously post documents on the web, saying its aim
is to promote transparency. It was created in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and
technologists from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa.
Note: For questions raised by hundreds of highly respected and credible officials, academics and
professionals about what really happened on 9/11, click here and here.
Fannie, Freddie Can Now Get Unlimited Aid

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/25/politics/main6021668.shtml
The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department said [it had] removed the $400 billion financial cap on the
money it will provide to keep the companies afloat. Already, taxpayers have shelled out $111 billion
to the pair. By making the change before year-end, Treasury sidestepped the need for an OK from
a bailout-weary Congress. "The companies are nowhere close to using the $400 billion they
had before, so why do this now?" said Bert Ely, a banking consultant in Alexandria, Va. The
news followed an announcement Thursday that the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie could get paid as
much as $6 million for 2009, despite the companies' dismal performances this year.
Note: For many reliable reports on the government bailout of Wall Street and the financial industry,
click here.
Wall St. Finds Profits by Reducing Mortgages

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/business/22loans.html
Wall Street has found a way to make money from the mortgage mess. Investment funds are
buying billions of dollars worth of home loans, discounted from the loans original value. Then, in
what might seem an act of charity, the funds are helping homeowners by reducing the size of the
loans. But as part of these deals, the mortgages are being refinanced through lenders that work
with government agencies like the Federal Housing Administration. This enables the funds to
pocket sizable profits by reselling new, government-insured loans to other federal agencies, which
then bundle the mortgages into securities for sale to investors. While homeowners save money,
the arrangement shifts nearly all the risk for the loans to the federal government and,
ultimately, taxpayers at a time when Americans are falling behind on their mortgage
payments in record numbers. The trick is to persuade the homeowners to refinance those
mortgages, by offering to reduce the amounts the homeowners owe. The profit comes when the
refinancings reach more than the [amount] that the fund paid for the block of loans. The strategy
has created an unusual alliance between Wall Street funds that specialize in troubled investments
the industry calls them vulture funds and American homeowners. But the transactions also
add to the potential burden on government agencies, particularly the F.H.A., which has lately taken
on an outsize role in the housing market and, some fear, may eventually need to be bailed out at
taxpayer expense.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities behind the Wall Street
US builds up its bases in oil-rich South America

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-builds-up-its-bases-in-oi...
The United States is massively building up its potential for nuclear and non-nuclear strikes
in Latin America and the Caribbean by acquiring unprecedented freedom of action in seven
new military, naval and air bases in Colombia. The new US push is part of an effort to counter
the loss of influence it has suffered recently at the hands of a new generation of Latin American
leaders no longer willing to accept Washington's political and economic tutelage. President Rafael
Correa, for instance, has refused to prolong the US armed presence in Ecuador, and US forces
have to quit their base at the port of Manta by the end of next month. So Washington turned to
Colombia. The country has received military aid worth $4.6bn (2.8bn) from the US since
2000, despite its poor human rights record. Colombian forces regularly kill the country's
indigenous people and other civilians, and last year raided the territory of its southern neighbour,
Ecuador, causing at least 17 deaths. This being US foreign policy, a tell-tale trail of oil is evident.
The fact that the US gets half its oil from Latin America was one of the reasons the US Fourth
Fleet was re-established in the region's waters in 2008. The fleet's vessels can include Polaris
nuclear-armed submarines a deployment seen by some experts as a violation of the 1967
Tlatelolco Treaty, which bans nuclear weapons from the continent. With or without nuclear
weapons, the bilateral agreement on the seven Colombian bases, signed on 30 October in Bogota,
risks a costly new arms race in a region.
Note: American dependence on foreign oil fuels not only US wars in the Middle East and Central
Asia but an ever escalating global militarization. For many promising reports from reliable sources
on alternatives to oil for many purposes, click here.
9/11's delayed legacy: cancer for many of the rescue workers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/11/cancer-new-york-rescuers
A spate of recent deaths of New York police and fire officers who took part in the
emergency operation at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks has heightened fears that it
could be the start of a delayed epidemic of cancer-related illness. Five firefighters and police
officers, all of whom were involved in the rescue and clear-up at the site of the collapsed Twin
Towers, have died of cancer in the past three months, the oldest being 44. Three died last month
within a four-day period. Up to 70,000 people took part in the massive operation at Ground Zero,
including police, firefighters and construction workers who came to New York voluntarily from all
over the US. Many worked for months amid a toxic soup of dust and chemicals. Amid the
pollutants within the giant pile of 1.8m tons of debris and the surrounding air were ... about 1,000
tons of asbestos that was used in the construction of the Twin Towers, pulverised lead from
computers, mercury and highly carcinogenic by-products from the burning of plastics and
chlorinated chemicals. No official tally is available for the number of those who have died as a
result of the 9/11 clear-up. The New York state health department has recorded 817 deaths of
emergency workers. Claire Calladine, a campaigner who runs the organisation 9/11 Health Now,
said the fear was that the recent rise in cancer cases was just the start. "We have only seen the tip
of the iceberg. How bad will it get that is the big question."
Note: To read important questions raised by hundreds of government officials, academics and
professionals about what really happened on 9/11, click here and here.
Report: Blackwater Sent $1M Bribe to Iraq

[Four] former top executives at Blackwater Worldwide say the U.S. security contractor sent
about $1 million to its Iraq office with the intention of paying off officials in the country who
were angry about the fatal shootings of 17 civilians by Blackwater employees. Iraqis had
long complained about ground operations by the North Carolina-based company, now known as
Xe Corp. Then the shooting by Blackwater guards in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in September 2007
left 17 civilians dead, further strained relations between Baghdad and Washington and led U.S.
prosecutors to bring charges against the Blackwater contractors involved. The State Department
has since turned to DynCorp and another private security firm, Triple Canopy, to handle diplomatic
protective services in the country. But Xe continues to provide security for diplomats in other
nations, most notably in Afghanistan. The former executives told the [New York Times] that the
payments were approved by the company's then-president, Gary Jackson. They did not know if he
came up with the idea. Any payments would have been illegal under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act, which bans bribes to foreign officials. Two of the former executives said they were
directly involved in discussions about paying Iraqi officials, and the other two said they were told
about the discussions by others at Blackwater.
Investors Beware
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/opinion/07sat2.html
Things turned Orwellian in the House Financial Services Committee this week when members
with the backing of the White House passed an investor protection bill that would make it all too
easy for thousands of publicly traded companies to cook their books. While the bill offers investors
important protections ... an amendment was added to permanently exempt smaller public
companies (worth less than $75 million) from a post-Enron auditing requirement. It passed with
votes from 28 of the committees 29 Republicans (one was absent) and 9 Democrats. All clearly
were more interested in pleasing corporate constituents than protecting investors who, last time we
checked, are also constituents. While President Obama and Democratic leaders say they are
committed to more transparency and regulation over derivatives the complex
instruments that were at the heart of the financial crisis they are supporting a dangerous
exemption for big businesses in the derivative reform bill pending in the House. Another
House bill to protect consumers of financial products has concessions for big and small banks
alike. It appears that the administration will support those concessions, too. Mr. Obama and his
aides have said repeatedly that they are committed to closing the regulatory gaps that allowed the
financial system to spin so dangerously out of control. They need to do a lot more.
Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/europe/05italy.html
In a landmark ruling, an Italian judge ... convicted a base chief for the Central Intelligence Agency
and 22 other Americans, almost all C.I.A. operatives, of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets
of Milan in 2003. The case was a huge symbolic victory for Italian prosecutors, who drew the
first convictions involving the American practice of rendition, in which terrorism suspects
are captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, often one more open to
[torture]. The fact that Italy would actually convict intelligence agents of an allied country was
seen as a bold move that could set a precedent in other cases. Judge Oscar Magi handed an
eight-year sentence to Robert Seldon Lady, a former C.I.A. base chief in Milan, and five-year
sentences to the 22 other Americans, including an Air Force colonel and 21 C.I.A. operatives.
Three of the other high-ranking Americans were given diplomatic immunity, including Jeffrey
Castelli, a former C.I.A. station chief in Rome. Citing state secrecy, the judge did not convict five
high-ranking Italians charged in the abduction, including a former head of Italian military
intelligence, Nicol Pollari. All the Americans were tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.
Armando Spataro, the counterterrorism prosecutor who brought the case, said he was considering
asking the Italian government for an international arrest warrant for the fugitive Americans. Tom
Parker, Amnesty Internationals United States point man for terrorism issues, called on the Obama
administration to repudiate the unlawful practice of extraordinary rendition.
Note: The US government has refused to extradite to Italy the 23 Americans convicted in absentia
of kidnapping. Yet the US is pressing for the extradition of 76-year-old Roman Polanski for fleeing
the US after serious judicial malfeasance. For an analysis of these contradictions by US authorities
over extradition, click here.
Questions for a Trade Official

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/opinion/04wed4.html
When Islam Siddiqui appears for his Senate confirmation, possibly as early as next week, it will be
time for some tough questions. The White House has nominated Mr. Siddiqui for the position
of chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative. He is
presently a vice president at CropLife America, a coalition of the major industrial players in
the pesticide industry, including Syngenta, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and DuPont. That job
doesnt seem to square with the Obama administrations professed interest in more
sustainable, less chemically dependent approaches to agriculture. Nor does much of the rest of
Mr. Siddiquis resum. The White House has touted his role in the first phase of developing
national organic standards. But those standards, as they first emerged in draft form in the Clinton
years, were notoriously loose about allowing genetically engineered crops and the use of sewagesludge fertilizers to be labeled as organic. But the business of [Siddiqui's] CropLife an
arm of which openly scoffed at Michelle Obamas plans for an organic garden is to
increase exports of agricultural chemicals.
Note: For a powerful overview of the risks of genetically modified food, click here.
Court to reconsider CIA torture flight ruling

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/28/BAMQ1AB9KF.DTL
A federal appeals court granted the Obama administration's request ... to rehear a case over a Bay
Area company's alleged participation in CIA torture flights, setting the stage for a critical test of
government claims of secrecy and national security. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco had reinstated a suit in April by five men who accused the company, Jeppesen Dataplan
of San Jose, of taking part in the CIA's extraordinary rendition program that led to their
imprisonment and torture. The 3-0 ruling rejected arguments by the Bush and Obama
administrations that the case concerned secrets too sensitive to disclose in court. The full appeals
court set aside that ruling. President Obama criticized the practice [of extraordinary rendition] but
refused to disavow it, promising only that no prisoners would be tortured. Ben Wizner, an ACLU
attorney, said ... that he was "disappointed that the Obama administration continues to stand in the
way of torture victims having their day in court. This case is not about secrecy. It's about immunity
from accountability," Wizner said. In the April ruling reinstating the lawsuit, the three-judge appeals
court panel said the government and Jeppesen could take steps to protect national secrets as the
case proceeded. The panel said the administration's argument, if accepted, would "cordon
off all secret government actions from judicial scrutiny, immunizing the CIA and its
contractors from the demands and limits of the law."
click here.
N.Y. Fed pushed AIG on contracts

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said ... that it had no choice but to instruct American
International Group last November to reimburse the full amount of what it owed to big banks on
derivatives contracts, a move that ended months of effort by the insurance giant to negotiate lower
payments. The New York Fed, led at the time by then-President Timothy F. Geithner, directed AIG
to make the payments after it received a massive government bailout. The officials said AIG lost its
leverage in demanding a better deal once the company had been saved from bankruptcy.
Lawmakers and financial analysts critical of the payouts say it amounted to a back-door bailout for
big banks. AIG, the recipient of a $180 billion federal rescue package, ended up paying $14
billion to Goldman Sachs over months and $8.5 billion to Deutsche Bank, among others.
Before the New York Fed intervened, AIG had been trying to persuade the firms to take
discounts. [A Bloomberg] report concluded that the government needlessly overpaid $13 billion.
The Federal Reserve has declined to detail the terms of the deals and specifics about negotiations
with creditors. The Bloomberg report quoted an unnamed AIG executive who said he was
pressured by New York Fed officials to refrain from filing any documents with the Securities and
Exchange Commission that would divulge the deals' details.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout,
click here.
Goldman Sachs defends dark pools, short selling

Goldman Sachs defended a range of trading practices currently under regulatory scrutiny,
including dark pools and short selling, in a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission and
a series of postings on its Web site. In defending dark pools, private venues where large blocks of
securities are traded anonymously, Goldman said they are simply the result of technology
improving on the kind of non-displayed liquidity that has always existed in the market. Dark pools
have been criticized by lawmakers and targeted by regulators seeking a better idea of how
much trading takes place away from exchanges. While it reiterated its support for regulation of
abusive, or "naked" short selling, Goldman said further regulation isn't necessary and could
actually hurt the market. As for high-frequency trading, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro at a
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference ... reiterated that she has asked
SEC staff to propose ways the agency can collect more information about high frequency traders,
noting that lightning speed trading now represents more than 50% of trading volume.
Note: To read this article without a subscription to the WSJ, click here. Is it a surprise that
Goldman Sachs wants to keep its secret deals hidden? Full transparency for the banks would
almost certainly reveal major manipulations.
Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOTmsmEQpY6A
Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and
yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two- quarter rout in almost two decades.
Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at
least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nations reporting currency
breakdowns put 63 percent of the new cash into euros and yen in April, May and June. Thats the
highest percentage in any quarter with more than an $80 billion increase. World leaders are acting
on threats to dump the dollar while the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a
weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy as long as it doesnt drive away the
nations creditors. The diversification signals that the currency wont rebound anytime soon after
losing 10.3 percent on a trade-weighted basis the past six months, the biggest drop since 1991.
Global central banks are getting more serious about diversification, whereas in the past
they used to just talk about it, said Steven Englander, a former Federal Reserve researcher
who is now the chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays in New York. It looks like they are
really backing away from the dollar. The dollars 37 percent share of new reserves fell from
about a 63 percent average since 1999. Americas currency has been under siege as the Treasury
sells a record amount of debt to finance a budget deficit that totaled $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2009
ended Sept. 30.
Note: For insightful analyses of the US financial crisis, click here.
Pakistan kept billions in US aid from military

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/10/05/pakistan_kept_billi...
The United States has long suspected that [many] of the billions of dollars it has sent Pakistan to
battle militants has been diverted to the domestic economy and other causes, such as fighting
India. Now the scope and longevity of the misuse is becoming clear: Between 2002 and 2008 ...
only $500 million of the $6.6 billion in American aid actually made it to the Pakistani
military, two army generals said. At the time of the siphoning, Pervez Musharraf, a
Washington ally, served as chief of staff and president, making it easier to divert money
intended for the military to bolster his image at home through economic subsidies. The
army itself got very little, said Mahmud Durrani, a retired general who was Pakistans
ambassador to the United States under Musharraf. It went to things like subsidies, which is
why everything looked hunky-dory." Generals and ministers say the diversion of the money hurt
the military in several ways. Helicopters critical to the battle in rugged border regions were not
available. At one point in 2007, more than 200 soldiers were trapped by insurgents in the tribal
regions without a helicopter lift to rescue them. Equipment was broken, and training was lacking.
The details on misuse of American aid come as Washington again promises Pakistan money.
Legislation to triple general aid to Pakistan cleared Congress last week. We dont have a
mechanism for tracking the money after we have given it to them, said Lieutenant
Colonel Mark Wright, a Pentagon spokesman.
Pittsburgh police used acoustic warfare during G-20 protests, drawing

legal groups' ire
Police ordered protesters to disperse at the Group of 20 summit last week with a device that can
beam earsplitting alarm tones and verbal instructions that the manufacturer likens to a "spotlight of
sound," but that legal groups called potentially dangerous. The device, called a Long Range
Acoustic Device, concentrates voice commands and a car alarm-like sound in a 30- or 60-degree
cone that can be heard nearly two miles away. The volume measures 140-150 decibels three feet
away louder than a jet engine. During the Pittsburgh protests, police used the device to
order demonstrators to disperse and to play a high-pitched "deterrent tone" designed to
drive people away. It was the first time the device was used in a riot-control situation on
U.S. soil. Those who heard it said ... the "deterrent tone" as unbearable. Joel Kupferman, who
was at Thursday's march as a legal observer for the National Lawyer's Guild, said he was
overwhelmed by the tone and called it "overkill." "When people were moving and they still
continued to use it, it was an excessive use of weaponry," Kupferman said. Witold "Vic" Walczak,
legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania, said the device is a military
weapon capable of producing permanent hearing loss, something he called "an invitation to an
excessive-force lawsuit." Catherine Palmer, director of audiology at the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center, said 140 decibels can cause immediate hearing loss. ["Public safety"] officials said
the complaints prove the device worked as designed.
Note: To watch a disturbing 10-minute clip of the use of this weapon at the G-20 meeting, click
here. For many revealing reports from major media sources on increasing threats to civil liberties,
click here.
Rush for Clues Before Charges in Terror Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/nyregion/01terror.html
Federal prosecutors have said they possess a trove of evidence in their terrorism case against
Najibullah Zazi, a set of damning accusations laid out in a powerful narrative. But interviews with
people briefed on the case and an examination of court papers filed by prosecutors show
that a great deal of the evidence presented against Mr. Zazi was not the result of a lengthy
investigation. Instead, much of it was collected on the fly in the last two weeks, with hundreds of
F.B.I. agents, federal prosecutors and detectives rushing to fashion a mosaic of details into a case
that could be brought to court. The review of the governments presentation, which is largely
contained in a preliminary court document filed last week, suggests that many important facts
asserted by prosecutors were discovered after Mr. Zazi was told by a Queens imam on Sept. 10
that investigators were looking for him. Moreover, several crucial discoveries were made after Mr.
Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle bus driver, had returned on Sept. 12 to Colorado, with his
mission, if he had one, aborted. Some store and hotel employees in the Denver area said F.B.I.
agents did not ask about Mr. Zazis purchases of beauty salon products that contained the
raw materials to make explosives or his stay in a hotel suite to mix them until Sept. 17, five
days after his return to Colorado. The lawyer who appeared beside him in Brooklyn, J. Michael
Dowling, said after the hearing that prosecutors could not secure a conviction of his client on the
conspiracy charge based solely on the evidence presented in the detention memorandum,
because it contained no proof that he conspired with anyone to commit a crime.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the highly dubious "evidence" presented by federal
authorities in their prosecutions of domestic "terror" cases, click here. For a powerful BBC
documentary which shows how cases like these are used by politicians to manipulate public
opinion to their advantage, click here.
An Incomplete State Secrets Fix

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/opinion/29tue1.html
One of the ways that the Bush administration tried to avoid accountability for its serious
misconduct in the name of fighting terrorism was the misuse of an evidentiary rule called the state
secrets privilege. The Obama administration has essentially embraced the Bush approach in
existing cases, trying to toss out important lawsuits alleging kidnapping, torture and unlawful
wiretapping without any evidence being presented. The other day, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.
issued new guidelines for invoking the state secrets privilege in the future. They were a positive
step forward, on paper, but did not go nearly far enough. Mr. Holders much-anticipated reform
plan does not include any shift in the Obama administrations demand for blanket secrecy
in pending cases. Nor does it include support for legislation that would mandate thorough
court review of state secrets claims made by the executive branch. It remains to be seen
whether, and to what extent, the new regimen will succeed in avoiding flimsy claims of secrecy.
Much depends on how the rules are interpreted and enforced, and the Justice Departments
willingness to stand up to insistent intelligence agency demands. Since assuming office, Mr.
Holder has reviewed the administrations position in ongoing cases and has continued broad
secrecy claims of the sort that President Obama criticized when he was running for president.
Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, noted that without a clear, permanent mandate for
independent court review of the administrations judgment calls, Mr. Holders policy still amounts
to an approach of just trust us.
Note: For more on the Obama administration's proposed rules, click here.
Media destruction of ACORN

2009-09-24, MSNBC 'The Rachel Maddow Show'
MADDOW: Tonight, a dash of truth. Seriously rich corporate interests are out to paint ACORN as a
vast left-wing conspiracy against the American way of life. You can look at ACORNs primary
political sin as theyre trying to raise the minimum wage. ACORN has been caricatured by
people, like Congressman King, as a corrupt, criminal enterprise that steals elections and turns a
blind eye to prostitution. Thats the story line the mainstream media has latched on to, as well.
What you might not know from all of the breathless ACORN damnation coverage is what ACORN
actually does. They do things like advocating for a higher minimum wage. They do things like
helping low-income families file their taxes. They do things like helping low-income families find
jobs. And as we discovered most recently in the healthcare debate, when industries sense a
threat to their profits, they go into kill mode. They create corporate-funded purportedly
grassroots organizations to derail and destroy whomever they believe to be the source of
that threat. Say youre a company that doesnt really want the minimum wage to be raised.
But you also dont want to be seen fighting ACORN yourself. What you do is you hire Richard
Berman. And what you get is RottenACORN.com, a grassroots-ish looking Web site
dedicated to destroying ACORN. RottenACORN.com is run by something called the
Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit think-tank that happens to be run by Richard Berman,
who also happens to be the man behind grassroots-ish Web sites like the anti-labor one,
UnionFacts.com. Also, MercuryFacts.org. which assures people that there really isn
t that much mercury in that fish.
Note: A video of this segment is available at this link.
Judge Rejects Approval of Biotech Sugar Beets

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/business/23beet.html
A federal judge has ruled that the government failed to adequately assess the environmental
impacts of genetically engineered sugar beets before approving the crop for cultivation in the
United States. The decision could lead to a ban on the planting of the beets, which have been
widely adopted by farmers. Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco said
that the Agriculture Department should have done an environmental impact statement. He said it
should have assessed the consequences from the likely spread of the genetically engineered trait
to other sugar beets. The decision echoes another ruling two years ago by a different judge in the
same court involving genetically engineered alfalfa. In that case, the judge later ruled that farmers
could no longer plant the genetically modified alfalfa until the Agriculture Department wrote the
environmental impact statement. Two years later, there is still no such assessment. We expect
the same result here as we got in alfalfa, said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the
Center for Food Safety, a Washington advocacy group that was also involved in the alfalfa lawsuit.
It will halt almost any further planting and sale because its no longer an approved crop.
The Center for Food Safety was joined in the suit by the Sierra Club, the Organic Seed Alliance
and High Mowing Organic Seeds, a small seed company. The beets contain a bacterial gene
licensed by Monsanto that renders them impervious to glyphosate, an herbicide that Monsanto
sells as Roundup. Judge White said that the pollen from the genetically engineered crops might
spread to non-engineered beets.
Note: For an excellent overview of the dangers posed by genetically modified foods, click here.
For other major media news articles revealing the dangers of already widespread GM foods, click
here.
American embassy contractors in Kabul accused of ritual abuse

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6817921.ece
Security contractors at the giant US Embassy in Kabul were accused yesterday of fostering a
Lord of the Flies environment built on abuse and humiliating initiation rituals. The allegations,
made by the independent Project On Government Oversight, are contained in a report submitted
to Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State. The report is based on e-mails, some of which
describe the alleged abuse of Afghan nationals. Among those implicated are Britons employed by
ArmorGroup North America, the contractor providing security at the embassy, where nearly 1,000
diplomats and support staff work. The report quotes an e-mail from a guard currently working
for the contractor, describing scenes of guards and supervisors peeing on people, eating
potato chips out of [buttock] cracks and drinking vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks. In
another incident, a male Afghan caterer complained last month of being grabbed by a supervisor
and told: You are very good for f***ing. The supervisor, who was in only his underwear, also
brandished bottles of alcohol. The allegations at the Kabul embassy come in the wake of scandals
surrounding Blackwater, another security contractor, in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it has been
accused of fraud, abuse and involvement in civilian deaths.
Note: For lots more on the illegal activities of military contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq, click
here.
Steroids, drink and paranoia: the murky world of the private security
contractor
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/steroids-drink-and-parano...
Paranoid, competitive and fuelled by guns, alcohol and steroids. That is how one senior contractor
in Baghdad describes the private security industry operating in the city's Green Zone. It was the
world to which Danny Fitzsimons, a 29-year-old former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorder and paranoia, and with an extensive criminal past, returned three weeks ago. Despite
rules against alcohol, his ArmorGroup colleagues welcomed him with a drinking session. A fight
broke out and he shot and killed two of them a Briton, Paul McGuigan, and an Australian, Darren
Hoare then wounded an Iraqi, Arkhan Mahdi. He faces a premeditated murder charge and
execution if found guilty. Mr Fitzsimons's family is determined to save him and say he was
suffering from severe psychiatric problems after a brutal career in the Army and in the security
industry. But those on the ground hold little hope. They are already resigned to Mr Fitzsimons's
execution and say that he is a tiny pawn in a huge, expensive and vicious game of chess. They
say the private security business in Iraq is in a vice-like crush. The gold rush that began with the
conflict in 2003 is drying up. Contracts are not as lucrative, the trend is towards employing
Iraqis instead of Westerners and, crucially, the Iraqi authorities ... are clamping down. "We
are loathed out here. We are the single most hated entity in Iraq," said Ethan Madison, a
security contractor who has worked in Baghdad for five years.
Note: For lots more on the illegal activities of US military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, click
here.
Blackwater Tapped Foreigners on Secret CIA Program

When the CIA revived a plan to kill or capture [alleged] terrorists in 2004, the agency turned to the
well-connected security company then known as Blackwater USA. With Blackwater's lucrative
government security work and contacts arrayed in hot spots around the world, company officials
offered the services of foreigners supposedly skilled at tracking [people] in lawless regions and
countries where the CIA had no working relationships with the government. But the CIA's use of
the private contractor as part of its now-abandoned plan to dispatch death squads skirted concerns
now re-emerging with recent disclosures about Blackwater's role. Blackwater's later hiring of
several senior CIA officials who were involved in or aware of the secret program, including one of
the men who ran the operation, showed the blurred lines of using a private contractor for such a
highly classified and dangerous project. The 2004 decision by CIA officials to entrust the North
Carolina-based company with such a sensitive overseas operation struck some former agency
officials as highly unusual. "The question remains: Why do we need Blackwater?" said Charles
Faddis, a former department chief at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center who retired in 2008 and
was not involved in the secret program. "I remain mystified. This is quintessential CIA work.
You wonder what it means that the CIA has to rely on Blackwater? Why are we still funding
the CIA?" The former senior CIA official who had knowledge of the program explained that "you
wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
Afghanistan Contractors Outnumber Troops

Even as U.S. troops surge to new highs in Afghanistan they are outnumbered by military
contractors working alongside them, according to a Defense Department census due to be
distributed to Congress -- illustrating how hard it is for the U.S. to wean itself from the large
numbers of war-zone contractors that proved controversial in Iraq. The number of military
contractors in Afghanistan rose to almost 74,000 by June 30, far outnumbering the roughly
58,000 U.S. soldiers on the ground at that point. As the military force in Afghanistan grows
further, to a planned 68,000 by the end of the year, the Defense Department expects the
ranks of contractors to increase more. Military contractors' personnel for a time outnumbered
U.S. troops in Iraq. The large contractor force was accompanied by issues ranging from
questionable costs billed to the government to shooting of civilians by armed security guards. A
September 2007 shooting incident involving Blackwater Worldwide guards working for the U.S.
State Department, in which 17 Iraqis were killed, forced the U.S. to aggressively rework oversight
of security firms. Yet in Afghanistan as in Iraq, the Pentagon has found that the military has shrunk
so much since the Cold War ended that it isn't big enough to sustain operations without using
companies to directly support military operations.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the use of private contractors by the US military in its
wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, click here.
A Window Into C.I.A.'s Embrace of Secret Jails

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/13foggo.html
In March 2003, two C.I.A. officials surprised Kyle D. Foggo, then the chief of the agency's main
European supply base, with an unusual request. They wanted his help building secret prisons to
hold some of the world's most threatening terrorists. Mr. Foggo, nicknamed Dusty, ... agreed to the
assignment. With that, Mr. Foggo went on to oversee construction of three detention centers, each
built to house about a half-dozen detainees. The existence of the network of prisons to detain and
interrogate [captives] has long been known, but details about them have been a closely guarded
secret. In recent interviews, though, several former intelligence officials have provided a fuller
account. Mr. Foggo acknowledged a role, which has never been previously reported. He pleaded
guilty last year to a fraud charge involving a contractor that equipped the C.I.A. jails and provided
other supplies to the agency, and he is now serving a three-year sentence in a Kentucky prison.
Eventually, the agency's network would encompass at least eight detention centers, including one
in the Middle East, one each in Iraq and Afghanistan and a maximum-security long-term site at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The C.I.A. has never officially disclosed the exact number of prisoners it
once held, but top officials have put the figure at fewer than 100. Mr. Foggo's success in Frankfurt,
including his work on the prisons, won him a promotion back in Washington. In November 2004,
he was named the C.I.A.'s executive director, in effect its day-to-day administrative chief. "It
was like taking a senior NCO and telling him he now runs the regiment," said A. B.
Krongard, the C.I.A.'s executive director from 2001 to 2004. "It popped people's eyes."
Note: Kyle "Dusty" Foggo's case is highly unusual. Very few high-level CIA officers have ever been
imprisoned for corruption. His predecessor as Executive Director of the CIA, quoted in the article
above, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, who held the office on 9/11, had been the chief executive of a
branch of the investment company which placed the still unexplained "put options" on American
and United Airlines stocks the week before the attacks, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars
of profits to "unknown" parties.
Questions for Dr. Marcia Angell

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/questions-for-dr-marcia-angell
[Anne Underwood:] President Obama hopes to increase the number of Americans with insurance
and to rein in costs. Do you believe any of the plans under consideration by Congress will
accomplish those goals? [Dr. Marcia Angell:] They wont, and thats the essential problem. If you
keep health care in the hands of for-profit companies, you can do one or the other increase
coverage by putting more money into the system, or control costs by decreasing coverage. But
you cannot do both unless you change the basic structure of the system. Q. Segments of the
health care industry pharmaceutical companies, for instance are promising to cut costs. A.
Its not going to happen. These are investor-owned companies. Their fiduciary responsibility is to
maximize profits. If they behaved like charities, heads would roll in the executive suites. Q. But
what about market mechanisms for reducing costs? Wouldnt the public option, for instance,
provide competition for the insurance companies? A. Theoretically it would, but I doubt the public
plan will pass. Industry is lobbying against it, and the president has not said this is a must. Even if
it does pass, Im afraid the private insurance industry will use their clout in Congress and
they have enormous clout in Congress to hobble the public option and use it as a
dumping ground for the sickest while they cream off the young and healthy for themselves.
Q. How? Wont insurance companies have to cover all applicants regardless of health status? A.
Its hard to regulate an enormous industry without setting up a bureaucracy to oversee it. Thats
very expensive and creates a whole new set of problems.
Note: Dr. Marcia Angell is a senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School and
former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. A longtime critic of the pharmaceutical
industry, she has called for an end to market-driven delivery of health care in the United States. To
read a two-page summary of her critique of market-driven health care, click here.
U.S. battling CIA rendition case in 3 courts

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/09/BAHQ195SJR.DTL
The Obama administration is fighting on multiple fronts - in courts in San Francisco,
Washington and London - to keep an official veil of secrecy over the treatment of a former
prisoner who says he was tortured at Guantanamo Bay. The administration has asked a
federal appeals court in San Francisco to reconsider its ruling allowing Binyam Mohamed and four
other former or current prisoners to sue a Bay Area company for allegedly flying them to overseas
torture chambers for the CIA. Most recently, a British government lawyer told her nation's High
Court last month that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had threatened to limit U.S.
intelligence-sharing with Great Britain if the court disclosed details of Mohamed's treatment in
Guantanamo. The British court declared in August 2008 that there was evidence Mohamed had
been tortured, but deleted the details from its public version of the ruling at the Bush
administration's insistence. Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian refugee and British resident, ... and four
other men have sued Jeppesen Dataplan, a San Jose subsidiary of the Boeing Co., for its alleged
role in arranging their flights for the CIA. A Council of Europe report in 2007 described Jeppesen
as the CIA's aviation services provider. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco
reinstated the suit in April, rejecting arguments originally made by the Bush administration that the
case posed grave risks to national security. Obama administration lawyers endorsed those
arguments at a hearing in February and have asked the court for a rehearing. Mohamed's lawyers,
Clive Stafford Smith and Ahmad Ghappour of the British human-rights group Reprieve, were
threatened with jail after drafting a letter to Obama in February urging him to release the evidence
of their client's treatment in U.S. custody or to authorize Britain to do so.
Note: For many illuminating reports from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
President Obama in 'snooping' row over US car scrappage scheme

2009-08-07, Times of London (One of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
President Obama's effort to revive the American car industry with a "cash-for-clunkers" scheme
has become embroiled in a row over government snooping. The problems arose after the
Department of Transportation claimed that when dealers logged on to the clunkers website their
computers and everything on them become the property of the US Government. This
application provides access to the Department of Transportation (DoT) CARS system, the
warning message read. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is
considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the United States
Government. Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted,
monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorised CARS, DoT,
and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorised officials of other agencies, both domestic
and foreign." By the time the disclaimer had been circulated widely on blogs, posted on YouTube
and become the subject of a ferocious on-air editorial by the conservative Fox News host Glenn
Beck, the Department of Transportation had issued a statement saying that we are working to
revise the language. No explanation was given as to why the original disclaimer was worded so
aggressively. Members of the general public do not need to log on to the website so were not
asked to agree to the same conditions as dealers. Mr Obamas ... critics argue that the
controversy is another example of the intrusiveness that will accompany the Presidents plans
to expand the role of government in the lives of Americans.
Note: Watch a revealing Fox news video report of this unbelievable development at this link. Big
Brother at work.
Will Safety Fears Hurt Swine Flu Vaccinations?

2009-07-30, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFluNews/story?id=8206167
With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hoping to have 120 million doses of
H1N1 swine flu virus vaccine ready before flu season this fall, some are raising concerns over
what they see as an effort to rush the drug through safety trials. The source of many of these
concerns is the probability that the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal will be an
ingredient in some of the doses of the new vaccine. Concern over thimerosal has lingered
for years. Groups opposed to current vaccination practices continue to condemn thimerosal as a
toxin responsible for the development of autism and related ailments in children. Additionally, the
possibility that the swine flu vaccine could also contain an adjuvant, an ingredient that would allow
more doses to be created from existing supplies of the vaccine, has also worried these groups.
"We don't have adequate safety studies on this vaccine before we are moving forward to market,"
said Lyn Redwood, president and co-founder of the group SafeMinds. "I'm really not convinced
that we know for sure that the risk of the disease outweighs the risk of the vaccine, especially
since this is a brand new additive that we have never used before in combination with thimerosal."
During the 1976-77 flu season, a vaccine developed to prevent the spread of a strain of the swine
flu was linked to an as-yet-unexplained increase in cases of a rare neurological condition known as
Guillain-Barre syndrome in those who received immunizations.
Note: For many powerful reports from reliable sources on the dangers of vaccines, click here.
Military Poised to Help FEMA Battle Swine Flu Outbreak

2009-07-29, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/29/military-poised-help-fema-battle-s...
The Pentagon is preparing to make troops available if necessary to help the Federal Emergency
Management Agency tackle a potential outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, FOX News has
confirmed. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is preparing to sign an order authorizing the
military to set up five regional teams to deal with the potential outbreak of H1N1 influenza if
FEMA requests help. A senior U.S. defense official told FOX News that the plan calls for
military task forces to work in conjunction with the FEMA. No final decision has been reached
on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it likely would include personnel
from all branches of the military. It is not known how many troops would be needed and whether
they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces. In the event of a
major outbreak, civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts, the official said. The military, as it
would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and
fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers
of viral samples from infected patients. As a first step, military leaders have asked Gates to
authorize planning for the potential assistance. Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed
later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said.
Note: In conjunction with all the other evidence that the swine flu scare is bogus, it appears that it
may also be designed to provide a "wedge" to break down the prohibition, established by the
Posse Comitatus Act, against use of military troops in domestic operations. For many revealing
reports from reliable sources on government and military threats to civil liberties, click here.
Members of C Street start spilling secrets

2009-07-20, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32027040/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show
RACHEL MADDOW: Going public seems to sort of be a theme this week for [South Carolina
Governor Mark] Sanford and other associates of C Street, the secretive ministry and living quarters
for several members of Congress at which Gov. Sanford and Sen. John Ensign of Nevada both
received some sort of counseling during their extramarital affairs. Joining us now is Jeff Sharlet
who wrote about ... C Street in his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of
American Power. While you were undercover in the family doing the reporting for Harpers and for
your book, you actually attended a meeting between Congressman [Rep. Todd Tiahrt, Republican
of Kansas] and Doug Coe, who is the long-time leader of the family. What happened at that
meeting and what impression did you get of Mr. Tiahrts position in the family? SHARLET: Yes. It
was a spiritual counseling session, precisely the sort that Ensign and Sanford were having. Tiahrt
also sort of had sex on the brain but of a different sort. He was very concerned with the number of
babies Muslims are having. He said Americans are killing too many of their babies while Muslims
are having too many, and we need to have more babies and outlaw abortion so that we can win
the race with the Muslims. What happened was that Doug Coe, the leader of the family, said thats
fine as far as it goes, but doesnt go far enough. He said to Congressman Tiahrt, I want you to
think bigger. I want you to think of Jesus plus nothing, thats what he said. Its a phrase
they mean to suggest something they call the totalitarianism of Christ. I think he was
introducing Tiahrt into the sort of the advanced lessons of the family.
Note: For lots more highly revealing information on the secretive C Street group and "The Family,"
click here.
Swine flu doses on way to Wales

2009-07-13, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/wales_politics/8148345.stm
Enough doses of swine flu vaccines for everyone in Wales should begin arriving in the next few
weeks. Latest figures show 64 confirmed Welsh cases, but new counting methods mean up to 1m
people in Wales could be diagnosed with the illness long term. Up to six million doses would
become available, with two per person, and those most at risk would be first in line to receive a
jab. Experts will carry out tests and work out how to administer the vaccine. Wales' chief medical
officer Dr Tony Jewell said it would be a huge logistical exercise. Dr Jewell said the vaccine would
reduce the impact of a second phase of swine flu. "It will put us in a good position to modify it. It is
an unprecedented situation," he said. So far 64 cases of swine flu in Wales have been confirmed
by laboratory testing. Latest figures across Wales reveal that 426 people have gone to their
local doctor in the past week with flu-like symptoms. Three were admitted to hospital over
the last few days. Health officials said for every 100,000 people there have been 14.2 cases of
flu-like illnesses. But Wales is behind other parts of the UK for infection rates. In Scotland the rate
is 23.6 cases, while in England it is 51.9 cases. Seven people in Wales with swine flu had to be
hospitalised but five have since been discharged. 17 people in the UK have died - all but one of
them had underlying health problems. Experts say that for most people the illness is mild and gets
better within five to seven days.
Note: 426 people had flu-like symptoms? Couldn't that be the normal flu? And all but one of the 17
who died had underlying health problems. Hmmmm. So why are they preparing six million vaccine
doses? Could there be lots of money to be made here? A Wall Street Journal article states that $1
billion of our tax dollars have already been set aside with $7.5 billion more on the way. For more
reliable information on manipulations involving swine flu, click here and here.
Report: Bush program extended beyond wiretapping

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-07-10-report-surveillance_N.htm
The Bush administration built an unprecedented surveillance operation to pull in mountains

of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, a team of
federal inspectors general reported Friday, questioning the legal basis for the effort but shielding
almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal. The report, compiled by five
inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies
under an executive order signed by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror
attacks. Just what those activities involved remains classified, but the IGs pointedly say that any
continued use of the secret programs must be "carefully monitored." The report says too few
relevant officials knew of the size and depth of the program, let alone signed off on it. They
particularly criticize John Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general who wrote legal memos
undergirding the policy. His boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was not aware until March 2004
of the exact nature of the intelligence operations beyond wiretapping that he had been approving
for the previous two and a half years, the report says. Most of the intelligence leads generated
under what was known as the "President's Surveillance Program" did not have any
connection to terrorism, the report said. The only piece of the intelligence-gathering operation
acknowledged by the Bush White House was the wiretapping-without-warrants effort. Although the
report documents Bush administration policies, its fallout could be a problem for the Obama
administration if it inherited any or all of the still-classified operations.
Note: For many disturbing reports on increasing threats to privacy under the pretext of protection
against terrorism, click here.
U.S. to vaccinate millions against swine flu

School-age children will be a key target population for a pandemic flu vaccine in the fall,
and they may be vaccinated at school in a mass campaign not seen since the polio
epidemics of the 1950s. The federal government should get about 100 million doses of
vaccine by mid-October, if the current production by five companies goes as planned. But
enough vaccine for wide use by the 120 million people especially vulnerable to the newly emerged
strain of H1N1 influenza virus will not be available until later in the fall. Those were among the
messages administration officials delivered to about 500 state, territorial, city and tribal health
officials yesterday at a "flu summit" at the National Institutes of Health's Bethesda campus.
President Obama, speaking by audio link from the Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila, Italy, urged
"complete ownership" of preparations for what he termed a "significant outbreak" of H1N1 flu in the
next few months. "We want to make sure that we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting
vigilance and preparation," he said. He added that "the most important thing for us to do is to make
sure that state and local officials prepare now to implement a vaccination program in the fall."
Children, pregnant women, adults with chronic illnesses, and health-care workers would probably
be first in line for the vaccine, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the
gathering. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said "we would absolutely welcome" the idea that the
nation's schools be a principal venue for delivering the vaccine. He called them "natural sites" and
said that "to open our doors and be part of the solution really makes sense."
Note: The fear-mongering and vaccination plan continues. Note the Post's claim that "more than 1
million Americans have become ill from it." Where did they get this number? The CDC website at
this link as of July 10th claims around 40,000 cases in the US. Could this mistake have been
intentional? For lots more on this, see this link. And to watch a powerful segment from CBS 60
Minutes showing how government propoganda killed and maimed thousands during the swine flu
scare of 1976, click here.
Cybersecurity Plan to Involve NSA, Telecoms

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security
Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks,
with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.
President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack
would not involve "monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic," and Department of
Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from
government systems. But the program has provoked debate within DHS, the officials said,
because of uncertainty about whether private data can be shielded from unauthorized scrutiny,
how much of a role NSA should play and whether the agency's involvement in warrantless
wiretapping during George W. Bush's presidency would draw controversy. Each time a private
citizen visited a "dot-gov" Web site or sent an e-mail to a civilian government employee,
that action would be screened for potential harm to the network. Under a classified pilot
program approved during the Bush administration, NSA data and hardware would be used to
protect the networks of some civilian government agencies. Part of an initiative known as Einstein
3, the plan called for telecommunications companies to route the Internet traffic of civilian agencies
through a monitoring box that would search for and block computer codes designed to penetrate or
otherwise compromise networks. AT&T, the world's largest telecommunications firm, was the Bush
administration's choice to participate in the test. AT&T officials declined to comment. The prospect
of NSA involvement in cybersecurity ... fuels concerns about unwarranted government snooping
into private communication."
Note: For lots more on government and corporate threats to privacy, click here and here.
Torture, the painful truth

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenreich15-2009jun15,0,512919.story
Perhaps we protest too much. Torture, after all, is a venerable American tradition. If not quite as
homespun as apple pie or lynching, it is at least as old as our imperial aspirations. We were
waterboarding captives in one of our earliest wars of occupation, the Philippine-American War,
which cost as many as 1 million civilian lives. In 1902, Teddy Roosevelt himself wrote with laconic
praise of "the old Filipino method." Other techniques, crude or sophisticated, have filled the war
bag since. CIA interrogation manuals from the 1960s, which lay out the basic stress-position and
sleep- and sensory-deprivation techniques later applied at Bagram and Guantanamo, have been
public since 1997. Despite our protestations, we have little to be surprised about. Now, when
President Obama vows that "the United States does not torture" and spars with the former vice
president over details, he crosses his fingers behind his back and saves himself a loophole. Via
"extraordinary rendition" -- a Clinton administration innovation -- our government is still
free to outsource torture and claim it doesn't know. The Obama administration has been
relying increasingly on foreign intelligence services to detain and interrogate our suspects
for us. Despite hundreds of front-page stories, we pretend we didn't know, that it was all somehow
kept secret from us. This blindness serves a function. By declaring torture anomalous, by pushing
it once again to the margins of legality, we can preserve a vision of U.S. military power -- and of
American empire -- that is essentially benevolent. [But] maintaining military and economic
hegemony over the planet remains an inherently bloody affair. Empire is a synonym for
subjugation, and hence for violence on a massive scale.
Note: For a retired Marine Corps general's understanding of the real reasons behind both torture
and mass slaughter of civilian populations by the US military, click here.
Lawmakers Reveal Health-Care Investments

Almost 30 key lawmakers helping draft landmark health-care legislation have financial holdings in
the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be
dramatically reshaped by this summer's debate. The list of members who have personal
investments in the corporations that will be affected by the legislation -- which President Obama
has called this year's highest domestic priority -- includes Congress's most powerful leaders and a
bipartisan collection of lawmakers in key committee posts. Their total health-care holdings could
be worth $27 million, because congressional financial disclosure forms released yesterday require
reporting of only broad ranges of holdings rather than precise values of assets. Senate Majority
Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), for instance, has at least $50,000 invested in a health-care index,
and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), a senior member of the health committee, has between $254,000
and $560,000 worth of stock holdings in major health-care companies, including Bristol-Myers
Squibb and Merck. The family of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), a senior member of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee drafting that chamber's legislation, held at least $3.2 million in
more than 20 health-care companies at the end of last year. "If someone is going to be
substantially enriched by the consequences of the vote, particularly if it represents a

meaningful amount of their net worth, then there is a problem," said Harlan Krumholz, a
professor of medicine at Yale University.
Note: For more powerful information on major corruption in health care reform, click here. For lots
more on government corruption from reliable, verfiiable sources, click here.
Informer's Role in Bombing Plot

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/nyregion/23informant.html
Everyone called the stranger with all the money "Maqsood." He would sit in his Mercedes, waiting
in the parking lot of the mosque in Newburgh, N.Y., until the Friday prayer was over. Then,
according to members of the mosque, the Masjid al-Ikhlas, he approached the young men. The
man, a Pakistani, occasionally approached the assistant imam of the mosque. In time, many of the
mosque's older members had made the man for a government informant, according to mosque
leaders. They said that he seemed to focus most of his attention on younger black members and
visitors. "It's easy to influence someone with the dollar," said Mr. Muhammed, a longtime member
of the mosque. "Especially these guys coming out of prison." The members of the mosque now
believe that Maqsood was the government informant at the center of the case involving four men
from Newburgh arrested and charged this week with having plotted to explode bombs at Jewish
centers in New York City. The government case revolves significantly around the work of an
informant who facilitated the men's desire to mount a terrorist attack. The role of
informants has been a constant in the terror cases made by federal and local authorities
since 9/11. And just as constant have been the attempts by lawyers for those charged to portray
their clients as dupes, people who would not have committed to do harm without the provocation of
the informants. The informant was not identified in court papers unsealed on Wednesday in
Manhattan. But according to a person briefed on the case, the informant is Shahed Hussain, the
central prosecution witness in a 2004 federal sting focusing on a pizzeria owner and an imam at an
Albany mosque.
To meet June deadline, US and Iraqis redraw city borders

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0519/p06s05-wome.html
On a map of Baghdad, the US Army's Forward Operating Base Falcon is clearly within city
limits. Except that Iraqi and American military officials have decided it's not. As the June 30
deadline for US soldiers to be out of Iraqi cities approaches, there are no plans to relocate the
roughly 3,000 American troops who help maintain security in south Baghdad along what were the
fault lines in the sectarian war. "We and the Iraqis decided it wasn't in the city," says a US
military official. The base on the southern outskirts of Baghdad's Rasheed district is an example
of the fluidity of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) agreed to late last year, which orders all
US combat forces out of Iraqi cities, towns, and villages by June 30. Although the mission for most
brigades and battalions is not expected to substantially change after June 30, US military officials
have stopped using the term forward operating base in favor of the more benign-sounding
contingency operating site. The SOFA and a wider strategic framework agreement set out a
relationship between the US and Iraq very different from that of the military occupation of the past
six years. One of the challenges of that new relationship is how the US can continue to wield
influence on key decisions without being seen to do so. "For so long we have been one of the
driving forces here ... it is such a hard habit to break," says a senior US State Department official.
"I think we need to do everything we can not to make ourselves an issue. It has to be seen here as
doing it quietly ... so that you are not doing things for the Iraqis, the Iraqis are doing things for
themselves but with your help and we remain in the shadows.... It's a very delicate choreography,"
adds the State Department official.
Note: For a trove of revealing reports on the deceptive strategies used by the US to advance its
wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, click here.
Thriving Norway Provides an Economics Lesson

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/business/global/14frugal.html
When capitalism seemed on the verge of collapse last fall, Kristin Halvorsen, Norways Socialist
finance minister and a longtime free market skeptic, did more than crow. As investors the world
over sold in a panic, she bucked the tide, authorizing Norways $300 billion sovereign wealth fund
to ramp up its stock buying program by $60 billion or about 23 percent of Norway's economic
output. "The timing was not that bad," Ms. Halvorsen said, smiling with satisfaction over the broad
worldwide market rally that began in early March. The global financial crisis has brought low
the economies of just about every country on earth. But not Norway. With a quirky
contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged
landscape, Norway has thrived by going its own way. When others splurged, it saved. When
others sought to limit the role of government, Norway strengthened its cradle-to-grave welfare
state. And in the midst of the worst global downturn since the Depression, Norways economy
grew last year by just under 3 percent. The government enjoys a budget surplus of 11 percent.
Norway is a relatively small country with a ... population of 4.6 million and the advantages of being
a major oil exporter. Even though prices have sharply declined, the government is not particularly
worried. That is because Norway avoided the usual trap that plagues many energy-rich countries.
Instead of spending its riches lavishly, it passed legislation ensuring that oil revenue went straight
into its sovereign wealth fund, state money that is used to make investments around the world.
Now its sovereign wealth fund is close to being the largest in the world.
Note: For lots more on the global economic and financial crisis from reliable sources, click here.
Justice Dept. Finds Flaws in F.B.I. Terror List

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/us/07terror.html
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has incorrectly kept nearly 24,000 people on a terrorist watch
list on the basis of outdated or sometimes irrelevant information. By the beginning of 2009, the
report said, this consolidated government watch list comprised about 400,000 people, recorded as
1.1 million names and aliases, an exponential growth from the days before the attacks of Sept. 11,
2001. The new report, by the office of the Justice Departments inspector general, provides the
most authoritative statistical account to date of the problems connected with the list. An earlier
report by the inspector general, released in March 2008, looked mainly at flaws in the system,
without an emphasis on the number of people caught up in it. The list has long been a target of
public criticism, particularly after well-publicized errors in which politicians including Senator
Edward M. Kennedy and Representative John Lewis showed up on it. People with names similar
to actual terrorists have complained that it can take months to be removed from the list, and civil
liberties advocates charge that antiwar protesters, Muslim activists and others have been listed for
political reasons. One of the biggest problems identified in the report was the use of outdated
information, or material unconnected to terrorism, to keep people on the bureaus own terror watch
list, which is incorporated in the consolidated list. The report, examining nearly 69,000 referrals
to the F.B.I. list that were either brought or processed by the bureau, found that 35 percent
of those people, both Americans and foreigners, remained on the list despite inadequate
justification.
Note: For many detailed reports from reliable sources indicating the "war on terror" isn't really what
it's claimed to be, click here.
Hints That Detainees May Be Held on U.S. Soil

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/us/politics/01gitmo.html
As many as 100 detainees at the prison at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, could end up held without trial
on American soil, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates suggested Thursday, a situation that he
acknowledged would create widespread if not unanimous opposition in Congress. The estimate
was the most specific yet from the Obama administration about how many of the 241 prisoners at
Guantnamo could not be safely released, sent to other countries or appropriately tried in
American courts. Mr. Gates said discussions had started this week with the Justice Department
about determining how many of the Guantnamo detainees could not be sent to other countries or
tried in courts. He did not say which detainees might be in that group, but independent experts
have said it probably would include terrorism suspects whom the military has not yet brought
charges against, among them detainees from Yemen and the Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah, who
was subjected to brutal interrogation in secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency. He
did not say ... under what law they would be held. The Obama administration is debating how
to establish a legal basis for incarcerating detainees deemed too dangerous to be released
but not appropriate to be tried because of potential problems posed by their harsh
interrogations, the evidence against them or other issues. Mr. Gates said he had asked for
$50 million in supplemental financing in case a facility needed to be built quickly for the detainees.
Note: Ironically, it would seem from these plans revealed by Gates that closing the prison in
Guantanamo is going to be used as the pretext to establish indefinite detention, without the right of
habeas corpus, on American soil. But the reason for the widespread demand to close the prison is
precisely to end such detentions! Do they think no one will notice? For many revealing reports from
reliable sources on government attempts to erode civil liberties, click here.
Waterboarding, Interrogations: The CIA's $1,000 a Day Specialists

2009-04-30, ABC News
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7471217
According to current and former government officials, the CIA's secret waterboarding program was
designed and assured to be safe by two well-paid psychologists now working out of an unmarked
office building in Spokane, Washington. Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers,
together founded Mitchell Jessen and Associates. Both men declined to speak to ABC News citing
non-disclosure agreements with the CIA. But sources say Jessen and Mitchell together designed
and implemented the CIA's interrogation program. "It's clear that these psychologists had an
important role in developing what became the CIA's torture program," said Jameel Jaffer, an
attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. Former U.S. officials say the two men were
essentially the architects of the CIA's 10-step interrogation plan that culminated in waterboarding.
Associates say the two made good money doing it, boasting of being paid a $1,000 a day by
the CIA to oversee the use of the techniques on top al Qaeda suspects at CIA secret sites.
Both Mitchell and Jessen were previously involved in the U.S. military program to train pilots how
to survive behind enemy lines and resist brutal tactics if captured. But it turns out neither Mitchell
nor Jessen had any experience in conducting actual interrogations before the CIA hired them. The
new documents show the CIA later came to learn that the two psychologists' waterboarding
"expertise" was probably "misrepresented" and thus, there was no reason to believe it was
"medically safe" or effective. The waterboarding used on al Qaeda detainees was far more intense
than the brief sessions used on U.S. military personnel in the training classes.
Note: For lots more on CIA torture and other recent government attacks on civil liberties, click
here.
Chrysler rejects new loan over exec pay limits

2009-04-21, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/04/21/chrysler.loan/
Chrysler turned down additional government funding this month because executives at the
troubled auto manufacturer could not agree to new government-mandated limits on
executive pay, according to a source familiar with the matter. An official with Chrysler Financial
told CNN that the loan was turned down because the company "has determined that it has
adequate private capital funding to cover the short-term needs of our dealers and customers and
as such, no additional TARP funding is necessary at this time." The official also said that company
executives "have not been presented with any new demands with regard to executive
compensation." Chrysler already borrowed $1.5 billion from the Treasury under the Troubled Asset
Relief Program, or TARP, but those loans were made under less strict regulations pertaining to
executive compensation. The Washington Post, which first reported the story online Monday, said
the amount of the loan Chrysler rejected was $750 million. A Treasury department spokesman
declined to confirm the loan rejection, but told CNN that the administration's Auto Task Force
continues to monitor the financing situations for Chrysler and General Motors. "This is an issue
that Chrysler and its stakeholders will need to address as part of this process," the spokesman
said.
Note: The reason many banks are giving back government loans is very likely also because of
executive pay limits. The limits were reported in a NY Times article on Feb. 14, 2009. Not long
after came the first news that banks were considering returning the bailout money. Do you think
these top execs are more interested in their own paychecks or the health of the company? For a
highly revealing archive of reports on the hidden realities underlying the Wall Street bailout, click
here.
The G20 moves the world a step closer to a global currency

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/5096524/The...
The world is a step closer to a global currency, backed by a global central bank, running monetary
policy for all humanity. A single clause in Point 19 of the communiqu issued by the G20 leaders
amounts to revolution in the global financial order. "We have agreed to support a general SDR
allocation which will inject $250bn (170bn) into the world economy and increase global liquidity," it
said. SDRs are Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic paper currency issued by the International
Monetary Fund that has lain dormant for half a century.In effect, the G20 leaders have activated
the IMF's power to create money and begin global "quantitative easing". In doing so, they
are putting a de facto world currency into play. It is outside the control of any sovereign
body. Conspiracy theorists will love it. There is now a world currency in waiting. In time,
SDRs are likely evolve into a parking place for the foreign holdings of central banks, led by the
People's Bank of China. Beijing's moves this week to offer $95bn in yuan currency swaps to
developing economies show how fast China aims to break dollar dependence.
click here.
Banks Get New Leeway in Valuing Their Assets

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/business/03fasb.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pa...
A once-obscure accounting rule that infuriated banks ... was changed Thursday to give banks
more discretion in reporting the value of mortgage securities. The change seems likely to allow
banks to report higher profits by assuming that the securities are worth more than anyone
is now willing to pay for them. But critics objected that the change could further damage
the credibility of financial institutions by enabling them to avoid recognizing losses from
bad loans they have made. Critics also said that since the rules were changed under heavy
political pressure, the move compromised the independence of the organization that did it, the
Financial Accounting Standards Board. During the financial crisis, the market prices of many
securities, particularly those backed by subprime home mortgages, have plunged to fractions of
their original prices. That has forced banks to report hundreds of billions of dollars in losses over
the last year, because some of those securities must be reported at market value each three
months, with the bank showing a profit or loss based on the change. At first FASB ... resisted
making changes, but that changed within a few days of a Congressional hearing at which
legislators from both parties demanded the board act. There is a perception that we are yielding to
political pressure, one board member, Lawrence W. Smith, said as he voted for the changes. A
group headed by two former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission, one who
served under President Bill Clinton and one who was appointed by President George W. Bush,
said that it feared that politicization of accounting standards would destroy the credibility of the
board.
'US graft adds to Mexico's woes'

2009-03-30, BBC News
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has warned that corruption among American officials may be
making it harder to deal with drug-trafficking between Mexico and the US. Mr Calderon said
violence in the border city of Juarez had fallen by 73% in the month since he sent 7,000 extra
troops there. There has been open warfare in Juarez for more than a year; last year, 5,600 people
were killed in drug-related attacks in Mexico, many in Juarez. President Calderon said it was
impossible to smuggle [tons] of cocaine into the United States without the complicity of some
American authorities. "There is trafficking in Mexico because there is corruption in Mexico," he told
the BBC. "But by the same argument if there is trafficking in the United States it is because
there is some corruption in the United States... It is impossible to pass tonnes of cocaine to
the United States without the complicity of some American authorities." The situation along
the border is very sensitive politically, and although the White House may wonder privately
whether there is some corruption among some American customs, immigration and police officials,
it is unlikely to admit it publicly.
Note: For powerfully revealing information on involvement of U.S. officials in the illegal drug trade,
click here.
Latest CIA Scandal Puts Focus on How Agency Polices Self

As a novice CIA case officer in the Middle East, Andrew Warren quickly learned the value of sex in
recruiting spies. Colleagues say that he made an early habit of taking informants to strip clubs, and
that he later began arranging out-of-town visits to brothels for his best recruits. Often Warren
would travel with them, according to two colleagues who worked with him for years. His methods
earned him promotions and notoriety over a lengthy career, until Warren, 41, became ensnared in
a sex scandal. Two Algerian women have accused the Virginia native of drugging and sexually
assaulting them, and, in one instance, videotaping the encounter. The episode -- one of three sexrelated scandals to shake the CIA this year -- has drawn harsh questions from Congress about
whether the agency adequately polices its far-flung workforce or takes sufficient steps to root out
corrupt behavior. Former officers say the cases underscore a perennial challenge: guarding
against scandal in a workforce -- the size of which is classified but is generally estimated to be
20,000 -- that prides itself on secrecy and deception. "You have an organization of professional
liars," said Tyler Drumheller, who oversaw hundreds of officers as chief of the agency's European
division. Experienced field managers are needed, he said, because inevitably "some people will
try to take advantage of the system . . . and it's a system that can be taken advantage of."
The recent string of embarrassing revelations started with the CIA's former No. 3 officer, Kyle
"Dusty" Foggo, who was indicted on corruption charges two years ago.
Note: For in-depth analysis of the continuing revelations of a long history of the CIA's use of sex to
control people, click here.
AIG - the biggest shark of all

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/18/ED0316IQ82.DTL
There must be a criminal investigation of the AIG debacle, and it looks as if New York's top
lawman is on the case. The collusion to save this toxic company in order to salvage the rogue
financiers who conspired to enrich themselves by impoverishing millions is being revealed as the
greatest financial scandal in U.S. history. Instead of taking bonuses, the culprits should be taking
perp walks. The real culprits are the AIG leaders who, as New York Attorney General Andrew
Cuomo revealed Tuesday, signed those bonus contracts a year ago to reward the very
people "principally responsible for the firm's meltdown." As Cuomo noted in a letter to Rep.
Barney Frank: "The contracts shockingly contain a provision that required most individuals'
bonuses to be 100 percent of their 2007 bonuses. Eleven of the individuals who received
'retention' bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received
$4.6 million." But the $165 million in taxpayer funds used to reward them is but a sideshow in a far
larger drama of moral decay swirling around the banking bailout. It should not distract from the
many billions, not paltry millions, of our dollars being diverted to reward the very folks who brought
us such misery. Consider the $12.8 billion of the $170 billion that taxpayers gave AIG in bailout
funds that AIG then secretly diverted to Goldman Sachs, a company that evidently has a lock on
both the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve no matter which political party is in power.
Note: For an excellent analysis of "the real AIG conspiracy", click here. For lots more on the
hidden realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Spitzer Takes Aim at Real Disgrace at A.I.G.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/spitzer-takes-aim-at-real-disgra...
Eliot Spitzer must miss his glory days when he was the scourge of Wall Street as New Yorks
attorney general. With the bonus battle exploding at the American International Group, Mr. Spitzer
has jumped into the fray and dismissed the bonus scandal, arguing that it is obscuring the real
disgrace at A.I.G. Why are A.I.G.s counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of
billions of taxpayer dollars? he asks in an article on Slate. Mr. Spitzer notes that A.I.G.s trading
parties were all the big banks including Goldman Sachs, many of which received billions of dollars
from the governments Troubled Asset Relief Program. So now we know for sure what we already
surmised: The A.I.G. bailout has been a way to hide an enormous second round of cash to the
same group that had received TARP money already, he writes. It all appears, once again, to be
the same insiders protecting themselves against sharing the pain and risk of their own bad
adventure, Mr. Spitzer writes. Recounting how the economic crisis is affecting workers, with tax
increases, pay cuts and layoffs, Mr. Spitzer asks: Why cant Wall Street royalty shoulder some
of the burden? Why did Goldman have to get back 100 cents on the dollar? Didnt we
already give Goldman a $25 billion capital infusion, and arent they sitting on more than
$100 billion in cash? What is the deeper relationship between Goldman and A.I.G.?
Note: For the article written in 2008 by former NY Governor Spitzer which likely caused him to be
targeted for a takedown just weeks later, click here. For lots more on the hidden realities of the
Pennsylvania rocked by 'jailing kids for cash' scandal

2009-02-23, CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-23/justice/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges_1_dete...
At a friend's sleepover more than a year ago, 14-year-old Phillip Swartley pocketed change from
unlocked vehicles in the neighborhood to buy chips and soft drinks. The cops caught him. There
was no need for an attorney, said Phillip's mother, Amy Swartley, who thought at most, the judge
would slap her son with a fine or community service. But she was shocked to find her eighth-
grader handcuffed and shackled in the courtroom and sentenced to a youth detention center.
Then, he was shipped to a boarding school for troubled teens for nine months. The justice system
in Luzerne County, in the heart of Pennsylvania's struggling coal country, has also fallen prey to
corruption. The county has been rocked by a kickback scandal involving two elected judges
who essentially jailed kids for cash. Many of the children had appeared before judges
without a lawyer. The nonprofit Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia said Phillip is one of at
least 5,000 children over the past five years who appeared before former Luzerne County
President Judge Mark Ciavarella. Ciavarella pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal criminal
charges of fraud and other tax charges, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Former Luzerne
County Senior Judge Michael Conahan also pleaded guilty to the same charges. The two secretly
received more than $2.6 million, prosecutors said.
Note: Yet another example of corruption in the legal system. Sadly, federal officers of high rank are
often as easily overcome by greed as the average person.
Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash

For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre [PA] operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters
were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and
then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses. The explanation, prosecutors say,
was corruption on the bench. In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two
Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send
teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers. Ive never encountered, and I dont
think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids lives were just
tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money, said Marsha Levick, an
attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of
youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre. Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and
Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child
Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26
and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward. The high court
... is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned. Among
the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars,
writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before.
Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Note: For many insights into government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Curtailing executives' pay? Good luck with that

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/05/BUHF15NF2U.DTL
Will President Obama's new plan to rein in executive compensation at companies receiving
taxpayer money be more successful than previous attempts? Not if history is any guide. Since at
least 1984, Congress and accounting authorities have enacted measures designed in whole or
part to stem runaway pay. Yet compensation for top executives has continued to climb in both
dollar terms and as a multiple of average worker pay. In 1992, the average chief executive
earned $5 million, or 126 times the average hourly worker. By 2007, the average CEO was
earning $12.3 million, or 275 times the average worker. No matter what Congress cooks up, it
seems like executives, companies and their consultants find a way over, under or through the
rules. "It's like putting up a dam for a river. The water tries very hard to find a way around it," says
John Olson, a partner with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher who advises corporate boards on
compensation and other matters. Obama's plan will apply only to companies taking bailout money
in the future and has escape hatches of its own. "You can try all these different reforms," [says
Corey Rosen, executive director of the National Center for Employee Ownership,] but none will be
truly effective "unless the board of directors, the media and public stop thinking of executives as
superstars and that if we just get the right CEO, everything will be OK."
Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-rendition1-2009feb...
The CIA's secret prisons are being shuttered. Harsh interrogation techniques are off-limits. And
Guantanamo Bay will eventually go back to being a wind-swept naval base on the southeastern
corner of Cuba. But even while dismantling these programs, President Obama left intact an equally
controversial counter-terrorism tool. Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still
has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of
prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States. Current and former U.S.
intelligence officials said that the rendition program might be poised to play an expanded
role going forward because it was the main remaining mechanism -- aside from Predator
missile strikes -- for taking suspected terrorists off the street. The rendition program became
a source of embarrassment for the CIA, and a target of international scorn, as details emerged in
recent years of botched captures, mistaken identities and allegations that prisoners were turned
over to countries where they were tortured. The European Parliament condemned renditions as
"an illegal instrument used by the United States." Prisoners swept up in the program have sued the
CIA as well as a Boeing Co. subsidiary accused of working with the agency on dozens of rendition
flights. But the Obama administration appears to have determined that the rendition program was
one component of the Bush administration's war on terrorism that it could not afford to discard. The
decision underscores the fact that the [War on Terror] is far from over.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the War on Terror, click here.
U.N. crime chief says drug money flowed into banks

2009-01-25, International Herald Tribune/Reuters News
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2009/01/25/europe/OUKWD-UK-FINANCIAL-UN-D...
The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade
has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on
Sunday. Vienna-based UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview
released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when
the crisis spiralled out of control last year. "In many instances, drug money is currently the only
liquid investment capital," Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. "In the second half of 2008,
liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important
factor." The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that "interbank loans
were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities," Costa
was quoted as saying. There were "signs that some banks were rescued in that way." Profil
said Costa declined to identify countries or banks which may have received drug money and gave
no indication how much cash might be involved.
Note:. For powerful evidence that corporations and even rogue elements of government are
involved in the huge amounts of cash generated in the drug trade, click here. For lots more on
Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele 'created twin town in Brazil'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/4307262/Nazi-an...
The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele is responsible for the astonishing number of twins in a small
Brazilian town, an Argentine historian has claimed. The steely hearted "Angel of Death", whose
mission was to create a master race fit for the Third Reich, was the resident medic at Auschwitz
from May 1943 until his flight in the face of the Red Army advance in January 1945. His task was
to carry out experiments to discover by what method of genetic quirk twins were produced and
then to artificially increase the Aryan birthrate for his master, Adolf Hitler. Now, a historian claims,
Mengele's notorious experiments may have borne fruit. For years scientists have failed to discover
why as many as one in five pregnancies in a small Brazilian town have resulted in twins most of
them blond haired and blue eyed. But residents of Candido Godoi now claim that Mengele
made repeated visits there in the early 1960s, posing at first as a vet but then offering
medical treatment to the women of the town. Shuttling between Argentina, Paraguay and
Brazil, he managed to evade justice before his death in 1979, but his dreams of a Nazi master
race appeared unfulfilled. In a new book, Mengele [in Spanish], the Argentine historian Jorge
Camarasa, a specialist in the post-war Nazi flight to South America, has painstakingly pieced
together the Nazi doctor's mysterious later years. After speaking to the townspeople of Candido
Godoi, he is convinced that Mengele continued his genetic experiments with twins with startling
results.
Note: For more about Josef Mengele, and his relationship with the CIA, click here.
U.S. Debt Expected To Soar This Year

With President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats considering a massive
spending package aimed at pulling the nation out of recession, the national debt is projected to
jump by as much as $2 trillion this year, an unprecedented increase that could test the world's
appetite for financing U.S. government spending. For now, investors are frantically stuffing money
into the relative safety of the U.S. Treasury, which has come to serve as the world's mattress in
troubled times. Interest rates on Treasury bills have plummeted to historic lows, with some shortterm investors literally giving the government money for free. But about 40 percent of the debt held
by private investors will mature in a year or less, according to Treasury officials. When those loans
come due, the Treasury will have to borrow more money to repay them, even as it launches
perhaps the most aggressive expansion of U.S. debt in modern history. With the government
planning to roll over its short-term loans into more stable, long-term securities, experts say
investors are likely to demand a greater return on their money, saddling taxpayers with huge new
interest payments for years to come. Some analysts also worry that foreign investors, the
largest U.S. creditors, may prove unable to absorb the skyrocketing debt, undermining
confidence in the United States as the bedrock of the global financial system.
Note: For many revealing reports on the realities of the Wall Street bailout and its impacts on the
national debt, click here.
Cheney says he gets to decide which records to archive

2008-12-19, Los Angeles Times/Associated Press
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cheney19-2008dec19,0,781...
Dick Cheney's lawyers are asserting that the vice president alone has the authority to determine
which records, if any, from his tenure will be handed over to the National Archives when he leaves
office in January. That claim is in federal court documents asking that a lawsuit over the records be
dismissed. Cheney leaves office Jan. 20, potentially taking millions of records that might otherwise
become public. Cheney is being sued by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a
watchdog group that is trying to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a
way that makes them unavailable to the public. The 1978 Presidential Records Act requires that all
presidential and vice presidential records to be transferred to the National Archives immediately
upon the end of the president's last term and charges the archivist with preserving and controlling
access to presidential records. The law allows exceptions for personal or purely party records. But
the law is unclear on how disagreements will be resolved about disputed records, said Steven
Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists. "Decisions that
are made in the next couple of weeks may prove irrevocable. If records are held from the
archivist now, they may never be recovered," Aftergood said. A judge in September ordered
Cheney to preserve all records while the suit continued.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
UAW busting, Southern style

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-raynor18-2008dec18,0,406...
The foreign nonunion auto companies located in the South have a plan to reduce wages and
benefits at their factories in the United States. And to do it, they need to destroy the United Auto
Workers. Last week, Senate Republicans from some Southern states went to work trying to do just
that, on the foreign car companies' behalf. [Republican] representatives from states that subsidize
companies such as Honda, Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan first tried to force the UAW to take
reductions in wages and benefits as a condition for supporting the auto industry bailout bill. When
the UAW refused, those senators torpedoed the bill. They claimed that they couldn't support the
bill without specifics about how wages would be "restructured." They didn't, however, require such
specificity when it came to bailing out the financial sector. Their grandstanding, and the
government's generally lackluster response to the auto crisis, highlight many of the
problems that have caused our current economic mess: the lack of concern about
manufacturing, the privileged way our government treats the financial sector, and political
support given to companies that attempt to slash worker's wages. When one compares how
the auto industry and the financial sector are being treated by Congress, the double standard is
staggering. At Goldman Sachs ... employee compensation made up 71% of total operating
expenses in 2007. In the auto industry, by contrast, autoworker compensation makes up less than
10% of the cost of manufacturing a car. Hundreds of billions were given to the financial-services
industry with barely a question about compensation; the auto bailout, however, was sunk on this
issue alone.
Note: For highly revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities of the Wall Street bailout,
click here.
UCSF says reports on drug trials skew positive

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/14/MNKF14GTLO.DTL
What are the pills in your medicine cabinet, and how do you know they're best for you? When drug
companies seek approval to market new medicines, they must show the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration the results of all the tests they've run on volunteer patients - at first on only a few,
then on dozens, and finally on hundreds or sometimes thousands. After winning approval, the
companies typically sponsor reports of those tests in medical journal publications, which many
doctors often rely on to determine whether to prescribe new drugs for their patients. Now a
skeptical team of medical investigators at UCSF has accused the major drug companies of
bias by distorting the results of their trials in those publications, making it hard for doctors
to judge for themselves the pros and cons of prescribing the new drugs. As a result, the
researchers say, patients may sometimes be taking medicines they don't need - or with unwanted
side effects - that their doctors have prescribed on the basis of inadequate information. The UCSF
team, led by Lisa A. Bero of the medical center's Institute for Health Policy Studies, probed the
details of 164 drug trials involving as many as 1,500 patients over a two-year period and then
examined reports on those trials that were published in medical journals, as well as those that
remained unpublished. "We found really important information from the official trial reports that
were either not published at all or that stressed mostly the positive results of trials in the published
versions," said Kristin Rising, a physician at the institute who did the major investigation.
Jim Rogers calls most big U.S. banks "bankrupt"

http://www.reuters.com/article/InvestmentOutlook09/idUSTRE4BA5CO20081211
Jim Rogers, one of the world's most prominent international investors, ... called most of the largest
U.S. banks "totally bankrupt," and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded. Cofounder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund, [Rogers] said the government's $700 billion
rescue package for the sector doesn't address how banks manage their balance sheets, and
instead rewards weaker lenders with new capital. "Without giving specific names, most of the
significant American banks, the larger banks, are bankrupt, totally bankrupt," said Rogers. "What is
outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who
are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets
from the incompetent," he said. "What's happening this time is that the government is taking
the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and
saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics." While
not saying how long the U.S. economic recession will last, he said conditions could ultimately
mirror those of Japan in the 1990s. "The way things are going, we're going to have a lost decade
too, just like the 1970s," he said. "Governments are making mistakes," he said. "They're saying to
all the banks, you don't have to tell us your situation. You can continue to use your balance sheet
that is phony.... All these guys are bankrupt, they're still worrying about their bonuses, they're still
trying to pay their dividends, and the whole system is weakened."
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports exposing the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click
here.
Ditch the smooth transition. The people voted for change

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/14/obama-white-house-wall-st...
The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street
bail-out is not merely incompetent: it is borderline criminal. In a moment of high panic in
September, the US treasury pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are
taxed - a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the
government of as much as $140bn in tax revenue, legislators found out only after the fact.
According to the Washington Post, more than a dozen tax attorneys agree that "[the] treasury
had no authority to issue the [tax change] notice". Of equally dubious legality are the equity
deals the treasury has negotiated with many of the banks. According to Congressman Barney
Frank, one of the architects of the legislation that enables the deals: "Any use of these funds for
any purpose other than lending - for bonuses, for severance pay, for dividends, for acquisitions of
other institutions ... is a violation of the act." Yet this is exactly how the funds are being used. Then
there is the nearly $2 trillion that America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, has handed out in
emergency loans. Incredibly, the Fed will not reveal which corporations have received these loans
or what it has accepted as collateral. Bloomberg news service believes this secrecy violates the
law and has filed a federal suit demanding full disclosure. Yet the Democrats are either openly
defending the administration or refusing to intervene. Obama owes it to the people who elected
him to call this what it is: an attempt to undermine the electoral process by stealth.
Note: For many key articles revealing the hidden realities of the bailout, click here.
Attorney general's private trips have cost taxpayers

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/750332.html
Attorney General Michael Mukasey has taken personal trips on government jets almost
every weekend since he took office less than a year ago at a cost to taxpayers of more than
$155,800, Justice Department and Federal Aviation Administration travel records show. Mukasey
took so many trips to his home in New York on FAA, FBI or Drug Enforcement Administration
planes that he was outside Washington a third or more of February, May, July, August and
September. From November 2007 to September 2008, he traveled to New York 45 times,
according to the records, which were released in late October in response to open records
requests that McClatchy filed nine months ago. Mukasey traveled with his wife on 17 of the trips,
and eight of them were with four or five other relatives. Mukasey reimbursed the government a
total of $15,246 for all of his trips, based on round-trip coach fares, as he's required to do by
government travel regulations. However, the cost of operating the Gulfstream G5s, Cessna
Citations and de Havilland Dash 8-100s that Mukasey uses is tens of thousands of dollars more.
For example, the attorney general reimbursed the Justice Department $128.80 for a round-trip
ticket to New York. The actual cost to the government, according to the department: $4,021.32.
Mukasey's personal trips appear to outpace those of other officials who are required to travel on
government jets. During the same time period, Defense Secretary Robert Gates took fewer than
six personal trips, and he also reimbursed the government at coach fares.
Note: For revealing reports on government corruption from major media sources, click here.
F.B.I. Struggles to Handle Financial Fraud Cases

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/washington/19fbi.html?partner=rssuserland&e...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is struggling to find enough agents and resources to
investigate criminal wrongdoing tied to the countrys economic crisis, according to current and
former bureau officials. The bureau slashed its criminal investigative work force to expand its
national security role after the Sept. 11 attacks, shifting more than 1,800 agents, or nearly onethird of all agents in criminal programs, to terrorism and intelligence duties. The cutbacks have left
the bureau seriously exposed in investigating areas like white-collar crime, which has taken on
urgent importance in recent weeks because of the nations economic woes. So depleted are the
ranks of the F.B.I.s white-collar investigators that executives in the private sector say they have
had difficulty attracting the bureaus attention in cases involving possible frauds of millions of
dollars. Since 2004, F.B.I. officials have warned that mortgage fraud posed a looming threat,
and the bureau has repeatedly asked the Bush administration for more money to replenish
the ranks of agents handling nonterrorism investigations. But each year, the requests have
been denied, with no new agents approved for financial crimes, as policy makers focused on
counterterrorism. According to previously undisclosed internal F.B.I. data, the cutbacks have been
particularly severe in staffing for investigations into white-collar crimes like mortgage fraud, with a
loss of 625 agents, or 36 percent of its 2001 levels.
Note: How fortunate for the financial fraudsters that the FBI doesn't have the resources to
investigate them! Was it just a coincidence that first the "war on terror" and then the Wall Street
bailout both have resulted in trillions of dollars going to a few well-positioned corporations? For
more on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Fuming over formaldehyde

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-formaldehyde7-2008oct07,0,4737194....
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to act for at least a year on warnings that
trailers housing refugees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita contained dangerous levels of
formaldehyde, according to a House subcommittee report released [on October 6]. Instead, the
CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry demoted the scientist who questioned
its initial assessment that the trailers were safe as long as residents opened a window or another
vent, the report said. That appraisal was produced in February 2007 at the request of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, which had received thousands of complaints about fumes since
providing the trailers to families left homeless by the devastating 2005 hurricanes. Formaldehyde
is known to cause cancer, chronic bronchitis, eye irritation and other ailments. It was used in glue
for rugs, plywood, fiberboard and other materials. The subcommittee's report came three days
after a federal judge in New Orleans ruled that FEMA can be sued by hurricane victims who claim
they were exposed to toxic fumes. The subcommittee report noted that the agency took eight
months to revise its initial finding and did so only after Christopher De Rosa, then director of the
CDC agency's Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine, publicly flagged scientific
errors. "We believe that Dr. De Rosa is a whistle-blower and was removed from his position,
which he had held for 16 years, in retaliation for his persistent attempts to push the
agency's leadership to take more substantive actions to protect the public's health," the
report said.
Note: For more revealing reports on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, click here.
Documents: Ivins Bragged He Knew Anthrax Killer

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/ap/cabstatepent/main4476351.shtml
Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of masterminding the 2001 anthrax attacks, e-mailed
himself last year saying he knew who the killer was, according to court documents unsealed
Wednesday. "Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!! I finally know who mailed the anthrax letters in the fall of 2001. I've
pieced it together!" Ivins wrote in the e-mail dated Sept. 7, 2007, according to an FBI affidavit. "I'm
not looking forward to everybody getting dragged through the mud, but at least it will all be
over," Ivins allegedly wrote. "Finally! I should have it TOTALLY nailed down within the
month. I should have been a private eye!!!!" The e-mail did not say who Ivins thought was the
anthrax killer. Ivins committed suicide in July as prosecutors prepared to charge him in the
mailings that killed five people and sickened 17 others. The e-mail was signed "bruce" and sent
from an America Online address by the name of "KingBadger7." Authorities said it was one of at
least six e-mail addresses registered to Ivins. The FBI affidavit was included in the final batch of
court documents to be released by the government that shows how prosecutors built their case
against Ivins. Ivins' lawyer, Paul Kemp, has maintained that Ivins was innocent and has predicted
the scientist would have been cleared if the case had gone to trial. It was not unusual for Ivins to email himself, according to the FBI document. "In addition, Ivins has sent at least one other e-mail
to himself that details his opinion of who may have been the anthrax mailer," the affidavit states.
Note: Isn't it strange that the man the FBI accused of being the anthrax killer would send himself
an e-mail saying he knew who the killer was? For many strange deaths of microbiologists that
occurred shortly after the anthrax scare, click here.
Bailout tests how much the American public will tolerate theft
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/23/ED0J132MOV.DTL
Treasury Secretary Paulson's edict to create a $700 billion fund to buy worthless mortgage
securities from agitated wealthy bond investors is nothing short of a final step on the path to the
end of the republic. The secretary claims he can only be effective if his decisions are beyond
judicial review. Our government and its owners appear to be testing how much the American public
will tolerate. A few years ago, no one could have imagined that the silent majority would quietly
accept thefts of this magnitude from a government that stopped tiny payments to single mothers
with poor children in the name of welfare reform because the program's $10 billion cost was
breaking the federal budget. If the public allows this theft, then it will signal to powerful
forces that they can essentially do anything, because the American public has become so
mushy-headed that it will stand up for nothing. When power discovers that those from whom it
would exact payment are powerless, its viciousness increases infinitely. Our enemy has revealed
itself, and it is our own government. Because the American public has not been introduced to
methods for controlling its government for generations, I will suggest one called a general strike.
This fundamental democratic power is where everyone decides to send a message to the
government by not going to work, to school, shopping, nowhere. This is the critical time when
charlatans among us will promise they can save us from the inevitable if we only allow them the
power they need to save us. They are lying.
Note: This article's author Sean Olender is an attorney in San Mateo, California. Mr. Oleander
predicted the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac months before it happened based on clearly
disempowering moves by the government. To see his prescient article on this from Feb. 2008, click
here.
Almost Armageddon: Markets were 500 Trades from a Meltdown

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09212008/business/almost_armageddon_130110.htm
The market was 500 trades away from Armageddon on Thursday [September 18], traders inside
two large custodial banks tell The Post. Had the Treasury and Fed not quickly stepped into the fray
that morning with a quick $105 billion injection of liquidity, the Dow could have collapsed.
According to traders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, money market funds were
inundated with $500 billion in sell orders prior to the opening. The Fed's dramatic $105 billion
liquidity injection on Thursday (pre-market) was just enough to keep key institutional accounts from
following through on the sell orders and starting a stampede of cash that could have brought large
tracts of the US economy to a halt. Cracks started to show in money market accounts late
Tuesday when shares in one fund, the Reserve Primary Fund - which touted itself as super safe fell below the golden $1 a share level. By Wednesday, banks sensed a run on their accounts.
They started stockpiling cash in anticipation of withdrawals. Banks, which usually keep an
average of $2 billion in excess reserves earmarked for withdrawals, pumped that up to an
astounding $90 billion, Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrighton ICAP, told The [Wall Street]
Journal. And for good reason. By the close of business on Wednesday, $144.5 billion - a record -
had been withdrawn. How much money was taken out of money market funds the prior week?
Roughly $7.1 billion, according to AMG Data Services. By Thursday, that level ... had grown to
$100 billion.
Note: For insight into the banking and financial powers that runs today's governments, click here.
Judge Orders Cheney To Preserve Records

A federal judge [has] ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time
as vice president. The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the
Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be
safeguarded under the Presidential Records Act. The Bush administration's legal position
"heightens the court's concern" that some records may not be preserved, said the judge. A private
group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is suing Cheney and the Executive
Office of the President in an effort to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled
in a way that makes them unavailable to the public. Cheney and the other defendants in the case
"were only willing to agree to a preservation order that tracked their narrowed interpretation" of the
Presidential Records Act, wrote Kollar-Kotelly. The administration, said the judge, wanted any
court order on what records are at issue in the suit to cover only the office of the vice president, not
Cheney or the other defendants in the lawsuit. The other defendants include the National Archives
and the archivist of the United States. The lawsuit stems from Cheney's position that his office is
not part of the executive branch of government. This summer, Cheney chief of staff David
Addington told Congress the vice president belongs to neither the executive nor legislative
branch of government, but rather is attached by the Constitution to Congress. In 2003,
Cheney asserted that the office of the vice president is not an entity within the executive
branch.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy, click here.
Britain's worst polluters set for windfall of millions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/12/emissionstrading
A flagship European scheme designed to fight global warming is set to hand hundreds of millions
of pounds to some of Britain's most polluting companies, with little or no benefit to the
environment. Dozens of multinational firms stand to benefit from the windfall, which comes from
the over-allocation of carbon permits under the European emissions trading scheme. The permits
are given to companies by the government, and are supposed to account for their carbon pollution
over the next five years. But figures published by the European Commission show that many
companies have been allocated far too many permits, which they can sell for cash. The scheme is
supposed to only distribute as many permits as companies require, with one permit allocated for
each tonne of CO2 produced. The figures ... suggest that up to 9m extra annual permits have been
allocated to 200 companies across almost all sectors of the British economy, from steel and
cement making, to car manufacturing and the food and drink industry. Dozens of household names
such as Ford, Thames Water, Astra Zeneca and Vauxhall are among the companies that could
benefit. Campaigners say the allocations were ... influenced by industry group lobbying. A
source at a major UK car manufacturing firm, which has been allocated more than double
the number of permits it needs, told the Guardian they were given out based on "magical
logic".
Note: For revealing reports from major media sources on government corruption, click here.
Lockerbie evidence not disclosed

2008-08-28, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7573244.stm
Scottish police had information that might have changed the outcome of the Lockerbie
bombing trial, a BBC TV programme has learned. The information could have affected the
credibility of key evidence, but was not passed to the defence team. Libyan national
Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is serving life for killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing. A
prosecution witness had seen a picture linking al-Megrahi to the bombing before he identified him.
Al-Megrahi, 56, who maintains he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, has been granted leave
to appeal against his conviction for a second time. Tony Gauci, who picked al-Megrahi out in a lineup, had looked at a magazine photograph of him just four days before he made the identification.
BBC TV programme The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie has now seen documentary evidence that
Scottish police knew this was the case. That information should have been passed to the defence,
but the disclosure did not take place. There have always been doubts expressed about who was
behind the bombing and what was their motivation. In June last year the Scottish Criminal Cases
Review Commission (SCCRC), which has been investigating the case, concluded that al-Megrahi
could have suffered a miscarriage of justice and recommended that he should be granted a
second appeal.
Note: For a revealing documentary showing a major cover-up involving the Lockerbie bombing,
click here.
Bush wants some endangered species rules extinct

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/11/national/w141651D...
[The Bush] administration is ... proposing changes that would allow federal agencies to decide for
themselves whether subdivisions, dams, highways and other projects have the potential to harm
endangered animals and plants. Agencies also could not consider a project's contribution to global
warming in their analysis. Environmentalists complained the proposals would gut protections for
endangered animals and plants. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne [said] the revisions ...
were needed to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a "back
door" to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the
first species declared as threatened because of climate change. Warming temperatures are
expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival. The rule changes ... would apply to
any project a federal agency would fund, build or authorize that the agency itself determines is
unlikely to harm endangered wildlife and their habitat. Government wildlife experts currently
participate in tens of thousands of such reviews each year. The revisions also would limit which
effects can be considered harmful and set a 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a
project. If no decision is made within 60 days, the project can move ahead. "If adopted, these
changes would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to
protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years," said John
Kostyack, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Conservation and Global
Warming initiative.
Note: For many important reports on global warming from major media sources, click here.
'Myth' Behind American Troop Presence

2008-07-08, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=5331769
Myths die hard, and one of the most corrosive ones today is the mistaken idea that Iraqis want us
in Iraq. They do not. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has shocked official Washington by
publicly saying he wants to negotiate a withdrawal date for U.S. forces and if not an exact date, a
timetable for their withdrawal. Who does he think he is, Barack Obama? Yes, yes, Maliki may be a
politician with his finger in the wind as he is trying to fend off his young firebrand Shiite rival,
Muqtada al-Sadr, who wants the U.S. out yesterday, but clearly the Iraqi "wind" is blowing Sadr's
way. Depending on how the question is asked, it appears that at least 70 percent of Iraqis
want Americans to leave either immediately or expeditiously. Here at home, about 60
percent of Americans want U.S. forces to be withdrawn within the next year.
Note: If the Iraqi people and leadership want the U.S. out, why are we still there? For a good
answer, click here.
White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25epa.html?partner=rssuserland&e...
The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agencys
conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials
that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said
last week. The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.s
answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases
represent a danger to health or the environment. This week, more than six months later, the E.P.A.
is set to respond to that order by releasing a watered-down version of the original proposal that
offers no conclusion. Instead, the document reviews the legal and economic issues presented by
declaring greenhouse gases a pollutant. Over the past five days, the officials said, the White
House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original
analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor
vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the
next 32 years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
discuss the matter. Both documents, as prepared by the E.P.A., showed that the Clean Air Act can
work for certain sectors of the economy, to reduce greenhouse gases, one of the senior E.P.A.
officials said. Thats not what the administration wants to show. They want to show that the Clean
Air Act cant work.
Note: For many important reports on global warming from major media sources, click here.
Gov't says FBI agents can't testify about 9/11

2008-06-19, International Herald Tribune/Associated Press
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/19/america/Sept-11-Lawsuits.php
Government lawyers say the ongoing investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks could be compromised
if the airline industry is allowed to seek more information from the FBI to defend itself against
lawsuits brought by terrorism victims. The government urged a judge to block aviation
companies from interviewing five FBI employees who the companies say will help them
prove the government withheld key information before the 2001 attacks. The lawyers said it
would be impossible to interview the employees without disclosing classified or privileged material
that could "cause serious damage to national security and interfere with pending law enforcement
proceedings." The largest investigation in FBI history has resulted in 167,000 interviews and more
than 155,000 pieces of evidence and involved the pursuit of 500,000 investigative leads, the
lawyers wrote. The airlines and aviation companies are defending themselves against lawsuits
seeking billions of dollars in damages for injuries, fatalities, property damage and business losses
related to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The companies filed separate lawsuits against the CIA and
the FBI last August to force terrorism investigators to tell whether the aviation industry was to
blame for the Sept. 11 attacks. Meanwhile, lawyers for the victims of the attacks ... recounted in
court papers numerous hijackings and attacks aboard planes before Sept. 11 that they said should
have put the airline industry on notice that a disastrous attack could occur.
Note: For a two-page overview of many unanswered questions about what really happened on
9/11, click here.
Taser Suffers a Rare Loss in Court

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/taser-suffers-a-rare-loss-in-court/
Despite a steady stream of negative news coverage, Taser Internationals business has sailed
above it all, rolling with the punches before coming out on top of a growing industry. Perhaps most
importantly, the company has been remarkably successful inside the courtroom. With 69 straight
trial victories, according to one count, Taser had assembled a nearly unmatchable record
3 more wins than this years much-vaunted Boston Celtics, with none of the embarrassing
losses. None until [Friday, June 4], that is, when an unfavorable verdict represented the first
chink in the taser-proof body armor. From The Herald of Monterey County, Calif., the local
paper on the case: A federal jury has held Taser International responsible for the death of a
Salinas man in U.S. District Court in San Jose ... and awarded his family more than $6 million in
punitive and compensatory damages. An attorney for the family called the verdict a "landmark
decision," and indicated that it was the first time Taser International had been held responsible for
a death or injury linked to its product. During trading on Monday, the companys stock dropped
almost 12 percent. "Investors will assume heightened operating risk in the Taser model in the
short-term," one analyst told Barrons. Bloomberg News reported last month that more than half of
Tasers top 10 shareholders sold some of their shares this year.
Note: Do a search in Google News and you will find that no major media outlets reported that
Taser International had 69 straight victories with no losses in the courts till now. Even the above
was in a NY Times blog and not in the paper. How interesting that they don't seem to want us to
know this.
D.C. Madam Is Found Dead, Apparently in a Suicide

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/washington/02madam.html?partner=rssuserland...
A woman convicted two weeks ago of running a Washington call-girl ring that catered to the
capitals power elite was found dead ... and the authorities said she had apparently hanged
herself. The body of the woman, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52, was found in a shed at her mothers
home ... about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. The police said Ms. Palfrey had left a notebook
containing at least two suicide notes and other messages to her family, but they did not give
additional details. Ms. Palfrey, who had quickly become known as the D.C. Madam when the case
against her began unfolding, apparently hanged herself from the sheds ceiling with nylon rope, the
police said. Her mother, Blanche Palfrey, discovered the body. Blanche Palfrey had no sign that
her daughter was suicidal. A federal jury in Washington found Ms. Palfrey guilty on April 15 of
running a prostitution service that catered to powerful figures including Senator David Vitter,
Republican of Louisiana. She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal
purposes and racketeering. Ms. Palfrey had vowed that she would never go to prison. When she
disclosed telephone records last year that revealed the identity of some of her clients, she told
ABC: Im sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone four to
eight years, because Im shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever. Not for a
second. Ill bring every last one of them in if necessary. Despite that threat, Ms. Palfreys trial
concluded without the testimony of either Mr. Vitter or another particularly prominent client, Randall
L. Tobias. One of the escort services employees was Brandy Britton, a former professor at the
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. Ms.
Britton committed suicide in January before she could go to trial.
Note: Isn't it interesting that this woman who brought about the resignations of top government
officials is found dead in an apparent suicide? See the revealing AP article on this available here.
Ms. Palfrey also stated publicly that she would never commit suicide, though at one point she
mentioned that she might be "suicided." To verify this, click here.
Cheney lawyer claims Congress has no authority over vice-president

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/29/dickcheney.usa
The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any
authority to examine his behaviour on the job. The exception claimed by Cheney's counsel
came in response to requests from congressional Democrats that David Addington, the vicepresident's chief of staff, testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used
at Guantanamo Bay. Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn
Wheelbarger said Cheney's conduct is "not within the [congressional] committee's power
of inquiry". "Congress lacks the constitutional power to regulate by law what a vice-president
communicates in the performance of the vice president's official duties, or what a vice president
recommends that a president communicate," Wheelbarger wrote to senior aides on Capitol Hill.
The exception claimed by Cheney's office recalls his attempt last year to evade rules for classified
documents by deeming the vice-president's office a hybrid branch of government - both executive
and legislative. Philippe Sands QC, law professor at University College, London, has agreed to
appear in Washington and discuss the revelations in Torture Team, his new book on the
consequences of the brutal tactics used at Guantanamo. Two [other] witnesses sought by
[Congress], former US attorney general John Ashcroft and former US justice department lawyer
John Yoo, claimed that their involvement in civil lawsuits related to harsh interrogations allows
them to avoid appearing before Congress. In letters to attorneys representing Ashcroft and Yoo,
[Rep. John] Conyers [wrote that] "I am aware of no basis for the remarkable claim that pending
civil litigation somehow immunises an individual from testifying before Congress."
Iraqis see red as U.S. opens world's biggest embassy

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0424/p01s04-wome.html
For the average American who will never see it, the new US Embassy in Baghdad may be little
more than the Big Dig of the Tigris. Like the infamous Boston highway project, the embassy is a
mammoth development that is overbudget, overdue, and casts a whiff of corruption. For many
Iraqis, though, the sand-and-ochre-colored compound peering out across the city from a reedy
stretch of riverfront within the fortified Green Zone is an unsettling symbol. "It is a symbol of
occupation for the Iraqi people, that is all," says Anouar, a Baghdad graduate student who thought
it was risk enough to give her first name. "We see the size of this embassy and we think we will be
part of the American plan for our country and our region for many, many years." The 104-acre, 21building enclave the largest US Embassy in the world, similar in size to Vatican City in
Rome is often described as a "castle" by Iraqis. "We all know this big yellow castle, but its
main purpose, it seems, is the security of the Americans who will live there," says Sarah, a
university sophomore who also declined to give her last name for reasons of personal safety. The
US government cleared the new Baghdad Embassy for occupancy last week, with the embassy's
700 employees and up to 250 military personnel expected to move in over the month of May,
according to Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Embassy personnel have been anxious for the complex,
with more than 600 blast-resistant apartments, to open and give them some refuge from the mortar
fire that has increasingly targeted the Green Zone this year. Last month, a mortar slammed into
one of the unfortified trailers where personnel now sleep, killing an American civilian contractor.
Note: For many reports of the reality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, click here.
EPA Scientists Decry Political Pressure

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/23/tech/main4037465.shtml
Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists complain they have been victims of
political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings. The Union of Concerned
Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to
a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their
work. Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Scientific Integrity Program,
said the survey results revealed "an agency in crisis" with low morale, especially among
scientists involved in risk assessment and crafting regulations. "The investigation shows
researchers are generally continuing to do their work, but their scientific findings are
tossed aside when it comes time to write regulations," said Grifo. The group sent an online
questionnaire to 5,500 EPA scientists and received 1,586 responses, a majority of them senior
scientists who have worked for the agency for 10 years or more. The survey included chemists,
toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in the life and environmental sciences. The report
said that 60 percent of those responding, or 889 scientists, reported personally experiencing what
they viewed as political interference in their work over the last five years. Senior managers and the
White House Office of Management and Budget frequently second-guess scientific findings and
change work conducted by EPA's scientists, the report said. Nearly 400 scientists said they had
witnessed EPA officials misrepresenting scientific findings, 284 said they had [witnessed] the
"selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome" and 224 scientists
said they had been directed to "inappropriately exclude or alter technical information" in an EPA
document.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable, verifiable sources on government corruption,
click here.
VA stalling on care, judge told at S.F. trial

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/22/MNQK109AA7.DTL
More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the
government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which
they are entitled, veterans advocates told a federal judge. The rights of hundreds of thousands of
veterans are being violated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, "an agency that is in denial,"
and by a government health care system and appeals process for patients that is "broken down,"
Gordon Erspamer, lawyer for two advocacy groups, said in an opening statement at the trial of a
nationwide lawsuit. He said veterans are committing suicide at the rate of 18 a day - a number
acknowledged by a VA official in a Dec. 15 e-mail - and the agency's backlog of disability
claims now exceeds 650,000, an increase of 200,000 since the Iraq war started in 2003. U.S.
District Judge Samuel Conti ... ruled in January that the case could go to trial. In doing so, he
rejected the government's argument that civil courts have no authority over the VA's medical
decisions or how it handles grievances. If the advocates can prove their claims, Conti said in his
ruling, they would show that "thousands of veterans, if not more, are suffering grievous injuries as
the result of their inability to procure desperately needed and obviously deserved health care." He
also ruled that veterans are legally entitled to five years of government-provided health care after
leaving the service, despite federal officials' argument that they are required to provide only as
much care as the VA's budget allows in a given year. The trial follows publication of a Rand study
last week that estimated 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, or 18.5 percent
of the total, suffer from major depression or post-traumatic stress.
Note: For many reports from reliable, verifiable sources detailing the devastating impacts of
modern war, click here. For a revealing commentary by a top U.S. general on how soldiers lives
are ruined by needless wars, click here.
Bush Aware of Advisers' Interrogation Talks

2008-04-11, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/Story?id=4635175
President Bush says he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific
details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence
Agency, according to an exclusive interview with ABC News. "Well, we started to connect the dots
in order to protect the American people," Bush told ABC News White House correspondent Martha
Raddatz. "And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved." As
first reported by ABC News, the most senior Bush administration officials repeatedly discussed
and approved specific details of exactly how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated
by the CIA. The president had earlier confirmed the existence of the interrogation program run by
the CIA in a speech in 2006. But before [ABC's original] report, the extraordinary level of
involvement by the most senior advisers in repeatedly approving specific interrogation plans -down to the number of times the CIA could use a certain tactic on a specific al Qaeda prisoner -had never been disclosed. Critics at home and abroad have harshly criticized the interrogation
program, which pushed the limits of international law and, they say, condoned torture. In the
interview with ABC News, Bush defended the waterboarding technique used against KSM.
"We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it," Bush said. "And no, I didn't have any
problem at all trying to find out what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed knew." The president said, "I
think it's very important for the American people to understand who Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
was. He was the person who ordered the suicide attack -- I mean, the 9/11 attacks."
Note: For a transcript of the interview with President Bush on the Washington Post website, click
here. For a powerful two-page summary of many unanswered questions about who really ordered
the 9/11 attacks, click here.
Cheney, Rice Approved Use of Waterboarding, Other Tactics

2008-04-11, FOX News/Associated Press
Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh
interrogation techniques against [captives] after asking the Justice Department to endorse their
legality, The Associated Press has learned. The officials also took care to insulate President Bush
from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, ... were
discussed and ultimately approved. A former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the
meetings ... spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss
the issue. Between 2002 and 2003, the Justice Department issued several memos from its Office
of Legal Counsel that justified using the interrogation tactics, including ones that critics call torture.
"If you looked at the timing of the meetings and the memos you'd see a correlation," the former
intelligence official said. The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years
immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides
Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. The American Civil Liberties Union called on
Congress to investigate. "With each new revelation, it is beginning to look like the torture
operation was managed and directed out of the White House," ACLU legislative director
Caroline Fredrickson said. "This is what we suspected all along." The former intelligence official
described Cheney and the top national security officials as deeply immersed in developing the
CIA's interrogation program during months of discussions over which methods should be used and
when."
Special license plates shield officials from traffic tickets
2008-04-04, Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/dmv-189719-police-confidential.html
It's 1:45 p.m. on a Wednesday in February and a Toyota Camry is driving west on the 91 Express
Lanes, for free, for the 470th time. The electronic transponder on the dashboard - used to bill
tollway users - is inactive. The Camry's owners, airport traffic officer Rudolph Duplessis and his
wife, Loretta, have never had a toll road account, officials say. They've never received a violation
notice in the mail, either. Their car is registered as part of a state program which hides their home
address on Department of Motor Vehicles records. The agency that operates the tollway does not
have legal access to their address. Their Toyota is one of 996,716 vehicles registered to motorists
who are affiliated with 1,800 state and local agencies and who are allowed to shield their
addresses under the Confidential Records Program. An Orange County Register investigation
has found that the program, designed 30 years ago to protect police from criminals, has
been expanded to cover hundreds of thousands of public employees - from police
dispatchers to museum guards - who face little threat from the public. Their spouses and children
can get the plates, too. This has happened despite warnings from state officials that the safeguard
is no longer needed because updated laws have made all DMV information confidential to the
public.
Note: Though the Orange County Register is not at the par of our normal media sources, it is a
respected publication and this important news needs to be told.
Rescue Me: A Fed Bailout Crosses a Line

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/business/16gret.html?ex=1363320000&en=04d1c...
What are the consequences of a world in which regulators rescue even the financial institutions
whose recklessness and greed helped create the titanic credit mess we are in? Will the
consequences be an even weaker currency, rampant inflation, a continuation of the slow bleed that
we have witnessed at banks and brokerage firms for the past year? Or all of the above? Stick
around, because well soon find out. And its not going to be pretty. Agreeing to guarantee a 28day credit line to Bear Stearns, by way of JPMorgan Chase, the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York conceded last Friday that no sizable firm with a book of mortgage securities or loans out
to mortgage issuers could be allowed to fail right now. It was the most explicit sign yet of
the Feds Rescues R Us doctrine that already helped to force the marriage of Bank of
America and Countrywide. But why save Bear Stearns? Why not set an example of Bear
Stearns, the guys who have this record of dog-eat-dog, were brass knuckles, were tough? asked
William A. Fleckenstein, president of Fleckenstein Capital in Issaquah, Wash., and co-author with
Fred Sheehan of Greenspans Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve. After years
of never allowing any of our financial institutions to fail, they have become so enormous that
nobody will be allowed to sink beneath the waves. Otherwise, a tsunami would swamp the hedge
funds, banks and other brokerage firms that remain afloat. If Bear Stearns failed, for example, it
would result in a wholesale dumping of mortgage securities and other assets onto a market that is
frozen and where buyers are in hiding. This fire sale would force surviving institutions carrying the
same types of securities on their books to mark down their positions, generating more margin calls
and creating more failures.
Note: This excellent article should be read in its entirety by anyone who wants to understand the
impending financial meltdown and the government's response to it.
Lawmakers blast USDA for food inspection lapses

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/19/MN17V4MU9.DTL
Lawmakers and watchdog groups had harsh words Monday for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
after the agency ordered a recall of 143 million pounds of beef from a Southern California
slaughterhouse. Beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, that came from Westland/Hallmark Meat
Co. of Chino (San Bernardino County) are subject to the recall, which is the largest such action in
U.S. history. The notice came after the Humane Society of the United States shot undercover
video showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts - treatment that has
also triggered an animal-abuse investigation. A congresswoman who chairs a House
subcommittee that determines funding levels for the USDA sent a letter ... to the agency's
undersecretary for food safety demanding an explanation of the Westland case before a March 5
budgetary review hearing. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., chairwoman of the House Agriculture,
Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, called the scenes in the video
inhumane and said the video "demonstrates just how far our food safety system has collapsed."
DeLauro has called for an investigation into the government's ability to secure the safety of meat in
the nation's schools. Westland was a major supplier of beef for the National School Lunch
Program. She also asked how the agency is addressing staff shortages among slaughterhouse
inspectors - an issue also raised by several food safety experts and watchdog groups. According
to Felicia Nestor, a senior policy analyst with Food and Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group
based in Washington, anywhere from 7 to 21 percent of slaughterhouse inspector positions have
been left vacant by the USDA, depending on the district. "They just don't fill vacancies," Nestor
said.
Note: For many revealing articles from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime (by then N.Y. Governor Eliot

Spitzer)
Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to
notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some
were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to
repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing
loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. In addition, the
widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets. Even
though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the
other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead
to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers. Predatory lending was widely
understood to present a looming national crisis. Individually, and together, state attorneys general
of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were
engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted
laws aimed at curbing such practices. When history tells the story of the subprime lending
crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners,
the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when
the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any
lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal
government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys
general and anyone else on the side of consumers.
Note: Isn't it interesting that just weeks after former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer wrote this
highly revealing article his sexual affairs were exposed, leading to his resignation!
Is Ombudsman Already in Jeopardy?

Hours before the new year, open-government groups won a key victory in their years-long fight to
force government agencies to release documents without months, and sometimes years, of delay.
The moment came when President Bush reluctantly signed a law enforcing better compliance with
the Freedom of Information Act. But in his budget request this week, Bush proposed shifting a
newly created ombudsman's position from the National Archives and Records Administration to
the Department of Justice. Because the ombudsman would be the chief monitor of compliance
with the new law, that move is akin to killing the critical function, some members of Congress and
watchdog groups say. "Justice represents the agencies when they're sued over FOIA ... It
doesn't make a lot of sense for them to be the mediator," said Kristin Adair, staff counsel at the
National Security Archive. The law establishes the ombudsman's office to hear disputes over
unmet FOIA requests, monitor agencies and foster best practices. The ombudsman would be part
of the National Archives and Records Administration, the non-partisan repository where most of
the nation's important documents eventually wind up, and from which they are distributed. The
Justice Department has hardly shown itself to be a strong supporter of public information requests:
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft issued a memo
urging agencies to use all legal means to refuse public document requests. A recent review of
overdue FOIA requests by the National Security Archive criticizes Justice for holding up public
records releases. In at least four cases, the delay was for more than 15 years.
Note: For many revealing major media reports on government secrecy, click here.
Military Contractors Are Hard to Fire

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/02/02/national/w003206S...
Contract personnel working for the Defense Department now outnumber U.S. forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan; there are 196,000 private-sector workers in both countries compared to 182,000
troops. Contractors are responsible for a slew of duties, including repairing warfighting equipment,
supplying food and water, building barracks, providing armed security and gathering intelligence.
The dependence has come with serious consequences. A shortage of experienced federal
employees to oversee this growing industrial army is blamed for much of the waste, fraud and
abuse on contracts collectively worth billions of dollars. "We do not have the contracting personnel
that we need to guarantee that the taxpayer dollar is being protected," said William Moser, the
State Department's deputy assistant secretary for logistics management. "We are very, very
concerned about the integrity [of] the contracting process. We don't feel like ... we can continue in
the same situation." The office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has
52 open cases related to bribery, false billing, contract fraud, kickbacks and theft; 36 of
those cases have been referred to the Justice Department for prosecution, according to the
inspector general's office. The Army Criminal Investigation Command is busy, too. The command
has 90 criminal investigations under way related to alleged contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and
Afghanistan. Two dozen U.S. citizens have been charged or indicted so far 19 of those are
Army military and civilian employees and more than $15 million in bribes has changed hands.
Note: For many more revelations of war profiteering, click here.
Anybody Seen Our Gold?

2008-01-30, Full Page Ad in Wall Street Journal
http://www.gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal
The gold reserves of the United States have not been fully and independently audited for half a
century. Now there is proof that those gold reserves and those of other Western nations are being
used for the surreptitious manipulation of the international currency, commodity, equity, and bond
markets. The Federal Reserves general counsel, J. Virgil Mattingly, acknowledged as much when
he told the Federal Open Market Committee on January 31, 1995, that the Treasury Departments
Exchange Stabilization Fund had undertaken gold swaps. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan acknowledged as much in testimony to Congress on July 24, 1998, when he said that
central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise. Since last
May the U.S. Treasury Departments weekly report of the governments international reserve
position has cited loans and swaps from the U.S. gold reserves. Since 2004 four major
international investment houses Sprott Asset Management, Cheuvreux, Citigroup, and Redburn
Partners have issued reports stating that Western central banks have been manipulating the
gold market. The objective of this manipulation is to conceal the mismanagement of the
U.S. dollar so that it might retain its function as the worlds reserve currency. But to
suppress the price of gold is to disable the barometer of the international financial system so that
all markets may be more easily manipulated. This manipulation has been a primary cause of the
catastrophic excesses in the markets that now threaten the whole world.
Note: Did you notice that for the first time in history gold passed the $1,000 per ounce mark on
March 13, 2008? Why did the major media practically ignore this huge milestone? Gold rose 32%
in 2007 and continues to rise, yet the media is giving very little attention to this. Some newspapers
which regularly listed the price of gold in their business section are no longer doing so. Why? For
more, click here.
USDA Recommends That Food From Clones Stay Off the Market
The U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday asked U.S. farmers to keep their cloned animals off
the market indefinitely even as Food and Drug Administration officials announced that food from
cloned livestock is safe to eat. Bruce I. Knight, the USDA's undersecretary for marketing and
regulatory programs, requested an ongoing "voluntary moratorium" to buy time for "an acceptance
process" that Knight said consumers in the United States and abroad will need, "given the
emotional nature of this issue." Yet even as the two agencies sought a unified message -- that food
from clones is safe for people but perhaps dangerous to U.S. markets and trade relations -evidence surfaced suggesting that Americans and others are probably already eating meat from
the offspring of clones. Executives from the nation's major cattle cloning companies conceded
yesterday that they have not been able to keep track of how many offspring of clones have entered
the food supply, despite a years-old request by the FDA to keep them off the market pending
completion of the agency's safety report. At least one Kansas cattle producer also disclosed
yesterday that he has openly sold semen from prize-winning clones to many U.S. meat producers
in the past few years, and that he is certain he is not alone. "This is a fairy tale that this
technology is not being used and is not already in the food chain," said Donald Coover, a
Galesburg cattleman and veterinarian who has a specialty cattle semen business. "Anyone
who tells you otherwise either doesn't know what they're talking about, or they're not being
honest." Last year, [only] 22 percent of Americans who responded to a major survey said they
had a favorable impression of food from clones.
Note: For lots more reliable information on how big business takes huge risks with the food we
eat, click here.
The Court That May Not Be Heard

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/opinion/15sat2.html?ex=1355374800&en=722ead...
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the special court that reviews government requests
for warrants to spy on suspected foreign agents in the United States, seems to have forgotten that
its job is to ensure that the government is accountable for following the law not to help the Bush
administration keep its secrets. Last week, the court denied a request by the American Civil
Liberties Union to release portions of past rulings that would explain how it has interpreted the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The court should share its legal reasoning with the
public. After the 9/11 attacks, the National Security Agency for years engaged in domestic spying
that violated both FISA and the Constitution. Earlier this year, after a court ruled that the program
was illegal, the Bush administration said that in the future it would conduct surveillance with the
approval of the intelligence court. At the same time, it announced that a judge of the court had
issued orders setting out how the program could proceed. The administration has repeatedly
referred to these orders, but has refused to make them public. As a result, it is impossible for the
American people and even some members of Congress to know how the court
reached its conclusions, or the state of the law with respect to domestic surveillance. The
idea of courts developing law in secret and handing down legal principles that the public
cannot know about should not be part of the American legal system. That is especially true
when the subject matter is as important as the government spying on its citizens, an issue the
founders who drafted the Fourth Amendment cared about deeply. The people have a right to
know how the act, which is in the process of being revised, is being interpreted so they can tell
their elected representatives what they think the law should be.
"A Blow at the Core of Fourth Amendment Protections"

The Constitution protects individuals against unreasonable searches, but for this protection to have
practical meaning, the courts must enforce it. This week, the Supreme Court let stand a disturbing
ruling out of California that allows law enforcement to barge into peoples homes without a warrant.
The case has not prompted much outrage, perhaps because the people whose privacy is being
invaded are welfare recipients, but it is a serious setback for the privacy rights of all Americans.
San Diego Countys district attorney has a program called Project 100% that is intended to reduce
welfare fraud. Applicants for welfare benefits are visited by law enforcement agents, who show up
unannounced and examine the familys home, including the insides of cabinets and closets. The
program does not meet the standards set out by the Fourth Amendment. For a search to be
reasonable, there generally must be some kind of individualized suspicion of wrongdoing. These
searches are done in the homes of people who have merely applied for welfare and have done
nothing to arouse suspicion. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San
Francisco, rejected a challenge brought by welfare recipients. In ruling that the program does not
violate the Constitution, the majority made the bizarre assertion that the home visits are not
searches. It is a fun-house mirrors version of constitutional analysis for a court to say that
government agents are not conducting a search when they show up unannounced in a
persons home and rifle through her bedroom dresser. Judge Harry Pregerson, writing for
himself and six other Ninth Circuit judges who voted to reconsider the case, got it right. The
majority decision upholding Project 100%, Judge Pregerson wrote, strikes an unprecedented blow
at the core of Fourth Amendment protections. When the government is allowed to show up
unannounced without a warrant and search peoples homes, it is bad news for all of us.
Casinos, not homes, rise after Katrina

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/25/MN37TIILO.DTL
Nowhere has the rebound from Hurricane Katrina been gaudier than along Mississippi's casinostudded coast. Even as the storm's debris was being cleared, Biloxi's night skies were illuminated
with the high-wattage brilliance of the Imperial Palace, then the Isle of Capri, then the Grand
Casino. More followed, and so did vacation-condo developers. Yet in the wrecked and darkened
working-class neighborhoods just blocks from the waterfront glitter, those lights cast their colorful
glare over an apocalyptic vision of empty lots and scattered trailers that is as forlorn as anywhere
in Katrina's strike zone. "At night, you can see the casino lights up in the sky," Shirley Salik, 72, a
former housekeeper at one of the casinos, said while standing outside her FEMA camper with her
two dogs. "But that's another world." More than two years after the storm, the highly touted
recovery of the Mississippi coast remains a starkly divided phenomenon. Gov. Haley Barbour, a
Republican, has hailed the casino openings as a harbinger of Mississippi's resurgence, and
developers have proposed more than $1 billion in beachfront condos and hotels for tourists. But
fewer than 1 in 10 of the thousands of single-family houses destroyed in Biloxi are being rebuilt.
More than 10,000 displaced families still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. Now, long-standing resentment over the way the state has treated displaced
residents has deepened over a proposal by the Barbour administration to divert $600 million in
federal housing aid to fund an expansion plan at the Port of Gulfport. The port's recently approved
master plan calls for ... creating an "upscale tourist village" with hotel rooms, condos, restaurants
and gambling. "We fear that this recent decision ... is part of a disturbing trend by the
governor's office to overlook the needs of lower and moderate income people in favor of
economic development," 24 ministers on the Mississippi coast wrote in September in a
letter to state leaders. State leaders rejected the complaints.
O Brother, Who Art Thou?

"I am not my brother's keeper," Howard "Cookie" Krongard, the State Department's inspector
general, testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday. As
Cookie surely must know, that excuse hasn't worked since Genesis. In this case, the players
weren't Cain and Abel, but Cookie and his brother Buzzy. Cookie, under fire for allegedly quashing
probes of the infamous Blackwater security contractor, began his testimony by angrily denying the
"ugly rumors" that his brother, former CIA official Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, is on Blackwater's
advisory board. But during a recess, Cookie called Buzzy and learned that -- gulp -- the ugly
rumors are true: His brother is on the board. When the lawmakers returned, Cookie revised and
extended his testimony. "I had not been aware of that," Cookie told the congressmen. "I hereby
recuse myself from any matters having to do with Blackwater." The lawmakers reacted with Old
Testament fury. The swaggering Cookie -- he alternately addressed the lawmakers with his thumb
in his waistband, slouching in his chair, rolling his eyes and making baffled glances -- had spent
the morning aggressively denying the allegations lodged against him: that he had impeded
investigations into contracting fraud, including weapons smuggling by Blackwater, and that he had
abused his underlings. But then came Buzzy's bombshell -- and Cookie's credibility crumbled.
Either he had lied to Congress, or his own brother had lied to him. It was only the latest bit of
strangeness for the powerful but eccentric Brothers Krongard. Buzzy [is] known for his cigar
chomping, martial arts and recreational workouts with SWAT teams. "Krongard once punched a
great white shark in the jaw," his hometown Baltimore Sun reported when he took the No. 3
job at the CIA a decade ago. More recently, Buzzy joined the advisory board of Blackwater,
the firm known for its ready trigger fingers in Iraq.
Note: Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard was the Executive Director (the third-highest position) at the CIA on
9/11, and had until 1998 been the head of the firm used to buy many of the "put" options on United
Airlines stock made just prior to 9/11 that were never claimed, though this received little media
coverage.
Chinese Chemicals Flow Unchecked Onto World Drug Market

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/world/asia/31chemical.html?ex=1351483200&en...
Pharmaceutical ingredients exported from China are often made by chemical companies that are
neither certified nor inspected by Chinese drug regulators, The New York Times has found.
Because the chemical companies are not required to meet even minimal drug-manufacturing
standards, there is little to stop them from exporting unapproved, adulterated or counterfeit
ingredients. The substandard formulations made from those ingredients often end up in
pharmacies in developing countries and for sale on the Internet, where more Americans are
turning for cheap medicine. [At a pharmaceutical trade show in Milan], the Times identified at least
82 Chinese chemical companies that said they made and exported pharmaceutical ingredients
yet not one was certified by the State Food and Drug Administration in China, records show.
Nonetheless, the companies were negotiating deals at the pharmaceutical show, where suppliers
wooed customers with live music, wine and vibrating chairs. In China, chemical manufacturers that
sell drug ingredients fall into a regulatory hole. Pharmaceutical companies are regulated by the
food and drug agency. Chemical companies that make products as varied as fertilizer and
industrial solvents are overseen by other agencies. The problem arises when chemical companies
cross over into drug ingredients. We have never investigated a chemical company, said Ms.
Yan [Jiangying], deputy director of policy and regulation at the State Food and Drug
Administration. We dont have jurisdiction. China has an estimated 80,000 chemical
companies, and the United States Food and Drug Administration does not know how many
sell ingredients used in drugs consumed by Americans. The Times examined thousands of
companies selling products on major business-to-business Internet trading sites and found more
than 1,300 [Chinese] chemical companies offering pharmaceutical ingredients.
Note: For many other reliable reports concerning health, click here.
The Democrats Who Enable Bush

2007-10-04, Salt Lake Tribune/Hearst Newspapers
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_7074632
President Bush has no better friends than the spineless Democratic congressional leadership and
the party's leading presidential candidates when it comes to his failing Iraq policy. Those
Democrats seem to have forgotten that the American people want U.S. troops out of Iraq,
especially since Bush still cannot give a credible reason for attacking Iraq after nearly five years of
war. Last week at a debate in Hanover, N.H., the leading Democratic presidential candidates sang
from the same songbook: Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York, and Barack Obama of Illinois and
former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards refused to promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by
2013, at the end of the first term of their hypothetical presidencies. Can you believe it? When the
question was put to Clinton, she reverted to her usual cautious equivocation, saying: "It is very
difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting." Obama dodged, too: "I think it would be
irresponsible" to say what he would do as president. Edwards, on whom hopes were riding to
show some independence, replied to the question: "I cannot make that commitment." Sen. Joe
Biden, D-Del., ... wants to break up Iraq into three provinces along religious and ethnic lines. In
other words, Balkanize Iraq. To have major Democratic backing to stay the course in Iraq added up
to good news for Bush. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is another Democratic leader who has
empowered Bush's war. Pelosi removed a provision from the most recent war-funding bill that
would have required Bush to seek the permission of Congress before launching any attack on Iran.
Is it any wonder the Democrats are faring lower than the president in a Washington Post
ABC approval poll? Bush came in at 33 percent and Congress at 29 percent. So what are
the leading Democratic White House hopefuls offering? It seems nothing but more war. So
where do the voters go who are sick of the Iraqi debacle?
Note: This article by veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas shows the power of the war
machine controlling Washington DC today. For a highly revealing historical context on the "War
Racket", click here.
The shock doctrine

http://business.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2165023,00.html
At the big Red Cross shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana ... the news ... was that the Republican
Congressman Richard Baker had told a group of lobbyists, "We finally cleaned up public housing
in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Joseph Canizaro, one of New Orleans' wealthiest
developers, had just expressed a similar sentiment: "I think we have a clean sheet to start again.
And with that clean sheet we have some very big opportunities." All that week Baton Rouge had
been crawling with corporate lobbyists helping to lock in those big opportunities: lower taxes, fewer
regulations, cheaper workers and a "smaller, safer city" - which in practice meant plans to level the
public housing projects. One of those who saw opportunity in the floodwaters of New Orleans was
the late Milton Friedman, grand guru of unfettered capitalism and credited with writing the rulebook
for the contemporary, hyper-mobile global economy. "Most New Orleans schools are in ruins,"
Friedman observed, "as are the homes of the children who have attended them. The children are
now scattered all over the country. This is a tragedy. It is also an opportunity." Friedman's radical
idea was that instead of spending a portion of the billions of dollars in reconstruction money on
rebuilding and improving New Orleans' existing public school system, the government should
provide families with vouchers, which they could spend at private institutions. In sharp contrast to
the glacial pace with which the levees were repaired and the electricity grid brought back online,
the auctioning-off of New Orleans' school system took place with military speed and
precision. Within 19 months, with most of the city's poor residents still in exile, New
Orleans' public school system had been almost completely replaced by privately run
charter schools.
Vital Lockerbie evidence 'was tampered with'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/libya/story/0,,2160713,00.html
The key piece of material evidence used by prosecutors to implicate Libya in the Lockerbie
bombing has emerged as a probable fake. Allegations of international political intrigue and
shoddy investigative work are being levelled at the British government, the FBI and the
Scottish police as one of the crucial witnesses, Swiss engineer Ulrich Lumpert, has
apparently confessed that he lied about the origins of a crucial 'timer' - evidence that helped
tie the man convicted of the bombing to the crime. At a trial in the Netherlands in 2001, former
Libyan agent Abdulbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for life. Later this month the Scottish Court of
Appeal is expected to hear Megrahi's case, after [a ruling] in June that there was enough evidence
to suggest a miscarriage of justice. Lumpert's confession, which was given to police in his home
city of Zurich last week, will strengthen Megrahi's appeal. Swiss businessman Edwin Bollier, who
has spent nearly two decades trying to clear his company's name, is as eager for the appeal as is
Megrahi. Bollier's now bankrupt company, Mebo, manufactured the timer switch that prosecutors
used to implicate Libya after they said that fragments of it had been found on a Scottish hillside. 'I
was shown fragments of a brown circuit board which matched our prototype. But when the MST-13
went into production, the timers contained green boards. I knew that the timers sold to Libya had
green boards. I told the investigators this.' In 2001, Bollier spent five days in the witness box at the
Lockerbie trial ... in the Netherlands. 'I was a defence witness, but the trial was so skewed to prove
Libyan involvement that the details of what I had to say [were] ignored." Few people apart from
conspiracy theorists and investigative journalists working on the case were prepared to believe
Bollier until the end of last month, when Lumpert ... walked into a Zurich police station and asked
to swear an affidavit before a notary.
Note: For a revealing documentary showing a major cover-up involving the Lockerbie bombing,
click here.
Telecom Firms Helped With Government's Warrantless Wiretaps

The Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that telecommunications companies
assisted the government's warrantless surveillance program and were being sued as a result, an
admission some legal experts say could complicate the government's bid to halt numerous
lawsuits challenging the program's legality. "[U]nder the president's program, the terrorist
surveillance program, the private sector had assisted us," Director of National Intelligence Mike
McConnell said in an interview with the El Paso Times. His statement could help plaintiffs in
dozens of lawsuits against the telecom companies, which allege that the companies participated in
a wiretapping program that violated Americans' privacy rights. David Kris, a former Justice
Department official, ... said McConnell's admission makes it difficult to argue that the phone
companies' cooperation with the government is a state secret. "It's going to be tough to
continue to call it 'alleged' when he's just admitted it," Kris said. McConnell has just added
to "the list of publicly available facts that are no longer state secrets," increasing the
plaintiffs' chances that their cases can proceed, Kris said. McConnell's statement "does
serious damage to the government's state secrets claims that are at the heart of its defenses," said
Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Bruce Fein, an
associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration, said that McConnell's disclosure
shows that "an important element of a program can be discussed publicly and openly without
endangering the nation. These Cassandran cries that the earth is going to fall every time you have
a discussion simply are not borne out by the facts," he said.
Bush Signs Law to Widen Legal Reach for Wiretapping

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/washington/06nsa.html?ex=1344052800&en=5e75...
President Bush signed into law ... legislation that broadly [expands] the governments authority to
eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without
warrants. The law [goes] far beyond the small fixes that administration officials had said were
needed to gather information about foreign terrorists [and will] sharply alter the legal limits on the
governments ability to monitor millions of phone calls and e-mail messages going in and out of the
United States. The new law for the first time [provides] a legal framework for much of the
surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency
and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate
the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens. This more
or less legalizes the N.S.A. program, said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security
Studies in Washington. Previously, the government needed search warrants approved by a special
intelligence court to eavesdrop on ... electronic communications between individuals inside the
United States and people overseas. The new law gives the attorney general and the director
of national intelligence the power to approve the international surveillance, rather than the
special intelligence court. The law also gave the administration greater power to force
telecommunications companies to cooperate with such spying operations. The companies
can now be compelled to cooperate by orders from the attorney general and the director of
national intelligence.
White House To Push Mideast Arms Sales

The Bush administration will ask Congress to expand multibillion-dollar aid and weapons sales
packages to friendly nations in the Middle East. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will
announce proposed extensions and enlargements of foreign aid to Israel and Egypt, and a
proposed arms sales package to Persian Gulf nations including Saudi Arabia. The Israeli and
Egyptian proposals would lock in U.S. commitments for the next 10 years. The total for
Israel would rise from $2.4 billion to about $3 billion a year, and Egypt would continue to
receive $1.3 billion a year. The Bush administration also wants Congress to give their stamp of
approval to an arms sale package for Saudi Arabia. Overall, the aid and arms packages would
total $20 billion ... which is double what officials first estimated when details first became public this
past spring. Terrorism expert Sajjan Gohel says the Saudi arms sale might not be a good idea. "It
shows that the Bush administration isn't looking really at the long-term, but seems to be ...
concerned about trying to secure oil reserves and deposits in Saudi Arabia," Gohel said.
Note: For decades Israel, with a population now of just over 7 million, has been receiving U.S. tax
dollars to the tune of over $300 per year for every man, woman, and child? The new proposal will
increase that to over $400. This is more than 10 times what any other nation receives per capita.
And what results has all of this aid brought? Click here for a 2002 Christian Science Monitor article
which starts off "Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by
today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person."
In Intelligence World, A Mute Watchdog

An independent oversight board created to identify intelligence abuses after the CIA scandals of
the 1970s did not send any reports to the attorney general of legal violations during the first 5 1/2
years of the Bush administration's counterterrorism effort, the Justice Department has told
Congress. The President's Intelligence Oversight Board -- the principal civilian watchdog of the
intelligence community -- is obligated under a 26-year-old executive order to tell the attorney
general and the president about any intelligence activities it believes "may be unlawful." The board
was vacant for the first two years of the Bush administration. The board's mandate is to provide
independent oversight, so the absence of such communications has prompted critics to question
whether the board was doing its job. "It's now apparent that the IOB was not actively employed in
the early part of the administration. And it was a crucial period when its counsel would seem to
have been needed the most," said Anthony Harrington, who served as the board's chairman for
most of the Clinton administration. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick J. Leahy (DVt.) added: "It is deeply disturbing that this administration seems to spend so much of its
energy and resources trying to find ways to ignore any check and balance on its authority
and avoid accountability to Congress and the American public."
Old oil fears don't match 2007 reality

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/15/INGHKQVEIO1.DTL
Congress is debating action to address the nation's dependence on foreign oil. This would seem to
be good news. Not necessarily. While tightening requirements on fuel efficiency is a good idea,
many other envisioned policies aimed at "energy independence" fix a problem that no longer
exists, while moving in the wrong direction with regard to today's actual energy challenges -particularly those related to climate change. Rather than staying the course with energy priorities
of the past, congressional leaders should declare independence from oil fears and craft an energy
policy relevant to the 21st century. Do you believe that the United States is dangerously vulnerable
to oil supply disruptions? Then, ask yourself: "When was the last time I saw clear evidence of this
vulnerability?" If you're like most Americans, you'll think back to the Arab oil embargo of 1973, with
its long gas lines and associated recession. There are three problems with using 1973 as a point
of reference: -- First, the long gas lines in 1973 were caused by price controls imposed by
President Richard Nixon in 1971, not embargoes of oil imposed by Arabs two years later.
Without price controls, we would have had higher prices at the pump when supplies were reduced,
not long lines. Unpleasant, but not as memorable. -- Second, many studies of the era -- including a
landmark 1997 paper co-authored by current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke -- have
found that monetary policy had more to do with the recessions of the '70s than did oil price shocks.
-- Third, 2007 is not 1973.
'Out of the Blue': Do Aliens Exist?

2007-07-06, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3349575
It's an age-old question: Are we alone in the universe? Now, 60 years after the reported crash of a
UFO in Roswell, N.M., and with the French government releasing its UFO archives, there are new
efforts to prove alien spacecrafts really exist. James Fox, the producer of [the documentary] Out of
the Blue, says that aliens are out there. He also believes that they have incredible technical ability,
saying that they can "fly rings around our fastest jets." Out of the Blue is an attempt to weed out
the wackos and present credible witnesses who say they saw what looked like alien spacecraft.
Witnesses like former President Carter, who said, "I saw one, but I don't know where. It just
disappeared." And Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, who says he saw "this typical saucer
shape, double-cylindrical shape, metallic." The subject of UFOs is one of those things that
never gets a satisfactory answer, and never quite seems to go away. The documentary begins with
an ... incident that occurred in Phoenix in March 1997, known as the "Phoenix Lights." Hundreds
and possibly thousands of people, many of them looking at the Hale-Bopp comet, reported seeing
an array of lights and an enormous delta-shaped craft. The first report of a strange flying object
came about 8:20 p.m. from a former police officer in Paulden, Ariz. Over the next 40 minutes,
people gave similar reports of an object along a 20-mile route south to Phoenix and Tempe.
Among other claims, Fox focuses on a 1980 report of UFO sightings at an American air force base
in England the so-called "Bentwaters" incident. Three former Air Force security officers told Fox
about actually touching a small, strange craft that landed outside the base.
Note: To watch the engaging 15-minute clip of this ABC News report, click here. For media articles
on the Phoenix Lights, click here. To watch the full astounding documentary Out of the Blue free
online, click here.
Files on Illegal Spying Show C.I.A. Skeletons From Cold War

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/washington/27cia.html?ex=1340596800&en=3fa7...
Long-secret documents released Tuesday provide new details about how the Central Intelligence
Agency illegally spied on Americans decades ago. Known inside the agency as the family
jewels, the 702 pages of documents released Tuesday catalog domestic wiretapping
operations, failed assassination plots, mind-control experiments and spying on journalists
from the early years of the C.I.A. The papers provide evidence of paranoia and occasional
incompetence as the agency began a string of illegal spying operations in the 1960s and 1970s,
often to hunt links between Communist governments and the domestic protests that roiled the
nation in that period. Yet the long-awaited documents leave out a great deal. Large sections are
censored, showing that the C.I.A. still cannot bring itself to expose all the skeletons in its closet.
And many activities about overseas operations disclosed years ago by journalists, Congressional
investigators and a presidential commission which led to reforms of the nations intelligence
agencies are not detailed in the papers. The 60-year-old agency has been under fire ... by
critics [of] the secret prisons and harsh interrogation practices it has adopted since the Sept. 11
attacks. Some intelligence experts suggested ... that the release of the documents was intended to
distract from the current controversies. And they and historians expressed disappointment that the
documents were so heavily censored. Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive, the research
group that filed the Freedom of Information request in 1992 that led to the documents becoming
public, said he was initially underwhelmed by them because they contained little about the
agencys foreign operations. But Mr. Blanton said what was striking was the scope of the C.I.As
domestic spying efforts.
National Security Archives, and can be read by clicking here.
Stung by Harper's In a Web Of Deceit

Ken Silverstein says he lied, deceived and fabricated to get the story. But it was worth it, he insists.
Those on the receiving end don't agree. As Washington editor of Harper's magazine, Silverstein
posed as Kenneth Case, a London-based executive with the fictional Maldon Group, claiming to
represent the government of Turkmenistan. He had fake business cards printed, bought a London
cellphone number and created a bogus Web site -- all to persuade Beltway lobbying firms to pitch
him on representing Turkmenistan. "For me to deny, or try to shade the fact that I tricked them
would be stupid," Silverstein says. "Obviously we did. If our readers feel uncomfortable, they're
free to dismiss the findings of the story." Says Harper's Editor Roger Hodge: "The big question in
our mind was whether anybody was going to fall for it." They did. According to Harper's, executives
at the Washington firm APCO Worldwide laid out a communications plan that included lobbying
policymakers -- possibly including a trip for members of Congress -- and generating "news items."
Senior Vice President Barry Schumacher told Silverstein the firm could drum up positive op-ed
pieces by utilizing certain think tank experts. The proposed fee: $40,000 a month. Another
Washington firm, Cassidy & Associates, asked for at least $1.2 million a year and touted a
proposed trip to Turkmenistan for journalists and think tank analysts. Hodge says the caper is
part of "a long history of sting operations" by journalists. But that undercover tradition has
faded in recent years. No newspaper today would do what the Chicago Sun-Times did in the
1970s, setting up a bar to entrap crooked politicians. Fewer television programs are doing
what ABC did in the 1990s, having producers lie to get jobs at a supermarket chain to expose
unsanitary practices.
Note: To read the hard-hitting, in-depth article in Harper's magazine, click here.
White House of Mirrors

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/opinion/24sun1.html?ex=1340337600&en=2b456e...
President Bush has turned the executive branch into a two-way mirror. They get to see everything
Americans do: our telephone calls, e-mail, and all manner of personal information. And we get to
see nothing about what they do. Everyone knows this administration has disdained openness and
accountability since its first days. That is about the only thing it does not hide. But recent weeks
have produced disturbing disclosures about just how far Mr. Bushs team is willing to go to keep
lawmakers and the public in the dark. That applies to big issues like the C.I.A.s secret prisons
and to things that would seem too small-bore to order up a cover-up. Vice President Dick
Cheney sets the gold standard, placing himself not just above Congress and the courts but above
Mr. Bush himself. For the last four years, he has been defying a presidential order requiring
executive branch agencies to account for the classified information they handle. When the
agency that enforces this rule tried to do its job, Mr. Cheney proposed abolishing the
agency. Since the 9/11 attacks, Mr. Bush has tried to excuse his administrations obsession with
secrecy by saying that dangerous times require greater discretion. He rammed the Patriot Act
through Congress with a promise that national security agencies would make sure the new powers
were not abused. But on June 14, The Washington Post reported that the [FBI] potentially broke
the law or its own rules several thousand times over the past five years when it used the Patriot
Act to snoop on domestic phone calls, e-mail and financial transactions of ordinary Americans.
White House revises post-disaster protocol

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/02/white_house_...
The Bush administration is writing a new plan to maintain governmental control in the wake of an
apocalyptic terrorist attack or overwhelming natural disaster, moving such doomsday planning for
the first time from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to officials inside the White House.
Discussion among legal specialists, homeland security experts and Internet commentators
[includes] concerns that the policy may [make] it too easy to invoke emergency presidential powers
such as martial law. The ... new "National Continuity Policy" contains few details about how
surviving officials would invoke emergency powers, or when emergency powers should be deemed
to be no longer necessary. The unanswered questions have provoked anxiety across ideological
lines. The conservative commentator Jerome Corsi [wrote] that the directive looked like a
recipe for allowing the office of the presidency to seize "dictatorial powers" because the
policy does not discuss consulting Congress about when to invoke emergency powers -- or
when to turn them off. Some specialists say that the White House should be more specific about
its worst-case scenario plans, pointing out two unanswered questions: what circumstances would
trigger implementation of the plan and what legal limits the White House recognizes on its own
emergency powers. The policy ... does not contain a direct reference to statutes in which Congress
has imposed checks and balances on the president's power to impose martial law or other
extraordinary measures, [nor does it] explicitly acknowledge the National Emergencies Act, [a] law
that gives Congress the right to override the president's determination that a national emergency
still exists.
Big Oil buys Sacramento

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-court14may14,1,728748...
Who's afraid of Big Oil? Apparently, California's elected officials. Gasoline prices are stuck well
above last year's record highs and about 50 cents above the national average. Yet state politicians
are not saying or doing a thing, except for raking in political cash from the oil companies and flying
around the world on their dime. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ... once claimed that he was so rich
he did not need anyone else's money. Yet as gasoline prices were breaking last year's record of
$3.38 a gallon, Schwarzenegger collected a $100,000 check May 1 from Chevron, the West's
largest refiner. Just three days earlier, it reported a $4.7-billion first-quarter profit, up 18% over the
same period last year. The contribution brought Schwarzenegger's take from Chevron to $665,000
(making it his 15th largest donor) since 2003, and his total political tribute from the energy industry
is now $4 million. According to a recent Schwarzenegger fundraising solicitation, Chevron's
$100,000 buys the company special briefings with the governor. Refiners such as Chevron have
discovered that they can make more money by producing less gasoline. So they do. They have,
over more than 20 years, deliberately reduced their capacity. Chevron refined 22% less oil in the
U.S. during the first quarter of this year than in the same quarter of 2006. Yet its total profit on U.S.
refining increased 66%. Making less gasoline, it made much more money. Oil companies poured
$90 million into California political campaigns during the 2006 election cycle. This display
of sheer political muscle deters even well-meaning politicians from clashing with Big Oil.
Democrats take Big Oil's millions too. The state Democratic Party accepted $50,000 from
Chevron just last week.
Note: If above link fails, click here. So is it one person equals one vote in elections or one dollar
one vote?
Durbin kept silent on prewar knowledge

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070427-124842-1706r.htm
The Senate's No. 2 Democrat says he knew that the American public was being misled into
the Iraq war but remained silent because he was sworn to secrecy as a member of the
intelligence committee. "The information we had in the intelligence committee was not the same
information being given to the American people. I couldn't believe it," Majority Whip Richard J.
Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said Wednesday when talking on the Senate floor about the run-up to
the Iraq war in 2002. "I was angry about it. [But] frankly, I couldn't do much about it because, in the
intelligence committee, we are sworn to secrecy. We can't walk outside the door and say the
statement made yesterday by the White House is in direct contradiction to classified information
that is being given to this Congress." Mr. Durbin yesterday said there was no "ethical" way to notify
the public of specific misleading information being touted by the Bush administration because it
would have required revealing top-secret information being provided to the intelligence committee.
Mr. Durbin, whose floor comments were part of the debate before yesterday's passage of an
emergency war-funding bill, said he and half the Democrats on the intelligence committee voted
against the war over concerns of the White House's "very flimsy case, but it was given to the
American people as a proven fact." Congress authorized the 2003 use of armed force against Iraq
by votes of 296-133 in the House and 77-23 in the Senate. Five of nine Democrats on the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence voted for the measure as did all eight Republicans.
Note: Why wasn't this key information reported in other major media? And if it is clear that the
public is being blatantly lied to by politicians with hidden agendas, doesn't that justify the breaking
of secrecy oaths?
The FBI ... has turned its back on thousands of white-collar crimes
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/311046_fbiterror11.html
Thousands of white-collar criminals across the country are no longer being prosecuted in
federal court -- and, in many cases, not at all -- leaving a trail of frustrated victims and
potentially billions of dollars in fraud and theft losses. It is the untold story of the Bush
administration's massive restructuring of the FBI after the terrorism attacks of 9/11. Five-and-a-half
years later, the White House and the Justice Department have failed to replace at least 2,400
agents transferred to counterterrorism squads, leaving far fewer agents on the trail of identity
thieves, con artists, hatemongers and other criminals. The hidden cost: a dramatic plunge in FBI
investigations and case referrals in many of the crimes that the bureau has traditionally fought,
including sophisticated fraud, embezzlement schemes and civil rights violations. In 2005, the
bureau brought slightly more than 20,000 cases to federal prosecutors, compared with about
31,000 in 2000 -- a 34 percent drop. White-collar crime investigations by the bureau have
plummeted in recent years. In 2005, the FBI sent prosecutors 3,500 cases -- a fraction of the more
than 10,000 cases assigned to agents in 2000. Civil rights investigations, which include hate
crimes and police abuse, have continued a steady decline since the late 1990s. FBI agents
pursued 65 percent fewer cases in 2005 than they did in 2000. Large numbers of FBI agents also
were transferred out of violent-crime programs. The gaps created by the Bush administration's war
on terrorism are troubling to criminal justice experts, police chiefs -- even many current and former
FBI officials and agents.
Note: For an article on how the FBI knowingly allowed innocent people to be sentenced to death,
click here.
Police Log Confirms FBI Role In Arrests

A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington
parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political and
religious beliefs. [Washington] D.C. police said authorities only recently found the logs of police
responses to that day's events. That discovery came after three years of police assurances in
federal court that no such records or logs existed showing the FBI's role. The FBI and D.C.
police said they had no records of such an incident. And police told a federal court that no FBI
agents were present when officers arrested more than 20 protesters that afternoon for trespassing;
police viewed them as suspicious for milling around the parking garage entrance. Similar
intelligence-gathering operations have been reported in New York, where a local police intelligence
unit tried to infiltrate groups planning to protest at the Republican National Convention in 2004, and
in Colorado, where records surfaced showing that the FBI collected names and license plates of
people protesting timber industry practices at a 2002 industry convention.
'I finally concluded - UFOs are, in fact, real'

2007-03-27, National Post (One of Canada's leading newspapers)
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/story.html?id=14912...
Mary Vallis and the National Post have contributed to a new era of openness regarding UFOs. Her
coverage of the disclosure by former Arizona governor Fife Symington -- that he witnessed the
Phoenix Lights on March 13, 1997 -- is Earth-shattering news, to say the least. Mr. Symington
now joins the ranks of astronauts, pilots and highly placed political figures who have
demanded governments speak openly to the reality of the extraterrestrial presence on the
planet. This group includes former Canadian minister of defence Paul Hellyer ... Lord HillNorton British Admiral of Fleet; U.S. presidents Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter ... astronauts
Gordon Cooper ... and Edgar Mitchell, all of whom have demanded governments speak openly
to the reality of the extraterrestrial presence on the planet. Each of these figures has made a call
for an end to the secrecy and truth embargo surrounding the certainty of ET issue. Will our
government break ranks with the U.S. government and follow the lead of France in releasing its
files on UFOs and the non-correlated target reports catalogued by pilots and radar reports within
the Canadian-American co-terminus agency NORAD?
Note: For an abundance of reliable, verifiable information on UFOs, see our UFO Information
Center.
Navy Won't Detail Sonar Use for Whale Endangerment Case

The Navy is refusing to detail its sonar use for a federal court in a case involving potential harm to
whales, saying the information could jeopardize national security. The Natural Resources Defense
Council is suing the Navy to ensure sailors use sonar in a way that doesn't harm whales and other
marine mammals. Critics say active sonar, which sailors use by pumping sound through water and
listening for objects the sound bounces off of, can strand and even kill marine mammals. A U.S.
Congressional Research Service report last year found Navy sonar exercises had been
responsible for at least six mass deaths and unusual behavior among whales. Many of the
beached or dead animals had damaged hearing organs. In considering the lawsuit, U.S.
District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper issued an order for the Navy to submit data for the case on
when and where sailors have used sonar since 2003. The Navy said in its new release that it
refused to comply citing state secrets privilege. Joel Reynolds, a Natural Resources Defense
Council attorney, said he would challenge the Navy's position. "This latest invocation of state
secret privilege is one more attempt to deprive the public of the information it needs to determine
whether the Navy is illegally and needlessly endangering the marine environment," Reynolds said.
Note: What this and almost all other media articles on this subject fail to mention is that traditional
radar used used since before WWII does not harm whales and dolphins. It is only sophisticated
new systems that are causing mass deaths of these intelligent mammals around the world.
F.D.A. Warns of Sleeping Pills Strange Effects

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/business/15drug.ready.html?ex=1331611200&en...
The most widely prescribed sleeping pills can cause strange behavior like driving and eating while
asleep, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday, announcing that strong new warnings
will be placed on the labels of 13 drugs. Use of those medications and other similar drugs has
soared by more than 60 percent since 2000, fueled by television, print and other advertising. Last
year, makers of sleeping pills spent more than $600 million on advertising aimed at consumers.
Sales in the United States of Ambien and Lunesta alone last year exceeded $3 billion. Last year ...
some users of the most widely prescribed drug, Ambien, started complaining online and to their
doctors about unusual reactions ranging from fairly benign sleepwalking episodes to
hallucinations, violent outbursts, nocturnal binge eating and most troubling of all driving while
asleep. Sleep-drivers reported frightening episodes in which they recalled going to bed, but
woke up to find they had been arrested roadside in their underwear or nightclothes. The
agency also received reports of people making phone calls, purchasing items over the Internet, or
having sex under the influence of sleep medication. In each case the consumers had no
recollection of the events, which they said had occurred after they took their pills and headed for
bed. "Hopefully this will make doctors think twice before blindly giving patients a prescription," said
Dr. Mahowald. He also criticized marketing of the products. "I personally think the extent of
advertising has just been unconscionable," he said.
Note: A reliable insider told us of a harrowing story where his company and the FDA made a
secret agreement not to report numerous deaths resulting from one test drug so that it would pass
and bring major profits. For lots more reliable, verifiable information on major corruption in the drug
companies affecting your health, click here.
Journalists: U.S. military deleted photos of attack

2007-03-05, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/04/afghan.photos.ap
Afghan journalists covering the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack ... said U.S. troops deleted their
photos and video and warned them not to publish or air any images of U.S. troops or a car where
three Afghans were shot to death. A freelance photographer working for The Associated
Press and a cameraman working for AP Television News said a U.S. soldier deleted their
photos and video showing a four-wheel drive vehicle in which three people were shot to
death. The photographer, Rahmat Gul, said witnesses at the scene told him the three had been
shot to death by U.S. forces fleeing the attack. "When I went near the four-wheel drive, I saw the
Americans taking pictures of the same car, so I started taking pictures," Gul said. "Two soldiers
with a translator came and said, 'Why are you taking pictures?."' It wasn't clear why the accredited
journalists would need permission to take photos of a civilian car on a public highway. The
American ... warned him that he did not want to see any AP photos published anywhere. The
American also raised his fist in anger as if he were going to hit him, but he did not strike, Gul said.
Taqiullah Taqi, a reporter for Afghanistan's largest television station, Tolo TV, said Americans were
using abusive language. "They said, 'Delete them, or we will delete you,"' Taqi said. A freelance
cameraman for AP Television News said ... a U.S. officer told him that he could not go any closer
to the scene but that he could shoot footage. The cameraman asked not to be named for his own
safety. As he was filming, he said, a U.S. soldier and translator "ordered us not to move." The
cameraman said they were very angry and deleted any footage that included the Americans.
Note: Why is this kind of media censorship not being more widely reported? For more, click here.
USDA Backs Production of Rice With Human Genes

The Agriculture Department has given a preliminary green light for the first commercial production
of a food crop engineered to contain human genes, reigniting fears that biomedically potent
substances in high-tech plants could escape and turn up in other foods. The plan ... calls for largescale cultivation in Kansas of rice that produces human immune system proteins in its seeds. The
proteins are to be extracted for use as an anti-diarrhea medicine and might be added to health
foods such as yogurt and granola bars. Critics are assailing the effort, saying gene-altered
plants inevitably migrate out of their home plots. In this case, they said, that could result in
pharmacologically active proteins showing up in the food of unsuspecting consumers.
Although the proteins are not inherently dangerous, there would be little control over the doses
people might get exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins, said Jane Rissler of the
Union of Concerned Scientists. "This is not a product that everyone would want to consume,"
Rissler said, adding that other companies grow such plants indoors or in vats. "It is unwise to
produce drugs in plants outdoors."
Note: For a detailed analysis of the dangers of this genetically-modified rice program, click here.
Here Comes the Sun
2007-03-02, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/11/01/8392039
Venture capitalists are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into [Silicon] Valley solar startups
pursuing technological breakthroughs to make sun power as cheap as fossil fuel. Three of the
largest tech IPOs of 2005 were for solar companies. The world's largest chip-equipment maker will
begin producing machines to manufacture solar wafers, laying the groundwork for an industrial
infrastructure that should lower the cost of producing solar cells. Solar energy has just the sort
of oversize potential that the titans of tech saw in computing: a free and practically
inexhaustible power source. California is also committing $3.2 billion to fund a drive to install
solar panels on a million rooftops by 2018, and a November ballot initiative ... would tax Big Oil to
provide $4 billion in funding for alternative-energy research, programs, and startups. Perhaps no
startup has benefited more from the solar gold rush than Nanosolar. The Palo Alto company ... has
racked up more than $100 million in funding so far. Nanosolar is pursuing a technology that
produces solar cells on a film that's a 100th the thickness of conventional silicon wafers. Its
ultimate goal: integrating thin-film cells directly into building materials. A skyscraper's glass
windows, for instance, could be embedded with thin-film cells, giving them energy-producing
capabilities. Nanosolar plans to build a manufacturing facility next year ... that will eventually
produce 430 megawatts' worth of solar cells per year. That would nearly triple the nation's
manufacturing capacity and make Nanosolar one of the world's largest solar producers. Thanks to
aggressive government subsidies, Germany and Japan are currently the global leaders in solar
production.
Note: With all of its talk about energy independence, why isn't the U.S. aggressively supporting
research into solar power like Japan and Germany? For reliable, verifiable information which
answers this question, click here.
Afghan opium 'hits record output'

2007-03-01, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6410263.stm
Opium production in Afghanistan reached record levels last year, the United States has said. The
US State Department's annual report on narcotics also said the flourishing drugs trade was
undermining the fight against the Taleban. Poppy production rose 25% in 2006, a figure US
Assistant Secretary of State Ann Patterson described as alarming. Four years after the US and its
British allies began combating poppy production, Afghanistan still accounts for 90% of the world's
opium trade.
Note: Isn't it interesting that though the Taliban had eradicated over 90% of the opium crop in
2001, it has not only come back to previous level, but far surpassed them after Afghanistan was
"liberated." Could it be that the military forces are turning a blind eye or even involved? For
information from a DEA insider on this, click here.
The American Empire and 9/11 by Prof. David Ray Griffin

2007-03-00, Tikkun Magazine - March/April 2007 Issue
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/tik0703/frontpage/empire911
Literally dozens of people including journalists, police officers, WTC employees, emergency
medical workers, and firefighters reported hearing explosions in the Twin Towers, with some of
them explicitly saying that the collapses appeared to be instances of controlled demolition. One fire
captain said: "I hear an explosion and I look up. It is as if the building is being imploded, from the
top floor down, one after another, boom, boom, boom." [A] paramedic said: "It was [like a]
professional demolition where they set the charges on certain floors." One firefighter said: "It
seemed like on television [when] they blow up these buildings." Given all the features that indicate
controlled demolition, it is not surprising that when a controlled demolition expert in Holland was
shown videos of the collapse of WTC 7, without being told what the building was ... he said: "They
have simply blown away columns. A team of experts did this. This is controlled demolition." Two
emeritus professors of structural analysis and construction at Zurich's prestigious ETH Institute of
Technology say that WTC 7 was "with the highest probability brought down by explosives." FEMA,
the first agency given the task of explaining the collapse of the WTC, said that its best explanation
for the collapse of WTC 7 had "only a low probability of occurrence." The 9/11 Commission
avoided the problem by simply not finding room to mention this collapse in its 571-page report.
This behavior is no surprise given the fact that the Commission was run by its executive
director, Philip Zelikow, who was virtually a member of the Bush-Cheney administration.
Note: This article in Tikkun by renowned theologian David Ray Griffin is the first in any major U.S.
national magazine to contain a detailed argument that the attacks of 9/11 were planned and
carried out by rogue elements within the U.S. government. For additional reliable information on
the 9/11 coverup, click here.
Report: In U.S., record numbers are plunged into poverty

2007-02-23, USA Today/AFP
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-25-us-poverty_x.htm
The gulf between rich and poor in the United States is yawning wider than ever, and the number of
extremely impoverished is at a three-decade high. Based on the latest available U.S. census data
from 2005, [a] McClatchy Newspapers analysis found that almost 16 million Americans live in
"deep or severe poverty" defined as a family of four with two children earning less than 9,903
dollars one half the federal poverty line figure. For individuals the "deep poverty" threshold was
an income under 5,080 dollars a year. The number of severely poor Americans grew by 26% from
2000 to 2005. The surge in poverty comes alongside an unusual economic expansion. "Worker
productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job
growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate
profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. That helps explain why the
median household income for working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five
straight years. These and other factors have helped push 43% of the nation's 37 million poor
people into deep poverty the highest rate since at least 1975," the report said. Since 2000, the
number of severely poor far below basic poverty terms in the United States has grown "more
than any other segment of the population. That was the exact opposite of what we anticipated
when we began," said Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, a study co-author. U.S.
social programs are minimal compared to those of western Europe and Canada.
Texas Governor Defends Vaccine Order

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&Date=2...
Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday angrily defended his relationship with Merck & Co. and his executive
order requiring that schoolgirls receive the drugmaker's vaccine against the sexually transmitted
cervical-cancer virus. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Perry's chief of staff had
met with key aides about the vaccine on Oct. 16, the same day Merck's political action committee
donated $5,000 to the governor's campaign. In issuing the order, the governor made Texas the
first state to require the vaccine Gardasil for all schoolgirls. But many lawmakers have
complained about his bypassing the Legislature altogether. The executive order has inflamed
conservatives, who said it contradicts Texas' abstinence-only sexual education policies and
intrudes into families' lives. Critics have previously questioned Perry's ties to Merck. Mike Toomey,
Perry's former chief of staff, now lobbies for the drug company. And the governor accepted a total
of $6,000 from Merck during his re-election campaign. Merck has waged a behind-the-scenes
lobbying campaign to get state legislatures to require girls to get the three-dose vaccine to enroll in
school. But on Tuesday the pharmaceutical company announced it was suspending the effort
because of pressure from parents and medical groups. The Kentucky House on Thurday passed a
bill that would require the vaccination for middle school girls unless their parents sign a form
opposing it. Virginia lawmakers have also passed legislation requiring the vaccine, but the
governor has not decided if he will sign it.
Note: The drug company lobby is the most powerful in the U.S., as reported by the former editorin-chief of one of the most respected medical journals in the U.S. Click here for more.
Italy indicts 31 in alleged CIA kidnapping

A judge Friday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in the abduction of an Egyptian terror
suspect on a Milan street in what would be the first criminal trial stemming from the CIAs
extraordinary rendition program. Prosecutors allege that five Italian intelligence officials worked
with the Americans to seize Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr on Feb. 17, 2003. Nasr
was allegedly transferred by vehicle to the Aviano Air Force base near Venice, then by air to the
Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and on to Egypt, where his lawyer says he was tortured. Nasr was
freed earlier this week by an Egyptian court that found his four years of detention in Egypt
unfounded. All but one of the Americans have been identified as CIA agents, including the former
Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady and former Rome station chief Jeffrey Castelli. Among the
Italians indicted by Judge Caterina Interlandi was the former chief of military intelligence, Nicolo
Pollari, and his former deputy, Marco Mancini. The CIA has refused to comment on the case,
which has put an uncomfortable spotlight on its operations. Prosecutors are pressing the Italian
government to seek the extradition of the Americans. In Italy, defendants can be tried in absentia.
Prosecutors elsewhere in Europe are moving ahead with cases aimed at the CIA program. A
Munich prosecutor recently issued arrest warrants for 13 people in another alleged CIAorchestrated kidnapping, that of a German citizen who says he was seized in December 2003 at
the Serbian-Macedonia border and flown to Afghanistan.
Note: At long last, the CIA is beginning to be held accountable for flagrantly breaking laws
resulting in torture.
Former top CIA official, contractor indicted

The CIAs former No. 3 official and a defense contractor were charged Tuesday with fraud and
other offenses in the corruption investigation that sent former Rep. Randy Duke Cunningham to
prison. Federal indictments named Kyle Dusty Foggo, executive director of the CIA until he
resigned in May, and his close friend, San Diego defense contractor Brent Wilkes, both 52,
according to two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. One of the officials
said the grand jury heard claims that Foggo joined Wilkes on trips to Hawaii and Scotland, and
was introduced to Wilkes employees as early as 2003 as a future executive of Wilkes company,
Wilkes Corp., which allegedly received $12 million in illicit contracts from various government
agencies. Cunningham, an eight-term Republican, served on the House Intelligence Committee
and on the defense subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee assignments that made him
a key figure in the awarding of Pentagon contracts. Cunningham pleaded guilty in November 2005
to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and others, including mortgage payments
and a yacht he named Duke-Stir. The indictments paint a stunning picture of corruption in
Washington. The alleged crimes by Cunningham and defense contractors is, according to
the U.S. Attorney in San Diego, "breathtaking in scope." Foggo was named executive director
of the CIA in 2004, responsible for running the agencys day-to-day operations. He retired in May
while under investigation by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Pentagon, the CIA and the
U.S. attorneys office in San Diego.
Note: This is very encouraging news as the once "untouchable" CIA is finally being subject to
some of the same laws and justice as the rest of us.
Gonzales says the Constitution doesn't guarantee habeas corpus

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/24/MNGDONO11O1.DTL
One of the Bush administration's most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed
quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus -- the right
to go to federal court and challenge one's imprisonment -- is not protected by the Constitution.
"The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby
granted or assured the right of habeas," Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during a Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 17. Gonzales acknowledged that the Constitution declares
"habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless ... in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety
may require it." But he insisted that "there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution."
Specter was incredulous, asking how the Constitution could bar the suspension of a right
that didn't exist -- a right, he noted, that was first recognized in medieval England as a
shield against the king's power to dispatch troublesome subjects to royal dungeons. Later
in the hearing, Gonzales described habeas corpus as "one of our most cherished rights'' and noted
that Congress had protected that right in the 1789 law that established the federal court system.
But he never budged from his position on the absence of constitutional protection -- a position that
seemingly would leave Congress free to reduce habeas corpus rights or repeal them altogether.
Pioneering U.S. renewable energy lab is neglected

2007-01-22, International Herald Tribune (Owned by New York Times)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/22/business/lab.php
Thirty years after it was founded by President Jimmy Carter, the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory at the edge of the Rockies here still does not have a cafeteria. The hopes for this
neglected lab brightened a bit just over a year ago when President George W. Bush made the first
presidential call on the lab since Carter. But one year after the presidential visit, the money
flowing into the primary national laboratory for developing renewable fuels is actually less
than it was when the Bush Administration took office. "Our budget is nothing compared to
the price of a B-2 bomber or an aircraft carrier," said Rob Farrington, manager of advanced
vehicle systems at the lab. The problem is that, despite a lot of promises, no one so far has
wanted to pay the extra costs to make wind and solar more than a trivial energy source. Most of
the money and attention is still focused on the dirty, but cheaper energy standbys: offshore oil, oil
sands and coal. Companies can still deduct purchases of sport utility vehicles and utility bills.
Meanwhile, fuel efficiency standards for automobiles have changed only slightly over the decades.
Renewable energy today supplies only 6 percent of America's energy needs. Under current
policies [renewables] would supply 7 percent of U.S. energy supplies by 2030 while coal would
increase over the same period from 23 percent to 26 percent. While top energy companies are ...
beginning to invest significant amounts of money in wind, solar and biomass, those investments
pale in comparison with the resources they are pouring into making synthetic fuels out of oil sands,
which emit significantly more carbon than conventional oil.
Note: With all the talk about oil dependence and energy crisis, why wouldn't the government and
industry want to put serious money into development of new energy sources? For a startlingly
clear answer, click here.
Bush Claims Right to Open Mail

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/01/04/BL2007010400803....
The New York Daily News today reports on a signing statement President Bush quietly issued two
weeks ago, in which he asserts his right to open mail without a warrant. Signing statements have
historically been used by presidents mostly to explain how they intend to enforce the laws
passed by Congress; Bush has used them to quietly assert his right to ignore those laws.
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20.
Bush then issued a 'signing statement' that declared his right to open people's mail under
emergency conditions. That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just
signed, say experts who have reviewed it. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act ...
explicitly reinforced protections of first-class mail from searches without a court's approval. Here is
the signing statement in question. Here is information on the bill in question. Are these signing
statements just a bunch of ideological bluster from overenthusiastic White House lawyers -- or are
they actually emboldening administration officials to flout the laws passed by Congress? If the
latter, Bush's unprecedented use of these statements constitutes a genuine Constitutional crisis.
Ex-employee says FAA warned before 9/11

2006-11-24, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-23-whistle-blower-faa_x.htm
From 1995 to 2001, Bogdan Dzakovic served as a team leader on the Federal Aviation
Administration's Red Team. Set up by Congress to help the FAA ... the elite squad tested airport
security systems. In the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Dzakovic says,
the team was able to breach security about 90% of the time, sneaking bombs and submachine
guns past airport screeners. Expensive new bomb detection machines consistently failed. The
team repeatedly warned the FAA of the potential for security breaches and hijackings but
was told to cover up its findings. Eventually, the FAA began notifying airports in advance
when the Red Team would be doing its undercover testing. He and other Red Team members
approached the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General, the General
Accounting Office and members of Congress about the FAA's alleged misconduct. No one did
anything. "Immediately (after 9/11), numerous government officials from FAA as well as other
government agencies made defensive statements such as, 'How could we have known this was
going to happen?' " Dzakovic testified later before the 9/11 Commission. After filing [a] complaint,
Dzakovic was removed from his Red Team leadership position. He now works for the
Transportation Security Administration. His primary assignments include tasks such as holepunching, updating agency phonebooks and "thumb-twiddling." At least he hasn't received a pay
cut, he says. He makes about $110,000 a year for what he describes as "entry-level idiot work."
Whistle-blowers tell of cost of conscience

2006-11-24, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-23-whistle-blowers_x.htm
In 2002, decorated FBI Special Agent Mike German was investigating meetings between terrorism
suspects. When he discovered other officers had jeopardized the investigation by violating
wiretapping regulations, he reported what he found to his supervisors. German says he had ... just
received a mass e-mail from FBI Director Robert Mueller, urging other whistle-blowers to come
forward. "I was assuming he'd protect me," German says. Instead ... his accusations were ignored,
his reputation ruined and his career obliterated. Although the Justice Department's inspector
general confirmed German's allegations ... he says he was barred from further undercover work
and eventually compelled to resign. The experience is familiar to other government employees
who have blown the whistle on matters of national security since 9/11. An increasing number of
whistle-blowers allege that rather than being embraced, they're being retaliated against for coming
forward. Those who come forward often face harassment, investigation, character
assassination and firing. For those who are fired ... there is little recourse. Most national
security whistle-blowers are not protected from retaliation by law. That's because the
intelligence-gathering agencies are exempted from the 1989 whistle-blower Protection Act.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled against whistle-blowers in 125 of 127
of the reprisal cases seen by the court since 1994. Many had been star employees at the top of
the pay scale and had spent decades in civil service. "I'm one of the last people who survived,"
says [Coleen] Rowley, the former FBI whistle-blower and Time magazine "Person of the Year." She
says widespread, favorable media coverage saved her FBI career.
Power is not only an aphrodisiac, it does weird things to some of us

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/19/INGT9MCJHJ1.DTL
Lyndon Johnson relished summoning underlings in to confer with him while he sat on the toilet.
Richard Nixon authorized illegal wiretaps on perceived enemies because, as he later told an
interviewer, "when the president does it, it's not illegal." Bill Clinton wantonly had sex with intern
Monica Lewinsky. Why is it said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely? In
the past few years...research has zeroed in on what an intoxicating elixir power can be. And one
thing has become clear: The phrase "drunk with power" is often a dead-on description. These new
studies show that power acts to lower inhibitions, much the same as alcohol does. It explains why
powerful people act with great daring and sometimes behave rather like gorillas. "Disinhibition is
the very root of power," said Stanford Professor Deborah Gruenfeld, a social psychologist who
focuses on the study of power. "For most people, what we think of as 'power plays' aren't
calculated and Machiavellian -- they happen at the subconscious level. When people feel powerful,
they stop trying to 'control themselves.'" People with power...tend to be more oblivious to what
others think, more likely to pursue the satisfaction of their own appetites, poorer judges of
other people's reactions, more likely to hold stereotypes, overly optimistic and more likely
to take risks. People who are naturally selfish grow even more selfish if they attain power, while
people who are naturally selfless and giving become more so with power. Henry Kissinger
discerned that power is "the ultimate aphrodisiac." "Nearly all men can stand adversity," said
Abraham Lincoln, "but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
Note: This most excellent article graphically describes the problems that can occur when a
hierarchical political systems places certain individuals in positions of great authority. For more on
this fascinating topic, click here.
Eli Lilly accused of shaping drug guidelines

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15320680/
Several government doctors say drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. subtly orchestrated medical guidelines
for treatment of an often lethal blood infection, hoping to boost sales of a drug whose value is
being debated. This company is trying to insinuate its drug into many aspects of patient care that
industry really shouldnt be involved in, said Dr. Naomi OGrady, a critical care specialist at the
National Institutes of Health. Three of her NIH colleagues claim in Thursdays New England
Journal of Medicine that Lilly worked through medical societies to influence standards for treating
the blood infection, sepsis. Ultimately, Xigris was incorporated into the guidelines. Both the
guidelines committee and a larger information campaign on sepsis were heavily funded by [Lilly].
Dr. Phil Dellinger, who helped lead the guidelines committee, said...Weve been catching grief
because weve been taking a lot of Lilly money and were appreciative of Lilly giving it. The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Xigris in 2001, despite an evenly split vote by its
advisory committee. The lead author of Thursdays journal article, Dr. Peter Q. Eichacker, voted
against approval. Some critics are unhappy that the drug, which works only for the sickest
patients, was approved on the basis of a single experiment. Academic officials
acknowledged in the published guidelines that Lilly gave more than 90 percent of $861,000
in grants for the campaign and medical recommendations. OGrady, of NIH, said a panel of
disease experts that she headed refused to endorse the sepsis guidelines largely because Lilly
convened the whole panel.
Note: For lots more on how the powerful pharmaceutical industry endangers our lives, click here.
Slaves to American medicine

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-2338130_1,00.html
In 1972, the Tuskegee experiments on black people shocked the world. Now, a new report reveals
that the official inquiry was a cover-up. The [syphilis] "trial," conducted between 1932 and 1972,
involved 400 black sharecroppers. The Tuskegee "volunteers" were not to be treated, either with
Salvarsan or even antibiotics after their discovery. Ignorant of the true goal of the trial, the
participants were destined to be living, and dying, examples of the terrible course of the untreated
illness. Tuskegee, after its exposure in the media in 1972, thus became a byword in America for
racist medical experimentation. Soon after the Tuskegee revelations, fault was admitted, apologies
made. Yet in time, historians of medicine, sociologists and social anthropologists began to play
down the scandal. Tuskegee, they argued, was an understandable error, given the absence of
viable antidotes in the 1930s. But renewed outrage over Tuskegee is about to explode with an
investigation entitled Medical Apartheid, to be published in the US early next year. The publichealth historian Harriet Washington will reveal ... that the Tuskegee trial was even more
inhumane and morally degenerate than previously suspected. The role of Nurse Eunice
Rivers became crucial. Above all, her task, aided by the study's doctors, was to ensure that the
syphilitic men would receive no treatment, despite the extraordinary advances in treatment from
the 1940s onwards. "By 1955," according to Washington, "nearly one-third of the autopsied men
had died directly of syphilis and many of the survivors were suffering its deadliest complications."
Note: For lots more on the history humans used as guinea pigs in experiments by government:
http://www.WantToKnow.info/humanguineapigs
and
http://www.WantToKnow.info/mindcontrollers10pg#human
Don't Turn Us Into Poodles

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/opinion/04kristof.html
Journalists regularly hold back information for national security reasons; I recently withheld
information at the request of the intelligence community. The one thing worse than a press that is
"out of control" is one that is under control. Anybody who has lived in a Communist country knows
that. Just consider what would happen if the news media as a whole were as docile to the
administration as Fox News or The Wall Street Journal editorial page. When I was covering the
war in Iraq, we reporters would sometimes tune to Fox News and watch, mystified, as it purported
to describe how Iraqis loved Americans. Such coverage...misled conservatives about Iraq from the
beginning. The real victims of Fox News weren't the liberals it attacked but the conservatives who
believed it. Historically, we in the press have done more damage to our nation by
withholding secret information than by publishing it. One example was this newspaper's
withholding details of the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion. President Kennedy himself suggested
that the U.S. would have been better served if The Times had published the full story and derailed
the invasion. Then there were the C.I.A. abuses that journalists kept mum about until they spilled
over and prompted the Church Committee investigation in the 1970's. In the run-up to the Iraq war,
the press...was too credulous about claims that Iraq possessed large amounts of W.M.D. In each
of these cases...we failed in our watchdog role, and we failed our country. So be very wary of Mr.
Bush's effort to tame the press. Watchdogs can be mean, dumb and obnoxious, but it would be
even more dangerous to trade them in for lap dogs.
Forty years ago, public gained its right to know

2006-07-04, Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/14960808.htm
An important anniversary will likely go unnoticed today, amidst all the hoopla surrounding the
nation's 230th birthday. It's also the 40th anniversary of the federal Freedom of Information
Act. Little known, poorly understood and, it seems, constantly embattled, the act stands as one of
the most important pieces of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress. So important, in fact,
that the Congress quickly exempted itself from its provisions. It required for the first time that broad
categories of federal records be made available to the public. Today, the act remains the public's
only legislative window on how government really works -- or doesn't. We can thank the act for
the fact that we know that servicemen were once used as human nuclear guinea pigs; that
'detainees' in the war on terror were abused, and that the Central Intelligence Agency
conducted mind-control experiments on Americans in the 1950s. But there is a mighty force
working against open government. And that is the government itself. According to a report
released last week, the federal government is falling further and further behind in filling requests
under the law; is more often refusing to release documents, and is spending more money doing it.
But perhaps the most distressing finding in the report, from the Coalition of Journalists for Open
Government, is that the government has increased its use of broad discretionary exemptions to
withhold documents from the public and the press.
Seeing isn't believing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,,1806794,00.html
A year on from 7/7, wild rumours are circulating about who planted the bombs and why. On the
morning of 7/7 a former Scotland Yard anti-terrorism branch official had been staging a training
exercise based on bombs going off simultaneously at precisely the stations that had been
targeted. [Bridget] Dunne was confused by the conflicting reports. "I have only one reason for
starting this blog," she wrote. "It is to ascertain the facts behind the events in London on...July 7
2005. That the times of trains were totally absent from the public domain was one of the factors
which led to my suspicions that what we were being told happened was not what actually
happened." The Home Office [claimed] that on July 7 the quartet boarded a 7.40am Thameslink
train to King's Cross. According to Dunne, when an independent researcher visited Luton and
demanded a train schedule from Thameslink, he was told that the 7.40am had never run and that
the next available train, the 7.48, had arrived at King's Cross at 8.42...too late for the bombers to
have boarded the three tube trains. The next problem is the CCTV picture. If you look closely
at the image...you will see that the railings behind Khan, the man in the white baseball cap,
appear to run in front of his left arm while another rail appears to slice through his head.
Some people believe the image was faked in Photoshop. This theory is bolstered by the fact that
police have never released the further CCTV footage showing the four emerging on to the
concourse at King's Cross where, according to the home office narrative, they are seen hugging
and appear "euphoric".
Note: For more serious evidence of complicity in the London Bombings, click here. See also the
excellent information on the July 7th Truth Campaign at http://www.julyseventh.co.uk.
Bush Ignores Laws He Inks, Vexing Congress

A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law,
right? Not necessarily, according to the White House. A law is not binding when a president
issues a separate statement saying he reserves the right to revise, interpret or disregard it
on national security and constitutional grounds. That's the argument a Bush administration
official is expected to make Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., who has demanded a hearing on a practice he considers an example of the
administration's abuse of power. "It's a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution,"
Specter said in an interview. [Bush has] challenge[d] many more statutes passed by Congress
than any other president. Specter's hearing is about more than the statements. He's been
compiling a list of White House practices he bluntly says could amount to abuse of executive
power from warrantless domestic wiretapping program to sending officials to hearings who refuse
to answer lawmakers' questions. But Specter and his allies maintain that Bush is doing an end-run
around the veto process. In his presidency's sixth year, Bush has yet to issue a single veto.
Instead, he has issued hundreds of signing statements invoking his right to interpret or ignore laws
on everything from whistleblower protections to how Congress oversees the Patriot Act.
The Dark Side

2006-06-20, PBS Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/#press
Amid daily revelations about prewar intelligence and a growing scandal surrounding the indictment
of the vice president's chief of staff and presidential adviser, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, FRONTLINE
goes behind the headlines to investigate the internal war that was waged between the intelligence
community and Richard Bruce Cheney, the most powerful vice president in the nation's history. "A
lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion,
using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies," Cheney told
Americans just after 9/11. He warned the public that the government would have to operate
on the "dark side." In The Dark Side, airing June 20, 2006, at 9 P.M. on PBS...FRONTLINE tells
the story of the vice president's role as the chief architect of the war on terror and his battle with
Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet for control of the "dark side." Drawing on more than
40 interviews and thousands of documents, the film provides a step-by-step examination of what
happened inside the councils of war. After the attacks on 9/11, Cheney seized the initiative and
pushed for expanding presidential power, transforming America's intelligence agencies, and
bringing the war on terror to Iraq. In the initial stages of the war on terror, Tenet's CIA was rising to
prominence as the lead agency in the Afghanistan war. But when Tenet insisted in his personal
meetings with the president that there was no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq,
Cheney and Rumsfeld initiated a secret program to re-examine the evidence and
marginalize the agency and Tenet.
Kicked out of Gitmo

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-williams18jun18,0,339329...
Covering Guantanamo means wrangling with...logistics so nonsensical that they turn two hours of
reporting into an 18-hour day...with hostile escorts who seem to think you're in league with Al
Qaeda...a Pentagon power play that muzzles already reluctant sources and an unceremonious
expulsion to Miami on a military plane, safety-belted onto whatever seat is available. In this case,
that seat was the toilet. I ended up on that plane, on that seat, because...the only three newspaper
reporters who managed to surmount Pentagon obstacles to covering the first deaths at
Guantanamo were ordered off the base. When unexpected news breaks, like the suicides, the
Pentagon's knee-jerk reflex to thwart coverage reminds me of how Communist officials used to
organize Cold War-era propaganda trips for Moscow correspondents but then pull the plug when
embarrassing realities intruded. What little we learn often comes to light by accident. During my
first visit in January 2005...I asked...if the facility had ever been at or near capacity. "Only
during the mass-hanging incident," the Navy doctor replied, provoking audible gasps and
horrified expressions among the public affairs minders...none of whom were particularly
pleased with the disclosure that 23 prisoners had attempted simultaneously to hang
themselves with torn bed sheets in late 2003. Under ground rules we must agree to if we want
access to the base, journalists may not have any contact with detainees, who are removed from
sight at all but one camp during media tours.
Iraq's Pentagon Papers (by Daniel Ellsberg)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-ellsberg11jun11,0,977634...
A January poll [found] that 64% of Iraqis believe that crime and violent attacks will decrease if the
U.S. leaves Iraq within six months. If that's true, then what are we doing there? It was questions
very much like [this]...that led, eventually, to the publication of the first of the Pentagon Papers on
June 13, 1971, 35 years ago this week. Nearly two years earlier...I first started copying the 7,000
pages of top-secret documents from my office safe at Rand...an act that I fully expected would
send me to prison for life. It became increasingly clear that the whole chain of command, civilian
and military, was participating in a coverup. It's a system that lies reflexively, at every level from
sergeant to commander in chief, about murder. And I had...7,000 pages of documentary evidence
to prove it. The papers documented in stunning detail a pattern of lies and deceptions by
four presidents and their administrations over 23 years to conceal their war plans. It became
clear to me that the justifications that had been given for our involvement were false. I thought to
myself: I don't want to be part of this lying machine anymore. Today, there must be, at the very
least, hundreds of civilian and military officials...who have in their safes and computers comparable
documentation of intense internal debates -- the Pentagon Papers of Iraq, Iran or the ongoing war
on U.S. liberties. Some of those officials, I hope, will choose to accept the personal risks of
revealing the truth -- earlier than I did -- before more lives are lost or a new war is launched.
Note: If you have time to read only one full article on war deception, I can't recommend this one
highly enough. Daniel Ellsberg, a former Marine, Pentagon official, and State Department officer in
Vietnam, more than any single person exposed the huge deception involved in the Vietnam War.
The story of his experience is astonishingly similar to what is happening today.
U.S. Prison Study Faults System and the Public

Not only are America's prisons and jails largely failing the 13.5 million adults who pass through
them each year, but the American public is also failing the prisons and jails. Politicians have
passed laws dramatically increasing the inmate population to 2.2 million on a given day
without understanding life behind bars or funding programs likely to help prisoners return home
and not commit more crimes. Even the data that would help specialists make sense of U.S. crime
and punishment are lacking. "We should be astonished by the size of the prisoner population,
troubled by the disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans and Latinos, and saddened by
the waste of human potential," [a] panel said in a report to be presented to Congress. The recent
boom in imprisonment has not always made Americans safer. Each year, the United States spends
an estimated $60 billion on corrections. The report...finds too much violence and too little medical
and mental health care, as well as a "desperate need for the kinds of productive activities that
discourage violence and make rehabilitation possible." Studies...suggest that the most accurate
indicator of a successful return to society is the inmate's connection to family. The panel
described the high-security segregation of inmates as "counter-productive," often leading
to greater prison violence and more serious crimes upon release.
Note: Certain elite groups are making large profits on the dramatic increase in numbers of
prisoners across the nation over the past two decades. The prison-industrial complex sadly draws
very little media attention.
Molly Ivins: The Israeli lobby

2006-05-26, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/26/ivins.israelilobby/index.html
A working paper by John Mearsheimer, professor of political science at the University of Chicago,
and Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard, called "The Israel Lobby" was printed in the London Review of Books...and all hell broke
loose. For having the sheer effrontery to point out the painfully obvious -- that there is an Israel
lobby in the United States -- Mearsheimer and Walt have been accused of being anti-Semitic, nutty
and guilty of "kooky academic work." Of course there is an Israeli lobby in America. The American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)...calls itself "America's Pro-Israel Lobby." In the United
States, we do not have...full-throttle debate about Israel. Jews who criticize Israel are charmingly
labeled "self-hating Jews." As I have often pointed out, that must mean there are a lot of selfhating Israelis, because those folks raise hell over their own government's policies all the time.
It's...the vehemence of the attacks on anyone perceived as criticizing Israel that makes them so
odious. Israel is the No. 1 recipient of American foreign aid, and it seems an easy case can
be made that the United States has subjugated its own interests to those of Israel. Whether
you agree or not, it is a discussion well worth having and one that should not be shut down before
it can start by unfair accusations of "anti-Semitism."
Note In this article, Molly Ivans acknowledges that she is a pro-Israel Jew who believes we need
to talk about the powerful influence of the Jewish lobby on American government. For information
on how Harvard distanced itself from the above paper: http://www.nysun.com/article/29638. For
the
mixed
reaction
to
this
academic
paper
in
Israel:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0324/dailyUpdate.html
Brazil city slashes crime by closing its bars early

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/10/MNGIOIOQ3M1.DTL
A bold and controversial law that shuts down bars and restaurants after 11 p.m. has turned
Diadema, one of Brazil's most violent cities, into an urban model. The law has cut homicides by
nearly half and has slashed other crimes by as much as 80 percent after forcing nearly all
of the city's 4,800 bars and restaurants in 2002 to stop selling alcohol between 11 p.m. and
6 a.m. Since then, the homicide rate has dropped by 47 percent, traffic accidents by 30 percent,
assaults against women by 55 percent, and alcohol-related hospital admissions by 80 percent.
"Diadema had a large homicide rate, and we estimated that based on the data they gave us, the
intervention prevented about 270 homicides over a three-year period," said Joel Grube...director of
prevention research. The law's success has municipalities across Brazil adopting similar
measures. At least 120 towns and cities have restricted the hours in which alcohol can be served,
and the federal government now offers additional funds for law enforcement to localities that
implement such measures. With little federal control over alcohol sales or consumption, closing
bars in troubled areas is an effective way to cut alcohol-related problems, said Ronaldo Laranjeira,
a Sao Paulo physician who led the joint Brazil-U.S. study of homicide rates in Diadema after the
law took effect. "They made a relatively modest intervention that doesn't really cost any money,
and they got these dramatic improvements."
New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery

2006-04-14, MSNBC
The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the
world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, [and]
self-contained power and water. The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as
the ministate in Rome. We cant talk about it. Security reasons, Roberta Rossi, a
spokeswoman at the current embassy, said. The embassy complex 21 buildings on 104
acres is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified Green Zone, just east of al-Samoud,
a former palace of Saddam Husseins. The 5,500 Americans and Iraqis working at the embassy,
almost half listed as security, are far more numerous than at any other U.S. mission worldwide.
They rarely venture out into the Red Zone, that is, violence-torn Iraq. Large numbers of nondiplomats work at the mission hundreds of military personnel and dozens of FBI agents, for
example. U.S. embassies elsewhere ... typically cover 10 acres. Original cost estimates ranged
over $1 billion, but Congress appropriated only $592 million in the emergency Iraq budget adopted
last year. Most has gone to a Kuwait builder, First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting, with the rest
awarded to six contractors working on the projects classified portion the actual embassy
offices. Higgins declined to identify those builders, citing security reasons, but said five were
American companies. The designs arent publicly available. Security, overseen by U.S. Marines,
will be extraordinary: setbacks and perimeter no-go areas that will be especially deep, structures
reinforced to 2.5-times the standard, and five high-security entrances, plus an emergency
entrance-exit.
Note: For more perplexing facts on this secretive fortress in a Times of London article, click here.
The world's biggest prison system

2006-04-07, BBC News
About the same time that President Bush was condemning the abuse of prisoners in Iraq as unAmerican, a year-long inquiry began into the mistreatment of prisoners at home. More than 2.1
million people are in jail in the US at any one time; that is about one in 140 Americans. One
of the biggest drivers of the expanding population are the tough policies brought in over the last 20
years ... like the "three strikes" laws that hand out long, mandatory sentences to repeat offenders.
Bland, bureaucratic phrases like management control or secured housing unit describe regimes
where solitary confinement is an almost permanent way of life, with prisoners locked in spartan
cells for at least 23 hours each day. Gary Harkins, is an officer at the maximum security Oregon
State Penitentiary in Salem, and also a member of Corrections USA, a group which represents
about 120,000 prison guards and opposes the growing number of private prisons. The roots of the
problem may be closer to home, as suggested by words attributed to former Pennsylvania prison
guard Charles Graner - ringleader of the Abu Ghraib abuses - which came out during court
testimony. "The Christian in me says it's wrong, but the corrections officer in me says, 'I love to
make a grown man piss himself.'"
Note: This article neglects to mention that prisons are a major industry bringing huge profits to
government contractors. When profits are a driving force, the decisions made often do not reflect
what is best for all involved.
NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying

2006-01-10, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1491889
Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency
would like to keep quiet. For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows. "I specialized in what's called
special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and
operations." Some of those secret "black world" operations run by the NSA were operated in ways
that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows. Tice says the
technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call...and to
search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use. Tice...says the number of Americans
subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the millions if the full range of secret NSA
programs is used. "For most Americans [who] placed an overseas communication, more
than likely they were sucked into that vacuum." He told ABC News that he was a source for
the [New York] Times. But Tice maintains that his conscience is clear. "We need to clean up the
intelligence community. We've had abuses, and they need to be addressed." The NSA revoked
Tice's security clearance in May of last year based on what it called psychological concerns and
later dismissed him. Tice calls that bunk and says that's the way the NSA deals with troublemakers
and whistleblowers.
CIA Gave Iran Bomb Plans, Book Says

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-intel4jan04,0,6972451.story
In a clumsy effort to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, the CIA in 2004 intentionally handed Tehran
some top-secret bomb designs laced with a hidden flaw that U.S. officials hoped would doom any
weapon made from them. But the Iranians were tipped to the scheme by the Russian defector
hired by the CIA to deliver the plans and may have gleaned scientific information useful for
designing a bomb, writes New York Times reporter James Risen in "State of War." Two nuclear
weapons experts...added that a deliberate flaw in the plans could have been easily found by
the Iranians. The New York Times delayed for a year publication of its article on the NSA's
domestic spying, in part because of personal requests from the president. Critics have questioned
whether the paper could have published the information before last year's presidential election if it
had decided against a delay. Newspaper officials have refused to comment on reasons for the
delay or on the exact timing. Top New York Times officials also refused to publish a news article
about the reported CIA plot to give intentionally flawed nuclear plans to Iran, according to a person
briefed on the newspaper's conversations by one of the participants. That person said the New
York Times withheld publication at the request of the White House and former CIA Director George
J. Tenet.
Ex-CIA boss: Cheney is 'vice president for torture'

2005-11-18, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/18/torture.vp
Former CIA chief Stansfield Turner lashed out at Dick Cheney on Thursday, calling him a "vice
president for torture" that is out of touch with the American people. Turner's condemnation...comes
amid an effort by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, to pass legislation forbidding any U.S. authority
from torturing a prisoner. McCain was tortured as a Vietnam prisoner of war. Cheney has lobbied
against the legislation, prompting Turner to say he's "embarrassed that the United State[s] has a
vice president for torture. I think it is just reprehensible." Turner...scoffed at assertions that
challenging the administration's strategy aided the terrorists' propaganda efforts. "It's the vice
president who is out there advocating torture. He's the one who has made himself the vice
president in favor of torture," said Turner, who from 1972 to 1974 was president of the Naval War
College, a think tank for strategic and national security policy. "We military people don't want
future military people who are taken prisoner by other countries to be subjected to torture
in the name of doing just what the United States does," he said.
Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinian
schoolgirl
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/16/israel2
An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old
Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old
was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday. The soldier, who has only been
identified as "Captain R", was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams
who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in
Gaza a year ago. The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the
captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of
the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds
of other children have also died. After the verdict, Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, said the army
never intended to hold the soldier accountable. "They did not charge him with Iman's murder, only
with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so
many times," he said. "This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her
once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their
soldiers to kill Palestinian children." The military court cleared the soldier of illegal use of his
weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and perverting the course of justice by asking soldiers
under his command to alter their accounts of the incident.
Vietnam Study, Casting Doubts, Remains Secret

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/politics/31war.html?ex=1288414800&en=e2f5e3...
The National Security Agency has kept secret since 2001 a finding by an agency historian
that during the Tonkin Gulf episode, which helped precipitate the Vietnam War, N.S.A.
officers deliberately distorted critical intelligence to cover up their mistakes. The historian's
conclusion is the first serious accusation that communications intercepted by the N.S.A., the
secretive eavesdropping and code-breaking agency, were falsified so that they made it look as if
North Vietnam had attacked American destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, two days after a previous
clash. President Lyndon B. Johnson cited the supposed attack to persuade Congress to authorize
broad military action in Vietnam, but most historians have concluded in recent years that there
was no second attack. The N.S.A. historian, Robert J. Hanyok, found a pattern of translation
mistakes that went uncorrected, altered intercept times and selective citation of intelligence that
persuaded him that midlevel agency officers had deliberately skewed the evidence. Mr. Hanyok's
findings were published nearly five years ago in a classified in-house journal, and starting in 2002
he and other government historians argued that it should be made public. But their effort was
rebuffed by higher-level agency policymakers, according to an intelligence official. The intelligence
official said the evidence for deliberate falsification is "about as certain as it can be."
Note: For lots more on war fabrication see the excellent information in our War Information Center
and the released FOIA documents from the early 1960s showing that top Pentagon officials
planned to kill innocent Americans in order to provoke a war against Cuba at
http://www.WantToKnow.info/010501operationnorthwoods
Dick Cheney's Song of America

2005-10-26, Harpers Magazine
http://www.harpers.org/DickCheneysSongOfAmerica.html
Drafting a plan for global dominance. Few writers are more ambitious than the writers of
government policy papers, and few policy papers are more ambitious than Dick Cheney's
masterwork. It has taken several forms over the last decade and is in fact the product of several
ghostwriters (notably Paul Wolfowitz and Colin Powell), but Cheney has been consistent in his
dedication to the ideas in the documents that bear his name, and he has maintained a close
association with the ideologues behind them. Let us, therefore, call Cheney the author, and this
series of documents the Plan. The Plan was published in unclassified form most recently under the
title of Defense Strategy for the 1990s, as Cheney ended his term as secretary of defense under
the elder George Bush in early 1993. The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The
overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United
States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to
challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not
that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely
powerful. The Plan is disturbing in many ways, and ultimately unworkable. Yet it is being sold now
as an answer to the 'new realities' of the post-September 11 world, even as it was sold previously
as the answer to the new realities of the post-Cold War world. For Cheney, the Plan has always
been the right answer, no matter how different the questions.
Bush's Veil Over History

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/10/opinion/10kelley.html?ex=1286596800&en=0619...
Secrecy has been perhaps the most consistent trait of the George W. Bush presidency. Whether it
involves refusing to provide the names of oil executives who advised Vice President Dick Cheney
on energy policy, prohibiting photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq, or forbidding
the release of files pertaining to Chief Justice John Roberts...President Bush seems determined to
control what the public is permitted to know. Perhaps the most egregious example occurred on
Nov. 1, 2001, when President Bush signed Executive Order 13233, under which a former
president's private papers can be released only with the approval of both that former
president (or his heirs) and the current one. Before that executive order, the National
Archives had controlled the release of documents under the Presidential Records Act of
1978, which stipulated that all papers, except those pertaining to national security, had to
be made available 12 years after a president left office. Now, however, Mr. Bush can prevent
the public from knowing not only what he did in office, but what Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush
and Ronald Reagan did in the name of democracy. The best interests of the nation are at stake.
As the American Political Science Association, one plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, put it: "The only
way we can improve the operation of government, enhance the accountability of decision-makers
and ultimately help maintain public trust in government is for people to understand how it worked in
the past."
Note: For more on secrecy and what we can do about it, click here.
Ike Was Right About War Machine

2005-10-02, CBS News
The United States...is spending $5.6 billion a month fighting this war in Iraq. Now we have the
hurricanes to pay for. One way our government pays for a lot of things is by borrowing from
countries like China. Another way...is by cutting spending for things like Medicare prescriptions,
highway construction, farm payments, AMTRAK, National Public Radio and loans to graduate
students. We ought to start saving on our bloated military establishment. We have more than
10,000 nuclear weapons -- enough to destroy all of mankind. We're spending $200 million a year
on bullets alone. We had a great commander in WWII, Dwight Eisenhower. He became
President and on leaving the White House in 1961, he said this: We must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will
persist." Well, Ike was right. That's just whats happened.
Note: See the text of Eisenhower's farewell speech on the Yale University website. To view a video
of the original speech, click here.
Atta known to Pentagon before 9/11

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
Four years after the nation's deadliest terror attack, evidence is accumulating that a super-secret
Pentagon intelligence unit identified the organizer of the Sept. 11 hijackings, Mohamed Atta, as an
Al Qaeda operative months before he entered the U.S. Had the FBI been alerted to what the
Pentagon purportedly knew in early 2000, Atta's name could have been put on a list that would
have tagged him as someone to be watched the moment he stepped off a plane in Newark, N.J.,
in June of that year. Physical and electronic surveillance of Atta, who lived openly in Florida
for more than a year, and who acquired a driver's license and even an FAA pilot's license in
his true name, might well have made it possible for the FBI to expose the Sept. 11 plot
before the fact. Anthony Shaffer, a civilian Pentagon employee, says he was asked in the
summer of 2000 by a Navy captain, Scott Phillpott, to arrange a meeting between the FBI and
representatives of the Pentagon intelligence program, code-named Able/Danger. But he said the
meeting was canceled after Pentagon lawyers concluded that information on suspected Al Qaeda
operatives with ties to the U.S. might violate Pentagon prohibitions on retaining information on
"U.S. persons," a term that includes U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens. Asked by Sen.
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, at a hearing last week
whether Atta...was a "U.S. person," a senior Pentagon official answered, "No, he was not."
Bush lifts wage rules for Katrina

2005-09-09, CNN/Reuters
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/08/news/economy/katrina_wages.reut
President Bush issued an executive order Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage. In a notice to Congress, Bush
said the hurricane had caused "a national emergency" that permits him to take such action. Bush's
action came as the federal government moved to provide billions of dollars in aid. The
administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people
desperately trying to rebuild their lives and their communities.
Senate must look at tougher mileage rules

2005-09-06, Reuters
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2005-...
Faced with a record-high national gasoline price of $3.07 per gallon, a senior Republican senator
said on Tuesday it was time for lawmakers to take another look at imposing stricter mileage
standards on mini-vans and other vehicles. Most Republicans and the White House oppose
significantly higher mileage requirements because of the potential impact on U.S. automakers and
passenger safety. On Tuesday, the U.S. government reported that the average U.S. weekly retail
gasoline price rocketed to $3.07 cents per gallon, up nearly 46 cents from last week, because of
Katrina's damage to refineries and pipelines. In June, the Senate voted to reject a Democratic
amendment to the energy bill to require better mileage for new gas-guzzling sport utility
and other vehicles. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin had proposed that the standards be revised to boost
the fuel economy of passenger cars to 40 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2016, and sport utility vehicles
to 27.5 mpg. The proposal was defeated.
Note: Why did no major media pick up on this crucial story from one of the most watched news
services in the world? Why, with all of the talk about getting off of our dependence on oil, wouldn't
lawmakers want our cars to get better car mileage? For possible answers, click here.
More British memos on prewar concerns

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8207731
It started during British Prime Minister Tony Blair's re-election campaign last month, when details
leaked about a top-secret memo, written in July 2002 -- eight months before the Iraq war. In the
memo, British officials just back from Washington reported that prewar "intelligence and facts were
being fixed around the policy" to invade Iraq. Just last week, both President George W. Bush and
Blair vigorously denied that war was inevitable. No, the facts were not being fixed, in any shape or
form at all, said Blair at a White House news conference with the president on June 7. But now,
war critics have come up with seven more memos, verified by NBC News. Current and
former diplomats tell NBC News they understood from the beginning the Bush policy to be
that Saddam had to be removed -- one way or the other. The only question was when and
how.
Cuba 'plane bomber' was CIA agent

2005-05-11, BBC
Declassified US government documents show that a man suspected of involvement in the
bombing of a Cuban passenger plane worked for the CIA. Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born
Venezuelan and anti-Castro dissident, was an agent and informer. The papers also reveal that an
FBI informer "all but admitted" that Mr Posada was one of those behind the 1976 bombing that
killed 73 people. Mr Posada, who denies any involvement, is said to be seeking asylum in the US.
His lawyer says his client, thought to be in hiding in the Miami area, deserves US protection
because of his long years of service to the country. The documents, released by George
Washington University's National Security Archive, show that Mr Posada, now in his 70s,
was on the CIA payroll from the 1960s until mid-1976. Mr Posada once boasted of being
responsible for a series of bomb attacks on Havana tourist spots in the 1990s.
Note: Why did the U.S. media fail to pick up this astounding story?
Judge in Moussaoui Case Blocks Release of Sept. 11 Report

The federal judge overseeing the prosecution of admitted al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui
has blocked an attempt by the Justice Department's inspector general to release a report on FBI
missteps prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a ruling unsealed yesterday. Without
explanation, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema denied the request by Inspector General
Glenn A. Fine, who completed the report last July but since has been unable to get permission to
provide an unclassified version of the document to the public. The report, titled "A Review of the
FBI's Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks," provides
an in-depth examination of three episodes considered potential missed opportunities to
detect the Sept. 11 plot, including Moussaoui's arrest in August 2001.
Note: Moussaoui is one of only two people ever to be charged with direct involvement in 9/11. For
more key info on Moussaoui, click here. According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, on
Aug. 27, 2001, an FBI agent was trying to make sure that Moussaoui did "not take control of
a plane and fly it into the World Trade Center." Why have we not heard more about all this?
EPA Mercury Rule Omits Conflicting Data

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55268-2005Mar21.html
When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a rule last week to limit mercury emissions
from U.S. power plants, officials emphasized that the controls could not be more aggressive
because the cost to industry already far exceeded the public health payoff. What they did not
reveal is that a Harvard University study paid for by the EPA, co-authored by an EPA scientist and
peer-reviewed by two other EPA scientists had reached the opposite conclusion. That analysis
estimated health benefits 100 times as great as the EPA did, but top agency officials
ordered the finding stripped from public documents.
Passports go electronic with new microchip

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1209/p12s01-stct.html
The US passport is about to go electronic, with a tiny microchip embedded in its cover. The chip is
the latest outpost in the battle to outwit tamperers. But it's also one that worries privacy advocates.
The RFID (radio frequency identification) chip in each passport will contain the same personal data
as now appear on the inside pages - name, date of birth, place of birth, issuing office - and a
digitized version of the photo. But the 64K chip will be read remotely. And there's the rub. The
scenario, privacy advocates say, could be as simple as you standing in line with your
passport as someone walks by innocuously carrying a briefcase. Inside that case, a
microchip reader could be skimming data from your passport to be used for identity theft.
Or maybe authorities or terrorists want to see who's gathered in a crowd and surreptitiously survey
your ID and track you. Why not choose a contact chip, where there would be no possibility of
skimming, asks Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project. "There
was another way to go, which was to put an electronic strip in the passport that would require
contact." The State Department says it's just following international standards set by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), under the umbrella of the United Nations. The
ICAO specified the RFID ... at the behest of the United States. All countries that are part of the US
visa-waiver program must use the new passports by Oct. 26, 2005. Mr. Steinhardt ... says the US
pushed through the standards against the reservations of the Europeans. "Bush says at the G8
meeting, 'We have to adhere to the global standard,' as though we had nothing to do with it," he
says in exasperation.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For more on the risk of RFID chips, click here.
Interpreter Says No to Secrecy

2004-12-08, Washington Post (Article on resignation of website founder Fred Burks)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49449-2004Dec8.html
Indonesian specialist Fred Burks ... is making a noisy exit from government service after 18 years
of interpreting for top U.S. officials, including President Bush and former president Bill Clinton.
Burks resigned last month in protest against what he sees as excessive government
secrecy, and since then has been treating anybody who will listen with insider stories about
private meetings he attended. Burks interpreted for Bush at an Oval Office meeting with
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in September 2001, eight days after the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He says Bush displayed such a detailed
grasp of Indonesian issues at the meeting that he came away thinking the president must have
been fed information through a hidden earpiece. Burks says he is free to talk about his work as
a contract interpreter for senior government officials because he was never required to sign
a secrecy agreement. That changed last month when the State Department insisted he agree to
a new contract that included a pledge never to disclose "any information" that he learned in the
course of his government interpreting work to unauthorized outsiders. He refused. "It was
ridiculous," said Burks, who learned Indonesian while teaching in Borneo in 1981 and living with an
Indonesian family. "In theory, it meant I couldn't even tell my family where I was traveling if that
information had not already been made public." He says he also has never had a security
clearance. Burks's fluency in Indonesian and Mandarin Chinese made him a valued asset for the
State Department.
Note: If the above link fails to function, click here. Mr. Burks agrees that some level of secrecy is
necessary, but that current levels are far beyond tolerable. For brief descriptions of some of the
fascinating meetings at which Mr. Burks was present, click here. For lots more on secrecy and an
insider's perspective, click here.
Secrecy quashes whistle-blower case

2004-07-18, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (One of Seattle's leading newspapers)
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/opinion/article/Secrecy-quashes-whistle-blower...
The Justice Department appears to be hiding behind national security fears in an attempt to dodge
a wrongful dismissal suit. Former FBI linguist Sibel Edmonds claims she was fired in retaliation for
blowing the whistle on security breaches she says hampered translation of documents and
communications related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She filed suit to get her job back, but
recently a federal judge tossed out her case, not on its merits but on the grounds that hearing her
claims might expose government secrets and damage national security. That keeps under wraps
the inspector general's report that investigated Edmonds' allegations. U.S. District Judge Reggie
Walton, a Bush appointee, said he couldn't explain himself further because the explanation itself
might expose sensitive secrets. He did say that he'd accepted Attorney General John Ashcroft's
explanation that the suit could "expose intelligence-gathering methods and disrupt diplomatic
relations with foreign governments." The Boston Globe reported that Ashcroft ordered material in
the case retroactively classified. Edmonds must feel a bit like Alice at the tea party, where
justice is not being served, and where a secret is a secret but why it's a secret or who says
it's a secret is a secret, and we can't tell you why because it's a secret.
Note: Sibel Edmonds just recently self-published a book exposing major intelligence cover-ups
around 9/11. To see this highly rated book in which she breaks the government gag order placed
on her, click here. For lots more verifiable news on this courageous woman, click here.
FBI sought to fire complaining agent

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-07-13/news/0407130235_1_fbi-director-...
A Chicago FBI agent who has complained to the media and Congress that the bureau
bungled terrorism investigations had been targeted for firing by supervisors who vowed to
"take him out," according to a memo written by a former high-ranking official in the FBI's
disciplinary office. The FBI opened an internal investigation against Agent Robert G. Wright Jr. in
2003 just days after his appearance at a news conference and on a national television news
program, according to the memo obtained by the Tribune. The top two agents in the FBI's
disciplinary office at the time, Robert J. Jordan and J.P. "Jody" Weis, ordered an investigation into
Wright for insubordination and had already made up their minds to have him fired, according to the
memo. The memo, written by John Roberts when he was third in command of the Office of
Professional Responsibility, questioned how often supervisors misused the disciplinary process to
silence employees critical of the FBI. His lawyer, Stephen Kohn, said the memo's point is clear.
"The FBI uses its Office of Professional Responsibility to retaliate against whistleblowers," Kohn
said. The memo, written while Roberts still worked as unit chief for the office, was heavily
censored by the bureau before it was turned over to the Judiciary Committee. Since the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, Wright has held two national news conferences and has given several television
news interviews in which he accused the FBI of mishandling terrorism investigations during the
1990s into fundraising by militant Islamic groups such as Hamas.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the realities behind the surface activities of
powerful intelligence agencies, click here.
Woman awarded $100,000 for CIA-funded electroshock

2004-06-10, CBC News (Canada's PBS)
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/06/10/canada/shock_award040610
A Montreal woman who underwent intense electroshock treatment in a program funded by the CIA
50 years ago has been awarded $100,000. Gail Kastner was given massive electroshock therapy
to treat depression in 1953 at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal. She was left out of a federal
compensation package in 1994 because her treatment was deemed to have been less intense
than that of other victims of the experiments. Her treatment was also found to have had fewer
long-term effects. A Federal Court judge reversed that ruling, and awarded her the same
amount Ottawa gave to 77 others as compensation for their treatment. Dr. Ewan Cameron,
who was director of the Allan Memorial Institute, conducted experiments using electroshock and
drug-induced sleep. The research was funded from 1950 to 1965 by the CIA and by the
Canadian government.
Note: Did you know that 78 people received awards of $100,000 each for having been subjected
to CIA and government-funded experiments in controlling the mind? There is much more to this
story. Don't miss our very well documented two-page summary on this little-known topic: click here.
Secret at the heart of Putin's rise to power

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1456763/Secret-at-the...
More than 240 [Russians died in the autumn of 1999] in a wave of bombings that destroyed three
blocks of flats, two in Moscow and one in the town of Volgodonsk. The Russian authorities were
swift to lay the blame at the door of Chechen separatists. But no supporting evidence has
emerged. Two men from the Caucasus were convicted of involvement after a closed trial this year,
but it was widely denounced as a charade. Instead a growing body of proof has surfaced that links
the bombings ... to the FSB - the revamped KGB. Independent investigators, including several
MPs, who have sought to look into the case have been intimidated, arrested or beaten. Analysts
and investigators claim that President Vladimir Putin, who was FSB chief until August of that year
and subsequently prime minister, must know the truth. Lilia Shevtsova, a senior associate with the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: "He would know not just what happened but
who the suspects were. The truth will not damage him because it won't be told until after he is
gone." The 1999 bombings proved to be Mr Putin's political making. He positioned himself
as a strongman who would crush the Chechen rebels and restore order to the ailing
country. Riding a wave of nationalist fervour, in eight months he went from being a virtual political
unknown to winning the presidency by an easy margin.
Note: For an excellent overview of false-flag operations, click here.
Machine Politics In the Digital Age

http://www.WantToKnow.info/031109nytimes
In mid-August 2003, Walden W. O'Dell, the chief executive of Diebold, wrote a letter inviting 100
wealthy friends to a fund-raiser at his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. He wrote, "I am
committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." A longtime
Republican, he is a member of President Bush's "Rangers and Pioneers," an elite group of
loyalists who have raised at least $100,000 each for the 2004 race. Through Diebold Election
Systems, Mr. O'Dell's company is among the country's biggest suppliers of paperless, touchscreen voting machines.
Note: This Nov. 2003 article became pay for view only shortly after the 2004 elections. For lots
more reliable, verifiable information on various aspects of the elections cover-up, see our Elections
Information Center at http://www.WantToKnow.info/electionsinformation.
CIA's License To Kill

2002-12-04, CBS News
American citizens working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the
CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism. The authority to kill U.S. citizens
is granted under a secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11 attacks. The CIA
already has killed one American under this authority, although U.S. officials maintain he wasn't the
target. On Nov. 3, a CIA-operated Predator drone fired a missile that destroyed a carload of
suspected al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. The target of the attack ... was the top al Qaeda
operative in that country. But the CIA didn't know a U.S. citizen, Yemeni-American Kamal Derwish,
was in the car. The Bush administration said the killing of an American in this fashion was legal.
The Bush administration and al Qaeda together have defined the entire world as a battlefield
meaning the attack on ... Derwish was tantamount to an air strike in a combat zone. According to
CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen, this is legal because the President and his lawyers say so. "I
can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here. There are authorities that the
president can give to officials," said Condoleezza Rice. Previously, the government's authority to
kill a citizen outside of the judicial process has been generally restricted to when the American is
directly threatening the lives of other Americans or their allies. The CIA declines comment on
covert actions and the authorities it operates under. Scott L. Silliman, director of Duke University's
Center on Law, Ethics and National Securit [asks], "could you put a Hellfire missile into a car in
Washington, D.C., under the same theory? The answer is yes, you could."
U.S. sought attack on al-Qaida

President Bush was expected to sign detailed plans for a worldwide war against al-Qaida two days
before Sept. 11 but did not have the chance before the terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington, U.S. and foreign sources told NBC News. The document, a formal National Security
Presidential Directive, amounted to a game plan to remove al-Qaida from the face of the earth,
one of the sources told NBC News Jim Miklaszewski. In many respects, the directive ... outlined
essentially the same war plan that the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon put into
action after the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials did not believe that Bush had had the opportunity to
closely review the document in the two days between its submission and the Sept. 11 attacks. But
it had been submitted to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, and the officials said Bush
knew about it and had been expected to sign it. The couching of the plans as a formal security
directive is significant, Miklaszewski reported, because it indicates that the United States intended
a full-scale assault on al-Qaida even if the Sept. 11 attacks had not occurred.
Note: Why was this kept secret? Why is it still being kept secret?
Weekend break for the global elite

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/may/25/globalisation.madeleinebunting
Global power-brokers have a penchant for siting their get-togethers in inaccessible places. Since
Seattle 1999, Washington and Prague 2000, the calendar of global get-togethers has attracted
lively anti-globalisation demonstrations. Davos this year had unusually tight security to try and
keep protestors well away, leading to allegations of unnecessary heavy-handedness by the Swiss
police. This weekend, it is the turn of Bilderberg, perhaps the most secretive (or as the organisers
would prefer to claim, discrete) club for the global elite. It holds its weekend on Stenungsund, an
island off the Swedish west coast. The group was created by Denis (now Lord) Healey, Joseph
Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (a former SS officer) - the
group aimed to [bring] together financiers, industrialists, politicians and opinion formers; the press
have never been allowed access. There is a growing perception that globalisation is a
process which is being managed for the benefit of a small proportion of the planet's
residents and at terrible cost to many more. There is a perception of illegitimacy about
unaccountable corporate power and governments elected on low turnout: sooner or later global
power-brokers will have to recognise this crisis of legitimacy, and engage with protestors rather
than run away from them.
Note: For lots more reliable news on powerful secret societies, click here. And for another
balanced article on the powerful Bilderberg Group, click here.
Government is covering up UFO evidence, group says

2001-05-11, WantToKnow.info/Washington Times
http://www.WantToKnow.info/ufosgovernmentwitnessestestify
The U.S. government has been covering up evidence of extraterrestrial visits for more than
50 years, an array of 20 retired Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence
officers said Wednesday. They demanded Congress hold hearings on what they say is longstanding secret U.S. involvement with UFOs and extraterrestrials. Calling it the "greatest secret of
the 20th century," the officials, who termed themselves "witnesses" of UFO-related events,
described a series of military investigations they said they saw: crashes of alien spacecraft, bodies
of alien beings, secret government documents, even James Bond-style "erasures" of people who
knew too much. "The field is filled with hoaxes and scams," said Dr. Steven Greer, director of the
Disclosure Project, which had gathered the witnesses. "But it doesnt mean all of it is." The 20
witnesses, he said, were a fraction of the 400 people who are willing to testify under oath and
under congressional immunity about a secretive portion of the government they say has gone out
of control.
Note: For a CNN news video clip on this highly revealing event, click here. For lots more reliable,
verifiable information suggesting a major UFO cover-up, click here.
What really happened in Florida?

2001-02-16, BBC News
We are coming into Tallahassee. A very expensive contract between Governor Jeb [Bush]'s
division of elections and a private company named DBT...accidentally wiped off the voter
rolls thousands of Democratic voters. [We're on the] 18th floor division of elections. We have
come to ask Mr Clayton Roberts, the director, a few questions. "It says here in the contract that the
verification is supposed to be done by DBT. That you paid them $4 million. It could look to others
don't you think that you paid $4 million to purchase this election for the Republican party. 95%
wrong on the felon list. Mr Roberts, could you answer the question regarding the contract?"
Instead, Mr Roberts called out State troopers. The difficult questions are: Did Governor Jeb Bush,
his Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and her Director of Elections, Clayton Roberts, know they
had wrongly barred 22,000 black, Democrat voters before the elections? After the elections did
they use their powers to prevent the count of 20,000 votes for the Democrats? CAMPAIGNER:
"Were people taken out of polls and stopped from voting? Yes, I think that was not right."
Altogether, it looks like this cost the Democrats about 22,000 votes in Florida, which George Bush
won by only 537 votes. In all, Palm Beach voting machines misread 27,000 ballots. Jeb Bush's
Secretary of State, Katharine Harris, stopped them counting these votes by hand.
Note: You can watch a video of this and much more fascinating information at the BBC link above.
To read a brief summary of BBC reporter Greg Palast's coverage of the 2000 election results in
Floriday, see http://www.WantToKnow.info/massmedia#palast. And why wasn't this incredibly vital
information reported in any of the American media?
Brice Taylor and Ted Gunderson on Mind Control

2000-12-01, KCOP-TV (Los Angeles Fox affiliate)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu-SZY5bVr8
Brice Taylor used to be your typical soccer mom, with a successful husband, three kids, and a
beautiful home. That is, until she started telling of [her] secret double life as a mind-controlled sex
slave for the CIA. Now, this onetime suburban housewife finds herself the unlikely leading lady in a
real-life psychosexual spy thriller costarring a former Los Angeles FBI chief. [Former FBI chief Ted
Gunderson]: "Brice Taylor is absolutely telling the truth. I would stake my name and reputation of
50 years on it." Taylor says [she was lent] out to such luminaries as Henry Kissinger and every
president after Eisenhower except for Carter and the elder Bush, whom Taylor calls a pedophile,
accusing him of sleeping with her young daughter. Brice says it turned her into a mindless
"Stepford" wife, a programmed sex toy who could be triggered into action by the CIA with
subliminal messages embedded in her brain. Taylor: "I was a human robot, who had no
ability to think or question on my own. I could only follow commands." We contacted three
Los Angeles psychotherapists who treated Brice, but all of them refused to discuss her case, even
with her permission. Pam Monday believes that's because they've already been threatened by the
CIA. Brice Taylor wrote about her alleged life as a CIA sex slave in vivid detail in a new book out
called Thanks for the Memories: The Truth Has Set Me Free!.
Note: For more on mind control operations carried out by government agencies, see the deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here. For our Mind Control
Information Center filled with verifiable information on secret government mind control programs,
click here.
Silver Bullet: Depleted Uranium

2000-02-07, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - Canada's PBS)
http://web.archive.org/web/20000903222100/http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgmin...
Jerry Wheat and the other Gulf vets were never told of the risks of being exposed to a DU
campaign. Awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat, Wheat came home with
pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body and with mysterious body pains. A year after war's end,
Wheat got startling evidence from his father -- a technician at the famous Los Alamos Nuclear
Research Centre, who just out of curiosity tested the shrapnel that came from his son's body and
gear. The shrapnel was radioactive. Today, eight years after the Gulf War, that shrapnel still lights
up a Geiger counter. Jerry's great fear is that whatever he brought back with him from the Gulf is
now afflicting his family. His older son Joe was hospitalized with breathing problems the day after
Wheat dragged his contaminated gear into the house. Derrick, his youngest son, who was born
after the war, suffers strange blisters on his hands. His wife suffered a miscarriage. Jerry himself
recently had a tumour removed from his shoulder. He now worries continually about cancer. Jerry
says the military has never shown any interest in his shrapnel. The military said Jerry's health
problems are due to post traumatic stress. If the lessons from past eras are anything to go by,
there is often great ignorance about the path being charted when new weapons come along. For
example when atomic testing was all the rage in the '50s, or when Agent Orange was used in
Vietnam. When revolutionary new technology is introduced on the battlefield, no one at the time
has any real idea of the consequences.
Note: BBC has a webpage listing 10 of their articles both pro and con regarding depleted uranium
at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/europe/2001/depleted_uranium/default.stm
Congress Passes Wide-Ranging Bill Easing Bank Laws

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/05/business/congress-passes-wide-ranging-bill-...
Congress approved landmark legislation today that opens the door for a new era on Wall Street in
which commercial banks, securities houses and insurers will find it easier and cheaper to enter
one another's businesses. The measure, considered by many the most important banking
legislation in 66 years, was approved in the Senate by a vote of 90 to 8 and in the House tonight
by 362 to 57. The bill will now be sent to the president, who is expected to sign it, aides said.
''Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great
Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century,'' Treasury Secretary Lawrence H.
Summers said. ''This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the
new economy.'' The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire
warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday
wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that
separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were
thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression. Consumer
groups and civil rights advocates criticized the legislation for being a sop to the nation's biggest
financial institutions. The opponents of the measure ... predicted that by unshackling banks and
enabling them to move more freely into new kinds of financial activities, the new law could lead
to an economic crisis down the road when the marketplace is no longer growing briskly.
Note: Clearly these critics of the elimination of Glass-Steagall have been proven right by the
financial crisis which has unfolded less than 10 years later. Note the key role played by President
Obama's top economic advisor, Larry Summers. If the players haven't changed, how likely is it that
the game has?
Closely Guarded Secrets: Some Islands You Can't Get to Visit

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/17/nyregion/closely-guarded-secrets-some-islan...
Standing on the shores of the East End, you can see across the water to some of Long Island's
greatest treasures, tantalizingly close yet forbiddingly inaccessible. They are off limits to the public.
A mystique ... envelops the islands, and it is well earned. These islands -- Gardiners, Great Gull,
Little Gull, Plum and Robins -- have been the setting of some of Long Island's most exciting
historical chapters. Captain Kidd buried pirate treasure there. One Island woman was tried for
witchcraft decades before Salem's trials. Another was so beautiful that she dazzled Washington
society [and] married the President. And during the cold war, one island was used for secret
research for a germ warfare attack on the Soviet Union. Plum Island ... is strictly controlled and
it has the tightest security of all the islands. Unlike the secret germ warfare project in the 1950's,
the first Federal project on Plum Island was quite open and ordinary. In 1826, the Government
belatedly bought 3 of its 800 acres for a lighthouse. About the time of the Spanish-American War,
the Government bought the rest of Plum and built Fort Terry as the headquarters for artillery
batteries at Montauk. Federal officials ... converted the site to the Animal Disease Center in 1954.
Since 1929, the country's only outbreak of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease was in 1978, when
it spread to animals outside the laboratory buildings. For decades, officials denied rumors of
biological warfare experiments. But in 1993, Newsday unearthed previously classified
documents on plans to disrupt the Soviet economy by spreading diseases to kill its pigs,
cattle and horses.
Lyme, Conn., famous as the epicenter of the Lyme disease outbreak. This is one of many pieces
of evidence suggesting that Lyme disease escaped from government labs there, as described in
the book Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory.
F.B.I. to Pay Whistle-Blower $1.1 Million in a Settlement

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/27/us/fbi-to-pay-whistle-blower-1.1-million-in...
The F.B.I. agreed today to pay a settlement of more than $1.16 million to the agent who brought
about an overhaul of its crime laboratory. The agent, Frederic Whitehurst, who is a chemist,
returned to work from a yearlong suspension today and then voluntarily resigned as required by
the deal to settle part of his lawsuit against the bureau. In the 16-page settlement, a copy of which
was obtained by The Associated Press, the Federal Bureau of Investigation agreed to pay $1.166
million now to buy annuities that would pay the 50-year-old agent annual amounts equal to the
salary and pension he would have earned had he kept working until the normal F.B.I. retirement
age of 57. Under terms of the settlement, the bureau will also pay $258,580 in legal fees to Dr.
Whitehurst's lawyers, and the Justice Department will drop all consideration of disciplinary action
against him. For 10 years as the laboratory supervisor and once the bureau's top bomb residue
expert, Dr. Whitehurst complained mostly in vain about laboratory practices. But his efforts finally
led last April to a scathing 500-page study of the laboratory by the Justice Department's inspector
general, Michael Bromwich. Mr. Bromwich sharply criticized the laboratory for flawed
scientific work and inaccurate, pro-prosecution testimony in major cases, including the
Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings. Mr. Bromwich recommended major
changes and discipline for five agents.
Note: Yahoo! News posted a great article with advice to whistleblowers at this link.
Police killings: families, Obama taskforce and more welcome 'essential'

public count
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/01/the-counted-reaction
The US government does not keep a comprehensive record of people killed by law
enforcement, often leaving families, politicians and advocates powerless to quantify and analyse
the size of the issue at hand. The lack of data has been glaring amid the protests, riots and the
national debate set in motion by the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown last summer in
Ferguson, Missouri. We lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of
incidents, the outgoing US attorney general Eric Holder said before stepping down earlier this
year. Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind. The Guardian has begun
an investigative project, The Counted, to record the deaths of people at the hands of US
police. When informed of the comprehensive reporting project, which will also be crowdsourced,
the families of those whose deaths led to international attention called The Counted a
breakthrough. [Many] relatives, campaign groups, activists and authorities ... argue that a national
standard of mandatory accounting is a prerequisite for an informed public discussion about the use
of force by police. Erica Garner-Snipes, daughter of Eric Garner: "Giving this kind of data to the
public is a big thing. Other incidents like murders and robberies are collected, so why not policeinvolved killings? With better records, we can look at what is happening and what might need to
change."
Note: Another recent Guardian article, titled The Uncounted, describes why the U.S. government
claims it is unable to keep track of killings by police, but does not mention that police shootings rise
as crime falls.
How chemical industry hoodwinked California Legislature

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/diaz/article/How-chemical-industry-hoodwin...
Grant David Gillham, former legislative staffer ... knows how to work the system. Three major
manufacturers of fire retardants went to the right person in 2007 when they enlisted him to
help defeat legislation that would ban two classes of retardants believed to cause cancer.
Their instructions to him: Dont worry about the science. Run a political campaign. Oh, and
by the way, he was not to reveal his association with the industry. Now Gillham is speaking out in a
big way, and his story ... illustrates the extent to which the legislative process can be manipulated.
The chemical industrys main trade group, the American Chemistry Council, denied any connection
with Gillham after a 2012 Chicago Tribune series exposed that the advocacy group he created,
Citizens for Fire Safety, was not as it claimed, a coalition of fire professionals, educators,
community activists, burn centers, doctors, fire departments and industry leaders, [but] was
funded by three manufacturers who controlled 40 percent of the global market for the targeted
chemicals. The strategy worked in California Lenos bill to ban chlorinated and brominated fire
retardants died on the Senate floor on Aug. 26, 2008 and Citizens for Fire Safety went on to
help defeat similar bills in other states. The manufacturers claims of the lifesaving benefits of fire
retardants have been contradicted by scientific studies that suggests their flame-resisting
properties are minimal, and are more than offset by their negative effect in making fires more toxic.
manipulation of mass media and corporate corruption from reliable sources.
Edward Snowden: I work a lot more now than I did at the NSA
2015-05-15, Yahoo Finance/Business Insider
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/edward-snowden-lot-more-now-215315562.html
Edward Snowden is in exile in Moscow. He's still hard at work. Whatever he's working on, the
former NSA contractor who exposed controversial US surveillance practices, says it's
much tougher than his last gig. "The fact is I was getting paid an extraordinary amount of
money for very little work with very little in the way of qualifications. That's changed
significantly," Snowden said in an event at Stanford University on Friday, via teleconference from
Moscow. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that the NSA's massive collection of Americans'
phone records is illegal a victory for Snowden, who revealed the existence of the surveillance
program in the documents he leaked to the press. Snowden said in the teleconference that he
worked with reporters so that there could be a system of checks and balances, and noted that he
did not publish a single document himself. Still, he couldn't leak his secrets anonymously to the
reporters because his colleagues' livelihoods would have been at risk as well if the NSA conducted
a witch-hunt, Snowden said. "Whistleblowers are elected by circumstance. Nobody self nominates
to be a whistleblower because its so painful," Snowden said, [and] emphasized that he doesn't
see himself as a hero or a traitor, but he had just reached the tipping point where he needed to do
something.
government corruption and the erosion of privacy rights from reliable major media sources.
UN suspension of sexual abuse report whistleblower is unlawful,

tribunal rules
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/06/un-suspension-of-sexual-abuse-re...
An appeal tribunal has ordered the United Nations to immediately lift the suspension of a
whistleblower who disclosed the alleged sexual abuse of children by peacekeeping troops
in Africa to the French authorities. A judge said on Wednesday the decision to suspend Anders
Kompass, the director of field operations for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, was prima facie unlawful. He ordered his employers in the UN to lift his suspension
immediately to prevent further damage to his reputation. Kompass leaked an internal UN report on
the alleged sexual abuse of children by French troops in Central African Republic to French
prosecutors last summer. The French immediately mounted an investigation and revealed last
week they were investigating up to 14 soldiers for alleged abuse, [and] wrote to thank Kompass for
passing on the internal report detailing the abuse. In his statement to the dispute tribunal,
Kompass said he had suffered damage to his reputation as a result of the suspension and
allegations being made against him by the UN. His lawyers state: The applicant [Kompass] has an
unblemished employment record and his competence and integrity, which have never been
questioned throughout his career, are cast into doubt by the contested decision; the publicity of the
process resulting from him having been placed on administrative leave leads to an exacerbation of
the reputational damage each day the administrative leave continues.
Deep Support in Washington for C.I.A.s Drone Missions

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/us/politics/deep-support-in-washington-for-...
About once a month, staff members of the congressional intelligence committees drive across the
Potomac River to C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., and watch ... footage of drone strikes. The
screenings have provided a veneer of congressional oversight. The C.I.A.s killing missions are ...
unlikely to change significantly despite President Obamas announcement on Thursday that a
drone strike accidentally killed two innocent hostages, an American and an Italian. Michael
DAndrea ... was chief of operations during the birth of the agencys detention and interrogation
program and then, as head of the C.I.A. Counterterrorism Center, became an architect of the
targeted killing program. He presided over the growth of C.I.A. drone operations and hundreds of
strikes. Mr. DAndrea was a forceful advocate for the drone program. He was particularly effective
in winning the support of Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who was chairwoman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee until January. The confidence Ms. Feinstein and other
Democrats express about the drone program ... stands in sharp contrast to the criticism
among lawmakers of the now defunct C.I.A. program to capture and interrogate Qaeda
suspects in secret prisons. When Ms. Feinstein was asked in a meeting with reporters in 2013
why she was so sure she was getting the truth about the drone program while she accused the
C.I.A. of lying to her about torture, she seemed surprised. Thats a good question, actually.
Note: The CIA has been aware that drone strikes are ineffective since at least 2009. If drones help
terrorists, almost always miss their intended targets, and may be used to target people in the US in
the future, what are the real reasons for the US government's drone program?
Sale of U.S. Arms Fuels the Wars of Arab States

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/world/middleeast/sale-of-us-arms-fuels-the-...
To wage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is using F-15 fighter jets bought from Boeing. Pilots from the
United Arab Emirates are flying Lockheed Martins F-16 to bomb both Yemen and Syria. Soon, the
Emirates are expected to complete a deal with General Atomics for a fleet of Predator drones to
run spying missions in their neighborhood. As the Middle East descends into proxy wars,
sectarian conflicts and battles against terrorist networks, countries in the region that have
stockpiled American military hardware are now actually using it and wanting more.
American defense firms are following the money. Boeing opened an office in Doha, Qatar, in
2011, and Lockheed Martin set up an office there this year. Lockheed created a division in 2013
devoted solely to foreign military sales, and the companys chief executive, Marillyn Hewson, has
said that Lockheed needs to increase foreign business with a goal of global arms sales
becoming 25 percent to 30 percent of its revenue. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms
Control Association ... said he viewed the increase in arms sales to the region with a great deal of
trepidation, as it is leading to an escalation in the type and number and sophistication in the
weaponry in these countries. Meanwhile, the deal to sell Predator drones to the Emirates is
nearing final approval. If the sale goes through, it will be the first time that the drones will go to an
American ally outside of NATO.
Note: If you look at history from the viewpoint that most wars are fostered and enflamed by the
military-industrial complex, a lot of things make sense. Read a powerful essay by a top US general
exposing the war machine titled "War is a Racket." For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing war news articles from reliable major media sources.
Why most of the $100 million L.A. spends on homelessness goes to

police
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-cost-police-20150417-sto...
A report showing that more than half the $100 million the city of Los Angeles spends each
year on homelessness goes to police demonstrates that the city is focused on enforcement
rather than getting people off the streets. This city is doing almost nothing to advance housing
solutions but continues down the expensive and inhumane process of criminalization that only
makes the problem worse," said Becky Dennison of Los Angeles Community Action Network.
Almost 15,000 people the LAPD arrested in 2013 were homeless, or 14% of those arrested,
according to the report from the city administrative office. Labor costs for the arrests were
estimated between $46 million and $80 million. Officer Deon Joseph, a longtime skid row senior
lead officer ... said he frequently arrests the same people over and over because of the revolving
door for mentally ill people and others between the jails and prisons and skid row. "I do not
believe prison is the answer for most people struggling with mental issues," Joseph wrote. "Sadly
in today's system we have to wait until they commit a violent crime to get them 'help' in a jail cell.
The report ... was commissioned by the City Councils housing committee, which questioned why
the homeless population grew 9% between 2011 and 2013 even as the city contributed millions to
the homeless authority.
Note: When poverty and mental illness are criminalized, the prison industrial complex has an
endless supply of slave labor under a corrupt government.
CDC's 'inconsistent' lab practices threaten its credibility, report says

2015-03-21, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/health/cdc-lab-safety-problems-credibility/inde...
A report on lab safety at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put together by a
committee of external experts calls the agency's commitment to safety "inconsistent and
insufficient." The report, which was completed in January but posted on the agency's website this
week, also says "laboratory safety training is inadequate." An external group of 11 experts in
biosafety, laboratory science and research [say] in the report [that] they are "very
concerned that the CDC is on the way to losing credibility." The agency created the advisory
group to improve lab safety in July in the wake of two mishaps and other issues that were
uncovered. One incident occurred in June when dozens of employees in a bioterrorism lab working
with the deadly anthrax virus, were at risk because of a failure to properly follow sterilization
techniques. The head of that lab resigned after the incident. This followed a May incident in which
avian influenza samples, thought to not be dangerous, were unintentionally mixed with the
deadly H5N1 influenza virus and then shipped to a USDA lab. Then in December, with the
advisory group already working to reduce lab safety risks and improve the culture of safety,
employees in the Ebola lab were potentially exposed to that virus when a technician mistakenly
transported the wrong specimens from a high-level lab to a lower-level lab. Internal investigations
were done after each incident.
Note: See powerful media reports suggesting that both the Avian Flu and Swine Flu were
manipulated to promote fear and boost pharmaceutical sales. For more along these lines, see the
excellent, reliable resources provided in our Health Information Center.
What Hillary Clintons Emails Really Reveal

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/opinion/what-hillary-clintons-emails-really...
How will history judge a generation of leaders who dont preserve the historical record? The
revelation on Monday that Hillary Rodham Clinton used only a personal email account when she
was secretary of state and did not preserve her emails on departmental servers seems to reflect a
troubling indifference to saving the history she was living. Mrs. Clintons aides eventually turned
over 55,000 pages of correspondence. But the State Departments Office of the Historian
estimates that the department produces two billion emails a year. The bigger problem is that the
government produces an astounding volume of email, much of it classified, and the public
doesnt get to see it unless archivists can preserve and process it. According to the
nonpartisan Public Interest Declassification Board, a single intelligence agency is producing a
petabyte of classified data every 18 months, or the equivalent of 20 million four-drawer file
cabinets. The National Archives estimates that, without new technology to accelerate the process,
that information would take two million employees a year to review for declassification. Instead,
there are just 41 archivists working in College Park, Md., to review records from across the entire
federal government one page at a time. The government is producing more classified
documents than it knows what to do with. The National Archives is buckling under the strain,
and could collapse under an avalanche of electronic records. If it does, Americas
commitment to transparent governance will become a thing of the past, because the past itself will
be impossible to recover.
Note: More than 55,000 pages of historical documents have disappeared from the National
Archives since 1999 because of a secret CIA deal to 'reclassify' declassified government records.
Is it even possible to tell the difference between information overload and government corruption
with such secretive policies?
Fed report: Time to examine purposely cooling planet idea

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/weathertopstories/fed-report-time-to-examine...
The idea was once considered fringe to purposely re-engineer the planet's climate as a
last ditch effort to battle global warming with an artificial cloud. No longer. In a nuanced, twovolume report, the National Academy of Sciences said that the concept should not be acted upon
immediately because it is too risky, but it should be studied and perhaps tested outdoors in small
projects. Because warming has worsened and some countries might act unilaterally, scientists said
research is needed to calculate the consequences. Panel chairwoman Marcia McNutt, editor of the
journal Science and former director of the U.S. Geological Survey, said in an interview that the
public should read this report "and say, 'This is downright scary.' And they should say, 'If this is our
Hail Mary, what a scary, scary place we are in.'" The committee scientists said once you start this
type of tinkering, it would be difficult to stop. A decision to spray particles into the air
would have to continue for more than 1,000 years. The report was requested by U.S.
intelligence agencies, academy president Ralph J. Ciccerone said. Because the world is not
reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming, scientists have been
forced "to at least consider what is known as geoengineering," he said.
Note: The National Academy of Science's two-part report says that geoengineering technologies
"present serious known and possible unknown environmental, social, and political risks, including
the possibility of being deployed unilaterally." The US military has used the weather as a weapon
in the past. Now, with a deeply corrupt scientific establishment being guided by corrupt intelligence
agencies to meddle with the planet's total ecology, and with low public awareness about the messy
history of mysterious atmospheric experiments over cities in the U.S. and elsewhere, what could
possibly go wrong?
Stream of Foreign Wealth Flows to Elite New York Real Estate

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/nyregion/stream-of-foreign-wealth-flows-to-...
Behind the dark glass towers of the Time Warner Center ... a majority of owners have taken steps
to keep their identities hidden, registering condos in trusts, limited liability companies or other
entities that shield their names. By piercing the secrecy of more than 200 shell companies, The
New York Times documented a decade of ownership in this iconic Manhattan way station for
global money, [and] found a growing proportion of wealthy foreigners, at least 16 of whom have
been the subject of government inquiries around the world. The cases range from housing and
environmental violations to financial fraud. Four owners have been arrested, and another four have
been the subject of fines or penalties for illegal activities. They have been able to make these
multimillion-dollar [real estate] purchases with few questions asked because of United
States laws that foster the movement of largely untraceable money through shell
companies. Vast sums are flowing unchecked around the world as never before whether
motivated by corruption, tax avoidance or investment strategy, and enabled by an ever-moreborderless economy and a proliferation of ways to move and hide assets. The high-end real estate
market has become less and less transparent and more alluring for those abroad with assets
they wish to keep anonymous even as the United States pushes other nations to help stanch
the flow of American money leaving the country to avoid taxes.
Note: The New York Times investigation at the above link provides a comprehensive look at the
international crime and political corruption at the heart of Manhattan's spiking real estate prices.
Woman's Claims About Prince Andrew, Others Reignite Sex Case

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/womans-claims-prince-andrew-reignite-sex-c...
First came the allegations late last year that Britain's Prince Andrew and a prominent American
lawyer took part in a wealthy sex offender's abuse of teenage girls. Defense attorney Alan
Dershowitz ... represented the highly connected Jeffrey Epstein and was himself named in the
latest court filings. Jane Doe No. 3 and three others who say Epstein victimized them want a
federal judge to ... throw out the part of Epstein's plea deal that guaranteed that neither he nor any
co-conspirators would [remain anonymous or] face federal charges. They contend their rights as
victims were trampled by the then-secret agreement. Now a 31-year-old wife and mother, Jane
Doe No. 3 insists her motives are to hold the elite accountable, [and to] "help expose the
problem of sex trafficking." She first met Epstein in 1999 ... at age 15. What followed was a
three-year whirlwind of paid sex abuse, international travel and encounters with many of
Epstein's powerful friends. "I was trained to be everything a man wanted me to be," she said in
her affidavit. "They said they loved that I was very compliant and knew how to keep my mouth
shut." Although she was paid for her services and was given luxurious accommodations by
Epstein, Jane Doe No. 3 said, it was also clear she could get into "big trouble" if she tried to leave
or refuse his sexual advances and requirements to provide sex to others. "He let me know that he
knew many people in high places," she said. "Speaking about himself, he said, 'I can get away'
with things. I was very scared, particularly since I was a teenager."
Note: Jane Doe #3 has not kept her identity secret, and continues use her real name in court to
expose the FBI cover up of this elite sex trafficking ring, but one of her attorneys requested that the
AP not use her name in the above article. For more, watch powerful evidence in a suppressed
Discovery Channel documentary showing that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest
levels of government, or read deeply revealing sex abuse scandal news articles from reliable major
media sources.
'Suppressed' EU report could have banned pesticides worth billions

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/02/suppressed-eu-report-could...
As many as 31 pesticides with a value running into billions of pounds could have been banned
because of potential health risks, if a blocked EU paper on hormone-mimicking chemicals had
been acted upon. The science paper, seen by the Guardian, recommends ways of identifying
and categorising the endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that scientists link to a rise in
foetal abnormalities, genital mutations, infertility, and adverse health effects ranging from
cancer to IQ loss. Commission sources say that the paper was buried by top EU officials
under pressure from big chemical firms which use EDCs in toiletries, plastics and cosmetics,
despite an annual health cost that studies peg at hundreds of millions of euros. The unpublished
EU paper ... was supposed to have enabled EU bans of hazardous substances to take place last
year. Under pressure from major chemical industry players, such as Bayer and BASF, the criteria
were blocked. In their place, less stringent options emerged. Last month, 11 MEPs complained in a
cross-party letter to the health and food safety commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis, about the EUs
failure to honour its mandate and adopt the EDC criteria. This was supposed to have happened by
the end of 2013. In place of the proposed identification of hormone-mimicking compounds, the
EUs current roadmap favours industry-supported options for potency-based measurements of
EDCs. These would set thresholds, below which exposure to low-potency EDCs would be deemed
safe.
Note: One key study estimates that as few as zero endocrine-disrupting pesticides will be
withdrawn from the EU market as a result of this profit-driven manipulation of policy. For more
along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing articles about corporate and
The Davos oligarchs are right to fear the world theyve made
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/22/davos-oligarchs-fear-ine...
The billionaires and corporate oligarchs meeting in Davos this week are getting worried about
inequality. The architects of the crisis-ridden international economic order are starting to see the
dangers ... of the widest global economic gulf in human history. The scale of the crisis has been
laid out for them by the charity Oxfam. On current trends, the richest 1% will have pocketed
more than the other 99% put together next year. The 0.1% have been doing even better,
quadrupling their share of US income since the 1980s. In most of the world, labours share of
national income has fallen continuously and wages have stagnated under this regime of
privatisation, deregulation and low taxes on the rich. At the same time finance has sucked wealth
from the public realm into the hands of a small minority, even as it has laid waste the rest of the
economy. Now the evidence has piled up that not only is such appropriation of wealth a moral and
social outrage, but it is fuelling social and climate conflict, wars, mass migration and political
corruption, stunting health and life chances, increasing poverty, and widening gender and
ethnic divides. Escalating inequality has also been a crucial factor in the economic crisis of
the past seven years, squeezing demand and fuelling the credit boom. The thinking persons
Davos oligarch realises that allowing things to carry on as they are is dangerous. What they wont
accept is any change in the balance of social power.
Note: Oxfam's complete report "identifies the two powerful driving forces that have led to the rapid
rise in inequality" as "market fundamentalism and the capture of politics by elites." For more along
these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on income inequality and
secret societies which manipulate global politics.
John Brennan Exonerates Himself with Sham Investigation

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/15/john-brennans-latest-fuck-you
The outrageous whitewash issued Wednesday by the CIA panel John Brennan hand-picked
to lead the investigation into his agencys spying on Senate staffers is being taken
seriously by the elite Washington media, which is solemnly reporting that officials have
been cleared of any wrongdoing. The panels report is just the latest
element in a long string of cover-ups and deceptions orchestrated by Brennan. At issue, of
course, is the same intrusion into Senate computers that Brennan initially tried to make people
think was a figment of then-Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinsteins warped
imagination. Nothing could be further from the truth, Brennan said when confronted with
Feinsteins allegations. Senator Ron Wyden ... issued a statement in response to the newly
released documents: "First, agency officers and contractors went far beyond the limits set out even
in the Justice Departments torture memos. Then, top officials spent a decade making
inaccurate statements about tortures effectiveness to Congress, the White House and the
American people. Next, instead of acknowledging these years of misrepresentations, the CIAs
current leadership decided to double down on denial. And when CIA officials were worried that the
Intelligence Committee had found a document that contradicted their claims, they secretly
searched Senate computer files to find out if Senate investigators had obtained it." The panels
report can also be seen as Brennans total assault on David B. Buckley, the CIA inspector
general who wrote the first, highly critical report on the incident and who suddenly resigned a
few days ago.
the manipulation of mass media and the routine dishonesty of intelligence agencies from reliable
sources.
With limited oversight, the wealthy get a charitable tax break

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/With-limited-oversight-the-wealthy-get...
Nicholas and Jill Woodman ... will receive a huge tax deduction for their [charitable] donation of 5.8
million shares of company stock to a donor-advised fund. But theres no guarantee that one dollar
of their October donation will ever be spent [on charity]. Donors gets an immediate, one-time tax
break by depositing their money or assets in a donor-advised fund. They can advise the
institution holding their money where and when to spend it on their timetable. Boston
College Law School Professor Ray Madoff points out, It is like money-laundering." There
was $54 billion under management in donor-advised funds in 2013. Top financial houses like
Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard have fully embraced donor-advised funds. Fidelity Charitable, with
$13.2 billion worth of assets under management, is now the nations second-largest charity. Even
though organizations like Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable and Vanguard Charitable were
founded by their financial house namesakes, they are separate 501(c)3 charities. But while Fidelity
Charitable is independent from the financial institution, roughly two-thirds of the money in the
charitable arm is invested in Fidelity mutual funds. Madoff said that because investment advisers
can charge a fee for managing the money in these accounts, they have a natural incentive to keep
the money in these accounts growing and not leaving.
widespread corruption in government and banking and finance.
Feinstein prevails in long battle to release torture report

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Feinstein-s-long-battle-to-release-tor...
Sen. Dianne Feinsteins last act as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee ... had
Washingtons most powerful forces arrayed against her. At the end ... Feinstein said she was
more determined than ever to release the summary of a 6,700-page report on the CIAs use
of torture after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. She has been vilified, the committee was
spied on, the CIA and its supporters ran what amounted to a domestic disinformation campaign
against the report and the committee, said Stephen Rickard, executive director of the Open
Society Policy Center, a civil liberties and human rights group in Washington. She did her job.
Her job was to provide congressional oversight of an executive branch agency, and she met
prolonged and intense resistance. Feinstein called the report the most significant and
comprehensive oversight report in the committees history, and perhaps in that of the U.S. Senate.
The Senate panel examined nearly 6.3 million pages of documents, without Republican
cooperation and against the resistance of the CIA, which went so far as to hack Intelligence
Committee computers and threaten to bring criminal charges against the staff. Although
President Obama insisted he wanted the report made public, administration officials reportedly
pressed for redactions that Senate Democrats said would make the report meaningless.
New Scrutiny of Goldmans Ties to the New York Fed After a Leak
http://dealbook.nytimes.com//2014/11/19/rising-scrutiny-as-banks-hire-from-th...
From his desk in Lower Manhattan, a banker at Goldman Sachs thumbed through confidential
documents courtesy of a source inside the United States government. The banker came to
Goldman through the so-called revolving door ... that connects financial regulators to Wall Street.
He joined in July after spending seven years as a regulator at the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, the governments front line in overseeing the financial industry. He received the confidential
information, lawyers briefed on the matter suspect, from a former colleague who was still working
at the New York Fed. The previously unreported leak, recounted in interviews with the
lawyers briefed on the matter who spoke anonymously ... illustrates the blurred lines
between Wall Street and the government. When Goldman hired the former New York Fed
regulator, who is 29, it assigned him to advise the same type of banks that he once policed.
And the banker obtained confidential information [that] provided Goldman a window into the New
York Feds private insights. The emergence of the leak comes as questions mount about a
perceived coziness between the New York Fed and Wall Street banks Goldman in particular.
Revelations from a former New York Fed employee, Carmen Segarra, recently stoked that debate.
Ms. Segarra released taped conversations suggesting that her supervisors went soft on Goldman.
The new accounts of a regulator and a banker actually sharing confidential documents violating
a cardinal rule of the regulatory world suggest that ... Goldman, perhaps more than any other
Wall Street bank, appears to be entwined with the New York Fed.
widespread corruption in government and banking and finance. For additional information, see the
excellent, reliable resources provided in our Banking Corruption Information Center.
Assange: Google Is Not What It Seems

http://www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447
In June 2011, (WikiLeaks founder) Julian Assange received an unusual visitor: the chairman of
Google, Eric Schmidt. The stated reason for the visit was a book. Schmidt was penning a treatise
with Jared Cohen, the director of Google Ideas. Cohen had moved to Google from the U.S. State
Department. Schmidt arrived first, accompanied by his then partner, Lisa Shields ... a vice
president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Two months later, WikiLeaks release of State
Department cables was coming to an abrupt end. Two years later, in the wake of his early 2013
visits to China, North Korea and Burma, it would come to be appreciated that the chairman of
Google might be conducting, in one way or another, back-channel diplomacy for Washington. In
1999 ... Schmidt joined the New America Foundation. The foundation and its 100 staff serve
as an influence mill, using its network of approved national security, foreign policy and
technology pundits to place hundreds of articles and op-eds per year. In 2003, the U.S.
National Security Agency (NSA) had already started systematically violating the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). During the same period, Google ... was accepting NSA money
to the tune of $2 million to provide the agency with search tools. In 2012, Google arrived on the list
of top-spending Washington, D.C., lobbyists. Whether it is being just a company or more than just
a company, Googles geopolitical aspirations are firmly enmeshed within the foreign-policy
agenda of the worlds largest superpower.
Note: Read the complete Newsweek article summarized above for Julian Assange's detailed
accounting of the connections between Washington D.C. insiders, Google and related technology
companies, intelligence agencies, and civil society organizations. For more about Wikileaks, read
this news article summary. For more on the geopolitical big picture, see these concise summaries
of deeply revealing news articles from reliable major media sources.
Probe of silencers leads to web of Pentagon secrets

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/probe-of-silencers-lead...
The mysterious workings of a Pentagon office that oversees clandestine operations are unraveling
in federal court, where a criminal investigation has exposed a secret weapons program ... to
manufacture an untraceable batch of automatic-rifle silencers. The silencers 349 of them
were ordered by a little-known Navy intelligence office at the Pentagon known as the Directorate
for Plans, Policy, Oversight and Integration. The directorate is composed of fewer than 10 civilian
employees, most of them retired military personnel. Court records filed by prosecutors allege that
the Navy paid the auto mechanic the brother of the directorates boss $1.6 million for the
silencers, even though they cost only $10,000 in parts and labor to manufacture. If the foreignmade weapons were equipped with unmarked silencers, the source said, the weapons
could have been used by U.S. or foreign forces for special operations in other countries
without any risk that they would be traced back to the United States. No documentation has
surfaced in court to indicate that Navy officials formally signed off on the silencer project, although
many pretrial motions have been filed under seal. Hall, the directorate official charged with illegally
purchasing the silencers, has asserted that he received verbal approval for the secret program
from Robert C. Martinage, a former acting undersecretary of the Navy, according to statements
made during pretrial hearings. Martinage was forced to resign in January after investigators
looking into the silencer deal found evidence that he had engaged in personal misconduct ...
unrelated to the silencer contract.
Our Dysfunctional Financial System

http://time.com/3455631/our-dysfunctional-financial-system/
Did anyone ever doubt that the New York Fed was in hock to Wall Street? Or that Fed bank
examiners ... might fear alienating the powerful financiers on whom they depend for information or
future jobs? Its one thing to know and another to hear in painful, crackling detail how the
Feds financial cops slip on their velvet gloves to deal with Goldman Sachs. Or how
Segarra, one of a group of examiners brought in after the financial crisis to keep a closer
watch on the till, was fired, perhaps for doing her job. Consider one of the shady deals
highlighted on the secret tapes of New York Fed meetings, which Segarra made with a spy
recorder before she was let go and which were made public on Sept. 26. The Fed employees,
who work inside the banks they examine (yes, its literally an inside job), knew the deal was
dodgy. Numerous experts believe that the size of the financial sector is slowing growth in the real
economy by sucking the monetary oxygen out of the room. Banks dont want to lend; they want to
trade, often via esoteric deals that do almost nothing for anyone outside Wall Street. This
disconnect between the real economy and finance is now being closely studied by policymakers
and academics. Adair Turner, a former British banking regulator, thinks that only about 15% of U.K.
financial flows go to the real economy; the rest stay within the financial system, propping up
existing corporate assets, supporting trading and enabling $40 million briefcase-watching fees. If
the New York Fed really wants to redeem itself, it might consider commissioning a similar study to
look at Wall Streets contribution to the U.S. economy.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing financial news
articles from reliable major media sources. For more along these lines, see the excellent, reliable
resources provided in our Banking Corruption Information Center.
High schoolers protest conservative proposal

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-high-schoolers-protest-conservative-prop...
Hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver on Tuesday to protest a
conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote
citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, in a show of civil disobedience that the new
standards would aim to downplay. The youth protest involving six high schools in the state's
second-largest school district follows a sick-out by teachers that shut down two high schools in the
politically and economically diverse area that has become a key political battleground. Student
participants said their demonstration was organized by word of mouth and social media. Many
waved American flags and carried signs, including messages that read, "There is nothing more
patriotic than protest." The school board proposal that triggered the walkouts in Jefferson County
calls for instructional materials that present positive aspects of the nation and its heritage. It would
establish a committee to regularly review texts and course plans ... to make sure materials
"promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect
for authority and respect for individual rights" and don't "encourage or condone civil
disorder, social strife or disregard of the law." A student demonstrator [said] the nation's
foundation was built on civil protests, "and everything that we've done is what allowed us to be at
this point today. And if you take that from us, you take away everything that America was built off
of." Superintendent Dan McMinimee has met with some of the students and renewed his offer to
continue discussions on the issue. "I respect the right of our students to express their opinions in a
peaceful manner," he said. "I do, however, prefer that our students stay in class."
Goldman to Pay $3.15 Billion to Settle Mortgage Claims

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/goldman-to-pay-3-15-billion-to-settle-...
Goldman Sachs is paying its largest bill yet to resolve a government lawsuit related to the financial
crisis. The bank said ... that it had agreed to buy back $3.15 billion in mortgage bonds from
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to end a lawsuit filed in 2011 by the Federal Housing Finance
Agency, the federal regulator that oversees the two mortgage companies. The agency had
accused Goldman of unloading low-quality mortgage bonds onto Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in
the run-up to the financial crisis. It estimates that Goldman is paying $1.2 billion more than the
bonds are now worth. Most of the other 18 banks that faced similar suits from the housing agency
have already reached settlements. The previous settlements have included penalties, which
Goldman avoided. But Goldman had been hoping to avoid settling the suit altogether, contending
as recently as last month that many of the governments claims should be dismissed. The $1.2
billion figure carries a sting because it is double the $550 million payment that Goldman made in
2010 to settle the most prominent crisis-era case it has faced the so-called Abacus case. Since
then, Goldman has largely avoided the billion-dollar penalties paid by other banks for wrongdoing
before the 2008 crisis. This week, Bank of America reached a $16.65 billion settlement with the
Justice Department related to the banks handling of shoddy mortgages. In a separate deal this
year, Bank of America agreed to pay $9.5 billion to settle its part of the housing finance agencys
lawsuit. Some of that money was a penalty and the rest was used to buy back mortgage bonds.
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing financial corruption news
Medical Marijuana Research Hits Wall of U.S. Law

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/us/politics/medical-marijuana-research-hits...
[There are many] obstacles and frustrations scientists face in trying to study the medical uses of
marijuana. Dating back to 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services has indicated it
does not see much potential for developing marijuana in smoked form into an approved
prescription drug. In guidelines issued that year for research on medical marijuana, the agency
quoted from an accompanying report that stated, If there is any future for marijuana as a
medicine, it lies in its isolated components, the cannabinoids and their synthetic derivatives.
Scientists say this position has had a chilling effect on marijuana research. Though more than one
million people are thought to use the drug to treat ailments ranging from cancer to seizures to
hepatitis C and chronic pain, there are few rigorous studies showing whether the drug is a fruitful
treatment for those or any other conditions. A major reason is this: The federal government
categorizes marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, the most restrictive of five groups established by the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Drugs in this category including heroin, LSD, peyote
and Ecstasy are considered to have no accepted medical use in the United States and a
high potential for abuse, and are subject to tight restrictions on scientific study. In the case
of marijuana, those restrictions are even greater than for other controlled substances.
Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, though nearly half the states and the District of
Columbia allow its medical use and two, Colorado and Washington, have legalized its recreational
use.
Edward Snowden urges professionals to encrypt client communications

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/edward-snowden-professionals-enc...
The NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has urged lawyers, journalists, doctors, accountants,
priests and others with a duty to protect confidentiality to upgrade security in the wake of the spy
surveillance revelations. Snowden said professionals were failing in their obligations to their
clients, sources, patients and parishioners in what he described as a new and challenging
world. "What last year's revelations showed us was irrefutable evidence that unencrypted
communications on the internet are no longer safe. Any communications should be
encrypted by default," he said. Snowden's plea for the professions to tighten security came
during an extensive and revealing interview with the Guardian in Moscow. During the seven hours
of interview, Snowden: Said if he ended up in US detention in Guantnamo Bay he could live with
it. Does not have any regrets. Said that ... he was independently secure, living on savings, and
money from awards and speeches he has delivered online round the world. Made a startling
claim that a culture exists within the NSA in which, during surveillance, nude photographs picked
up of people in "sexually compromising" situations are routinely passed around. He works online
late into the night; a solitary, digital existence not that dissimilar to his earlier life. He said he was
using part of that time to work on the new focus for his technical skills, designing encryption tools
to help professionals such as journalists protect sources and data. He is negotiating foundation
funding for the project, a contribution to addressing the problem of professions wanting to protect
client or patient data, and in this case journalistic sources.
Note: Read the transcript of the Guardian's new interview of Edward Snowden. For more on this,
see concise summaries of deeply revealing government surveillance news articles from reliable
'Conflict of interest' raised over Butler-Sloss role in child abuse inquiry

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/09/butler-sloss-inquiry-role-aske...
Lady Butler-Sloss, the retired high court judge appointed as chair of the inquiry panel examining
child abuse, faced a backlash on [July 9] as Labour MPs and a victims' lawyer called on her to
stand down over conflict of interest. Critics pointed out that her brother, the late Lord Havers, was
attorney general from 1979 to 1987 when some of the controversy over the failure to prosecute
child abuse cases could have arisen. Havers, who later served briefly as lord chancellor, backed
the decision of the director of public prosecutions not to prosecute Sir Peter Hayman, a diplomat
and subscriber to the Paedophile Information Exchange. Hayman was caught sending paedophile
literature through the post but was not prosecuted. Alison Millar, a lawyer ... who is representing
some of the victims of child abuse, [told] BBC Radio 4: "Baroness Butler-Sloss ... has very
close connections to the very establishment this inquiry will be investigating namely her
brother. Picking someone who will be seen at the start potentially by survivors as someone
who is very much of the establishment, linked to the establishment at the time, is not going
to give people any confidence to come forward and be frank and fearless in front of this
inquiry." Butler-Sloss, 80, was appointed on [July 7] by the home secretary, Theresa May, to chair
the panel of enquiry that will examine handling of child abuse allegations by public institutions.
Note: For more on this, see this Daily Mail article.
Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden would not get a fair trial and Kerry is wrong
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/30/daniel-ellsberg-snowden-...
On the Today show and CBS, [Sec. of State John Kerry] said [Edward] Snowden "should man up
and come back to the United States" to face charges. But John Kerry is wrong. As Snowden told
Brian Williams on NBC later that night, ... he would have no chance whatsoever to come home and
make his case in public or in court. Snowden would come back home to a jail cell and not
just an ordinary cell-block but isolation in solitary confinement, ... probably [for] the rest of
his life. The current state of whistleblowing prosecutions under the Espionage Act makes a
truly fair trial wholly unavailable to an American who has exposed classified wrongdoing.
The other NSA whistleblower prosecuted, Thomas Drake, was barred from uttering the words
"whistleblowing" and "overclassification" in his trial. In the recent case of the State Department
contractor Stephen Kim, the presiding judge ruled the prosecution "need not show that the
information he allegedly leaked could damage US national security or benefit a foreign power,
even potentially." Without reform to the Espionage Act that lets a court hear a public interest
defense or a challenge to the appropriateness of government secrecy in each particular case
Snowden and future Snowdens can and will only be able to "make their case" from outside the
United States. Snowden acted in full knowledge of the constitutionally questionable efforts of the
Obama administration, in particular, to use the Espionage Act in a way it was never intended by
Congress: as the equivalent of a British-type Official Secrets Act criminalizing any and all
unauthorized release of classified information.
Note: or more on the Snowden case, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
CIA: No more vaccination campaigns in spy operations

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-no-more-vaccination...
Three years after the CIA used an immunization survey as a cover in its hunt for Osama bin
Laden, the White House has promised that the agency will never again use a vaccination
campaign in its operations. Responding to a letter from the deans of 12 U.S. public health schools,
Lisa Monaco, the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, informed
them last week that the CIA will no longer conduct such campaigns, White House spokeswoman
Caitlin Hayden said. The deans wrote to President Obama in January 2013 to protest the
precedent set when the CIA used Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani surgeon, to seek information ... under
the guise of conducting a hepatitis immunization survey. This disguising of an intelligencegathering effort as a humanitarian public health service has resulted in serious collateral
consequences that affect the public health community, the deans wrote. International aid
organizations were forced to move some of their staff members out of Pakistan, and some
health workers were killed in a backlash against a polio vaccination effort. Attacks have
continued sporadically. Last year, 83 new polio cases were reported in Pakistan, more than in
Afghanistan or Nigeria, the other countries where it is endemic.
Left-right alliance can get divisive issues on the table

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Left-right-alliance-can-get-divisive-is...
Tired of Washington gridlock? Want to see ways to get things done for the American people?
Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State [presents the]
thesis of an unstoppable left-right alliance, [which] can apply operationally in 24 areas of needed
change ... including strengthening civil liberties and reform prison policy. Progressives and
libertarians - already in verbal agreement over the outrageous violations of privacy and
other civil liberties by the national security state - can band together in a powerful alliance
to correct the invasive parts of the so-called Patriot Act when it comes up for congressional
review in 2015. Under this act and its abuses, librarians have to turn over information about what
books you have borrowed. Librarians who merely tell their patrons about receiving these national
security letters can be criminally prosecuted. Your home can be searched without you being told
until 72 hours transpire. Your medical and financial records can be accessed without real probable
cause. Earlier this month, more major technology companies declared their noncompliance with
government's confidential demands for e-mail records and other online information. Twitter and
Yahoo went earlier on this defiance, followed by Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, who say
they routinely will notify users about government data seizures, unless enjoined by the courts. If
this left-right alliance approaches Congress with a visible, cogent set of demands, the legislators
will be more likely to deliberate in public hearings and not rubber-stamp renewal next year of the
12-year-old Patriot Act.
Note: Check out tireless activist Ralph Nader's new book at the link above. For more on
available here.
Snowden: Why hasnt the Director of National Intelligence been

punished for lying to Congress
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/05/01/snowden-why-hasn...
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and one of the reporters who first
broke the news of Snowden's documents, Laura Poitras, received a Ridenhour Truth-Teller prize
[on April 30] to a standing ovation at the National Press Club. Snowden leaked classified
documents that exposed the NSA's massive global surveillance programs. Snowden ... compared
his actions with that of Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, who denied that the
NSA was "wittingly" collecting data on millions of Americans in a Senate Intelligence Committee
hearing last spring -- a claim at odds with revelations about domestic phone records collection as a
result of documents provided by Snowden. "The oath that I remember is James Clapper raising
his hand, swearing to tell the truth and then lying to the American public," Snowden said. "I
also swore an oath, but that oath was not to secrecy, but to defend the American
Constitution." While Clapper has accused Snowden of perpetrating the most "massive and
damaging theft of intelligence" in U.S. history, Snowden argues his actions were serving a larger
public interest that superseded the national intelligence need for secrecy. Later in the speech, he
described Clapper as having "committed a crime by lying under oath to the American people," and
questioned why charges were never brought against the director. By contrast, Snowden said,
charges were brought against him soon after he revealed himself as the source of the leaks.
Note: For more on the construction of a total surveillance state, see the deeply revealing reports
F.C.C., in a Shift, Backs Fast Lanes for Web Traffic

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/technology/fcc-new-net-neutrality-rules.html
The principle that all Internet content should be treated equally as it flows through cables and
pipes to consumers looks all but dead. The Federal Communications Commission said on [April
23] that it would propose new rules that allow companies like Disney, Google or Netflix to pay
Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon for special, faster lanes to send video and
other content to their customers. The proposed changes would affect what is known as net
neutrality the idea that no providers of legal Internet content should face discrimination in
providing offerings to consumers, and that users should have equal access to see any legal
content they choose. The proposal comes three months after a federal appeals court struck down,
for the second time, agency rules intended to guarantee a free and open Internet. The regulations
could radically reshape how Internet content is delivered to consumers. The rules are also likely to
eventually raise prices as the likes of Disney and Netflix pass on to customers whatever they pay
for the speedier lanes, which are the digital equivalent of an uncongested car pool lane on a busy
freeway. Consumer groups immediately attacked the proposal, saying that not only would
costs rise, but also that big, rich companies with the money to pay large fees to Internet
service providers would be favored over small start-ups with innovative business models.
Inside the FBIs secret relationship with the militarys special operations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/inside-the-fbis-secret-...
The FBIs transformation from a crime-fighting agency to a counterterrorism organization in the
wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been well documented. Less widely known has been the
bureaus role in secret operations against al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq and Afghanistan,
among other locations around the world. With the war in Afghanistan ending, FBI officials have
become more willing to discuss a little-known alliance between the bureau and the Joint Special
Operations Command (JSOC) that allowed agents to participate in hundreds of raids in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The relationship benefited both sides. JSOC used the FBIs expertise in exploiting
digital media and other materials to locate insurgents and detect plots, including any
against the United States. The bureaus agents, in turn, could preserve evidence and
maintain a chain of custody should any suspect be transferred to the United States for trial.
In early 2003, two senior FBI counterterrorism officials traveled to Afghanistan to meet with the
Joint Special Operations Commands deputy commander at Bagram air base. The pace of activity
in Afghanistan was slow at first. An FBI official said there was less than a handful of [Hostage and
Rescue Team] deployments to Afghanistan in those early months; the units primarily worked with
the SEALs as they hunted top al-Qaeda targets. The tempo quickened with the U.S.-led invasion
of Iraq in 2003. At first, the HRTs mission was mainly to protect other FBI agents when they left
the Green Zone, former FBI officials said. In 2005, all of the HRT members in Iraq began to work
under JSOC.
The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304441304579477341062142388
A big puzzle looms over the U.S. economy: Only 63.2% of Americans 16 or older are participating
in the labor force, which ... is down substantially since 2000. As recently as the late 1990s, the
U.S. was a nation in which employment, job creation and labor force participation went hand in
hand. That is no longer the case. The unemployment rate, the figure that dominates reporting on
the economy, is the fraction of the labor force (those working or seeking work) that is unemployed.
This rate has declined slowly since the end of the Great Recession. What hasn't recovered over
that same period is the labor force participation rate, which today stands roughly where it did in
1977. Labor force participation rates increased from the mid-1960s through the 1990s, driven by
more women entering the workforce, baby boomers entering prime working years in the 1970s and
1980s, and increasing pay for skilled laborers. But over the past decade, these trends have leveled
off. At the same time, the participation rate has fallen, particularly in the aftermath of the
recession. The drop is a function of various factors, including simple discouragement, poor
work incentives created by public policies, inadequate schooling and training, and a greater
propensity to seek disability insurance. Globalization and technological change have also
reduced employment and wage growth for low-skilled workerswhich raises questions about
whether current policy is focused enough on helping workers to achieve the skills necessary to
work productively and earn decent incomes.
Note: For more on the devastating impact of financial power and government policy on US
workers, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
Its Official, Secret Money Corrupts

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/its-official-secret-money-corr...
Lawmakers of both parties are desperately trying to stop the Internal Revenue Service from
interfering with the most powerful political invention that ever fell into their laps: the use of
non-profit groups as a source of unlimited and anonymous campaign money. An
investigation now unfolding in Utah ... exposes in remarkable detail how profoundly the non-profit
system can be corrupted for the benefit of a single industry and a single politician. The politician
involved was John Swallow, a former lobbyist for an empire of payday-loan and check-cashing
companies. When Mr. Swallow ran for Utah Attorney General as a Republican in 2012, his
strategist established several social-welfare groups, which dont have to name their donors, so that
the payday-loan industry could support him financially without anyone knowing. The groups
collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in secret donations from the industry, and the money
was used to run attack ads against Mr. Swallows opponent, who wanted to crack down on payday
lenders. The ads worked, and Mr. Swallow was elected. When the I.R.S. started looking into the
non-profit groups and demanding documentation, ... Congressional Republicans accused the
agency (falsely) of singling out conservative non-profit groups. Eventually, a parallel state
investigation drove Mr. Swallow from office; he resigned last fall, and last week a state legislative
panel accused him of breaching the public trust by hanging a veritable for sale sign on the office
door that invited moneyed interests to seek special treatment and favors.
Note: For more on serious problems with the US electoral system, see the deeply revealing
Senate Rejects Blocking Military Commanders From Sexual Assault

Cases
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/us/politics/military-sexual-assault-legisla...
The Senate on [March 6] rejected a ... bill to remove military commanders from decisions over the
prosecution of sexual assault cases in the armed forces, delivering a defeat to advocacy groups
that argued that wholesale changes are necessary to combat an epidemic of rapes and sexual
assaults in the military. The measure, pushed by Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New
York, received 55 votes five short of the 60 votes needed. The vote came after a debate on the
Senate floor filled with drama and accusations that Ms. Gillibrand and her allies were misguided.
The debate pitted the Senates 20 women against one another, and seemed bound to leave hard
feelings, given that a solid majority of the Senate actually backed Ms. Gillibrands proposal.
Congress began scrutinizing the sexual assault problem in the military after a recent series of
highly publicized cases, including one at the Naval Academy, and after the release of new data
from the Pentagon on the issue. On Sept. 30, the end of the last fiscal year, about 1,600 sexual
assault cases in the military were awaiting either action from commanders or the completion of
criminal investigations. Critics of the militarys handling of such cases say that the official numbers
represent a tiny percentage of sexual assault cases, while Ms. Gillibrand said that only one in
10 sexual assaults were reported. She and her supporters argue that forcing victims to go
to their commanders to report sexual assaults is similar to forcing a woman to tell her
father that her brother has assaulted her.
Note: For more on sexual abuse scandals, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
The David Miranda judgment has chilling implications for press

freedom, race relations and basic justice
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/19/david-miranda-press-free...
One person's freedom fighter may be another's terrorist, but David Miranda is very clearly neither.
Yet he was detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act
2000. That the high court has now found his detention to be lawful is disappointing, to say the
least. If someone travelling as part of journalistic work can be lawfully detained like this
questioned for hours without a lawyer present, his electronic equipment confiscated and
cloned and all without the merest suspicion of wrongdoing required then clearly
something has gone wrong with the law. Schedule 7 suffers the same glaring flaws as the old
section 44 counter-terrorism power that also allowed stop and search without suspicion. Such laws
leave themselves wide open to discriminatory misuse: section 44 never once led to a terrorism
conviction but was used to stop people like journalist Pennie Quinton. In a significant victory,
Liberty took her case to the European court of human rights and the power was declared unlawful.
Liberty and other organisations intervened in [Miranda's] case on just this point, arguing that the
detention violated article 10 of the European convention, the right to freedom of expression. Our
riled security services' transparent intimidation and interference with Miranda is shocking. But it's
also important that we use his case to shed light on the murky everyday reality of schedule 7.
Note: For more on threats to civil liberties, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
For the Love of Money

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/opinion/sunday/for-the-love-of-money.html
In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million and I was angry because it wasnt big
enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in
mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was
addicted. It was actually my absurdly wealthy bosses who helped me see the limitations of
unlimited wealth. I was in a meeting with one of them, and a few other traders, and they were
talking about the new hedge-fund regulations. Most everyone on Wall Street thought they were a
bad idea. But isnt it better for the system as a whole? I asked. The room went quiet, and my
boss shot me a withering look. I remember his saying, I dont have the brain capacity to think
about the system as a whole. All Im concerned with is how this affects our company. I felt as if Id
been punched in the gut. He was afraid of losing money, despite all that he had. From that moment
on, I started to see Wall Street with new eyes. I noticed the vitriol that traders directed at the
government for limiting bonuses after the crash. I heard the fury in their voices at the
mention of higher taxes. These traders despised anything or anyone that threatened their
bonuses. Wealth addiction was described by the late sociologist and playwright Philip Slater in a
1980 book, but addiction researchers have paid the concept little attention. Like alcoholics driving
drunk, wealth addiction imperils everyone. Wealth addicts are, more than anybody, specifically
responsible for the ever widening rift that is tearing apart our once great country.
$18M Settlement for RNC Arrests Lawsuits

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/18m-settlement-rnc-arrests-lawsuits-...
New York City has agreed to pay $18 million to settle dozens of lawsuits filed by protesters,
journalists and bystanders who said they were wrongly arrested at the 2004 Republican National
Convention and held for hours in makeshift holding cells. The settlement, which must be approved
by a federal judge, would end nearly a decade of legal wrangling over more than 1,800 arrests,
mostly on charges of disorderly conduct or parading without a permit. Hundreds sued, saying they
were illegally arrested by an overzealous police department. Nearly all the arrests were dismissed
by the court or the defendants acquitted. Lawyers with the New York Civil Liberties Union had
previously asked the judge hearing case to conclude that police didn't have probable cause to
make mass arrests during the convention, at which President George W. Bush was nominated for
another term. "This historic settlement sends a clear message," said NYCLU attorney Chris Dunn.
"We will not allow the police to trample on the First Amendment rights of protesters." Sarah
Coburn, 30, said her arrest at the convention inspired her to become an attorney to fight for
the civil rights of others. She was 20 at the time, and was held for 30 hours before she was
released. She's now a public defender. "It was awful to be subjected to those conditions," she
said. "I want to make sure no one else has to be."
Note: For more on government assaults on civil liberties, see the deeply revealing reports from
Former whistleblowers: open letter to intelligence employees after

Snowden
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/11/whistleblowers-open-lett...
At least since the aftermath of September 2001, western governments and intelligence agencies
have been hard at work expanding the scope of their own power, while eroding privacy, civil
liberties and public control of policy. What used to be viewed as paranoid, Orwellian, tin-foil hat
fantasies [turn] out post-Snowden, to be not even the whole story. We've been warned for years
that these things were going on: wholesale surveillance of entire populations, militarization of the
internet, the end of privacy. Secret laws, secret interpretations of secret laws by secret courts and
no effective parliamentary oversight whatsoever. By and large the media have paid scant attention
to this, even as more and more courageous, principled whistleblowers stepped forward. The
unprecedented persecution of truth-tellers, initiated by the Bush administration and
severely accelerated by the Obama administration, has been mostly ignored, while record
numbers of well-meaning people are charged with serious felonies simply for letting their
fellow citizens know what's going on. Numerous ex-NSA officials have come forward in the past
decade, disclosing massive fraud, vast illegalities and abuse of power in [that] agency, including
Thomas Drake, William Binney and Kirk Wiebe. The response was 100% persecution and 0%
accountability by both the NSA and the rest of government. Since the summer of 2013, the public
has witnessed a shift in debate over these matters. The reason is that one courageous person:
Edward Snowden.
The FBI COINTELPRO Program and the Fred Hampton Assassination

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/g-flint-taylor/the-fbi-cointelpro-progra_b_4375...
On December 4th it [was exactly] 44 years since a select unit of 14 Chicago Police officers, on
special assignment to Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan, executed a pre-dawn raid
on a west side apartment that left Illinois Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark
Clark dead, several other young Panthers wounded, and the seven raid survivors arrested on
bogus attempted murder charges. The physical evidence soon exposed the claims of a
"shootout" that were made by Hanrahan and his men to be blatant lies, and that the
murderous reality was that the police fired nearly 100 shots while the Panthers fired but
one. But those lies were only the first layer of a massive cover-up that was dismantled and
exposed over the next eight years -- a cover-up designed to suppress the central role of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and its COINTELPRO program in the assassination. The first
documentation [of the operation and its cover-up] surfaced in March of 1971 when the Citizens
Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into a small FBI office in Media Pennsylvania and
expropriated over 1000 FBI documents. These documents exposed the FBI's super-secret and
profoundly illegal COINTELPRO program and its focus in the 1960s on the black liberation
movement and its leaders. Citing the assassinated Malcolm X as an example, Hoover directed all
of the Bureau's Offices to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize" African
American organizations and leaders.
Note: For more on the realities of intelligence agency activity, see the deeply revealing reports
Japan Ex-Leaders Join Calls Against Nuclear Power

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japan-leaders-join-calls-nuclea...
Japan's flagging anti-nuclear movement is getting a boost from two former prime ministers who are
calling for atomic power to be phased out following the Fukushima disaster. Former Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi said [on November 12] that the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, ... "should
use the power given to him to do what the majority of the people want," Koizumi said in a speech
at the Japan Press Club. "It can be achieved. Why miss this chance?" Koizumi, who supported
nuclear power during his 2001-2006 term in office, said that with Japan's nuclear plants all offline
for safety checks it would be easiest to begin the phase-out soon. Polls have shown the majority of
the public ... prefers to shift away from the nuclear plants that provided nearly a third of Japan's
power generation capacity before the accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. Three
[former prime ministers], including Koizumi, have said they support ending use of nuclear power.
Their support could help reinvigorate the anti-nuclear movement, which has lost some of its vitality
nearly three years after the Fukushima accident. Another former prime minister, Morihiro
Hosokawa, said in an interview ... that he also favors an end to reliance on nuclear power. "I can't
understand why they want restarts of the nuclear plants when there is no place to discard
the nuclear waste," said Hosokawa, who served as prime minister for eight months in 199394. "It would be a crime against future generations for our generation to restart nuclear
plants without resolving this issue," he said. Experts have questioned whether earthquakeprone Japan can safely store nuclear waste under any scenario.
Note: For more on the risks of nuclear power, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Feds Dudley: Deep Seated Cultural, Ethical Lapses at Many Financial

Firms
2013-11-07, Wall Street Journal blog
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/11/07/feds-dudley-sees-deep-seated-cultur...
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said [that] any effort to reduce
the threat to financial stability posed by massive financial firms also must include
compelling banking executives to have more respect for the law and the broader impact on
society of their actions. There is evidence of deep-seated cultural and ethical failures at many
large financial institutions, Mr. Dudley said. Whether this is due to size and complexity, bad
incentives or some other issues is difficult to judge, but it is another critical problem that needs to
be addressed as regulators seek to deal with the problem of banks that are considered too big to
fail, the official said. Mr. Dudley [added] that ending too big to fail and shifting the emphasis to
longer-term sustainability will encourage the needed cultural shift necessary to restore public trust
in the industry. His comments on banking issues come in the wake of last weeks decision by the
Fed to stay the course on its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program. Mr. Dudley has been a
steadfast supporter of the aggressively easy-money policies pursued by the central bank.
Note: For more on the banking bailout, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
School bonds are a Wall Street scam

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/School-bonds-are-a-Wall-Street-scam-479...
An exotic bond scheme promoted by Wall Street as a way to build schools ... is really a
financial scam. These "capital appreciation bonds" ... were part of AB1388, signed by then-Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009. Unlike conventional bonds that have to be paid off on a regular
basis, the bonds approved in AB1388 relaxed regulatory safeguards and allowed them to be paid
back 25 to 40 years in the future. The problem is that from the time the bonds are issued until
payment is due, interest accrues and compounds at exorbitant rates. This kind of bond has been
outlawed by a number of states. Several grand jury investigations warned [California] school
officials against these scams. According to a recent San Mateo County grand jury report, the
bonds have been issued in California to raise more than $500 billion - but the estimated
future repayment of that debt will total more than $2 trillion. School and community college
districts issued 98 percent of all capital appreciation bonds. More than 200 California school and
community college districts issuing these bonds will end up paying 10 to 20 times more than they
borrowed, [and] payment will not be due until after the useful life of the school facilities built with
the bond funds. State records show that Piper Jaffray has brokered 165 of such bonds since 2008,
earning $31.4 million, and that Goldman Sachs earned $1.6 million on a single deal with the San
Diego Unified School District.
corruption in government and in the financial industry.
NSA May Have Evidence in Great Cold War Mystery

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nsa-evidence-key-hammarskjold-m...
America's National Security Agency may hold crucial evidence about one of the greatest unsolved
mysteries of the Cold War the cause of the 1961 plane crash which killed United Nations
Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, a commission of prominent jurists says. Widely considered
the U.N.'s most effective chief, Hammarskjold died as he was attempting to bring peace to the
newly independent Congo. It's long been rumored that his DC-6 plane was shot down, and an
independent commission set up to evaluate new evidence surrounding his death on [September 9]
recommended a fresh investigation citing radio intercepts held by the NSA as the possible key
to solving the case. Hammerskjold's aircraft went down on the night of Sept. 17, 1961, smashing
into a forested area just short of Ndola Airport in modern-day Zambia. A host of hard-to-answer
questions about the crash have led to a glut of conspiracy theories. Among them: Why did
it take 15 hours to find the wreckage, just a few miles from the airport? Why did
Hammarskjold's bodyguard, who survived the crash for a few days, say that the plane
"blew up"? Why did witnesses report seeing sparks, flashes, or even another plane?
Hammarskjold was flying into a war zone infested with mercenaries and riven by Cold War tension.
Foreign multinationals coveted [Congo's] vast mineral wealth and the country was challenged by a
Western-backed insurgency in Katanga, which hosted mining interests belonging to United States,
Britain, and Belgium.
Pro-Israel U.S. lobbying group sets major push for Syria action
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-aipac-20130907,0,65...
The influential pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] will deploy hundreds of
activists next week to win support in Congress for military action in Syria, amid an intense White
House effort to convince wavering U.S. lawmakers to vote for limited strikes. Congressional aides
said they expected the meetings and calls on Tuesday, as President Barack Obama and officials
from his administration make their case for missile strikes over the apparent use of chemical
weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. The vote on action in Syria is a
significant political test for Obama and a major push by AIPAC, considered one of the most
powerful lobbying groups in Washington, could provide a boost. The U.S. Senate is due to
vote on a resolution to authorize the use of military force as early as Wednesday. Leaders of the
House of Representatives have not yet said when they would vote, beyond saying consideration of
an authorization is "possible" sometime this week. Obama has asked Congress to approve strikes
against Assad's government in response to a chemical weapons attack on August 21 that killed
more than 1,400 Syrians. Pro-Israel groups had largely kept a low profile on Syria as the Obama
administration sought to build its case for limited strikes after last month's attack on rebel-held
areas outside Damascus. But they had generally wanted the debate to focus on U.S. national
security rather than how a decision to attack Syria might help Israel, a reflection of their
sensitivity to being seen as rooting for the United States to go to war.
Programmed to act
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Programmed-to-act-4793122.php
Over decades and diverse administrations, justifications for the use of force - limited and full scale
- have constantly revolved around weapons of mass destruction. Protection against them, real and
imaginary, has served [as] justification for government excess and a curtailment of our freedoms.
We stop everything because it is WMD and we fret about the consequences of both action and
inaction because it is WMD. We do so because of a little known and little understood entity that
truly drives American national security practices: It's called the Program. Founded in the darkest
days of nuclear threat during the Eisenhower administration, the Program began as a limited
system given responsibility for survival of the government. The nuclear arms race ended, but the
Program never completely went away. And since 9/11, like everything else about national
security, its mission and focus have expanded. The Program exists through a system of
sealed envelopes - four dozen formal Presidential Emergency Action Documents more
secret than anything that has been revealed about the National Security Agency of late,
arrangements that instruct a surviving entity of what to do if a nation-destroying calamity befalls
Washington or the United States. Because Doomsday is now thought by the experts in
government to be any day, and because the potential battlefield is anyplace and every place, the
work of the Program, and its power, have dramatically expanded. A survival apparatus operates
behind the scenes as if survival is perpetually and instantly at stake.
Note: The author of this analysis, William M. Arkin, has written American Coup: How a Terrified
Government is Destroying the Constitution, and is co-author of the best-selling book and
newspaper series Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State.
What happened to the antiwar movement?

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/What-happened-to-the-antiwar-movement-4...
A mere 72 hours after President Obama delivered an encomium honoring the life of the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr., he announced his intention to pound yet another country with bombs. The
oxymoron last week was noteworthy for how little attention it received. Yes, a president
memorialized an antiwar activist who derided the U.S. government as "the greatest purveyor of
violence in the world." Then that same president quickly proposed yet more violence - this time in
Syria. Almost nobody mentioned the contradiction. Even worse, as Congress now debates
whether to launch yet another military campaign in the Middle East, the antiwar movement that
King represented - and that so vigorously opposed the last war - is largely silent. So what
happened to that movement? The shorter answer is: It was a victim of partisanship. That's the
conclusion that emerges from a recent study by professors at the University of Michigan and
Indiana University. Evaluating surveys of more than 5,300 antiwar protesters from 2007 to 2009,
the researchers discovered that the many protesters who self-identified as Democrats
"withdrew from antiwar protests when the Democratic Party achieved electoral success" in
the 2008 presidential election. The withdrawal occurred even as Obama was escalating the
war in Afghanistan and intensifying drone wars in places like Pakistan and Yemen. The
researchers thus conclude that during the Bush years, many Democrats were not necessarily
motivated to participate in the antiwar movement because they oppose militarism and war - they
were instead "motivated to participate by anti-Republican sentiments."
Note: For more on why the proposed war of aggression against Syria must be stopped, see the
U.S. spy agency edges into the light after Snowden revelations
There was a time when the U.S. National Security Agency was so secretive that government
officials dared not speak its name in public. NSA, the joke went, stood for "No Such Agency." That
same agency this month held an on-the-record conference call with reporters, issued a lengthy
press release to rebut a newspaper story, and posted documents on a newly launched open
website - icontherecord.tumblr.com (which stands for intelligence community on the record). The
steps were taken under pressure as President Barack Obama's administration tries to calm a
public storm over disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The NSA's moves out
of the shadows were meant to show that it operates lawfully..., but not everyone is convinced that it
is a fundamental shift toward more openness at the intelligence agencies. Jameel Jaffer, deputy
legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the [disclosures] should not be viewed as
a huge shift toward transparency by the administration. "In fact, on the same day the president
promised more transparency on surveillance issues, the CIA filed a brief in one of our
'targeted killing' cases arguing that it could not release legal memos about the drone
program, could not release civilian casualty numbers, and for that matter could not even
acknowledge that the agency had played any role in targeted killings," Jaffer said.
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules...
The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority
thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008,
according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. Most of the infractions involve
unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of
which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to
typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.
The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor
Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress
or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are
instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice
Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In one instance, the NSA
decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. The NSA audit
obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of
unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications.
Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure. The most
serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more
than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.
Joshua Oppenheimer: 'You celebrate mass killing so you don't have to

look yourself in the mirror'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jun/20/joshua-oppenheimer-act-of-killing
The year following Indonesia's 1965 coup saw the murder of more than a million "communists" (in
fact, enemies of the military, including ethnic Chinese, intellectuals, [and] union members). Anwar
[Congo], head of a gang of killers called the Frog Squad, dispatched about 1,000 himself. He is the
subject of "The Act of Killing", a documentary that invites Anwar and his friends to dramatise their
crimes, to boast about their starring roles in a genocide. Director Joshua Oppenheimer began the
film a decade ago by interviewing survivors. But when, at the suggestion of one of them, he turned
his camera on the perpetrators, he found they were more than eager to reveal the history
themselves. The killers simply adapted a story they had been telling each other for decades: that
they were the ruling class, so their acts were heroic. For gangsters like Anwar, Oppenheimer was
offering the chance to make a "beautiful family film" a celebration of their rise, inspired by the
Hollywood movies they loved. "They're desperately trying to run away from the reality of what
they've done," says Oppenheimer, a 38-year-old Harvard graduate now based in Copenhagen.
"You celebrate mass killing so you don't have to look yourself in the mirror in the morning and see
a murderer. You keep your victims oppressed so that they don't challenge your story. When you
put the justification the celebration under a microscope, you don't necessarily see a
lack of remorse, but you start to see an unravelling of the killers' conscience. So what
appears to be the symptom of a lack of remorse is in fact the opposite. It's a sign of their
humanity."
Note: The filming of "The Act of Killing" actually helped these mass murderers to feel some
remorse for all the pain and suffering they caused. For lots more on this powerful film, click here.
Tech firms push back on digital spying

http://www.sfchronicle.com/technology/article/Tech-firms-push-back-on-digital...
Edward Snowden, the whistle-blower shining spotlights on federal surveillance practices, made a
rhetorical - and volatile - point during an online question-and-answer session Monday. "If
Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple refused to provide this cooperation with the
intelligence community, what do you think the government would do? Shut them down?"
he asked. Snowden's point implies that tech companies should push back on all government
requests for data on their users. Prosecuting these much-used companies for noncompliance
would only shed light on the extent of the programs they aimed to keep secret in the first place.
Whether a tech company dares go that far remains to be seen. But in the past week a number of
household names in Silicon Valley have at least started demanding more freedom to disclose what
the government wants to know about their users. As the tech companies associated with
Snowden's leaked materials scramble to comply with government requests, they're also
scrambling to save face with customers. It's still not clear what exact technical mechanism the
government used to acquire information about users of Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and
Apple, among others. But it is clear that some Internet users have come to view these tech giants
as proxy spies as a result of their assumed compliance. The companies say they would like
nothing better than to clear their names, but they simply aren't allowed to release details about
government requests.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government assaults on
Daniel Ellsberg: Im sure that President Obama would have sought a life
sentence in my case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/05/daniel-ellsberg-im...
[Daniel] Ellsberg is one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administrations prosecution of
leakers. Under President Obamas tenure, the government has prosecuted six individuals for
releasing classified information to media organizations. Ellsberg is particularly fierce in his support
of Bradley Manning, a young soldier who released a large amount of classified information to
WikiLeaks. Manning was arrested in 2010, and his military court-martial began this week. Ellsberg
considers Manning a hero, and he argues that there is little difference between what Manning did
in 2010 and what Ellsberg did four decades earlier. [Q.}: In a 1973 interview, you said that a
secondary objective of releasing the Pentagon Papers was the hope of changing the tolerance
of Executive secrecy that had grown up over the last quarter of a century both in Congress and the
courts and in the public at large. How has that tolerance of secrecy changed over the last four
decades? DE: Theres been very great tolerance that if the magic words national security, or the
new words homeland security are invoked, Congress has given the president virtually a free
hand in deciding what information they will know as well as the public. I wouldnt count on the
current court with its current makeup making the same ruling with the Pentagon Papers as
they did 40 years ago. Im sure that President Obama would have sought a life sentence in
my case. Various things that were counted as unconstitutional then have been put in the
presidents hands now. Hes become an elected monarch. Nixons slogan, when the president
does it, its not illegal, is pretty much endorsed now.
Note: To see key quotes showing the amazing courage and dedication of Snowden, click here. For
deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the realities of intelligence agency
activity, click here.
Monsanto backing away from GMO crops in Europe

Monsanto Co is not pushing for expansion of genetically modified crops in most of Europe
as opposition to its biotech seeds in many countries remains high, company officials said on
[May 31]. European [spokespersons for] Monsanto told the German daily [Die Tagezeitung] that
they were no longer doing any lobby work for cultivation in Europe and [were] not seeking any new
approvals for genetically modified plants. Monsanto corporate spokesman Thomas Helscher said
... that the company is making it clear that it will only pursue market penetration of biotech crops in
areas that provide broad support. "As far as we're convinced this only applies to a few countries in
Europe today, primarily Spain and Portugal." The company has been focusing lately on gaining
market share in the conventional corn market in Ukraine, and Monsanto Vice President Jesus
Madrazo, who oversees international corporate affairs, said Eastern Europe and South America
are key growth areas for the company now. Unlike Europe, South America has largely been
welcoming of Monsanto's crop biotechnology, but the company is also facing hurdles there
as it is awaiting approvals by China, which is a large buyer of soybeans from Brazil.
GMOs, click here.
Key prosecutor gunned down in Pakistan

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2013/05/04/prosecutor-musharraf-case-sl...
Gunmen shot to death the Pakistani governments top prosecutor ... in a case that accuses
former military ruler Pervez Musharraf of involvement in the 2007 assassination of ex-Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto, police said. The gunmen opened fire on Chaudhry Zulfikars car as he
was leaving his home. The assailants escaped. Chaudhry Zulfikar was involved in a number of
high-profile cases. Zulfikars slaying was a rare episode of violence in the capital, which has so far
seen none of the bombings or other attacks launched by the Taliban against secular politicians.
Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan for nine years before going into self-exile in 2008, returned in
March in an ultimately futile bid to run for prime minister. He has been under house arrest for more
than two weeks, facing allegations in various cases linked to his tenure. In the case unfolding in
Rawalpindi, prosecutors allege that Musharraf was culpable for Bhuttos murder for not providing
her with enough security. He has denied the allegations. Bhuttos son, Bilawal, who now leads the
Pakistan Peoples Party, has alleged that Musharraf was behind it. Proceedings in the case have
been bogged down for years, and resumed only recently with Musharrafs return. Speculation
was rife ... that Zulfikar was killed to disrupt that case.
Note: It is interesting to note that only weeks before her death in 2007, Benazir Bhutto said in a
BBC interview that Osama bin Laden had already been killed. To read quotes from this BBC
interview, click here. For a CNN article revealing the Bhutto was planning to give US lawmakers a
report on vote rigging on the day she was assassinated, click here. Could it be that the prosecutor
in the article above was killed because he knew too much?
UN report wants to terminate killer robots, opposes life-or-death powers

over humans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-draft-report-wants-to-terminate-killer...
Killer robots that can attack targets without any human input should not have the power of life and
death over human beings, a new draft U.N. report says. The report for the U.N. Human Rights
Commission ... deals with legal and philosophical issues involved in giving robots lethal powers
over humans. Report author Christof Heyns, a South African professor of human rights law, calls
for a worldwide moratorium on the testing, production, assembly, transfer, acquisition, deployment
and use of killer robots until an international conference can develop rules for their use. The
United States, Britain, Israel, South Korea and Japan have developed various types of fully or
semi-autonomous weapons. Heyns focuses on a new generation of weapons that choose
their targets and execute them. He calls them lethal autonomous robotics, or LARs for
short, and says: Decisions over life and death in armed conflict may require compassion
and intuition. Humans while they are fallible at least might possess these qualities,
whereas robots definitely do not. The report goes beyond the recent debate over drone
killings. Drones do have human oversight. The killer robots are programmed to make autonomous
decisions on the spot without orders from humans. Lethal autonomous robotics (LARs) ... would
add a new dimension to this distancing [i.e., the remote control of drones], in that targeting
decisions could be taken by the robots themselves. In addition to being physically removed from
the kinetic action, humans would also become more detached from decisions to kill - and their
execution, he wrote.
Note: The U.N. draft report is available at this link.
Graham: FBI report raises questions about who helped 9/11 terrorists
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/18/3349829/graham-fbi-report-raises-questi...
New FBI records connecting Saudis who lived in Sarasota before 9/11 to individuals associated
with the terrorist attacks [have been] released. The FBI records provide new information about
an investigation into what occurred prior to 9/11 at the upscale home of Abdulaziz al-Hijji
and his family in the gated community of Prestancia. Information in the records contradicts
prior FBI statements that no evidence was found connecting the al-Hijjis to 9/11. Agents
determined the al-Hijjis fled their home on August 27, 2001 two weeks before the attacks
leaving behind three cars, furniture, clothing, toys, food and other items. Further investigation of
the [name deleted] family revealed many connections between the [name deleted] and individuals
associated with the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001, says an April 16, 2002 FBI report. The report
lists three of those individuals. Two, including one described as a family member, were described
as students at the nearby Venice airport flight school where suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta and
Marwan al-Shehhi trained. The third person lived with some flight students, the report says. A
counterintelligence officer speaking on condition of anonymity said an FBI examination of
gatehouse log books and photos of license tags revealed that vehicles linked to the future
hijackers visited al-Hijjis residence. Much remains unclear. Chunks of the released reports are
blanked out for national security and other reasons. Four pages were withheld in their entirety.
Note: For powerful evidence reported in the major media the several of the 9/11 hijackers trained
at U.S. military bases, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources
questioning the official story of the 9/11 attacks, click here.
Three key lessons from the Obama administration's drone lies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/11/three-lessons-obama-drone...
For years, senior Obama officials, including the president himself, have been making public claims
about their drone program that have just been proven to be categorically false. McClatchy's
national security reporter, Jonathan Landay, obtained top-secret intelligence documents showing
that "contrary to assurances it has deployed US drones only against known senior leaders of alQaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected
lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified 'other' militants in scores of strikes in Pakistan's
rugged tribal area." That article quotes drone expert Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign
Relations as saying that "McClatchy's findings indicate that the administration is 'misleading the
public about the scope of who can legitimately be targeted.'" In his own must-read article at
Foreign Policy about these disclosures, Zenko writes - under the headline: "Finally, proof that the
United States has lied in the drone wars" - that "it turns out that the Obama administration has not
been honest about who the CIA has been targeting with drones in Pakistan" and that the
McClatchy article "plainly demonstrates that the claim repeatedly made by President Obama
and his senior aides - that targeted killings are limited only to officials, members, and
affiliates of al-Qaida who pose an imminent threat of attack on the US homeland - is false."
Zenko explains that these now-disproven claims may very well make the drone strikes illegal since
assertions about who is being targeted were "essential to the legal foundations on which the
strikes are ultimately based."
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the lies and crimes
committed by the US and UK in their global wars of aggression, click here.
Jorge Bergoglio: Who is the new pope?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57574147/jorge-bergoglio-who-is-the-new-pope
Jorge Mario Bergoglio - who will be now known as Pope Francis - has spent nearly his entire
career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests. The 76-year-old
archbishop of Buenos Aires ... is the first Jesuit to be elected pope. In a lifetime of teaching and
leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world's Catholics, Bergoglio
has shown a keen political sensibility. Bergoglio is known to be conservative on spiritual issues. He
opposes abortion, same-sex marriage and supports celibacy. Bergoglio's legacy as cardinal
includes his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly
challenge Argentina's murderous 1976-83 dictatorship. Many Argentines remain angry over the
church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing
thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements" in society. Bergoglio twice
invoked his right under Argentine law to refuse to appear in open court, and when he eventually
did testify in 2010, his answers were evasive, human rights attorney Myriam Bregman said.
Bergoglio's own statements proved church officials knew from early on that the junta was
torturing and killing its citizens, and yet publicly endorsed the dictators. The dictatorship
could not have operated this way without this key support," [Bregman said.]
Note: An entire edition of Democracy Now! was devoted to the record of Bergoglio, including an
interview with the Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky. For more analysis, click here, here and
here.
Dont Blink, or Youll Miss Another Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/business/dont-blink-or-youll-miss-another-b...
Many people became rightfully upset about bailouts given to big banks during the mortgage crisis.
But it turns out that they are still going on, if more quietly, through the back door. The existence of
one such secret deal, struck in July between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Bank of
America, came to light just last week in court filings. Not only do the filings show the New York
Fed helping to thwart another institutions fraud case against the bank, they also reveal that
the New York Fed agreed to give away what may be billions of dollars in potential legal
claims. The New York Fed said in a court filing that in July it had released Bank of America from
all legal claims arising from losses in some mortgage-backed securities the Fed received when the
government bailed out the American International Group in 2008. One surprise in the filing, which
was part of a case brought by A.I.G., was that the New York Fed let Bank of America off the hook
even as A.I.G. was seeking to recover $7 billion in losses on those very mortgage securities. What
did the New York Fed get from Bank of America in this settlement? Some $43 million, it seems,
from a small dispute the New York Fed had with the bank on two of the mortgage securities. At the
same time, and for no compensation, it released Bank of America from all other legal claims. For
zero compensation, the New York Fed released Bank of America from what may be sizable legal
claims, knowing that A.I.G. was trying to recover on those claims.
regulators and financial corporations, click here.
'Who knew' mortgage defense falling apart

http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/Who-knew-mortgage-defense-f...
The "who knew?" defense [was] thrown down by financial institutions and their senior executives to
ward off accusations that they were somehow responsible for the disaster that befell the country.
That defense is now crumbling by the day, thanks in part to their own employees' admissions.
Citing internal e-mails, California joined the federal government and 15 other states this week in
filing multibillion-dollar civil fraud lawsuits against the nation's leading credit ratings agency,
Standard & Poor's, for allegedly deliberately "downplaying and disregarding the true extent of the
credit risks" of the financial instruments it had rated as rock-solid. S&P says the charges are
"without factual or legal merit," while adding that it, "like everyone else, did not predict the speed
and severity of the coming crisis and how credit quality would ultimately be affected." Stack that
up against an S&P executive who warned in an internal memo in December 2006, "This
market is a wildly spinning top which is going to end badly." Or the 2007 e-mail from an
analyst that read, "Job's going great, aside from the fact that the MBS (residential
mortgage-backed securities) is crashing." Foreknowledge seemed to be apparent at JPMorgan
Chase and Morgan Stanley as well. Internal documents in a lawsuit filed by Dexia SA, a FrenchBelgian bank, alleging "egregious fraud" by JPMorgan in the sale of $1.7 billion of mortgagebacked bonds, suggested executives at JPMorgan, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual ...
intentionally covered up the unworthiness of the securities they were selling.
Oil supply grows, but so does price

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Oil-supply-grows-but-so-does-price-422...
Since 2008, oil production in the United States has surged ... 28 percent as the controversial
practice of fracking unlocks new supplies in North Dakota and Texas. At the same time, use of oil
and petroleum products has fallen 4 percent, as Americans switch to more efficient cars. In theory
at least, both of those factors should have pushed the price of crude down. Instead, it's gone up.
Since bottoming out during the financial crisis, oil futures traded on the New York Mercantile
Exchange have nearly tripled in value, climbing from $33.87 per barrel in December 2008 to
roughly $95 this month. Oil still costs substantially more now than it did in 2007, before the
recession began. The high price illustrates a brutal truth of today's interconnected world - oil is a
global commodity, bought and sold in a global marketplace. Even while demand falls in the United
States, it's growing in countries such as China and India. Critics say the price paradox undercuts
the oil industry's efforts to drill in more of America's public lands and coastal waters. "It really
debunks the myth of 'Drill, baby, drill,' that if we just produce more oil, prices will stay low or go
lower," said Michael Marx, director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Oil campaign. Will all that extra
petroleum finally mean lower prices? "It's a difficult question to answer, because there's not a
one-for-one (relationship) between an increase in production and a decrease in prices,"

said Doug MacIntyre, director of the Energy Information Administration's office of
petroleum statistics. "There are so many other factors."
Note: Though the author refers to "so many other factors," he doesn't even mention greed and
corruption which almost everyone knows are rampant. When will the media focus their attention on
these fundamental challenges of our world?
CIA to exempt strikes on Pakistan from drones codification

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/20/cia-pakistan-drone-strikes-codifi...
John Brennan, the counter-terrorism adviser nominated by President Obama to be the next head
of the CIA, has reportedly agreed to exempt agency strikes in Pakistan from a new set of rules that
attempts to justify and codify the use of drones to assassinate leaders of al-Qaida and other
terrorist groups around the world, including US citizens. The dispensation to allow so-called
targeted killing to continue without restrictions in Pakistan removes from the new set of guidelines
the most important and controversial target of drone strikes. In the past few weeks the frequency
of US strikes in the tribal areas of northern Pakistan ... has been stepped up. The pass would allow
the US to sustain heavy bombardments of the tribal regions via drones launched from bases in
Afghanistan for another year or two, ahead of the withdrawal of most American forces from that
country in 2014. The decision to give the US targeted-killing programme the appearance of
legal propriety by codifying it, and now the temporary exemption granted from that
codification to Pakistan, were both taken by Brennan. A counter-terrorism expert with 25 years
experience in the CIA, his nomination to run the agency has raised eyebrows among civil liberties
groups because of his senior role in the CIA under George W Bush at a time when torture was
used on terror suspects and because of his fondness for drone strikes. The UK-based Bureau of
Investigative Journalism estimates that there have been 362 drone strikes in the country since
2004 310 of them launched on Obama's watch. The strikes have killed up to 3,461 people.
Note: Imagine the uproar if another country killed innocent civilians in the US while using drones to
kill terrorists in the country. Visit the Living Under Drones website here. For more analysis click
here.
GOP and Feinstein join to fulfill Obama's demand for renewed

warrantless eavesdropping
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/28/fisa-feinstein-obama-demo...
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 did much more than shield lawbreaking telecoms from all
forms of legal accountability. It also legalized vast new, sweeping and almost certainly
unconstitutional forms of warrantless government eavesdropping. [The] 2008 law gutted the 30-
year-old FISA statute that had [barred] the government from eavesdropping on the
communications of Americans without first obtaining a warrant from a court. Worst of all, the 2008
law legalized ... the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program secretly implemented by George
Bush after the 9/11 attack. The 2008 FISA law provided that it would expire in four years unless
renewed. Yesterday, the Senate debated its renewal. Several Senators - Democrats Jeff Merkley
and Ron Wyden of Oregon along with Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul - each attempted to
attach amendments to the law simply to provide some modest amounts of transparency and
oversight to ensure that the government's warrantless eavesdropping powers were constrained
and checked from abuse. The Democratic Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne
Feinstein ... demanded renewal of the FISA law without any reforms. And then predictably,
in virtually identical 37-54 votes, Feinstein and her conservative-Democratic comrades
joined with virtually the entire GOP caucus ... to reject each one of the proposed
amendments and thus give Obama exactly what he demanded: reform-free renewal of the law.
Note: For analysis of this Senate vote, click here. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major
media sources on government assaults on privacy, click here.
'Shadow Banking' Still Thrives, System Hits $67 Trillion

The system of so-called "shadow banking" ... grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a
top regulatory group said, calling for tighter control of the sector. A report by the Financial Stability
Board (FSB) [states] that shadow banking is set to thrive, beyond the reach of a regulatory net
tightening around traditional banks and banking activities. The FSB, a task force from the world's
top 20 economies, also called for greater regulatory control of shadow banking. The study by the
FSB said shadow banking around the world more than doubled to $62 trillion in the five years to
2007 before the crisis struck. But the size of the total system had grown to $67 trillion in 2011
more than the total economic output of all the countries in the study. The multitrillion-dollar
activities of hedge funds and private equity companies are often cited as examples of shadow
banking. But the term also covers investment funds, money market funds and even cash-rich firms
that lend government bonds to banks, which in turn use them as security when taking credit from
the European Central Bank. The United States had the largest shadow banking system, said
the FSB, with assets of $23 trillion in 2011, followed by the euro area with $22 trillion
and the United Kingdom at $9 trillion.
Note: That's $10,000 for every man, woman, and child on the planet. Do you think the bankers are
somehow manipulating the system? For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources on financial corruption, click here.
The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/opinion/sunday/the-self-destruction-of-the-...
In the early 14th century, Venice was one of the richest cities in Europe. By 1500, Venices
population was smaller than it had been in 1330. In the 17th and 18th centuries, as the rest of
Europe grew, the city continued to shrink. The story of Venices rise and fall is told by the scholars
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, in their book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power,
Prosperity, and Poverty, as an illustration of their thesis that what separates successful states from
failed ones is whether their governing institutions are inclusive or extractive. Extractive states are
controlled by ruling elites whose objective is to extract as much wealth as they can from the rest of
society. Inclusive states give everyone access to economic opportunity; often, greater
inclusiveness creates more prosperity, which creates an incentive for ever greater inclusiveness.
The history of the United States can be read as one such virtuous circle. But as the story of Venice
shows, virtuous circles can be broken. Elites that have prospered from inclusive systems can
be tempted to pull up the ladder they climbed to the top. Eventually, their societies become
extractive and their economies languish. That ... is the danger America faces today, as the 1
percent pulls away from everyone else and pursues an economic, political and social agenda
that will increase that gap even further ultimately destroying the open system that made
America rich and allowed its 1 percent to thrive in the first place.
Note: The author of this article, Chrystia Freeland, wrote the book Plutocrats: The Rise of the New
Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, from which this essay is adapted. For deeply
revealing reports from reliable major media sources on income inequality, click here.
HSAs force health providers to compete

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/HSAs-force-health-providers-to-compete-...
A growing number of patients are paying directly most, or all, of their medical bills these days. One
problem they face: Finding out what health care services really cost before they make the decision
to buy. Even though it accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy, health care is difficult to shop
for in all but a small percentage of health care purchases. For the most part, no one ever sees a
real price for health care services - not doctors, not patients, not employers, not
employees. The reason patients never see the prices is because third-party payers (insurance
companies, employers and government) negotiate with providers - leaving patients with a small copay under traditional insurance. And without real prices, there is no basis for third-party payers or
anyone to negotiate the lowest possible prices. Recently, however, more and more employers are
encouraging their employees to shop for health care the way they shop for groceries. To
encourage that activity, employers are allowing their employees to manage more of their own
health care dollars by means of a health savings account. The idea behind an HSA is a simple
one: Instead of giving all of your health dollars to an insurance company or the
government, you put some of those dollars into an account that you own and control. This
reduces wasteful health care spending because individuals ... spending their own money often get
the lowest prices, and they also can decide whether they really want to buy those services. A
recent Rand Corp. study found that patients with HSA plans reduced medical spending by about
30 percent, without adversely affecting their health.
click here.
How lawmakers and lobbyists keep a lock on the private prison

business
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/27/lawmakers-lobbyists-keep-...
America's three largest private prison companies ... spent in the region of $45m over the past 10
years in lobbying state and federal governments. During the same period, these companies saw
their profits soar as they scored more government contracts. [Also] during the same period,
various pieces of legislation got passed ensuring that immigrant detention, in particular, would
remain a lucrative growth market. Thanks to mandatory sentencing laws and the "war on
drugs", the prison population has exploded over the past 30 years to the point where it
has become an untenable burden on state budgets. The private prison business [is] reliant
on state and federal governments to provide them with their customer base: that is, bodies
to fill their cells. The companies maintain that their lobbying efforts have nothing to do with this
expansion and insist that it is their policy to "expressly prohibit their lobbyists from working to pass
or oppose immigration legislation", such as the Arizona immigration bill SB1070, which provides
for the mandatory detention of immigrants who cannot produce papers on request. [Then] where
are the private prison firms spending those millions of lobbying dollars? A report compiled by the
Justice Policy Institute issued in 2011 and using data from the National Institute on Money in State
Politics found that between 2003 and 2010, the [Corrections Corporation of America] contributed a
total of $1,552,350 to state election campaigns. Approximately half was to candidates, more than a
third was to party committees and around one tenth was spent on ballot measures.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption in the
prison/industrial complex, click here.
Why I had no choice but to spurn Tony Blair

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/02/desmond-tutu-tony-blair-iraq
The immorality of the United States and Great Britain's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, premised
on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has destabilised and polarised the
world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history. The then-leaders of the US and UK
fabricated the grounds to [invade, and] have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now
stand with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us. The cost ... has been staggering, beginning in
Iraq itself. Last year, an average of 6.5 people died there each day in suicide attacks and vehicle
bombs, according to the Iraqi Body Count project. More than 110,000 Iraqis have died in the
conflict since 2003 and millions have been displaced. By the end of last year, nearly 4,500
American soldiers had been killed and more than 32,000 wounded. On these grounds alone, in a
consistent world, those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the
same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for
their actions in the Hague. I did not deem it appropriate to have this discussion at the Discovery
Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg last week. As the date drew nearer, I felt an
increasingly profound sense of discomfort about attending a summit on "leadership" with Mr Blair.
My appeal to Mr Blair is not to talk about leadership, but to demonstrate it.
Note: This article was written by South African religious and human rights leader Archbishop
Emeritus Desmond Tutu of Cape Town. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
sources on the lies told to launch the US/UK wars of aggression in the Middle East, click here.
Former marine held involuntarily over Facebook posts now plans to sue
FBI
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/29/former-marine-facebook-sue-fbi
A former US marine who was taken from his home and involuntarily detained for psychiatric
evaluation for posting controversial song lyrics and conspiracy theories on Facebook is to file a
civil lawsuit against the FBI and police. Speaking for the first time since his release, after a judge
ruled there was insufficient evidence to detain him, Brandon Raub said his experience was
frightening and that it sent a "extremely alarming" message to Americans. Raub, 26, a former
combat engineer who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was taken forcibly from his home in
Chesterfield County, Virginia, by two FBI agents and police on 16 August. He was not charged with
any crime. He was handcuffed and detained in a psychiatric hospital for seven days before a
judge ruled on 23 August that there was not sufficient evidence to keep him there. In an interview
... Raub said: "It made me scared for my country. The idea that a man can be snatched off
his property without being read his rights I think should be extremely alarming to all
Americans." He said that Americans needed to educate themselves about government intrusions
into the lives of citizens, and he urged people to do so. Raub's mother, Cathleen Thomas, told
reporters that her son ... is "concerned about all the wars we've experienced" and believes the US
government was complicit in the September 11 terrorist attacks. One of his Facebook posts, she
said, pictured the gaping hole in the Pentagon and asked "where's the plane?
SEC whistle-blower program starts paying off for agency, tipsters

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/22/business/la-fi-sec-whistleblower-2012...
For the last year, whistle-blowers deep inside corporate America have been dishing dirt on their
employers under a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission program that could give them a cut
of multimillion-dollar penalties won by financial regulators. A new bounty program has been an
intelligence boon to the securities industry regulator, which has struggled to redeem itself after
failing to stop Bernard Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme and rein in Wall Street before the 2008
financial crisis. Motivated by cash and the chance to rat out wrongdoers, tipsters are dropping
more than names. Whistle-blowers and their attorneys are turning over boxes of documents,
copies of emails and even audio recordings of alleged fraud or illegal overseas bribery. "We
are getting very, very high-quality information from whistle-blowers," said Sean McKessy,
director of the SEC's whistle-blower office. In the program's first year, 2,870 tips or about eight a
day rolled in as of Aug. 12. And on Tuesday, one of them finally led to the agency's first payout:
$50,000 to an informant who alerted regulators to an investment fraud. They declined to specify
the case, careful to avoid identifying the whistle-blower. Some say shielding identities could pose a
challenge for publicizing the program, but the anonymity probably will yield more information. The
flood of new information doesn't necessarily mean the SEC will be more effective. In the case of
Madoff, one whistle-blower repeatedly sounded the alarm years before the scheme blew up to
no avail.
government and the big banks, click here.
CNBC Reports Financial System Changeover: Theyre Going to Put the

Old System In a Coma
2012-08-10, CNBC
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000108212
Kevin Ferry: There are Libor subpoenas raining down on the New York branches of these foreign
banks today. So I think you really have to watch it. The [British Bankers' Association] is now
saying they are going to go into overhaul mode. So as if we dont have enough things going
on, youre going to start opening up a Pandoras Box here in the Libor sector of the market. I think
what theyre going to do ... is basically put the old system in a coma, and work to devise
something thats a little bit better, and its going to be tricky. Doug Dachille: So what are they
going to do with the euro/dollar futures and all the outstanding notion of principal of contracts
linked to Libor? I mean is everybody going to convert their Libor interest rate swaps to cost of fund
funds or Fed fund basis swaps or some other index? KF: Are you asking me? Ive asked that
question as high as I could ask it and I get blank stares. DD: Its not clear that every bank has
exactly the same Libor exposure, so its not clear that that cartel, in setting Libor and manipulating
it, actually is as powerful as the cartel that manages oil prices. Yet I dont hear any outrage of
people routinely trading commodity derivatives and commodity futures, as much as I hear the
outrage over euro/dollar futures and Libor-based interest rate swaps. Everybody assumes thats
what goes on when you trade commodity futures, but nobody ever really thought that was going on
when you were trading euro/dollar futures.
Note: The text above is an excerpt from a CNBC news video. Click on the link above for the full
report. For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on corruption in the
financial sector, click here.
US recession's other victim: public universities

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48249642/ns/us_news-life
For generations, most college-bound Americans paid reasonable fees to attend publicly financed
state universities. But the bedrock of that system is fracturing as cash-strapped states slash
funding to these schools just as attendance has soared. Places like Ohio State, Penn State and
the University of Michigan now receive less than 7 percent of their budgets from state
appropriations. As a result, public universities which historically have graduated the majority of
U.S. college students are eliminating programs, raising tuition and accepting more out-of-state
students, who typically pay significantly higher rates. The upshot of it all? Students face greater
competition for admission, significantly higher tuition bills and bigger debt loads upon graduation.
The state cutbacks also mean students are attending larger classes, frequently taught by part-time
professors earning dismal salaries. In 2009, less than a quarter of all university faculty were fulltime, compared with 45 percent in 1975, according to the American Association of University
Professors. State and local spending for public university students dropped to a 25-year low
in 2011. Tuition and fees at public, four-year colleges have jumped by more than 70 percent
on average over the last decade. Those costs hit $8,240 in 2011-12, up from $4,790 in 2001-02.
Note: Is the military more important than education? Why do huge military budgets continue to be
well funded while educational budgets are slashed? Is this the future we want to give our children?
Faulty computer modeling caused San Onofre equipment problems

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-san-onofre-20120619,0,3178971.story
Faulty computer modeling caused the equipment problems that are expected to keep the San
Onofre nuclear plant dark through the summer, federal regulators said Monday. The plant has
been out of service since Jan. 31, when operators discovered a small leak in one of the thousands
of steam generator tubes that carry hot, radioactive water used to create steam to turn turbines
that generate electricity. That led to the discovery that other tubes were rubbing against support
structures and adjacent tubes, and wearing out more quickly than expected. Eight tubes failed
pressure testing, which NRC officials said ... is the first time in the nuclear industry that more than
one tube at a plant has failed. The wear is a safety concern because tube ruptures can release
radiation. The plant's operator, Southern California Edison; the NRC; and Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, the manufacturer of the steam generators, have been studying the cause and extent of
the wear. The NRC has ordered Edison to keep the plant shuttered until it has determined the
cause and how to fix it. "This is a significant, serious safety issue," said NRC regional
administrator Elmo Collins. "This is a very difficult technical issue, and to be honest, it's
not one we've seen before." NRC officials said it appears that simulations by Mitsubishi
underpredicted the velocity of steam and water flowing among the tubes by a factor of
three or four. The high rate of flow caused the tubes to vibrate and knock against each other,
leading to the wear. It was not clear why the computer modeling was so far off.
Note: For lots more on corruption in the nuclear power industry, click here.
The Austerity Agenda

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/opinion/krugman-the-austerity-agenda.html
Slashing spending while the economy is deeply depressed is a self-defeating strategy, because it
just deepens the depression. So why is Britain doing exactly what it shouldnt? Unlike the
governments of, say, Spain or California, the British government can borrow freely, at historically
low interest rates. So why is that government sharply reducing investment and eliminating
hundreds of thousands of public-sector jobs, rather than waiting until the economy is stronger?
The great American economist Irving Fisher explained it all the way back in 1933, summarizing
what he called debt deflation with the pithy slogan the more the debtors pay, the more they
owe. Recent events, above all the austerity death spiral in Europe, have dramatically illustrated
the truth of Fishers insight. So why have so many politicians insisted on pursuing austerity in [the]
slump? And why wont they change course even as experience confirms the lessons of theory and
history? When you push austerians ... they almost always retreat to assertions along the lines of:
But its essential that we shrink the size of the state. These assertions often go along with claims
that the economic crisis itself demonstrates the need to shrink government. So the austerity drive
in Britain isnt really about debt and deficits at all; its about using deficit panic as an
excuse to dismantle social programs. And this is, of course, exactly the same thing that has
been happening in America.
Note: For lots more on the devastating impacts created by the corruption of governments and
financial corporations, click here.
With Plan X, Pentagon seeks to spread U.S. military might to

cyberspace
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/with-plan-x-pentagon-se...
The Pentagon is turning to the private sector, universities and even computer-game companies as
part of an ambitious effort to develop technologies to improve its cyberwarfare capabilities, launch
effective attacks and withstand the likely retaliation. The previously unreported effort, which its
authors have dubbed Plan X, marks a new phase in the nations fledgling military operations in
cyberspace. Plan X is a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a Pentagon
division that focuses on experimental efforts and has a key role in harnessing computing power to
help the military wage war more effectively. If they can do it, its a really big deal, said
Herbert S. Lin, a cybersecurity expert with the National Research Council of the National
Academies. If they achieve it, theyre talking about being able to dominate the digital
battlefield just like they do the traditional battlefield. The five-year, $110 million research
program will begin seeking proposals this summer. Among the goals will be the creation of an
advanced map that details the entirety of cyberspace a global domain that includes tens of
billions of computers and other devices and updates itself continuously. Such a map would help
commanders identify targets and disable them using computer code delivered through the Internet
or other means. Another goal is the creation of a robust operating system capable of launching
attacks and surviving counterattacks.
Note: Isn't it ironic that the government continually seeks to restrict internet freedoms on the
pretext of possible cyberattacks from abroad, while at the same time it carries out an aggressive
cyberwar agenda of its own? For lots more reliable information on war manipulations, click here.
Who Is The Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower? Would

You Believe It's Barack Obama?
2012-05-24, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-governme...
Amidst all the cries of Barack Obama being the most prolific big government spender the
nation has ever suffered, Marketwatch is reporting that our president has actually been
tighter with a buck than any United States president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. So, how
have the Republicans managed to persuade Americans to buy into the whole Obama as big
spender narrative? It might have something to do with the first year of the Obama presidency
where the federal budget increased a whopping 17.9% going from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion.
Ill bet you think that this is the result of the Obama sponsored stimulus plan that is so frequently
vilified by the conservativesbut you would be wrong. The first year of any incoming president
term is saddledfor better or for worsewith the budget set by the president whom immediately
precedes the new occupant of the White House.. So, how do the actual Obama annual budgets
look? In fiscal 2010 (the first Obama budget) spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion. In fiscal 2011,
spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion. In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion,
according to the Congressional Budget Offices estimate of the budget that was agreed to last
August. Finally in fiscal 2013 the final budget of Obamas term spending is scheduled to fall
1.3% to $3.58 trillion.
Note: The chart included with this article comparing amount spent by recent president's is quite
revealing.
Judge blocks indefinite military detention provision

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-security-lawsuitbre84f1hs-20...
A judge on [May 16] blocked enforcement of a recently enacted law's provision that authorizes
indefinite military detention for those deemed to have "substantially supported" al Qaeda, the
Taliban or "associated forces." District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ruled in favor of a
group of civilian activists and journalists who said they feared being detained under a section of
the law, which was signed by President Barack Obama in December 2011. "In the face of what
could be indeterminate military detention, due process requires more," the judge said. She
added that it was in the public interest to reconsider the law so that "ordinary citizens are
able to understand the scope of conduct that could subject them to indefinite military
detention." By issuing a preliminary injunction, the judge prevents the U.S. government from
enforcing section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act's "Homeland Battlefield"
provisions. During day-long oral arguments in March, Forrest heard lawyers for former New York
Times war correspondent and Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges and others argue that the law
would have a "chilling effect" on their work. The judge said she worried at the government's
reluctance ... to specify whether examples of the plaintiffs' activities ... would fall under the scope
of the provision. "Failure to be able to make such a representation... requires the court to assume
that, in fact, the government takes the position that a wide swath of expressive and associational
conduct is in fact encompassed by 1021," the judge wrote.
Note: For more on the courageous journalist behind this lawsuit, Chris Hedges, see his excellent
columns at this link. For reports from major media sources on governmental threats to civil
Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak over Iran

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/28/israeli-spy-chief-warns-netanyahu...
Israel's former security chief has censured the country's "messianic" political leadership for talking
up the prospects of a military strike on Iran's nuclear programme. Yuval Diskin, who retired as
head of the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet last year, said he had "no faith" in the abilities of
the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the defence minister, Ehud Barak, to conduct a war.
The pair, who are the foremost advocates of military action against Iran's nuclear programme,
were "not fit to hold the steering wheel of power", Diskin told a meeting on [April 27]. "I don't
believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings. Believe me, I
have observed them from up close ... They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They
tell the public that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading. Actually,
many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the Iranian nuclear race." Diskin's
remarks followed a furore over comments made on [April 25] by Israel's serving military chief,
Benny Gantz, which starkly contrasted with Netanyahu's rhetoric on Iran. Gantz said he did not
believe the Iranian leadership was prepared to "go the extra mile" to acquire nuclear weapons
because it was "composed of very rational people" who understood the consequences. In what
was seen as a veiled rebuke to the prime minister, Gantz added: "Decisions can and must be
made carefully, out of historic responsibility but without hysteria."
Note: For veteran geopolitical analyst Michel Chossudovsky's view that the "intelligence" on Iran's
nuclear program is being "cooked" to justify an upcoming war, click here. On the preparations for
this war by the US and UK, which go far beyond the usual contingency planning for future
possibilities, click here. To understand how the politicians and military leaders manage to
manipulate us into war after war, read what a highly decorated general had to say at this link.
GOP scrambles under allegations of rampant election fraud in Maine

caucus
2012-02-14, Fox 19 (Cincinnati's Fox affiliate)
http://www.fox19.com/story/16937227/reality-check-was-there-voter-fraud-in-maine
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is back on track after winning the Maine caucuses.
What the headlines haven't told you is that what happened in Maine is the messiest caucus
Republicans have had so far, and it may not be over yet. Maine is not a major state during national
primaries. Only 24 delegates come out of Maine to the national convention. But what happened
there over the weekend does more than raise eyebrows. It is enough to make you question, was
the caucus fixed? Saturday night, February 11, the head of the Maine GOP, Charlie Webster,
announced that Governor Mitt Romney won the Maine caucus by a slim margin. Official
totals read Romney barely winning the caucus by less than 200 votes. The only problem,
the governor was declared the winner with only 84 percent of precincts counted. Two
counties, Washington County and Hancock County had not yet held their caucuses. In Hancock,
County Republicans had decided to hold their caucus this Saturday on February 18. In
Washington County, the state GOP canceled the caucus because of snow concerns. Turns out, the
area only got a light dusting. The big problem here, Mr. Webster says even when those caucuses
are held this Saturday, the votes won't count. And that is just the beginning of the problems in
Maine.
Note: For a great series of diagrams showing the strong links and revolving door between US
Government and big business, click here.
Interpol accused after Malaysia arrests journalist over Muhammad tweet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/10/interpol-journalist-arrested-muha...
Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia allegedly used the
organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet
Muhammad. Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport
"following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf
of the Saudi authorities. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet
on the prophet's birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The
posting, which was later deleted, read: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things
about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you I will not pray for you." Clerics in
Saudi Arabia called for him to be charged with apostasy, a religious offence punishable by
death. Reports suggest that the Malaysian authorities intend to return him to his native
country. Kashgari's detention has triggered criticism by human rights groups of Malaysia's
decision to arrest the journalist and of Interpol's cooperation in the process. Jago Russell,
the chief executive of the British charity Fair Trials International, which has campaigned against
the blanket enforcement of Interpol red notices, said: "If an Interpol red notice is the reason for
[Kashgari's] arrest and detention it would be a serious abuse of this powerful international body
that is supposed to respect basic human rights (including to peaceful free speech) and to be
barred from any involvement in religious or political cases."
States seek currencies made of silver and gold

2012-02-03, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/pf/states_currencies/
A growing number of states are seeking shiny new currencies made of silver and gold. Worried
that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. dollar are on the brink of collapse, lawmakers from 13
states, including Minnesota, Tennessee, Iowa, South Carolina and Georgia, are seeking approval
from their state governments to either issue their own alternative currency or explore it as an
option. Just three years ago, only three states had similar proposals in place. Unlike individual
communities, which are allowed to create their own currency -- as long as it is easily
distinguishable from U.S. dollars -- the Constitution bans states from printing their own
paper money or issuing their own currency. But it allows the states to make "gold and silver
Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts." And since gold has grown exponentially more valuable,
while the U.S. dollar continues to lose ground, the notion has become increasingly appealing to
state lawmakers, he said. The states' proposals have been gaining steam among Tea Partyers and
Republicans, many of whom also endorse a nationwide return to the gold standard, which would
require the U.S. dollar to be backed by gold reserves.
Haiti earthquake: Where has the aid money gone?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/2012/jan/12/haiti-earth...
Shortly after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which killed more than 300,000 people and left more
than 1 million homeless, politicians worldwide promised large amounts of aid, and the international
aid industry geared up to tackle one of the largest and most complex emergencies in history. Less
than three months after the earthquake struck on 12 January 2010, world leaders gathered in New
York and pledged billions for long-term reconstruction. Two years on, what's happened to all that
money? Figures released by the UN special envoy for Haiti show that only 53% of the nearly
$4.5bn pledged for reconstruction projects in 2010 and 2011 has been delivered. Venezuela
and the US, which promised ... more than $1.8bn together have disbursed just 24% ($223m) and
30% ($278m) respectively. Some crucial sectors face particularly large funding gaps. Donors
disbursed just $125m of the $311m in grants allocated to agriculture projects. [And] only $108m of
the $315m in grants allocated to health projects has been disbursed. A separate report ... found
that only 23 out of 1,490 contracts awarded by the US government after the earthquake had
gone to Haitian companies, accounting for just $4.8m of the total $194m awarded between
January 2010 and April 2011. Contractors from the Washington area took 39.4% ($76m).
Note: It seems that many governments see natural disasters like this at least partially as a means
for awarding lucrative contracts to their own people and businesses.
F.D.A. Finds Short Supply of Attention Deficit Drugs

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/health/policy/fda-is-finding-attention-drug...
Medicines to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are in such short supply that hundreds of
patients complain daily to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that they are unable to find a
pharmacy with enough pills to fill their prescriptions. The shortages are a result of a troubled
partnership between drug manufacturers and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
with companies trying to maximize their profits and drug-enforcement agents trying to
minimize abuse by people. Shortages, particularly of cheaper generics, have become so
endemic that some patients say they worry almost constantly about availability. The DEA sets
manufacturing quotas that are designed to control supplies and thwart abuse. Every year, the DEA
... allots portions of the expected demand to various companies. How each manufacturer divides
its quota among its own ADHD medicines preparing some as high-priced brands and others as
cheaper generics is left up to the company. Officials at the FDA say the shortages are a result of
overly strict quotas set by the DEA, which, for its part, questions whether there really are shortages
or whether manufacturers are simply choosing to make more of the expensive pills than the
generics, creating supply and demand imbalances.
Note: This curious story reveals an astonishing level of government manipulation of the
manufacturing and availability of medications, and corporations appear to go along with it because
it keeps profits high. For lots more on government and corportate corruption from reliable sources,
Wall Street - a raw deal for the 100 percent

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/28/EDQN1MHHJI.DTL
The stunning reality is that five years into the financial meltdown, it's business as usual on Wall
Street - outlandish rewards for insiders with downside for almost everyone else. Occupy Wall
Street protesters are right - something is wrong - but they're not sure what. Let's revisit the latest
debacle - the implosion of yet another Wall Street darling, MF Global. The fallout of its bad bets on
European bonds is hitting home hard, even in rural America, where many of its agricultural
customers work. As the eighth-largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, MF Global represents just
about everything that is wrong on Wall Street. 1. The cult of a Wall Street superstar. 2. Gambling
disguised as investing. 3. The bail-me-out syndrome. 4. Enormous conflicts of interest. 5.
Leverage on a grand scale. 6. Failure of regulators and the reform law. 7. Misappropriation of client
funds. 8. Worthless rating agencies. 9. Golden parachutes soaring high. 10. Breakdown of
morality. Wall Street will keep sucking huge sums out of our economy and putting 100
percent of us at risk unless the rules change. Most important, we must stop gambling and
start investing again to build valuable companies. The next crisis will make 2008 look like a
warm-up. Imagine how big the Occupy camps will be if that happens.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources which provide detailed information on
all the problematic dimensions of Wall Street's operations described in the article above, click here.
Person of the Year Introduction

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102139_21...
No one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in a public square in
a town barely on a map, he would spark protests that would bring down dictators in Tunisia, Egypt
and Libya and rattle regimes in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. Or that that spirit of dissent would spur
Mexicans to rise up against the terror of drug cartels, Greeks to march against unaccountable
leaders, Americans to occupy public spaces to protest income inequality, and Russians to marshal
themselves against a corrupt autocracy. Protests have now occurred in countries whose
populations total at least 3 billion people, and the word protest has appeared in newspapers and
online exponentially more this past year than at any other time in history. Everywhere, it seems,
people said they'd had enough. They dissented; they demanded; they did not despair, even when
the answers came back in a cloud of tear gas or a hail of bullets. The root of the word
democracy is demos, "the people," and the meaning of democracy is "the people rule." And
they did, if not at the ballot box, then in the streets. Protest is in some ways the source
code for democracy and evidence of the lack of it. For steering the planet on a more
democratic though sometimes more dangerous path for the 21st century, the Protester is
TIME's 2011 Person of the Year.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from major media sources that explain why protestors
worldwide have been occupying their cities, click here.
Biggest Nuclear Breach Raises Alarm as France Debates Reactors
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-14/biggest-nuclear-breach-raises-ala...
Just after 6 a.m. on Dec. 5, under cover of darkness, nine Greenpeace activists cut through a
fence at the Nogent-sur-Seine atomic plant 95 kilometers (59 miles) southeast of Paris and
headed for a domed reactor building. They scaled the roof and unfurled a Safe Nuclear Doesnt
Exist banner before attracting the attention of security guards. Two remained at large for four
hours. On the same day, two more campaigners breached the perimeter of the Cruas-Meysse
plant on the Rhone, escaping detection for more than 14 hours while posting videos of their sit-in
on the Internet. The security lapses ... come at a time when debate has intensified on
Frances reliance on atomic power for three-quarters of its energy needs in the run-up to
next years presidential elections. They also preempt next months release of the results of
safety checks at Frances 58 reactors, commissioned in the aftermath of the Fukushima
tragedy. Greenpeace said its activists exposed the biggest security lapse to date at the reactors
that are operated by Electricite de France SA.
Europe Bans Airport X-Ray Scanners that U.S. Still Uses

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/17/europe-bans-airport-x-ray-scanners-that-u...
The European Commission adopted new rules Nov. 14 regarding X-ray, or backscatter, body
scanners at all airports in Europe. A press release ordered members of the European Union to
remove X-ray scanners from its airports to avoid risking citizens health and safety. The news
[brings] into question the continued use of the very same X-ray scanners in U.S. airports. While the
Transportation Security Administration also employs millimeter-wave scanners in U.S. airports, Xray scanners are the ones that have received more criticism from public-safety advocates. While ...
the amount of radiation exposure from X-ray machines is very low, several studies have shown
that a small number of cancer cases could result from scanning millions of passengers
every year. Some critics of the scanners say that any small amount of cancer is too much to
tolerate. Although the TSA doesnt show signs of budging on the use of X-ray scanners, Europe
will instead use machines that rely on radio frequency waves, which have not been linked to
cancer.
Note: For key reports from reliable sources on government and corporate threats to privacy, click
here.
Israel refuses to tell US its Iran intentions

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8886543/Israel-re...
Israel has refused to reassure President Barack Obama that it would warn him in advance
of any pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear capabilities, raising fears that it may be planning
a go-it-alone attack as early as next summer. The US leader was rebuffed last month when he
demanded private guarantees that no strike would go ahead without White House notification,
suggesting Israel no longer plans to "seek Washington's permission", sources said. The disclosure
[was] made by insiders briefed on a top-secret meeting between America's most senior defence
chief and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hawkish prime minister. Leon Panetta, the US defence
secretary, flew into Israel last month on what was ostensibly a routine trip. Mr Panetta conveyed an
urgent message from Barack Obama. The president, Mr Panetta said, wanted an unshakable
guarantee that Israel would not carry out a unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear
installations without first seeking Washington's clearance. The two Israelis were notably evasive in
their response, according to sources both in Israel and the United States. Alarmed by Mr
Netanyahu's noncommittal response, Mr Obama reportedly ordered the US intelligence services to
step up monitoring of Israel to glean clues of its intentions. What those intentions might be remains
distinctly murky. Over the past fortnight, Israel's press has given every impression that the
country is on a war footing, with numerous claims that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Barak are lobbying
the cabinet to support the military option.
Note: For veteran geopolitical analyst Michel Chossudovsky's view that the "intelligence" on Iran's
nuclear program is being "cooked" to justify an upcoming war, click here. For an investigative
report showing that the IAEA's November 8 report on the "Iranian nuclear threat" falsely claimed
that a Russian advisor to Iran is a nuclear scientist, click here. On the preparations for this war by
the US and UK, which go far beyond the usual contingency planning for future possibilities, click
here.
Think Occupy Wall St. is a phase? You don't get it

2011-10-05, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html
Yes, there are a wide array of complaints, demands, and goals from the Wall Street protesters: the
collapsing environment, labor standards, housing policy, government corruption, ... and so on.
Different people have been affected by different aspects of the same system -- and they believe
they are symptoms of the same core problem. I witnessed [many cogent conversations] as I
strolled by Occupy Wall Street's many teach-ins this morning. There were young people teaching
one another about, among other things, how the economy works, ... the history of centralized
interest-bearing currency, the creation and growth of the derivatives industry, and about the
Obama administration deciding to settle with, rather than investigate and prosecute the investment
banking industry for housing fraud. Anyone who says he has no idea what these folks are
protesting is not being truthful. We all know that there are investment bankers working on
Wall Street getting richer while things for most of the rest of us are getting tougher. Occupy
Wall Street is meant more as a way of life that spreads through contagion, creates as many
questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and
offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system
is broken.
Note: For insights into the reasons why people have decided they must occupy their cities in
protest of the predations of financial corporations, check out our extensive "Banking Bailout" news
articles.
Argentine blast kills woman, injures 9; evidence points to gas leak, not
space debris
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/argentine-explosives-experts-pro...
An explosion wrecked two homes, a business and several cars early [September 26], killing a
woman and injuring nine people on the outskirts of Argentinas capital. Early reports by some
witnesses that they had seen a ball of fire fall from the sky around the time of the 2 a.m.
explosion caused a sensation, but authorities said later that evidence pointed to an explosion of
leaking gas. After the reports of a fireball coming down, the government dispatched [a] large
number of searchers to check for radioactivity and any material that might have come from outer
space. Provincial justice and security minister Ricardo Casal said experts were evaluating all
theories, from an explosion to something strange that came from the sky. But the experts found
no evidence of a crater, and NASA said its satellite that fell to Earth sometime Saturday landed
well clear of South America. A young man who had claimed he photographed a space object
and gave authorities a picture showing a streak of red light through the night sky was
detained for providing false testimony, the Argentine news agency Diarios y Noticias said. The
man changed his story under questioning, the report said.
Note: How interesting that this occurred at the same time as the NASA satellite was supposed to
crash to Earth. Do you think there could be a cover-up in order to avoid bad publicity? For more
evidence along these lines, click here.
Dead federal retirees are paid $120 million annually, report says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dead-federal-retirees-are-paid-120-mil...
The federal government pays out millions of dollars to dead people each year including
deceased retired federal workers, according to a new report. In the past five years, the Office of
Personnel Management has made more than $601 million in benefits payments to deceased
federal annuitants, according to the agencys inspector general. Total annual payouts range
between $100 million and $150 million. Improper payments to dead retirees increased 70 percent
in the past five years, far higher than the 19 percent climb in overall annuity payments, the report
said. In one case, a deceased annuitants son continued receiving federal benefits until 2008
37 years after his fathers death. OPM learned about the improper payments which
exceeded $515,000 only after the son died. The agency never recovered the money.
Overall, the governments improper payments totaled about $125 billion in fiscal 2010 a $15
billion year-to-year increase. Last October, an investigation by the office of Sen. Tom Coburn (ROkla.) concluded that the government had paid nearly $1 billion to at least 250,000 dead people
since 2000.
Rick Perry battles charges of 'crony capitalism'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/15/MNNP1L4QHO.DTL
The political tempest created by Rick Perry's response to questions about his 2007 executive
order requiring immunization of young girls is the wrong debate at the wrong time for the Texas
governor's front-running presidential campaign. The heated political exchange over Perry's
program to vaccinate all Texas school girls to protect them from cervical cancer caused by a
sexually transmitted disease opens the door for critics to declare it an example of intrusive, big
government to require such immunization, particularly for a sexually transmitted virus, even if, as
Perry says, there was an opt-out provision for parents. The fact that Perry tried to implement
the policy with an executive order, rather than proposing legislation mandating the
vaccinations, spooks libertarians who don't want to see another president implementing
policy through executive orders, as George W. Bush and Barack Obama have done on a
wide range of social and security issues. The issue also highlights what [has been] dubbed
"crony capitalism" - how big contributors and longtime friends of the Texas governor have been
named to key state positions and won important policy victories in Rick Perry's Texas. Perry's
former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, was a lobbyist for Merck, the manufacturer of the drug Gardasil,
the vaccine that Perry sought to require for girls.
Note: Another media article points out that Perry grossly underestimated the amount of political
contributions he received from Merck, the manufacturer of the drug Gardasil, the vaccine that
Perry required for young girls.
Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdochs daughter

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8740530/Tony-Blair-is-god...
Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdochs young children, it has emerged in an interview
with the media tycoons wife Wendi. The former prime minister was reportedly present in March
last year when Murdochs two daughters by his third wife were baptised on the banks of the
Jordan. The information was not made public and its disclosure in an interview with Mrs Murdoch
in Vogue will prove highly embarrassing for Mr Blair. His close ties to the Murdochs could
explain his reluctance to condemn the News International phone hacking scandal. In July, it
was reported that he asked Gordon Brown to put pressure on Tom Watson, the Labour MP
who helped expose the scandal, to drop his investigation. Last night, Mr Blairs spokesman
refused to comment, but a News Corp source confirmed that Mr Blair was godfather to Grace, as
was Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdochs eldest son. While Mrs Murdoch does not comment on Mr
Blair directly, the article states that Miss Kidman, Mr Jackman and Mr Blair are godparents. It
claims that Mr Blair attended the Jordanian ceremony garbed in white and describes him as one
of Mrs Murdochs closest friends. They have a mutual friend in Queen Rania of Jordan, who
hosted the baptism. Both women were recently on the judging panel for a film prize organised by
the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
Note: For more on corporate corruption from reliable sources, click here.
N.Y. billing dispute reveals details of secret CIA rendition flights

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ny-billing-dispute-reve...
Details of shadowy CIA [rendition flights] have emerged in a ... New York courthouse in a billing
dispute between contractors. The court documents offer a rare glimpse of the costs and operations
of the controversial rendition program. For all the secrecy that once surrounded the CIA program, a
significant part of its operation was entrusted to very small aviation companies whose previous
experience involved flying sports teams across the country. In the process, the costs and
itineraries of numerous CIA flights became part of the court record. The more than 1,500 pages
from the trial and appeals court files appear to include sensitive material, such as logs of air-toground phone calls made from the plane. These logs show multiple calls to CIA headquarters; to
the cell- and home phones of a senior CIA official involved in the rendition program; and to a
government contractor, Falls Church-based DynCorp, that worked for the CIA. Attorneys for a
London-based legal charity, Reprieve, which has been investigating the CIA program, discovered
the Columbia County case and brought the court records to the attention of The Washington Post.
This new evidence tells a chilling story, from the CIAs efforts to disguise its illegal
activities to the price it paid to ferry prisoners to torture chambers across the world, said
Cori Crider, Reprieves legal director.
While Wall St. flourishes, Main St. flounders

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/28/EDKO1KRVJM.DTL
What if we stood up for Main Street? Corporations and elected officials are making decisions that
are impacting our lives, and we are at their mercy. Americans, many [of] whose lives have been
destroyed by the 2008 subprime mortgage market disaster, resent the lack of accountability on the
part of Wall Street for its role in this scandal. Few have been indicted for the market collapse
and resulting meltdown of the global economy. After the federal government bailed out the
financial institutions, it is back to business as usual. Corporate profits are accumulating
and bonuses are raining down on the very players who created the bubble and crash in the
first place. On the other hand, the taxpayers who bailed out Wall Street aren't doing so well.
Instead of bonuses, we are suffering from unemployment and underemployment of epic
proportions. Homeowners continue to lose their homes to foreclosure, and homelessness is on the
rise. Public services, public safety and public welfare funding is being cut back or cut out. Public
education has been decimated. American corporations have lost all sense of responsibility for U.S.
citizens. While the U.S. economy fights to survive, corporations have turned their backs on those
whose tax dollars kept our ship of state from sinking. Sending jobs overseas might improve
corporate profit margins, but at what expense to the workforce and U.S. economy? These
decisions have devastated American workers' lives. So, what needs to be done? What if we begin
to stand up for Main Street?
Note: For a treasure trove of reports detailing the criminal collusion between the federal
government and Wall Street financial corporations, click here.
Indian police arrest 73-year-old anti-corruption activist

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-india-activist-demonstration...
An Indian government attempt to head off a political crisis by arresting a key anti-corruption activist
appeared to backfire ... when parliament walked out and demonstrations broke out across the
country. Approximately 20 plainclothes police surrounded activist Anna Hazare, 73, ... as he left his
house to begin a hunger strike against alleged widespread corruption, reportedly forbidding him
from leaving the premises. When he defied them, they took him into custody on peremptory
charges of "breach of peace." In April, Hazare held a five-day fast that garnered enormous national
support and helped make him the public face of a grassroots anti-graft fight. It also put the ruling
Congress party under pressure to pass a controversial "Lokpal Bill" that, among other things,
would establish an independent ombudsman able to probe senior officials. When the cabinet
passed a version that exempted the prime minister's office and top judges from close scrutiny,
Hazare announced a second hunger-strike. India has seen a spate of corruption scandals in
recent months, many allegedly involving senior Congress Party officials or their close
allies, involving telecommunications, defense and sporting events allegedly amounting to
tens of billions of dollars.
Army Corps Agrees to Pay Whistle-Blower In Iraq Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/world/middleeast/29reconstruct.html
Ending a six-year legal battle, the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to
a former top contracting official who charged that she was demoted after she objected to a $7
billion no-bid contract granted to a Halliburton subsidiary to repair oil fields in Iraq. In a settlement
agreement signed this month and made final by a federal judge this week, the Army Corps of
Engineers agreed to pay the former official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, $970,000 to cover lost
wages, legal fees and compensatory damages, including for harm to her reputation and her mental
health. The payment for damages is unusually large for a lawsuit by a federal employee. In early
2003, the Army, in secret and without competitive bidding, put KBR, then a subsidiary of
Halliburton, in charge of restoring Iraqi oil production, in a contract potentially worth $7
billion over five years. Ms. Greenhouse, a career civil servant who was the chief contracts
monitor at the Army Corps of Engineers at the time, objected that the contract was based on repair
plans and cost estimates that KBR itself had been hired by the corps to prepare, and that the
emergency conditions did not justify a multiyear no-bid contract. After internal clashes and threats
of demotion, she went public with her concerns in 2004. Ms. Greenhouse was demoted from the
Senior Executive Service and given a poor performance rating, prompting her to bring the lawsuit.
As part of the settlement, Ms. Greenhouse, 67, formally retired this week with full benefits.
Note: The press has reported little on this most important case. For a much better description of all
that went on and the intense corruption revealed, click here.
Dog's glow-in-the-dark effect can be turned on or off

2011-07-27, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43915467/ns/technology_and_science-science
Scientists say they have bred a dog that glows under ultraviolet light when an antibiotic is
added to its food. Scientists started cloning glow-in-the-dark puppies two years ago by inserting
genes from other species that produce fluorescent proteins, such as jellyfish and coral. In the
journal Genesis, researchers from Seoul National University report that they produced a dog that
expresses the green fluorescent protein gene when it eats food containing a doxycycline antibiotic.
When the drug is no longer added to the food, the glow-in-the-dark effect fades away. The
technique could be used to help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The genetically modified female
beagle, named Tegon, was born in 2009. Other methods can produce dogs that glow, but "the
uncontrollable expression often results in unwanted outcomes," they said.
Note: Though this may have some beneficial applications, why doesn't the article raise any of the
serious ethical considerations?
New Documents Cast Doubt on Federal Anthrax Case

2011-07-18, PBS Frontline/McClatchy News
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/2011/07/new-documents-cast-doubt-on-f...
The Justice Department has called into question a key pillar of the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins,
the Army scientist accused of mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and terrorized
Congress a decade ago. Shortly after Ivins committed suicide in 2008, federal investigators
announced that they had identified him as the mass murderer who sent the letters to members of
Congress and the media. The case was circumstantial, with federal officials arguing that the
scientist had the means, motive and opportunity to make the deadly powder at a U.S. Army
research facility at Fort Detrick, in Frederick, Md. On July 15, however, Justice Department
lawyers acknowledged in court papers that the sealed area in Ivins' lab -- the so-called hot
suite -- did not contain the equipment needed to turn liquid anthrax into the refined powder
that floated through congressional buildings and post offices in the fall of 2001. The
government's statements deepen the questions about the case against Ivins. Searches of his car
and home in 2007 found no anthrax spores, and the FBI's eight-year, $100 million investigation
never proved he mailed the letters or identified another location where he might have secretly
dried the anthrax into an easily inhaled powder.
Note: For more doubts on the FBI's case against Ivins, click here. For a detailed analysis of the
anthrax attacks by Prof. Graeme MacQueen of McMaster University, showing that it was an
integral part, with the 9/11 attacks, of a larger operation to launch two wars, click here.
N. Korea an absurd pick for U.N. disarmament group

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/09/INVU1K6NM5.DTL
A few days ago, the United Nations chose North Korea ... as the new president of the U.N.'s
Conference on Disarmament, which describes itself as "the single multilateral disarmament
negotiating forum of the international community." Most of the conference's 65-nation membership
publicly welcomed the new president, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon endorsed his
ascension. Well, not to worry. The new Disarmament Conference president, North Korean So Se
Pyong, promised to become "very engaged in moving the conference forward" so that it can
"achieve concrete results." How reassuring. Perhaps his country would like to set an example for
the world? Actually, North Korea is ... the only state that stubbornly holds on to a nuclearweapons arsenal even though its leaders know full well that millions of their people are
starving to death as a result. Right now, North Korea is facing a famine, and not for the first
time. A calamitous food shortage in the late 1990s killed an estimated 2 million people. That
time, once the world learned of the problem, months too late, it provided copious aid. This time,
almost no one seems willing to help.
'Anonymous' Warns NATO: 'This Is No Longer Your World'

http://techland.time.com/2011/06/10/anonymous-warns-nato-this-is-not-your-world/
A NATO security report about "Anonymous" - the mysterious "hacktivist" group responsible for
attacks on MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, Amazon and, most recently, Sony - has led the
underground group to respond by cautioning NATO, "This is no longer your world. It is our world the people's world." NATO's report, issued last month, warned about the rising tide of politicallymotivated cyberattacks, singling out Anonymous as the most sophisticated and high-profile of the
known hacktivist groups. In response, Anonymous issued a lengthy statement ... that says, in part:
"We merely wish to remove power from vested interests and return it to the people - who, in
a democracy, it should never have been taken from in the first place. Our message is
simple: Do not lie to the people and you won't have to worry about your lies being exposed.
Do not make corrupt deals and you won't have to worry about your corruption being laid
bare. Do not break the rules and you won't have to worry about getting in trouble for it." It goes on
to warn, "do not make the mistake of challenging Anonymous. Do not make the mistake of
believing you can behead a headless snake. If you slice off one head of Hydra, ten more heads
will grow in its place. If you cut down one Anon, ten more will join us purely out of anger at your
trampling of dissent."
Dominique Strauss-Kahn to face fresh sex assault complaint

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/16/dominique-strauss-khan-tristane-b...
A French writer who claims Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her nine years ago is to
file an official complaint, her lawyer has announced. Tristane Banon previously described the
attack, which happened when she was in her early 20s, in a television programme in 2007. The
62-year-old head of the International Monetary Fund who was widely tipped to be France's next
president was refused bail by the judge, Melissa Jackson, who ruled he might attempt to flee the
US. Across France, after the shock of Strauss-Kahn's arrest, came speculation ... and conspiracy
theories. For some ... the story was so extraordinary it smacked of a set-up. Only three weeks ago,
Strauss-Kahn evoked such a possibility in an interview with French newspaper Libration when he
said he thought he was under surveillance and named the three principal difficulties he foresaw if
he was to stand for the presidential elections. "Money, women and the fact I am Jewish." He
said he could see himself becoming the victim of a honey trap: "a woman raped in a car
park and who's been promised 500,000 or a million euros to invent such a story ...".
Note: For further reasons to suspect that the charges against Strauss-Kahn are politicallymotivated, whether true or not, click here.
Obama echoes Richard Nixon on WikiLeaks prisoner

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/13/INO31JBJIR.DTL
The first time President Obama was publicly asked about Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of
disclosing government secrets to WikiLeaks, his answer was reminiscent of George W. Bush. The
second time - when he declared Manning guilty without a trial - it was more like Richard Nixon. The
issue landed in Obama's lap via P.J. Crowley, the State Department's chief media spokesman and
the only member of the administration known to have protested Manning's treatment. Crowley
called the conditions of Manning's confinement "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Two
days later, the State Department announced Crowley's "resignation," government-speak for
signing a farewell note while being pushed out the window. [When] asked ... about Manning ... the
president first replied that military secrecy laws apply to everyone. "If I was to release stuff,
information that I'm not authorized to release, I'm breaking the law," Obama said. "We don't
individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate. He (Manning) broke the law." It's
the first time a U.S. president has made such a public comment since 1971, when Nixon
declared that cult leader Charles Manson, then on trial, "was guilty, directly or indirectly, of
eight murders." Obama's comments also raise the question of whether he looks at all criminal
cases through the same lens or uses different standards depending on whether the government is
alleged to be the victim or the victimizer.
US doctors 'hid signs of torture' at Guantanamo

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-doctors-hid-signs-of-tort...
US government doctors who cared for the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay deliberately concealed or
ignored evidence that their patients were being tortured, the first official study of its kind has found.
A detailed review of the medical records and case files of nine Guantanamo inmates has
concluded that medical personnel at the US detention centre were complicit in suppressing
evidence that would demonstrate systematic torture of the inmates. The review is published in an
online scientific journal, PLoS Medicine, and is the first peer-reviewed study analysing the
behaviour of the doctors in charge of Guantanamo inmates who were subjected to "enhanced
interrogation" techniques that a decade ago had been classed by the US government as torture.
[The report] concluded that no doctor could have failed to notice the medical signs and
symptoms of the extreme interrogation techniques and unauthorised assaults that other
physicians would recognise as torture, such as severe beatings resulting in bone fractures,
sexual assaults, mock executions, and simulated drowning by "waterboarding". Many of the
prisoners said they were also subjected to unauthorised abuses resulting in severe and prolonged
physical and mental pain.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on torture committed by US forces and approved
by the highest levels of government, click here.
Digging Deeper: Jesse Ventura's Alternative Take on American History

2011-04-04, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/excerpt-63-documents-government-read-jesse-ventura-...
In his new book, 63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read, former wrestler
turned governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura takes a close and at times disturbing look at major
historical events. Ventura draws on public but often overlooked information about such events as
John F. Kennedy's assassination and the 9/11 attacks, offering fresh, often intriguing insights. Here
is an excerpt: "There is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not
survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will
be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and
concealment." John F. Kennedy This book is titled 63 Documents the Government Doesn't
Want You to Read, lest we forget that 1963 was the year that claimed the life of our 35th
President. The conspiracy that killed JFK, and the cover-up that followed, is the forerunner
for a lot of what you're going to read about in these pages. In fact, the idea behind this book
came out of writing my last one, American Conspiracies. In poring through numerous documents,
many of them available through the Freedom-of-Information Act, I came to realize the importance
of the public's right to know. Let me begin by saying how concerned I am that we're moving rapidly
in the direction President Kennedy tried to warn us about.
Note: Jesse Ventura reveals amazing information in this powerful interview. You might appreciate
the video and all 10 pages available at the ABC News link above. For key reports from major
media sources that shed light on the unsolved assassination of JFK and other major US political
leaders, click here.
Got Plans for the Next 25,000 Years?

2011-03-21, CNBC
It turns out that nuclear waste has more in common with the financial world than being a metaphor
for the worst of its toxic assets. Nuclear waste some of which remains disastrously radioactive
for 100,000 years turns out to be the ultimate tail risk. Tail risk, of course, is the statistical term
much in vogue in the financial press for describing unlikely events. (The 'tail' in tail risk refers to the
tail-shaped edges in the bell curve of a normal distribution.) These allegedly unlikely events are
sometimes referred to as black swans. Black swans are occurring with such regularity in these
volatile times that they can no longer be considered true statistical outliers. [Take] a look at these
outlier events within the context of building nuclear waste containment vessels. Repository
builders have to take into account a tail risk of future humans disturbing the site and not
realising the danger facing themselves and their ecology. People might regress towards a
pre-industrial state or lose language over a timescale like that. So you have to design a
marker that scares people away, but doesn't flip them over into morbid curiosity towards exploring
further and, potentially, dooming an entire civilisation with radioactive poisoning.
Audit: Pentagon overpaid oilman by up to $200 million

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pentagon-overpaid-oilman-millions-audi...
A Pentagon audit has found that the federal government overpaid a billionaire oilman by as much
as $200 million on several military contracts worth nearly $2.7 billion. The audit by the Defense
Departments inspector general ... estimated that the department paid the oilman $160
[million] to $204 million more for fuel than could be supported by price or cost analysis.
The study also reported that the three contracts were awarded under conditions that
effectively eliminated the other bidders. Harry Sargeant III, a well-connected Florida
businessman and once-prominent Republican donor, first faced scrutiny over his defense work in
October 2008, when he was accused in a congressional probe of using his close relationship with
Jordans royal family to secure exclusive rights over supply routes to U.S. bases in western Iraq.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who led the probe, ... said in a statement Thursday that the
report confirmed what we found in 2008: the International Oil Trading Company overcharged by
hundreds of millions of dollars while the Bush administration looked the other way. Waxman called
on Sargeant to repay the Pentagon.
From Hiroshima to Fukushima

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/opinion/17iht-edschell17.html
The horrible and heartbreaking events in Japan present a strange concatenation of disasters.
Succumbing to the one-two punch of the earthquake and the tsunami, eleven of Japans 54
nuclear power reactors were shut down. Three of them have lost coolant to their cores and have
experienced partial meltdowns. The same three have also suffered large explosions. The spent
fuel in a fourth caught fire. Now a second filthy wave is beginning to roll this one composed of
radioactive elements in the atmosphere. They include unknown amounts of cesium-137 and
iodine-131, which can only have originated in the melting cores or in nearby spent fuel rod pools.
The Japanese government has evacuated some 200,000 people in the vicinity of the plants. The
second shock was, of course, different from the first in at least one fundamental respect. The first
was dealt by Mother Nature, who has thus reminded us of her sovereign power to nourish or
punish our delicate planet, its axis now tipping ever so slightly in a new direction. No finger of
blame can be pointed at any perpetrator. The second shock, on the other hand, is the product
of humankind, and involves human responsibility. Until the human species stepped in,
there was no appreciable release of atomic energy from nuclear fission or fusion on earth.
Note: For an excellent list of experiments in which humans, either individually or collectively as a
species, are being used as guinea pigs in most unethical and dangerous ways, click here.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley resigns after flap over his
WikiLeaks remarks
2011-03-13, Chicago Tribune/Associated Press
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-us-wikileaks,0,5015377.story
Chief State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley quit on [March 13] after causing a stir by
describing the military's treatment of the suspected WikiLeaks leaker as "ridiculous" and "stupid,"
pointed words that forced President Barack Obama to defend the detention as appropriate.
Crowley's comments about the conditions for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning at a Marine Corps
brig in Quantico, Va., reverberated quickly. Manning is being held in solitary confinement
for all but an hour every day, and is stripped naked each night and given a suicide-proof
smock to wear to bed. His lawyer calls the treatment degrading. Amnesty International says the
treatment may violate Manning's human rights. Crowley, who retired as colonel from the Air Force
in 1999 after 26 years in the military, was quoted as telling students at a Massachusetts Institute of
Technology seminar on Thursday that he didn't understand why the military was handling
Manning's detention that way, and calling it "ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid."
American who sparked diplomatic crisis over Lahore shooting was CIA
spy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/us-raymond-davis-lahore-cia
The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan
and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time. Raymond Davis has been the
subject of widespread speculation since he opened fire with a semi-automatic Glock pistol on the
two men who had pulled up in front of his car at a red light on 25 January. Pakistani authorities
charged him with murder, but the Obama administration has insisted he is an "administrative and
technical official" attached to its Lahore consulate and has diplomatic immunity. Based on
interviews in the US and Pakistan, the Guardian can confirm that the 36-year-old former special
forces soldier is employed by the CIA. "It's beyond a shadow of a doubt," said a senior Pakistani
intelligence official. Washington's case is hobbled by its resounding silence on Davis's role. He
served in the US special forces for 10 years before leaving in 2003 to become a security
contractor. A senior Pakistani official said he believed Davis had worked with Xe, the firm
formerly known as Blackwater. Pakistani suspicions about Davis's role were stoked by the
equipment police confiscated from his car: an unlicensed pistol, a long-range radio, a GPS
device, an infrared torch and a camera with pictures of buildings around Lahore.
Note: For further details on Raymond Davis' work for the CIA and Blackwater Corp., click here.
Discussing the two Pakistanis killed by Davis, an ABC News blog states, "Pakistani government
officials have told ABC News that the two were working for that country's intelligence agency, InterService Intelligence, and were also conducting surveillance." Click here for that article.
Inside Job: how bankers caused the financial crisis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/feb/17/inside-job-financial-crisis-banker...
Charles Ferguson's film Inside Job ... explains why so little has been done to reform the financial
world or bring criminal prosecutions against the main protagonists [of the financial crash that
began in 2008]. His villainous lineup includes bankers, politicians (many of whom were previously
bankers), regulators, the credit ratings agencies and academics. In Inside Job, the name that
keeps cropping up is Larry Summers, a friend of President Bill Clinton and more recently Barack
Obama. Summers exemplifies the links between cheerleaders in academia, Wall Street,
supine regulators and an ignorant Capitol Hill that Ferguson stresses were at the root of the
problem. Still, no matter how much it is explained, the general public is not going to understand.
How does one go into battle yelling slogans about credit default swaps? The bankers know
ignorance is their trump card. Maybe Inside Job will make us more savvy in time for the next crash.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable souces on the criminality of the major financial
firms, regulatory agencies and politicians which led to the global financial crisis and Greater
Depression, click here.
Icelandic MP fights US demand for her Twitter account details

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/08/us-twitter-hand-icelandic-wikilea...
A member of parliament in Iceland who is also a former WikiLeaks volunteer says the US justice
department has ordered Twitter to hand over her private messages. Birgitta Jonsdottir, an MP for
the Movement in Iceland, said last night on Twitter that the "USA government wants to know about
all my tweets and more since november 1st 2009. Do they realize I am a member of parliament in
Iceland?" She said she was starting a legal fight to stop the US getting hold of her messages, after
being told by Twitter that a subpoena had been issued. She added that the US authorities had
requested personal information from Twitter as well as her private messages and that she was
now assessing her legal position. "It's not just about my information. It's a warning for anyone
who had anything to do with WikiLeaks. It is completely unacceptable for the US justice
department to flex its muscles like this. I am lucky, I'm a representative in parliament. But
what of other people? It's my duty to do whatever I can to stop this abuse."
Note: For a New York Times article with more on this, click here.
The little red book that swept France

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-little-red-book-that-swept...
Take a book of just 13 pages, written by a relatively obscure 93-year-old man, which contains no
sex, no jokes, no fine writing and no startlingly original message. A publishing disaster? No, a
publishing phenomenon. Indignez vous! (Cry out!), a slim pamphlet by a wartime French
resistance hero, Stphane Hessel, is smashing all publishing records in France. The book urges
the French, and everyone else, to recapture the wartime spirit of resistance to the Nazis by
rejecting the "insolent, selfish" power of money and markets and by defending the social
"values of modern democracy". The book, which costs 3, has sold 600,000 copies in three
months and another 200,000 have just been printed. Its original print run was 8,000. In the run-up
to Christmas, Mr Hessel's call for a "peaceful insurrection" not only topped the French bestsellers
list, it sold eight times more copies than the second most popular book. Mr Hessel, who survived
Nazi concentration camps to become a French diplomat, said he was "profoundly touched" by the
success of his book. Just as he "cried out" against Nazism in the 1940s, he said, young people
today should "cry out against the complicity between politicians and economic and financial
powers" and "defend our democratic rights acquired over two centuries".
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the "complicity between politicians and
economic and financial powers", click here.
Indefinite detention for suspects at Guantanamo Bay

The Obama administration is preparing an executive order that would formalize indefinite detention
without trial for some detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ..., U.S.
officials said. Some civil liberties groups oppose any form of indefinite detention. "Indefinite
detention without charge or trial is wrong, whether it comes from Congress or the president's pen,"
said Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington legislative
office. "Our Constitution requires that we charge and prosecute people who are accused of
crimes. You cannot sell an indefinite detention scheme by attaching a few due-process
baubles and expect that to restore the rule of law. That is bad for America and is not the form
of justice we want other nations to emulate." Legislation supported by some Republicans ... would
create a system of indefinite detention not only for some Guantanamo detainees but also for future
terrorism suspects seized overseas.
Note: Why are so few people speaking out about indefinite detention, when it is done in a way that
gives the person detained virtually no legal rights or recourse? This clearly violates the sixth
amendment to the US Constitution which states, "the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial."
Air Force Blocks Sites That Posted Secret Cables

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/us/15wiki.html
The Air Force is barring its personnel from using work computers to view the Web sites of The
New York Times and more than 25 other news organizations and blogs that have posted secret
cables obtained by WikiLeaks, Air Force officials said. When Air Force personnel on the services
computer network try to view the Web sites of The Times, the British newspaper The Guardian, the
German magazine Der Spiegel, the Spanish newspaper El Pas and the French newspaper Le
Monde, as well as other sites that posted full confidential cables, the screen says Access Denied:
Internet usage is logged and monitored, according to an Air Force official whose access was
blocked and who shared the screen warning with The Times. Violators are warned that they face
punishment if they try to view classified material from unauthorized Web sites. Some Air Force
officials acknowledged that the steps taken might be in vain since many military personnel
could gain access to the documents from home computers, despite admonishments from
superiors not to read the cables without proper clearances.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
WikiLeaks cables: Pfizer 'used dirty tricks to avoid clinical trial payout'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/09/wikileaks-cables-pfizer-nigeria
The world's biggest pharmaceutical company hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption
against the Nigerian attorney general in order to persuade him to drop legal action over a
controversial drug trial involving children with meningitis, according to a leaked US embassy cable.
Pfizer was sued by the Nigerian state and federal authorities, who claimed that children were
harmed by a new antibiotic, Trovan, during the trial, which took place in the middle of a meningitis
epidemic of unprecedented scale in Kano in the north of Nigeria in 1996. But the cable suggests
that the US drug giant did not want to pay out to settle the two cases one civil and one criminal
brought by the Nigerian federal government. The cable reports a meeting between Pfizer's country
manager, Enrico Liggeri, and US officials at the Abuja embassy on 9 April 2009. It states:
"According to Liggeri, Pfizer had hired investigators to uncover corruption links to federal
attorney general Michael Aondoakaa to expose him and put pressure on him to drop the
federal cases. He said Pfizer's investigators were passing this information to local media."
The cable ... continues: "A series of damaging articles detailing Aondoakaa's 'alleged' corruption
ties were published in February and March. Liggeri contended that Pfizer had much more
damaging information on Aondoakaa and that Aondoakaa's cronies were pressuring him to drop
the suit for fear of further negative articles."
Note: For more on this revealing case, see the New York Times article available here.
72 super PACs spent $83.7 million on election, financial disclosure

reports show
The newly created independent political groups known as super PACs, which raised and spent
millions of dollars on last month's elections, drew much of their funding from private-equity
partners and others in the financial industry, according to new financial disclosure reports. The 72
super PACs, all formed this year, together spent $83.7 million on the election. The figures provide
the best indication yet of the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions that opened the door for
wealthy individuals and corporations to give unlimited contributions. The financial disclosure
reports also underscore the extent to which the flow of corporate money will be tied to political
goals. Private-equity partners and hedge fund managers, for example, have a substantial stake in
several issues before Congress, primarily the taxes they pay on their earnings. "Super PACs
provide a means for the super wealthy to have even more influence and an even greater
voice in the political process," said Meredith McGehee, a lobbyist for the Campaign Legal
Center, which advocates for tighter regulation of money in politics.
Note: For key reports on growing threats to the US electoral process, click here.
Obama administration gives billions in stimulus money without

environmental safeguards
The Obama administration has doled out about $2 billion in stimulus money to some of the nation's
biggest polluters while granting them exemptions from a basic form of environmental oversight, a
Center for Public Integrity investigation has found. The administration has awarded more than
179,000 "categorical exclusions" to stimulus projects funded by federal agencies, freeing
the projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Officials
said they did not consider companies' pollution records in deciding whether to grant the
waivers. The projects include: - An electrical-grid upgrade project in Kansas led by Westar
Energy, the state's largest coal-burning utility, which settled a major air pollution case by paying
half a billion dollars in penalties and remediation costs. - A project to create clean-burning biofuel
from seaweed led by chemical giant DuPont, which received $8.9 million in stimulus funds in
February. In all, about three dozen of the country's biggest polluters with past environmental
problems won NEPA exemptions for the stimulus grants totaling $2 billion from the Energy
Department - about 6 percent of the department's total money awarded so far.
With Neighbors Unaware, Toxic Spill at a BP Plant

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/30bprefinery.html
While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP refinery [in Texas City,
Texas] released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until
many saw their children come down with respiratory problems. For 40 days after a piece of
equipment critical to the refinerys operation broke down, a total of 538,000 pounds of toxic
chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene, poured out of the refinery. Rather than taking the
costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases
to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but hundreds of thousands of pounds still escaped into
the air, according to state environmental officials. Neither the state nor the oil company
informed neighbors or local officials about the pollutants until two weeks after the release
ended, and angry residents of Texas City have signed up in droves to join a $10 billion
class-action lawsuit against BP. The state attorney general, Greg Abbott, has also sued the
company, seeking fines of about $600,000. Scores of Texas City residents said they experienced
respiratory problems this spring, and environmentalists said the release of toxic gases ranked as
one of the largest in the states history. Neil Carman of the Lone Star Sierra Club said the release
was probably even larger than BP had acknowledged.
here.
L.A. officials plan to use heat-beam ray in jail

A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that
causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious
injury and is "tantamount to torture." The mechanism, known as an "Assault Intervention Device,"
is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends highly focused beams of energy at
people and makes them feel as though they are burning. The Los Angeles County sheriff's
department plans to install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world the
technology has been deployed in such a capacity. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern
California criticized Sheriff Lee Baca's decision ..., saying that the technology amounts to a ray
gun at a county jail. The ACLU said the weapon was "tantamount to torture," noting that
early military versions resulted in five airmen suffering lasting burns. It requested a meeting
with Baca, who declined the invitation. [ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg noted that] the sheriff was
creating a dangerous environment with "a weapon that can cause serious injury, that is being put
into a place where there is a long history of abuse of prisoners. That is a toxic combination."
Note: For revealing and reliable reports on so-called "non-lethal" weapons used by police and
military, click here.
22-mile-long oily plume mapped near BP well site

2010-08-19, MSNBC
Scientists on [August 19] reported results from the first detailed study of a giant plume of oily water
near the blown-out BP well stating that it measured at least 22 miles long, more than a mile
wide and 650 feet tall. While other scientists earlier found evidence of plumes in the area, the new
data is the first peer-reviewed study about oil lurking in the water, in this case at some 3,000 feet
below the surface. It's also the first to offer some details about the size and characteristics of a
plume not only vast in size but which remained stable and intact during a 10-day survey last June.
Moreover, the study adds to the controversy over how much oil is still in the Gulf ecosystem from
the spill. The U.S. government earlier this month estimated that 75 percent of the oil that spewed
from the Macondo well had been skimmed, burned or broken up by chemical dispersants and
natural microbes in the water. The plume ... shows the oil "is persisting for longer periods
than we would have expected," lead researcher Rich Camilli said in a statement issued with the
study. "Many people speculated that subsurface oil droplets were being easily biodegraded.
Well, we didnt find that. We found it was still there."
Note: Yet another major media report states an oil eating microbe has made this plume
"undetectable." Is this true, or could it be just pro-oil company propaganda?
States make it illegal to video tape police

2010-08-19, KDVR-TV (Denver, Colorado Fox Network affiliate)
http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-illegal-to-video-cops-txt,0,5743261.story
With more and more ways to take pictures or images, police departments are lobbying state
legislatures to pass laws which in effect allow them to operate without public oversight. "It's not
right," said Colorado Attorney General, John Suthers. "We think that allows police agencies, who
are public employees, working for tax payers, to operate outside the First Amendment." Defense
attorneys also claim the laws give the impression police are above the law. Police work is done in
public and if they are being photographed in public that gives the public the ability to judge their
work (unlike people in the private sector). Many say that getting prosecuted for taking pictures
of police is the [purpose] of police and official intimidation, and when people are ordered to
stop taking pictures of police, few want to test the veracity of those threats; most will
comply. Those who don't will be arrested, but attorneys say it makes little sense to say the
government can take our pictures without letting us take pictures of them. One attorney said, "At
last check, they work for us, we don't work for them."
Note: For key reports from reliable souces on increasing government threats to civil liberties, click
here.
Secret U.S. War Widens on Two Continents

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/world/15shadowwar.html
In roughly a dozen countries from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to
former Soviet republics crippled by ethnic and religious strife the United States has significantly
increased military and intelligence operations, ... using robotic drones and commando teams,
paying contractors to spy and training local operatives. The White House has intensified the
Central Intelligence Agencys drone missile campaign in Pakistan, approved raids ... in Somalia
and launched clandestine operations from Kenya. The administration has worked with European
allies ... in North Africa, efforts that include a recent French strike in Algeria. And the Pentagon
tapped a network of private contractors to gather intelligence ... in Pakistan. While the stealth war
began in the Bush administration, it has expanded under President Obama, who rose to
prominence in part for his early opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Virtually none of the
newly aggressive steps undertaken by the United States government have been publicly
acknowledged. In contrast with the troop buildup in Afghanistan, which came after months of
robust debate, for example, the American military campaign in Yemen began without notice in
December and has never been officially confirmed.
Note: For many revealing reports on the secret operations of the US military and intelligence
services in its "global war on terrorism", click here.
Navy plans could affect more marine mammals

2010-08-05, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/environment/2010-08-05-navymammals05_...
The Navy plans to increase ocean warfare exercises, conduct more sonar tests and expand
coastal training areas by hundreds of square miles activities that could harass, injure or disturb
the habitats of hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, federal records show. The Navy is
seeking federal permits to broaden an existing range off the Pacific Northwest and dramatically
expand exercises and sonar use in the Gulf of Alaska. The Navy's plans have ignited a debate
with environmental groups that say the service underestimates the long-term impact of its activities
and fails to restrict training sufficiently in marine sanctuaries and other areas where it is likely to
affect sensitive species. The plans to expand training off the Pacific Northwest, where the service's
exercise areas reach into the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, have drawn about 3,500
public comments, most in opposition. Critics of the Navy's plans point to its use of new sonar
systems that can disrupt marine mammals' brain function and behavior, noting that even
brief disorientation or other "temporary" effects can have serious consequences, such as
changes in reproductive activity. Among the most serious concerns is the potential for
whales to strand themselves on beaches: Since 2000, there have been at least four instances
in which mass strandings of whales have been associated with the Navy's sonar use, federal
records show.
Note: For many reports on the wonderful abilities of and the terrible threats to marine mammals,
click here.
Breaking a Promise on Surveillance

It is just a technical matter, the Obama administration says: We just need to make a slight change
in a law to make clear that we have the right to see the names of anyones e-mail correspondents
and their Web browsing history without the messy complication of asking a judge for permission. It
is far more than a technical change. The administrations request, reported [on July 29] in The
Washington Post, is an unnecessary and disappointing step backward toward more intrusive
surveillance from a president who promised something very different during the 2008 campaign. To
get this information, the F.B.I. simply has to ask for it in the form of a national security letter, which
is an administrative request that does not require a judges signature. The F.B.I. used these
letters hundreds of thousands of times to demand records of phone calls and other
communications, and the Pentagon used them to get records from banks and consumer
credit agencies. Internal investigations of both agencies found widespread misuse of the
power, and little oversight into how it was wielded. President Obama campaigned for office on an
explicit promise to rein in these abuses. But instead of implementing reasonable civil liberties
protections, like taking requests for e-mail surveillance before a judge, the administration is
proposing changes to the law that would allow huge numbers of new electronic communications to
be examined with no judicial oversight.
Note: For key reports on the growing government and corporate threats to privacy, click here.
Most countries fail to deliver on Haiti aid pledges

2010-07-15, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/14/haiti.donations/index.html
Six months after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, most governments that promised money to
help rebuild the country have not delivered any funds at all. Donors promised $5.3 billion at an
aid conference in March, about two months after the earthquake -- but less than 2 percent
of that money has been handed over so far to the United Nations-backed body set up to
handle it. Only four countries have paid anything at all: Brazil, Norway, Estonia and Australia. The
United States pledged $1.15 billion. It has paid nothing, with the money tied up in the
congressional appropriations process. Venezuela promised even more -- $1.32 billion. It has also
paid nothing, although it has written off some of Haiti's debt. Altogether, about $506 million has
been disbursed to Haiti since the donors' conference in March, said Jehane Sedky of the U.N.
Development Program. That's about 9 percent of the money that was pledged. But about $200
million was money that had been in the pipeline for aid work before the earthquake, and about
another $200 million went directly to the government of Haiti to help it get back on its feet, Sedky
explained. That has left the commission with about $90 million in donations since the conference,
Sedky said.
Iraq: Terror or corruption? Central Bank attack is probed

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/07/iraq-terror-or-corrupti...
Iraqi authorities are investigating a fire that destroyed sensitive documents during an apparent Al
Qaeda in Iraq attack against the Central Bank of Iraq, amid suspicions that the fire may have been
set to destroy evidence in a potentially huge corruption case, officials say. Investigators became
suspicious ... after they discovered that the fire was not caused by [the attack] but rather appeared
to have been started deliberately in a second-floor room that is used by the inspector general
responsible for investigating corruption cases, said Sabah Saadi, who heads the Integrity
Committee in Iraq's parliament, charged with monitoring corruption. According to Saadi, the fire
destroyed documents stored in the room that pertained to a particularly sensitive case involving a
series of fraudulent checks drawn against accounts held by different companies with state-owned
banks. At least $711 million had been found to be missing in the scheme, and two bank managers
had been detained as part of an investigation before the fire, he said. But Saadi suspects that the
scam may have been much larger and could have involved many more people. The
investigation into the fire raises tantalizing questions about the nature of the attack, the
role of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the extent of corruption in the country.
Note: This highly visible attack by "terrorists" masking the destruction of evidence of government
corruption parallels the attacks of 9/11, in which the destruction (likely by controlled demolition) of
WTC 7 served to destroy massive evidence of government and corporate fraud in SEC cases
under investigation.
Goldman Sachs exec to advise central bank

2010-06-29, Businessweek/Associated Press
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GLB2AO3.htm
The chief executive of Goldman Sachs Canada has been named a special adviser to the head of
Canada's central bank. The Bank of Canada said [on June 29] that Timothy Hodgson will
advise central bank head Mark Carney, a former Goldman Sachs executive, on financial
reform. Carney says Hodgson is one of Canada's top investment bankers. Hodgson is leaving
Goldman Sachs. The company has come under sharp criticism over civil fraud charges brought by
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and because of the high pay its executives and
traders received during the financial crisis. Hodgson joined Goldman Sachs in 1990 and became
CEO of its Canadian operations in 2005.
Note: So Canada's central bank head, a former Goldman Sachs exec, will now be advised by the
chief executive of Goldman Sachs Canada. Hmmmmm.
Sticking the public with the bill for the bankers crisis
2010-06-27, Globe and Mail (One of Toronto's leading newspapers)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/opinion/sticking-the-public-...
My city feels like a crime scene and the criminals are all melting into the night, fleeing the scene.
No, Im not talking about the kids in black who smashed windows and burned cop cars on
Saturday. Im talking about the heads of state who, on Sunday night, smashed social safety nets
and burned good jobs in the middle of a recession. Faced with the effects of a crisis created by
the worlds wealthiest and most privileged strata, they decided to stick the poorest and
most vulnerable people in their countries with the bill. How else can we interpret the G20s
final communiqu, which includes not even a measly tax on banks or financial transactions, yet
instructs governments to slash their deficits in half by 2013. This is a huge and shocking cut, and
we should be very clear who will pay the price: students who will see their public educations further
deteriorate as their fees go up; pensioners who will lose hard-earned benefits; public-sector
workers whose jobs will be eliminated. And the list goes on. These types of cuts have already
begun in many G20 countries including Canada, and they are about to get a lot worse. But there is
nothing to say that citizens of G20 countries need to take orders from this hand-picked club.
Already, workers, pensioners and students have taken to the streets against austerity measures in
Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Greece, often marching under the slogan: We wont pay for
your crisis. And they have plenty of suggestions for how to raise revenues to meet their respective
budget shortfalls. Many are calling for a financial transaction tax that would slow down hot money
and raise new money for social programs.
Note: This report from Toronto is by Naomi Klein, the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of
Disaster Capitalism. For powerful evidence that the violence at the recent G20 meeting was largely
instigated by undercover police, click here.
High Court Sides With Ex-Enron CEO Skilling

2010-06-24, NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128088331&ft=1&f=1001
The U.S Supreme Court has severely restricted the ability of federal prosecutors to bring
corruption cases against public officials and corporate executives. The court unanimously
imposed stark limits on the so-called honest services law that for decades has been a key
tool in prosecuting corruption cases. The court's ruling came in the case of former Enron
executive Jeffrey Skilling, convicted of engaging in a scheme to enrich himself by
deceiving shareholders about his company's true financial condition. He was convicted of a
variety of charges, including depriving the Enron investors of his honest services. The Supreme
Court ruled that the definition of honest services in federal law was so broad that, if viewed literally,
it would be unconstitutionally vague, providing inadequate notice to citizens about what conduct is
legal and what is not. Instead, a six-justice majority led by Ruth Bader Ginsburg declined to
invalidate the law outright, but read it narrowly to cover only bribery and kickbacks. Three other
justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas would have, for all practical
purposes, invalided the statute in its entirety.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on corporate and government (including the judicial
branch) corruption, click here and here.
Each day, another way to define worst-case for oil spill

The base-line measures of the [Gulf of Mexico] crisis have steadily worsened. The estimated flow
rate keeps rising. The well is like something deranged, stronger than anyone anticipated. Week by
week, the truth of this disaster has drifted toward the stamping ground of the alarmists. The most
disturbing of the worst-case scenarios ... is that the Deepwater Horizon well has been so badly
damaged that it has spawned multiple leaks from the seafloor, making containment impossible and
a long-term solution much more complicated. Much of the worst-case-scenario talk has centered
on the flow rate of the well. Rep. Edward J. Markey [said on NBC's "Meet the Press], "I ... have a
document that shows that BP actually believes it could go upwards of 100,000 barrels per
day. So, again, right from the beginning, BP was either lying or grossly incompetent." Today
the official government estimate of the flow, based on multiple techniques that include subsea
video and satellite surveys of the oil sick on the surface, is 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day. In
effect, what BP considered the worst-case scenario in early May is in late June the bitter reality -call it the new normal -- of the gulf blowout.
Note: A NASA photo of the extent of the gulf oil spill speaks a thousand words at this link.
Gulf oil spill worsens -- but what about the safety of gas fracking?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/06/gulf-oil-spill-bp-hydrauli...
Imagine a siege of hydrocarbons spewing from deep below ground, polluting water and air,
sickening animals and threatening the health of unsuspecting Americans. And no one knows how
long it will last. No, were not talking about BPs gulf oil spill. Were talking about hydraulic
fracturing of natural gas deposits. Fracking, as the practice is also known, may be coming to a
drinking well or a water system near you. It involves blasting water, sand and chemicals, many of
them toxic, into underground rock to extract oil or gas. "Gasland," a compelling documentary on
HBO ..., traces hydraulic fracturing across 34 states from California to Louisiana to Pennsylvania.
The expos by filmmaker Josh Fox, alternately chilling and darkly humorous, won the 2010
Sundance Film Festivals special jury prize for documentary. It details how former Vice
President Dick Cheney, in partnership with the energy industry and drilling companies such
as his former employer, Halliburton Corp., successfully pressured Congress in 2005 to
exempt fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act and other
environmental laws. Each well requires the high-pressure injection of a cocktail of nearly 600
chemicals, including known carcinogens and neurotoxins, diluted in 1 million to 7 million gallons of
water. Some 450,000 wells have been drilled nationwide.
Note: For many reliable reports on government and corporate corruption, click here and here.
Mafia plot to smear Kennedys using Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7827593/Mafia-plot...
Mafia bosses planned to "compromise" Bobby and Edward Kennedy at a New York party in a plot
involving Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, according to FBI documents. The intention was to
work through "associates" of the two stars to lure the Kennedys, as well as Peter Lawford, their
British actor brother-in-law and fellow member of Sinatra's "rat pack", into actions they would
regret. The plot is thought to have fizzled out, but it is consistent with other accounts of the
extraordinary links between [the Kennedys], the country's biggest stars and organised
crime. Monroe, who died in 1962, allegedly had affairs with both Bobby Kennedy and John F
Kennedy. It has previously been claimed that she passed on pillow talk from Bobby Kennedy to
Sinatra who in turn passed them on to his mafia friends. As attorney general Robert Kennedy
launched several investigations into the mob which it may have felt warranted a measure of
retribution. From early on in his four-decade career in the senate, Edward Kennedy, the youngest
of the three brothers, was known for his affairs with women and extravagant drinking habits.
Papers released earlier this year the library of former president Richard Nixon showed that in the
early 1970s he discussed with the aides the possibility of discrediting Kennedy by leaking news of
his infidelities. Agents in Milwaukee took the information from an unidentified source "who had
furnished reliable information in the past," according to the memo. However, the informant could
not verify the truth of any of the rumor's details.
Revealed: Japan's bribes on whaling

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7149091.ece
A Sunday Times investigation has exposed Japan for bribing small nations with cash and
prostitutes to gain their support for the mass slaughter of whales. The undercover investigation
found officials from six countries were willing to consider selling their votes on the International
Whaling Commission (IWC). The revelations come as Japan seeks to break the 24-year
moratorium on commercial whaling. An IWC meeting that will decide the fate of thousands of
whales, including endangered species, begins this month in Morocco. Japan denies buying the
votes of IWC members. However, The Sunday Times filmed officials from pro-whaling
governments admitting: - They voted with the whalers because of the large amounts of aid from
Japan. One said he was not sure if his country had any whales in its territorial waters. Others are
landlocked. They receive cash payments in envelopes at IWC meetings from Japanese
officials who pay their travel and hotel bills. - One disclosed that call girls were offered
when fisheries ministers and civil servants visited Japan for meetings. Barry Gardiner, an
MP and former Labour biodiversity minister, said the investigation revealed disgraceful, shady
practice, which is effectively buying votes.
Note: For key articles from reliable sources on the amazing qualities and sad human abuse of
marine mammals, click here.
Canada to spend $1 billion on summit security

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FUOGAO4.htm
Canada's public safety minister says the country is spending nearly $1 billion for security
at the G-8 and G-20 summits next month. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Wednesday
Canada has budgeted up to $930 million Canadian (US$872 million). Toews says hosting two
summits back-to-back is unprecedented. Canada is hosting the G-20 -- the group of leading rich
and developing nations -- economic summit on June 26-27 in Toronto. The G-8 -- the group of
leading industrial nations -- is meeting in Huntsville, Ontario, the day before the G-20 summit.
Toews says it is a necessary level of security but opposition parties decried the cost.
Note: When the world's leaders have to spend $1 billion to protect themselves, it is a good
indicator that they no longer trust the people, and the people don't trust them.
Bankers jailed, sued as Iceland seeks culprits for crisis

2010-05-13, Daily Telegraph (Australia)/AFP
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/breaking-news/bankers-jailed-sued-a...
More than a year and a half after Iceland's major banks failed, all but sinking the country's
economy, police have begun rounding up a number of top bankers while other former executives
and owners face a $US2 billion ($2.24 billion) lawsuit. Since Iceland's three largest banks Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir - collapsed in late 2008, their former executives and owners
have largely been living untroubled lives abroad. But the publication last month of a
parliamentary inquiry into the island nation's profound financial and economic crisis
signalled a turning of the tide, laying much of the blame for the downfall on the former bank
heads who had taken "inappropriate loans from the banks" they worked for. Overnight, the
administrators of Glitnir's liquidation announced they had filed a $US2 billion lawsuit in a New York
court against former large shareholders and executives for alleged fraud. "I think this lawsuit is
without precedence in Iceland," Steinunn Gudbjartsdottir, who chairs Glitnir's so-called winding-up
board, told reporters in Reykjavik. The bank also said it was "taking action against its former
auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for facilitating and helping to conceal the fraudulent
transactions engineered by [its principal shareholder] and his associates, which ultimately led to
the bank's collapse in October 2008."
Note: Yet American and British bankers who played a major role in the economic collapse are
getting record pay. For an incisive article in Rolling Stone titled "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" click
here. For key reports on financial fraud from major media sources, click here.
GM repays federal loan with government money

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/26/BUS91D55HR.DTL
You'd think that General Motors Co., having been rescued by U.S. taxpayers, would be more upfront with them. In an ad that has been blanketing the airwaves since last week, General Motors
Chairman and chief executive Ed Whitacre boasts that "we have repaid our government loan, in
full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule." In a press release, Whitacre said GM
was able to repay the loans "because more customers are buying vehicles like the Chevrolet
Malibu and Buick LaCrosse." Neither the ad nor the press release mentioned that GM repaid
its government loan with other government money, or that U.S. taxpayers could lose money
on the roughly $50 billion they still have invested in General Motors. In a letter to Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the repayment "appears
to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle."
Note: For lots more on the bailout shell game from reliable sources, click here.
What Would Daniel Ellsberg Do With the Pentagon Papers Today?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/business/media/19link.html
Before Wikileaks, or even the Internet, there were just plain leaks. Two weeks ago, Wikileaks.org
released a classified video showing a United States Apache helicopter killing 12 civilians in
Baghdad. The reaction was so swift and powerful an edited version has been viewed six million
times on YouTube that the episode provoked many questions about how such material is now
released and digested. Put another way: if someone today had the Pentagon Papers, or the
modern equivalent, would he still go to the press, as Daniel Ellsberg did nearly 40 years ago and
wait for the documents to be analyzed and published? Or would that person simply post them
online immediately? Mr. Ellsberg knows his answer. I wouldnt have waited that long, he
said in an interview last week. I would have gotten a scanner and put them on the
Internet. Today, he says, there is something enticing about being independent not at the whim
of publishers or government attempts to control release. The government wouldnt have been
tempted to enjoin it, if I had put it all out at once, he said. We got this duel going between
newspapers and the government.
Note: For many key reports from reliable sources on government secrecy, click here.
For Two Grieving Families, Video Reveals Grim Truth

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07baghdad.html
The women of Saeed Chmaghs family wept, but the men did not as they watched a video of
him being shot to death by a gunner on an American Apache attack helicopter. I saw the
truth, Samir Chmagh, 19, son of the dead man, said Tuesday in his familys living
room in Baghdad. They saw clearly that they were journalists and that they were holding
cameras. It was painful when we saw this movie. In July 2007 on the streets of Baghdad ...
American troops gunned down men they identified as insurgents. The attack left 12 people dead,
including Namir Noor-Eldeen, a 22-year-old Reuters photographer, and Mr. Chmagh, 40, a driver
and assistant for the news agency. A video from the cockpit of an Apache helicopter was released
on Monday by WikiLeaks.org, an online organization that said it had received the video from a
whistle-blower in the military. The video has become an Internet sensation, with defenders saying
the soldiers believed they were under threat and critics denouncing what they said were callous
and bloodthirsty comments by the soldiers as they killed about a dozen people. At last the truth
has been revealed, and Im satisfied God revealed the truth, Noor Eldeen, the
photographers father, said in Mosul. If such an incident took place in America ... what would
they do?
Note: To view this disturbing video which shows how some soldiers consider this kind of killing to
be a fun game, click here.
U.S. Court Curbs F.C.C. Authority on Web Traffic

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07net.html
A federal appeals court ruled on [April 6] that regulators [have] limited power over Web traffic
under current law. The decision will allow Internet service companies to block or slow
specific sites and charge video sites like YouTube to deliver their content faster to users.
The court decision was a setback to efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to require
companies to give Web users equal access to all content. The F.C.C. will now have to
reconsider its strategy for mandating net neutrality, the principle that all Internet content
should be treated equally by network providers. One option would be to reclassify broadband
service as a sort of basic utility subject to strict regulation, like telephone service. Telephone
companies and broadband providers have already indicated that they would vigorously oppose
such a move. You cant have innovation if all the big companies get the fast lane, said Gigi B.
Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, which advocates for consumer rights on digital issues. Look
at Google, eBay, Yahoo none of those companies would have survived if 15 years ago we had
a fast lane and a slow lane on the Internet.
Top US psychiatrist calls for ethics cleanup

2010-03-23, Kansas City Star/Associated Press
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/23/1832184/top-us-psychiatrist-calls-for.html
American psychiatrists need to break away from a "culture of influence" created by their financial
dealings with the drug industry, the head of the National Institute of Mental Health said in a leading
medical journal. Dr. Thomas Insel stops short of calling researchers corrupt or asking them to stop
taking money from drug companies. But he highlights a "bias in prescribing practices" that favors
brand names drugs over cheaper generics and non-drug treatments. And he says the situation
must change with new standards for transparency and full disclosure of psychiatry's
collaborations with industry. "We can show the rest of medicine how to clean up our act,"
Insel told The Associated Press. Current National Institutes of Health rules on financial disclosure
are confusing, Insel said. They allow researchers seeking federal funds to make their own
judgments about what constitutes a significant financial interest, which they must report to their
academic or research institutions. The rules also exempt disclosures of anything below $10,000
annually or 5 percent equity interest in a company.
Note: For a top-notch overview of medical corruption, click here.
When drug makers' profits outweigh penalties

2010-03-21, Washington Post/Bloomberg News
Across the United States, pharmaceutical companies have pleaded guilty to criminal
charges or paid penalties in civil cases when the Justice Department finds that they
deceptively marketed drugs for unapproved uses, putting millions of people at risk of chest
infections, heart attacks, suicidal impulses or death. "Marketing departments of many drug
companies don't respect any boundaries of professionalism or the law," says Jerry Avorn, a
professor at Harvard Medical School. The widespread off-label promotion of drugs is yet another
manifestation of a health-care system that has become dysfunctional. About 15 percent of all U.S.
drug sales are for unapproved uses without adequate evidence the medicines work, according to a
study by Randall Stafford, a medical professor at Stanford University. As large as the penalties are
for drug companies caught breaking the off-label law, the fines are tiny compared with the firms'
annual revenue. The $2.3 billion in fines and penalties Pfizer paid for marketing Bextra and three
other drugs cited in the Sept. 2 plea agreement for off-label uses amount to just 14 percent of its
$16.8 billion in revenue from selling those medicines from 2001 to 2008.
Disturbing story of Fallujah's birth defects

2010-03-04, BBC News
Six years after the intense fighting began in the Iraqi town of Fallujah between US forces and
Sunni insurgents, there is a disturbingly large number of cases of birth defects in the town. Fallujah
is less than 40 miles (65km) from Baghdad, but it can still be dangerous to get to. As a result,
there has been no authoritative medical investigation, certainly by any Western team, into
the allegations that the weapons used by the Americans are still causing serious problems.
The Iraqi government line is that there are only one or two extra cases of birth defects per year in
Fallujah, compared with the national average. But in the ... Fallujah General Hospital ... we found a
paediatric specialist, Dr Samira al-Ani, who told us that she saw two or three new cases every day.
Most of them, she said, exhibited cardiac problems. The specialist, like other medical staff at the
hospital, seemed nervous about talking too openly about the problem. But it is impossible, as a
visitor, not to be struck by the terrible number of cases of birth defects there. We heard many times
that officials in Fallujah had warned women that they should not have children. We went to a clinic
for the disabled, and were given details of dozens upon dozens of cases of children with serious
birth defects.
Note: There is strong evidence that the US military was experimenting with dangerous weapons
like white phosphorus in Fallujah. For more on this, click here.
The F.B.I.s Anthrax Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/opinion/28sun2.html
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a report that is supposed to clinch the case that a
lone scientist mailed anthrax-laced letters in 2001, terrorizing a country already traumatized by the
9/11 attacks. The agency cites voluminous circumstantial evidence ... but its report leaves too
many loose ends to be taken as a definitive verdict. The scientist Dr. Bruce Ivins, an Army
biodefense expert killed himself in 2008 as the investigation moved ever closer to an indictment.
That means the evidence and the F.B.I.s conclusion that he was the culprit and acted alone will
never be tested in court. Problematic is the investigative work that led the F.B.I. to conclude that
only Dr. Ivins, among perhaps 100 scientists who had access to the same flask, could have sent
the letters. The case has always been hobbled by a lack of direct evidence tying Dr. Ivins to
the letters. No witnesses who saw him prepare the powdered anthrax or mail the letters. No
anthrax spores in his house or car. No incriminating fingerprints, fibers or DNA. No confession to a
colleague or in a suicide note, just opaque ramblings in e-mail that the F.B.I. interprets as evidence
of guilt. The F.B.I. has a troubling history of building a circumstantial case against suspects
who are later exonerated. We ... agree with Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey, who is
calling for an independent assessment to validate the findings.
Note: For a recent Wall Street Journal report on the unsolved anthrax attacks, click here.
Justice Dept. Reveals More Missing E-Mail Files

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/us/27justice.html
Large batches of e-mail records from the Justice Department lawyers who worked on the 2002
legal opinions justifying the Bush administrations brutal interrogation techniques are missing. At a
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who leads
the panel, angrily demanded to know what had happened to the e-mail files, and he noted that the
destruction of government records, including official e-mail messages, was a criminal offense. He
said the records gap called into question the completeness of the departments internal reviews of
the work done by the lawyers in the Bush years. The Justice Departments Office of Professional
Responsibility, which spent more than four years investigating the handling of the legal opinions
about interrogation policies after the Sept. 11 attacks, pushed to get access to a range of e-mail
records and other internal documents from the Justice Department to aid in its investigation. But it
discovered that many e-mail messages to and from John C. Yoo, who wrote the bulk of the
legal opinions for the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel, were missing. Also
deleted were a months worth of e-mail files from the summer of 2002 for Patrick Philbin, another
Justice Department lawyer who worked on the interrogation opinions.
Note: For powerful exposures from reliable sources of growing government secrecy, click here.
A Vision of Iceland as a Haven for Journalists

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22link.html
Iceland, where the journalists run free. Iceland is considering a new vision: to become a haven for
journalists and publishers by offering some of the most aggressive protections for free speech and
investigative journalism in the world. The proposal, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative,
combines in a single piece of legislation provisions from around the world: whistle-blower laws and
rules about Internet providers from the United States; source protection laws from Belgium;
freedom of information laws from Estonia and Scotland, among others; and New York States law
to counteract libel tourism, the practice of suing in courts, like Britains, where journalists have the
hardest time prevailing. We would become the inverse of a tax haven, said Birgitta Jonsdottir, a
member of Parliament and a sponsor of the initiative. They are trying to make everything opaque.
We are trying to make it transparent. For many observers, this legislation represents a direct
reversal of recent Icelandic history. Secret dealings by a few banks in Iceland, combined with
a lack of regulation and oversight, led to calamitous debts that were nine times the gross
domestic product. In response, Iceland would institutionalize the most aggressive sunshine
laws possible.
U.S. data about Guantanamo detainee's treatment is revealed in Britain

The British government [has] disclosed once-secret details of the United States' harsh treatment of
a former Guantanamo Bay detainee after losing a lengthy legal battle to suppress the information.
According to the information, from a judge's summary of a classified CIA report to British
authorities, Binyam Mohamed was subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment during
interrogations in Pakistan in 2002, including being shackled and deprived of sleep while
interrogators played upon "his fears of being removed from United States custody and
'disappearing.' " Mohamed, 31, was born in Ethiopia and lives in Britain. Arrested in Pakistan in
2002, he says he was tortured by American authorities and others under U.S. instruction there and
in Morocco. He says he was beaten with a leather strap, subjected to a mock execution and sliced
with a scalpel on his chest and penis. Mohamed says Britain knew about his treatment because
information used during his questioning could have come only from British intelligence. He spent
seven years in detention, four of them at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Reprieve, a legal organization representing Mohamed in a lawsuit against the British government,
said in a statement that the disclosures show that "the U.S. documented their efforts to
abuse Mr. Mohamed" and that British authorities "knew he was being abused and did
nothing about it."
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the illegal actions undertaken by the US and UK in
the prosecution of the fraudulent "war on terror," click here.
Pentagon to Increase Stock of High-Altitude Drones

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-05/pentagon-to-increase-stock-of-hig...
The U.S. military plans to more than triple its inventory of high-altitude, armed and unarmed
drones capable of 24-hour patrols. The long-range aviation plan delivered to Congress Feb.
2 calls for 800 high-altitude drones, up from 220 currently. We cant get enough drones,
General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, which includes the Afghanistan and
Iraq war theaters, said in a speech Jan. 19. Of the militarys 6,819 unmanned aircraft, only the
high- altitude long-endurance drones can provide ground commanders wide-ranging, round-theclock surveillance and the opportunity for instant strike. The new planes will include Global Hawks
built by Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. and Predator and Reaper drones. The Air
Force uses those three model drones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Northrop also will build its new
broad-area surveillance aircraft for the Navy. The U.S. military currently flies about 39 combat-air
patrols for 24 hours each over Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Air Force Lieutenant General
David Deptula. The Pentagon has said it would increase the patrols to 50 a day in the next two
years and 65 by 2013.
Note: For key reports from media sources on new weapons development by the Pentagon, click
here and here.
FBI broke law for years in phone record searches

The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by
invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to
provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals
after the fact to justify their actions. E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how
counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put
in place to protect civil liberties. A Justice Department inspector general's report due out this month
is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests. FBI
officials said they thought that nearly all of the requests involved terrorism investigations.
FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said ... that the FBI technically violated the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act when agents invoked nonexistent emergencies to collect
records.
Note: The FBI, by admitting that "nearly all" of the phone records they obtained were
"terrorism investigations," make it clear that some were not. But they used claims of
emergency" to obtain them. These they then assert were merely "technical" violations.
disturbing reports from major media sources on the increasing threats to civil liberties
pretext of the "war on terrorism," click here.
related to
"terrorism
For many
under the
Vets: Burn pits are killing us

2010-01-16, Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_14182242
From the testing of chemical and biological weapons on soldiers and some civilians during the
Cold War, to the vast use of toxic herbicides such as Agent Orange in Vietnam, to the unexplained
illnesses suffered by veterans of the first war in Iraq, military service has sickened generation after
generation of U.S. service members. But when confronted with ill and dying veterans, the
nation's military leaders have turned to a time-honored tradition: denial. For years flames
lapped at the sky, sending thick black plumes of smoke into the air across Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yet even as the military's own environmental health experts quietly warned that the toxic fumes
from open-air burn pits, located at every major U.S. base across the war zones, might sicken
troops, military health officials stood their ground. The pits, they said, were not a danger. But
veterans groups, families and members of Congress pressed for a more thorough investigation as
thousands of warfighters returned suffering from respiratory illnesses, skin diseases, cancers and
blood diseases.
Ex-Homeland Security chief head said to abuse public trust by touting

body scanners
Since the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security
secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal
government to buy more full-body scanners for airports. What he has made little mention of is that
the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the
machines. An airport passengers' rights group ... criticized Chertoff, who left office less than a year
ago, for using his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.
"Mr. Chertoff should not be allowed to ... privately gain from the sale of full-body scanners
under the pretense that the scanners would have detected this particular type of
explosive," said Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, which opposes the use of the scanners.
Chertoff's advocacy for the technology dates back to his time in the Bush administration. In 2005,
Homeland Security ordered the government's first batch of the scanners. Today, 40 body scanners
are in use at 19 U.S. airports. The number is expected to skyrocket at least in part because of the
Christmas Day incident. The Transportation Security Administration this week said it will order 300
more machines.
Note: For lots more on the profiteering that underlies "the war on terror," click here.
Police expect Mumbai-style terror attack on City of London

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6962867.ece
Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital. In
a briefing in the City of London ... a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counterterrorism command, said: Mumbai is coming to London. The detective said companies should
anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid involving a small number of gunmen with handguns
and improvised explosive devices. The warning the bluntest issued by police has underlined
an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year. It was
issued by the Met through its network of security forums, which provide business leaders, local
government and the emergency services with counter-terrorism advice. Officials now report an
increase in intelligence chatter communications captured by electronic eavesdropping
agencies. One senior security adviser said the police warnings had intensified and become much
more specific in the past fortnight. Before, there has been speculation. Now we are getting
what appears to be a definite plot to carry out a firearms attack on London, he said. Earlier
this year, police, military and intelligence services held an exercise in Kent to see whether
they could defeat a commando raid in London by terrorists.
Note: How can police "expect" a terror attack? Why wouldn't they be able to thwart it if they have
enough information to expect it? With profound questions about the reality of the Mumbai attacks
and "terrorism" still unanswered, this prediction of similar attacks in London raises suspicions that
the reality may be quite different from what the police are saying. For many other reports from
reliable sources that raise profound questions about the official accounts of "terrorist incidents,"
click here.
Millions of missing Bush admin. e-mails found

Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration
of President George W. Bush ... according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush
White House to install an electronic record keeping system. The two private groups Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW] and the National Security Archive said Monday
they were settling the lawsuits they filed against the Executive Office of the President in 2007. It
will be years before the public sees any of the recovered e-mails because they will now go through
the National Archives' process for releasing presidential and agency records. Presidential records
of the Bush administration won't be available until 2014 at the earliest. The 22 million e-mails
"would never have been found but for our lawsuits and pressure from Capitol Hill," said Anne
Weismann, chief counsel for CREW. "It was only then that they did this reanalysis and found as a
result that there were 22 million e-mails that they were unable to account for before." "We may
never discover the full story of what happened here," said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive
director. "It seems like they just didn't want the e-mails preserved." Sloan said the latest
count of misplaced e-mails "gives us confirmation that the Bush administration lied when
they said no e-mails were missing."
Poor Children Likelier to Get Antipsychotics

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/health/12medicaid.html
New federally financed drug research reveals a stark disparity: children covered by
Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than
children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to
receive the drugs for less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts, the data shows.
Those findings, by a team from Rutgers and Columbia, are almost certain to add fuel to a longrunning debate. Do too many children from poor families receive powerful psychiatric drugs not
because they actually need them but because it is deemed the most efficient and cost-effective
way to control problems that may be handled much differently for middle-class children? The
questions go beyond the psychological impact on Medicaid children, serious as that may be.
Antipsychotic drugs can also have severe physical side effects, causing drastic weight gain and
metabolic changes resulting in lifelong physical problems. Part of the reason is insurance
reimbursements, as Medicaid often pays much less for counseling and therapy than private
insurers do. Studies have found that children in low-income families may have a higher rate of
mental health problems perhaps two to one compared with children in better-off families. But
that still does not explain the four-to-one disparity in prescribing antipsychotics.
Note: For many important health reports from reliable sources, click here.
Mark Pittman, Reporter Who Challenged Fed Secrecy, Dies at 52

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=af7QohP8YdRo&pos=12
Mark Pittman, the award-winning reporter whose fight to make the Federal Reserve more
accountable to taxpayers led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died Nov. 25 in
Yonkers, New York. He was 52. Pittman suffered from heart-related illnesses. He was one of the
great financial journalists of our time, said Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia
University in New York and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for economics. His death is
shocking. A former police-beat reporter who joined Bloomberg News in 1997, Pittman wrote
stories in 2007 predicting the collapse of the banking system. That year, he won the Gerald Loeb
Award from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the highest accolade in financial
journalism, for "Wall Streets Faustian Bargain," a series of articles on the breakdown of the U.S.
mortgage industry. Pittmans push to open the Fed to more scrutiny resulted in an Aug. 24 victory
in Manhattan Federal Court affirming the publics right to know about the central banks more than
$2 trillion in assistance to financial firms.
Note: To see a one-minute video of mind-blowing US Congressional testimony on a CIA dart gun
which can easily cause a heart attack, click here. The poison from this gun is undetectable on
autopsy. Could such a weapon be used by the rich and powerful bankers who might want to
silence someone who threatens literally billions of dollars of profits, someone like Mark Pittman?
Afghans Detail Detention in Black Jail at U.S. Base

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/world/asia/29bagram.html
An American military detention camp in Afghanistan is still holding inmates ... without access to the
International Committee of the Red Cross. The site, known to detainees as the black jail, consists
of individual windowless concrete cells, each illuminated by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a
day. Former detainees said that their only human contact was at twice-daily interrogation sessions.
While Mr. Obama signed an order to eliminate so-called black sites run by the [CIA] in
January, it did not also close this jail, which is run by military Special Operations forces.
Military officials said as recently as this summer that the Afghanistan jail and another like it at the
Balad Air Base in Iraq were being used to interrogate high-value detainees. And officials said
recently that there were no plans to close the jails. All three former detainees interviewed by
The New York Times complained of being held for months after the intensive interrogations were
over without being told why. Human rights researchers say they worry that the jail remains in the
shadows and largely inaccessible both to the Red Cross and the Afghan Independent Human
Rights Commission.
Note: For many revealing reports from major media sources on the worsening threats to civil
U.S. readies plan to ID departing visitors

2009-11-08, Washingon Post
The Department of Homeland Security is finalizing a proposal to collect fingerprints or eye scans
from all foreign travelers at U.S. airports as they leave the country, officials said, a costly screening
program that airlines have opposed. The plan ... would collect fingerprints at airport security
checkpoints, departure gates or terminal kiosks, allowing the government to track when roughly 35
million foreign visitors a year. In a concession to industry, DHS said it probably will drop plans to
require airlines to pay for the bulk of the program and is looking to cut costs, which could reach
$1 billion to $2 billion over a decade, largely to be paid by taxpayers or foreign travelers. In
addition, the program would not operate for now at land borders, where 80 percent of noncitizens
enter and leave the country, because fingerprinting travelers there could cost billions more and
significantly delay commerce. Congress focused on inbound travelers after the [September 11,
2001 attacks,] appropriating $3 billion since 2003 on the US-VISIT tracking program. The program
collects biological identifiers, such as fingerprints and digital photographs, from all arriving
foreigners except Canadians and Mexicans with special border-crossing cards. By the time Bush
administration officials unveiled a $3.5 billion program in April 2008, however, political impetus for
changes had weakened.
click here.
Brother of Afghan Leader Said to Be Paid by C.I.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the countrys
booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has
for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials. The C.I.A.s
practices ... suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out
the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban. The relationship
between Mr. Karzai and the C.I.A. is wide ranging. He helps the C.I.A. operate a paramilitary
group, the Kandahar Strike Force, that is used for raids against suspected insurgents. On at least
one occasion, the strike force has been accused of mounting an unauthorized operation against an
official of the Afghan government. Mr. Karzai is also paid for allowing the C.I.A. and American
Special Operations troops to rent a large compound outside the city. Hes our landlord, a senior
American official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. A former C.I.A. officer with
experience in Afghanistan said the agency relied heavily on Ahmed Wali Karzai, and often based
covert operatives at compounds he owned.
Note: To read an analysis of these revelations, which argues that there is a much bigger story of
"heavy dependence by U.S. and NATO counterinsurgency forces on Afghan warlords for security",
click here.
Derivatives: Dont Let Exceptions Kill the Rule

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/business/economy/18gret.html
Congress began the work of reforming our troubled financial system last week, and a bill aimed at
regulating derivatives passed the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. Derivatives
contracts that theoretically protect buyers from unforeseen financial calamities but more often
are used to fuel raw speculation were ... at the heart of the banking crisis. Credit default swaps
... propelled the American International Group off the cliff. Those swaps also linked millions of
trading partners, creating a web in which one default threatened to produce a chain of corporate
and economic failures worldwide. And derivatives arent going away. So reforming the $42 trillion
market for credit swaps is crucial if taxpayers are to be protected from future rescues of institutions
deemed not only too big but also too interconnected to fail. The best aspect of the House bill is that
it requires many swaps to be traded on exchanges just like stocks, subjecting them for the first
time to the light of day. But elsewhere in the bill, ... exceptions to this exchange-trading rule
undermine its regulatory power. Big banks dealing in swaps dont want exchange trading, where
pricing and the identities of participants would be more publicly transparent. Michael Greenberger,
a University of Maryland law professor and an expert in derivatives, criticized the House bill. The
plain language of the legislation can only be read as a Christmas tree of decorative gifts to
the banking industry, he said. And this is being done when people acknowledge the
unregulated O.T.C. derivatives market was a principal reason for the meltdown.
Note: For lots more on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
C.I.A. Is Still Cagey About Oswald Mystery

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/us/17inquire.html
Is the Central Intelligence Agency covering up some dark secret about the assassination of John F.
Kennedy? For six years, the agency has fought in federal court to keep secret hundreds of
documents from 1963, when an anti-Castro Cuban group it paid clashed publicly with the soon-tobe [alleged] assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The files in question, some released under direction of
the court and hundreds more that are still secret, involve the curious career of George E.
Joannides, the case officer who oversaw the dissident Cubans in 1963. In 1978, the agency made
Mr. Joannides the liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations but never told the
committee of his earlier role. That concealment has fueled suspicion that Mr. Joannidess real
assignment was to limit what the House committee could learn about C.I.A. activities. The
agencys deception was first reported in 2001 by Jefferson Morley, who has doggedly pursued the
files ever since. Mr. Morley, 51, [is] a former Washington Post reporter and the author of a 2008
biography of a former C.I.A. station chief in Mexico. After losing an appeals court decision in Mr.
Morleys lawsuit, the C.I.A. released material last year confirming Mr. Joannidess deep
involvement with the anti-Castro Cubans who confronted Oswald. But the agency is withholding
295 specific documents from the 1960s and 70s, while refusing to confirm or deny the existence of
many others. The deceptions began in 1964 with the Warren Commission. The C.I.A. hid its
schemes to kill Fidel Castro and its ties to the anti-Castro Directorio Revolucionario
Estudantil, or Cuban Student Directorate, which received $50,000 a month in C.I.A. support
during 1963. In the years since Oswald was named as the assassin, speculation about who might
have been behind him has never ended.
Note: For WantToKnow.info team member Peter Dale Scott's analysis of the extraordinary
significance of this New York Times article, click here. For two revealing clips suggesting the
official explanation of the JFK assassination was manipulated, click here (for a five-minute clip
from the History Channel) and here (for a highly revealing documentary from a CBS affiliate).
Open Letter To New York State Over Mandatory Vaccination

2009-09-30, CBS News blog
As a group of healthcare workers, we are being mandated by a new New York state law to receive
the seasonal flu vaccine and H1N1 vaccines. If we do not receive these vaccines by November
30th, that inaction is to be considered our resignation. We must sign a consent for the vaccines
prior to their administration. The manufacturers have been granted immunity by the government;
they cannot be sued for untoward effects. We do not want to receive these vaccines. Our
educated studies of risks versus benefits conclude that the risks of the vaccine are greater
than the possible benefits. All health care workers with direct patient care are mandated to
receive the vaccine, so the coercion is real -- we cannot just go find a job "somewhere else." And
the job market of 2009 does not offer opportunity in a different arena where we could still feed our
families. We understand the fear that swine flu and influenza has generated. While our sources of
information indicate that swine flu is not a pandemic, we know that the slanted research fed by
the media offers results intended to frighten the public. We do not have the power to stop the
fear that mass hype is able to generate. We hear the hype you are fed. We do not want to bring
you harm, but we should not be forced into harm's way ourselves.
Note: For more on mandatory flu vaccinations, click here.
Sorry, we can't tell you. And we can't tell you that we can't
2009-09-23, The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspaper)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/sep/23/gagging-or...
The battle against "legalese" ... has made steady progress since the term was first coined in the
early 20th century. Yet one uniquely baffling genre of court document continues to grow: a new
generation of omnipotent injunctions ... more abstract, all-encompassing, and powerful [than
simple injunctions]. [Imagine] one that, in addition to prohibiting publication of information, ordered
that you "must not use and must not publish or communicate or disclose the information that A has
obtained an injunction". Regrettably, this is not a rare Kafkaesque experiment in civil procedure. It
is, in fact, reality in a growing number of cases brought before England and Wales's high court. Of
course it is impossible to say just how many of these cases there are. The parties are unable to
discuss them, so their existence often passes by unnoticed by a wider audience; and even where
the existence of these injunctions does come to the attention of the press, journalists are equally
bound by their terms, risking contempt of court should they report them. There are indications
though, that these once rare weapons are becoming a more regular feature of the legal battlefield.
More alarming still is the fact that corporations, with motives centred more on their brand
and reputation than personal disaster, are invoking these orders, gagging others from
saying they have been gagged, let alone whatever they initially wanted to speak out about.
Fed Rejects Geithner Request for Study of Governance, Structure

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=adjvXg1zP.zY
The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
for a public review of the central banks structure and governance, three people familiar with the
matter said. U.S. lawmakers have also called for a review of the Feds power and structure, saying
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke overstepped his authority as he bailed out creditors of Bear
Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc. while battling a crisis that led to $1.62 trillion
in writedowns and losses at financial firms. While the report requested by the Treasury hasnt
been formally scrapped, no work has been done on the project, which was due Oct. 1.
Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams declined to comment, as did Fed spokeswoman
Michelle Smith. Congressional leaders have balked at the notion of giving the Fed more power
and are leaning toward vesting authority over capital, liquidity and risk-management practices of
big banks in a council of regulators.
Note: To understand how business corrupts politicians watch the heated MSNBC News clip at this
link.
VeriChip shares jump after H1N1 patent license win

2009-09-21, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE58K4BZ20090921
Shares of VeriChip Corp tripled after the company said it had been granted an exclusive
license to two patents, which will help it to develop implantable virus detection systems in
humans. The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can
detect the H1N1 and other viruses. The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable
radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems. The triage system
will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the agent as virus or non-virus,
the second level will classify the virus and alert the user to the presence of pandemic threat
viruses and the third level will identify the precise pathogen, VeriChip said in a white paper
published May 7, 2009. Shares of VeriChip were up 186 percent.
Note: Beware of efforts to scare you into getting microchipped for your own safety. Click here for
more on this. For more on pharmaceutical corporation profiteering from swine flu vaccines, click
here.
45,000 American deaths associated with lack of insurance

2009-09-18, CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-18/health/deaths.health.insurance_1_health-in...
A freelance cameraman's appendix ruptured and by the time he was admitted to surgery, it was too
late. A self-employed mother of two is found dead in bed from undiagnosed heart disease. A 26year-old aspiring fashion designer collapsed in her bathroom after feeling unusually fatigued for
days. What all three of these people have in common is that they experienced symptoms, but
didn't seek care because they were uninsured and they worried about the hospital expense,
according to their families. All three died. Research released ... in the American Journal of
Public Health estimates that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with
the lack of health insurance. If a person is uninsured, "it means you're at mortal risk," said
one of the authors, Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard
Medical School. The researchers examined government health surveys from more than 9,000
people aged 17 to 64, taken from 1986-1994, and then followed up through 2000. They
determined that the uninsured have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private health
insurance as a result of being unable to obtain necessary medical care. The researchers then
extrapolated the results to census data from 2005 and calculated there were 44,789 deaths
associated with lack of health insurance.
Note: For key reports on important health issues from reliable sources, click here.
Pfizer Pays $2.3 Billion to Settle Marketing Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal
allegations that it had illegally marketed its painkiller Bextra, which has been withdrawn. It
was the largest health care fraud settlement and the largest criminal fine of any kind ever.
The settlement had been expected. Pfizer, which is acquiring a rival, Wyeth, reported in January
that it had taken a $2.3 billion charge to resolve claims involving Bextra and other drugs. It was
Pfizers fourth settlement over illegal marketing activities since 2002. The government charged that
executives and sales representatives throughout Pfizers ranks planned and executed schemes to
illegally market not only Bextra but also Geodon, an antipsychotic; Zyvox, an antibiotic; and Lyrica,
which treats nerve pain. While the government said the fine was a record sum, the $2.3 billion fine
amounts to less than three weeks of Pfizers sales. Much of the activities cited Wednesday
occurred while Pfizer was in the midst of resolving allegations that it illegally marketed Neurontin,
an epilepsy drug for which the company in 2004 paid a $430 million fine and signed a corporate
integrity agreement a companywide promise to behave. John Kopchinski, a former Pfizer sales
representative whose complaint helped prompt the governments Bextra case, said that company
managers told him and others to dismiss concerns about the Neurontin case while pushing them to
undertake similar illegal efforts on behalf of Bextra. The whole culture of Pfizer is driven by sales,
and if you didnt sell drugs illegally, you were not seen as a team player, said Mr. Kopchinski.
Note: For lots more on corporate corruption, click here. For a powerful article on the immense
political power of pharmaceutical companies by one of the top MDs in the U.S., click here.
Bush's Search Policy For Travelers Is Kept

The Obama administration will largely preserve Bush-era procedures allowing the government to
search -- without suspicion of wrongdoing -- the contents of a traveler's laptop computer, cellphone
or other electronic device. The policy, disclosed ... in a pair of Department of Homeland Security
directives, describes more fully than did the Bush administration the procedures by which travelers'
laptops, iPods, cameras and other digital devices can be searched and seized when they cross a
U.S. border. And it sets time limits for completing searches. Representatives of civil liberties and
travelers groups say they see little substantive difference between the Bush-era policy, which
prompted controversy, and this one. "It's a disappointing ratification of the suspicionless search
policy put in place by the Bush administration," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney for the
American Civil Liberties Union. "It doesn't deal with the fundamental problem, which is that under
the policy, government officials are free to search people's laptops and cellphones for any reason
whatsoever." "Under the policy begun by Bush and now continued by Obama, the
government can open your laptop and read your medical records, financial records, emails, work product and personal correspondence -- all without any suspicion of illegal
activity," said Elizabeth Goitein, who leads the liberty and national security project at the nonprofit
Brennan Center for Justice.
Note: For important revelations of government threats to civil liberties, click here.
'Moon Rock' in Dutch Museum Is Fake

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/27/world/AP-EU-Netherlands-Not-Moon-R...
It's not green cheese, but it might as well be. The Dutch national museum said Thursday that one
of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is
just a piece of petrified wood. Rijksmuseum spokeswoman Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the
investigation that proved the piece was a fake, said the museum will keep it anyway as a curiosity.
"It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered," she said. "We can laugh about
it." The museum acquired the rock after the death of former Prime Minister Willem Drees in 1988.
Drees received it as a private gift on Oct. 9, 1969, from then-U.S. ambassador J. William
Middendorf during a visit by the three Apollo 11 astronauts, part of their "Giant Leap"
goodwill tour after the first moon landing. Middendorf, who lives in Rhode Island, told Dutch
broadcaster NOS news that he had gotten it from the U.S. State Department, but couldn't recall
the exact details. "I do remember that (Drees) was very interested in the little piece of stone," the
NOS quoted Middendorf as saying. "But that it's not real, I don't know anything about that." The
U.S. Embassy in the Hague said it was investigating the matter. The museum had vetted the moon
rock with a phone call to NASA, Van Gelder said. "Apparently no one thought to doubt it, since it
came from the prime minister's collection," Van Gelder said. Researchers from Amsterdam's Free
University said they could see at a glance the rock was probably not from the moon. They followed
the initial appraisal up with extensive testing. "It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone,"
Geologist Frank Beunk concluded in an article published by the museum.
Note: For more evidence raising questions about the official account of the Apollo moon landings,
click here.
US Air Force prepares drones to end era of fighter pilots

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/22/us-air-force-drones-pilots-afghan...
As part of an expanding programme of battlefield automation, the US Air Force has said it
is now training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots and signalled the end
of the era of the fighter pilot is in sight. Just three years ago, the service was able to fly just 12
drones at a time; now it can fly more than 50. At a trade conference outside Washington last week,
military contractors presented a future vision in which pilotless drones serve as fighters, bombers
and transports, even automatic mini-drones programmed to attack in swarms. Contractors made
presentations for "nano-size" drones the size of moths that can flit into buildings to gather
intelligence; drone helicopters; large aircraft that could be used as strategic bombers and new midsized drones could act as jet fighters. This Terminator-like vision in which future generations of
fighter aces become cubicle-bound drone operators thousands of miles from conflict is already
here: the deployment that began during the Bush administration has accelerated during the first
seven months of Obama's term. Some 5,000 robotic vehicles and drones are now deployed in Iraq
and Afghanistan. By 2015, the Pentagon's $230bn arms procurement programme Future Combat
Systems expects to robotise around 15% of America's armed forces. As US domestic approval for
the "Af-Pak" conflict slips (a new Washington Post poll found less than a quarter of the US public
support sending more troops to Afghanistan), the reliance of drones is likely to grow, analysts say.
The air force study suggests areas of warfare too critical for automation, including dogfighting and
nuclear-bombing, could eventually be handled by drones.
Note: For revealing reports on Pentagon war planning from major media sources, click here.
Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions

http://www.newsweek.com/id/213188
A long-suppressed report by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general to be released
next week reveals that CIA interrogators staged mock executions as part of the agency's post-9/11
program to detain and question terror suspects, NEWSWEEK has learned. The report describes
how one detainee, suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was threatened with a
gun and a power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Nashiri's interrogators brandished the
gun in an effort to convince him that he was going to be shot. Interrogators also turned on a power
drill and held it near him. "The purpose was to scare him into giving [information] up," said
one [source]. A federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee
with "imminent death." The report also says ... that a mock execution was staged in a room
next to a detainee, during which a gunshot was fired in an effort to make the suspect
believe that another prisoner had been killed. The inspector general's report alludes to more
than one mock execution. Before leaving office, Bush administration officials confirmed that Nashiri
was one of three CIA detainees subjected to waterboarding. They also acknowledged that Nashiri
was one of two Al Qaeda detainees whose detentions and interrogations were documented at
length in CIA videotapes. But senior officials of the agency's undercover operations branch, the
National Clandestine Service, ordered that the tapes be destroyed, an action that has been under
investigation for more than a year by a federal prosecutor. The new revelations are contained in a
lengthy report on the CIA interrogation program completed by the agency's inspector general in
May 2004.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the illegal methods used by the CIA and US military
in its wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, click here.
C.I.A. Sought Blackwaters Help to Kill Jihadists

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html
The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security
contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of
Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials. Executives from Blackwater ...
helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several million
dollars on the program, which did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects. It is
unclear whether the C.I.A. had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Qaeda
operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance in the program. American spy agencies
have in recent years outsourced some highly controversial work, including the interrogation of
prisoners. But government officials said that bringing outsiders into a program with lethal authority
raised deep concerns about accountability in covert operations. Officials said the C.I.A. did not
have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with
top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince, a politically connected former member
of the Navy Seals and the heir to a family fortune. Over the years, Blackwater has hired several
former top C.I.A. officials, including Cofer Black, who ran the C.I.A. counterterrorism center
immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. C.I.A. operatives also regularly use the companys
training complex in North Carolina. The complex includes a shooting range used for sniper
training.
Note: For many revealing reports from major media sources on the frequent use of assassinations
to advance state objectives, click here.
MoD's latest UFO files reveal saucerful of secrets

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/17/mod-report-ufo-sightings
Two terrified youths who ran into a Staffordshire police station were in no doubt they had seen a
UFO land in a field near Chasetown after they experienced an intense heat when they were
walking up Rugeley Road, Burntwood, at 11pm on 4 May 1995. "Their skin turned a glowing red,"
said the Staffordshire police inspector's report. "They saw a darkish silver inverted saucer
shaped object in a field, which was glowing red beneath. The object was about four houses
high in the sky and about 40ft away from them. Neither was drunk or under the influence of
illegal substances and the next day both provided the police with detailed written reports of what
they had seen. The release of the latest batch of the Ministry of Defence's UFO files reveals a
hidden British obsession with flying saucers and such close encounters. Bright lights seen across
Devon and Cornwall, South Wales and Shropshire in the early hours of 31 March 1993 by 70
police and military witnesses were documented in more than 30 sightings reported to the MoD
over a six-hour period. The reports said it was very big, shaped like a catamaran and was
completely silent. The head of the UFO section told Sir Anthony Bagnall, the assistant chief of the
air staff, that given the quality of the witnesses the sightings could not simply be written off: "It
seems that an unidentified object of unknown origin was operating in the UK air defence region
without being detected on radar; this would appear to be of considerable defence significance."
Note: For a powerful two-page summary of evidence for UFOs presented by highly respected and
credible former government and military personnel from many countries, click here.
2 U.S. Architects of Harsh Tactics in 9/11's Wake

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/us/12psychs.html
Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were military retirees and psychologists, on the lookout for
business opportunities. They found an excellent customer in the Central Intelligence Agency,
where in 2002 they became the architects of the most important interrogation program in the
history of American counterterrorism. They had never carried out a real interrogation, only
mock sessions in the military training they had overseen. They had no relevant
scholarship; their Ph.D. dissertations were on high blood pressure and family therapy. They
had no language skills and no expertise on Al Qaeda. But they had psychology credentials.
Seven months after President Obama ordered the C.I.A. interrogation program closed, its fallout
still commands attention. In the next few weeks, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is expected to
decide whether to begin a criminal torture investigation, in which the psychologists' role is likely to
come under scrutiny. The Justice Department ethics office is expected to complete a report on the
lawyers who pronounced the methods legal. And the C.I.A. will soon release a highly critical 2004
report on the program by the agency's inspector general. The psychologists' ... fall from official
grace has been as swift as their rise in 2002. With a possible criminal inquiry looming, Dr. Mitchell
and Dr. Jessen have retained a well-known defense lawyer, Henry F. Schuelke III. Mr. Schuelke
said they would not comment for this article.
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on the torture employed by the CIA and US military in
"the war on terror," click here.
Where did that bank bailout go? Watchdogs aren't sure

2009-08-09, Sacramento Bee/McClatchy News
http://www.sacbee.com/838/story/2094756.html
Although hundreds of well-trained eyes are watching over the $700 billion that Congress last year
decided to spend bailing out the nation's financial sector, it's still difficult to answer some of the
most basic questions about where the money went. Despite a new oversight panel, a new special
inspector general, the existing Government Accountability Office and eight other inspectors
general, those charged with minding the store say they don't have all the weapons they need. Ten
months into the Troubled Asset Relief Program, some members of Congress say that some
oversight of bailout dollars has been so lacking that it's essentially worthless. "TARP has become
a program in which taxpayers are not being told what most of the TARP recipients are doing
with their money, have still not been told how much their substantial investments are worth,
and will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested," a special inspector
general over the program reported last month. The "very credibility" of the program is at stake, it
said. The program was controversial from the start. Critics say it's unfairly rewarded the big banks
and Wall Street firms that pushed the economy to the brink.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the Wall Street
Thimerosal and the Swine Flu Vaccine

2009-07-29, ABC News blogs
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/07/thimerosal-and-the-swine-flu-...
Today at the CDC in Atlanta, health officials are huddled, trying to game plan the best way to dole
out a vaccine for swine flu. But what about the vaccine preservative thimerosal? Here is what the
CDC says about Thimerosal: "There is no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses
of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site."
Thimerosal is no longer used in all child vaccines made in the US except for the flu vaccine. Here
is the CDC on Thimerosal and flu shots: "Yes, the majority of influenza vaccines distributed
in the United States currently contain Thimerosal as a preservative. However, some contain
only trace amounts of Thimerosal and are considered by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) to be preservative-free." It would seem likely that the new Swine Flu vaccine therefore
would contain some amount of Thimerosal. It would also seem likely that will give some parents
pause.
Note: For a powerful article on a major cover-up around thimerosal written by Robert F. Kennedy,
Jr., click here. For many powerful reports from reliable sources on the dangers of vaccines, click
here.
Power Shifts in Plan for Capital Calamity

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/us/politics/28continuity.html
A shift in authority has given military officials at the White House a bigger operational role in
creating a backup government if the nations capital were decapitated by a terrorist attack or
other calamity, according to current and former officials involved in the decision. The move ... was
made in the closing weeks of the administration of President George W. Bush. Officials said the
Obama administration had left the plan essentially intact. Under the revamped structure, the
White House Military Office, which reports to the office of the White House chief of staff,
has assumed a more central role in setting up a temporary shadow government in a
crisis. And the office, a 2,300-person outfit best known for flying Air Force One, has taken on
added responsibilities as the lead agent in shepherding government leaders to a secure site at
Mount Weather in rural Virginia, keeping classified lists of successors and maintaining computer
systems, among other operational duties. Many of these types of tasks were previously handled by
civilians at other agencies, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Officials at other
agencies that have traditionally played critical roles expressed concern that the new structure
placed too much power in the hands of too few people inside the White House. They also saw the
move as part of the Bush administrations broader efforts to enhance the power of the White
House. Though the office reports to the White House, many of its employees are uniformed
soldiers, and it has sometimes been led by a military officer. While Obama administration officials
would not discuss details of their continuity plan, they said the current policy was settled, and
they drew no distance between their own policies and those left behind by the Bush administration.
Note: For more on the Shadow Government, click here. For lots more on government secrecy
from major media sources, click here.
CIA committed fraud in court, judge rules

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/21/MNPA18S5DU.DTL
A federal judge has ruled that CIA officials committed fraud to protect a former covert agent
against an eavesdropping lawsuit and is considering sanctioning as many as six who
worked at the agency, including former CIA Director George Tenet. According to court
documents unsealed Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth referred a CIA attorney, Jeffrey
Yeates, for discipline. Lamberth also denied the CIA's renewed efforts under the Obama
administration to keep the case secret because of what he calls the agency's "diminished
credibility" in the case. The eavesdropping lawsuit was brought by a former agent with the Drug
Enforcement Agency, Richard Horn, who says his home in Rangoon, Burma, was illegally
wiretapped by the CIA in 1993. He says Arthur Brown, the former CIA station chief in Burma, and
Franklin Huddle Jr., the chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Burma, were trying to get him
relocated because they disagreed with his work with Burmese officials on the country's drug trade.
Horn sued Brown and Huddle in 1994, seeking damages for violations of his civil rights because of
the alleged wiretapping. Tenet filed an affidavit in 2000 asking that the case against Brown be
dismissed because he was a covert agent whose identity must not be revealed in court. Lamberth
granted the CIA's request and threw out the case against Brown in 2004. But Lamberth found out
last year that Brown's cover had been lifted in 2002, even though the CIA continued to file legal
documents saying his status was covert. The judge found that the CIA intentionally misled the
court and reinstated the case against Brown.
Note: This may not seem like big news, but the fact that the CIA is facing court opposition is quite
significant. In the past this never would have happened, much less have made it into a newspaper.
Assassinations anyone? CIA claims of cancelled campaign are hogwash

2009-07-19, Toronto Sun
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/eric_margolis/2009/07/19/1018410...
CIA director Leon Panetta just told Congress he cancelled a secret operation to assassinate alQaida leaders. The CIA campaign, authorized in 2001, had not yet become operational, claimed
Panetta. His claim is humbug. The U.S. has been trying to kill al-Qaida personnel (real and
imagined) since the Clinton administration. These efforts continue under President Barack Obama.
Claims by Congress it was never informed are hogwash. The CIA and Pentagon have been in the
assassination business since the early 1950s, using American hit teams or third parties.
Assassination was outlawed in the U.S. in 1976, but that did not stop attempts by its last three
administrations to emulate Israel's Mossad in the "targeted killing" of enemies. The George W.
Bush administration, and now the Obama White House, sidestepped American law by
saying the U.S. was at war, and thus legally killing "enemy combatants." But Congress
never declared war. Washington is buzzing about a secret death squad run by Dick Cheney when
he was vice-president and his protege, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley
McChrystal. This gung-ho general led the Pentagon's super secret Special Operations Command,
which has become a major rival to the CIA in the business of "wet affairs" (as the KGB used to call
assassinations) and covert raids. America is hardly alone in trying to rub out enemies or those who
thwart its designs. Britain's MI-6 and France's SDECE were notorious for sending out assassins.
U.S. assassins are still at work. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. drones are killing tribesmen
almost daily. Over 90% are civilians. Americans have a curious notion that killing people from the
air is not murder or even a crime, but somehow clean.
Note: For more revealing information on this, click here. For more on assassination as a tool of
state, click here.
Swine flu tally halted as school year fears loom

Worldwide cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus are spreading so fast that overwhelmed global
health officials have stopped counting and officials with the U.S Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention say they'll soon follow suit. "We don't know the extent of the challenges that we'll face
in the weeks and months ahead," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for the
Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Schuchat did not elaborate on how the CDC would inform
the public about the extent of the outbreak, which has been confirmed in more than 40,600 people
and implicated in 263 deaths in the United States. WHO had reported nearly 95,000 cases
including 429 deaths worldwide. Earlier Friday, WHO officials said tracking individual swine flu
cases is too overwhelming for countries where the virus is spreading widely. WHO will no
longer issue global totals of swine flu cases, although it will continue to track the global
epidemic.
Note: Why would they stop counting cases? The numbers have always at best been estimates.
Millions died in the 1918 flu epidemic and they have counted and reported those numbers
extenstively. Could it be someone or some group does't want us to know how few are actually
dying? For several other revealing articles which suggest an dangerous agenda with the swine flu
vaccine, click here.
White House Weighs Order on Detention

Obama administration officials ... are crafting language for an executive order that would
reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to
three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an
order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be
detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. In a May speech, President Obama
broached the need for a system of long-term detention and suggested that it would include
congressional and judicial oversight. "We must recognize that these detention policies cannot be
unbounded. They can't be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone," he said.
A senior Republican [Congressional] staff member said that senators have yet to see "a
comprehensive, detailed policy" on long-term detention from the administration. "They can do it
without congressional backing, but I think there would be very strong concerns," the staff member
said, adding that "Congress could cut off funding" for any detention system established in the
United States. Concerns are growing among Obama's advisers that Congress may try to assert
too much control over the process. "Legislation could kill Obama's plans," said one government
official involved. The official said an executive order could be the best option for the president at
this juncture. Under one White House draft that was being discussed this month, according to
administration officials, detainees would be imprisoned at a military facility on U.S. soil, but their
ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review.
Note: Again the Obama administration is following in the footsteps of the Bush administration,
despite prior promises not to do so. For more on threats to civil liberties from reliable sources, click
here.
Military spending sets new record

2009-06-08, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8086117.stm
Global military spending rose 4% in 2008 to a record $1,464bn (914bn) - up 45% since
1999, according to the Stockholm-based peace institute Sipri. "The global financial crisis
has yet to have an impact on major arms companies' revenues, profits and order backlogs,"
Sipri said. Peace-keeping operations - which also benefit defence firms - rose 11%. Missions were
launched in trouble spots such as Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "Another
record was set, with the total of international peace operation personnel reaching 187,586," said
Sipri. As the world's aerospace and defence industry prepares for next week's Paris air show
centenary, it seems much of the focus is set to shift away from troubled civilian aircraft makers,
which are struggling with reduced orders from recession-hit airlines, towards the companies that
make fighter jets and other military hardware. In total, the 100 leading defence manufacturers sold
arms worth $347bn during 2007, the most recent year for which reliable data are available. Almost
all the companies were American or European. "Since 2002, the value of the top 100 arms sales
has increased by 37% in real terms," Sipri said. US military spending accounted for 58% of the
total global spending increase during the decade, with extra funds set aside to fight the "war
on terror". "The idea of the 'war on terror' has encouraged many countries to see their problems
through a highly militarised lens, using this to justify high military spending," said Sam PerloFreeman, head of the military expenditure project at Sipri.
Note: With all of the government cost-cutting in so many sectors, why aren't more people calling
for military cutbacks? For a top U.S. general's insight into the profiteering that drives war (and
"peacekeeping" operations as well), click here.
Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals

2009-05-20, NRC International (One of the Netherlands' leading newspapers)
http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_priso...
The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the
prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty. During the 1990s the Netherlands
faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the
prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000
detainees. Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons
will be closed. The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's
research department expects to continue for some time.
Note: Isn't it interesting that this country, which is one of the very few to have legalized marijuana
and prostitution, has a shortage of criminals?
UN announces launch of worlds first tuition-free, online university

2009-05-19, UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30848
A leading arm of the United Nations working to spread the benefits of information technology today
announced the launch of the first ever tuition-free online university. As part of this years focus on
education, the UN Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technology and
Development (GAID) presented the newly formed University of the People, a non-profit
institution offering higher education to the masses. For hundreds of millions of people around
the world higher education is no more than a dream, Shai Reshef, the founder of the University of
the People, told reporters. They are constrained by finances, the lack of institutions in their region,
or they are not able to leave home to study at a university for personal reasons. Mr. Reshef said
that this University opened the gate to these people to continue their studies from home and at
minimal cost by using open-source technology, open course materials, e-learning methods and
peer-to-peer teaching. Admission opened just over two weeks ago and without any promotion
some 200 students from 52 countries have already registered, with a high school diploma and a
sufficient level of English as entry requirements. Students will be placed in classes of 20, after
which they can log on to a weekly lecture, discuss its themes with their peers and take a test all
online. There are voluntary professors, post-graduate students and students in other classes who
can also offer advice and consultation. For the University to sustain its operation, it needs 15,000
students and $6 million, of which Mr. Reshef has donated $1 million of his own money.
Health care's enigma in chief

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/14/EDMF17KIVP.DTL
The most stunning and least reported news about President Obama's press conference with
health industry executives this week wasn't those executives' willingness to negotiate with a
Democrat. It was that Democrat's eagerness to involve those executives in a discussion about
health care reform even as they revealed their previous plans to pilfer $2 trillion from Americans.
That was the little-noticed message from the made-for-TV spectacle administration officials called
a health care "game changer": In saying they can voluntarily slash $200 billion a year from
the country's medical bills over the next decade and still preserve their profits, health care
companies implicitly acknowledged they were plotting to fleece consumers, and have been
fleecing them for years. With that acknowledgment came the tacit admission that the industry's
business is based not on respectable returns but on grotesque profiteering and waste - the kind
that can give up $2 trillion and still guarantee huge margins. Chief among the profiteers at the
White House event were insurance companies, which have raised premiums by 119 percent since
1999, and one obvious question is why - why would Obama engage those particular thieves? It's a
difficult query to answer, because Obama is a health care mystery, struggling to muster consistent
positions on the issue. Listening to a 2003 Obama speech, it's hard to believe he has become
such an enigma. Back then, he declared himself "a proponent of a single-payer universal health
care program" - i.e., one eliminating private insurers and their overhead costs by having
government finance health care.
Note: For lots more on health issues from reliable sources, click here.
Somali pirates guided by London intelligence team, report says

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/somali-pirates-london-intelligence
The Somali pirates attacking shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are directed to their
targets by a "consultant" team in London, according to a European military intelligence document
obtained by a Spanish radio station. The document, obtained by Cadena SER radio, says the team
and the pirates remain in contact by satellite telephone. It says that pirate groups have "wellplaced informers" in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where
decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based "consultants" help the
pirates select targets, providing information on the ships' cargoes and courses. In at least one
case the pirates have remained in contact with their London informants from the hijacked ship,
according to one targeted shipping company. "The information that merchant ships sailing through
the area volunteer to various international organisations is ending up in the pirates' hands,"
Cadena SER reported the report as saying. This enables the more organised pirate groups to
study their targets in advance, even spending several days training teams for specific hijacks.
Senior pirates then join the vessel once it has been sailed close to Somalia. Captains of attacked
ships have found that pirates know everything from the layout of the vessel to its ports of
call. The national flag of a ship is also taken into account when choosing a target, with
British vessels being increasingly avoided, according to the report.
Note: The remarkable capability described here -- knowledge of all the details of cargo, ship
layout, nationality, and especially position and course -- is one that only national intelligence
agencies are likely to have. The positional information would require real-time satellite or drone
aircraft surveillance data. Could MI6, the British C.I.A., be running the Somali pirate operations,
which have so suddenly spiked up just as the Pentagon's new AFRICOM gets underway?
'Maverick' DHS Office Issues Glossary of Domestic Extremist Groups

2009-05-05, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/05/maverick-dhs-office-issues-diction...
The Department of Homeland Security is reining in a "maverick" division of the agency following
criticism of a report it issued that details domestic "extremists" ranging from anti-tax movements to
pro-environment groups, a DHS official told FOX News on Tuesday. The report, released in March
... was on top of a controversial document the same office produced last month that said U.S.
veterans were ripe for recruitment by terrorist groups. The quickly withdrawn report, titled the
"Domestic Extremism Lexicon," comes from the department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis,
the same unit that produced the report on right-wing extremists recruiting vets. The document, first
uncovered by The Washington Times, uses a broad brush to define terms used when analyzing
dozens of supposedly extremist ideologies inside the United States. They cover: Jewish
extremists, animal rights extremists, Christian identity extremists, black separatism extremists,
anti-abortion extremists, anti-immigration extremists, anti-technology extremists, Cuban
independence extremists and tax resistance extremists, to name a few. In addition to the report
on right-wing threats issued last month -- for which DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano
apologized -- DHS detailed left-wing threats in a similar report released in January. The
"Domestic Extremism Lexicon" covers ideologies across the spectrum. The top of the
document also defines "alternative media" as something sinister -- though the term is commonly
used to describe blogs and popular publications like New York's Village Voice.
Note: How strange that Fox News posted this report, yet other major media largely ignored this
important news. Click here to read the extremism report.
Reported Suicide Is Latest Shock at Freddie Mac

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/23freddie.html?partner=rss&emc=rss...
The pressures were already immense when David B. Kellermann was promoted to the top
financial position at the mortgage giant Freddie Mac last September. Mr. Kellermann's boss and
other top executives were ousted when the Treasury secretary seized Freddie Mac and its sibling
company, Fannie Mae; others left on their own and were not replaced. Early on Wednesday, Mr.
Kellermann went to the basement of his brick home and hanged himself, according to people
familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak. His body was removed five hours
later, through a throng of neighbors, television crews and others. "David was such an honest and
humble person," said Tim Bitsberger, Freddie Mac"s treasurer until he left in December. "It just
doesn't make sense," Mr. Bitsberger said. The roots and causes of suicide are often unclear. It
is not known if Mr. Kellermann succumbed to the pressures of his job. But in the aftermath
of his death, it is plain that at Freddie Mac, as at many of the companies in the center of this
economic storm, there are forces so strong they can overwhelm almost anyone. Mr.
Kellermann ... was at the intersection of some of the most difficult issues facing the company. Mr.
Kellermann was also working in a poisonous political atmosphere. He was recently involved in
tense conversations with the company's federal regulator over its routine financial disclosures.
Freddie Mac executives wanted to emphasize to investors that they believed the company was
being run to benefit the government, rather than shareholders.
Note: For a revealing archive of reports on the hidden realities underlying the Wall Street bailout,
click here.
Restrain the credit card industry

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/22/EDK817761J.DTL
While American consumers have been struggling, credit card companies have been enjoying a
field day. Not only are most of them receiving federal bailout money, but they've been jacking up
interest rates (there were rate hikes on nearly 25 percent of accounts between 2007 and 2008)
and switching the terms of agreements with consumers. Why the rush to gouge consumers in the
depths of a recession? In July 2010, the Federal Reserve will impose new, consumer-friendly
disclosure and administrative restrictions on the credit card industry. Scrambling to get ahead of
the deadline, the card companies have been raising interest rates, slicing credit lines and, in too
many cases, simply dumping customers with little rhyme or reason. Defaults and delinquencies
have skyrocketed - and consumers are livid. "It's off the charts in terms of their ire about
paying higher interest rates, particularly when their money, as they see it, is being given to
the banks to prop them up," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough. Speier's staff says her
office has been "flooded" with calls from furious constituents. Speier is ... a co-sponsor of HR627,
better known as "The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights." The bill - which has the support of the
Obama administration - would prevent card issuers from raising interest rates without advance
notice and end the practice of "double-cycle billing" so that consumers do not have to pay interest
on debts they've already paid.
Note: For a highly revealing archive of reports on the hidden realities underlying the Wall Street
Congresswoman Outraged Over Wiretapped Conversations

2009-04-22, CNN
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0904/22/ltm.02.html
An influential Democrat in Congress, California's Jane Harman, is at the center of a national
security scandal that's threatening her political career. Harman is fighting mad after reports that her
phone conversation was intercepted by a national security agency wiretap ... in 2005 and 2006.
Sources say Harman was overheard talking to an investigative target whose conversations were
being legally intercepted. Congressional Quarterly and The New York Times report that Harman
discussed using her influence to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of
the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. In return, the person with whom she was
speaking would lobby then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman chair of
the House Intelligence Committee. Harman reportedly ended the conversation by saying, "This
conversation doesn't exist." [Congressional Quarterly] also reports that after the intercept, the FBI
tried to open an investigation of Harman. But Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pulled the plug
because he wanted Harman's help defending the controversial domestic warrantless wiretapping
program. The former attorney general had no comment.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the clandestine operations of the FBI and other
Aliens exist and UFOs are covered-up by US government, says exastronaut

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/space/5198506/Aliens-...
Alien life does exist but the truth is being covered up by the United States government, former
NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell has claimed. Mr Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon
mission, made the claims in a talk to the fifth annual X-Conference a meeting of those who
believe in UFOs and other life forms. He also said he had attempted to investigate the 1947
'Roswell Incident', which some believe was the crash-landing of a UFO, but had been thwarted by
military authorities. The former astronaut, 78, said: "We're not alone. Our destiny, in my opinion,
and we might as well get started with it, is [to] become a part of the planetary community. ... We
should be ready to reach out beyond our planet and beyond our solar system to find out what is
really going on out there." Mitchell grew up in Roswell, New Mexico, which some UFO believers
maintain was the site of a UFO crash in 1947. He said residents "had been hushed and told not to
talk about their experience by military authorities." He claimed he had raised the issue of evidence
from local residents with the Pentagon 10 years ago. An unnamed admiral working for the Joint
Chiefs of Staff promised to uncover more information for Mitchell but was denied access when he
"tried to get into the inner workings of that process." Mitchell claimed the admiral now denies the
story. "I urge those who are doubtful: Read the books, read the lore, start to understand
what has really been going on. Because there really is no doubt we are being visited,"
Mitchell said. "The universe that we live in is much more wondrous, exciting, complex and
far-reaching than we were ever able to know up to this point in time."
Note: For a powerful summary of evidence of UFOs presented by highly respected military and
government officials, including Edgar Mitchell, click here.
The U.S. Financial System Is Effectively Insolvent

2009-03-05, Forbes Magazine
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/04/global-recession-insolvent-opinions-columnis...
With economic activity contracting in 2009's first quarter at the same rate as in 2008's fourth
quarter, a nasty U-shaped recession could turn into a more severe L-shaped near-depression (or
stag-deflation). The scale and speed of synchronized global economic contraction is really
unprecedented (at least since the Great Depression), with a free fall of GDP, income, consumption,
industrial production, employment, exports, imports, residential investment and, more ominously,
capital expenditures around the world. And now many emerging-market economies are on the
verge of a fully fledged financial crisis, starting with emerging Europe. In the meantime, the
massacre in financial markets and among financial firms is continuing. The debate on "bank
nationalization" is borderline surreal, with the U.S. government having already committed-between guarantees, investment, recapitalization and liquidity provision--about $9 trillion of
government financial resources to the financial system (and having already spent $2 trillion of
this staggering $9 trillion figure). Thus, the U.S. financial system is de facto nationalized, as the
Federal Reserve has become the lender of first and only resort rather than the lender of last resort,
and the U.S. Treasury is the spender and guarantor of first and only resort. And even with the $2
trillion of government support, most of these financial institutions are insolvent, as delinquency and
charge-off rates are now rising at a rate ... that means expected credit losses for U.S. financial
firms will peak at $3.6 trillion. So, in simple words, the U.S. financial system is effectively insolvent.
Note: The author of this insightful analysis, Nouriel Roubini, has a very informative blog, available
here.
The Death of 'Rational Man'

What allowed some people to see the financial crash coming while so many others missed its
gathering force? I put that question recently to Nouriel Roubini, who has come to be known as "Dr.
Doom" because of his insistent warnings starting in 2006 that we were heading into a global
firestorm. Roubini gave two kinds of answers. The first involves standard number-crunching of the
sort that economists routinely do -- and that Roubini just did better and sooner. It's his second
answer that's more interesting, because it goes to the heart of what we should take away from this
crisis: Roubini decided to discard the assumption of market rationality that underlies most
economics and to embrace the psychological insights of what's known as "behavioral economics."
Everyone else had those same numbers. Why did Roubini act? The answer is that he
decided to trust his gut, which told him there was trouble ahead, rather than Wall Street's
"wisdom of the crowd," which -- as reflected in stock prices -- said everything was rosy. He
concluded that the markets were not pricing in the degree of risk that was actually present in
housing. "The rational man theory of economics has not worked," Roubini said last month at a
session of the World Economic Forum at Davos. That's why he and other prominent economists
are paying more attention to behavioral economics, which starts from the premise that economic
decisions, like other aspects of human behavior, are influenced by irrational psychological factors.
Note: To visit Nouriel Roubini's highly informative blog, click here. For lots more on the financial
crisis and bailout, click here.
US Treasury overpaid $78 bln under TARP-watchdog

2009-02-06, CNN News/Reuters
The U.S. Treasury looks to have overpaid financial institutions to the tune of $78 billion in carrying
out capital injections last year, the head of a congressional oversight panel for the government's
$700 billion bailout program told lawmakers. Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor, said her
group estimated the Treasury paid $254 billion in 2008 in return for stocks and warrants worth
about $176 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Warren said the Treasury,
under then-Secretary Henry Paulson, misled the public about how it would price them.
"Treasury simply did not do what it said it was doing ... They described the program one
way, and they priced it another," Warren said at a hearing before the Senate Banking
Committee. She added that Paulson "was not entirely candid" in describing TARP's bank capital
injection program. Neil Barofsky, another watchdog for the TARP program, told the Senate
committee his office is turning to criminal investigations. "That's going to be a large focus of my
office," he said. Warren told the banking committee that after three months on the job, her panel is
still not getting enough answers from Treasury. She described the bailout as "an opaque process
at best." Barofsky raised concerns about potential fraud in one of several programs funded by
bailout money -- the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility (TALF).
Note: Was the overpayment by Treasury to Wall Street banks for nearly-worthless assets they
created a mistake? Or was it the real, hidden purpose of TARP to pay the banks more for the
assets than they are worth? For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the realities
behind the Wall Street bailout, click here.
CIA Helped Shoot Down 15 Civilian Planes

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/11/world/main4664791.shtml
With the help of CIA spotters, the Peruvian air force shot down 15 small civilian aircraft suspected
of carrying drugs, in many cases without warning and within two to three minutes of being sighted,
a U.S. lawmaker said Thursday. It was the first public disclosure of the number of planes shot
down between 1995 and 2001 as part of the Airbridge Denial Program, a CIA counternarcotics
effort that killed an innocent American missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her infant daughter in
2001. Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, senior Republican on the Intelligence Committee of the
House of Representatives, told The Associated Press most of the 15 planes shot down with the
help of the CIA crashed in the jungle. The wreckage has not been or could not be examined to
ascertain whether narcotics were aboard the aircraft. "The Bowers could have gone in the same
category if they had crashed in the jungle," Hoekstra said, speaking of the missionary family from
Hoekstra's state, Michigan. The Bowers' plane made an emergency river landing after it was hit.
Excerpts from a CIA inspector general's report released in November raised questions about
whether the missionaries' plane was the only craft mistakenly suspected of drug smuggling. The
CIA report said that in most of the shootdowns, pilots fired on aircraft "without being
properly identified, without being given the required warnings to land, and without being
given time to respond to such warnings as were given to land."
Note: For many key reports from major media sources on government corruption, click here.
U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arEE1iClqDrk
The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American
taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The unprecedented
pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest
response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled
by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury
Departments $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was
1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis. When Congress approved the
TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. Now, as regulators commit far more
money while refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in
return, some Congress members are calling for the Fed to be reined in. Whether its
lending or spending, its tax dollars that are going out the window and we end up holding
collateral we dont know anything about, said Congressman Scott Garrett, a New Jersey
Republican who serves on the House Financial Services Committee. The time has come that we
consider what sort of limitations we should be placing on the Fed so that authority returns to
elected officials as opposed to appointed ones.
Note: How is it possible that trillions of taxpayer dollars are being thrown around, yet Congress is
not being told where the money is going? For revealing information on how the Fed manipulates
BPA Ruling Flawed, Panel Says

The Food and Drug Administration ignored scientific evidence and used flawed methods when it
determined that a chemical widely used in baby bottles and in the lining of cans is not harmful, a
scientific advisory panel has found. In a highly critical report ... the panel of scientists from
government and academia said the FDA did not take into consideration scores of studies that
have linked bisphenol A (BPA) to prostate cancer, diabetes and other health problems in
animals when it completed a draft risk assessment of the chemical last month. The panel
said the FDA didn't use enough infant formula samples and didn't adequately account for
variations among the samples. Taking those studies into consideration, the panel concluded, the
FDA's margin of safety is "inadequate". The panel is part of the Science Board, a committee of
advisers to the FDA commissioner, and was set up to review the FDA's risk assessment of BPA.
Many of the studies that the panel said the FDA ignored were reviewed by the National Toxicology
Program, which concluded in September that it had "some concern" that BPA can affect brain and
behavioral development in infants and small children. Officials at FDA, which regulates the
chemical's use in plastic food containers, bottles, tableware and the plastic linings of food cans,
accepted some of the criticism in the report. "FDA agrees that due to the uncertainties raised in
some studies relating to the potential effects of low doses of bisphenol-A that additional research
would be valuable," said spokeswoman Judy Leon. The agency has commissioned new research
on BPA.
Note: For many important reports on health issues from reliable sources, click here.
Bailout Expands to Insurers

The Treasury Department is dramatically expanding the scope of its bailout of the financial system
with a plan to take ownership stakes in the nation's insurance companies, signaling new concerns
about a sector of the economy whose troubles until now have been overshadowed by the banking
industry, government and industry sources said. Insurers, including The Hartford, Prudential and
MetLife, have pushed the Bush administration to include them in the plan. Many firms have taken
losses from mortgage-related securities and other investments and are struggling to replenish their
coffers. The new initiative underscores the growing range of problems that Treasury is scrambling
to address with the $700 billion allocated by Congress this month. The shape of the plan has
changed repeatedly since Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. introduced it last month
as an effort to rescue banks by buying their troubled mortgage-related assets. That original
mandate has now been pushed aside by a plan to take equity stakes in banks and
insurance companies, and other businesses are lobbying to be included. The government has
been forced to expand the plan partly because the federal guarantees previously given some
institutions, such as banks, have put other companies and financial sectors at a disadvantage,
making them less attractive to uneasy investors. The cost of saving the country's largest insurer
continues to rise. Senior managers at troubled insurance giant American International Group
warned the Federal Reserve yesterday that the company would probably need more taxpayer
money than the $123 billion in rescue loans the government has provided.
Note: For lots more highly revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Biden to Supporters: "Gird Your Loins"

2008-10-20, ABC News
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/biden-to-suppor.html
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be
tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to
stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions. "Mark my words," the
Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers.
"Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're
gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. And
he's gonna need help. He's gonna need you ... to use your influence, your influence within
the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially ... that we're
right. Gird your loins," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy
ride. The next president is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean
stables, man. He's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here
a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down?
Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first
two years. So I'm asking you now ... [to] be prepared to stick with us. There are gonna be a lot of
you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision',"
Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe
you will, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're
probably not sound."
Note: This remarkable warning from Joe Biden of a near-term "generated crisis" is notable as well
for its anti-democratic sentiments. Gen. Colin Powell, in endorsing Barack Obama for president on
"Meet the Press" on Oct. 19 (the same day as Biden's speech), also said "there's going to be a
crisis come along [on] the 21st or 22nd of January that we don't even know about right now."
Beyond the timing, what do these key insiders know that the public doesn't? And what country has
the demonstrated capability to "generate" a crisis at will?
Gifts to Pet Charities Keep Lawmakers Happy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/us/politics/19charity.html?partner=rssuserl...
They do not seem the most likely classical music patrons: Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics,
Boeing and Lockheed Martin. But together, these defense contractors are donating hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the symphony orchestra in Johnstown, Pa., underwriting performances of
Mozart and Wagner in this struggling former steel town. A defense lobbying firm, the PMA Group,
even sprang for a champagne reception at the symphonys opera festival last month. Company
representatives say they are being generous corporate citizens. But the orchestra is also a
beloved charity of Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, whose
Congressional committee hands out lucrative defense contracts, and whose wife, Joyce, is a major
booster of the symphony. For the first time, corporations and their lobbyists are being
required to disclose donations they make to the favorite causes of House and Senate
members, and a review of thousands of pages of records shows the extent and
lavishness of this once hidden practice. During the first six months of 2008, lobbyists,
corporations and interest groups gave approximately $13 million to charities and nonprofit
organizations in honor of more than 200 members of the House and Senate. The donations came
from firms with numerous interests before the Congress, such as Wal-Mart, the Ford Motor
Company, Kraft Foods and Pfizer, and were received by charities ... as well as local groups
controlled by members of Congress or those close to them.
Note: For revelations of corporate corruption from major media sources, click here.
Exclusive: Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans

2008-10-09, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5987804&page=1
Hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family
back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National
Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia. "These were just really everyday, average,
ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened
to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army
Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military program at the NSA's Back Hall at Fort
Gordon from November 2001 to 2003. She said US military officers, American journalists and
American aid workers were routinely intercepted and "collected on" as they called their offices or
homes in the United States. Another intercept operator, former Navy Arab linguist, David Murfee
Faulk, 39, said he and his fellow intercept operators listened into hundreds of Americans picked up
using phones in Baghdad's Green Zone from late 2003 to November 2007. Both former intercept
operators came forward at first to speak with investigative journalist [James] Bamford for a book on
the NSA, The Shadow Factory, to be published next week. "It's extremely rare," said Bamford, who
has written two previous books on the NSA, including the landmark Puzzle Palace which first
revealed the existence of the super secret spy agency. "Both of them felt that what they were
doing was illegal and improper, and immoral, and it shouldn't be done, and that's what
forces whistleblowers."
Note: For many reports from major media sources of disturbing threats to privacy, click here.
Cheney Misled GOP Leaders, New Book Says

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/09/cheney_...
A GOP congressional leader who was wavering on giving President Bush authority to wage war in
late 2002 said Vice President Cheney misled him by saying that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had direct personal ties to al-Qaeda terrorists and was making rapid progress toward a suitcase
nuclear weapon. That's one of the revelations in the new book, Angler: The Cheney Vice
Presidency, by The Post's Barton Gellman. Angler is based on hundreds of previously unpublished
interviews with present and former Cheney advisers, senior officials in federal agencies, diplomats,
judges, military officers, senators and members of Congress. Cheney's accusations about
Saddam Hussein, described by former House Majority Leader Richard Armey, ... went far
beyond public statements that have been criticized for relying on "cherry-picked"
intelligence of unknown reliability. There was no intelligence to support the vice president's
private assertions, Gellman reports, and they "crossed so far beyond the known universe
of fact that they were simply without foundation." Some of the book's most significant news
describes a three-month conflict between the Justice Department and the vice president's office
over warrantless domestic surveillance. The top White House national security lawyer begins
hearing rumors of "the vice president's special program." John B. Bellinger III, who had not been
informed of the operation, confronted Cheney's counsel, David S. Addington. "I'm not going to tell
you whether there is or isn't such a program," Addington replied, glowering. "But if there were such
a program, you'd better go tell your little friends at the FBI and the CIA to keep their mouths shut."
Note: For many powerful exposures of government corruption, click here.
The Army's Totally Serious Mind-Control Project

Soldiers barking orders at each other is so 20th Century. That's why the U.S. Army has just
awarded a $4 million contract to begin developing "thought helmets" that would harness
silent brain waves for secure communication among troops. Ultimately, the Army hopes the
project will "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone."
Improvements in computing power and a better understanding of how the brain works have
scientists busy hunting for the distinctive neural fingerprints that flash through a brain when a
person is talking to himself. The Army's initial goal is to capture those brain waves with incredibly
sophisticated software that then translates the waves into audible radio messages for other troops
in the field. It's not as far-fetched as you might think: video gamers are eagerly awaiting a crude
commercial version of brain wave technology a $299 headset from San Francisco-based
Emotiv Systems in summer 2009. The military's vastly more sophisticated system may be a
decade or two away from reality, let alone implementation. The five-year contract it awarded last
month to a coalition of scientists from the University of California at Irvine, Carnegie Mellon
University, and the University of Maryland, seeks to "decode the activity in brain networks" so that
a soldier could radio commands to one or many comrades by thinking of the message he wanted
to relay and who should get it.
Note: The US military and intelligence agencies have been conducting and funding research in
mind control for decades. Click here for a summary of this research.
Cheney Colleague Admits Bribery in Halliburton Oil Deals

2008-09-04, The Independent (One of the U.K.s leading newspapers)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cheney-colleague-admits-brib...
A former colleague of the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has pleaded guilty to funnelling
millions of dollars in bribes to win lucrative contracts in Nigeria for Halliburton, during the
period in the Nineties when Mr Cheney ran the giant oil and gas services company. Albert
Stanley, who was appointed by Mr Cheney as chief executive of Halliburton's subsidiary KBR,
admitted using a north London lawyer to channel payments to Nigerian officials as part of a bribery
scheme that landed some $6bn of work in the country over a decade. Mr Cheney led
Halliburton from 1995 until returning to government in 2000. He had previously been Defence
Secretary under the first President George Bush, and the links with Halliburton have been a
constant thorn in the side of the current administration as the company has gone on to win billions
of dollars of contracts in Iraq and other US military spheres. The corruption scandal centres on
more than $180m channelled into Nigeria via intermediaries between 1994 and 2004.
Prosecutors allege that the payments were vital to a KBR-led consortium securing a succession of
construction projects related to a liquefied natural gas plant at Bonny Island, on the Atlantic coast
of Nigeria.
Bush Seeks to Affirm a Continuing War on Terror

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/washington/30terror.htm
Tucked deep into a recent proposal from the Bush administration is a provision that has received
almost no public attention: an affirmation that the United States is still at war with Al Qaeda. The
language, part of a proposal for hearing legal appeals from detainees at the United States naval
base at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, goes beyond political symbolism. Echoing a measure that
Congress passed just days after the Sept. 11 attacks, it carries significant legal and public policy
implications for Mr. Bush, and potentially his successor, to claim the imprimatur of Congress to use
the tools of war, including detention, interrogation and surveillance, against the enemy, legal and
political analysts say. Some lawmakers are concerned that the administrations effort to declare
anew a war footing is an 11th-hour maneuver to re-establish its broad interpretation of the
presidents wartime powers, even in the face of challenges from the Supreme Court and
Congress. The proposal is also the latest step that the administration, in its waning months,
has taken to make permanent important aspects of its long war against terrorism. From a
new wiretapping law approved by Congress to a rewriting of intelligence procedures and F.B.I.
investigative techniques, the administration is moving to institutionalize by law, regulation or order
a wide variety of antiterrorism tactics. This seems like a final push by the administration before
they go out the door, said Suzanne Spaulding, a former lawyer for the Central Intelligence Agency
and an expert on national security law.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources of the realities behind the "war on terror,"
click here.
CIA Denies Deception About Iraq

The controversy over a best-selling author's account of forgery and deception in the White House
deepened yesterday with a new CIA denial that it helped the Bush administration produce phony
documents suggesting past links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Author Ron Suskind's
book The Way of the World, released earlier this month, contends that the White House learned in
early 2003 that the Iraqi president no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction but went to
war regardless. Suskind wrote that the information was passed to British and U.S. intelligence
officials in secret meetings with Tahir Habbush, Iraq's spy chief at the time. Moreover, in an
allegation that implies potentially criminal acts by administration officials, the author wrote
that White House officials ordered a forgery to influence public opinion about the war. The
book contends that the CIA paid Habbush $5 million and resettled him in Jordan after the
war. Then, it says, in late 2003, the White House ordered the CIA to enlist Habbush's help in
concocting a fake letter that purported to show that Iraq helped train Mohamed Atta, the [alleged
hijacker] in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Such a letter surfaced in Iraq in December 2003, but its
authenticity quickly came into question. Suskind ... yesterday continued to stand by his book and
accused the CIA and White House of orchestrating a smear campaign. "It's the same old stuff,"
said Suskind, who said his findings are supported by hours of interviews, some of them taped.
"There's not a shred of doubt about any of it."
Scientists Question FBI Probe On Anthrax

For nearly seven years, scientist Bruce E. Ivins and a small circle of fellow anthrax specialists at
Fort Detrick's Army medical lab lived in a curious limbo: They served as occasional consultants for
the FBI in the investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, yet they were all potential suspects.
Over lunch in the bacteriology division, nervous scientists would share stories about their latest
unpleasant encounters with the FBI and ponder whether they should hire criminal defense lawyers.
In tactics that the researchers considered heavy-handed and often threatening, they were
interviewed and polygraphed as early as 2002, and reinterviewed numerous times. Their labs were
searched, and their computers and equipment carted away. The FBI eventually focused on Ivins,
whom federal prosecutors were planning to indict when he committed suicide last week.
Colleagues and friends of the vaccine specialist remained convinced that Ivins was
innocent: They contended that he had neither the motive nor the means to create the fine,
lethal powder that was sent by mail to news outlets and congressional offices in the late
summer and fall of 2001. Mindful of previous FBI mistakes in fingering others in the case, many
are deeply skeptical that the bureau has gotten it right this time. "I really don't think he's the guy. I
say to the FBI, 'Show me your evidence,' " said Jeffrey J. Adamovicz, former director of the
bacteriology division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, or
USAMRIID. "A lot of the tactics they used were designed to isolate him from his support. The FBI
just continued to push his buttons."
Note: For revealing insights into the realities behind the war on terror, click here.
More scrutiny, secrecy at Justice Department

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-opr6-2008jul06,0,7756465...
The [DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility] that polices [DOJ] lawyers' conduct has been
operating under a growing shroud of secrecy. It is taking on some of the weightiest issues in
government -- examining the role Justice's lawyers played in formulating administration
interrogation policies for suspected terrorists and in endorsing a National Security Agency program
of warrantless electronic surveillance. It has ... the task of deciding whether department lawyers
engaged in selective prosecution of Democratic political figures. It also is looking into lawyers'
involvement in a decision ... to deport a Canadian citizen to Syria, where he was imprisoned and
tortured. But officials have declined to say whether even one government lawyer has been
found to have engaged in professional misconduct in connection with the war on terrorism
-- despite often fierce criticism from civil liberties groups, defense lawyers and judges. The
[unit] has exonerated department lawyers in at least two high-profile terrorism-related
investigations. The office found that department lawyers had not engaged in misconduct in
connection with ... using special warrants to round up and incarcerate men after Sept. 11. The
OPR also exonerated department lawyers in ... the case of Brandon Mayfield, a Muslim attorney in
Portland, Ore., who was detained when the FBI erroneously linked his fingerprints to ... the March
2004 Madrid train bombings. But the resolution of most matters investigated by the OPR remains
closely guarded, even in cases where courts have found evidence of serious prosecutorial
misconduct.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy, click here.
New Criminal Record: 7.2 Million

The number of people under supervision in the nation's criminal justice system rose to 7.2 million
in 2006, the highest ever, costing states tens of billions of dollars to house and monitor offenders
as they go in and out of jails and prisons. According to a recently released report released by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 2 million offenders were either in jail or prison in 2006, the
most recent year studied in an annual survey. Another 4.2 million were on probation, and nearly
800,000 were on parole. The cost to taxpayers, about $45 billion, is causing states such as
California to reconsider harsh criminal penalties. In an attempt to relieve overcrowding, California
is now exporting some of its 170,000 inmates to privately run corrections facilities as far away as
Tennessee. "There are a number of states that have talked about an early release of prisoners
deemed non-threatening," said Rebecca Blank, a senior fellow in economic studies at the
Brookings Institution. "The problem just keeps getting bigger and bigger. You're paying a lot of
money here. You have to ask if some of these high mandatory minimum sentences make sense."
The bureau's report comes on the heels of a Pew Center on the States report showing 1
percent of U.S. adults behind bars, a historic high. The United States has the largest
number of people behind bars in the world, according to the Pew report. Black men, about
one in 15, were most affected, and Hispanics, one in 35, were well represented among offenders.
The number of women in prison "rose faster in 2006 than over the previous five years."
White House 'puzzled' by ex-spokesman's book bashing Bush

2008-05-28, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/27/mcclellan.book/index.html
The White House ... said it was "puzzled" by a former spokesman's memoir in which he accuses
the Bush administration of being mired in propaganda and political spin and at times playing loose
with the truth. In excerpts from [his recently released book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White
House and Washington's Culture of Deception], Scott McClellan writes on the war in Iraq that Bush
"and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so
fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war." McClellan's
former White House colleagues had harsh reactions to McClellan's book. Fox News contributor
and former White House adviser Karl Rove said on that network Tuesday that the excerpts from
the book he's read sound more like they were written by a "left-wing blogger" than his former
colleague. Another former Bush aide-turned-critic says the reaction to McClellan's book by
his former colleagues has a familiar ring to it. "They're saying some of the exact same
things about McClellan they said about me," Richard Clarke, the former White House
counterterrorism chief, told CNN. Clarke left government in 2003. The following year, he
accused President Bush of ignoring warnings about the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York
and Washington and of using the attacks to push for war with Iraq. Early in the book ... McClellan
wrote that he believes he told untruths on Bush's behalf in the case of CIA agent Valerie Plame,
whose identity was leaked to the media. "I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly
passing along a falsehood," he wrote.
US academic deported and banned for criticising Israel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/26/israelandthepalestinians.usa
Norman Finkelstein, the controversial Jewish American academic and fierce critic of Israel, has
been deported from the country and banned from the Jewish state for 10 years, it emerged
yesterday. Finkelstein, the son of a Holocaust survivor who has accused Israel of using the
genocidal Nazi campaign against Jews to justify its actions against the Palestinians, was detained
by the Israeli security service, Shin Bet, when he landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Friday.
Shin Bet interrogated him for around 24 hours. "I did my best to provide absolutely candid and
comprehensive answers to all the questions put to me," [he said.] "I have nothing to hide. Apart
from my political views, and the supporting scholarship, there isn't much more to say for myself:
alas, no suicide missions or secret rendezvous with terrorist organisations." Finkelstein is one of
several scholars rejected by Israel in the increasingly bitter divide in academic circles,
between those who support and those who criticise its treatment of Palestinians.
Finkelstein was also refused tenure last year at Chicago's DePaul University. The
Association for Civil Rights in Israel said the deportation of Finkelstein was an assault on free
speech. "The decision to prevent someone from voicing their opinions by arresting and deporting
them is typical of a totalitarian regime," said the association's lawyer, Oded Peler. "A democratic
state, where freedom of expression is the highest principle, does not shut out criticism or ideas just
because they are uncomfortable for its authorities to hear. It confronts those ideas in public
debate."
Unmarked chopper patrols New York City from above

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/23/ap/national/main4123912.shtml
On a cloudless spring day, the NYPD helicopter soars over the city, its sights set on the Statue of
Liberty. A dramatic close-up of Lady Liberty's frozen gaze fills one of three flat-screen computer
monitors mounted on a console. Hundreds of sightseers below are oblivious to the fact that a
helicopter is peering down on them from a mile and a half away. "They don't even know we're
here," said crew chief John Diaz, speaking into a headset over the din of the aircraft's engine. The
helicopter's unmarked paint job belies what's inside: an arsenal of sophisticated
surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough to read license plates or scan
pedestrians' faces from high above the nation's largest metropolis. "It looks like just
another helicopter in the sky," said Assistant Police Chief Charles Kammerdener, who oversees
the department's aviation unit. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said that no other U.S.
law enforcement agency "has anything that comes close" to the surveillance chopper, which was
designed by engineers at Bell Helicopter and computer technicians based on NYPD specifications.
The $10 million helicopter is just part of the department's efforts to adopt cutting-edge technology
for its [surveillance] operations. The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars
strengthening security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of closed-circuit
television cameras and license-plate readers posted at bridges, tunnels and other entry points.
Civil rights advocates are skeptical about the push for more surveillance, arguing it reflects the
NYPD's evolution into ad hoc spy agency.
Note: For many important reports on disturbing threats to privacy, click here.
Tillman wants accountability in son's death

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/DDRO10MM87.DTL
During the rush of post-9/11 patriotism, few stories were more compelling than the life and death of
Pat Tillman, the ... professional football player turned soldier. And, according to those closest to
Tillman, few have been as illustrative of how the government has tried to manipulate public opinion
about the war. Four years - and seven investigations - after her son's death in Afghanistan in a
friendly fire incident, Mary Tillman remains frustrated that the people responsible for covering up
the circumstances of his demise have not been held accountable. No one has been severely
disciplined. [Mary Tillman is] touring the country to promote her book, Boots on the Ground by
Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman, with the goal of telling the story of her son's life and of her journey
through the military bureaucracy in the aftermath of his death. Since he enlisted, Pat Tillman's
story has been clutched by opposing sides of the war's political divide. He left a $3.6 million
contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals on the table to enlist in the military and fight al Qaeda in
June 2002. On April 22, 2004, Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. Two weeks later, just before his
nationally televised memorial service, the Pentagon awarded him the Silver Star. He died, the
military said, while charging up a hill toward the enemy. But that wasn't the real story;
Tillman was killed by his own men. The military knew that within hours but waited five
weeks before revealing it. Years later, Mary Tillman is still looking for answers.
Note: For a former Marine general's account of what war is really all about, click here.
Bush administration rules limit lawsuits

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/05/13/bush_administration_rules_...
Faced with an unfriendly Congress, the Bush administration has found another, quieter way to
make it more difficult for consumers to sue businesses over faulty products. It's rewriting the
bureaucratic rulebook. Lawsuit limits have been included in 51 rules proposed or adopted since
2005 by agency bureaucrats governing just about everything Americans use: drugs, cars,
railroads, medical devices and food. Decried by consumer advocates and embraced by industry,
the agencies' use of the government's rule-making authority represents the administration's final
act in a long-standing drive to shield companies from lawsuits. Of the 51 regulations, 41 came from
the Food and Drug Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or
NHTSA. Underlying this bureaucratic version of lawsuit reform is the concept of federal
preemption. Rooted in the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, federal preemption refers to
circumstances in which federal law and regulation trump state law, in this instance state laws that
govern when one person may be held liable for another's injury. An expansive interpretation of
preemption leaves little room for consumers to sue, and that is what the national trial lawyers
group, the American Association for Justice, says is taking place. Jon Haber, AAJ's chief executive
officer, says the agencies are engaging in "a brazen end run around Congress, the
Constitution and the states in an effort to let negligent corporations off the hook and
knowingly put consumers at risk."
Note: For lots more on government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Ex-Officials: Bush Admin. Ignored Iraq Corruption

The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi
government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its
relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees. Arthur Brennan,
who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department's Office of Accountability and
Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats
... that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored. Brennan also
alleges the State Department prevented a congressional aide visiting Baghdad from talking with
staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, office members were watching
movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers' workload had been cut dramatically
because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "evisceration" of Iraq's top anti-corruption office,
he said. The State Department's policies "not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission
but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the
Iraqi government," Brennan told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. The U.S. embassy
"effort against corruption including its new centerpiece, the now-defunct Office of Accountability
and Transparency was little more than 'window dressing,'" he added. Mattil, who worked with
Brennan, made similar allegations. Specifically, he said the U.S. "remained silent in the face of an
unrelenting campaign" by senior Iraqi officials to subvert Baghdad's Commission on Public
Integrity.
Note: For many powerful exposures of government corruption from reliable, verifiable sources,
click here.
Nanoparticles scrutinized for health effects

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/12/BU4P10BB88.DTL
Windows cleaned by raindrops, white sofas immune to red wine spills, tiles protected from
limescale buildup -- new products created from minute substances called nanoparticles are making
such domestic dreams come true. Based on tiny particles 10,000 times thinner than a strand of
hair, ... nanoparticles are showing up in everything from fabric coatings to socks to plush teddy
bears. But some scientists are concerned that these seemingly magical materials are hitting the
market before their effects on human health and the environment have been sufficiently studied.
The few scientific reports available suggest that nanoparticles can pose a threat to human health
and to the environment. For example, fish swimming in water containing modest amounts of
fullerenes, soccer-ball-shaped nanoparticles made out of 60 carbon atoms, showed a large
increase in brain damage. These are the same types of fullerenes being used in various skin
products. From the skin, they can travel through the lymphatic duct system to lymph nodes and
eventually end up in organs such as the liver, kidney and spleen. When inhaled, nanoparticles will
go deeper into the lungs than larger particles and reach more sensitive parts. Because of that,
scientists are particularly concerned about nanoparticles being used in spray products. "We have
research showing that as a material shrinks in size, it becomes more harmful to the lungs.
Nanoparticles tend to be more inflammatory to the lung, and it seems as if the lung has to
work harder to get rid of them," said Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser at the Project on
Emerging Nanotechnologies in Washington.
Note: For a treasure trove of health reports from major media, click here.
Domestic spying far outpaces terrorism prosecutions

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-justice12-2008may12,0,43...
The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records
reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers
approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases
precipitously. The trends, visible in new government data and a private analysis of Justice
Department records, are worrisome to civil liberties groups and some legal scholars. They say it is
further evidence that the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens
without much to show for it. The Bush administration has been seeking to expand its ability to
gather intelligence without prior court approval. The [Justice] department ... reported a sharp rise in
the use of national security letters by the FBI -- from 9,254 in 2005 to 12,583 in 2006, the latest
data available. The letters seek customer information from banks, Internet providers and phone
companies. They have caused a stir because consumers do not have a right to know that their
information is being disclosed and the letters are issued without court oversight. Civil liberties
groups say the new data reveal a disturbing consequence of the government's post-Sept. 11
expanded surveillance capabilities. "The number of Americans being investigated dwarfs any
legitimate number of actual terrorism prosecutions, and that is extremely troubling," said
Lisa Graves, deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies, a Washington-based civil
liberties group.
Note: For many reports from major media sources that question the reality of the "terror" threat,
click here.
Torture Memo Gave White House Broad Powers

2008-04-02, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=4569746&page=1
The Justice Department's newly declassified torture memo outlined the broad legal authority its
lawyers gave to the Bush White House on matters of torture and presidential authority during times
of war. The March 14, 2003 memorandum ... provided legal "guidance" for military interrogations of
"alien unlawful combatants," and concluded that the president's authority during wartime took
precedence over the individual rights of enemies captured in the field. The memo ... determined
that amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which in part protect rights of individuals charged with
crimes, do not apply equally to enemy combatants. "The Fifth Amendment due process clause
does not apply to the president's conduct of a war," the memo noted. It also asserted, "The
detention of enemy combatants can in no sense be deemed 'punishment' for purposes of the
Eighth Amendment," which prohibits "cruel and unusual" forms of punishment. The memo was
drafted by John Yoo, who was at the time the deputy assistant attorney general for the
Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Former aides to John Ashcroft say the thenattorney general privately dubbed Yoo "Dr. Yes" for being so closely aligned with lawyers at
the White House. The memo also provided an argument in defense of government interrogators
who used harsh tactics in their line of work. The memo also laid out a defense against the authority
of the U.N. Convention Against Torture, or CAT. Jack Goldsmith who headed OLC from October
2003 to July 2004, and worked at the Pentagon before coming to the department ... described the
problems he had reviewing and standing by Yoo's work. "My first [reaction] was disbelief that
programs of this importance could be supported by legal opinions that were this flawed."
Note: For further disturbing reports on threats to civil liberties, click here.
Letter to FBI asserts Spitzer also hired prostitutes while in Florida

2008-03-22, Kansas City Star/McClatchy News
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/542802.html
Months before New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned, a lawyer for a GOP political operative
contacted the FBI, alleging that Spitzer had hired prostitutes while in Florida. A letter, dated Nov.
19, said Roger Stone, who lives in Miami Beach, learned the information from a social contact in
an adult-themed club. Stone, known for shutting down the 2000 presidential election re-
count in Miami-Dade County, is a longtime nemesis of Spitzer. His lawyer wrote the letter after
FBI agents had asked to speak to Stone, though he said the FBI did not specify why he was
contacted. Mr. Stone respectfully declines to meet with you at this time, the letter stated, before
going on to offer certain information about Spitzer. The governor has paid literally tens of
thousands of dollars for these services. It is Mr. Stones understanding that the governor paid not
with credit cards or cash but through some pre-arranged transfer, it said. It is also my clients
understanding from the same source that Gov. Spitzer did not remove his mid-calf-length black
socks during the sex act. Perhaps you can use this detail to corroborate Mr. Stones information,
the letter said. It was signed by attorney Paul Rolf Jensen. Another of Stones lawyers, Robert
Buschel, said the letters release is an attempt to set the record straight. The conspiracy
enthusiasts on the Internet are going wild over Roger Stones role in the fall of Eliot Spitzer.
We felt it was important to lay out for the public exactly what Mr. Stone did tell the government,
Buschel said.
Note: Roger Stone, the "longtime nemesis of Spitzer", is also a notorious Republican "dirty
trickster" since the Nixon era.
U.S. Defends Tough Tactics on Spitzer

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/nyregion/21justice.html?ex=1363752000&en=50...
The Justice Department used some of its most intrusive tactics against Eliot Spitzer, examining his
financial records, eavesdropping on his phone calls and tailing him during its criminal investigation
of the Emperors Club prostitution ring. The scale and intensity of the investigation of Mr. Spitzer,
then the governor of New York, seemed ... to be a departure for the Justice Department, which
aggressively investigates allegations of wrongdoing by public officials, but almost never
investigates people who pay prostitutes for sex. A review of recent federal cases shows that
federal prosecutors go sparingly after owners and operators of prostitution enterprises, and usually
only when millions of dollars are involved or there are aggravating circumstances, like human
trafficking or child exploitation. The focus on Mr. Spitzer was so intense that the F.B.I. used
surveillance teams to follow both him and the prostitute in Washington in February. Stakeouts and
surveillance are labor-intensive and often involve teams of a dozen or more agents and non-agent
specialists. An affidavit filed in the prostitution case did not identify Mr. Spitzer by name,
only as Client 9, but it provided far more detail, some of it unusually explicit, about Client
9s encounter with the prostitute than about any of the nine other clients identified by
number in the document. Several current and former federal prosecutors and prominent defense
lawyers who reviewed the document said the inclusion of such salacious details about Mr.
Spitzers encounter with the prostitute went far beyond what was necessary to provide probable
cause for the arrests and for searches, the purpose of the affidavit. The government has not
accused Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, of any wrongdoing.
Note: A point left out by this report in the New York Times, which so prominently broke the Spitzer
revelations, is that the names of the other "Clients" were never released. Could this be because
the investigation and leaks to the media were politically motivated?
FBI Found to Misuse Security Letters

The FBI has increasingly used administrative orders to obtain the personal records of U.S. citizens
rather than foreigners implicated in terrorism or counterintelligence investigations, and at least
once it relied on such orders to obtain records that a special intelligence-gathering court had
deemed protected by the First Amendment, according to two government audits released
yesterday. The episode was outlined in a Justice Department report that concluded the FBI had
abused its intelligence-gathering privileges by issuing inadequately documented "national security
letters" from 2003 to 2006. The report makes it clear that the abuses persisted in 2006 and
disclosed that 60 percent of the nearly 50,000 security letters issued that year by the FBI targeted
Americans. Because U.S. citizens enjoy constitutional protections against unreasonable searches
and seizures, judicial warrants are ordinarily required for government surveillance. But national
security letters are approved only by FBI officials and are not subject to judicial approval; they
routinely demand certain types of personal data, such as telephone, e-mail and financial records,
while barring the recipient from disclosing that the information was requested or supplied. "The
fact that these are being used against U.S. citizens, and being used so aggressively, should
call into question the claim that these powers are about terrorists and not just about
collecting information on all kinds of people," said Jameel Jaffer, national security director at
the American Civil Liberties Union. "They're basically using national security letters to evade
legal requirements that would be enforced if there were judicial oversight."
Note: For many key reports from major media sources on increasing threats to civil liberties, click
here.
A Bailout. For Everyone.

Last week, it was a $200 billion cash-for-bond swap for the banks. This week, it was a $200 billion
bond-for-bond swap for the big investment houses. If they keep this up, pretty soon you'll be able
to walk into any Federal Reserve bank and hock that diamond brooch you inherited from Aunt
Mildred. Forget all that nonsense about the Bernanke Fed being too timid or behind the curve. In
the face of what is turning into the most serious financial market crisis since the Great Depression,
the Fed has been more aggressive and more creative in using its limitless balance sheet -- in
effect, its ability to print money -- than at any time in history. We can argue till the cows come home
about whether this is a bailout for Wall Street. It is -- but only to the extent that it is also a bailout
for all of us, meant to prevent a financial and economic meltdown that drags everyone down with it.
In broad strokes, we're going through a massive "de-leveraging" of the economy, wringing
out trillions of dollars of debt that had artificially driven up the price of real estate and
financial assets, and, more generally, allowed Americans to live beyond their means. Fed
officials warn that this de-leveraging is nowhere near finished. It's anyone's guess how long
this credit crunch will last, but the chances are that we'll have several more market meltdowns and
Fed rescues before it's over, probably in the fall. Until then, the dollar will continue to get
hammered and stocks will continue their fitful decline. And if the last two financially induced
recessions are any guide, it will be well into 2009 before the economy hits bottom, followed by a
couple of years of slow growth and "jobless" recovery.
Note: The title of this article is quite revealing. A bailout for the big banks is considered to be a
bailout for everyone. If you believe this, we most highly encourage you to read our powerful twopage summary of the banking cover-up available here.
Justice Official Defends Rough CIA Interrogations

The Bush administration allowed CIA interrogators to use tactics that were "quite distressing,
uncomfortable, even frightening," as long as they did not cause enough severe and lasting pain to
constitute illegal torture, a senior Justice Department official said last week. In testimony before a
House subcommittee, Steven G. Bradbury, the acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of
Legal Counsel, spelled out how the administration regulated the CIA's use of rough tactics and
offered new details of how [waterboarding] was used to compel disclosures by prisoners. Bradbury
indicated that no water entered the lungs of the three prisoners who were subjected to the
practice, lending credence to previous accounts that the noses and mouths of CIA captives were
covered in cloth or cellophane. Cellophane could pose a serious asphyxiation risk, torture experts
said. Bradbury's unusually frank testimony ... stunned many civil liberties advocates and outside
legal scholars who have long criticized the Bush administration's secretive and aggressive
interrogation policies. Martin S. Lederman, a former Office of Legal Counsel official who teaches
law at Georgetown University, called Bradbury's testimony "chilling." Lederman said that "to say
that this is not severe physical suffering -- is not torture -- is absurd. And to invoke the
defense that what the Spanish Inquisition did was worse and that we use a more benign,
non-torture form of waterboarding . . . is obscene." Bradbury wrote two secret memos in 2005
that authorized waterboarding, head-slapping and other harsh tactics by the CIA. As a result of
that and other issues, Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked Bradbury's nomination to head
the legal counsel's office permanently.
West 'embraces sham democracies'

2008-01-31, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/7219708.stm
The US, EU and other democracies are accepting flawed and unfair elections out of political
expediency, Human Rights Watch says in its annual report. Allowing autocrats to pose as
democrats without demanding they uphold civil and political rights risked undermining
human rights worldwide, it warned. HRW said Pakistan, Thailand, Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria,
Kenya and Russia had been falsely claiming to be democratic. In the report, HRW said established
democracies such as the US and members of the European Union were increasingly tolerating
autocrats "claiming the mantle of democracy". "In 2007 too many governments ... acted as if
simply holding a vote is enough to prove a nation 'democratic', and Washington, Brussels and
European capitals played along. The Bush administration has spoken of its commitment to
democracy abroad but often kept silent about the need for all governments to respect human
rights." HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said it had become too easy for autocrats to get
away with mounting a sham democracy "because too many Western governments insist on
elections and leave it at that. They don't press governments on the key human rights issues that
make democracy function - a free press, peaceful assembly, and a functioning civil society that can
really challenge power. It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the
most dubious election so long as the 'victor' is a strategic or commercial ally," Mr Roth said.
Inquisition at JPL
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten16jan16,0,2608869.story
For the last four years, two robot rovers operated from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada
Flintridge have been moving across the surface of Mars, taking photographs and collecting
information. It's an epic event in the history of exploration, one of many for which JPL's 7,000
civilian scientists and engineers are responsible -- when they're not fending off the U.S.
government's attempts to conduct an intimidating and probably illegal inquisition into the intimate
details of their lives. The problem began -- as so many have -- in the security mania that gripped
the Bush administration after 9/11. Presidential Directive No. 12, issued by the Department of
Homeland Security, directed federal agencies to adopt a uniform badge that could be used by
employees and contractors to gain access to government facilities. NASA Administrator Michael
Griffin ... directed Caltech, which has a contract to run JPL for NASA, to make sure all of the lab's
employees complied. The government demanded that the scientists, in order to get the badges, fill
out questionnaires on their personal lives and waive the privacy of their financial, medical and
psychiatric records. The government also wanted permission to gather information about them by
interviewing third parties. Twenty-eight of JPL's senior scientists sued in federal court to stop
the government and Caltech from forcing them to agree to the background checks as the
price of keeping their jobs. They point out that Griffin is one of those who remain skeptical that
human actions contribute to global warming, and that some of JPL's near-Earth science has
played a critical role in establishing the empirical case to the contrary. They see the background
checks as the first step toward establishing a system of intimidation that might be used to
silence inconvenient science.
Note: For many disturbing reports on threats to our civil liberties, click here.
FDA to Back Food From Cloned Animals

The Food and Drug Administration is set to announce as early as next week that meat and milk
from cloned farm animals and their offspring can start making their way toward supermarket
shelves. The decision would be a notable act of defiance against Congress, which last month
passed appropriations legislation recommending that any such approval be delayed pending
further studies. Moreover, the Senate version of the Farm bill ... contains stronger, binding
language that would block FDA action on cloned food, probably for years. The FDA has hinted
strongly in the past year that it is ready to lift its "voluntary moratorium" on the marketing of milk
and meat from clones and their offspring, saying that the science led them to that decision. But
public opinion has been negative on the issue, with some saying that not enough safety studies
have been conducted and others concerned about the health of the clones, which are far more
likely than ordinary farm animals to die early in life. A handful of U.S. companies have pushed for
marketing approval. Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy
group, said she had read the entire 678-page draft risk assessment and found it to be "long
on assumptions and short on data, and especially short on the data that are directly
relevant to food consumption safety." Of particular concern, she said, was that even though the
vast majority of clones die either before birth or soon after, those that survive are deemed normal.
She said the FDA should withhold approval at least until it has a regulatory plan in place that will
give it an ability to track food from clones and watch for human health impacts. Others have called
for mandatory labeling so consumers can avoid products from clones. The FDA has said that
lacking any safety concerns, it will not demand such labels. The Agriculture Department has also
declared that meat from clones cannot be deemed organic.
Note: For lots more reliable information on how big business takes huge risks with the food we
eat, click here.
The Presidents Coming-Out Party

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/12/hbc-90001917
This has been an important week in the torture debate in America. It has been the week of the
Presidents coming-out party. This week, a CIA agent, John Kiriakou, appeared, first on ABC News
and then in an interview with NBCs Matt Lauer, and explained just how the system works. When
we want to torture someone (and it is torture he said; no one involved with these techniques would
ever think anything different), we have to write it up. The team leader of the torture team proposes
what torture techniques will be used and when. He sends it to the Deputy Chief of Operations at
the CIA. And there it is reviewed by the hierarchy of the Company. Then the proposal is passed to
the Justice Department to be reviewed, blessed, and it is passed to the National Security Council
in the White House, to be reviewed and approved. The NSC is chaired, of course, by George W.
Bush, whose personal authority is invoked for each and every instance of torture
authorized. And, according to Kiriakou as well as others, Bushs answer is never no. He
has never found a case where he didnt find torture was appropriate. Heres a key piece of
the Kiriakou statement: LAUER: "Was the White House involved in that decision?" KIRIAKOU:
"Absolutely, this isnt something done willy nilly. Its not something that an agency officer just wakes
up in the morning and decides hes going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner. This
was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and
Justice Department." He then goes into the process in considerable detail. Watch the video here.
So now the process can be fully diagrammed, and the cast of characters is stunning. The torture
system involves the operations division of the CIA on the implementation side. The Justice
Department is right in the thick of it. And finally the White House. David Addington, Dick Cheney,
Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadleythese are all names we can now link directly to the
torture system. They decided who would be tortured and how.
Houston Police Drone Aircraft

2007-11-23, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/23/sitroom.02.html
Transcript: [Suzanne] MALVEAUX: A Texas mystery solved -- at least partially. We now know
Houston police are going to start using unmanned drone aircraft. But the question remains, well,
for what? Stephen Dean of CNN affiliate KPRC has got an exclusive look. STEPHEN DEAN,
KPRC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): HPD [Houston Police Dept.], the federal Department of
Homeland Security and other invited guests all watching to see how this drone could be used for
police work in and around Houston. We tracked that drone from News Chopper 2. And that drone
was able to use a high-powered camera to track us. Those cameras can actually look into people's
homes or even follow them in moving cars -- which raises all sorts of new questions. HPD quickly
hustled together a news conference when it realized our cameras were there for the entire secret
test. Executive Assistant Chief Martha Mantabo admits that could mean covert police action. But
she says it's too early to tell what else HPD will do with the aircraft. We asked, are these drones
headed for ticketing speeders from the sky? MONTALVO: I'm not ruling anything out. DEAN: Back
at the secret test site, police helicopter pilots claimed the entire air space was restricted and
even threatened our local 2 Investigates pilot with action from the FAA if we didn't leave.
But we checked with FAA several times and there never was a flight restriction. That leaves
some to wonder whether the police are now ready to use terrorism fears since 911 to push
the envelope further into our private lives.
Note: To watch the video of secret police work in action, click here.
Big Brother Spying on Americans' Internet Data?
2007-11-07, ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3833172
According to a former AT&T employee, the government has warrantless access to a great deal of
Internet traffic should they care to take a peek. As information is traded between users it flows also
into a locked, secret room on the sixth floor of AT&T's San Francisco offices and other rooms
around the country -- where the U.S. government can sift through and find the information it wants,
former AT&T employee Mark Klein alleged Wednesday at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "An
exact copy of all Internet traffic that flowed through critical AT&T cables -- e-mails,
documents, pictures, Web browsing, voice-over-Internet phone conversations, everything -was being diverted to equipment inside the secret room," he said. Klein ... said that as an
AT&T technician overseeing Internet operations in San Francisco, he helped maintain optical
splitters that diverted data en route to and from AT&T customers. One day he found that the
splitters were hard-wired into a secret room on the sixth floor. Documents he obtained [from] AT&T
showed that highly sophisticated data mining equipment was kept there. Conversations he had
with other technicians and the AT&T documents led Klein to believe there are 15 to 20 such sites
nationwide, including in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego and Atlanta, he said. Brian
Reid, a former Stanford electrical engineering professor who appeared with Klein, said the NSA
would logically collect phone and Internet data simultaneously because of the way fiber optic
cables are intertwined. He said ... the system described by Klein suggests a "wholesale,
dragnet surveillance." Of the major telecom companies, only Qwest is known to have rejected
government requests for access to data. Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, appealing an
insider trading conviction last month, said the government was seeking access to data even before
Sept. 11.
Rice, Others Told to Testify in AIPAC Case

A federal judge yesterday issued a rare ruling that ordered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and more than 10 other prominent current and former government officials to testify on behalf of
two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of violating the Espionage Act at their upcoming criminal trial.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria [VA] directed that subpoenas be issued to officials
who include Rice, national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, former high-level Department of
Defense officials Paul D. Wolfowitz and Douglas J. Feith, and Richard L. Armitage, the former
deputy secretary of state. Their testimony has been sought by attorneys for Steven J. Rosen and
Keith Weissman, former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC,
who are accused of conspiring to obtain classified information and pass it to members of the media
and the Israeli government. Attorneys for Rosen and Weissman say Rice and the other
officials could help clear them because they provided the former lobbyists with sensitive
information similar to what they were charged for. Prosecutors have been trying to quash
the subpoenas during secret hearings and in classified legal briefs, but Ellis wrote that the
testimony could help "exculpate the defendants by negating the criminal states of mind the
government must prove." The lobbyists are the first non-government civilians charged under the
1917 espionage statute with verbally receiving and transmitting national defense information.
Rosen and Weissman were indicted in 2005 on charges of conspiring to violate the Espionage Act
by receiving national defense information and transmitting it to journalists and employees of the
Israeli Embassy who were not entitled to receive it. Among those ordered to testify are William
Burns, the U.S. ambassador to Russia; Elliot Abrams, deputy national security adviser; and
Kenneth Pollack, former director of Persian Gulf affairs for the National Security Council.
Energy Traders Avoid Scrutiny

One year ago, a 32-year-old trader at a giant hedge fund named Amaranth held huge sway over
the price the country paid for natural gas. Trading on unregulated commodity exchanges, he made
risky bets that led to the fund's collapse -- and, according to a congressional investigation, higher
gas bills for homeowners. But as another winter approaches, lawmakers and federal regulators
have yet to set up a system to prevent another big fund from cornering a vital commodity market.
Called by some insiders the Wild West of Wall Street, commodity trading is a world where
many goods that are key to national security or public consumption, such as oil, pork
bellies or uranium, are traded with almost no oversight. Part of the problem is that the
regulator, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has had a hard time keeping up
with the sector it oversees. Commodity trading has exploded in complexity and popularity, growing
six-fold in trading volume since 2000 -- the year that a handful of giant energy companies,
including Enron, successfully lobbied to get Congress to exempt energy markets from government
regulation. Meanwhile CFTC's staffing has dropped to its lowest level in the agency's 33-year
history. Its computer systems that monitor trades are outdated. Its leadership has seen frequent
turnover. "We are facing flat budgets and exponential growth in the industry," said CFTC Acting
Chairman Walter Lukken. "Over the long term this type of budgetary situation is not sustainable."
Commodities markets also have become complex with many trading futures contracts as well as
financial tools called derivatives and swaps, whose value is based on the risk of futures contracts.
Gathering data on these products has been a challenge for the CFTC. The evolution of the
markets has led to some tension between the CFTC and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
Note: For more revealing major media reports of unregulated financial corruption and its impact,
click here.
Panel: Kids Shouldn't Use Cold Medicines

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/18/national/w000553D...
The medicines long used by parents to treat their children's coughs and colds don't work and
shouldn't be used in those younger than 6, federal health advisers recommended. "The data that
we have now is they don't seem to work," said Sean Hennessy, a University of Pennsylvania
epidemiologist. The recommendation applies to medicines containing one or more of the following
ingredients: decongestants, antihistamines and antitussives. In two separate votes ... the panelists
said the medicines shouldn't be used in children younger than 2 or in those younger than 6. A third
vote, to recommend against use in children 6 to 11, failed. The panel's advice dovetails with a
petition filed by pediatricians that argued the over-the-counter medicines shouldn't be given to
children younger than 6, an age group they called the most vulnerable to potential ill effects. The
American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups back the petition. But FDA officials and
panelists agreed there's no evidence they work in older children, either. Still, panelists held off from
recommending against use in those 6 and older. And some said they feared such a prohibition
wouldn't eliminate use of the medicines by parents. "They will administer adult products to their
children because they work for them or feel they work for them," said the panel's patient and family
representative, Amy Celento of Nutley, N.J. Some of the drugs which include Wyeth's
Dimetapp and Robitussin, Johnson & Johnson's Pediacare and Novartis AG's Triaminic
products have never been tested in children, something flagged as long ago as 1972 by a
previous FDA panel. An FDA review found just 11 studies of children published over the last halfcentury. Those studies did not establish that the medicines worked in those cases, according to
the agency.
Note: For a powerful expos of corporate and government corruption in the health industry, click
here.
Strict Visa Regulations Discourage Visiting Artists

The Halle Orchestra, one of Great Britain's oldest symphony orchestras, has not toured the United
States in more than a decade, so spirits were high when the group secured dates at Lincoln
Center and in Upstate New York for performances last winter. But when the orchestra learned
that to get their entry visas, all 85 musicians -- every last cellist, oboist and piccolo player -would have to travel from their Manchester headquarters to the U.S. Embassy in London for
personal interviews, electronic fingerprinting and facial-recognition scans, it scrapped the
trip. Budgeting for airfare and travel costs to New York was one thing, but simply getting everyone
to the embassy at the same time, along with hotel bills and fees for the visas themselves, would
have cost an additional $80,000, said marketing director Andy Ryans. "It was very simply money
that we didn't have," Ryans explained. "We were desperate to go to the States, but our hands were
absolutely tied." Theirs aren't the only ones. To perform in this country, foreign artists of all stripes - punk rockers, ballet dancers, folk musicians, acrobats -- are funneled through a one-size-fits-all
"nonimmigrant" visa process whose costs and complications have become prohibitive, according
to booking agents, managers and presenters, such as the Kennedy Center, who program and
market the performers. Visiting businesspeople face similar security hurdles put in place since
Sept. 11, 2001. But artists' visa petitions also require substantial documentation to satisfy the
"sustained international recognition" requirement for the type of visa (called a "P-1") issued to
many performing artists. Arts organizations say they have become reluctant to book foreign
performers because of the risk of bureaucratic snags. Soon after Sept. 11, the State Department
rolled out its Biometric Visa Program, requiring all applicants to undergo fingerprinting and have
photographs taken at the nearest U.S. consulate each time they apply.
Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm

A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading,
has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of
dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that
the company thought might be illegal. Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April
of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks ... about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather
information about Americans' phone records. In the court filings disclosed this week, Nacchio
suggests that Qwest's refusal to take part in that program led the government to cancel a
separate, lucrative contract with the NSA in retribution. He is using the allegation to try to show
why his stock sale should not have been considered improper. He has claimed in court papers that
he had been optimistic that Qwest would overcome weak sales because of the expected topsecret contract with the government. Nacchio's account, which places the NSA proposal at a
meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests that the Bush administration was seeking to enlist
telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks
on New York and the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as
the main impetus for its warrantless surveillance efforts. In May 2006, USA Today reported
that the NSA had been secretly collecting the phone-call records of tens of millions of Americans,
using data provided by major telecom firms. Qwest, it reported, declined to participate because of
fears that the program lacked legal standing.
Note: The Bush Administration has claimed that the NSA surveillance of the American public was
a necessary response to the attacks of 9/11. But this story reveals that the surveillance began
before 9/11, shortly after Bush took office. The obvious question is, why? For many other reliable,
verifiable reports that suggest the official explanation of the events of 9/11 is false, click here.
An American Embassy with All the Amenities

2007-10-04, Talk of the Nation (NPR)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14993509
The new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is shaping up to be the largest and most lavish embassy in the
world. Tucked inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, the $600-million compound will include
grocery stores, a movie theater, tennis courts and a club for social gatherings. In "The Mega
Bunker of Baghdad," Vanity Fair reporter William Langewiesche describes the compound
and argues that it's not being built for diplomacy.
Note: Click on the link above to listen to this revealing radio report.
U.S. Cites Secrets Privilege to Stop Suit on Banking Records

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/us/nationalspecial3/31swift.html?ex=1346212...
The Bush administration ... plans to turn again to a legal tool, the state secrets privilege, to try to
stop a suit against a Belgian banking cooperative [known as Swift] that secretly supplied millions of
private financial records to the United States government. The state secrets privilege, allowing
the government to shut down litigation on national security grounds, was once rarely used. The
Bush administration has turned to it more than 30 times, seeking to end public discussion of cases
like the claims of an F.B.I. whistle-blower and the abduction of a German terrorism suspect. Most
notably, the administration has sought to use the privilege to kill numerous suits against
telecommunications carriers over the National Security Agencys eavesdropping program. Swift is
considered the nerve center of the global banking industry, routing trillions of dollars each
day among banks, brokerage houses and other financial institutions. Its partnership with
Washington ... gave Central Intelligence Agency and Treasury Department officials access
to millions of records on international banking transactions. Months after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, Swift began turning over large chunks of its database in response to a series of unusually
broad subpoenas from the Treasury Department. Two American banking customers ... sued Swift
on invasion-of-privacy grounds. [Steven E. Schwarz, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the Swift
program] is an Orwellian example of government overreaching and unfettered access to private
financial information that is not consistent with the values upon which our country was founded.
Weve seen a real erosion of the state secrets privilege in the last year. I think it is from overuse.
Weve seen it used in record numbers, in situations where it was inappropriate, and the courts are
starting to recognize that.
Robot wars are a reality

http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,2151357,00.html
The deployment of the first armed battlefield robots in Iraq is the latest step on a dangerous
path - we are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and
when to kill. Robots are integral to [the U.S.'s] $230bn future combat systems project, a massive
plan to develop unmanned vehicles that can strike from the air, under the sea and on land.
Congress has set a goal of having one-third of ground combat vehicles unmanned by 2015. Over
4,000 robots are serving in Iraq at present, others in Afghanistan. And now they are armed.
Predators and the more deadly Reaper robot attack planes have flown many missions ... with
inevitable civilian deaths, yet working with remote-controlled or semi-autonomous machines
carries only the same ethical responsibilities as a traditional air strike. But fully autonomous
robots that make their own decisions about lethality are high on the US military agenda.
They are cheap to manufacture, require less personnel and, according to the navy, perform better
in complex missions. This is dangerous new territory for warfare, yet there are no new ethical
codes or guidelines in place. Policymakers seem to have an understanding of [Artificial
Intelligence] that lies in the realms of science fiction and myth. Their answer to the ethical
problems is simply, "Let men target men" and "Let machines target other machines". In reality, a
robot could not pinpoint a weapon without pinpointing the person using it or even discriminate
between weapons and non-weapons. Autonomous robots are not like other weapons. We are
going to give decisions on human fatality to machines that are not bright enough to be called
stupid.
Same Agencies to Run, Oversee Surveillance Program

The Bush administration plans to leave oversight of its expanded foreign eavesdropping
program to the same government officials who supervise the surveillance activities and to
the intelligence personnel who carry them out, senior government officials said yesterday. The
law, which permits intercepting Americans' calls and e-mails without a warrant if the
communications involve overseas transmission, gives Director of National Intelligence Mike
McConnell and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales responsibility for creating the broad
procedures determining whose telephone calls and e-mails are collected. It also gives McConnell
and Gonzales the role of assessing compliance with those procedures. The law ... does not
contain provisions for outside oversight -- unlike an earlier House measure that called for audits
every 60 days by the Justice Department's inspector general. The controversial changes to the
1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were approved by both chambers of the Democraticcontrolled Congress despite privacy concerns raised by Democratic leaders and civil liberties
advocacy groups. Central to the new program is the collection of foreign intelligence from
"communication service providers," which the officials declined to identify, citing secrecy concerns.
Under the new law, the attorney general is required to draw up the governing procedures for
surveillance activity, for approval by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Once the
procedures are established, the attorney general and director of national intelligence will formally
certify that the collection of data is authorized. But the certification will be placed under seal
"unless the certification is necessary to determine the legality of the acquisition," according to the
law signed by Bush.
DeFazio asks, but he's denied access
2007-07-20, The Oregonian (Oregon's leading newspaper)

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/118489654058910...
Oregonians called Peter DeFazio's office, worried there was a conspiracy buried in the classified
portion of a White House plan for operating the government after a terrorist attack. As a member of
the U.S. House on the Homeland Security Committee, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a
secure "bubbleroom" in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House
to see the secret documents. On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED. "I just can't
believe they're going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to
conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack," DeFazio
says. Homeland Security Committee staffers told his office that the White House initially approved
his request, but it was later quashed. DeFazio doesn't know who did it or why. "We're talking about
the continuity of the government of the United States of America," DeFazio says. "I would think
that would be relevant to any member of Congress, let alone a member of the Homeland Security
Committee." Bush administration spokesman Trey Bohn declined to say why DeFazio was denied
access: "We do not comment through the press on the process that this access entails. It is
important to keep in mind that much of the information related to the continuity of government is
highly sensitive." Norm Ornstein, a legal scholar who studies government continuity at the
conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he "cannot think of one good reason" to deny
access to a member of Congress who serves on the Homeland Security Committee. This is the
first time DeFazio has been denied access to documents. "Maybe the people who think there's
a conspiracy out there are right," DeFazio said.
Survey Finds Action on Information Requests Can Take Years

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/washington/02secrets.html?ex=1341028800&en=...
The Freedom of Information Act requires a federal agency to provide an initial response to a
request within 20 days and to provide the documents in a timely manner. But the oldest pending
request uncovered in a new survey of 87 agencies and departments has been awaiting a
response for 20 years, and 16 requesters have been waiting more than 15 years for results.
The survey, to be released on Monday, is the latest proof of a fact well-known to historians and
journalists who regularly seek government documents: Agencies often take months or years to
respond to requests for information under the law, known as FOIA, which went into effect on July
4, 1967. The law is 40 years old, and were seeing 20 years of delay, said Thomas S. Blanton,
director of the National Security Archive, a research group at George Washington University. The
survey will be posted at nsarchive.org. The survey found that 10 federal agencies had
misrepresented their backlog of FOIA requests in annual reports to Congress, misstating the age
of their oldest pending request. It found that the State Department accounted for most of the oldest
unanswered requests, with 10 requests filed in 1991 or earlier still awaiting responses. The public
interest in some aging government documents was vividly illustrated last week, when the Central
Intelligence Agency released the so-called family jewels, papers that described illegal wiretaps,
assassination plots and other agency misdeeds from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. The
papers were first requested by the National Security Archive in 1992, and a cover letter
accompanying the C.I.A. release identified that request as the intelligence agencys oldest still
pending.
Fighting War Protesters

In the early 1970s, as Vietnam War-era protests swirled around the Washington area, local police
borrowed riot equipment and received intelligence training from an unusual source: the CIA. The
agency, which is barred from domestic law enforcement, provided gas masks, stun guns,
searchlights and protective vests. CIA specialists trained more than 20 officers ... in
surveillance photography, countersabotage and surreptitious entry. The CIA-local nexus was
included in hundreds of pages of documents released yesterday by the agency that detailed a
quarter-century of CIA history. The records said the agency recruited officers primarily to protect
CIA facilities from attack by protesters. "A conscious decision was made . . . to utilize the services
of local police to repel invaders in case of riot or dissension," a top CIA official wrote in May 1973.
But the documents make it clear that the intelligence agency also wanted to keep tabs on the
mammoth antiwar demonstrations in Washington from 1969 through 1971. The D.C. police
department, for example, was given a communications system "to monitor major anti-Vietnam war
demonstrations," the records said. The CIA aid also extended to basic law enforcement. Police
officials in Montgomery County told The Post in 1973 that they received CIA surveillance training to
combat street crime. The agency also gave Arlington and Alexandria a substance it had developed
to detect whether someone had recently handled metallic objects, such as firearms.
National Security Archives, and can be read by clicking here.
Let children be children

We've just finished test time again in the schools of California. The mad frenzy of testing infects
everyone from second grade through high school. Because of the rigors and threats of No Child
Left Behind, schools are desperate to increase their scores. As the requirements become more
stringent, we have completely lost sight of the children taking these tests. For 30 years as a
teacher of primary kids, I have operated on the Any Fool Can See principle. And any fool can see
that the spread between what is developmentally appropriate for 7- and 8-year-old children and
what is demanded of them on these tests is widening. A lot of what used to be in the first-grade
curriculum is now taught in kindergarten. Is your 5-year-old stressed out? Perhaps this is why.
Currently, 2 1/2 uninterrupted hours are supposed to be devoted to language arts and reading
every morning. I ask you, what adult could sustain an interest in one subject for that long? The
result of this has been a decline in math scores at our school. The teaching of art is all but a
subversive activity. Teachers whisper, "I taught art today!" as if they would be reported to the
Reading Police for stealing time from the reading curriculum. The present emphasis on testing
and test scores is sucking the soul out of the primary school experience for both teachers
and children. So much time is spent on testing and measuring reading speed that the
children are losing the joy that comes but once in their lifetime. The teachers around them,
under constant pressure to raise those test scores, radiate urgency and pressure. They are not
enjoying their jobs. The great unspoken secret of primary school is that a lot of what is going on is
arrant nonsense, and it's getting worse. Any fool can see.
Michael Moore blasts Bush over federal probe

Filmmaker Michael Moore has asked the Bush administration to call off an investigation of
his trip to Cuba to get treatment for ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers for a segment in his
upcoming health-care expose, Sicko. Moore, who made the hit documentary Fahrenheit
9/11 ... said in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday that the White House
may have opened the investigation for political reasons. For five and a half years, the Bush
administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community, Moore said in the
letter. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me I have tried to help the very
people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have
broken no laws and I have nothing to hide. Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Co. is releasing
Sicko, told The Associated Press the movie is a healing film that could bring opponents
together over the ills of Americas health-care system. This time, we didnt want the fight, because
the movie unites both sides, Weinstein said. Weve shown the movie to Republicans. Both sides
of the bench love the film." Moore won an Academy Award for best documentary with his 2002
gun-control film Bowling for Columbine and scolded Bush in his Oscar acceptance speech as the
war in Iraq was just getting under way. The investigation has given master promoter Moore
another jolt of publicity just before the release of one of his films.
Note: WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks was hit with a $7,500 fine for a 10-day vacation to
Cuba in 1999. For some strange reason, his was the first Cuba travel case prosecuted. He has
taken it to court, where the case is still undecided. For more, including a link to a Los Angeles
Times article on his case, click here.
Bush Changes Continuity Plan

President Bush issued a formal national security directive yesterday ordering agencies to
prepare contingency plans for a surprise, "decapitating" attack on the federal government,
and assigned responsibility for coordinating such plans to the White House. The prospect of
a nuclear bomb being detonated in Washington without warning ... has been cited by many
security analysts as a rising concern since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The order makes explicit
that the focus of federal worst-case planning involves a covert nuclear attack against the nation's
capital. "Adequate warning of potential emergencies that could pose a significant risk to the
homeland might not be available, and therefore all continuity planning shall be based on the
assumption that no such warning will be received," states the 72-paragraph order. The statement
added, "Emphasis will be placed upon geographic dispersion of leadership, staff, and infrastructure
in order to increase survivability and maintain uninterrupted Government Functions." After the
2001 attacks, Bush assigned about 100 senior civilian managers to rotate secretly to locations
outside of Washington for weeks or months at a time [forming] a shadow government that evolved
based on long-standing "continuity of operations plans." Since then, other agencies including the
Pentagon, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA have taken steps to
relocate facilities or key functions outside of Washington for their own reasons, citing factors such
as economics or the importance of avoiding Beltway "group-think."
Note: Why isn't Congress making these absolutely vital decisions? What gives these organizations
authority to determine what will happen in the case of a major attack?
Bush Official Linked to Call-Girl Probe

2007-04-28, Washington Post/AP
Randall Tobias, head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned Friday
after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring. Tobias submitted his
resignation a day after he was interviewed by ABC News for an upcoming program about
an alleged prostitution service run by the so-called D.C. Madam. Tobias confirmed that he had
called the Pamela Martin and Associates escort service to have women come to his condo and
give him massages. Tobias, 65, who is married, [claimed] there had been "no sex" during the
women's visits to his condo. His name was on a list of clients given to ABC by Deborah Jeane
Palfrey, who owns the escort service and has been charged with running a prostitution ring in the
nation's capital. Tobias held two titles: director of U.S. foreign assistance and administrator for the
U.S. Agency for International Development. His rank was equivalent to deputy secretary of state.
Before joining the administration, Tobias was a director and chairman of Eli Lilly and Co., the
Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company. Palfrey recently made good on her threat to identify
high-profile clients, listing in court documents a military strategist known for his "shock and awe"
combat theories. Palfrey, 50, was indicted in March by a federal grand jury on charges of running
the alleged call-girl ring from her home in Vallejo, Calif. Palfrey claimed she has 46 pounds of
phone records involving clients [and] threatened to sell phone records that would identify 10,000
clients to pay for her criminal defense, but a federal judge ordered her not to release them. Palfrey,
however, gave them to ABC News before the order took effect.
Note: Keep your eyes on this Palfrey case. It could go big. Note also the link to the incredibly
powerful pharmaceutical industry. For a Discovery Channel documentary which presents
convincing evidence that major prostitution rings reach to the very highest levels of government,
click here.
Ex-C.I.A. Chief, in Book, Assails Cheney on Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/washington/27intel.html?ex=1335326400&en=e6...
George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, has lashed out against Vice President
Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials in a new book, saying they pushed the country
to war in Iraq without ever conducting a serious debate about whether Saddam Hussein posed
an imminent threat. [His book] is the first detailed account by a member of the presidents inner
circle of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the decision to invade Iraq and the failure to find the
unconventional weapons that were a major justification for the war. There was never a serious
debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat, Mr.
Tenet writes in a devastating judgment. Nor, he adds, was there ever a significant discussion
about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion. Mr. Tenet ... makes clear his bitter view
that the administration made him a scapegoat for the Iraq war. As violence in Iraq spiraled
beginning in late 2003, Mr. Tenet writes, rather than acknowledge responsibility, the
administrations message was: Dont blame us. George Tenet and the C.I.A. got us into this mess.
Mr. Tenet takes blame for the flawed 2002 National Intelligence Estimate about Iraqs weapons
programs, calling the episode one of the lowest moments of my seven-year tenure. Mr. Tenet
largely endorses the view of administration critics that Mr. Cheney and a handful of Pentagon
officials, including Paul D. Wolfowitz and Douglas J. Feith, were focused on Iraq as a threat in late
2001 and 2002 even as Mr. Tenet and the C.I.A. concentrated mostly on Al Qaeda. Mr. Tenet has
spoken rarely in public, and never so caustically, since stepping down in July 2004.
Note: Was the Iraq war based largely on lies and deception? Now that Hussein is gone and there
are no weapons of mass destruction, who is the enemy in Iraq? For the comments of a top U.S.
general, click here.
Jessica Lynch Sets Record Straight

2007-04-25, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/25/earlyshow/main2725423.shtml
On Tuesday, former Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch testified in Washington, D.C., about the real story of
her capture and rescue while serving in Iraq in 2003. She spoke before the House Government
Reform Committee along with the family of fallen Army Ranger Pat Tillman. Lynch was badly
injured when her convoy was ambushed in Iraq in 2003. She was later rescued by American
troops from an Iraqi hospital, but the tale of her ambush was changed into a story of heroism on
her part. At the hearing, the chairman of the House panel, Henry Waxman, accused the
government of inventing "sensational details and stories" about Tillman's death and Lynch rescue.
After she arrived home, Lynch set the record straight in a book called "I Am a Soldier, Too." "At first
I didn't even realize the stories that were being told," she said. "It was quite a while afterwards,
and then I found out. I knew that I had to get the truth out there because, one, I wouldn't be
able to live with myself ... knowing that these stories were portraying me to do something
that I didn't." Although Lynch was injured severely, she didn't suffer any gunshots wounds.
Note: Thank you to Jessica for being a hero with the courage to expose the lies and fabrications of
those who will do almost anything to support the war machine. For more, click here.
Bird flu vaccine recommended

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-birdflu28feb28,1,454874...
A federal advisory committee on Tuesday recommended approval of the first bird flu
vaccine for humans, despite concerns about its safety and evidence that the shots won't
protect most people. The panel said although the vaccine had significant shortcomings, it was
safe and effective for use during a pandemic or in high-risk situations, such as military deployment
to regions facing an outbreak. The government plans to buy and stockpile enough doses for 20
million people. [The] director of the FDA's vaccine office told the panel that the vaccine was a
stopgap measure. "There are numerous vaccines under development that are potentially better
than this one," he said. The bird flu strain known as H5N1 originated in Asia. Although it rarely
infects people, experts fear a mutation could make it easily transmissible, triggering a pandemic.
From the start of 2003, 167 people, mostly in Asia, have died of the virus, according to the World
Health Organization. In clinical trials, a two-shot series of the Sanofi vaccine provided protection in
45% of adults who received the highest dose, according to an FDA analysis this week. No serious
side effects were detected among the 450 healthy adults who participated in a clinical test.
However, some panel members were concerned that the trial was too small to reveal rare side
effects. Some experts also worried about possible allergic reactions to the vaccine because it
requires a massive dose 12 times that of the seasonal inoculation.
Note: Who pays for and who profits from the purchase of these 20 million vaccine doses? It's
pretty clear that the taxpayer covers the costs and the big drug companies make huge profits. Fear
is quite useful for driving up profits. For lots more on profiteering from the avian flu, click here.
US generals will quit if Bush orders Iran attack

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1434540.ece
Some of Americas most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House
orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely.
Up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would
be a reckless attack. A generals revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. Robert Gates,
the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the
view of his senior commanders. The threat of a wave of resignations coincided with a warning
by Vice-President Dick Cheney that all options, including military action, remained on the
table. He was responding to a comment by Tony Blair that it would not be right to take military
action against Iran. A second US navy aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS John C Stennis
arrived in the Gulf last week. Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, the commander of the US Fifth Fleet,
warned: The US will take military action if ships are attacked or if countries in the region are
targeted or US troops come under direct attack. But General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint
chiefs of staff, said recently there was zero chance of a war with Iran. He played down claims by
US intelligence that the Iranian government was responsible for supplying insurgents in Iraq,
forcing Bush on the defensive. Paces view was backed up by British intelligence officials who said
the extent of the Iranian governments involvement in activities inside Iraq by a small number of
Revolutionary Guards was far from clear.
Note: When internal fighting in the military and government is reported in the major media, it is a
sign of very deep internal schisms. Yet the ships are in place for another "Gulf of Tonkin" incident.
2 Ex-Enron Traders Get Probation

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/14/business/main2479660.shtml
Two of three former Enron Corp. traders accused of driving up energy prices during California's
power crisis were each sentenced Wednesday to two years of court-supervised release in federal
court. Timothy Belden ... was sentenced after pleading guilty in October 2002 to one count of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Belden's plea was the first prosecution of anyone related to the
West's energy crisis in 2000 and 2001. He had faced up to five years in prison, and must forfeit
$2.1 million. The second defendant, Jeffrey Richter, was a lower-level trading manager ... who also
pleaded guilty to two counts related to manipulating energy prices. He had faced up to five years
and agreed to pay a $410,000 fine. Internal company memos describe how Belden's trading unit
took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and sold it out of state to
elude price caps. Enron bought California power at cheap, capped prices, routed it outside the
state, then sold it back into California at vastly inflated prices. The crisis played a role in Pacific
Gas & Electric Co.'s bankruptcy and will leave California consumers paying abnormally
high electricity prices for years. Transcripts of Enron energy traders showed them openly
discussing manipulating California's power market during profanity-laced telephone conversations
in which they merrily gloated about ripping off those poor grandmothers during the energy
crunch. On the calls, other traders openly and gleefully discussed creating congestion on
transmission lines and taking generating units off-line to pump up electricity prices.
Note: So while California taxpayers cough up hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of Enron's
scheming and thousands of employees across the U.S. lost their entire pensions, the result of the
first prosecution of anyone related to the Enron scam is probation? For lots more on this, click
here.
Ousted U.S. attorneys received positive job evaluations

2007-02-12, San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16683938.htm
Although the Bush administration has said that six U.S. attorneys were fired recently in part
because of "performance related" issues, at least five of them received positive job
evaluations before they were ordered to step down. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, using
authority he gained in March from a little-noticed provision of the Patriot Act, has appointed interim
U.S. attorneys from the Bush administration's inner circle. Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney in
Nevada, was described in his last job performance evaluation in 2003 as being a "capable" leader
who was highly regarded ... said a Justice Department official. David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in
New Mexico, also received a positive evaluation last year, according to another Justice
Department official. Both officials asked not to be identified. The other U.S. attorneys who received
good reviews were John McKay, the former U.S. attorney in Seattle; Paul Charlton, the former U.S.
attorney in Arizona; and Carol Lam, the current U.S. attorney in San Diego. The decision to fire the
U.S. attorneys came under scrutiny late last month after Senate Democrats discovered a change
in the Patriot Act that allowed Gonzales to appoint interim U.S. attorneys for indefinite terms
without Senate approval. In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, [Deputy
Attorney General Paul] McNulty conceded that H.E. "Bud" Cummins, the former U.S. attorney in
Arkansas, wasn't fired because of how he handled his job. Rather, McNulty said, administration
officials wanted to make room for Timothy Griffin, a former aide of presidential adviser Karl Rove.
Note: To read a related Associated Press article on U.S. Attorney General Gonzalez, click here.
The article starts with "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales criticized federal judges ... for ruling on
cases that affect national-security policy. Judges, he contended, are unqualified to decide terrorism
issues that he said are best settled by Congress or the president." Isn't that negating the balance
of powers laid out in the U.S. Constitution?
Voting rights restored for thousands in state on probation

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/28/BAGL8N8G031.DTL
A state appeals court has restored voting rights to as many as 100,000 Californians who are
in county jails on probation from felony convictions, and who were disenfranchised by the
state a year ago, based on a new legal interpretation. That interpretation abruptly reversed the
state's reading of the law for the previous 30 years, the court noted in last week's ruling. The
state's top election official said he will not appeal. Most of those affected by the decision are young
men, typically racial or ethnic minorities, who have committed nonviolent crimes, said Maya Harris,
executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and a lawyer in the
case. "It sure is nice to have a win for democracy," she said after last week's ruling. In the 3-0
ruling, Justice William Stein also said the state constitutional provision at issue was passed by the
voters in 1974 to lift some previous restrictions on the right to vote, and should be interpreted in
favor of participation in elections.
New Publishing Rules Restrict Scientists

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/13/ap/tech/mainD8M075VO0.shtml
The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest
agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy. New rules require
screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from
caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public
documents, even minor reports or prepared talks. Some agency scientists, who until now have
felt free from any political interference, worry that the objectivity of their work could be
compromised. The new requirements state that the USGS's communications office must be
"alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive
nature." The agency's director, Mark Myers, and its communications office also must be told -prior to any submission for publication -- "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy,
have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding." In 2002, the
USGS was forced to reverse course after warning that oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge would harm the Porcupine caribou herd. One week later a new report
followed, this time saying the caribou would not be affected.
Security of electronic voting is condemned

2006-12-01, MSNBC News/Washington Post
Paperless electronic voting machines used throughout ... much of the country "cannot be made
secure," according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises
the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The assessment by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, one of the government's premier research centers, is the most
sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency. NIST said that voting
systems should allow election officials to recount ballots independently from a voting machine's
software. The recommendations endorse "optical-scan" systems in which voters mark paper
ballots that are read by a computer and electronic systems that print a paper summary of each
ballot, which voters review and elections officials save for recounts. NIST says in its report that the
lack of a paper trail for each vote "is one of the main reasons behind continued questions about
voting system security and diminished public confidence in elections." The report repeats the
contention of the computer security community that "a single programmer could 'rig' a major
election." NIST says that voting systems should not rely on a machine's software to provide a
record of the votes cast. Some electronic voting system manufacturers have introduced models
that include printers to produce a separate record of each vote -- and that can be verified by a
voter before leaving the machine -- but such paper trails have had their own problems. Printers
have jammed or otherwise failed, causing some election directors to question whether a paper trail
is an improvement.
Note: Another federal advisory panel amazingly rejects requiring a paper trail days after the above
report is released. To read the CBS News/AP article on this, click here.
'They treat a whistle-blower like a virus'

2006-11-24, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-23-whistle-blower-nsa_x.htm
Most people first heard about Russell Tice last December when the former National Security
Agency intelligence analyst asked to testify before Congress about NSA programs he claims are
illegal. But his confrontation with his employer began much earlier. In 2001, Tice reported
suspicions that an employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which oversees the NSA and
other intelligence-gathering agencies, was spying for China. When he followed up on the
allegations several years later, Tice was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. Although
he had passed his regular exam nine months earlier, the in-house psychologist conducting the
latest evaluation decided Tice had psychotic paranoia. After almost 20 years in intelligence, Tice's
security clearance was revoked. He was transferred to a maintenance position at the NSA vehicle
pool, and then to a government furniture warehouse. Just days after publicly urging Congress
to pass stronger protections for federal intelligence agency whistle-blowers facing
retaliation, he was fired in May 2005. "They treat a whistle-blower like a virus which they
basically surround with buffers in an attempt to marginalize, isolate and prevent from having an
impact on an organization," says Tice's lawyer, Joshua Dratel.
US is top purveyor on weapons sales list

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/11/13/us_is_top_purveyor_on_we...
The United States last year provided nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing
world, as major arms sales to the most unstable regions -- many already engaged in conflict -grew to the highest level in eight years, new US government figures show. The United States
supplied $8.1 billion worth of weapons to developing countries in 2005 -- 45.8 percent of the total.
The figures underscore how the largely unchecked arms trade to the developing world has
become a major staple of the American weapons industry, even though introducing many of the
weapons risks fueling conflicts rather than aiding long-term US interests. [The U.S.] also signed an
estimated $6.2 billion worth of new deals last year to sell attack helicopters, missiles, and other
armaments to developing nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Israel, Egypt,
Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. There is growing evidence that the sales are increasingly more
about dollars and cents for the US military-industrial complex. A UN panel [recently] voted to
study whether a new treaty might be possible to regulate the sale of conventional arms. The
United States was the only country out of 166 to vote no. A study last year by the progressive
World Policy Institute found that the United States transferred weaponry to 18 of the 25 countries
involved in an ongoing war. More than half of the countries buying US arms...were defined as
undemocratic by the State Department's annual Human Rights Report, including top
recipients Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan.
NIH: Scientists Escape Ethics Punishment

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/12/ap/tech/mainD8K3IQO00.shtml
Most of the federal scientists who improperly accepted personal money from drug or
biotechnology companies walked away with reprimands or were allowed to retire
unscathed. Only two of the 44 scientists found to have violated rules governing private consulting
deals are being investigated for possible criminal activity, and they remain on the government
payroll. NIH spokesman John Burklow said his agency wanted eight others reviewed for possible
crimes, but those cases were rejected by the investigating office at the U.S. Health and Human
Services Department. The two still outstanding...both committed "serious misconduct," so grave
that they would be fired if they were civilians, NIH internal ethics reports contend. [A
Congressional] subcommittee is expected to question NIH officials about documents showing it
approved several taxpayer-paid trips for [Dr. Trey] Sunderland to attend conferences and events in
places like Hawaii and Toronto, even after recommending his firing. Of the 44 alleged
offenders...the majority received reprimands or warnings for failing to properly obtain approvals for
their outside consulting work. NIH ethics reports allege...two scientists had unauthorized,
unreported deals with drug companies -- Sunderland earning more than $600,000 over eight years
for consulting and speeches and [Dr. Thomas] Walsh more than $100,000 in five years -- and that
their consulting improperly overlapped with government duties.
Note: The Los Angeles Times later reported that Dr. Sunderland was the first NIH scientist in 14
years to be found guily of conflict of interest laws. For more vital information on major collusion
between
government
and
the
pharmaceutical
companies:
http://www.WantToKnow.info/healthcoverup.
NASA Searching for Moon Landing Tapes

2006-08-17, CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/15/ap/tech/mainD8JH4N0O0.shtml
Red-faced because the best pictures of its glory days are missing, NASA said Tuesday it was
launching an official search for more than 13,000 original tapes of the historic Apollo moon
missions. Everything from all 11 missions from launch to splashdown is on the videos.
What's missing are the never-before-broadcast clear original videos not the grainy converted
pictures the world watched on television more than three decades ago. The tapes aren't lost,
insists the NASA official put in charge of the search. But he doesn't know where they are. The
original video, taken directly from the moon and beamed to deep space network observatories in
Australia, has never been seen by the general public or even NASA officials. There are 15 reels
(three boxes) for just Apollo 11's stay on the moon. "It's the whole history of the entire mission, of
everything that went on."
Note: Does this seem strange? If you are ready for something even stranger, see the documentary
"Dark
Side
of
the
Moon"
available
free
at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?
docid=3288261061829859642. Though some claim this is a "mockumentary" on Stanley Kubrick's
involvement with the moon landings, consider the large amount of money that went into making
this very professional, sophisticated film. Could it be sophisticated disinformation put out purposely
to lead investigators astray? The documentary certainly would explain the missing tapes above.
Two Fox News clips raise more questions. Click here and here.
Police spies chosen to lead war protest

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/28/SURVEILLANCE.TMP
Two Oakland police officers working undercover at an anti-war protest in May 2003 got themselves
elected to leadership positions in an effort to influence [a] demonstration. The department
assigned the officers to join activists protesting the U.S. war in Iraq ... a police official said last year
in a sworn deposition. [At the] demonstration, police fired nonlethal bullets and bean bags at
demonstrators who blocked the Port of Oakland's entrance in a protest. Dozens of activists and
longshoremen on their way to work suffered injuries ranging from welts to broken bones and have
won nearly $2 million in legal settlements from the city. In a deposition related to a lawsuit filed by
protesters, Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said activists had elected the undercover officers
to "plan the route of the march and decide I guess where it would end up and some of the places
that it would go." Oakland police had also monitored online postings by the longshoremen's union
regarding its opposition to the war. The documents ... were released Thursday by the American
Civil Liberties Union, as part of a report criticizing government surveillance of political activists
since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Jordan ... noted that "two of our officers were
elected leaders within an hour on May 12." The idea was "to gather the information and
maybe even direct them to do something that we want them to do." The ACLU said the
Oakland case was one of several instances in which police agencies had spied on legitimate
political activity since 2001.
Mission Accomplished
2006-06-12, Washington Post (second article on webpage)
The doors may be closing shortly on the nine-year-old Project for a New American Century, the
neoconservative think tank headed by William Kristol, former chief of staff to Vice President Dan
Quayle. The PNAC was short on staff -- having perhaps a half-dozen employees -- but very long
on heavy hitters. The founders included Richard B. Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul D.
Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, William J. Bennett, Zalmay Khalilzad and Quayle.
PNAC and its supporters dominated the Bush administration's foreign policy apparatus and
championed a policy to get rid of Saddam Hussein long before Sept. 11, 2001. In its famous
1998 letter to President Bill Clinton, PNAC said "removing Saddam Hussein and his regime . . .
now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy. The signatories wrote that "we are fully
aware of the dangers of implementing this policy."
Note: Though the PNAC was staffed by some of the most powerful people in the U.S. government
who clearly wanted Hussein out of power long before 9/11, no major papers were willing to report
these crucial facts. Had Americans known of this, many likely would not have initially supported the
war on Iraq. For more on this important information: http://www.WantToKnow.info/9-11coverup10pg#pnac
F.B.I. Says House of Ex-C.I.A. Deputy Is Searched

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/washington/11cnd-foggo.html?ex=1305086400&e...
The home and office of Kyle Foggo, who stepped down on Monday as the Central Intelligence
Agency's No. 3 official, were searched today. Mr. Foggo resigned after becoming entangled in a
widening investigation that has already brought down former Representative Randy Cunningham.
Mr. Foggo's workplace in Langley, Va., and his residence in Virginia were searched this morning by
agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the C.I.A. inspector general's office. April
Langwell, a spokeswoman for the F.B.I.'s San Diego office, said Mr. Foggo had been under
investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of
the Defense Department's inspector general's office, as well as by the C.I.A.'s inspector general
and the F.B.I. The inquiry by the C.I.A.'s inspector is examining whether he improperly
awarded agency contracts to a longtime friend, Brent R. Wilkes, a military contractor whose
companies have received nearly $100 million in government contracts over the years. Mr.
Foggo, 51, has admitted attending poker parties throughout the 1990's that Mr. Wilkes held in a
suite at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. The parties were primarily attended by C.I.A. officials
and congressmen, and Mr. Cunningham, a California Republican, occasionally attended. Several
news media accounts have reported that prostitutes frequented the parties.
Note: This article has huge significance. Until just a few years ago, there was a virtual blackout in
the media on any negative coverage of the CIA. The fact that the Feds raided the home of the #3
man in the CIA and it was reported in top newspapers is an external manifestation of huge shakeups going on behind the scenes. Buzzy Krongard, the previous #3 at the CIA has been linked to
the millions of dollars in suspicious stock option trades made just prior to 9/11 that were never
claimed, though this received little media coverage.
Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law

2006-05-08, The Tennessean
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060508/NEWS02/605080356
Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by
a public advocacy group. E-mails and documents written by a trade group for the vaccine-makers
show the organization met privately with Frist's staff and the White House about measures that
would give the industry protection from lawsuits filed by people hurt by the vaccines. Frist, along
with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., ordered the vaccine liability language inserted in
a defense spending bill in December without debate and in violation of usual Senate
practice. In a written statement, Frist spokeswoman Amy Call stated that the senator had
promised publicly to include the vaccine liability protection in the defense spending bill. She did not
address the issue of the influence of industry lobbyists.
Note: For one-paragraph summaries of media articles showing why the vaccine makers want this
protection, click here.
'Iraq was awash in cash. We played football with bricks of $100 bills'
2006-03-20, The Guardian (one of the UK's leading newspapers)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1734939,00.html
At the start of the Iraq war, around $23bn-worth of Iraqi money was placed in the trusteeship of the
US-led coalition by the UN. The money...was to be used in a "transparent manner"...for "purposes
benefiting the people of Iraq". For the past few months we have been working on a Guardian Films
investigation into what happened to that money. A great deal of it has been wasted, stolen or
frittered away. Over the first 14 months of the occupation, 363 tonnes of new $100 bills were
shipped in - $12bn, in cash. "Iraq was awash in cash - in dollar bills. Piles and piles of money,"
says Frank Willis, a former senior official with the governing Coalition Provisional
Authority. "We played football with some of the bricks of $100 bills before delivery. It was a
wild-west crazy atmosphere". The environment created by the coalition positively encouraged
corruption. "American law was suspended, Iraqi law was suspended, and Iraq basically became a
free fraud zone," says Alan Grayson, a Florida-based attorney who represents whistleblowers now
trying to expose the corruption. One CPA official was given nearly $7m and told to spend it in
seven days.
Note: I highly recommend this entire article to understand some of what happens in war. For lots
more on war-related corruption written by a highly decorated US general, see
http://www.WantToKnow.info/warisaracket
UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells

Radiation detectors in Britain recorded a fourfold increase in uranium levels in the atmosphere
after the shock and awe bombing campaign against Iraq. Environmental scientists who
uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium
from the shells was carried by wind currents to Britain. Government officials, however, say the
sharp rise in uranium detected by radiation monitors in Berkshire was a coincidence and probably
came from local sources. Each detector recorded a significant rise in uranium levels during the
Gulf war bombing campaign in March 2003. The reading from a park in Reading was high
enough for the Environment Agency to be alerted. This research shows that rather than
remaining near the target as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons
contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds to thousands of miles away,
[Liverpool University's Chris Busby] said. Busbys report shows that within nine days of the start of
the Iraq war on March 19, 2003, higher levels of uranium were picked up on five sites in Berkshire.
On two occasions, levels exceeded the threshold at which the Environment Agency must be
informed, though within safety limits. The report says weather conditions over the war period
showed a consistent flow of air from Iraq northwards.
Note:
For
more
on
the
http://www.WantToKnow.info/050405depleteduranium
depleted
uranium
cover-up:
Hidden history of US germ testing

2006-02-13, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/file_on_4/4701196.stm
Fifty years ago, American scientists were in a frantic race to counter what they saw as the Soviet
threat from germ warfare. Biological pathogens they developed were tested on volunteers from a
pacifist church and were also released in public places. In the 1950s, the Seventh-day Adventist
Church struck an extraordinary deal with the US Army. It would provide test subjects for
experiments on biological weapons at the Fort Detrick research centre near Washington DC. The
volunteers were conscientious objectors who agreed to be infected with debilitating pathogens. In
return, they were exempted from frontline warfare. The research involved anthrax, other lethal
bacteria and biological poisons. But it wasn't just the white coat volunteers and sailors who were
subject to experiments. The scientists also conducted tests on an unsuspecting American
public. Scientists used what they thought was a harmless simulant in major bio-weapon
tests across US cities and on public transport. It was a bacteria which they believed was
harmless but which would mimic the dispersal of deadly biological agents such as anthrax. But
later research showed that the strain of Bacillus globigii, or BG, did pose a risk to people who were
ill or whose immune system was failing. In a damning report, [a U.S. Senate committee] concluded
that the Department of Defense (DoD) repeatedly failed to comply with required ethical standards
when using human subjects in military research - and that the DoD demonstrated a pattern of
misrepresenting the danger of various exposures and continued to do so.
Note: For other well documented instances of governments using humans as guinea pigs in order
to forward a military agenda, click here.
F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/politics/20fbi.html?ex=1292734800&en=d2129c...
Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous
surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in
causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief. One F.B.I.
document...talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." The
documents...came as part of a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the
American Civil Liberties Union. The latest batch of documents...totals more than 2,300 pages
and centers on references in internal files to a handful of groups, including PETA, the
environmental group Greenpeace and the Catholic Workers group, which promotes
antipoverty efforts and social causes. Many of the investigative documents turned over by the
bureau are heavily edited. The documents indicate that in some cases, the F.B.I. has used
employees, interns and other confidential informants within groups like PETA and Greenpeace to
develop leads on potential criminal activity and has downloaded material from the groups' Web
sites, in addition to monitoring their protests.
Aide Says FEMA Ignored Warnings

For 16 critical hours, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, including former
director Michael D. Brown, dismissed urgent eyewitness accounts by FEMA's only staffer in
New Orleans that Hurricane Katrina had broken the city's levee system the morning of Aug.
29 and was causing catastrophic flooding. Marty Bahamonde, sent to New Orleans by Brown,
said he alerted Brown's assistant shortly after 11 a.m. that Monday with the "worst possible news"
for the city: The Category 4 hurricane had carved a 20-foot breach in the 17th Avenue Canal
levee. Bahamonde said he called Brown personally after 7 p.m. to warn that 80 percent of New
Orleans was underwater and that he had photographed a 200-foot-wide breach. Testifying to a
bipartisan Senate panel investigating the response to the hurricane, Bahamonde said his accounts
were discarded by officials in Baton Rouge and Washington. President Bush, Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Richard B. Myers, then
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have all said they were told that the city's flood walls did not
fail until Aug. 30. Bahamonde said he found it "amazing" that New Orleans officials continued to let
thousands gather at the Superdome, even though they knew that the area around it was going to
flood. Ten people later died at the Superdome.
Countdown with Keith Olbermann: Terror Alert Timing

2005-10-06, MSNBC
Let's call in Craig Crawford, MSNBC analyst and author of Attack the Messenger. Good evening,
Craig. CRAWFORD: Hi, there. You're sounding a bit skeptical tonight. OLBERMANN: Yes, and I'm
going to raise this question as skeptically and bluntly as I can. It's not a question that doubts the
existence of terror, nor the threat of terrorism. But we've cobbled together in the last couple of
hours a list of at least 13 occasions...on which -- whenever there has been news that
significantly impacted the White House negatively, there has been some sudden credible
terror threat somewhere in this country. How could the coincidence be so consistent?
CRAWFORD: It is a pattern. One of the most memorable was just after the Democratic Convention
in the 2004 election, when they talked about the threat to New York and even the...World Bank,
and it turned out that was based on intelligence that was three years old.
Note: For more on the suspicious timing of terror alerts on the CBS website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2005/10/07/publiceye/entry924555.shtml
Pentagon Revokes 9/11 Officer's Clearance

An officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the
2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking numerous rules, charges his lawyer
suggests are aimed at undermining his credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony
Shaffer, 42, include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing military
identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military paperwork shown by his attorney
to The Associated Press. Shaffer was one of the first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta
to the unit code-named Able Danger. Shaffer was one of five witnesses the Pentagon ordered not
to appear Sept. 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the unit's findings. The
military revoked Shaffer's top security clearance this month, a day before he was supposed
to testify to a congressional committee.
Activist's expensive exit goes to appeal

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/activists-expensive-exit-goes-to-appeal/2005...
An Australian lawyer for Scott Parkin says the American peace activist will have to wait months to
learn whether he will be made to pay more than $11,000 for his deportation. Mr Parkin flew out of
Melbourne on Thursday after his visa was cancelled on national security grounds last
weekend. Mr Parkin told said in Los Angeles on his return that his five-day stay at the Melbourne
Custody Centre would cost him another $777. "They said if I ever decided to return to Australia I'd
have to pay them back." He was banned from entering Australia for three years, and the visa in his
passport was stamped with "Not for further travel". Mr Parkin's removal from Australia seemed
to be based only on something he had supposedly said, although he had not been told
what that was. "If you can be kicked out of the country for saying words, where the words are not
a criminal offence then you have got a problem with democracy," [Parkin's lawyer] Mr Burnside
said.
Note: In a second article, the Herald states: Mr Parkin is a 36-year-old Texas-based teacher and
activist with the Houston Global Awareness Collective (HGAC), which aims to end the US-led war
in Iraq. The HGAC vows to "increase the use of non-violent, direct action and popular education as
tools for social change." Since February 2003, the HGAC has targeted US-based multinational
company Halliburton, which is a prime recipient of US government contracts in Iraq and formerly
had US Vice President Dick Cheney as its chief executive officer. Mr Parkin has described
Halliburton as a "poster child of war profiteering." On August 31, he took part in a non-violent
protest outside US corporation Halliburton's Sydney headquarters. For more, see this article.
Panel rejects assertion US knew of Atta before Sept. 11

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday dismissed assertions that a
Pentagon intelligence unit identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as an member of al-Qaida
long before the 2001 attacks. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of ignoring
intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The commission's former chairman,
Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in the government knew about Atta before
Sept. 11, 2001. Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott,
claimed a classified military intelligence unit, known as 'Able Danger,' identified Atta before the
attacks. Shaffer has said three other hijackers were identified, too. Kean said the recollections of
the intelligence officers cannot be verified by any document. 'Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's
the conclusion of all 10 of us,' said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.
Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met with anyone from Able
Danger 'yet they choose to speak with some form of certainty without firsthand knowledge.'
Note: If you read the New York Times article from Aug. 11th, commission officials clearly stated
that they were warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days before issuing the commission's final
report that the account would be incomplete without reference Able Danger and Atta, as confirmed
by the commission's own chief spokesperson. Is this more recent article a rewriting of the facts?
U.S. Censoring Katrina Coverage, Groups Say

When U.S. officials asked the news media not to take pictures of those killed by Hurricane
Katrina and its aftermath, they were censoring a key part of the disaster story, free-speech
watchdogs said yesterday. The move by the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in line
with the Bush administration's ban on images of flag-draped U.S. military coffins returning from the
Iraq war, media monitors charged in separate telephone interviews. On Tuesday, FEMA refused to
take reporters and photographers along on boats seeking victims in flooded areas, saying they
would take up valuable space needed in the recovery effort and asked them not to take pictures of
the dead. A FEMA spokeswoman wrote: "The recovery of victims is being treated with dignity and
the utmost respect and we have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the
media." FEMA's policy of excluding media from recovery expeditions in New Orleans is "an
invitation to chaos," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a
part of Columbia University's journalism school.
Note: Death tolls were reported prominently on a daily basis after the Asian tsunami, so why are
the media and government so reluctant to give figures on the number dead in this catastrophe?
Suit claims CIA hindering bin Laden book

2005-07-28, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/28/cia.book.ap/
The CIA is squelching publication of a new book detailing events leading up to Osama bin Laden's
escape from his Tora Bora mountain stronghold during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, says a
former CIA officer who led much of the fighting. In a story he says he resigned from the agency to
tell, Gary Berntsen recounts the attacks he coordinated at the peak of the fighting in eastern
Afghanistan in late 2001, including how U.S. commanders knew bin Laden was in the rugged
mountains near the Pakistani border and the al Qaeda leader's much-discussed getaway.
During the 2004 election, President Bush and other senior administration officials
repeatedly said that commanders did not know whether bin Laden was at Tora Bora when
U.S. and allied Afghan forces attacked there in 2001. A Republican and avid Bush supporter,
Berntsen, 48, retired in June and hasn't spoken publicly before. Berntsen's book is one of a
handful written recently by former CIA officers who have wrestled with the agency over what could
be published.
Allegations of Fake Research Hit New High

2005-07-10, MSNBC/AP
Doctors accused of making up data in medical studies. Allegations of misconduct by U.S.
researchers reached record highs last year as the Department of Health and Human Services
received 274 complaints - 50 percent higher than 2003 and the most since 1989 when the federal
government established a program to deal with scientific misconduct. Chris Pascal, director of the
federal Office of Research Integrity, said its 28 staffers and $7 million annual budget haven't kept
pace with the allegations. The result: Only 23 cases were closed last year. Of those, eight
individuals were found guilty of research misconduct. In the past 15 years, the office has confirmed
about 185 cases of scientific misconduct. Research suggests this is but a small fraction of all
the incidents of fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. In a survey published June 9 in the
journal Nature, about 1.5 percent of 3,247 researchers who responded admitted to
falsification or plagiarism. (One in three admitted to some type of professional
misbehavior.)
Report Details F.B.I.'s Failure on 2 Hijackers

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/politics/10fbi.html?ex=1276056000&en=5c9425...
The F.B.I. missed at least five chances in the months before Sept. 11, 2001, to find two
hijackers as they prepared for the attacks and settled in San Diego, the Justice Department
inspector general said in a report made public on Thursday after being kept secret for a
year. Investigators were stymied by bureaucratic obstacles, communication breakdowns and a
lack of urgency, the report said. In the case of the San Diego hijackers, for instance, the report
disclosed that an F.B.I. agent assigned to the Central Intelligence Agency wanted to pass on
information to the F.B.I. about the two men in early 2000 - 19 months before the attacks - but was
blocked by a C.I.A. supervisor and did not aggressively follow up. That set the stage for a series of
bungled opportunities in an episode that many officials now regard as their best chance to have
detected or disrupted the Sept. 11 plot. Many passages in the public version of the report were
blacked out to shield information still considered sensitive by the government; an entire 115-page
section on one terror suspect was withheld.
Israelis unleash Scream at protest

http://www.torstarreports.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout...
The knees buckle, the brain aches, the stomach turns. And suddenly, nobody feels like protesting
anymore. Witnesses describe a minute-long blast of sound emanating from a white Israeli
military vehicle. Within seconds, protestors began falling to their knees, unable to maintain
their balance. An Israeli military source, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity,
confirmed the existence of the Scream. "The intention is to disperse crowds with sound pulses that
create nausea and dizziness," the Israel Defence Force spokesperson told the Toronto Star. The
IDF is saying little about the science behind the Scream, citing classified information. But the
technology is believed to be similar to the LRAD Long-Range Acoustic Device used by U.S.
forces in Iraq as a means of crowd control. Hillel Pratt, a professor of neurobiology ... likens the
effect of such technologies to simulated seasickness. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a loud
sound. The combination of low frequencies at high intensities, for example, can create
discrepancies in the inputs to the brain," said Pratt. Arik Asherman, a leader of Rabbis For Human
Rights, was cautiously optimistic the Scream could make a positive difference. But Asherman said
Israeli officials would be wise to use the Scream sparingly. "We need to remind ourselves the
problem is not the demonstrations, but what the demonstrations are about," he said. "If this makes
it any more difficult for Palestinians to express themselves in a non-violent way, that is problematic.
The best way to disperse demonstrations is to deal with the actual issues.
What drives support for this torturer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1484631,00.html
Oil and gas ensure that the US backs the Uzbek dictator to the hilt. The bodies of hundreds of
pro-democracy protesters in Uzbekistan are scarcely cold, and already the White House is looking
for ways to dismiss them. The conviction rate in criminal and political trials in Uzbekistan is over
99% - in President Karimov's torture chambers, everyone confesses. Karimov is very much
George Bush's man in central Asia. There is not a senior member of the US administration who is
not on record saying warm words about Karimov. There is not a single word recorded by any of
them calling for free elections in Uzbekistan.
Note: The above article is particularly revealing in that it is written by the UK's former ambassador
to Uzbekistan.
The Secret Downing Street Memo

"This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to
those with a genuine need to know its contents. John Scarlett summarised the intelligence and
latest JIC assessment. Saddam's regime was tough and based on extreme fear. The only way to
overthrow it was likely to be by massive military action. C reported on his recent talks in
Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable.
Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism
and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no
patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's
record."
Apocalypse Soon (By Former US Sect. of Defense Robert MacNamara)

2005-05-00, Foreign Policy Magazine May/June 2005 Issue
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2829
It is time...for the United States to cease its Cold War-style reliance on nuclear weapons as a
foreign-policy tool. The risk of an accidental or inadvertent nuclear launch is unacceptably high.
Much of the current US nuclear policy has been in place since before I was secretary of defense,
and it has only grown more dangerous and diplomatically destructive in the intervening years. On
any given day...the president is prepared to make a decision within 20 minutes that could
launch one of the most devastating weapons in the world. To declare war requires an act of
congress, but to launch a nuclear holocaust requires 20 minutes' deliberation by the
president and his advisors. After leaving the Defense Department, I became president of the
World Bank. During my 13-year tenure, from 1968 to 1981, I was prohibited...from commenting
publicly on issues of US national security. [Afterwards] I decided to go public with some information
that I knew would be controversial, but that I felt was needed to inject reality into these increasingly
unreal discussions about ... nuclear weapons. To launch weapons against a nuclear-equipped
opponent would be suicidal. To do so against a nonnuclear enemy would be militarily unnecessary,
morally repugnant, and politically indefensible. The indefinite combination of human fallibility and
nuclear weapons carries a very high risk of nuclear catastrophe. There is no way to reduce the risk
to acceptable levels, other than to first eliminate the hair-trigger alert policy and later to eliminate or
nearly eliminate nuclear weapons.
Justice Dept. Opposes Bid to Revive Case Against F.B.I.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/26/politics/26whistle.html
The government has told a federal appeals court that a suit by an F.B.I. translator who was fired
after accusing the bureau of ineptitude should not be allowed to proceed because it would cause
"significant damage to the national security and foreign policy of the United States." The case has
become a lightning rod for critics who contend that the bureau retaliated against Ms. Edmonds and
other whistle-blowers who have sought to expose management problems related to the
antiterrorism campaign. The suit was dismissed in July after Attorney General John Ashcroft
invoked a rarely used power and declared the case as falling under "state secret" privilege. The
Justice Department retroactively classified a 2002 Congressional briefing about the case
and some related letters from lawmakers, but this week it decided to permit the information to
be released. The inspector general of the department concluded last month that the F.B.I. had
failed to aggressively investigate Ms. Edmonds's accusations of espionage and fired her in large
part for raising them. In a report that the department sought for months to keep classified,
the inspector general issued a sharp rebuke to the bureau over its handling of Ms.
Edmonds's accusations.
Note: If the above link fails, click here. This article fails to mention Ms. Edmonds claims that top
individuals in government concealed critical information about 9/11 suggesting complicity by
compromised politicians. For more, click here.
The Coming Wars (by Seymour M. Hersch)

2005-01-24, The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/050124fa_fact
This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq is just one campaign. The Bush Administration is looking
at this as a huge war zone, the former high-level intelligence official told me. Next, were going to
have the Iranian campaign." The President has signed a series of findings and executive orders
authorizing secret commando groups and other Special Forces units to conduct covert operations
against suspected terrorist targets in as many as ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia.
The Pentagon doesnt feel obligated to report any of this to Congress, the former high-level
intelligence official said. They dont even call it covert ops -- its too close to the C.I.A. phrase. In
their view, its black reconnaissance. Theyre not even going to tell the cincs -- the regional
American military commanders-in-chief.
The sightings of strange flying objects found in britain's 'X-Files'

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=603470
They contain Britain's very own X-Files: thousands of classified documents detailing
credible observations of unidentified flying objects reported by RAF personnel, British
Airways pilots and senior police officers. Now under the Freedom of Information laws, files
previously held by the Ministry of Defence's special UFO department, known as SF4, are being
released to the public. Among the most credible reports of a possible visit by extraterrestrial lifeforms is one made by an RAF pilot and two NCOs. In July 1977 Flt Lt A M Wood reported "bright
objects hanging over the sea". The RAF officer said the closest object was "luminous, round and
four to five times larger than a Whirlwind helicopter". This account was deemed so sensitive to the
national interest that the MoD had delayed its release for an extra three years. Some of the other
reports are equally compelling. A British Airways Tri-Star on a return flight from Portugal in July
1976 was involved in an incident [where] the Tri-Star captain reported "four objects - two round
brilliant white, two cigar-shaped". The captain was so alarmed by what he and the passengers had
seen that he reported the sighting to air traffic controllers at Lisbon and Heathrow. The report says
that fighters were immediately scrambled from Lisbon. Shortly afterwards another Tri-Star crew on
the same flight path reported a similar unexplained sighting. This time they said there was a "bright
object with two contrails". In another incident in the same month two Tri-Star co-pilots and five of
their cabin crew reported "passing underneath a bright white circular object". The files also contain
reports compiled by police officers of their first-hand experiences of observing UFOs.
Note: If UFOs don't exist, why would the government delay release of the documents three years?
As this article is no longer available on the Independent website, to read it in full, click here.
Search for Banned Arms In Iraq Ended Last Month

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2129-2005Jan11.html
The hunt for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq has come to an end nearly two
years after President Bush ordered U.S. troops to disarm Saddam Hussein. The top CIA weapons
hunter is home, and analysts are back at Langley. Four months after Charles A. Duelfer, who led
the weapons hunt in 2004, submitted an interim report to Congress that contradicted nearly every
prewar assertion about Iraq made by top Bush administration officials, a senior intelligence official
said the findings will stand as the ISG's final conclusions and will be published this spring. The CIA
declined to authorize any official involved in the weapons search to speak on the record for this
story. The intelligence official offered an authoritative account of the status of the hunt on the
condition of anonymity. The ISG [Iraq Study Group] has interviewed every person it could find
connected to programs that ended more than 10 years ago, and every suspected site within Iraq
has been fully searched, or stripped bare by insurgents and thieves, according to several people
involved in the weapons hunt. Congress allotted hundreds of millions of dollars for the
weapons hunt, and there has been no public accounting of the money. A spokesman for the
Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said the entire budget and the expenditures would
remain classified.
Note: To understand how such major secrecy and deception happens, click here.
Navy's use of sonar suspected in near-stranding of whales

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/13/MNGOEAB3HJ1.DTL
The United States is facing increasing international pressure to place limitations on the use of
military sonar ... that has been linked to mass strandings of whales. The European Union
Parliament -- the most prominent of four international bodies that have taken up the matter in
recent months -- called in October for its member states to develop a moratorium on all types of
military sonars, which use powerful sound to locate objects such as submarines. According to
studies cited by the EU and the other world bodies, noise can interfere with the survival of the
ocean creatures that depend on sound to navigate, find food, locate mates, avoid predators and
communicate with one another. At high decibel levels, noise can kill. The U.S. Navy is the biggest
user of midfrequency active sonar in the world -- and government officials have been loath to
require permits to regulate its use. In more than a dozen instances dating back to the 1960s,
however, whales have stranded themselves on the beaches and sometimes died at the time
of naval training exercises miles away using midfrequency active sonar. An unprecedented
stranding of 16 beaked and minke whales in the Bahamas in 2000 brought worldwide attention to
military sonar. A NOAA investigation concluded that a Navy testing maneuver using midfrequency
sonar -- by far the most commonly used type of sonar -- was the likely cause. Necropsies found
signs of brain hemorrhaging, which is consistent with injury from sound.
Note: To contact your political and media representatives encouraging a ban dangerous sonar
use, click here. For more on this important matter, click here.
Space pioneer Gordon Cooper dies: Believed in UFO Coverup

2004-10-04, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/gordon.cooper
Leroy Gordon Cooper, one of the nation's first astronauts who once set a space endurance record
by traveling more than 3.3 million miles aboard Gemini 5 in 1965, died on Monday. Cooper served
on the boards of directors as a technical consultant to a number of companies in the aerospace,
electronics and energy fields. He also was the vice president for research and development for
Walter E. Disney Enterprises Inc., from 1974-1980. In his post-NASA career, Cooper became
known as an outspoken believer in UFOs and charged that the government was covering up its
knowledge of extraterrestrial activity. "I believe that these extraterrestrial vehicles and their
crews are visiting this planet from other planets, which obviously are a little more
technically advanced than we are here on Earth," he told a United Nations panel in 1985. "I
feel that we need to have a top-level, coordinated program to scientifically collect and analyze data
from all over the Earth concerning any type of encounter, and to determine how best to interface
with these visitors in a friendly fashion." He added, "For many years I have lived with a secret,
in a secrecy imposed on all specialists and astronauts. I can now reveal that every day, in the
USA, our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us."
Note: The second to last sentence in an AP article on Gordon's death refers to a book he wrote:
"Cooper in the book said that as an Air Force pilot in 1951 that he chased UFOs while based in
Germany."
Ancient remedy 'shrinks cancer'

2004-08-11, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3555566.stm
An ancient native American treatment for cancer has been shown to have a beneficial effect
despite scepticism from the medical establishment. Chaparral, an evergreen desert shrub, has
long been used by native Americans to treat cancer, colds, wounds, bronchitis, warts, and
ringworm. But experts dismissed its worth, and warned it could be dangerous. Now researchers at
the Medical University of South Carolina have shown an extract may shrink some tumours.
Chaparral tea was widely used in the US as an alternative anti-cancer agent from the late 1950s to
the 1970s. However, the American Cancer Society said there was no proof that it was an effective
treatment for cancer - or any other disease. And the US Food and Drug Administration warned
against its use after research showed it could damage the liver and the kidneys. However, initial
results from the latest study show that an extract of the shrub appears not only to be safe, but to
have a positive effect. The researchers tested a refined extract taken from chaparral called M4N.
They injected it into the tumours of eight patients with advanced head and neck cancer that had
not responded to other forms of treatment. The results were encouraging - patients seemed to
tolerate it well, and there was no evidence of the serious liver damage previously associated with
chaparral use. The study also produced some evidence that the extract had begun to shrink the
tumours.
Note: Some believe that because cancer treatment brings huge profits, viable treatments which
are inexpensive are strongly suppressed. For reliable evidence on this, click here and here.
Uncovering an Israeli jail that specializes in nightmares

What [Israeli historian Gad] Kroizer had discovered and later footnoted in an academic paper ...
was the location of an ultrasecret jail where Israel has held Arabs in total seclusion for years,
barred visits by the Red Cross and allegedly tortured inmates. Known as 1391, the facility is used
as an interrogation center by a storied unit of Israel's military intelligence, whose members-all
Arabic speakers-are trained to wring confessions from the toughest militants. Some of the methods
are reminiscent of Abu Ghraib: nudity as a humiliation tactic, compromising photographs, sleep
deprivation. In a few cases, at least, interrogators at 1391 appear to have gone beyond Israel's
own hair-splitting distinction between torture and what a state commission referred to in 1987 as
"moderate physical pressure." But the nightmare for those in 1391 is the isolation and the fear that
no one knows where you are. The location of the compound is so hush-hush that a court this
year banned a visit by an Israeli legislator. Prisoners describe being hooded everywhere at the
facility except in their cells. Hassan Rawajbeh ... a member of the nearly disbanded Palestinian
Preventive Security force ... was picked up by soldiers in Nablus 18 months ago. He was hooded,
handcuffed and thrown on the floor of a van. When the hood was removed, he was in a tiny,
windowless cell. The chamber contained no toilet, only a bucket in the corner, which ... his jailers
would empty once every few weeks. A low buzzing droned constantly. For nearly four months,
Rawajbeh saw no one but his interrogators, who kept him naked for days at a time and prevented
him from going to the bathroom.
Who killed Nick Berg?

Iraq in flames, Washington an object of disgust. What to do? At this pivotal moment, CNN and Fox
News are tipped off to a clip of an American citizen being beheaded. The victim is ... Nick
Berg.The vile deed is deemed the work of al-Qaeda. The timing of the video was brilliant for the
West. Media pundits judged the crime a deeper evil than the systemic torture of innocent Iraqis.
But some people sensed a rat. But if it was not al-Qaeda, who? While this video shows a human
body having its head chopped off, it does not necessarily portray an act of murder. A month
before the discovery of [his] corpse, Berg had been released from custody. But whose custody?
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt ... claimed he was in the custody of Iraqi police. However, the Iraqi
police chief [stated] "the Iraqi police never arrested the slain American". Berg's family are certain
his jailers were the US military. His father, Michael, had been told so by the FBI. He has produced
an email from a US consular official ... confirming that his son was in the hands of the US. In his
final moments on screen Berg is wearing an orange jumpsuit of the kind familiar from Guantanamo
Bay. His white chair is identical to those in the photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison tortures.
During the decapitation, starting at the front of the throat, there is little sign of blood. The scream is
wildly out of sync, sounds female, and is obviously dubbed. Dr John Simpson, executive director
for surgical affairs at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons ... agrees with other experts who
find it highly probable that Berg had died before his decapitation. There's something fishy about
this video. In the end, the question is: who killed Nick Berg, and why?
Note: If the above link fails, click here. For a CNN article raising other serious questions on Berg,
click here. For more reliable information on how government can control and manipulate public
perception, click here.
Bush Bones connected to Kerry Bones

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/04/13/bush_...
Skull and Bones is a shadowy, elite secret society that selects 15 new members each year from
the senior class at Yale. It is known both for its celebrity membership - past "taps'' include William
F. Buckley Jr., President William Howard Taft, and Henry Luce, the founder of Time magazine and for its bizarre rituals. The rites - said to include a "blood''-drinking initiation and oodles of frank
sex talk by the once all-male undergrads (Bones started admitting women in 1992) - are much
discussed but little known. This is, after all, a secret society. In her 2002 book, "Secrets of the
Tomb,'' Alexandra Robbins speculated that the 2004 presidential election might pit
Bonesman George W. Bush (Yale, 1968) against Bonesman John F. Kerry (Yale, 1966.) Good
call! This organization [was] once deemed to be so secretive that members had to leave the room
if the society's name was ever mentioned in public. Both Bush's father and his grandfather,
Senator Prescott Bush, were Bonesmen. [Bonesman John Kerry's] second wife's first husband, the
late senator John Heinz, was Bones, as was his father. GWB: "My senior year I joined Skull and
Bones, a secret society, so secret I can't say anything more" (from his 1999 campaign biography).
JFK [John Kerry]: "There's not much I can say, Tim, because it's a secret" (to Tim Russert on
"Meet the Press").
Note: If secret societies produce this many influential leaders, shouldn't the public have a right to
know more about them? For lots more, click here.
The Armageddon Plan

2004-03-01, The Atlantic Monthly
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200403/mann
At least once a year during the 1980s Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld vanished. Cheney was
... a [Republican] congressman. Rumsfeld [was] the head of G. D. Searle & Co.. Yet for periods of
three or four days at a time no one in Congress knew where Cheney was, nor could anyone at
Searle locate Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld and Cheney were principal actors in one of the most highly
classified programs of the Reagan Administration. [It] called for setting aside the legal rules for
presidential succession ... in favor of a secret procedure for putting in place a new "President" and
his staff. The program is of particular interest today because it helps to explain the thinking and
behavior of the second Bush Administration [since] September 11, 2001. The idea was to
concentrate on speed, to preserve "continuity of government," and to avoid cumbersome
procedures; the speaker of the House, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and the rest
of Congress would play a greatly diminished role. "One of the awkward questions we faced
... was whether to reconstitute Congress after a nuclear attack. It was decided that no, it
would be easier to operate without them." [Cheney's and Rumsfeld's] participation in the extraconstitutional continuity-of-government exercises ... also demonstrates a broad, underlying truth
about these two men. For three decades ... even when they were out of the executive branch of
government, they were never far away. They stayed in touch with defense, military, and
intelligence officials, who regularly called upon them. They were ... a part of the permanent hidden
national-security apparatus of the United States.
Note: If above link fails, click here. The author, James Mann, is a former Washington
correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and senior writer-in-residence at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, in Washington, D.C. Apparently, Cheney and Rumsfeld don't
find Congress to be very important.
Schwarzenegger electricity plan fuels fears of another debacle

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing a push to deregulate the state's electricity markets
-- a move embraced by business leaders and some energy analysts but criticized by many
Democrats and consumer advocates as a return to the failed policies that sparked California's
energy crisis. "Deregulation has already cost the state $50 billion, give or take," said Mike Florio,
senior attorney for The Utility Reform Network. "Why on earth anyone would want to do that again
is mystifying to us." Florio also said he was suspicious of Schwarzenegger's idea because
former Enron Corp. Chairman and CEO Ken Lay met with the actor and others in the spring
of 2001, when Lay was pushing deregulation in California. Schwarzenegger has said he
doesn't remember details of the meeting.
Note: What was Schwarzenegger doing meeting with the CEO of Enron well over two years before
the recall vote which gave him the governorship of California? Could it be big business had plans
for him?
E-mail users warned over spy network

2001-05-29, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1357264.stm
Computer users across Europe should encrypt all their e-mails, to avoid being spied on by a UKUS eavesdropping network, say Euro-MPs. The tentacles of the Echelon network stretch so far
that the UK's involvement could constitute a breach of human rights, they say. The Euro-MPs have
been studying Echelon for almost a year, after allegations that it has been used by the US to
commit industrial espionage against European firms. They conclude that Echelon - whose
existence is not officially acknowledged - is reading millions of e-mails and faxes sent
every day by ordinary people. The US has denied the system even exists, and the UK
refuses to give details, except to say that communications interception is a vital tool in the
fight against "dangers to society". The Echelon operation is based at Fort Meade in Maryland,
America, and at the UK's spy centre, GCHQ in Cheltenham.
Note: For another revealing BBC News report on Echelon, click here.
U.S. finds lost nuclear bomb

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/17/BAVV16AMLN.DTL
A hydrogen bomb that went missing for three months in the Mediterranean Sea is back in the
hands of the U.S. military after being found the previous day. The bomb had been lost in January
when two U.S. military planes, a KC-135 tanker and a B-52 carrying four thermonuclear weapons,
collided during midair refueling. Three of the four bombs fell to the ground near Palomares,
Spain. While none of them detonated with a nuclear explosion, the high-explosive triggers
in two of the bombs went off upon impact and contaminated the area with radioactive
material. A fourth bomb plunged into the water off Spain's southeastern coastline. Following
the incident, the Spanish government announced it would no longer allow U.S. planes carrying
nuclear weapons to fly over its territory. On March 17, the U.S. Navy, using a midget submarine
called the Alvin [found] the bomb 2,500 feet underwater, intact and with its parachute still attached.
Note: You can access a Jan. 27, 1966 NY Times article on this incident for a small fee at this link.
Lawmakers pushed to keep troubled defense programs alive

http://graphics.latimes.com/missile-defense-congress/
Patrick J. OReilly was at times a cheerleader and an advocate for the Missile Defense Agency
during his four years as director. But he broke ranks with his predecessors at the agency by
questioning flawed programs. In a series of interviews, OReilly said members of Congress
whose states or districts benefited from missile defense spending fought doggedly to
protect three of the programs long after their shortcomings became obvious. He described
how Rep. Howard Buck McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) reacted when he outlined his reservations
about the Airborne Laser project, envisioned as a fleet of Boeing 747s that would be modified to
fire laser beams at enemy missiles. Hed immediately start talking about, How much money do
you need? I was trying to say, On the technical merits, it doesnt make sense. The project was
killed in 2012, after a decade of testing and $5.3 billion in spending. OReilly grew skeptical of
another missile defense project, the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, after he learned that Navy ships
would have to be retrofitted ... to accommodate the 40-foot-long rocket. Existing ships could not
carry interceptors longer than 22 feet, he said. The projects backers included Sen. Jon Kyl of
Arizona, [and] Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama. OReilly said the three
senators bristled when he suggested that the Kinetic Energy Interceptor was unworkable. The
program nevertheless was discontinued [in 2009]. By then, $1.7 billion had been spent on it.
Note: Secrecy and lies about missile defense, whether owing to incompetence or government
corruption have been commonplace in Washington for many years - sometimes to devastating
effect.
CIA torture report architect denounces Republican attempt to claw back

copies
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/21/cia-torture-report-architect-d...
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who relinquished the chairmanship of the
intelligence committee ... said she objects to Senator Richard Burrs request that the Obama
administration return all copies of the full, 6,000-plus-page classified [torture] study. Doing so
would limit the ability to learn lessons from this sad chapter in Americas history and omit from
the record two years of work, Feinstein said in a statement late on Tuesday. In an
extraordinary epilogue to the battle between the Senate intelligence committee and the CIA
over the torture report, new chairman Burr, a North Carolina Republican, requested that
administration agencies return to the committee all copies of the full report. Burrs
request was first reported by the New York Times and the Huffington Post. The Times noted that
Burrs request would have the effect of placing the classified report beyond the reach of the
Freedom of Information Act, which exempts Congress. President Obama has [given the report]
rhetorical support, but [empowered] the CIA to determine what portions of a critique of the agency
ought to be public. A CIA-appointed review panel also recently found that the agencys
director, John Brennan, consulted with the White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, before
agency employees surreptitiously accessed emails and drafts from committee investigators.
Feinstein said in March that the breach represented a constitutional crisis, with the CIA spying on
its Senate overseers.
corruption in intelligence agencies and government.
How Saudi Arabia's harsh legal punishments compare to the Islamic

State's

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/01/21/how-saudi-arabia...
Following the lashing of blogger Raif Badawi and leaked footage that showed the public execution
of a woman accused of beating her daughter, Saudi Arabia's harsh interpretation of sharia law
and its use of capital punishment have come under international scrutiny. For many, the
Saudi justice system sounds not unlike that of the Islamic State, the extremist Islamist
group which has struck fear in much of the Middle East. This week, Middle East Eye, a Web site
that focuses on news from the region and is frequently critical of Saudi Arabia, contrasted a set of
legal punishments recently announced by the Islamic State with the corresponding punishments in
Saudi Arabia. One key difference between the Islamic State and Saudi Arabia, of course, is that
the latter is a key U.S. ally in the region and a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the
Islamic State. Some experts argue that the fundamentalist brand of Islam practiced by both has
theological links, however, and Riyadh's recent crackdown has been interpreted as an act of
appeasement for Saudi hard-liners. Saudi Arabia's own concern about the Islamic State is likely
genuine (plans to build an enormous wall along its border with Iraq are a good sign of that), but for
many Americans, the extremist group's rise is also bringing with it a renewed skepticism about
American allies in the region.
Note: Here is the diagram that compares Saudi justice with I.S. justice, and here is a diagram of
the big, expensive security wall mentioned above. Is Saudi Arabia concerned that the Islamic State
is less aligned with Saudi interests than other popular Islamic terrorist groups have been?
Saudi Arabia's Rights Crackdown Linked to War on Terror

2015-01-20, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/saudi-arabias-rights-crackdown-...
A man is given 50 lashes in a public square for "insulting Islam" on a liberal blog. Another is
arrested for filming and uploading a woman's public beheading. Two females are imprisoned and
put on trial for writing on Twitter in support of women driving. The cases are part of a sweeping
clampdown on dissent. Acts that offend the country's religious hard-liners or open up the kingdom
to criticism like the video of the execution of a woman convicted of murdering her stepdaughter
have landed people in jail as a warning to others. The case of Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old
father of three who was flogged this month, has attracted the most attention in recent days,
particularly in the aftermath of the deadly attack in Paris. Badawi was arrested in 2012 after writing
articles critical of Saudi Arabia's clerics on his Free Saudi Liberals blog. He was sentenced in May
to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes and was fined $266,000. Just days after the attacks in
Paris, Saudi Arabia's minister of state for foreign affairs took part in the huge march that
was held there to support free speech and honor the victims. Two days earlier, Badawi was
flogged [for "insulting Islam" on his blog]. Critics of the crackdown on dissent point out that
public beheadings are also practiced by al-Qaida and IS.
Note: Saudi Arabia continues to be a key ally of the US. Is this really what we want to support?
For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about civil
liberties from reliable major media sources.
Showdown looms as California eyes pesticides

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/showdown-looms-as-c...
With organic food growers reporting double-digit growth in U.S. sales each year, producers are
challenging a proposed California pest-management program they say enshrines a pesticideheavy approach for decades to come, including compulsory spraying of organic crops at the
states discretion. The California Department of Food and Agricultures pest-management
plan says compulsory state pesticide spraying of organic crops would do no economic
harm to organic producers, on the grounds that the growers could sell sprayed crops as
non-organic instead. I would rather stop farming than have to be a conventional farmer. I think I
am not alone in that, said Zea Sonnabend, a Watsonville organic apple-grower with California
Certified Organic Farmers. The fate of the pest-management plan outlined by the state isnt a
theoretical concern. Its an immediate issue ... due, in part, to a disease-carrying pest. The disease
spread by the Asian citrus psyllid kills citrus trees. Californias $2.4 billion citrus industry has found
incursions by the bug. The standard treatment for the citrus pest is conventional pesticides,
including neocotinoids linked to the decline of crop-pollinating bees. Organic farmers are
asking the state to give more consideration to non-toxic controls, including long-term methods to
strengthen crops and habitats in advance against marauding tropical species, said Kelly
Damewood, policy director for California Certified Organic Farmers.
Note: Read concise summaries of deeply revealing articles that show bee colony deaths and
autism are linked to pesticide exposure. Is compulsory state spraying of these pesticides really in
the public's best interest?
The criminalisation of American business

2014-08-30, The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21614138-companies-must-be-punished-whe...
Who runs the worlds most lucrative shakedown operation? If you are a big business ... Americas
regulatory system. The formula is simple: find a large company that may (or may not) have done
something wrong; threaten its managers; force them to use their shareholders money to pay an
enormous fine to drop the charges in a secret settlement. Repeat with another large company. In
many cases, the companies deserved some form of punishment: BNP Paribas ... abetted
genocide, American banks fleeced customers. BP despoiled the Gulf of Mexico. But justice should
not be based on extortion. Regulators and prosecutors are in effect conducting closed-door
trials. The agencies that pocket the fines have become profit centres: Rhode Islands
bureaucrats have been on a spending spree courtesy of a $500m payout by Google, while New
Yorks governor and attorney-general have squabbled over a $613m settlement from JPMorgan.
Not only are regulators in effect judge and jury as well as plaintiff in the cases they bring;
they can also use the threat of the criminal law. The public never finds out the full facts of
the case, nor discovers which specific people with souls and bodies were to blame. Since
the cases never go to court ... it is unclear what exactly is illegal. That enables future shakedowns.
Nor is it clear how the regulatory booty is being carved up. This ... risks the prospect of a selective
and potentially corrupt system of justice in which everybody is guilty of something and
punishment is determined by political deals.
corruption and civil liberties news articles from reliable sources.
FDA May Destroy American Artisan Cheese Industry

2014-06-09, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2014/06/09/fda-may-destroy-american...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an executive decree banning the centuries
old practice of aging cheese on wooden boards. Consumers who eat any kind of aged cheese
should prepare for a potentially catastrophic disruption in the market for artisan, non-processed
cheese. The FDAs decision will not only harm American cheese makers, but may also bring a halt
to the importation of artisan cheeses from abroad, as Canadian and European Union regulators
have not imposed such draconian measures and still allow for the use of wood boards to age
cheese. Corporate cheese makers like Leprino and Kraft will be able to weather this regulatory
storm they dont make cheese, they manufacture cheese, and as such they do not follow the
centuries-old [artisanal] techniques. But for small businesses and artisan cheese makers, wood
boards are in fact essential to the making of cheese. As cheese expert Gordon Edgar writes,
wood creates a beneficial environment for cheese. After all, what is cheese but a great
achievement of the microbe community? Edgar notes that wood is essential to the flavor of
artisanal cheeses: "Over the last 30-40 years cheesemakers here in the States have been
trying to use the best practices of traditional cheesemakers to give smaller-scale production a
taste/quality advantage over the larger (now almost completely automated) factories that dominate
the market. [They] rely in part on wood aging. It could be devastating."
Note: The FDA appears to be backing down on this, yet the fact that they would even consider a
move which effectively bans traditional cheese while promoting processed cheese shows the true
colors of the FDA.
China to allow direct yuan, New Zealand dollar trades

China has allowed direct domestic trading of the yuan against the New Zealand dollar to
encourage such trading as it internationalizes the Chinese currency. The move ... comes after
China doubled the yuan's trading band over the weekend in a milestone step that gives investors
more freedom to set the value of the tightly controlled currency. The move was seen as promoting
trade between the two countries, which rose 25.2 percent to NZ$18.2 billion ($15.71 billion) in
2013. As part of China's sweeping plans to overhaul its maturing economy and let market forces
drive a host of industries, the government wants to gradually relax its hold over the yuan and
turn it into a global reserve currency that one day rivals the dollar. The government's wish to
promote international use of the yuan is partly driven by its concern that China is too vulnerable to
the fluctuating value of the dollar. China is home to the world's largest foreign exchange reserves,
worth $3.82 trillion at the end of last year. About a third is invested in U.S. government bonds. To
promote international use of the yuan, China has signed a series of currency swaps with foreign
governments in order to increase the overseas circulation of the Chinese currency. The New
Zealand dollar is the 10th foreign currency that can be directly traded against the yuan in
China.
Note: The US dollar's role as a global currency is gradually fading.
Saying it is so doesnt make it so

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Saying-it-is-so-doesn-t-make-it-s...
According to reports, one of the first acts of the Republican-controlled Congress will be to fire
Doug Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, because he wont use
dynamic scoring for his economic projections. Dynamic scoring is the magical math Republicans
have been pushing since they came up with supply-side trickle-down economics. Its based on
the belief that cutting taxes unleashes economic growth and thereby produces additional
government revenue. Dynamic scoring would make it easier to enact tax cuts for the wealthy and
corporations, because the tax cuts wouldnt look as if they increased the budget deficit. Few
economic theories have been as thoroughly tested in the real world as the asserted revenue
effects of supply-side economics, and so notoriously failed. Ronald Reagan cut the top income
tax rate from 70 to 28 percent and ended up nearly doubling the national debt. George W.
Bush inherited a budget surplus from Bill Clinton, but then slashed taxes, mostly on the
rich. The Bush tax cuts reduced revenue by $3 trillion. Yet Republicans dont want to admit
supply-side economics is hokum. As a result, theyve never had much love for the truth-tellers at
the Congressional Budget Office. The pattern seems to be: If you don't like the facts, make them
up. Or have your benefactors finance think tanks filled with hired guns who will tell the public what
you and your patrons want them to say.
corruption and income inequality news articles from reliable major media sources.
Removing Fuel Rods Poses New Risks at Crippled Nuclear Plant in

Japan
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/world/asia/removing-fuel-rods-poses-new-ris...
It was the part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that spooked American officials the
most, as the complex spiraled out of control two and a half years ago: the spent fuel pool at
Reactor No. 4, with more than 1,500 radioactive fuel assemblies left exposed when a hydrogen
explosion blew the roof off the building. In the next 10 days, the plants operator, the Tokyo Electric
Power Company, is set to start the delicate and risky task of using a crane to remove the fuel
assemblies from the pool, a critical step in a long decommissioning process that has already had
serious setbacks. The operation addresses a threat that has hung over the plant since the crisis
started. It is still dangerous to have the fuel high up in a damaged structure that could collapse in
another quake, experts warn. But removing it poses dangers, too. The fuel rods must remain
immersed in water to block the gamma radiation they emit and allow workers to be in the area, and
to prevent the rods from overheating. An accident could expose the rods and in a worst-case
scenario, some experts say allow them to release radioactive materials beyond the plant.
There are potentially very big risks involved, Shunichi Tanaka, the head of Japans
nuclear regulator, said last week. Each assembly must be handled very carefully. All I
can do is pray that nothing goes wrong, said Yasuro Kawai, a former plant engineer who now
heads a group that is independently monitoring the decommissioning process.
Note: For further assessment of the risks associated with any attempt to remove the rods from the
damaged Fukushima Reactor #4 fuel pool, click here. For more on the risks of nuclear power, see
Warren Says U.S. Political System Rigged by Special Interests

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-07/warren-says-u-s-political-system-rig...
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said the political system is still rigged by lobbyists and special
interests who work to keep the public in the dark. Ive been in the Senate for nearly a year and
believe as strongly as ever that the system is rigged for powerful interests and against working
families, Warren said. Warren, a critic of Wall Street, rose to prominence by highlighting tricks
and traps of credit-card disclosures and creating [the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(CFPB)] as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Warren said despite progress by the consumer
bureau and confirmation of its director after a two-year delay, lobbyists for the financial industry
continue to fight it and consumer groups shouldnt let down their guard. We all know that the fight
isnt over and that the lobbyists are still working to undercut the agencys work, Warren said. She
compared the CFPB to government agencies that test the safety of physical products like
cribs and paint, and said the bureaus work on the safety of financial products will become
just as valued by the public. You tell me: When was the last time you heard someone call for
regulators to go easier on companies that want to use lead paint on our childrens toys or leave the
safety switches off toasters? Warren asked. The CFPB was designed from the very beginning
to cut out tricks and traps in consumer finance and add transparency to the marketplace.
Note: For an excellent video showing the courage and forthrightness of Elizabeth Warren, click
here. For more on government corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
Lawyers in Stratfor leak case present letters of support ahead of

sentencing
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/stratfor-leak-jeremy-hammond-sup...
Lawyers acting for Jeremy Hammond, the Chicago-based hacktivist facing up to 10 years in prison
for releasing internal emails from the private intelligence agency Stratfor, have lodged 265 letters
of support with the federal judge who will determine his sentence on 15 November. The letters call
on judge Loretta Preska ... to show leniency towards Hammond, a former member of the hacking
network Anonymous who has become a cause clbre for hacktivists, civil libertarians and those
concerned about the rights of whistleblowers. Among the correspondents are Daniel Ellsberg,
source of the 1970s Pentagon Papers leak on the Vietnam war, and Jesselyn Radack, a former
Justice Department whistleblower who now works at the Government Accountability Project.
Hammond, 28, has pleaded guilty to one count under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)
relating to a 2011 cyber attack on Strategic Forecasting, Inc, known as Stratfor an information
analysis company based in Austin, Texas. Working alongside a fellow hacker operating under the
internet handle Sabu who was later revealed to be an FBI informant Hammond downloaded an
email spool from Stratfor containing millions of files and sent the data to the anti-secrecy website
WikiLeaks which released them as the Global Intelligence Files. The Stratfor emails revealed
that [Stratfor] had been contracted by Dow Chemical, parent company of Union Carbide
which owned the Bhopal pesticide plant where the worlds worst industrial catastrophe
took place in 1984, to follow the activities of campaigners seeking redress for the victims.
Note: For an excellent follow-up article titled "The Revolutionaries in Our Midst," click here. For
more on privatization of "intelligence", see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
Calif. finds more instances of offshore fracking

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/19/calif-finds-more-inst...
The oil production technique known as fracking is more widespread and frequently used in the
offshore platforms and man-made islands near some of California's most populous and famous
coastal communities than state officials believed. In waters off Long Beach, Seal Beach and
Huntington Beach some of the region's most popular surfing strands and tourist attractions
oil companies have used fracking at least 203 times at six sites in the past two decades, according
to interviews and drilling records obtained by The Associated Press through a public records
request. Offshore hydraulic fracturing ... occurs with little state or federal oversight of the
operations. The state oil permitting agency said it doesn't track fracking. Environmental groups are
calling for a moratorium on the practice. "How is it that nobody in state government knew
anything about this? It's a huge institutional failure," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney with the
Center for Biological Diversity. "Offshore fracking is far more common than anyone realized." Little
is known about the effects on the marine environment of fracking, which shoots water, sand and
chemicals at high pressure to clear old wells or crack rock formations to free oil. Yet neither state
nor federal environmental regulators have had any role in overseeing the practice as it
increased to revitalize old wells. New oil leases off the state's shores have been prohibited since
a 1969 oil platform blowout off Santa Barbara, which fouled miles of coastline and gave rise to the
modern environmental movement. With no room for physical expansion, oil companies instead
have turned to fracking to keep the oil flowing.
Note: For more on corporate corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major
ATF rejects agents Fast and Furious book

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/atf-rejects-agents-fast...
Two years ago, federal agent John Dodson turned whistleblower and exposed a botched gun
operation in Phoenix that led to senior-level resignations, 18 months of congressional
investigations and the first vote in history by the House to hold a sitting attorney general in
contempt of Congress. Now, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, where
Dodson works, is preventing him from publishing a book about the failed gun investigation, dubbed
Fast and Furious, because the agency says it would hurt morale at the agency. The American
Civil Liberties Union came to Dodsons defense [on October 7] and filed a protest with the ATF,
strongly objecting to the agencys efforts to block Dodson from publishing his book, which has
been written, saying the decision violates his constitutional protections. Sen. Charles E.
Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), two persistent critics of the ATF, wrote a
foreword for the book. This isnt the first time somebody from the ATF or another
government agency has written a book, Grassley said. Just because the ATF leadership
doesnt like the content of the book doesnt mean they should be able to prevent the author
from giving his side of the story. During the gun-trafficking operation run by Phoenix special
agents between late 2009 and early 2011, the ATF lost track of more than 2,000 guns that
investigators were monitoring as they were sold to traffickers suspected of arming Mexican drug
cartels. The operation to link guns to a cartel fell apart after two of the guns being tracked were
found at the scene of a shootout that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
The Zombie Ward: The chilling story of how 'depressed' women were
put to sleep for months in an NHS hospital room - leaving mental scars
that remain 40 years on
2013-08-07, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2386477/NHS-Zombie-Ward-How-depress...
There are many horrors that Elizabeth Reed recalls from her time at Londons Royal Waterloo
Hospital. It was like being buried alive, she says. I was lying there in the dark, hour after hour,
and couldnt move. I wasnt aware of my body, just my head in this darkness. You could hear
people moving around and other people breathing and moaning. While Elizabeth is one of only a
handful of women prepared to speak out, her story is not unique. Up to 500 women, suffering from
conditions such as postnatal depression and anorexia, passed through the Royal Waterloos
infamous Ward 5 before it shut 40 years ago. Heavily drugged and subjected to horrendous levels
of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and even lobotomies, the unluckiest were taken to the
'Narcosis Room', where they were put to sleep for weeks at a time. Almost all teenage girls and
women in their early 20s, they were treated as little more than guinea pigs by controversial
psychiatrist William Sargant as he conducted a bizarre experiment to repattern their brains
and cure them of depression. Sargant, a founding member of St Thomass department of
psychological medicine, who advocated the use of drugs to treat mental illness, operated his sleep
room for ten years until 1973. Four patients are known to have died there and yet no one
stepped in to stop him. A Cambridge medical graduate, obsessed with making a name for
himself, he used high doses of tranquillisers and administered ECT up to twice a week on Ward 5
and every other day in the Narcosis Room. At the heart of his treatment was his belief that the
brain could be repatterned to erase bad memories.
Note: We don't usually use the Daily Mail as a reliable source, but as this article is so important
and no other major media is reporting it, we decided to include it here. For more on mind-control
experimentation on unwitting men, women and children, see the deeply revealing reports from
reliable major media sources available here. To learn more about the secret mind control programs
of which this was a part, click here.
Shocking list of popular foods and drinks readily available in U.S.

grocery stores that are BANNED in other countries
2013-06-20, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345564/Shocking-list-US-foods-BANNED...
Many of the chemicals found in America's most common foods are considered to be so unhealthy
that they're actually illegal in other countries. Rich Food, Poor Food by [Dr.] Jayson Calton and
Mira Calton, a certified nutritionist, features a list of what the authors call 'Banned Bad Boys' - a list
of the ingredients, where they're banned and what caused governments to ban them. One of the
most common 'Bad Boys' is different variations of food coloring, which actually is made from
petroleum and is found in everyday items like soda, sports drinks, mac and cheese, cake, candy
and several other common, American products. The chemicals used to make these different
dyes have proven to cause various different cancers and can even potentially mutate
healthy DNA. European countries like Norway, Finland, France and Austria all have banned
at least one variation of petroleum-containing food coloring. Another common additive
banned in other countries but allowed in the U.S. is Olestra, which essentially is a fat substitute
found in products that traditionally have actual fat. For example, low-fat potato chips ... contain
Olestra - which is shown to cause the depletion of fat-soluble vitamins. Olestra has been banned in
several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. In 2003, the FDA lifted a
requirement forcing companies that use Olestra in their products to include a label warning
consumers that the food their eating could cause 'cramps and diarrhea,' despite the fact that the
agency received more than 20,000 reports of gastrointestinal complaints among olestra eaters.
Note: We don't usually use the Daily Mail as a reliable source, but as this article is so important
and no other major media is reporting it, we decided to include it here. For more on corporate and
available here and here.
Angola missing $750 million, report says

http://www.sfchronicle.com/world/article/Angola-missing-750-million-report-sa...
An estimated $750 million is missing from Angola's treasury [after] a deal with Russia facilitated by
a Swiss bank and a shell company registered in Britain's Isle of Man, a report by a corruption
watchdog group said. Russian and French arms dealers got away with $263 million, Angola's
president reportedly stashed away more than $36 million, and three Angolan officials and a former
Russian legislator got away with smaller amounts. Another $400 million is unaccounted for,
according to Corruption Watch UK. The Angolan expos is the latest of a slew of reports on
corruption, its cost to development, and how it is aided by bankers and shell companies
that keep secret the identities of owners. Angola has long been accused of siphoning off
payments from its massive oil production, worth about $40 billion in 2011 according to
Revenue Watch. They enrich a small coterie surrounding President Jose Eduardo dos Santos,
while nearly half the population lives below the poverty line. Dos Santos has ruled Angola for 33
years. The $750 million that disappeared from Angola was supposed to repay a $1.5 billion debt to
Russia for help in its 27-year civil war. Angola paid with promissory notes on future oil shipments,
but those notes went through shell companies that milked much of the money, the report said.
Russian and French arms dealers took most of the money owed to Russia, the report said. The
illegal transfer of capital from Africa has surpassed $50 billion a year.
Note: Global arms dealers work feverishly behind the scenes to enflame wars so that their huge
profits keep rolling. Yet governments around the world seem reluctant to try to stop or even
monitor this lucrative trade. Do you think there might be any collusion here?
Protesters around the world march against Monsanto

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/25/global-protests-monsanto/...
Protesters rallied in dozens of cities [on May 26] as part of a global protest against seed giant
Monsanto and the genetically modified food it produces. Organizers said "March Against
Monsanto" protests were held in 52 countries and 436 cities, including Los Angeles where
demonstrators waved signs that read "Real Food 4 Real People" and "Label GMOs, It's Our Right
to Know." The 'March Against Monsanto' movement began just a few months ago, when founder
and organizer Tami Canal created a Facebook page on Feb. 28 calling for a rally against the
company's practices. "If I had gotten 3,000 people to join me, I would have considered that a
success," she said Saturday. Instead, she said an "incredible" number of people responded
to her message and turned out to rally. "It was empowering and inspiring to see so many
people, from different walks of life, put aside their differences and come together today,"
Canal said. The group plans to harness the success of the event to continue its anti-GMO cause.
"We will continue until Monsanto complies with consumer demand. They are poisoning our
children, poisoning our planet," she said. Protesters in Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina,
where Monsanto's genetically modified soy and grains now command nearly 100% of the market,
... carried signs saying "Monsanto-Get out of Latin America." In Portland, thousands of protesters
took to Oregon streets. Police estimate about 6,000 protesters took part in Portland's peaceful
march.
GMOs, click here. For a treasure trove of great news articles which will inspire you to make a
difference, click here.
U.S. Air Force stops reporting data on Afghan drone strikes

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51122184/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia
With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military
said ... that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in
Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries. U.S. President Barack Obama's
administration has increasingly used drones to target against ... militants overseas. The debate
was intensified by Obama's decision to nominate his chief counter-terrorism adviser John
Brennan, an architect of the drone campaign, as the new director of the CIA. Brennan was sworn
into office on [March 8] following a protracted confirmation battle that saw Senator Rand Paul
attempt to block a vote on the nomination with a technical maneuver called a filibuster, in which he
tried to prevent a vote by talking continuously. Paul held the Senate floor for more than 12 hours
while talking mainly about drones, expressing concern that Obama's administration might use the
aircraft to target U.S. citizens on home soil.
Note: For a disturbing report on the massive expansion of drones over US skies, click here.
CIA rendition: more than a quarter of countries 'offered covert support'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/cia-rendition-countries-covert-su...
The full extent of the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme has been laid bare with the
publication of a report showing there is evidence that more than a quarter of the world's
governments covertly offered support. A 213-page report compiled by the Open Society Justice
Initiative (OSJI), a New York-based human rights organisation, says that at least 54 countries cooperated with the global kidnap, detention and torture operation that was mounted after 9/11, many
of them in Europe. So widespread and extensive was the participation of governments across the
world that it is now clear the CIA could not have operated its programme without their support,
according to the OSJI. "Responsibility for these violations does not end with the United States.
Secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations, designed to be conducted outside
the United States under cover of secrecy, could not have been implemented without the
active participation of foreign governments. These governments too must be held
accountable." The states identified by the OSJI include those such as Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Egypt and Jordan where the existence of secret prisons and the use of torture has been well
documented for many years. But the OSJI's rendition list also includes states such as Ireland,
Iceland and Cyprus, which are accused of granting covert support for the programme by permitting
the use of airspace and airports by aircraft involved in rendition flights. Iran and Syria are identified
by the OSJI as having participated in the rendition programme.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on the illegal operations that
comprise the 'global war on terror', click here.
White House staff involved in Colombia Secret Service scandal?

2012-09-20, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/20/white-house-staff-involved-in-colom...
Rumors are flying in Washington. Were White House staff involved with prostitutes in Colombia?
Fox News' Jana Winter reported that a high-ranking Secret Service agent told Fox we knew very
early on that White House staff were involved. The Pentagons report, "AR 15-6 Investigation into
Military Misconduct at the 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia," is very telling.
Paragraph B(3) reports that 12 US military members brought prostitutes to their hotel room but
paragraph 8, page 2 notes only 11 of the women were verified to be over 18 years old. What
happened to the other woman? Was she, in fact, a child and the Pentagon is covering this up
as they have covered up the wide-spread use of child porn by senior Pentagon staff, some
with top level security clearances, on Pentagon computers? The sub-heading White House
Communications Agency Personal in the Pentagons AR 15-6 report is entirely redacted. Is it
possible that the prostitutes involved were trafficked children used by White House staff
and not Secret Service agents? Has the Secret Service been forced to take the blame and cover
up possible child sex abuse by the White House? It is doubtful that DHSs Inspector General will
provide a full report of what really happened in Colombia since President Obamas administration
has gone after whistleblowers and disabled the Inspector Generals as never before seen.
Note: For a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary providing powerful evidence of a child
abuse ring that goes to the highest level in government, click here. For deeply revealing reports
from reliable major media sources on institutional sexual abuse, click here.
WikiLeaks and Free Speech

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/opinion/wikileaks-and-the-global-future-of-...
[In its] decision to grant diplomatic asylum to [WikiLeaks'] founder, Julian Assange, ... Ecuador has
acted in accordance with important principles of international human rights. Indeed, nothing could
demonstrate the appropriateness of Ecuador's action more than the British government's threat to
violate a sacrosanct principle of diplomatic relations and invade the embassy to arrest Mr.
Assange. Predictably, the response from those who would prefer that Americans remain in the
dark has been ferocious. Top elected leaders from both parties have called Mr. Assange a "hightech terrorist." And Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence, has demanded that he be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.
Most Americans, Britons and Swedes are unaware that Sweden has not formally charged
Mr. Assange with any crime. Rather, it has issued a warrant for his arrest to question him about
allegations of sexual assault in 2010. If Mr. Assange is extradited to the United States, the
consequences will reverberate for years around the world. Mr. Assange is not an American
citizen, and none of his actions have taken place on American soil. If the United States can
prosecute a journalist in these circumstances, the governments of Russia or China could, by the
same logic, demand that foreign reporters anywhere on earth be extradited for violating their laws.
click here.
Sean FitzPatrick is third ex-Anglo Irish Bank executive to be arrested in

24 hours
2012-07-24, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18965510
The former head of Anglo Irish Bank, Sean FitzPatrick, has been arrested by Irish police in
connection with alleged financial irregularities at the bank. He is the third former senior
executive from Anglo Irish Bank to appear in court within the past 24 hours. All three men
face 16 charges in relation to an alleged failed attempt to prop up Anglo's share price after a stock
market collapse. Anglo was nationalised at a cost of about 30bn euros (23.4bn) to Irish
taxpayers. Anglo was badly exposed by the bursting of the Irish property bubble and suffered the
largest corporate loss in the history of the Republic of Ireland. It is the third time Mr FitzPatrick has
been arrested as part of the three-and-a-half year long investigation into the collapse of Anglo Irish
Bank. Willie McAteer - the second in command at the bank before his resignation in January 2009
- appeared in court alongside Pat Whelan, a former head of lending and operations at the bank.
The former bank is being wound down and is currently being run by the Irish Bank Resolution
Corporation Limited (IBRC).
California parks department finds $54-million surplus

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-state-parks-20120721,0,2383546,full.s...
California's parks system stashed away nearly $54 million even as it was cutting services and
threatening to close parks, a revelation that prompted the resignation of the department's director.
The hoarded cash remained untapped while the California Department of Parks and Recreation
painted a dire picture of the system's health, soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in
donations in what was thought to be a desperate scramble to keep facilities open. The state
attorney general's office has launched an investigation into the hidden surplus, which officials
believe the department concealed from state bookkeepers, the governor and the Legislature for at
least a dozen years, dating to the tenure of Gray Davis. State auditors found the extra money in
two funds, one intended to finance the purchase and upkeep of properties for off-road vehicle
recreation, the other for general park maintenance and restoration. The money came from user
fees, rentals and fines. The state planned to close 70 parks this month to save $22 million, less
than half the amount of the department's hidden surplus. Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the
California State Parks Foundation, called Friday's news "truly disturbing and appalling. People
inside the department have not been honest about the resources that have been available
to them." The surplus "doesn't prevent the crisis that is currently underway; it may help
minimize it," Goldstein said. "This money will not solve the overall parks crisis that has
been building for decades."
Note: To learn how governments secretly stash large amounts of cash which very few know about,
read the CAFR webpage at this link. For lots more from reliable major media sources on
government corruption, click here.
Auditors say billions likely wasted in Iraq work

After years of following the paper trail of $51 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars provided to rebuild a
broken Iraq, the U.S. government can say with certainty that too much was wasted. But it can't say
how much. In what it called its final audit report, the Office of the Special Inspector General for
Iraq Reconstruction Funds ... spelled out a range of accounting weaknesses that put
"billions of American taxpayer dollars at risk of waste and misappropriation" in the largest
reconstruction project of its kind in U.S. history. "The precise amount lost to fraud and
waste can never be known," the report said. The office has spent more than $200 million
tracking the reconstruction funds, and in addition to producing numerous reports, his office has
investigated criminal fraud that has resulted in 87 indictments, 71 convictions and $176 million in
fines and other penalties. These include civilians and military members accused of kickbacks,
bribery, bid-rigging, fraud, embezzlement and outright theft of government property and funds. Of
the $51 billion that Congress approved for Iraq reconstruction, about $20 billion was for rebuilding
Iraqi security forces and about $20 billion was for rebuilding the country's basic infrastructure.
German spy chief quits in neo-Nazi files scandal

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48041852#.T_hrRpH4KNU
The head of Germany's domestic intelligence service resigned on [July 2] after admitting that his
agency had shredded files on a neo-Nazi cell whose killing spree targeting immigrants rocked the
country late last year. Heinz Fromm's resignation is the latest in a series of embarrassing setbacks
for Germany's security services over their handling of the "National Socialist Underground" (NSU),
which went undetected for more than a decade despite its murder of 10 people, mostly ethnic
Turkish immigrants. German lawmakers said there was no suggestion that Fromm had ordered the
destruction of the files but that he was taking responsibility for others' failures. German media
have said an official working in the intelligence agency is suspected of having destroyed
files on an operation to recruit far-right informants just one day after the involvement of the
NSU in the murders became public. Fromm told the Spiegel weekly that the shredding of files in
the case had done "grave damage to the reputation" of his agency, known in Germany as the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Germans, burdened by their Nazi past, were
mortified by last year's news that three neo-Nazis had been behind the killings of eight ethnic
Turks, an ethnic Greek and a police officer in a period running from 2000 to 2007. The NSU cell's
culpability only came to light after two of the neo-Nazis committed suicide following a botched bank
robbery last autumn.
Note: For insightful reports from reliable major media articles on the dark operations of intelligence
agencies, click here.
Drones, computers new weapons of US shadow wars

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47842756/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/dro...
Drone aircraft spy on and attack terrorists with no pilot in harm's way. Small teams of special
operations troops quietly train and advise foreign forces. Viruses sent from computers to foreign
networks strike silently, with no American fingerprint. It's war in the shadows, with the U.S. public
largely in the dark. The high-tech warfare allows Obama to target what the administration sees as
the greatest threats to U.S. security, without the cost and liabilities of sending a swarm of ground
troops to capture territory; some of them almost certainly would come home maimed or dead. But
it also raises questions about accountability and the implications for international norms regarding
the use of force outside of traditional armed conflict. "Congressional oversight of these
operations appears to be cursory and insufficient," said Steven Aftergood, an expert on
government secrecy issues for the Federation of American Scientists, a private group. "It is
Congress' responsibility to declare war under the Constitution, but instead it appears to
have adopted a largely passive role while the executive takes the initiative in war fighting,"
Aftergood said in an interview. That's partly because lawmakers relinquished their authority by
passing a law just after the Sept. 11 [attacks]. In this shroud of secrecy, leaks to the news media of
classified details about certain covert operations have led to charges that the White House
orchestrated the revelations to bolster Obama's national security credentials and thereby improve
his re-election chances.
Note: For deeper analysis of the threats posed to American citizens by military and police drones
in the skies, click here. For information on a federal recent law compelling the Federal Aviation
Administration to allow drones to fly in US skies, click here. For more information on the use of
drones by police in the US, click here. For lots more from reliable sources on surveillance in the
US, click here.
Obama punishes leakers only when embarrassed

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/11/EDPG1P04MB.DTL
The Obama administration is the most forceful, vigilant and merciless in cracking down on whistleblowers and leakers in nearly a century. The liberal law professor in the White House is no softie
when it comes to punishing voices who undercut his pronouncements and policies. Since 1917,
when the Espionage Act was passed to safeguard national secrets, prior presidents have
brought three cases. Since taking office, Obama has used the law six times. In most of
these cases, the White House went after whistle-blowers and leakers whose claims
embarrassed the Obama administration. Examples of such prosecutions include the massive
WikiLeaks disclosure of some 250,000 diplomatic cables along with lesser-known instances such
as information about rough interrogations and botched computer operations. The common thread:
The White House looked bad. Similar prosecution could happen again with the drone and cyber-
war stories, but don't count on it. In these two cases, the results enhanced Obama's image, a
result that won't draw presidential ire. Also, the news accounts that showed the president in charge
of drone targets and approving a computer-jamming worm didn't disclose direct intelligence details
or names. But there's a disturbing pattern, especially as the November election draws closer. This
White House is bothered by the ever-present suggestion that it's weak on terrorism or hesitant to
look tough against looming enemies - and it's willing to go to extraordinary means to pursue leaks
of unflattering stories.
Note: For lots more on government secrecy and corruption from reliable sources, click here and
here.
Japans plutonium glut: Plan to make more raises red flag as country
reassesses nuclear future
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japans-plutonium-glut-plan-t...
Last years tsunami disaster in Japan clouded the nations nuclear future, idled its reactors and
rendered its huge stockpile of plutonium useless for now. So, the industrys plan to produce even
more has raised a red flag. Nuclear industry officials say they hope to start producing a half-ton of
plutonium within months, in addition to the more than 35 tons Japan already has stored around the
world. Thats even though all the reactors that might use it are either inoperable or offline while the
country rethinks its nuclear policy after the tsunami-generated Fukushima crisis. Its crazy, said
Princeton University professor Frank von Hippel, a leading authority on nonproliferation issues
and a former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and
Technology. There is absolutely no reason to do that. Japans nuclear industry produces
plutonium which is strictly regulated globally because it also is used for nuclear weapons by
reprocessing spent, uranium-based fuel in a procedure aimed at decreasing radioactive waste that
otherwise would require long-term storage. Fuel reprocessing remains unreliable and it is
questionable whether it is a viable way of reducing Japans massive amounts of spent fuel rods,
said Takeo Kikkawa, a Hitotsubashi University professor specializing in energy issues. Japan
should abandon the program altogether, said Hideyuki Ban, co-director of a respected antinuclear Citizens Nuclear Information Center. Then we can also contribute to the global effort for
nuclear non-proliferation.
Note: For a state-of-the-art analysis revealing that radioactive fallout from the Fukushima
meltdown is at least as big as Chernobyl and more global in reach, click here.
National debt: Will the U.S. be like Japan?

2012-05-24, CNN
http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/24/news/economy/national-debt-us-japan/index.htm
Political gridlock. High national debt. Rock-bottom bond rates. An aging population. Warnings
about more downgrades. Sound like the United States? Indeed. But those characteristics also
describe Japan -- the country that fiscal experts often point to as a cautionary tale about the risk of
carrying too much national debt for too long. Ever since a stock market crash and banking
crisis more than 20 years ago, Japan has suffered from anemic growth for much of that
time and its debt has soared. The country's debt is projected to be 239% of the size of its
economy by the end of this year. U.S. gross debt, by contrast, is a little over 100% of GDP. On
almost every economic and demographic measure, U.S. fiscal problems are still less urgent than
the ones facing Japan today, said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight. In
his view, the biggest debt-related problem facing Americans today is gridlock in Washington. "We
have a political crisis in the United States," he said. There are plenty of ideas for how Washington
could curb the growth in debt without undermining the economy. For example, lawmakers could
phase in tax increases and spending cuts over time. They could agree on a credible plan that puts
off serious fiscal restraint until the economy is stronger. What's missing though is political
cooperation. But, Behravesh said, "If we're careful, we can resolve this sensibly."
Note: For an alternative analysis by Paul Craig Roberts, click here. He notes that "Unlike Japan,
whose national debt is the largest of all, Americans do not own their own public debt. Much of US
debt is owned abroad, especially by China, Japan, and OPEC, the oil exporting countries. This
places the US economy in foreign hands." Roberts is a former Assistant Secretary of the US
Treasury, Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal, columnist for Business Week, and professor
of economics.
Three NATO protesters face terrorism charges as global summit nears

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/three-nato-protesters-face-terrorism-char...
As NATO protesters marched by the hundreds to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuels house, three
others were in court Saturday facing terrorism charges for allegedly planning to bomb the mayors
residence, police stations and Obamas campaign headquarters during the upcoming summit.
Three men who had been arrested in a raid Wednesday appeared before a Cook County judge,
charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, possession of an explosive device and providing
material support for terrorism. The men ... are being held on $1.5 million bond. Prosecutors alleged
they had made Molotov cocktails and had discussed using other weapons, including swords and
knives. Lawyers for the suspects disputed those claims. There are a lot of sensational
allegations being made, said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild.
This is obviously an effort to chill dissent ahead of the NATO demonstrations. As darkness
fell, the crowds of protesters who gathered to show support to the terror suspects swelled to nearly
1,000, and there were several tense scuffles with police. At least 10 more protesters were
detained, Hermes said.
Note: This entire article contains almost nothing about the trumped up charges against these
protestors. You can learn more about police provocation of the group at this link.
Email and web use 'to be monitored' under new laws

2012-04-01, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17576745
The government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the
UK under new legislation set to be announced soon. Internet firms will be required to give
intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications on demand, in real time. The Home Office
says the move is key to tackling crime and terrorism, but civil liberties groups have criticised it.
Tory MP David Davis called it "an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on
ordinary people". A new law ... would not allow GCHQ to access the content of emails, calls or
messages without a warrant. But it would enable intelligence officers to identify who an
individual or group is in contact with, how often and for how long. They would also be able
to see which websites someone had visited. Conservative MP and former shadow home
secretary David Davis said it would make it easier for the government "to eavesdrop on vast
numbers of people". "What this is talking about doing is not focusing on terrorists or criminals, it's
absolutely everybody's emails, phone calls, web access..." He said that until now anyone wishing
to monitor communications had been required to gain permission from a magistrate. Nick Pickles,
director of the Big Brother Watch campaign group, called the move "an unprecedented step that
will see Britain adopt the same kind of surveillance seen in China and Iran". The previous Labour
government attempted to introduce a central, government-run database of everyone's phone calls
and emails, but eventually dropped the bid after widespread anger.
Note: For more on this from BBC, click here. Though this is interesting news, many know that the
government has had easy access to all people's emails, phone calls, and more for many years
through systems like echelon and more. For an abundance of major media articles showing how
many of the power elite want to create a big-brother society, click here.
Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen?

http://www.thenation.com/article/166757/why-president-obama-keeping-journalis...
On February 2, 2011, President Obama called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The two
discussed counterterrorism cooperation and the battle against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
At the end of the call, according to a White House read-out, Obama expressed concern over the
release of a man named Abdulelah Haider Shaye, whom Obama said had been sentenced to five
years in prison for his association with AQAP. It turned out that Shaye had not yet been released
at the time of the call, but Saleh did have a pardon for him prepared and was ready to sign it. But
... Abdulelah Haider Shaye is not an Islamist militant or an Al Qaeda operative. He is a journalist.
Shaye risked his life to travel to areas controlled by Al Qaeda and to interview its leaders. He also
conducted several interviews with the radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki. Shaye did the last
known interview with Awlaki just before it was revealed that Awlaki, a US citizen, was on a
CIA/JSOC hit list. We were only exposed to Western media and Arab media funded by the West,
which depicts only one image of Al Qaeda, recalls his best friend Kamal Sharaf, a well-known
dissident Yemeni political cartoonist. But Abdulelah brought a different viewpoint. Shaye had no
reverence for Al Qaeda, but viewed the group as an important story, according to Sharaf.
Note: We generally avoid using sources with a strong bias like The Nation, but as none of the
other major media have touched this most important story, we're including it here. For more on this
revealing story, click here and here
FDA deputy with ties to Monsanto draws fire

2012-03-01, San Francisco Chronicle/Bloomberg
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/29/MNEN1NDVO3.DTL
A top federal regulator's ties to Monsanto Co., a maker of genetically modified food, are fueling an
election-year recall push by consumer and public-interest groups flexing their clout on the Internet.
Michael Taylor, the Food and Drug Administration's deputy commissioner for food safety, is at the
center of a burgeoning dispute between opponents who have collected more than 420,000
signatures on an online petition demanding he be fired and supporters who praise his efforts to
curb food-borne illnesses. At issue is the 16 months ending in 2000 that Taylor worked as
Monsanto's vice president for public policy, between stints in the Clinton and Obama
administrations. The petition reflects anger over the agency's enforcement actions against
small food producers and products such as raw milk. The online petition, along with others
circulated on Facebook and other social-media sites since at least August, blames Taylor for
allowing genetically modified organisms into the U.S. food supply without requiring testing as to
their effects while he served at the agency in the 1990s. Taylor, in an interview, said his work is
misrepresented, and the effort to have him fired "is more about Monsanto than about me. The
claim is I was a Monsanto lobbyist, which paints a bad picture," he said. "It doesn't say what I did
there or what I think about biotechnology."
Note: For lots more on Monsanto's unethical practices, click here and here. For key reports from
reliable sources on corporate and government corruption, click here and here.
German President Wulff quits over corruption claims

2012-02-17, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17072479
German President Christian Wulff has announced his resignation, after prosecutors called for his
immunity to be lifted. An ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Wulff, 52, stepped down over
corruption claims involving a dubious home loan. German media say the crisis is unprecedented in
post-war Germany. The president's role is largely ceremonial, to serve as a moral authority for the
nation. "The developments of the past few days and weeks have shown that [the German
people's] trust and thus my effectiveness have been seriously damaged," Mr Wulff said in a brief
statement. "For this reason it is no longer possible for me to exercise the office of president at
home and abroad as required." At the centre of the row is the story - first published by the Bild
newspaper - that Mr Wulff received a low interest 500,000 euro loan (417,000; $649,000) from
the wife of a wealthy businessman in October 2008. Mr Wulff, who previously was premier of
Lower Saxony, was later asked in the state's parliament if he had had business relations with the
businessman, Egon Geerkens, and said he had not, making no mention of his dealings with Mr
Geerkens's wife. The president was also heavily criticised for trying to force Bild not to
break the story in the first place. It has emerged that he left an angry message on Bild chief
editor Kai Diekmann's phone, saying the story must not be published. There were also
corruption allegations against Mr Wulff, involving receiving political favours and free holidays from
business executives.
Court sanctions lawyers behind 9/11 case

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2012/02_-_February/Cou...
A federal appeals court on [February 2] sanctioned lawyers behind a lawsuit accusing
former officials in the Bush administration of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ordered two California lawyers to pay $15,000 in
addition to double what the government spent defending the case. Three attorneys -- Dennis
Cunningham, William Veale and Mustapha Ndanusa -- filed the lawsuit in 2008 on behalf of April
Gallop, a member of the U.S. Army injured in the Pentagon attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The lawyers
accused then-Vice President Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld of causing the attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon in order to create a political atmosphere that would allow
the U.S. government to pursue domestic and international policy objectives. The suit alleged
conspiracy to cause death and bodily harm and a violation of the Antiterrorism Act. U.S. District
Judge Denny Chin dismissed the case in 2010, ruling that the complaint was frivolous and a
product of "cynical delusion and fantasy." A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit upheld that
decision, imposing $15,000 in sanctions on the three lawyers for filing the suit. "We are not
delusional by any means. We have the facts, and they cannot be explained," said Veale, a former
chief assistant public defender for Contra Costa County, California. The U.S. Attorney's Office for
the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the litigation. The case is Gallop v.
Cheney et al, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, No. 10-1241.
Note: Unmentioned in this article is the fact that the appeals panel which sanctioned the lawyers
was presided over by a cousin of former Pres. George W. Bush, who had refused to recuse
himself from the case as requested by the lawyers. For more information on this important court
case brought by US soldier April Gallop, who was in the Pentagon where it was struck on 9/11,
and whose account was suppressed by the FBI but has been brought to light by, among others,
Jesse Ventura on his recent television program on the Pentagon, click here and here.
After Struggle on Detainees, Obama Signs Defense Bill

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/us/politics/obama-signs-military-spending-b...
President Obama, after objecting to provisions of a military spending bill that would have forced
him to try terrorism suspects in military courts ... signed the bill on [New Year's Eve]. The White
House had said that the legislation could lead to an improper military role in overseeing detention
and court proceedings and could infringe on the presidents authority in dealing with terrorism
suspects. But it said that Mr. Obama could interpret the statute in a way that would preserve
his authority. The president, for example, said that he would never authorize the indefinite
military detention of American citizens, because doing so would break with our most
important traditions and values as a nation. He also said he would reject a rigid across-theboard requirement that suspects be tried in military courts rather than civilian courts. Congress
dropped a provision in the House version of the bill that would have banned using civilian courts to
prosecute those suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda. It also dropped a new authorization to use
military force against Al Qaeda and its allies. Civil liberties groups, including the American Civil
Liberties Union, still oppose the law, in part because of its authorization of military detention camps
overseas.
Note: This New York Times article amazingly fails to mention that civil liberties groups oppose this
law primarily because it eliminates habeus corpus, Posse Comitatus and Bill of Rights protections,
and enables the military to arrest and imprison American citizens on American soil and subject
them to military tribunals without due judicial process. These protections are what Pres. Obama
was referring to when he mentioned "our most important traditions and values as a nation." Is his
statement that he will not use the new powers the law gives him sufficiently reassuring?
Japanese mothers rise up against nuclear power

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/22/japanese-mothers-rise-nucle...
Japan's nuclear power industry, which once ignored opposition, now finds its existence threatened
by women angered by official [secrecy] on radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
More than 100 anti-nuclear demonstrators, most of them women, met with officials of the Nuclear
Safety Commission this week and handed over a statement calling for a transparent investigation
into the accident and a permanent shutdown of all nuclear power plants. Groups of women,
braving a cold winter, have been setting up tents since last week preparing for a new sit-in
campaign in front of the ministry of economic affairs. The women have pledged to continue their
demonstration for 10 months and 10 days, traditionally reckoned in Japan as a full term that covers
a pregnancy. "Our protests are aimed at achieving a rebirth in Japanese society," said
Chieko Shina, a participant, and a grandmother from Fukushima. "The ongoing
demonstrations symbolise the determination of ordinary people who do not want nuclear
power because it is dangerous. There is also the bigger message that we do not trust the
government any more," said Takanobu Kobayashi, who manages the Matsudo network of
citizens' movements. Distrust stems primarily from the fact that the meltdown of the Fukushima
reactors was not reported to the public immediately, causing huge health risks to the local
population from radiation leaks.
here.
U.S. Settles Suit Over Anthrax Attacks

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/us/anthrax-victims-family-to-receive-2-5-mi...
The federal government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the widow and children of the first
person killed in the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, settling a lawsuit claiming that the Army did
not adequately secure its supply of the deadly pathogen. The settlement with the family of Robert
Stevens, a tabloid photo editor in Florida, follows an eight-year legal battle that exposed slack
rules and sloppy recordkeeping at the Armys biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, in Frederick,
Md. As part of the agreement, Justice Department lawyers are seeking to have many
documents that were uncovered in the litigation kept under court seal or destroyed. Mr.
Stevenss widow, Maureen, filed suit against the government in 2003, as evidence accumulated
that the anthrax powder in the lethal letters had come from an Army laboratory. Mr. Stevens, 62,
died on Oct. 5, 2001, days after inhaling anthrax powder at work.
Note: Why would the government want these documents destroyed? Remember that these
attacks, which happened within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, were at first attributed to terrorists. Now
it is fully acknowledged they were the responsibility of someone in government. Hmmmmm.
SWAT team's shooting of Marine draws outrage

2011-11-27, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/nation/134558988.html
Jose Guerena Ortiz was sleeping after an exhausting 12-hour night shift at a copper mine. His
wife, Vanessa, had begun breakfast. Their 4-year-old son, Joel, asked to watch cartoons. An
ordinary morning was unfolding in the middle-class Tucson neighborhood until an armored
vehicle pulled into the family's driveway and men wearing heavy body armor and helmets climbed
out, weapons ready. They were a sheriff's department SWAT team who had come to execute a
search warrant. But Vanessa Guerena insisted she had no idea, when she heard a "boom" and
saw a dark-suited man pass by a window, that it was police outside her home. She shook her
husband awake and told him someone was firing a gun outside. A U.S. Marine veteran of the Iraq
war, he was only trying to defend his family, she said, when he grabbed his own gun an AR-15
assault rifle. What happened next was captured on video after a member of the SWAT team
activated a helmet-mounted camera. The officers four of whom carried .40-caliber handguns
while another had an AR-15 moved to the door, briefly sounding a siren, then shouting "Police!"
in English and Spanish. With a thrust of a battering ram, they broke the door open. Eight
seconds passed before they opened fire into the house. And 10 seconds later, Guerena lay
dying in a hallway 20-feet from the front door. The SWAT team fired 71 rounds, riddling his
body 22 times, while his wife and child cowered in a closet.
Note: For a survey of the decade-long trend toward militarization of police forces in the US, click
here. For analyses of the militaristic police responses to the Occupy movement, click here and
here.
Multiple missteps led to drone killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-drone-attack-20111106,0,5...
Thirty-one seconds after the pilot reported muzzle flashes, the Marines at Alcatraz ordered
that the Predator be prepared to strike if the shooters could be confirmed as hostile. At 8:49
a.m., 29 minutes after the ambush began, they authorized the pilot to fire. In minutes, two
Americans would be dead. The decision to fire a missile from one of the growing fleet of U.S.
unmanned aircraft is the result of work by ground commanders, pilots and analysts at far-flung
military installations, who analyze video and data feeds and communicate by a system of voice
and text messages. In addition to the platoon taking fire that morning in Helmand province's Upper
Sangin Valley, the mission involved Marine Corps and Air Force personnel at four locations:
Marines of the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion at Alcatraz, the drone crew in Nevada, the analyst in
Indiana and a mission intelligence coordinator at March Air Reserve Base in California. Senior
officers say drone technology has vastly improved their ability to tell friend from foe in the
confusion of battle. But the video can also prompt commanders to make decisions before they fully
understand what they're seeing. In February 2009, a crew operating a drone over Afghanistan
misidentified a civilian convoy as an enemy force. The Predator pilot and the Army captain who
called in the airstrike disregarded warnings from Air Force analysts who had observed children in
the convoy. At least 15 people were killed.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on the illegal and immoral prosecution of the
global "war on terror" by the US military and NATO, click here.
How to win business in Libya

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/09/23/special-report-how-to-win-bu...
In August, as rebels fought forces loyal to President Muammar Gaddafi, two representatives of a
British business consortium took a "rather long and arduous ferry journey from Malta" to the North
African country. The men traveled to Libya at the invitation of the rebel administration. Britain,
along with France and the United States, had given political and military support for the uprising
against Gaddafi and sponsored the rebel leadership, the National Transitional Council (NTC). This
was a chance to close some deals. The visitors keep coming. French President Nicolas Sarkozy
and British Prime Minister David Cameron received a heroes' welcome last week when they
became the first western leaders to visit since Gaddafi's ouster. Interim leader Abdel Jalil said
the rebels' allies could expect preferential treatment in return for their help. It was a clear
signal that countries which had not backed the NATO bombing campaign, including Russia,
China and Germany, or which were slow to denounce Gaddafi, like Italy, stand to lose out.
But if French and British politicians are tallying up the contracts, business executives are leaving
little to chance. Dozens of executives from France, Britain, Italy and other countries have spent
months building ties with potential Libyan partners. The potential profits are huge.
Note: For a two-page summary of US Marine Corps General Smedley Butler's explanation of the
profiteering behind modern wars, click here. For key reports on corporate and government
corruption from major media sources, click here and here.
$52 Steaks on Menu as AT&T Feted Lawmakers During T-Mobile Push

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LQUSNI1A74E901-63CR...
AT&T feted lawmakers at Washington restaurants offering $52 steaks and a $15 Lobbyist's
Libation made of gin and cucumber puree as the company sought U.S. approval to buy T-Mobile
USA. The parties, carrying $1,000 admission charges and aimed at replenishing congressional
campaign coffers, were held as the largest U.S. phone company sought regulators' blessing for the
$39 billion deal. On Aug. 31, the Justice Department sued to block the transaction, saying it would
harm competition. The litigation marks a rare setback for AT&T, long a leading Washington power.
The Dallas-based company boosted lobbying spending by 30 percent to $11.7 million in the
first six months of 2011 compared with a year earlier, Senate records show. AT&T's political
action committee gave $805,500 to federal candidates, according to the Center for Responsive
Politics, a Washington research group. The one thing you can say about their losing is that it
wasn't for a lack of lobbyists, Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation, a
Washington-based nonprofit that promotes government transparency, said in an interview. They
left no stone unturned. AT&T's political action committee, which funnels employees' contributions
to lawmakers' campaigns, was the most generous corporate PAC this year, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics.
Note: For more on corporate and government corruption from reliable sources, click here and
here.
Pennsylvania judge gets 28 years in 'kids for cash' case

2011-08-11, MSNBC
A longtime judge has been ordered to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a
massive juvenile justice bribery scandal that prompted the state's high court to toss thousands of
convictions. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced ... to 28 years in
federal prison for taking $1 million in bribes from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers
in a case that became known as "kids-for-cash." The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed
about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the
constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to
intelligently enter a plea. Ciavarella, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering charges earlier
this year. Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking
more than $2 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care
detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities' co-owner.
Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanor, filled the beds of the private
lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and
other minor crimes.
here.
Pentagon to Consider Cyberattacks Acts of War

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/us/politics/01cyber.html
The Pentagon ... plans to issue a new strategy soon declaring that a computer attack from a
foreign nation can be considered an act of war that may result in a military response. The new
military strategy ... makes explicit that a cyberattack could be considered equivalent to a more
traditional act of war. The policy ... says nothing about how the United States might respond
to a cyberattack from a terrorist group or other nonstate actor. Nor does it establish a
threshold for what level of cyberattack merits a military response. In the case of a
cyberattack, the origin of the attack is almost always unclear, as it was in 2010 when a
sophisticated attack was made on Google and its computer servers. Eventually Google concluded
that the attack came from China. But American officials never publicly identified the country where
it originated, much less whether it was state sanctioned or the action of a group of hackers.
Note: For more on this, see the Wall Street Journal article at this link.
Feds must probe banks further over mortgage crisis

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/20/EDFL1IEOFE.DTL
Anonymous, an online hacker group, released a string of e-mails last week that purportedly show
mortgage document fraud at Bank of America. Many people yawned. After all, there have been
well-documented cases of mortgage fraud and illegal foreclosures, and little has been done to
punish Bank of America or any of the banks for their behavior. But just because the federal
government has been slow to act on the mortgage crisis doesn't mean that these e-mails are any
less valuable. The e-mails are a chain showing requests for Balboa Insurance employees to
remove document tracking numbers from the system of record. Balboa Insurance became a
division of Bank of America after the bank bought the bankrupt home loan company Countrywide
Financial. The idea suggested in the e-mails was to misplace individual documents away
from matching loans. This would make it harder for federal auditors to investigate
individual loans. It would also make it far more difficult for individual homeowners to
dispute or question bank action on their loans - and therefore obtain mortgage
modifications or a stay on bank foreclosure. The Anonymous e-mails are serious indeed.
They're a snapshot into why the mortgage mess spiraled out of control. While they don't tell the
whole story, they point to the need for further investigation and possible action on behalf of the
federal government. When people are losing their homes, the banks shouldn't be allowed to get
away with deception.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports by major media sources on the collusion between
government and banks against the public interest, click here.
US Supreme Court won't review drug patent deal

2011-03-07, The Guardian/Reuters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/9533058
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that drug companies can pay rivals to delay production
of generic drugs without violating federal antitrust laws. The justices refused to review a federal
appeals court ruling that upheld the dismissal of a legal challenge to a deal between Bayer AG and
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's Barr Laboratories. Bayer paid Barr to prevent it from bringing
to market a version of the antibiotic drug Cipro. The deal, involving Bayer's 1997 settlement of
patent litigation with Barr, was challenged by a number of pharmacies, which appealed to the
Supreme Court. More than 30 states and various consumer groups supported the appeal.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opposed such deals, saying they violate antitrust
law and cost consumers an estimated $3.5 billion a year in higher prescription drug prices.
It has supported legislation pending in Congress to prohibit such settlements, which it says have
increased in recent years. The New York-based appeals court, in its ruling last year, cited its
similar 2005 decision involving the drug Tamoxifen, used to treat breast cancer, infertility and other
conditions. The Supreme Court declined to review that case. In the Cipro case, the Supreme Court
rejected the appeal by the pharmacies without comment.
here.
Japan unearths site linked to human experiments

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/japan-excavates-site-human-experi...
Authorities in Japan have begun excavating the former site of a medical school that may contain
the remains of victims of the country's wartime biological warfare programme. The school has links
to Unit 731, a branch of the imperial Japanese army that conducted lethal experiments on
prisoners as part of efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. The Japanese government
has previously acknowledged the unit's existence but refused to discuss its activities, despite
testimony from former members and growing documentary evidence. Unit 731, based in Harbin in
northern China, conducted experiments on tens of thousands of mostly Chinese and Korean
prisoners, and a small number of Allied prisoners of war. Some historians estimate up to 250,000
people were subjected to experiments. According to historical accounts, male and female
prisoners, named "logs" by their torturers, were subjected to vivisection without
anaesthesia after they had been deliberately infected with diseases such as typhus and
cholera. Some had limbs amputated or organs removed. Leading members of the unit were
secretly granted immunity from prosecution in return for giving US occupation forces
access to years of biological warfare research. Some went on to occupy prestigious positions
in the pharmaceutical industry, health ministry and academia.
Note: The US granted immunity to both German and Japanese researchers involved in highly
cruel medical experiments which tortured and murdered victims in order to perfect mind control
and more. For powerful documentation on this, see our two-page summary available here, and lots
more at this link.
FBI misconduct reveals sex, lies and videotape

2011-01-27, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/27/siu.fbi.internal.documents/index.html
An FBI employee shared confidential information with his girlfriend, who was a news reporter, then
later threatened to release a sex tape the two had made. A supervisor watched pornographic
videos in his office during work hours while "satisfying himself." And an employee in a "leadership
position" misused a government database to check on two friends who were exotic dancers and
allowed them into an FBI office after hours. These are among confidential summaries of FBI
disciplinary reports obtained by CNN, which describe misconduct by agency supervisors, agents
and other employees over the last three years. The reports, compiled by the FBI's Office of
Professional Responsibility, are e-mailed quarterly to FBI employees, but are not released to the
public. And despite the bureau's very strict screening procedure for all prospective
employees, the FBI confirms that about 325 to 350 employees a year receive some kind of
discipline, ranging from a reprimand to suspension. About 30 employees each year are
fired. "We do have a no-tolerance policy," FBI Assistant Director Candice Will told CNN. "We don't
tolerate our employees engaging in misconduct. We expect them to behave pursuant to the
standards of conduct imposed on all FBI employees." However, the internal summaries show that
even with serious misconduct, employees can keep their job (names and locations of the
employees are not listed in the reports).
Note: For an abundance of revealing media articles on corruption in the intelligence agencies,
click here.
Google Comes Under Fire for 'Secret' Relationship with NSA

2011-01-25, Yahoo News/PC World
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20110125/tc_pcworld/googlecomesunderfireforse...
Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group largely focused in recent years on Google's privacy
practices, has called [for] a congressional investigation into the Internet giant's "cozy" relationship
with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. In a letter sent [on January 24], Consumer
Watchdog asked Representative Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee, to investigate the relationship between Google and several
government agencies. "We believe Google has inappropriately benefited from close ties to the
administration," the letter said. "It should not get special treatment and access because of a
special relationship with the administration." Consumer Watchdog's latest complaints about the
relationship of Google and the Obama administration are outlined in a 32-page report
[which] questions Google's relationship with the U.S. National Security Agency and calls
for the company to be more open about what consumer information it shares with the spy
agency.
Attempted Plane Attack: Trial Date Set for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
2011-01-25, WJBK-TV (Detroit Fox affiliate)
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/attempted-plane-attack-trial-date-...
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man accused of trying to blow up an airplane over metro Detroit
on Christmas Day 2009, appeared in federal court [on January 25]. A trial date has now been set.
A couple of the passengers [who] showed up at court ... had an interesting theory about what really
happened. "The U.S. government escorted them through security without a passport and, we
believe, gave him an intentionally defective bomb," said Kurt Haskell. It's a startling allegation from
two local attorneys [who] were on-board the 2009 Christmas Day flight to Detroit when
Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up a bomb hidden in his underwear. Kurt and Lori Haskell
think the U.S. government was behind the whole thing. "It was intentional that it went this far to
further the war on terror, to get body scanners in the airports, to increase the TSA's budget,
to renew the Patriot Act and whatever other reasons you want to list," Kurt Haskell told FOX
2. The Haskells say in Amsterdam before boarding the flight to Detroit, they witnessed
Abdulmutallab arguing with a ticket agent at the gate because he didn't have a passport when a
man in a tan suit with an American accent intervened. They next saw Abdulmutallab on-board the
plane when they saw fire and people screaming.
Note: For lots more powerful, verifiable information that this key incident was manipulated by
powerful outsiders, click here.
Cables Portray Expanded Reach of Drug Agency

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/world/26wikidrugs.html
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization
with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it
has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to
secret diplomatic cables. The cables, from the cache obtained by WikiLeaks [offer glimpses of
drug agents] in places where it can be hard to tell the politicians from the traffickers, and where
drug rings are themselves mini-states whose wealth and violence permit them to run roughshod
over struggling governments. Officials of the D.E.A. and the State Department declined to discuss
what they said was information that should never have been made public. The D.E.A. now has 87
offices in 63 countries and close partnerships with governments that keep the [CIA] at
arms length. Created in 1973, the D.E.A. has steadily built its international turf. Since the 2001
terrorist attacks, the agencys leaders have cited what they describe as an expanding nexus
between drugs and terrorism in further building its overseas presence.
Note: Isn't it odd that this report fails to mention the recent revelation in The New York Times itself
that the American accused of masterminding the Mumbai attacks, David C. Headley, was a DEA
agent while attending a "terrorism training camp" in Pakistan in the years before the attacks?
FDA panel on genetically modified salmon leaves questions

unanswered
2010-09-21, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/food/safety/2010-09-22-SalmonQA22_ST_N.htm
The Food and Drug Administration has wrapped up three days of hearings and public comment on
the effort by AquaBounty Technologies, a Massachusetts company, to sell salmon genetically
engineered to grow twice as fast as normal salmon. But the meetings ended without an FDA
decision on whether the company can move ahead with sales. USA TODAY's Elizabeth Weise
[answers questions about the issue]: Q: What are the issues? A: There are really two: Are these
fish safe to eat, and are they safe for the environment? FDA staff, in a report released earlier this
month, found the genetically engineered (or GE) salmon to be as safe to eat as normal salmon.
But several members of the agency's Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee felt that the tests
for food safety could have included more data and encouraged the agency to request more from
the company. Q: What's the environmental issue? A: Some scientists and environmental
groups worry that if these fast-growing salmon escaped into the ocean, they might outcompete native salmon populations for both food and mates. As almost all wild Atlantic
salmon are endangered, anything that could harm them is of concern.
here. For a highly-informative overview of the threats posesd to health and the environment by
genetically modified foods, click here.
Israeli spies wooing U.S. Muslims, sources say

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/09/israeli_spies_pitching_us_mus...
Israels undercover operations here, including missions to steal U.S. secrets, are hardly a secret at
the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. From time to time, in fact, the FBI has called
Israeli officials on the carpet to complain about a particularly brazen effort to collect classified or
other sensitive information, in particular U.S. technical and industrial secrets. The most notorious
operation employed Jonathan Pollard, the naval intelligence analyst convicted in 1987 and
sentenced to life in prison for stealing tens of thousands of classified documents for Israel. One of
Israels major interests, of course, is keeping track of Muslims who might be allied with Hamas,
which rules the Gaza Strip, or Iran-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon. As tensions with Iran
escalate, according to former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, Israeli agents have become more
aggressive in targeting Muslims living in the United States as well as in operating against
critics. There have been a number of cases reported to the FBI about Mossad officers who
have approached leaders in Arab-American communities and have falsely represented
themselves as U.S. intelligence, Giraldi wrote recently in American Conservative magazine.
Because few Muslims would assist an Israeli, this is done to increase the likelihood that the target
will cooperate. Its referred to as a false flag operation.
Note: For an excellent overview of "false-flag" operations, click here.
Judge Revokes Approval of Modified Sugar Beets

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/business/14sugar.html
A federal district court judge revoked the governments approval of genetically engineered sugar
beets [on August 13], saying that the Agriculture Department had not adequately assessed the
environmental consequences before approving them for commercial cultivation. The decision, by
Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco, appears to effectively ban the
planting of the genetically modified sugar beets, which make up about 95 percent of the crop, until
the Agriculture Department prepares an environmental impact statement and approves the crop
again, a process that might take a couple of years. Beets supply about half the nations sugar, with
the rest coming from sugar cane. Sugar beet growers sold the 2007-8 crop for about $1.335 billion,
according to government data. The decision came in a lawsuit organized by the Center for Food
Safety, a Washington advocacy group that opposes biotech crops. In his order ... the judge
granted the plaintiffs request to formally vacate the approval of the beets. That would bar farmers
from growing them outside of a field trial. Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for
Food Safety, said the ruling was another sign the Agriculture Department was not doing its
job. This is regulation by litigation, he said.
Note: For a highly-informative survey of the dangers of genetically-modified foods, click here.
Former NSA executive Thomas A. Drake may pay high price for media
leak
For seven years, Thomas A. Drake was a senior executive at the nation's largest intelligence
organization with an ambition to change its insular culture. He had access to classified programs
that purported to help the National Security Agency tackle its toughest challenges. Today, he
wears a blue T-shirt and answers questions about iPhones at an Apple store in the Washington
area. He is awaiting trial in a criminal media leak case that could send him to prison for 35 years.
In his years at the NSA, Drake grew disillusioned, then indignant, about what he saw as waste,
mismanagement and a willingness to compromise Americans' privacy without enhancing security.
He first tried the sanctioned methods -- going to his superiors, inspectors general, Congress.
Finally, in frustration, he turned to the "nuclear option": leaking to the media. Drake, 53, may pay a
high price for going nuclear. In April he was indicted, accused of mishandling classified
information and obstructing justice. His supporters consider him a patriotic whistleblower
targeted by an Obama administration bent on sealing leaks and on having something to
show for an investigation that spans two presidencies. What led Drake to this point, friends
and others say, is a belief that his actions were justified if they forced such a powerful and
secretive agency to be held accountable. "He tried to have his concerns heard and nobody really
wanted to listen," said Nina Ginsberg, an attorney.
Note: On June 9, 2011, all ten original charges against Thomas A Drake were dropped and he
was not incarcerated, yet it is cases like this that keep people like Edward Snowden from making
his case in US courts.
Army Drops 'Psy Ops' Name For Influence Operations

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/02/ap/national/main6641003.shtml
The Army has dropped the Vietnam-era name "psychological operations" for its branch in charge
of trying to change minds behind enemy lines, acknowledging the term can sound ominous. The
Defense Department picked a more neutral moniker: "Military Information Support Operations," or
MISO. Fort Bragg is home to the 4th Psychological Operations Group, the Army's only active duty
psychological operations unit. Psychological operations soldiers are trained at the post. The
change was driven from the top, by Pentagon policymakers working for Defense Secretary Robert
Gates. It reflects unease with the Cold War echoes of the old terminology, and the implication that
the work involved subterfuge. Psychological operations have been cast as spooky in movies and
books over the years portraying the soldiers as master manipulators. The 2009 movie "The Men
Who Stare at Goats," staring George Clooney, was about an army unit that trains psychic
spies, based on Jon Ronson's nonfiction account of the U.S. military's hush-hush research
into psychic warfare and espionage.
Note: For more on psychological operations and mind control, click here.
UK firm Octel bribed Iraqis to keep buying toxic fuel additive

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/30/octel-petrol-iraq-lead
The former chief executive of a British chemical company faces the prospect of extradition to the
US after the firm admitted million-dollar bribes to officials to sell toxic fuel additives to Iraq. Paul
Jennings, until last year chief executive of the Octel chemical works ... and his predecessor,
Dennis Kerrison, exported tonnes of tetra ethyl lead (TEL), to Iraq. TEL is banned from cars in
western countries because of links with brain damage to children. Iraq is believed to be the only
country that still adds lead to petrol. The company recently admitted that, in a deliberate policy
to maximise profits, executives from Octel which since changed its name to Innospec
bribed officials in Iraq and Indonesia with millions of dollars to carry on using TEL, despite
its health hazards. Senior Iraqi oil ministry officials are accused of taking British bribes throughout
the UK-US occupation, up until 2008. US prosecutors say multi-million dollar bribes to Iraq were
agreed in 2001-3, when Kerrison was chief executive. A decade ago, Octel decided to remain the
world's only manufacturer of TEL for cars, after it was banned in the US and Europe. They used
high profits from non-western countries to diversify into other products and to pay back investors,
mainly US hedge funds run by Connecticut billionaire Jeffrey Gendell. According to prosecutors,
the strategy included the corrupt blocking of health campaigns.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on corporate corruption, click here.
Police powers expanded for G20

2010-06-25, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/25/g20-new-powers.html
Police forces in charge of security at the G20 summit in Toronto have been granted special powers
for the duration of the summit. The new powers took effect [on June 21] and apply along the
border of the G20 security fence that encircles a portion of the downtown core. This area the
so-called red zone includes the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where delegates will meet.
Under the new regulations, anyone who comes within five metres of the security area is
obliged to give police their name and state the purpose of their visit on request. Anyone
who fails to provide identification or explain why they are near the security zone can be
searched and arrested. The new powers are designed specifically for the G20, CBC's Colin
Butler reported Friday. Ontario's cabinet quietly passed the new rules on June 2 without legislature
debate. Civil liberties groups are concerned about the new regulations. Anyone who refuses to
identify themselves or refuses to provide a reason for their visit can be fined up to $500 and face
up to two months in jail. The regulation also says that if someone has a dispute with an officer and
it goes to court "the police officer's statement under oath is considered conclusive evidence under
the act."
Monsanto GM seed ban is overturned by US Supreme Court

2010-06-21, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10371831.stm
The bio-tech company Monsanto can sell genetically modified seeds before safety tests on them
are completed, the US Supreme Court has ruled. A lower court had barred the sale of the
modified alfalfa seeds until an environmental impact study could be carried out. But seven
of the nine Supreme Court Justices decided that ruling was unconstitutional. The seed is
modified to be resistant to Monsanto's brand of weedkiller. The US is the world's largest producer
of alfalfa, a grass-like plant used as animal feed. It is the fourth most valuable crop grown in the
country. Environmentalists had argued that there might be a risk of cross-pollination between
genetically modified plants and neighbouring crops. They also argued over-use of the company's
weedkiller Roundup, the chemical treatment the alfalfa is modified to be resistant to, could cause
pollution of ground water and lead to resistant "super-weeds".
Note: For a powerful summary of the dangers of genetically-modified organisms, click here.
Report Says SEC Missed Many Shots at Stanford

The Securities and Exchange Commission suspected Texas financier R. Allen Stanford of running
a Ponzi scheme as early as 1997 but took more than a decade to pursue him seriously. The report
by the SEC's inspector general says SEC examiners concluded four times between 1997 and
2004 that Mr. Stanford's businesses were fraudulent, but each time decided not to go further. It
singles out the former head of the SEC's enforcement office in Fort Worth, Texas, accusing him of
repeatedly quashing Stanford probes and then trying to represent Mr. Stanford as a lawyer in
private practice. The former SEC official, Spencer Barasch, is now a partner at law firm Andrews
Kurth LLP. The inspector general referred Mr. Barasch for possible disbarment from practicing law.
Mr. Stanford was indicted last June and accused of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that swindled
investors out of $7 billion. SEC Inspector General David Kotz's report suggests the agency's
mistakes in the Stanford case were in part the result of a culture that favored easily
resolved cases over messier ones. Cases such as the alleged Stanford fraud weren't
considered "quick-hit" and "slam-dunk," and examiners were discouraged from pursuing
them, Mr. Kotz found.
Note: For many more examples from major media sources of the astonishing performance of the
SEC in the runup to the Wall Street crisis, click here.
Spying, Civil Liberties and the Courts

Succumbing to the politics of fear during the 2008 campaign, Congress seriously diluted the First
and Fourth Amendment rights of Americans by changing the 1978 law that governs electronic
surveillance. In addition to supplying retroactive approval for President George W. Bushs
warrantless wiretapping, the FISA Amendments Act vastly expanded the governments ability to
eavesdrop without warrants in the future. It gave the National Security Agency authority to
monitor the international phone calls and e-mail messages of Americans who are not
engaged in criminal activity and pose no threat to national security. The measure weakened
judicial supervision of how these powers are exercised, making abuse far more likely. An
important case being argued [April 16] in New York City will help determine the extent of the
damage. At issue is a constitutional challenge to the 2008 law filed on behalf of human rights,
labor, legal, and news media organizations whose work requires sensitive telephone and e-mail
communication with people abroad. Embracing the Bush administrations approach, the Obama
administration has sought to block the suit, contending that the plaintiffs lack the requisite
standing to bring the challenge because they cannot show with certainty that they have
been spied on. (Of course, any attempt to prove spying would likely be met by a flimsy claim of
state secrecy.)
Note: For lots more from reliable sources on government threats to civil liberties, click here.
Ensnared by Error on Growing U.S. Watch List

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/us/07watch.html
Every year, thousands of people find themselves caught up in the governments terrorist screening
process. Some are legitimate targets of concern, others are victims of errors in judgment or simple
mistaken identity. Either way, their numbers are likely to rise as the Obama administration
recalibrates the standards for identifying potential terrorists. On Friday, the administration altered
rules for identifying which passengers flying to the United States should face extra scrutiny at the
gate. And it is reviewing ways to make it easier to place suspects on the watch list. The entire
federal government is leaning very far forward on putting people on lists, Russell E. Travers, a
deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said at a recent Senate hearing. Before
the attempted attack on Christmas, Mr. Travers said, I never had anybody tell me that the list was
too small. Now, he added, Its getting bigger, and it will get even bigger. Even as the universe
of those identified as a risk expands, the decision-making involved remains so secretive
that people cannot be told whether they are on the watch list, why they may be on it or even
whether they have been removed. Civil liberties advocates say [the secrecy] can hide mistakes
and keep people wrongly singled out from seeking redress.
Note: For lots more on government threats to civil liberties, click here.
Fury as EU approves GM potato

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/fury-as-eu-approves-gm-...
The introduction of a genetically modified potato in Europe risks the development of human
diseases that fail to respond to antibiotics, it [has been claimed]. German chemical giant BASF this
week won approval from the European Commission for commercial growing of a starchy potato
with a gene that could resist antibiotics useful in the fight against illnesses such as tuberculosis.
Farms in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic may plant the potato for
industrial use, with part of the tuber fed to cattle, according to BASF, which fought a 13-year battle
to win approval for Amflora. But other EU member states, including Italy and Austria and anti-GM
campaigners angrily attacked the move, claiming it could result in a health disaster. During the
regulatory tussle over the potato, the EU's pharmaceutical regulator had expressed
concern about its potential to interfere with the efficacy of antibiotics on infections that
develop multiple resistance to other antibiotics, a growing problem in human and veterinary
medicine. Drug resistance is part of the explanation for the resurgence of TB, which infects eight
million people worldwide every year.
Note: For an excellent summary of the threats to health from genetically-modified foods, click
here.
What Microsoft knows and keeps about you

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail??blogid=150&entry_id=57956
It's time to reflect on the immense powers Americans have ceded to the government and [the]
potential for abuse by federal, state and local authorities. The global Internet and
telecommunications infrastructure provides massive information on almost ... every person
on the planet. One power truly stands out --- the all-encompassing reach and technological
capabilities of the US National Security Agency. If you want to be secure, don't use a phone, a
computer, credit card or any other technologically linked system because it guarantees that Big
Brother will find you. Big Brother is not just the government. Most consumer "spying" comes from
subpoenas and requests from non-terrorist-related federal, state, local agency requests and nongovernmental private litigation and discovery. Simply put, a subpoena issued by a court in support
of private litigation and discovery may have the same impact on an individual as the full force of
the NSA. What information is typically requested from a company by say a plaintiff's lawyer during
some discovery phase? Well, it's everything. In fact, it's generally a fishing expedition for every log
file, every uploaded video, photo, chat session and anything else they can get their hands on.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the continuing development of a global society
under Big Brother's constant gaze, click here.
No ducking land mine treaty, Mr. President

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/05/ED451AT7MU.DTL
This country hasn't used land mines in nearly 20 years. It no longer makes the indiscriminate
killers nor provides them to allies. Why then is President Obama - off to Oslo this week to collect a
Nobel Peace Prize - refusing to sign an international treaty to ban the shrapnel-spewing buried
bombs? His refusal is ... shameful. The devices, which maim and kill for years after a conflict ends,
caused more than 5,000 casualties last year in the world's poorest places such as Cambodia,
Angola and Central America. Obama's stance puts him in line with Presidents George W.
Bush and Bill Clinton, who both ducked a chance to put this country in line with more than
150 nations that have signed the treaty. Other notable non-signers: China, Russia, India,
Pakistan and Cuba. Is this the company we want to keep? Sticking with land mines is a puzzler.
The United States has a reported stockpile of 10 million devices, though it hasn't deployed any
since the 1991 Gulf War. By signing the agreement, the Pentagon would hardly be giving up a
mainstay weapon. It's time for Obama to go in a new direction. He should sign, not equivocate, on
a treaty that Washington has avoided for over a decade. Here's a thought while typing up your
Peace Prize acceptance speech, Mr. President: It's time to ban land mines.
Note: The refusal to sign the worldwide landmine ban treaty seems to be a puzzler, until you
realize the US government is protecting the rights to profit of US arms corporations. For a retired
Marine general's analysis of the profiteering that is the principal purpose for war, "War is a
Racket,"click here.
Rise in soldier suicides leaves Pentagon looking for answers

American soldiers are committing suicide in the greatest numbers since official records began in
1980, with the US Army at a loss to explain the phenomenon since a third of the dead have never
been deployed in combat. Suicides in the army alone have passed last years record of 140 141
in 2009 so far. The upward trend has defied efforts to improve access to appropriate counselling
for veterans returning from combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The figure for the first ten months
of the year excludes 71 suicides among troops taken off active duty in 2009, and 42 in the US
Marine Corps. Roughly a third of this years suicides have been by soldiers taking their own
lives in war zones, a third by returning soldiers and a third by those based permanently in
the US or awaiting deployment overseas. Many military suicides can be traced in part to an
inability to process the guilt of having killed in battle.
Note: For lots more from major media sources on the horrific effects of modern war on both
combatants and civilians, click here. And for the writings of a top general on why this is happening,
click here.
Drugmakers' Payments Draw Heat

2009-11-04, BusinessWeek magazine
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2009/db2009114_700374.htm
A $112 million settlement involving alleged drug kickbacks that the Justice Dept. announced with
the nation's largest nursing home pharmacy and a generic drug manufacturer on Nov. 3 is part of a
wide-ranging investigation of suspected Medicaid fraud by the pharmaceutical industry. Critics say
the continuing probe, which involves ... major drugmakers, highlights what they describe as an
industry practice of paying money to outfits that provide drugs to consumers, in return for
preferential treatment. Because those alleged payoffs have the effect of compromising patient care
and driving up costs for government and private health insurers, cases like the settlement
unsealed with Omnicare (OCR) in Covington, Ky., and IVAX Pharmaceuticals in Weston, Fla.,
could bolster opposition to the controversial deal the Obama Administration reached with the
pharmaceutical industry to win its support for health-reform legislation. Many Democrats say the
Administration should have asked for much bigger cost savings from drugmakers. Patrick Burns, a
spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, a nonprofit Washington group that promotes
whistleblower suits, says the Justice Dept. is backed up with pharmaceutical fraud cases. Since
drugmakers offer so many similar products, he contends, they rely on kickbacks to give their
products a market edge. "In the pharmaceutical industry, the business isn't selling the best
drug, it's the best scheme of kickbacks to the prescriber."
Key drug facts left off labels, experts say

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33419377/ns/health-more_health_news
Did you know that Lunesta will help you fall asleep just 15 minutes faster? Or that a higher dose of
the osteoporosis drug Zometa could damage a cancer patients kidneys and raise their risk of
death? Chances are you didnt, and neither did your doctor. Much of what the Food and Drug
Administration knows about a drugs safety and effectiveness is not included on the label, say two
drug safety experts who are calling on the agency to make that information more accessible. In ...
the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers ... argue that drug labels dont reflect the
nuanced decisions the FDA makes when deciding to approve a drug. The editorial from Drs. Lisa
Schwartz and Steven Woloshin recommends easy-to-read fact boxes to help patients weigh the
benefits and risks of medications. If drug labels sometimes exaggerate benefits and play down
drug risks, the authors say theres a very good reason: they are written by drugmakers. While FDA
must approve the final labeling, the actual language is drafted by the manufacturer, with input from
FDA scientists. The labeling is based on results from company studies, which generally compare
results for patients taking the drug versus those taking placebo. If FDA decides the drugs ability to
treat or prevent a disease outweighs its side effects, the agency is obligated to approve it. But
Schwartz and Woloshin point out that benefits may be slim and potential harms may not be fully
understood. The take home point is that just because a drug is approved doesnt mean it
works very well, said Schwartz, in an interview with the Associated Press. You really need
to know more to see whether its worth the cost. Schwartz and Woloshin say FDA labeling
frequently fails to provide a full picture of a drugs effects.
Note: For a powerful summary of corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, click here.
U.S. Deficit Rises to $1.4 Trillion; Biggest Since 1945

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/us/17deficit.html
The Obama administration [has said] that the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just
ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before and the largest
shortfall relative to the size of the economy since 1945. The shortfall for the fiscal year
2009, which ended Sept. 30, translates to 10 percent of the economy, according to a joint
statement from the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the director of the Office of
Management and Budget, Peter R. Orszag. For the 2008 fiscal year, the deficit of $459 billion was
3.2 percent of the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product. At 10 percent of the
gross domestic product, the 2009 deficit is the highest since the end of World War II, when it was
21.5 percent. The overall national debt, which is the accumulation of annual deficits, is nearly $12
trillion, and projected deficits for the next decade will add an estimated $9 trillion more.
Administration officials say two-thirds of that is due to Bush administration policies.
Note: The current debt of $12 trillion equals $40,000 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.
Most of the increased deficit is due to the government bailout of the biggest Wall Street banks and
investment houses. For lots more on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
U.S. FDIC chief: 'too big to fail' must end for all
2009-10-04, International Business Times/Reuters News
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20091004/too-big-to-fail-must-end-for-all-fdi...
The head of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said on Sunday that she wanted to end the
"too big to fail" doctrine and shrink the shadow banking system that operates outside the reach of
regulators. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair ... said a U.S. proposal to create the authority to shut
down failing systemically important financial firms may need to be extended to insurers
and hedge funds. "We need to end 'too big to fail' and this needs to be an overarching
policy that applies to everyone," Bair said. Bair said she believed that bank holding companies
with subsidiaries that are shut down by regulators also should be made to pay the price of failure
by being subject to the same wind-down process. "I believe that the new regime should apply to all
bank holding companies that are more than just shells and their affiliates regardless or not whether
they are considered to be systemic risks," she said, adding that including only systemically
important firms in the shut-down regime could reinforce the 'too big to fail' doctrine. Financial firms
subject to systemic risk shutdown authority should likely also be required to publish "living wills" --
details on how an orderly wind-down would play out -- on their websites to provide more clarity to
shareholders and customers. And by applying the resolution authority more broadly outside of
normal regulated bank holding companies, it would help shrink the shadow banking system by
discouraging regulatory arbitrage under which financial firms shop for the most lenient supervisors.
"If you tighten regulation of the banks even more without dealing with the shadow sector you could
make the problem even worse," she said.
Note: For a comprehensive overview of the realities underlying the government's bailout of the
biggest financial institutions, click here.
C.I.A. Abuse Cases Detailed in Report on Detainees

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25detain.html
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. named a veteran federal prosecutor on Monday to examine
abuse of prisoners held by the Central Intelligence Agency, after the Justice Department released
a long-secret report showing interrogators choked a prisoner repeatedly and threatened to kill
another detainees children. Mr. Holder chose John H. Durham, a prosecutor from Connecticut
who has been investigating the C.I.A.s destruction of interrogation videotapes, to determine
whether a full criminal investigation of the conduct of agency employees or contractors was
warranted. The attorney general said his decision to order an inquiry was based in part on the
recommendation of the Justice Departments ethics office, which called for a new review of several
interrogation cases. He said he was also influenced by a 2004 report by the C.I.A. inspector
general at the time, John L. Helgerson, on the agencys interrogations. The report was released
Monday under a court order in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Although large portions of
the 109-page report are blacked out, it gives new details about a variety of abuses inside
the C.I.A.s overseas prisons, including suggestions about sexually assaulting members of
a detainees family, staging mock executions, intimidation with a handgun and power drill,
and blowing cigar and cigarette smoke into prisoners faces to make them vomit. The
inspector generals review raised broad questions about the legality, political acceptability and
effectiveness of the harshest of the C.I.A.s methods, including some not authorized by the Justice
Department and others that were approved, like the near-drowning technique of waterboarding.
Note: And what do you think might have been in the blacked out portions of the report? For lots
more on the use of illegal methods by the CIA and US military in their prosecution of the "war on
terror," click here.
Americans tiring of war in Afghanistan

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/20/MNFU19BG53.DTL
The violence-scarred elections in Afghanistan provided a stage for the Taliban to show war-weary
Americans and Afghans that it has rebounded and can strike - even after eight years of war. For
President Obama's policies, the timing couldn't be worse. With memories of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks dimming, Americans are tiring of the conflict. New polling shows a majority - 51 percent - of
those surveyed now believe the war is not worth the fight, an increase of 6 percentage points in a
month. Obama's answer to the mounting skepticism is to say that, in a way, the war has just
begun. The final push to wipe out [the] Taliban ... is not 8 years old but really got started
when he took office and ordered 17,000 more troops into Afghanistan. In short order, he also
installed a new commander and persuaded Pakistan to join the United States in what on Thursday
he called a pincer movement to squeeze the enemy astride the common border.
Note: As shown over and over again, presidents and politicians of both major political parties in
the U.S. support the war machine in order to get the war chest they need to be elected or reelected. Obama is no exception. For lots more on this, click here.
UFO 'appeared above jazz stage at Glastonbury'

2009-08-18, CNN News
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/08/17/ufo.sightings/index.html
An alien with a lemon-shaped head and a jazz-themed encounter with a UFO at the Glastonbury
Festival are among hundreds of UFO sightings detailed in the latest batch of documents released
Monday by the UK's Ministry of Defence. Fourteen files, containing over 4,000 pages of UFO
sightings from 1981 to 1996, have now been placed on Britain's National Archives database and
are publicly available online. The sightings range from lights in the sky to close contact with aliens,
and the files contain detailed analysis on some of the UK's most popular cases -- a number of
which remain officially unexplained. The files ... shed new light on Britain's own 'Roswell', the
Rendlesham Forest sightings of December 1980 in which American air force men saw a series of
mysterious lights in the trees at the perimeter of an air base used by the U.S. Air Force. The then
government of Margaret Thatcher was quick to dismiss the incident, but a letter from a former
chief of defense staff in 1985 warned that the affair could prove a 'banana skin' for the
Ministry of Defence. "The case has puzzling and disquieting features which have never
been satisfactorily explained ... which continue to preoccupy informed sections of the
public," said the letter. This latest release of documents represents the fourth set of UFO files
released since 2008 as part of a three-year project in conjunction with the National Archives.
Note: For a powerful two-page summary of evidence for UFOs presented by highly respected and
credible former government and military personnel from many countries, click here. For excellent
information on the Rendlesham Forest case, click here.
Only a Hint of Roosevelt in Financial Overhaul

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/business/18nocera.html
Three quarters of a century ago, President Franklin Roosevelt earned the undying enmity of Wall
Street when he used his enormous popularity to push through a series of radical regulatory
reforms that completely changed the norms of the financial industry. Wall Street hated the reforms,
of course, but Roosevelt didnt care. Wall Street and the financial industry had engaged in
practices they shouldnt have, and had helped lead the country into the Great Depression. Those
practices had to be stopped. To the president, thats all that mattered. On Wednesday, President
Obama unveiled what he described as a sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system, a
transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression. In terms
of the sheer number of proposals, outlined in an 88-page document the administration released on
Tuesday, that is undoubtedly true. But in terms of the scope and breadth of the Obama plan and
more important, in terms of its overall effect on Wall Streets modus operandi its not even close
to what Roosevelt accomplished during the Great Depression. Rather, the Obama plan is little
more than an attempt to stick some new regulatory fingers into a very leaky financial dam
rather than rebuild the dam itself. Everywhere you look in the plan, you see the same thing:
additional regulation on the margin, but nothing that amounts to a true overhaul. The plan
places enormous trust in the judgment of the Federal Reserve trust that critics say has not
really been borne out by its actions during the Internet and housing bubbles. Firms will have to put
up a little more capital, and deal with a little more oversight, but once the financial crisis is over, it
will, in all likelihood, be back to business as usual.
Note: To watch the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve testify to Congress that she knows
pracitcally nothing of trillions of dollars that are unaccounted for, click here. For many revealing
reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of the continuing taxpayer bailout of the
biggest financial corporations, click here.
Inventory Uncovers 9,200 More Pathogens

An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick's infectious disease laboratory found
more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising
concerns that officials wouldn't know whether dangerous toxins were missing. After four months of
searching about 335 freezers and refrigerators at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases in Frederick, investigators found 9,220 samples that hadn't been included in a
database of about 66,000 items listed as of February, said Col. Mark Kortepeter, the institute's
deputy commander. The vials contained some dangerous pathogens, among them the Ebola virus,
anthrax bacteria and botulinum toxin, and less lethal agents such as Venezuelan equine
encephalitis virus and the bacterium that causes tularemia. Most of them, forgotten inside freezer
drawers, hadn't been used in years or even decades. Officials said some serum samples from
hemorrhagic fever patients dated to the Korean War. The overstock and the previous
inaccuracy of the database raised the possibility that someone could have taken a sample
outside the lab with no way for officials to know something was missing. The institute has
been under pressure to tighten security in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five
people and sickened 17. FBI investigators say they think the anthrax strain used in the attacks
originated at the Army lab, and its prime suspect, Bruce E. Ivins, researched anthrax there. Ivins
committed suicide last year during an investigation into his activities.
Note: Fort Detrick is the home of the government lab which is suspected to be involved with the
creation of many previously unknown lethal viruses and germs. For lots more, see the excellent
work of Dr. Leonard Horowitz at this link and this one.
Military tribunals not the same as U.S. courts

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/23/MN9Q17OTTB.DTL
President Obama says his proposed reforms to the military commissions his predecessor
established to try suspected terrorists will bring the tribunals "in line with the rule of law." But it isn't
the same law that applies in U.S. courts. Pentagon officials appoint the judges and can remove
them. Military commanders choose the jurors, who can convict defendants by non-unanimous
votes, except in death penalty cases. The military can monitor defense lawyers' conversations with
their clients. Prosecutors can also present evidence that would never pass muster in civilian
courts. Confessions made under physical or mental pressure could be admissible, despite
Obama's disavowal of torture and coercion. There's no ban on evidence from illegal searches. And
defendants may be convicted on the basis of hearsay - a second hand report of an out-of-court
accusation by another person, perhaps a fellow suspect, whom the defense never gets to see or
question. Civil-liberties advocates and legal organizations defending prisoners who may be tried
before the commissions say the system is an invitation to abuse and differs little from the tribunals
established by President George W. Bush. "The system is designed to ensure the outcome
they want ... convictions in every case," said Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union
attorney who has attended proceedings for prisoners at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. "This suggests that the much-heralded improvements to the Bush military
commission system are largely cosmetic."
The Torture Debate: The Missing Voices

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/opinion/07thu1.html
Last months release of memos prepared by the Bush Justice Department and the disclosure of a
report by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the brutal treatment of detainees
expanded public knowledge of an ignominious chapter in the nations history. But these and other
related disclosures do not provide a complete record of the governments abuse of detainees. One
missing element is the words of those prisoners subjected to waterboarding and other brutality.
Those voices remain muffled by a combination of Bush-era resistance to a reasonable Freedom of
Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union, and the gag order imposed on
lawyers representing Guantnamo detainees. For two years, the A.C.L.U. has been seeking
complete transcripts of the hearings at Guantnamo for 14 men who were previously in C.I.A.
custody, including Abu Zubaydah, who has been described as an operative of Al Qaeda and was
waterboarded at least 83 times. But the publicly released version of these transcripts deleted all
detainee statements about their ordeals. The Bush teams national security claim always had
the odor of a cover-up. The interrogation program it was protecting has been discontinued,
and crucial details are known. It is unsupportable to blank out grim details. The same
considerations apply to the protective order that prohibits lawyers for Guantnamo detainees from
speaking publicly about their clients treatment unless they receive the governments permission or
the information otherwise becomes public. Disclosure of the torture memos and the Red Cross
report gives detainee lawyers more leeway, but they should not have to parse their words under a
threat of prosecution.
Note: For many reports from major media sources detailing the disturbing government threats to
civil liberties, click here.
Judge rejects bid to derail wiretap challenge

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/17/MN6O174O7E.DTL
A San Francisco federal judge rejected on Friday the Obama administration's attempt to
derail a challenge to former President George W. Bush's electronic surveillance program by
withholding a critical wiretap document. President Obama's Justice Department had appeared
to defy a previous order by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to allow lawyers for an Islamic
organization to see the classified document, which reportedly showed that the group had been
wiretapped. The document, which the government accidentally sent to the Al-Haramain Islamic
Foundation, could establish its right to sue over the legality of the program. Justice Department
lawyers told Walker in February that he had no power to enforce his order, and indicated they
would remove the document from his files if he planned to disclose it to Al-Haramain's lawyers. But
after a federal appeals court denied the department's request to intervene, Walker told the
government Friday to cooperate. "The United States should now comply with the court's orders,"
the judge said. He told lawyers for the administration and Al-Haramain to work out a protective
order by May 8 that would maintain the document's secrecy after it had been shown to the Islamic
group's lawyers. If the two sides can't agree, Walker said, he will issue his own protective order
"under which this case may resume forward progress." The case is one of two before Walker
challenging the constitutionality of the program that Bush secretly authorized in 2001 to intercept
phone calls and e-mails between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists without seeking a
court warrant, as required by a 1978 law.
Note: For more reports on government secrecy from reliable sources, click here.
Inquiry Asks Why A.I.G. Paid Banks

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/business/27cuomo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&p...
Members of Congress and the New York State attorney general demanded detailed information
Thursday on how tens of billions of taxpayer dollars flowed through the American International
Group during its crisis last fall and ended up in the coffers of several dozen big banks, shielding
them from losses. The new inquiries shine a spotlight on a question that is exponentially
bigger, in dollars, than the $165 million in bonuses that A.I.G. paid out this month, but
which has been overshadowed until now by the uproar over the bonuses. We would like to
know if the A.I.G. counterparty payments, as made, were in the best interests of the taxpayers who
provided the funding, said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, in a letter
to Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The
banks and investment firms that ended up with A.I.G.s bailout money last fall were, in many
cases, counterparties to derivatives contracts it had sold, known as credit-default swaps, which
guaranteed the value of assets in their investment portfolios. They included Wall Street firms, like
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Merrill Lynch, that have successfully resisted efforts to
regulate credit derivatives in the past. In several hearings this month, members of Congress said
they believed the derivatives had often been used to speculate, not to manage risk. They have
expressed outrage that A.I.G.s trading partners got 100 cents on the dollar for their money-losing
trades when ordinary Americans paying for the bailout have suffered big losses in their 401(k)
accounts and other investments.
IRS defends drop in audits of millionaires

The Internal Revenue Service is not living up to its pledge to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, an
IRS watchdog group says, citing a drop in audits of millionaires last year. Those with incomes of $1
million and above had a 5.6 percent chance of getting audited in fiscal year 2008, which ended last
September, down from 6.8 percent the previous year, according to IRS figures. The actual number
of millionaires audited fell from 23,200 to 21,874; the number of millionaires filing tax returns grew
from 339,138 to 392,776. "In the face of growing federal deficits and public calls to lower the
tax gap the amount of taxes due but not reported and paid the drop in millionaire
audits is surprising," said the Syracuse University-based Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse in a report Monday. It said the significant drop in audits of richer Americans
contrasted with IRS statements last year that it was making strong progress in enforcement,
especially of those with incomes of more than $1 million. The TRAC report said focus on high
earner returns is critical because of the huge rewards. Among those millionaire audit cases where
additional taxes were recommended, the average was $198,000 after face-to-face audits and
$137,000 for audits done through correspondence. In total, the IRS collected $56.4 billion in
enforcement revenues last year, down from $59.2 billion in 2007 and the first decline in collections
in a decade.
Note: The highly important statistic only mentioned in passing here is "the number of millionaires
filing tax returns grew from 339,138 to 392,776." That's an over-15% increase in the number of
millionaires in one year, while most everyone else seems to be losing money. Hmmmm. Makes
you wonder.
Bailout Oversight Lacking, GAO Says

The Bush administration has failed to adequately oversee its $700 billion bailout program and must
move rapidly to guarantee that banks are complying with the plan's limits on conflicts of interest
and lavish executive compensation, congressional investigators said yesterday. The new report
by the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress,
said the Treasury Department has yet to impose necessary safeguards or decide how to
determine whether the program is achieving its goals. The auditors said it was too soon for
them to tell whether the bailout was working. "The rapid pace of implementation and evolving
nature of the program have hampered efforts to put a comprehensive system of internal control in
place," the report said. "Until such a system is fully developed and implemented, there is
heightened risk that the interests of the government and taxpayers may not be adequately
protected and that the program objectives may not be achieved in an efficient and effective
manner." So far, the rescue package has provided at least $150 billion in capital infusions to 52
financial institutions, the auditors said. They added that no applications for funding were denied by
the Treasury. The congressional auditors urged Treasury officials to determine how each bank
receiving bailout money is using the money and whether they are using it in a way consistent with
the intent of the law. Several congressional leaders have criticized financial firms for
hoarding the money instead of using it to lend to borrowers.
Wiretap lawsuit defense challenged in court

2008-10-18, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/18/BATN13JVOG.DTL
Civil liberties groups started a legal challenge ... to the new federal law designed to dismiss their
wiretapping suits against telecommunications companies, saying the statute violates phone
customers' constitutional rights and tramples on judicial authority. The law ... granted retroactive
protection to AT&T, Verizon and other companies against lawsuits accusing them of illegally
sharing their telephone and e-mail networks and millions of customer records with the National
Security Agency. Almost 40 such suits from around the nation are pending before Chief U.S.
District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco. The law requires him to dismiss the cases if the
Justice Department tells him the companies had cooperated in a surveillance program authorized
by President Bush. Details of the department's filing and the judge's dismissal order are to be kept
secret. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation attacked the
secrecy requirements and argued that Congress and President Bush lack authority to order courts
to whitewash constitutional violations. "If Congress can give the executive the power to
exclude the judiciary from considering the constitutional claims of millions of Americans ...
then the judiciary will no longer be functioning as a coequal branch of government," Cindy
Cohn, the foundation's legal director, said in court papers. She said the law's secrecy makes the
proceedings one-sided. "Due process requires more than the chance to shadow-box with the
government," Cohn wrote.
Note: For many reports from reliable, verifiable sources on threats to civil liberties, click here.
The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/10/09/DI20081009...
By exploring the current, post-9/11 operations of the NSA [National Security Agency, James]
Bamford ... goes where congressional oversight committees and investigative journalists still
struggle to go. [When] the Bush administration declared its ... global war on terror, Congress
agreed to most of the White House's demands. According to Bamford, the NSA's expanded
powers and resources enabled it to collect communications both inside and outside the United
States. He quotes a former NSA employee as a witness to the agency's spying on the
conversations of Americans who have no connection to terrorism. After suing the NSA for
documents, [Bamford] obtained considerable evidence that telecommunication companies (with
the notable exception of Qwest) knowingly violated U.S. law by cooperating with the NSA to tap
fiber optic lines. In impressive detail, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the
Eavesdropping on America tells how private contractors, including some little-known entities with
foreign owners, have done the sensitive work of storing and processing the voices and written data
of Americans and non-Americans alike. In the book, he offers new revelations about the National
Security Agency's counterterrorism tactics, including its controversial domestic surveillance
programs. Bamford warns of worse to come: 'There is now the capacity to make tyranny
total in America. Only law ensures that we never fall into that abyss -- the abyss from which
there is no return.'"
Note: Bamford is the author of two other books on the NSA: Body of Secrets and The Puzzle
Palace.
Report Implicates White House: E-Mails Hint at Involvement in

Prosecutor Firings

In 18 months of searching, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine and Office of
Professional Responsibility chief H. Marshall Jarrett have uncovered new e-mail messages hinting
at heightened involvement of White House lawyers and political aides in the firings of nine federal
prosecutors two years ago. But they could not probe much deeper because key officials declined
to be interviewed and a critical timeline drafted by the White House was so heavily redacted that it
was "virtually worthless as an investigative tool," the authorities said. "We were unable to fully
develop the facts regarding the removal of [David C.] Iglesias and several other U.S.
Attorneys because of the refusal by certain key witnesses to be interviewed by us, as well
as the White House's decision not to provide ... internal documents to us," the investigators
concluded in their report. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey on Monday named a veteran
public-corruption prosecutor, Nora R. Dannehy, to continue the investigation. Investigators urged
Dannehy to focus on the dismissal of Iglesias in New Mexico. He was the subject of repeated
complaints by Republican lawmakers to White House and Justice Department officials in 2005 and
2006 over not bringing voter-fraud and corruption charges against Democrats. Their report said the
internal probe at Justice could not reach Miers and Rove, "both of whom appear to have significant
first-hand knowledge regarding Iglesias's dismissal."
Note: For many reports on government secrecy from reliable sources, click here.
Audit: Feds wasted millions on Katrina work

The government wasted millions of dollars on four no-bid contracts it handed out for Hurricane
Katrina work, including paying $20 million for a camp for evacuees that was never inspected and
proved to be unusable, investigators say. A report by the Homeland Security Department's office of
inspector general, obtained ... by The Associated Press is the latest to detail mismanagement in
the multibillion-dollar Katrina hurricane recovery effort, which investigators have said wasted at
least $1 billion. The review examined temporary housing contracts awarded without competition to
Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Group Inc., CH2M Hill Companies Ltd. and Fluor Corp. in the days
immediately before and after the August 2005 storm that smashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast. It
found that FEMA wasted at least $45.9 million on the four contracts that together were initially
worth $400 million. FEMA subsequently raised the total amounts for the four contracts twice, both
times without competition, to $2 billion and then $3 billion. FEMA did not always properly review
the invoices submitted by the four companies, exposing taxpayers to significant waste and
fraud, investigators wrote. In many cases, the agency also issued open-ended contract
instructions for months without clear guidelines on what work was needed to be done and
the appropriate charges. "We question how FEMA determined that the amounts invoiced were
allowable and reasonable," the IG report states, warning that its review was limited in scope so
that additional waste and fraud might yet to be found.
Note: For many more reports of government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Lawsuit to Ask That Cheney's Papers Be Made Public

Months before the Bush administration ends, historians and open-government advocates
are concerned that Vice President Cheney, who has long bristled at requirements to
disclose his records, will destroy or withhold key documents that illustrate his role in
forming U.S. policy for the past 7 1/2 years. In a preemptive move, several of them have agreed
to join the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in asking a federal
judge to declare that Cheney's records are covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and
cannot be destroyed, taken or withheld without proper review The goal, proponents say, is to
protect a treasure trove of information about national security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
domestic wiretapping, energy policy, and other major issues that could be hidden from the public if
Cheney adheres to his view that he is not part of the executive branch. Extending the argument,
scholars say, Cheney could assert that he is not required to make his papers public after leaving
office. Access to the documents is crucial because he is widely considered to be the most
influential vice president in U.S. history, they note. "I'm concerned that they may not be preserved.
Whether they've been zapped already, we don't know," said Stanley I. Kutler, an emeritus
professor and constitutional scholar at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
KBR, Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case

A Washington law firm filed a lawsuit yesterday against KBR, one of the largest U.S.
contractors in Iraq, alleging that the company and its Jordanian subcontractor engaged in
the human trafficking of Nepali workers. Agnieszka Fryszman, a partner at Cohen, Milstein,
Hausfeld & Toll, said 13 Nepali men, between the ages of 18 and 27, were recruited in Nepal to
work as kitchen staff in hotels and restaurants in Amman, Jordan. But once the men arrived in
Jordan, their passports were seized and they were told they were being sent to a military facility in
Iraq, Fryszman said. As the men were driven in cars to Iraq, they were stopped by insurgents.
Twelve were kidnapped and later executed, Fryszman said. The thirteenth man survived and
worked in a warehouse in Iraq for 15 months before returning to Nepal. The lawsuit, filed in a
federal court in California on behalf of the workers' families and the survivor, claims that the
trafficking scheme was engineered by KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners,
according to Fryszman. This spring, an administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, which
has jurisdiction over cases that involve on the job injuries at overseas military bases, ordered
Daoud to pay $1 million to the families of 11 of the victims.
Note: For many more reports on corporate corruption from major media sources, click here.
US boasts of laser weapon's 'plausible deniability'

2008-08-12, New Scientist magazine
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn14520-us-boasts-of-laser-weapons...
An airborne laser weapon dubbed the "long-range blowtorch" has the added benefit that the US
could convincingly deny any involvement with the destruction it causes, say senior officials of the
US Air Force (USAF). The Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) is to be mounted on a Hercules military
transport plane. Boeing announced the first test firing of the laser, from a plane on the ground,
earlier this summer. Cynthia Kaiser, chief engineer of the US Air Force Research Laboratory's
Directed Energy Directorate, used the phrase "plausible deniability" to describe the weapon's
benefits in a briefing ... on laser weapons to the New Mexico Optics Industry Association in June.
As the term suggests, "plausible deniability" is used to describe situations where those responsible
for an event could plausibly claim to have had no involvement in it. John Pike, analyst with defence
think-tank Global Security, based in Virginia, says the implications are clear. "The target would
never know what hit them," says Pike. "Further, there would be no munition fragments that
could be used to identify the source of the strike." A laser beam is silent and invisible. An ATL
can deliver the heat of a blowtorch with a range of 20 kilometres, depending on conditions. That
range is great enough that the aircraft carrying it might not be seen, especially at night. With no
previous examples for comparison, it may be difficult to discern whether damage to a vehicle or
person was the result of a laser strike.
Note: For lots more on war and weaponry, click here.
Carcinogen worries stick to food packaging

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-fi-lazarus30-2008jul30,0,7080309.co...
The next time you make some microwave popcorn or cook a frozen pizza, consider this: The
packaging of many of these products contains a chemical that the Environmental
Protection Agency considers potentially carcinogenic and wants businesses to voluntarily
stop using by 2015. Studies show that this chemical -- perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA -- is
present in 98% of Americans' blood and 100% of newborns. It doesn't break down and thus
accumulates in the system over time. PFOA ... is used to make Teflon pans, Gore-Tex clothing and
to prevent food from sticking to paper packaging. The industry says that while the EPA's
carcinogen concerns are based on animal tests, there's no evidence that PFOA is harmful to
humans. Public-health advocates counter that the industry is being disingenuous. "There's never
been a chemical found that affects animals but has no effect on humans," said Bill Walker, vice
president of the Environmental Working Group. PFOA is part of a broader constellation of
substances known as perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs. When PFCs are heated, they break
down into compounds that can be absorbed into food and make it into the bloodstream. Federal
investigators determined in 2005 that PFOA is a "likely carcinogen" and called for expanded
testing to study its potential to cause liver, breast, testicular and pancreatic cancer. Walker at the
Environmental Working Group said the voluntary phaseout supported by the EPA was insufficient.
It wouldn't apply to Chinese companies, which are among the leading manufacturers of food
packaging.
Note: For many important reports on health issues from reliable sources, click here.
ACLU: U.S. Treasury stymies war court defense attorneys

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has pledged to cover costs of civilian lawyers defending
alleged terrorists, is in a struggle with the U.S. Treasury Department over a permit to pay $250-anhour fees and other expenses to attorneys who have been shuttling to [the] U.S. Navy base [at
Guantanamo]. The Treasury division, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, is the same unit that
polices American citizens' travel to Cuba. Its authority to license defense costs at the war courts
here, called military commissions, comes from anti-terror legislation. ACLU director Anthony
Romero accused the Bush administration of foot-dragging, noting civilian defense lawyers were
slow to receive security clearances to meet accused terrorists held for years without access to
attorneys. "Now the government is stonewalling again by not allowing Americans' private
dollars to be paid to American lawyers to defend civil liberties," he said. He called the slow
licensing an "obstruction of justice" at a time when "the Bush administration insists on
moving ahead with the prosecutions." The program is called the John Adams Project,
sponsored by the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Under it,
attorneys will be paid for travel, expenses, research and copying as well as $250 an hour to
defend men ... now facing death penalty prosecutions at the war court. Top criminal defense
lawyers typically charge at least $550 an hour.
Note: For important reports on threats to civil liberties from major media sources, click here.
U.S. Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/world/middleeast/30contract.html?partner=rs...
A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part
in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil
companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say. The disclosure,
coming on the eve of the contracts announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement
by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraqs oil to commercial development and is likely to
stoke criticism. In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and
private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the
contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said. At a time of spiraling oil prices,
the no-bid contracts, in a country with some of the worlds largest untapped fields and
potential for vast profits, are a rare prize to the industry. The contracts are expected to be
awarded Monday to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, as well as to several smaller oil
companies. The deals have been criticized by opponents of the Iraq war, who accuse the Bush
administration of working behind the scenes to ensure Western access to Iraqi oil fields even as
most other oil-exporting countries have been sharply limiting the roles of international oil
companies in development. Though enriched by high prices, the companies are starved for new oil
fields. American military officials say the pipelines [in Iraq] now have excess capacity, waiting for
output to increase at the fields.
Note: For many revealing reports from reliable sources on the real reasons behind the war in Iraq,
click here.
'Curveball' speaks, and a reputation as a disinformation agent remains

intact
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-curveball18-2008jun18,0,...
Rafid Ahmed Alwan hoped for an easier life when he came [to Nuremberg, Germany] from Iraq
nine years ago. He also hoped for a reward for his cooperation with German intelligence officers.
"For what I've done, I should be treated like a king," he said outside a cramped, low-rent apartment
he shares with his family. Instead, the Iraqi informant code-named Curveball has flipped burgers at
McDonald's and Burger King, washed dishes in a Chinese restaurant and baked pretzels in an allnight bakery. He also has faced withering international scorn for peddling discredited intelligence
that helped spur an invasion of his native country. It was intelligence attributed to Alwan -- as
Curveball -- that the White House used in making its case that Saddam Hussein possessed
weapons of mass destruction. He described what turned out to be fictional mobile germ
factories. The CIA belatedly branded him a liar. After Curveball's role in the pre-invasion
intelligence fiasco was disclosed by the Los Angeles Times four years ago, the con man behind
the code name remained in the shadows. His security was protected and his identity concealed by
the BND, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service. Along with confirmation of Curveball's identity,
however, have come fresh disclosures raising doubts about his honesty -- much of that new detail
coming from friends, associates and past employers. And records reveal that when Alwan fled to
Germany, one step ahead of the Iraq Justice Ministry, an arrest warrant had been issued alleging
that he sold filched camera equipment on the Baghdad black market.
Note: For much more information on the CIA's "disinformant" Curveball, click here. The lies he told
were peddled by US media, including the major television networks and The New York Times and
Washington Post, in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq. For a powerful summary of major media
cover-ups, click here.
The Business of Intelligence Gathering

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/business/15shelf.html?partner=rssuserland&e...
America is ruled by an intelligence-industrial complex whose allegiance is not to the taxpaying
public but to a cabal of private-sector contractors. That is the central thesis of Spies for Hire: The
Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing by Tim Shorrock, ... an investigative journalist. His book
[provides a] disturbing overview of the intelligence community, also known as the I.C. Mr.
Shorrock says our government is outsourcing 70 percent of its intelligence budget, or more than
$42 billion a year, to a secret army of corporate vendors. Because of accelerated privatization
efforts after 9/11, these companies are participating in covert operations and intelligencegathering activities that were considered inherently governmental functions reserved for
agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, he says. Some of the books most intriguing
assertions concern the permeating influence of the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. In 2006,
Mr. Shorrock reports, Booz Allen amassed $3.7 billion in revenue, much of which came from
classified government contracts exempt from public oversight. Among its more than 18,000
employees are R. James Woolsey, the former C.I.A. director, and Joan Dempsey, a former
longtime United States intelligence official who declared in a 2004 speech, I like to refer to Booz
Allen as the shadow I.C. The revolving door between Booz Allen and the I.C. is personified by
Mike McConnell, who joined the firm after serving as head of the National Security Agency under
President Bill Clinton, only to return as director of national intelligence under President Bush.
Note: For revealing reports on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
Lawmakers Urge Special Counsel Probe of Harsh Interrogation Tactics

Nearly 60 House Democrats yesterday urged the Justice Department to appoint a special
counsel to examine whether top Bush administration officials may have committed crimes
in authorizing the use of harsh interrogation tactics against suspected terrorists. In a letter
to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, the lawmakers cited what they said is "mounting
evidence" that senior officials personally sanctioned the use of waterboarding and other
aggressive tactics against detainees in U.S.-run prisons overseas. An independent investigation is
needed to determine whether such actions violated U.S or international law, the letter stated. "This
information indicates that the Bush administration may have systematically implemented, from the
top down, detainee interrogation policies that constitute torture or otherwise violate the law," it said.
The letter was signed by 56 House Democrats, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman
John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and House Intelligence Committee members Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y). The request was prompted in part by new disclosures of high-level
discussions within the Bush administration that reportedly focused on specific interrogation
practices. Some of the new detail was contained in a report last month by the Justice Department's
inspector general, which described a series of White House meetings in which the controversial
tactics were vigorously debated. Conyers, whose committee already is looking into the role played
by administration lawyers in authorizing aggressive measures, said a broader probe is now
needed.
White House Blocked Rule Issued to Shield Whales

White House officials for more than a year have blocked a rule aimed at protecting endangered
North Atlantic right whales by challenging the findings of government scientists, according to
documents obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The documents, which were mailed to
the environmental group by an unidentified National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
official, illuminate a struggle that has raged between the White House and NOAA for more than a
year. In February 2007, NOAA issued a final rule aimed at slowing ships traversing some
East Coast waters to 10 knots or less during parts of the year to protect the right whales,
but the White House has blocked the rule from taking effect. North Atlantic right whales,
whose surviving population numbers fewer than 400, are one of the most endangered species on
Earth, and scientists have warned that the loss of just one more pregnant female could doom the
species. Some shipping companies have opposed the NOAA proposal, saying slowing their
vessels will cost the industry money. The documents, which House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) released yesterday, show that the White
House Council of Economic Advisers and Vice President Cheney's office repeatedly questioned
whether the rule was needed. Waxman, who sent a letter to the White House asking for an
explanation, said the exchange "appears to be the latest instance of the White House ignoring
scientists and other experts." Since NOAA initially proposed the regulation, at least three right
whales have died from ship strikes and two have been wounded by propellers.
Note: For more reports on major threats to marine mammals, click here.
Congress Examines Role Of Industry in Regulation

Despite more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that
have raised health concerns about a chemical compound that is central to the multibillion-dollar
plastics industry, the Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe largely because of two
studies, both funded by an industry trade group. The compound, bisphenol A (BPA), has been
linked to breast and prostate cancer, behavioral disorders and reproductive health problems in
laboratory animals. The FDA's position on the compound was called into question earlier this
month when a National Institutes of Health panel issued a draft report linking BPA to health
concerns. As part of his investigation, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, wants to examine the role played by the Weinberg Group, a
Washington firm that employs scientists, lawyers and public relations specialists to defend
products from legal and regulatory action. The firm has worked on Agent Orange, tobacco and
Teflon, among other products linked to health hazards, and congressional investigators say it was
hired by Sunoco, a BPA manufacturer. From 1997 to 2005, 116 studies of the compound were
published, many of them focused on its effects in low doses. Of those funded by
government, 90 percent showed a health effect linked to BPA. None of the industry-funded
studies found an effect; all of them said BPA is safe. There is a clear bias in studies funded by
industry, said [David] Michaels, who ... runs the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy
at George Washington University and wrote the book Doubt is Their Product, which details how
various industries have used science to stave off regulation.
Note: For many powerful reports on corporate corruption, click here.
Engineer Society Accused of Cover-Ups

2008-03-25, Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Associated Press
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Embattled_Engineers.html
After the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the levee failures caused by Hurricane
Katrina in 2005, the federal government paid the American Society of Civil Engineers to investigate
what went wrong. Critics now accuse [ASCE] of covering up engineering mistakes ... and
using the investigations to protect engineers and government agencies from lawsuits. In
the World Trade Center case, critics contend the engineering society wrongly concluded
skyscrapers cannot withstand getting hit by airplanes. The Federal Emergency Management
Agency paid the group about $257,000 to investigate the World Trade Center collapse. In 2002,
the society's report on the World Trade Center praised the buildings for remaining standing long
enough to allow tens thousands of people to flee. But, the report said, skyscrapers are not typically
designed to withstand airplane impacts. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a structural engineer and
forensics expert, contends his computer simulations disprove the society's findings that
skyscrapers could not be designed to withstand the impact of a jetliner. Astaneh-Asl, who received
money from the National Science Foundation to investigate the collapse, insisted most New York
skyscrapers built with traditional designs would survive such an impact. He also questioned the
makeup of the society's investigation team. On the team were the wife of the trade center's
structural engineer and a representative of the buildings' original design team. "I call this moral
corruption," said Astaneh-Asl, who is on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Note: For a revealing two-page summary of many unanswered questions about 9/11 raised by
major media sources, click here.
Ozone Rules Weakened at Bush's Behest

The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone
after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by
the EPA. EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks
and farmland, as required under the law. Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the
agency to increase the limit, according to the documents. "It is unprecedented and an unlawful
act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean
Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific judgment," said John Walke, clean-air
director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The president's order prompted a scramble by
administration officials to rewrite the regulations to avoid a conflict with past EPA statements on the
harm caused by ozone. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement warned administration officials ... that
the rules contradicted the EPA's past submissions to the Supreme Court, according to sources
familiar with the conversation. As a consequence, administration lawyers hustled to craft new legal
justifications for the weakened standard. The dispute involved one of two distinct parts of the
EPA's ozone restrictions: the "public welfare" standard, which is designed to protect against longterm harm from high ozone levels. The other part is known as the "public health" standard, which
sets a legal limit on how high ozone levels can be at any one time. The two standards were set at
the same level Wednesday, but until Bush asked for a change, the EPA had planned to set the
"public welfare" standard at a lower level.
click here.
Like FBI, CIA Has Used Secret 'Letters'

For three years, the Bush administration has drawn fire from civil liberties groups over its use of
national security letters, a kind of administrative subpoena that compels private businesses such
as telecommunications companies to turn over information to the government. After the 2001 USA
Patriot Act loosened the guidelines, the FBI issued tens of thousands of such requests, something
critics say amounts to warrantless spying on Americans who have not been charged with crimes.
Now, newly released documents shed light on the use of the letters by the CIA. The spy agency
has employed them to obtain financial information about U.S. residents and does so under
extraordinary secrecy, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained copies of
CIA letters under the Freedom of Information Act. The CIA's requests for financial records
come with "gag orders" on the recipients, said ACLU lawyer Melissa Goodman. In many
cases, she said, the recipient is not allowed to keep a copy of the letter or even take notes
about the information turned over to the CIA. The ACLU posted copies of some of the letters
on its Web site. In most cases, nearly all the text had been redacted by CIA censors.
Note: For many powerful reports on the growing threats to civil liberties, click here.
Redacted Air-Traffic Safety Survey Released

NASA yesterday released partial results of a massive air-safety survey of airline pilots who
repeatedly complained about fatigue, problems with air-traffic controllers, airport security, and the
layouts of runways and taxiways. Reacting to criticism about its initial decision to withhold the
database for fear of harming airlines' bottom lines, NASA released a heavily redacted version of
the survey on its Web site. But the ... agency published the information in a way that made it
difficult to analyze. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told reporters ... that the agency had no
plans to study the database for trends. He said NASA conducted the survey only to determine
whether gathering information from pilots in such a way was worthwhile. Despite the lack of
analysis by NASA scientists, Griffin said there was nothing in the database that should
concern air travelers. "It's hard for me to see any data the traveling public would care about
or ought to care about," he said. "We were asked to release the data, and we did." The
NASA database, which included more than 10,000 pages of information, was based on extensive
telephone polling of airline and general aviation pilots about incidents ranging from engine failures
and bird strikes to fires onboard planes and encounters with severe turbulence. The survey cost
about $11 million and was conducted from 2001 to 2004. The survey included narrative responses
by pilots, but NASA released the information in such a way as to make it impossible to determine
details of what the pilots were describing. NASA had refused to release the data several months
ago in response to a request by the Associated Press, saying publication might affect the public's
confidence in the airlines. NASA was roundly criticized by members of Congress and aviation
safety experts for refusing to publish the survey.
FBI's Forensic Test Full of Holes

Hundreds of defendants sitting in prisons nationwide have been convicted with the help of an FBI
forensic tool that was discarded more than two years ago. But the FBI lab has yet to take steps to
alert the affected defendants or courts, even as the window for appealing convictions is closing, a
joint investigation by The Washington Post and "60 Minutes" has found. The science, known as
comparative bullet-lead analysis, was first used after President John F. Kennedy's assassination in
1963. The technique used chemistry to link crime-scene bullets to ones possessed by suspects on
the theory that each batch of lead had a unique elemental makeup. In 2004, however, the nation's
most prestigious scientific body concluded that variations in the manufacturing process rendered
the FBI's testimony about the science "unreliable and potentially misleading." Specifically, the
National Academy of Sciences said that decades of FBI statements to jurors linking a
particular bullet to those found in a suspect's gun or cartridge box were so overstated that
such testimony should be considered "misleading under federal rules of evidence." A year
later, the bureau abandoned the analysis. But the FBI lab has never gone back to determine how
many times its scientists misled jurors. Internal memos show that the bureau's managers were
aware by 2004 that testimony had been overstated in a large number of trials. In a smaller number
of cases, the experts had made false matches based on a faulty statistical analysis of the elements
contained in different lead samples, documents show. The government has fought releasing the
list of the estimated 2,500 cases over three decades in which it performed the analysis. For the
majority of affected prisoners, the typical two-to-four-year window to appeal their convictions based
on new scientific evidence is closing.
FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA

FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved
dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E.
Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing. Reporters were given only 15
minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C.
offices. They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said
-- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News. Johnson ... was apparently
quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter.
FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker interrupted at one point to caution he'd allow just "two more
questions." Later, he called for a "last question." "Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" a
reporter asked. Another asked about "lessons learned from Katrina." "I'm very happy with FEMA's
response so far," Johnson said, hailing "a very smoothly, very efficiently performing team. And so I
think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and
the benefit of good partnership, none of which were present in Katrina." Very smooth, very
professional. But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many
softballs. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about
FEMA's greatness. Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA
staffers playing reporters. The staff played reporters for what on TV looked just like the real
thing. "If the worst thing that happens to me in this disaster is that we had staff in the chairs to ask
questions that reporters had been asking all day, Widomski said, "trust me, I'll be happy." Heck of a
job, Harvey.
Note: To watch this amusing "news briefing", click here.
Companies Seeking Immunity Donate to Senator

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/washington/23nsa.html?ex=1350792000&en=f9b3...
Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political
donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity
for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping. The surge in contributions
came from a Whos Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief
executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to
campaign finance reports. The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr.
Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio.
Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, [has emerged] as the most
important supporter of immunity in [the Senate]. Mr. Rockefellers office said ... that the sharp
increases in contributions from the telecommunications executives had no influence on his support
for the immunity provision. Any suggestion that Senator Rockefeller would make policy decisions
based on campaign contributions is patently false, Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for him, said.
AT&T and Verizon have been lobbying hard to insulate themselves from suits over their reported
roles in the security agency program by gaining legal immunity from Congress. The effort included
meetings with Mr. Rockefeller and other members of the intelligence panels. Mr. Rockefeller
received little in the way of contributions from AT&T or Verizon executives before this year,
reporting $4,050 from 2002 through 2006. From last March to June, he collected a total of
$42,850 from executives at the two companies. The increase was first reported by the online
journal Wired, using data compiled by the Web site OpenSecrets.org. [Telecommunications]
industry executives have given significant contributions to a number of other Washington
politicians, including two presidential contenders, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John
McCain.
State Department Use of Contractors Leaps in 4 Years

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/washington/24contractor.html?ex=1350878400&...
Over the past four years, the amount of money the State Department pays to private security and
law enforcement contractors has soared to nearly $4 billion a year from $1 billion, ... but ... the
department had added few new officials to oversee the contracts. Auditors and outside exerts say
the results have been vast cost overruns, poor contract performance and, in some cases, violence
that has so far gone unpunished. A vast majority of the money goes to companies like DynCorp
International and Blackwater [Worldwide] to protect diplomats overseas, train foreign police forces
and assist in drug eradication programs. There are only 17 contract compliance officers at the
State Departments management bureau overseeing spending of the billions of dollars on these
programs, officials said. Two new reports have delivered harsh judgments about the State
Departments handling of the contracts, including the protective services contract that employs
Blackwater guards whose involvement in a Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad has raised questions
about their role in guarding American diplomats in Iraq. The ballooning budget for outside
contracts at the State Department is emblematic of a broader trend, contracting experts say. The
Bush administration has doubled the amount of government money going to all types of
contractors to $400 billion, creating a new and thriving class of post-9/11 corporations
carrying out delicate work for the government. But the number of government employees
issuing, managing and auditing contracts has barely grown. Thats a criticism thats true of not just
State but of almost every agency, said Jody Freeman, an expert on administrative law at Harvard
Law School.
Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs

Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month. "I
heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I
look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little
helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects." Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them,
too. "I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large
for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' " Some suspect the insectlike
drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland
Security. No agency admits to having deployed insect-size spy drones. But a number of U.S.
government and private entities acknowledge they are trying. So what was seen by Crane, Alarcon
and a handful of others at the D.C. march -- and as far back as 2004, during the Republican
National Convention in New York, when one observant ... peace-march participant described on
the Web "a jet-black dragonfly hovering about 10 feet off the ground, precisely in the middle of 7th
Avenue . . . watching us?" Three people at the D.C. event independently described a row of
spheres, the size of small berries, attached along the tails of the big dragonflies -- an accoutrement
that [Jerry Louton, an entomologist at the National Museum of Natural History,] could not explain.
And all reported seeing at least three maneuvering in unison. "Dragonflies never fly in a pack," he
said. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice said her group is investigating
witness reports and has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with several federal agencies. If
such devices are being used to spy on political activists, she said, "it would be a significant
violation of people's civil rights."
Note: To read further reliable reports of threats to our civil liberties, click here.
An Opportunity for Wall St. in Chinas Surveillance Boom

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/business/worldbusiness/11security.html?ex=1...
Li Runsen, the powerful technology director of Chinas ministry of public security, is best known for
leading Project Golden Shield, Chinas intensive effort to strengthen police control over the
Internet. But last month Mr. Li took an additional title: director for China Security and Surveillance
Technology, a fast-growing company that installs and sometimes operates surveillance systems for
Chinese police agencies, jails and banks, among other customers. The company has just been
approved for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The companys listing and Mr. Lis
membership on its board are just the latest signs of ever-closer ties among Wall Street,
surveillance companies and the Chinese governments security apparatus. Wall Street analysts
now follow the growth of companies that install surveillance systems providing Chinese police
stations with 24-hour video feeds from nearby Internet cafes. Hedge fund money from the
United States has paid for the development of not just better video cameras, but face-
recognition software and even newer behavior-recognition software designed to spot the
beginnings of a street protest and notify police. Executives of Chinese surveillance companies
say they are helping their government reduce street crime, preserve social stability and prevent
terrorism. They note that London has a more sophisticated surveillance system, although the
Chinese system will soon be far more extensive. Wall Street executives also defend the industry
as necessary to keep the peace at a time of rapid change in China. They point out that New York
has begun experimenting with surveillance cameras in Lower Manhattan and other areas of the
city.
Government secrecy up despite exposure of issue

2007-08-31, Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Cox News Service
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/329978_secrecy02.html
Government secrecy is expanding at an unprecedented clip, despite growing public concern about
barriers to information. OpenTheGovernment.org reports that stamping government documents
"secret" cost American taxpayers $8.2 billion last year -- a 7.5 percent increase over the
year before. The coalition found that for every dollar spent declassifying documents, the
federal government spends $185 to conceal government documents. Open-government
advocates blame the policies of the Bush administration. "The current administration has
increasingly refused to be held accountable to the public," said Patrice McDermott, executive
director of the coalition of conservative and liberal groups concerned about government secrecy.
"These practices lead to the circumscription of democracy." Among the findings from the report:
Businesses enjoyed a no-bid process for 26 percent, or $107.5 billion, of the federal government's
business last year. President Bush has issued at least 151 signing statements challenging 1,149
provisions of laws passed by Congress. The Defense Department has more than doubled in real
terms the amount it spends on classified weapons acquisitions since 1995. The number of
documents [classified in 2006] ballooned to 20.3 million, up by 43 percent. And those figures do
not include the untold number of documents that are locked away by federal agencies in
categories known as "pseudo-classification." These are unclassified documents that government
bureaucrats deem too sensitive for public consumption. The report also found that the Bush
administration has invoked a legal tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other
previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.
Bush administration defends spy law

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-intel7aug07,0,1631228.story
The Bush administration rushed to defend new espionage legislation Monday amid growing
concern that the changes could lead to increased spying by U.S. intelligence agencies on
American citizens. But officials declined to provide details about how the new capabilities might be
used by the National Security Agency and other spy services. And in many cases, they could point
only to internal monitoring mechanisms to prevent abuse of the new rules that appear to give the
government greater authority to tap into the traffic flowing across U.S. telecommunications
networks. Officials rejected assertions that the new capabilities would enable the government to
cast electronic "drift nets" that might ensnare U.S. citizens [and] that the new legislation would
amount to the expansion of a controversial and critics contend unconstitutional warrantless
wiretapping program that President Bush authorized after the 9/11 attacks. Intelligence experts
said there were an array of provisions in the new legislation that appeared to make it possible for
the government to engage in intelligence-collection activities that the Bush administration officials
were discounting. "They are trying to shift the terms of the debate to their intentions and
away from the meaning of the new law," said Steven Aftergood, an intelligence policy analyst at
the Federation of American Scientists. "The new law gives them authority to do far more than
simply surveil foreign communications abroad," he said. "It expands the surveillance program
beyond terrorism to encompass foreign intelligence. It permits the monitoring of communications of
a U.S. person as long as he or she is not the primary target. And it effectively removes judicial
supervision of the surveillance process."
In Bush we trust - or else

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/05/EDJFRB8AF1.DTL
President Bush's latest affront to the U.S. Constitution [is] in plain view on the White House Web
site: "Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in
Iraq." This far-reaching order ... is a frontal assault on the Fifth Amendment, which decrees that
the government cannot seize an individual's property without due process. [The order asserts] the
authority to freeze the American assets of anyone who directly or indirectly assists someone who
poses "a significant risk" [to] the "peace and stability" of [Iraq] or the reconstruction effort. "On its
face, this is the greatest encroachment on civil liberties since the internment of Japanese
Americans in World War II," said Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer who was a deputy attorney
general in the Reagan administration. Fein said the sanctions against suspected violators
would amount to "a financial death penalty. King George III really would have been jealous
of this power." The executive order not only calls for the freezing of assets of anyone who directly
or indirectly [opposes US policy in Iraq,] it prohibits anyone else from providing "funds, goods or
services" to a blacklisted individual. In other words, a friend or relative could have his or her assets
seized for trying to help someone whose bank account is suddenly frozen. An attorney who offered
legal help could risk losing everything he or she owned. Then again, there's not much need for
lawyers in the world of this executive order. The blacklist would be drawn up by the "secretary of
treasury, in consultation with the secretary of state and the secretary of defense." The Fifth
Amendment was written for good reason: It's dangerous to give the government unchecked
authority to seize private property without judicial review.
It's time to check the balance of power

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/29/ING0UR6C1D1.DTL
Since 9/11, President Bush's repeated assaults on the Constitution and celebration of international
lawlessness ... have needlessly made Americans less safe. The president, for example, has
flouted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in intercepting the conversations and e-mails of
American citizens on American soil on his say-so alone. He has claimed authority to break into and
enter our homes, open our mail and commit torture. He has insisted that the entire United States is
a battlefield -- even pizza parlors -- where lethal military force may be employed to kill ... suspects
with bombs or missiles. He has detained citizens and noncitizens alike as enemy combatants
based on secret evidence. And he has insisted that he is constitutionally empowered to keep U.S.
troops in Iraq indefinitely. Congress should restore the Constitution's checks and balances and
protections against government abuses. The most frightening of Bush's abuses travels under
the banner of "extraordinary rendition." In its name, Bush has kidnapped, secretly
imprisoned, and tortured. The practice is what would be expected of dictators such as the
Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin or Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The detainees are held
incommunicado without accusation or trial. No judge reviews the allegedly incriminating evidence.
No law restricts interrogation methods or the conditions of confinement. And the innocent are left
without recourse as "collateral damage" in Bush's ... global [war on terrorism].
Note: The author, Bruce Fein, served as Associate Attorney General under President Reagan.
Politics reportedly stifled health report

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/29/MNG48R95UC1.DTL
A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems
has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in
medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy
accomplishments. The report described the link between poverty and poor health, urged the U.S.
government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy, and called on
corporations to help improve health conditions in the countries where they operate. Its publication
was blocked by William Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history
whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Since 2001,
Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human
Services. Richard Carmona, who commissioned the "Call to Action on Global Health" while serving
as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, recently cited its suppression as an example of the Bush
administration's frequent efforts during his tenure to give scientific documents a political twist.
Carmona told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was "called in and again
admonished ... via a senior official who said, 'You don't get it. This will be a political document,
or it will not be released.' " A few days before the end of his term as the nation's senior medical
officer, he was abruptly told he would not be reappointed.
FBI Proposes Building Network of U.S. Informants

2007-07-25, ABC News blog
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/fbi-proposes-bu.html
The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United
States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities. According to a recent
unclassified report to Congress, the FBI expects its informants to provide secrets about possible
terrorists and foreign spies, although some may also be expected to aid with criminal
investigations, in the tradition of law enforcement confidential informants. The FBI said the push
was driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush ordering the bureau to improve its
counterterrorism efforts by boosting its human intelligence capabilities. The aggressive push for
more secret informants appears to be part of a new effort to grow its intelligence and
counterterrorism efforts. Other recent proposals include expanding its collection and analysis
of data on U.S. persons, retaining years' worth of Americans' phone records and even
increasing so-called "black bag" secret entry operations. To handle the increase in so-called
human sources, the FBI also plans to overhaul its database system, so it can manage records and
verify the accuracy of information from "more than 15,000" informants, according to the document.
The bureau has arranged to use elements of CIA training to teach FBI agents about "Source
Targeting and Development," the report states. The courses will train FBI special agents on the
"comprehensive tradecraft" needed to identify, recruit and manage these "confidential human
sources."
Papers Detail Industry's Role in Cheney's Energy Report

At 10 a.m. on April 4, 2001, representatives of 13 environmental groups were brought into the Old
Executive Office Building for a long-anticipated meeting. Since late January, a task force headed
by Vice President Cheney had been busy drawing up a new national energy policy, and the groups
were getting their one chance to be heard. A confidential list prepared by the Bush administration
shows that Cheney and his aides had already held at least 40 meetings with interest groups, most
of them from energy-producing industries. By the time of the meeting with environmental groups,
according to a former White House official who provided the list to The Washington Post, the initial
draft of the task force was substantially complete and President Bush had been briefed on its
progress. In all, about 300 groups and individuals met with staff members of the energy task force,
including a handful who saw Cheney himself, according to the list, which was compiled in the
summer of 2001. For six years, those names have been a closely guarded secret, thanks to a
fierce legal battle waged by the White House. Some names have leaked out over the years,
but most have remained hidden because of a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that agreed that the
administration's internal deliberations ought to be shielded from outside scrutiny. The list of
participants' names and when they met with administration officials provides a clearer picture of
the task force's priorities and bolsters previous reports that the review leaned heavily on oil and
gas companies and on trade groups -- many of them big contributors to the Bush campaign and
the Republican Party. It clears up much of the lingering uncertainty about who was granted access
to present energy policy views to Cheney's staff.
'Code Orange' for press freedom

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/15/EDGU9R0PAC1.DTL
The arguments against a federal shield law might be frightening if they were not so ludicrous.
There are two ways to reassure yourself that legislation to allow journalists to protect the identity of
confidential sources will not be exploited by terrorists, thugs, identity thieves, sleazy sleuths and
anarchists who expose trade secrets. One is to look at the experience of 49 state laws that grant
varying levels of protection for journalists using anonymous sources. The other is to read the bill.
"The Free Flow of Information Act of 2007,'' sponsored by Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Rick
Boucher, D-Va., does not provide an absolute right for journalists to protect their sources. Under
their HR2102, a journalist could be forced by the courts to reveal his or her source if the disclosure
involved: -- A threat to national security. -- A threat of imminent death or significant [bodily] harm to
a person. -- A trade secret of significant value. -- Personal financial or health information. [The]
Justice Department, which has wielded subpoenas and threats of jail time against journalists in
pursuing government leaks, has never liked the idea of a shield law. So it was hardly a surprise
when it recently testified against HR2102. What was eye-poppingly outrageous was a Justice
official's straight-faced attempt to suggest that criminals or terrorists would invoke the
bill's protection for journalists to thwart prosecutors. "Totally absurd," House Judiciary
Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said of the terrorism argument. However, the dangers that
overzealous prosecutors pose to a free and independent press that Pence calls "essential to an
informed" electorate are very real and growing. As Pence put it, "there may never be another Deep
Throat" if whistle-blowers become worried that journalists cannot keep a promise of confidentiality.
We spend far more, but our health care is falling behind

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/10/MNGNUQTQJB1.DTL
These days, fewer Americans are buying the claim that the United States has the best medical
system in the world. Consumers are buying lower-cost online drugs from foreign sources, and
some even become "medical tourists" to obtain affordable treatment in other countries. Studies
show Americans aren't healthier, nor are they living longer than people in industrialized
nations that spend half per capita of what we do on care. A 2007 ... study that compared the
United States with five other nations -- Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the
United Kingdom -- ranked the U.S. health system last. And a 2000 report by the World Health
Organization ... put the United States 37th out of 190 nations in health care services -- between
Costa Rica and Slovenia. France was rated No. 1. In a New York Times/CBS poll conducted in
March, health care ranked as the top domestic concern. We spend far more, but our health care is
falling behind, studies say. "We, unlike any other country, have 46 million people who are
uninsured, and that raises a whole host of health and financial issues," said Ken Thorpe, professor
of health policy at Emory University. "Ours is really is a sick-care system." Thorpe said. He argues
... that it is far more cost-effective to prevent people from getting sick or at least catch illnesses
early through better monitoring. Karen Davis, president of .... a nonprofit foundation that supports
health care research said, "We tend to have more medical errors than other countries, in part
because of this highly specialized, fragmented system. More things can go wrong and do go
wrong."
Note: For many highly informative major media articles on the U.S. health crisis, click here.
Roswell UFO Incident: Cover-Up or Sci-Fi?

2007-07-06, KLAS-TV (CBS affiliate in Las Vegas)
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6752807
Sixty years ago one of the most enduring mysteries of modern times burst into the public arena. It
was the Roswell incident, the reported crash of a flying saucer. The U.S. military says it's all a
misunderstanding caused by a downed weather balloon, but the official story keeps changing, and
the Roswell legend won't go away. On July 5th, sixty years ago, a New Mexico rancher named
Mac Brazel gathered up a pile of strange debris and headed into town. His find led to an
astonishing announcement by our military that a flying saucer had been recovered. Even
the strongest supporters of the crashed saucer can't agree on the basics. And the U.S. military has
really muddied the waters, perhaps on purpose, by issuing four different "official" versions of the
story. For one man, in particular, the search for the truth is personal. Dr. Jesse Marcel, Jr., Roswell
eyewitness, said, "It's the degree of strangeness of the material and my dad's excitement that
really made an impression upon me. It would be pretty difficult to forget what I saw." Jesse Marcel
is a Montana surgeon. In 1947, his father, Major Jesse Marcel, was the intelligence officer for the
509th Bomb Wing stationed at Roswell's Army air base, the only atomic bomb wing in the world.
"He was the intelligence officer for the group, which meant he wasn't a fly-by-nighter. Members of
the 509th were handpicked for their credibility, their intelligence. It was his job to brief the crews
that dropped the bombs on Japan," Marcel explained. His father's credibility is one of the main
reasons Marcel Jr. wrote a new book, The Roswell Legacy. Over the years, his father has been
attacked as a liar, even a traitor, by those seeking to discredit the flying saucer story.
Roswell UFO Incident Part 2: Surprise Witness

2007-07-06, KLAS-TV (CBS affiliate in Las Vegas)
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6756220
Festivities are in full swing in Roswell, New Mexico, celebrating the 60th anniversary of a
mysterious crash in the desert that some believe involved a UFO. The U.S. military has told four
different versions of the Roswell story over the years but now denies that anything alien was ever
recovered. Eyewitnesses say otherwise. Now, there is new testimony, including that of a surprise
witness. A new book, Witness to Roswell, lists dozens of witnesses who've come forward in the
past few years including military police who guarded the debris field and high-ranking officers who
admit it was a cover up of something alien. In 1947, Lt. Walter Haut was the base information
officer. He issued the release about a recovered flying saucer, then helped with the cover story
about a weather balloon. But Haut saw a lot more. In 2002, he signed a sworn affidavit to be
released after his death. He died in 2006. The statement admits that Haut handled the strange
debris, that he personally saw the crashed saucer along with the bodies of aliens -- not crash test
dummies as the air force tried to imply in the 1990's. Former Lt. Bob Shirkey backs up Haut's story.
He too saw the debris being loaded onto a B-29. Shirkey's friend Glenn Dennis, the town
mortician, says he was contacted by the base and was asked to supply all the youth-sized caskets
he had. The pilot who flew the transport plane saw the wreckage and the bodies but told his wife
he'd been threatened to keep silent. Physicist Stan Friedman, who started the Roswell
investigation in the late 1970's, says the military threatened others too. "The military told
them, if you ever talk about what you saw, we will kill you and we will kill your family," said
... Friedman.
Note: For a treasure trove of hard-hitting evidence of UFOs, click here.
Care in need of a cure

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-global18jun18,1,1444274.story
The knee-jerk attitude that the U.S. is the best place on earth to be sick, fueled by the reputations
of great institutions like the Mayo Clinic and by America's leadership in drug and technology
development, is beginning to be challenged by rigorous international comparisons. There is
increasing evidence that, despite justified pride in individual institutions and medical
breakthroughs, the world's biggest medical spender isn't buying its citizens the longest, healthiest
lives in the world. It's not just moviemakers and comics saying so. The dire message that the U.S.
healthcare system is, by some measures, an also-ran on the worldwide stage is being delivered by
doctors, researchers even insurance industry giants. On screen, slamming U.S. medical care is
coming of age with Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko." Through the eyes of people who have
faced healthcare catastrophes, he tells graphic stories of the problems with America's system.
Considerably more sobering are the warnings from an official at the National Institutes of
Health, who declared in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. that
the U.S. healthcare system is "a dysfunctional mess." Amid stacks of reports, all with ...
measures of access, equity, efficiency and medical outcomes, two statistics stand out. The U.S.
spends more on medical care than any other nation, and gets far less for it than many countries.
The U.S. spends an annual $6,102 per person more than any other country and more than
twice the average of $2,571. Yet Americans have the 22nd highest life expectancy among those
nations at 77.2 years. People in Japan, the world leader in longevity, live an average of 81.8 years.
In Iraq's four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals
2007-06-08, The Guardian (one of the U.K.'s leading newspapers)
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/heritage/story/0,,2098275,00.html
Fly into the American air base of Tallil outside Nasiriya in central Iraq and the flight path is over the
great ziggurat of Ur, reputedly the earliest city on earth. Ur is safe within the base compound. But
its walls are pockmarked with wartime shrapnel and a blockhouse is being built over an adjacent
archaeological site. When the head of Iraq's supposedly sovereign board of antiquities and
heritage, Abbas al-Hussaini, tried to inspect the site recently, the Americans refused him access to
his own most important monument. Under Saddam you were likely to be tortured and shot if you
let someone steal an antiquity; in today's Iraq you are likely to be tortured and shot if you don't.
The tragic fate of the national museum in Baghdad in April 2003 was as if federal troops had
invaded New York city, sacked the police and told the criminal community that the Metropolitan
was at their disposal. The local tank commander was told specifically not to protect the
museum for a full two weeks after the invasion. Even the Nazis protected the Louvre.
America [has converted] Nebuchadnezzar's great city of Babylon into the hanging gardens
of Halliburton. In the process the 2,500-year-old brick pavement to the Ishtar Gate was smashed
by tanks and the gate itself damaged. Babylon is being rendered archaeologically barren. Outside
the capital some 10,000 sites of incomparable importance to the history of western civilisation,
barely 20% yet excavated, are being looted as systematically as was the museum in 2003. When
[archeologists] tried to remove vulnerable carvings from the ancient city of Umma to Baghdad,
[they] found gangs of looters already in place with bulldozers, dump trucks and AK47s.
Clean energy claim: Aluminum in your car tank

2007-05-23, MSNBC
A Purdue University engineer and National Medal of Technology winner says he's ready and able
to start a revolution in clean energy. Professor Jerry Woodall and students have invented a
way to use an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water a process that he thinks
could replace gasoline as well as its pollutants and emissions tied to global warming. But
Woodall says there's one big hitch: "Egos" at the U.S. Department of Energy, a key funding
source for energy research, "are holding up the revolution. The hydrogen is generated on demand,
so you only produce as much as you need when you need it," he said in a statement released by
Purdue this week. So instead of having to fill up at a station, hydrogen would be made inside
vehicles in tanks about the same size as today's gasoline tanks. An internal reaction in those tanks
would create hydrogen from water and 350 pounds worth of special pellets. The hydrogen would
then power an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell stack. "It's a simple matter to convert
ordinary internal combustion engines to run on hydrogen," Woodall said. "All you have to do is
replace the gasoline fuel injector with a hydrogen injector." "The egos of program managers at
DOE are holding up the revolution," he told MSNBC.com. "Remember that Einstein was a patent
examiner and had no funding for his 1905 miracle year," Woodall added. "He did it on his own
time. If he had been a professor at a university in the U.S. today and put in a proposal to develop
the theory of special relativity it would have been summarily rejected."
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable information on clean, new energy sources, click here.
Senators who weakened drug bill got millions from industry

2007-05-16, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-10-senators-drug-bill_N.htm
Senators who raised millions of dollars in campaign donations from pharmaceutical interests
secured industry-friendly changes to a landmark drug-safety bill. The bill, which passed 93-1,
grants the Food and Drug Administration broad new authority to monitor the safety of drugs after
they are approved. It addressed some shortcomings that allowed the painkiller Vioxx to stay on the
market for years after initial signs that it could cause heart attacks. However, the powers granted to
the FDA in the bill's original version were pared back during private meetings. And efforts to curb
conflicts of interest among FDA advisers and allow consumers to buy cheaper drugs from other
countries were defeated in close votes. A measure that blocked an effort to allow drug
importation passed, 49-40. The 49 senators who voted against drug importation received
about $5 million from industry executives and political action committees since 2001
nearly three quarters of the industry donations to current members of the Senate. Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. [was] the lone vote against the bill. "You have a culture in which big money
has significant influence. Big money gains you access, access gives you the time to influence
people." The pharmaceutical companies spend more money on lobbying than any other single
industry $855 million from 1998 to 2006. The biggest drug trade group, Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America, praised the bill after it passed. The group's spokesman,
Ken Johnson, said its critics "never point out that a great deal of this money is spent trying to
defeat bills that are designed to cripple this industry."
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information on drug company manipulations, click here.
Officers: Ex-CIA chief Tenet a 'failed' leader

2007-04-27, CNN News
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/29/tenet.letter/index.html
In a letter written Saturday to former CIA Director George Tenet, six former CIA officers described
their former boss as "the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community," and called his book "an
admission of failed leadership." The letter, signed by Phil Giraldi, Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson,
Jim Marcinkowski, Vince Cannistraro and David MacMichael, said Tenet should have resigned in
protest rather than take part in the administration's buildup to the war. (Read the full letter)
Johnson is a former CIA intelligence official and registered Republican who voted for Bush in 2000.
Cannistraro is former head of the CIA's counterterrorism division. The writers said ... "your lament
that you are a victim in a process you helped direct is self-serving. You were not a victim. You were
a willing participant in a poorly considered policy to start an unnecessary war. CIA field
operatives produced solid intelligence in September 2002 that stated clearly there was no
stockpile of any kind of WMD in Iraq. This intelligence was ignored and later misused." The
letter said CIA officers learned later that month Iraq had no contact with Osama bin Laden and that
then-President Saddam Hussein considered the al Qaeda leader to be an enemy. Still, Tenet "went
before Congress in February 2003 and testified that Iraq did indeed have links to al Qaeda. "You
helped set the bar very low for reporting that supported favored White House positions, while
raising the bar astronomically high when it came to raw intelligence that did not support the case
for war. You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence. Most importantly and
tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States."
Voter turnout limits said to be White House goal

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/79393.html
For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has
pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that
favor Republican political candidates, according to former department lawyers and public records
and documents. Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the
administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and
federal voter identification laws. The administration ... has repeatedly invoked allegations of
widespread voter fraud to justify tougher voter ID measures and other steps to restrict
access to the ballot, even though research suggests that voter fraud is rare. Since President
Bush's first attorney general, John Ashcroft ... launched a ''Ballot Access and Voter Integrity
Initiative'' in 2001, Justice Department political appointees have exhorted U.S. attorneys to
prosecute voter fraud cases, and the department's Civil Rights Division has sought to roll back
policies to protect minority voting rights. Several of [the eight fired U.S. attorneys] were ousted in
part because they failed to bring voter fraud cases important to Republican politicians. Virtually
every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001 ... has come down on the side of
Republicans, notably in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Washington ... where recent elections
have been decided by narrow margins. In the last six years, the number of voters registered at
state government agencies that provide services to the poor and disabled has been cut in half, to
one million.
Note: Doublespeak, like the "Ballot Access" initiative, is often used to disguise the fact that the
effect of the initiative is the opposite of what the title suggests. Think about the results of the "War
on Terror" and "War on Drugs." The amount of terror and drug use has expanded dramatically
since these were initiated. Could this be a purposeful maneuver? For more, click here.
Trust Busters

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-neil15apr15,1,434...
[ABC's talk show] "The View," by accident or design, has an almost eerie calibration to the public
at large. For example, only one of the four co-hosts ... is a supporter of President Bush. In other
words, 25% of the cast has a favorable opinion of Bush, pretty much in line with Bush's approval
ratings nationally. Likewise, last year a Scripps Howard poll found that 36% of the U.S. public
believes the government was somehow complicit in the 9/11 attacks. I estimate Rosie [O'Donnell]
constitutes 36% of the cast. Why does pop culture matter? Because it reveals ... what is really on
our minds. And what's on our minds lately is reasonable doubt. Actor Charlie Sheen [is] onboard to
narrate a new version of the online 9/11 conspiracy documentary "Loose Change," with distribution
by billionaire Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures. We're not talking about a couple of flaky moonbats
in an Oakland basement. Cuban owns the Dallas Mavericks. And just about everywhere you look,
official narratives are coming unglued: Pat Tillman, for example, or the firing of eight federal
prosecutors. The abduction of British sailors in what Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed was
indisputably Iraqi territorial waters has proved to be quite disputable. [An] ex-British ambassador
claims the map used by the Ministry of Defence to support its case is a fake. I am not a 9/11
conspiracy theorist. At the same time, I'm certain we don't know all there is to know about those
events. The data stream has been so thoroughly corrupted. Weapons of mass destruction.
Abu Ghraib. The silencing of climate scientists. It's hard for the ministries of Washington to
make an appeal to authority when they have been proven so unreliable.
Note: For an abundance of reliable, verifiable information suggesting a 9/11 cover-up, click here.
The Gonzales Eight

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/opinion/08thu1.html?ex=1331010000&en=6bf7c6...
It is nearly impossible to fathom what self-delusion could have convinced Senator Pete Domenici
... that he had a right to call a federal prosecutor at home and question him about a politically
sensitive investigation. That disturbing tale is one of several revealed this week in Congressional
hearings called to look into the firing of eight [U.S.] attorneys. The hearings left little doubt that the
Bush administration had all eight an unprecedented number ousted for political reasons. But it
points to even wider abuse; prosecutors suggest that three Republican members of Congress may
have tried to pressure the attorneys into doing their political bidding. It already seemed clear that
the Bush administrations purge had trampled on prosecutorial independence. Now Congress and
the Justice Department need to investigate possible ethics violations, and perhaps illegality. Two of
the fired prosecutors testified that they had been dismissed after resisting what they suspected
were importunings to use their offices to help Republicans win elections. A third described what
may have been a threat of retaliation if he talked publicly about his firing. Attorney General
Alberto Gonzaless claim that these prosecutors were fired for poor performance was
always difficult to believe. Now its impossible.
Note: If the U.S. Attorney General is lying, who can we trust?
White House Backed U.S. Attorney Firings, Officials Say

The White House approved the firings of seven U.S. attorneys late last year after senior Justice
Department officials identified the prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out
President Bush's policies ... White House and Justice Department officials said yesterday. The list
of prosecutors was assembled last fall, based largely on complaints from members of Congress,
law enforcement officials and career Justice Department lawyers, administration officials said. One
of the complaints came from Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), who specifically raised concerns
with the Justice Department last fall about the performance of then-U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias
of New Mexico. Iglesias has alleged that two unnamed New Mexico lawmakers pressured him in
October to speed up the indictments of Democrats before the elections. Since the mass firings
were carried out three months ago, Justice Department officials have consistently portrayed
them as personnel decisions based on the prosecutors' "performance-related" problems.
But, yesterday, officials acknowledged that the ousters were based primarily on the
administration's unhappiness with the prosecutors' policy decisions and revealed the
White House's role in the matter. At least five of the prosecutors, including Iglesias, were
presiding over public corruption investigations when they were fired.
Bush's legacy: The president who cried wolf

Only this president, only in this time, only with this dangerous, even messianic certitude,
could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq, by offering an entrance
strategy for Iran. Only this president could look out over a vista of 3,008 dead and 22,834
wounded in Iraq, and finally say, Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with
me only to follow that by proposing to repeat the identical mistake ... in Iran. Without any
authorization from the public, which spoke so loudly and clearly to you in Novembers elections
without any consultation with a Congress ... you seem to be ready to make an open-ended
commitment (on Americas behalf) to do whatever you want, in Iran. Our military, Mr. Bush, is
already stretched so thin by this bogus adventure in Iraq that even a majority of serving personnel
are willing to tell pollsters that they are dissatisfied with your prosecution of the war. You, sir, have
become the president who cried wolf. Many of us are as inclined to believe you just shuffled the
director of national intelligence over to the State Department because he thought you were wrong
about Iran. Many of us are as inclined to believe you just put a pilot in charge of ground wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan because he would be truly useful in an air war next door in Iran. Your
assurances ... that we trust you have lost all shape and texture. You have lost the military. You
have lost the Congress to the Democrats. You have lost many of the Republicans. You are losing
the credibility, not just of your presidency, but more importantly of the office itself. And most
imperatively, you are guaranteeing that more American troops will be losing their lives, and more
families their loved ones.
Note: For powerful information from a highly decorated U.S. General on the real reasons behind
war, click here.
Did the CIA kill Bobby Kennedy?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1952393,00.html
In 1968, Robert Kennedy seemed likely to follow his brother, John, into the White House. Then, on
June 6, he was assassinated - apparently by a lone gunman. But Shane O'Sullivan says he has
evidence implicating three CIA agents in the murder: On June 5 1968, Robert Kennedy wins the
California Democratic primary. After midnight, he finishes his victory speech at the Ambassador
hotel in Los Angeles ... in a crowded pantry when 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan steps
down from a tray-stacker with a "sick, villainous smile" on his face and starts firing at Kennedy with
an eight-shot revolver. As Kennedy lies dying on the pantry floor, Sirhan is arrested as the lone
assassin. He carries the motive in his shirt-pocket (a clipping about Kennedy's plans to sell
bombers to Israel). But the autopsy report suggests Sirhan could not have fired the shots that
killed Kennedy. And more bullet-holes are found in the pantry than Sirhan's gun can hold,
suggesting a second gunman. Three years ago, I started writing a screenplay about the
assassination [and was] caught up in a strange tale of second guns and "Manchurian candidates"
(as the movie termed brainwashed assassins). As I researched the case, I uncovered new video
and photographic evidence suggesting that three senior CIA operatives were behind the killing.
Morales died of a heart attack in 1978, weeks before he was to be called before the HSCA [House
Select Committee on Assassinations]. Joannides died in 1990. Campbell may still be out there
somewhere, in his early 80s. Given the positive identifications we have gathered on these
three, the CIA and the Los Angeles Police Department need to explain what they were doing
there.
Secret Nazi Lebensborn children go public

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15548608/ns/world_news-europe/t/secret-nazi-leben...
Folker Heinicke always had the feeling that something about his upbringing just wasnt right.
Raised in a German home full of wealth and privilege did not dull his notions that something was
missing, but it would be decades before he would learn the full truth: he was the child of a Nazi
program to strengthen the German race with Aryan blood. He and other children known as
Lebensborn Kinder or source of life kids were the product of parents chosen for their traits to
breed Hitlers idealized blue-eyed, blonde-haired Aryan race. The Lebensborn program was the
mirror opposite of the Nazis other, more hideous racial experiments. While millions of Jews
and others deemed undesirable, were slaughtered, these children were carefully selected
for their Aryan qualities and brought into the world in comfortable surroundings, well away
from the Allied bombing raids. Of the estimated 5,000 to 8,000 born into Lebensborn homes in
Germany, some were raised by their birth mothers, but many were given over to families of highranking SS officers to be raised according to Nazi doctrine.
Note: For more on the Lebensborn project, click here. To understand more about Nazi programs of
mind control, click here.
A Donor Who Had Big Allies

http://web.archive.org/web/20080228192833/www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...
In a case that echoes the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, two Northern California
Republican congressmen used their official positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a
wealthy Texas businessman who provided them with political contributions. Reps. John T. Doolittle
and Richard W. Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to
oppose an investigation by federal banking regulators into the affairs of Houston millionaire
Charles Hurwitz, documents recently obtained by The Times show. The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp. was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his role in the collapse of a Texas savings and
loan that cost taxpayers $1.6 billion. The investigation was ultimately dropped. Doolittle and
Pombo both considered protgs of DeLay used their power as members of the
House Resources Committee to subpoena the agency's confidential records on the case,
including details of the evidence FDIC investigators had compiled on Hurwitz. Then, in 2001, the
two congressmen inserted many of the sensitive documents into the Congressional Record,
making them public and accessible to Hurwitz's lawyers, a move that FDIC officials said damaged
the government's ability to pursue the banker. The FDIC's chief spokesman characterized what
Doolittle and Pombo did as "a seamy abuse of the legislative process."
Planted PR Stories Not News to Military

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-infowar18dec18,0,6619536...
U.S. military officials in Iraq were fully aware that a Pentagon contractor regularly paid Iraqi
newspapers to publish positive stories about the war, and made it clear that none of the
stories should be traced to the United States, according to several current and former
employees of Lincoln Group, the Washington-based contractor. In contrast to assertions by military
officials in Baghdad and Washington, interviews and Lincoln Group documents show that the
information campaign waged over the last year was designed to cloak any connection to the U.S.
military. "In clandestine parlance, Lincoln Group was a 'cutout' -- a third party -- that would provide
the military with plausible deniability," said a former Lincoln Group employee. A number of workers
who carried out Lincoln Group's offensive, including a $20-million two-month contract to influence
public opinion in Iraq...describe a campaign that was unnecessarily costly, poorly run and largely
ineffective at improving America's image in Iraq. Lincoln Group...had little public relations or
communications experience when it won its first psychological operations contract last year. Yet it
has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the information war, and now has 20 Pentagon
contracts.
Pentagon Employee Was Ordered to Destroy Data Identifying Atta As a

Terrorist
A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday. The employee is
prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to
identify the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep.
Curt Weldon, R-Pa. Weldon declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters.
Weldon described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" as much as one-fourth of all the printed
materials in the Library of Congress, he added.
Bush allies getting Katrina work

2005-09-13, CNN News/Reuters
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/12/news/economy/katrina_contracts.reut
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of
the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former
campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have
already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast. One is...Halliburton Co.
(Research) subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of
Halliburton. Allbaugh formally registered as a lobbyist for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and
Root in February. Allbaugh is also a friend of Michael Brown, director of FEMA who was removed
as head of Katrina disaster relief and sent back to Washington amid allegations he had padded his
resume. Halliburton continues to be a source of income for Cheney, who served as its chief
executive officer from 1995 until 2000. According to tax filings released in April, Cheney's
income included $194,852 in deferred pay from the company.
E.P.A. Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/business/28fuel.html?ex=1280203200&en=da4fa...
With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy bill, the Environmental Protection
Agency made an 11th-hour decision Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual
report on fuel economy. But a copy of the report, embargoed for publication Wednesday, was
sent to The New York Times by a member of the E.P.A. communications staff just minutes before
the decision was made to delay it until next week. The contents of the report show that
loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars
and trucks that are significantly less fuel-efficient, on average, than they were in the late
1980's. The average 2004 model car or truck got 20.8 miles per gallon, about 6 percent less than
the 22.1 m.p.g. of the average new vehicle sold in the late 1980's, according to the report.
Releasing the report this week would have been inopportune for the Bush administration, its critics
said, because it would have come on the eve of a final vote in Congress on energy legislation six
years in the making. The bill, as it stands, largely ignores auto mileage regulations.
Note: For more, see our New Energy Information Center.
Lawmaker Challenges U.S. Case for War

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/05/17/VI2005051700710...
A British lawmaker forcefully denied allegations in a Senate hearing yesterday that he received
rights to purchase millions of barrels of Iraqi oil at a discount from Saddam Hussein's government,
and he delivered a fiery attack on three decades of U.S. policy toward Iraq. George Galloway, a
formidable debater recently ousted from the British Labor Party after attacking Prime
Minister Tony Blair for supporting the war in Iraq, used his appearance before the Senate
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as a forum to challenge the veracity of the
Bush administration's case for going to war. He also unleashed a personal attack against
panel Chairman Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), calling his investigation the "mother of all smoke
screens" designed to "divert attention from the crimes that you supported" by endorsing President
Bush's decision to invade Iraq.
Important Note: Mr. Galloway's statement was not posted on the website of the Senate
Committee tasked with posting these matters. Whereas testimony of all other panel members is
provided, for Mr. Galloway, the website states "Mr. Galloway did not submit a written statement."
Mr. Galloway did submit a statement, and it has been posted many places on the Internet, and
published widely in articles like that above. See the relevant Senate Committee webpage at:
http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=232
U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told to Alter Findings

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scientists10feb10,0,4954...
More than 200 scientists employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they have been
directed to alter official findings to lessen protections for plants and animals, a survey released
Wednesday says. More than half of the biologists and other researchers who responded to the
survey said they knew of cases in which commercial interests, including timber, grazing,
development and energy companies, had applied political pressure to reverse scientific
conclusions deemed harmful to their business.
Iraqi Refugee's Tale of Abuse Dissolves Upon Later Scrutiny

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C11FC3A5C0C728EDDA80894DD40...
Testifying before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July 2003 about the rebuilding of
Iraq, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the story of Jumana Michael Hanna, an Iraqi
woman...with a tale of her horrific torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime. Hanna's tale more than two years of imprisonment that included being subjected to electric shocks, repeatedly
raped and sexually assaulted - was unusual in that she was willing to name the Iraqi police officials
who participated in her torture, "information that is helping us to root out Baathist policemen who
routinely tortured and killed prisoners," Wolfowitz said. But Hanna's story, which 10 days before
Wolfowitz's testimony had been the subject of a front-page article in the Washington Post, appears
to have unraveled. Esquire magazine, in this month's issue, published a lengthy article, by a writer
who was hired to help Hanna produce a memoir, saying that her account had all but fallen apart.
Clinton aide slams Pentagon's UFO secrecy

2002-10-22, CNN News
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/10/22/ufo.records/
One winter night in 1965, eyewitnesses saw a fireball streak over North America, bank, turn and
appear to crash in western Pennsylvania. Then swarms of military personnel combed the area and
a tarp-covered flatbed truck rumbled out of the woods. Now a former White House chief of staff
and an international investigative journalist want to know what the Pentagon knows, calling
on it to release classified files about that and other incidents involving unidentified flying
objects, or UFOs. Ex-Clinton aide John Podesta...was one of numerous political and media
heavyweights on hand in Washington, D.C., to announce a new group to gain access to secret
government records about UFOs. The Coalition for Freedom of Information (CFI) is pressing the
Air Force for documents involving Project Moon Dust and Operation Blue Fly, clandestine
operations reported to have existed decades ago to investigate UFOs and retrieve objects of
unknown origins. Backed by the Sci-Fi channel, the CFI hopes to reduce the scientific ridicule
factor in this country when the topic is UFOs.
Report cites warnings before 9/11

2002-09-19, CNN
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/18/intelligence.hearings/
U.S. intelligence officials had several warnings that terrorists might attack the United States
on its home soil -- even using airplanes as weapons -- well before the September 11, 2001
attacks, two congressional committees said in a report. In 1998, U.S. intelligence had
information that a group of unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosives-laden airplane into the
World Trade Center, according to a joint inquiry of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
However, the Federal Aviation Administration found the plot "highly unlikely given the state of that
foreign country's aviation program," and believed a flight originating outside the United States
would be detected before it reached its target inside the country, the report said. "The FBI's New
York office took no action on the information," it said. Another alert came just a month before the
attacks, the report said, when the CIA sent a message to the FAA warning of a possible hijacking
"or an act of sabotage against a commercial airliner." The information was linked to a group of
Pakistanis based in South America. That warning did not mention using an airliner as a weapon
and, the report said, "there was apparently little, if any, effort by intelligence community analysts to
produce any strategic assessments of terrorists using aircraft as weapons."
Note: For many unanswered questions about the official account of 9/11 asked by highlyrespected professors and officials, click here and here.
Local officials rethink recently made plans to deal with terrorism

2002-04-16, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Leading Newspaper of Pittsburgh, PA)
http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_city/20010923city0923p5.asp
Emergency operations officials in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh hadn't trained for what
happened Sept. 11. "Never in our wildest dreams did it ever come to the table that they would be
using passenger aircraft as missiles," said Bob Full, chief of emergency operations for Allegheny
County. It is clear from 911 tapes that local officials had less than 15 minutes' warning that the
hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 was in Pittsburgh airspace before the plane crashed at 10:06
a.m. in Somerset County, killing all 44 people aboard. Full learned about the errant plane at 9:53
a.m. That's when he got a call alerting him that the control tower at Pittsburgh International Airport
had been evacuated. Thirteen minutes earlier, he had talked to an airport official who had no
indication of any threat. Between those two conversations, the Pittsburgh tower had received a call
from the Cleveland air traffic control tower, saying a plane was heading toward Pittsburgh and
refusing to communicate with controllers. The FAA ordered the Pittsburgh control tower
evacuated at 9:49 a.m.
Note: Why on Earth would they have evacuated the control tower from which they could best
monitor what was going on with errant Flight 93? Could it be someone didn't want traffic control to
see what was really going on? For lots more, click here and here.
An E.S.P. Gap
Ronald McRae, a former investigative reporter [tells of] the military's forays into parapsychology,
the quasi-science that studies the interaction of mind and matter. According to McRae, who is
skeptical of psychic claims, the Department of Defense has spent $6 million annually in recent
years to research such phenomena as extrasensory perception (E.S.P.) and mental telepathy. The
Pentagon denies any interest in parapsychology. But in an interview with the New York Times,
retired Lieut. General Daniel O. Graham, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency,
indicated that the military had unquestionably been involved in psychic research. While he
considered McRae's $6 million budget figure an exaggeration, he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if
the intelligence community were following this. They would be remiss if they didn't." Back in
December 1980, Military Review, a journal of the U.S. Army, carried a cover story titled "The New
Mental Battlefield" [in which] Lieut. Colonel John B. Alexander wrote that "there are weapons
systems that operate on the power of the mind and whose lethal capacity has already been
demonstrated." He ... urged the U.S. to step up its research in the field. "I know the Government's
involved," says Physicist Russell Targ. "I did the work," he contends. He maintains that there was a
"multimillion-dollar" project, part of which focused on "remote viewing" experiments. On a visit to
the U.S.S.R. in October, Targ found that the Soviets had replicated some of the experiments he
and his colleagues had reported in scientific journals. Says Targ: "In the Soviet Union, psychic
research is taken seriously at the highest levels."
Note: For those interested in the military's use of "psyops" (psychological operations), you can
view all 170 pages of the official U.S. Army psyops manual from April 2005, available here.
Remote viewing has been used extensively in the military, intelligence, and police communities.
For an excellent 50-minute video covering this most fascinating topic, click here.
California v. New York

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,787713.html
Dr. Walter Bernard Coffey of San Francisco was again asking the State of New York's Department
of Social Welfare permission to open a cancer research laboratory and clinic at Huntington, L. I.
His cohorts surrounded him. Opposed were Dr. John Augustus Hartwell, president of the New York
Academy of Medicine, spokesman for organized Medicine, and his cohorts. The simple question
was: Should the State authorize the cancer clinic? But in the train of that simple question
came a most extraordinary range of considerationsthe nature and cause of cancer; the
nature and authenticity of the Coffey-Humber cancer treatment; medical ethics, human
nature, public policy, money, fame, and even national politics. Dr. Coffey ... is chief surgeon of
Southern Pacific Co. He has 600 doctors working under him. They care for 70,000 railroad men
and their families. Dr. John Augustus Hartwell, 61, president of the New York Academy of Medicine
... and most of his associates want Drs. Coffey & Humber and their cancer extract kept away from
New York. They fear that the hope of a Coffey-Humber cancer cure will persuade the cancerous to
abandon the orthodox treatment of surgery, X-rays and radium. Very quickly after a sufferer gets a
Coffey-Humber injection, his pain quiets, and in 71% of the cases disappears. In most of the cases
who do not die (Drs. Coffey & Humber will treat only the moribund, cases rejected as hopeless by
at least two reputable doctors), the cancer becomes necrotic, ceases to smell, and sloughs off
leaving a clean hole. That undeniably happens. Why that happens is debatable.
Note: To read how permission for the innovative cancer clinic was eventually refused, click here. If
you want to understand how politics and big money prevented the legitimate study of promising
cancer cures back in the 1930s, this article is a highly revealing "must read."
SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/asia/the-secret-history-of-seal-team-...
The Navys SEAL Team 6 ... best known for killing Osama bin Laden, has been transformed by
more than a decade of combat into a global manhunting machine. That role reflects Americas new
way of war, in which conflict is distinguished ... by the relentless killing of suspected militants.
While fighting grinding wars of attrition in Afghanistan and Iraq, Team 6 ... joined Central
Intelligence Agency operatives in an initiative called the Omega Program, which offered greater
latitude in hunting adversaries. Team 6 has successfully carried out thousands of dangerous raids
that military leaders credit with weakening militant networks, but its activities have also spurred
recurring concerns. Afghan villagers and a British commander accused SEALs of indiscriminately
killing men in one hamlet; in 2009, team members joined C.I.A. and Afghan paramilitary forces in a
raid that left a group of youths dead and inflamed tensions between Afghan and NATO officials.
When suspicions have been raised about misconduct, outside oversight has been limited. This is
an area where Congress notoriously doesnt want to know too much, said Harold Koh, the State
Departments former top legal adviser. Like the C.I.A.s campaign of drone strikes, Special
Operations missions offer policy makers an alternative to costly wars of occupation. But
the bulwark of secrecy around Team 6 makes it impossible to fully assess its record and
the consequences of its actions, including civilian casualties or the deep resentment inside the
countries where its members operate.
Note: Drone strikes almost always miss their intended targets. Casualties of war whose identities
are unknown are frequently mis-reported to be "militants". For more along these lines, see concise
summaries of deeply revealing news articles about military corruption and high level manipulation
of mass media.
Out of Debtors Prison, With Law as the Key

2015-03-27, New York Times Blog
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com//2015/03/27/shutting-modern-debtors-pris...
When Jack Dawley returned in 2007 to his hometown, Norwalk, Ohio, after eight years in prison
and on parole in Wisconsin, he knew getting by would be difficult. For four years, he ... paid down
the $1,400 in fines and court fees he owed. But in 2012, he injured his back, lost his job and
missed a payment on his court debt. He was arrested and sentenced to jail for 10 days. When he
got out, he had 90 days to make a payment. He failed, and went back to jail. A cycle was
beginning: jail every 90 days. Although the United States outlawed debtors prison two centuries
ago, that, in effect, is where Dawley kept going. It is crowded there. [In] Ferguson, MO ... the
recent Department of Justice investigation of the police and courts portrays a system designed to
jail the poor for their poverty. Across America, courts levy fines and fees ... on misdemeanor
offenders, and jail them when they cannot pay. You dont go to jail for walking your dog
without a leash, making an illegal left turn or burning leaves without a permit, but in many
states you will go to jail if you cant pay the resulting fees and fines. We have a two-tier
system: The rich pay fines. The poor go to jail. Debtors prison is both senseless and illegal. In
1983, the Supreme Court ruled that courts must inquire about a defendants ability to pay fines and
can jail only those who can pay but wont. Yet defendants dont know [that] they can ask for a
hearing on their ability to pay, [and] courts routinely fail to suggest a hearing.
income inequality and systemic prison industry corruption.
Talking to James Risen About Pay Any Price, the War on Terror and
Press Freedoms
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/25/talking-james-risen-pay-price-w...
James Risen, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for exposing the NSA warrantless eavesdropping
program, has [been] threatened with prison by the Obama Justice Department. [This] is almost
certainly the vindictive by-product of the U.S. governments anger over his NSA reporting. He has
published a new book on the War on Terror entitled Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless
War. Risen's [critique] is one of the first to offer large amounts of original reporting on ... a
particular part of the War on Terror, namely the way in which economic motives, what [he] calls the
Homeland Security Industrial Complex, has driven a huge part of the war. GLENN GREENWALD:
How much of this economic motive is the cause of the fact that weve now been at war for 13
years? RISEN: It plays a really central role. After so many years theres ... a post-9/11
mercenary class thats developed that have invested. Not just people who are making
money, but people who are in the government. Their status and their power within the
government are invested in continuing the war. Theres very little debate about whether to
continue the war. When Dick Cheney said, the gloves come off, ... that really meant, Were
going to deregulate national security, and were going to take off all the rules that were imposed in
the 70s after Watergate. That was just a dramatic change. Its been extended to this whole new
homeland security apparatus. People think that terrorism is an existential threat, even though its
not, and so theyre willing to go along with all this.
Note: The complete interview at the link above provides details of James Risen's fight to preserve
journalistic integrity against a corrupted government's attempts to manipulate the news. For more
on Risen's deeply revealing investigation of the Homeland Security Industrial Complex, see this
recent NPR interview.
Michigan becomes 5th US state to thwart direct Tesla car sales

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill on Tuesday that will keep electric carmaker Tesla
Motors from selling its cars directly to consumers in the state, home to the biggest U.S.
automakers. Snyder said in a letter to members of the state House of Representatives on Tuesday
that the measure merely "clarifies" existing law not to allow direct manufacturer-to-consumer retail
sales. Those sales, he said, must be made through franchised dealers. Michigan becomes the
fifth U.S. state to keep Tesla from easily selling cars directly to consumers. In all of those
states except Michigan, Tesla operates "galleries" where consumers can view Tesla cars but
cannot discuss prices, take test drives or order cars. Michigan has gone a step further, said
Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla vice president of business development, and will not allow even the
informational galleries. Tesla, which has challenged some of the long-held conventions of auto
industry, wants to set up its own sleek stores rather than to sell through a franchised dealer
network. The Michigan measure, passed 38-0 in the state's Senate and 106-1 in the House, does
not mention Tesla by name. But, O'Connell said, the legislation clearly is addressed to the
company. O'Connell said the bill was pushed through the legislature without chance for
public debate because well-connected auto dealers did not want a public airing of the
state's policy. Detroit-based General Motors on Tuesday said it supported the new measure.
corruption news articles from reliable sources. You can also read more about inspiring innovations
and how these are suppressed.
Media Should Be Challenging Arguments for War, Not Baying for Blood
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/04/media-challenging-arguments-war...
Washingtons elite media, as usual, ... are baying for war. They are ... essentially demanding a
major military assault [on ISIS]. Watching post-invasion reality in the region should have made it
clear to anyone paying any attention at all that ... military action kills not just enemies but
innocent civilians, creates refugee crises, ... further destabilizes entire regions, and alters
the future in unanticipated and sometimes disastrous ways. In a nation that considers itself
peaceful and civilized, the case for military action should be overwhelmingly stronger than the case
against. It must face, and survive, aggressive questioning. There is no reason to expect that kind
of pushback from within Congress leading figures ... are falling into line with the hawkish
consensus for some sort of action. And Vice President Joe Biden [said on September 3] that the
U.S. will follow ISIS to the gates of hell. In the absence of a coherent opposition party or
movement, its the Fourth Estates duty to ask those questions, and demand not just answers, but
evidence to back up those answers. [In an interview,] Paul R. Pillar, formerly the CIAs top Middle
East analyst, ... marveled at the kind of mass emotional phenomenon based in part on the recent
barbaric beheadings of captured free-lance journalists and the scary maps that make it seem like
ISIS is about to take Baghdad. But, he said, the press is getting excited in a way that I think
has been blown well out of proportion. Have we considered whether part of the groups
purpose is to provoke more U.S. intervention?
Note: For more on this, see concise summaries of deeply revealing major media corruption news
Double mastectomy may not be best choice for survival, study says
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Study-Double-mastectomy-may-not-be-best-...
Women diagnosed with early-stage cancer in one breast are increasingly choosing to have both
breasts removed to reduce their chances of getting cancer again, but they'll likely have no better
chance at long-term survival than those who had a far less invasive lumpectomy followed by
radiation, researchers said [on September 2]. Researchers at Stanford University and the Cancer
Prevention Institute of California in Fremont reached the conclusion after taking the largest and
perhaps most comprehensive look at the survival rates for the most common surgical choices for
early-stage breast cancer: double mastectomy, a single mastectomy and lumpectomy followed by
radiation. "We thought we'd maybe see some survival benefit with bilateral mastectomy,
particularly in younger women," said Dr. Allison Kurian, assistant professor of health
research and policy at Stanford and lead author of the study. "We looked and looked, and
saw no difference there." For their study, the researchers relied on data from the California
Cancer Registry, which involved nearly 190,000 cases or virtually every woman in California
diagnosed with one cancerous tumor in a single breast between 1998 and 2011. More than half
were treated with lumpectomies, which involve removing just the tumor and surrounding tissue.
The study showed the rate of bilateral mastectomies rose from 2 percent of all patients in 1998 to
12.3 percent in 2011, an increase most pronounced in younger white women. In that group, the
percentage of patients younger than 40 choosing to have both breasts removed skyrocketed from
3.6 percent in 1998 to 33 percent in 2011.
Edward Snowden responds to release of e-mail by U.S. officials

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds...
Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden responded to questions from The Washington
Post following the release of an e-mail he had sent while working for the National Security Agency.
Q: How do you respond to todays NSA statement and the release of your email with the Office of
General Counsel? A: The NSAs new discovery of written contact between me and its lawyers after more than a year of denying any such contact existed - raises serious concerns. It reveals as
false the NSAs claim ... that after extensive investigation, including interviews with his former NSA
supervisors and co-workers, we have not found any evidence to support Mr. Snowdens contention
that he brought these matters to anyones attention. Todays release is incomplete, and does not
include my correspondence with the Signals Intelligence Directorates Office of Compliance. [But]
whether my disclosures were justified does not depend on whether I raised these concerns
previously. Thats because the system is designed to ensure that even the most valid
concerns are suppressed and ignored, not acted upon. The fact that two powerful
Democratic Senators - Ron Wyden and Mark Udall - knew of mass surveillance that they
believed was abusive and felt constrained [not] to do anything about it underscores how
futile such internal action is -- and will remain -- until these processes are reformed. Still, the
fact is that I did raise such concerns both verbally and in writing, and on multiple, continuing
occasions - as I have always said.
Note: For more on the Snowden case, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
Venezuela: A Call for Peace

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/opinion/venezuela-a-call-for-peace.html
Venezuelans ... have built a participatory democratic movement from the grass roots that has
ensured that both power and resources are equitably distributed among our people. According to
the United Nations, Venezuela has consistently reduced inequality: It now has the lowest income
inequality in the region. We have reduced poverty enormously to 25.4 percent in 2012, on the
World Banks data, from 49 percent in 1998; in the same period, according to government
statistics, extreme poverty diminished to 6 percent from 21 percent. We have created flagship
universal health care and education programs, free to our citizens nationwide. We have achieved
these feats in large part by using revenue from Venezuelan oil. Since 1998, the movement
founded by Hugo Chvez has won more than a dozen presidential, parliamentary and local
elections through an electoral process that former American President Jimmy Carter has called
the best in the world. Recently, the United Socialist Party received an overwhelming mandate in
mayoral elections in December 2013, winning 255 out of 337 municipalities. Popular participation
in politics in Venezuela has increased dramatically over the past decade. The claims that
Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent mainstream
sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are being carried out by
people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to reverse the gains of the
democratic process that have benefited the vast majority of the people.
Note: This article was written by Nicols Maduro, the president of Venezuela. We have long
observed a strong media bias against Venezuela. Thanks to the New York Times for finally printing
an article in support of this country which, despite its problems, has made remarkable strides in
recent years.
New analysis of rocket used in Syria chemical attack undercuts U.S.

claims
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/15/3873228/new-analysis-of-rocket-used-in....
A series of revelations about the rocket believed to have delivered poison sarin gas to a Damascus
suburb last summer are challenging American intelligence assumptions about that attack and
suggest that the case U.S. officials initially made for retaliatory military action was flawed. A team
of security and arms experts, meeting this week in Washington to discuss the matter, has
concluded that the range of the rocket that delivered sarin in the largest attack that night was too
short for the device to have been fired from the Syrian government positions where the Obama
administration insists they originated. The authors of a report released Wednesday said that their
study of the rockets design, its likely payload and its possible trajectories show that it would have
been impossible for the rocket to have been fired from inside areas controlled by the government
of Syrian President Bashar Assad. In the report, titled Possible Implications of Faulty U.S.
Technical Intelligence, Richard Lloyd, a former United Nations weapons inspector, and Theodore
Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security policy at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, argue that the question about the rockets range indicates a major
weakness in the case for military action initially pressed by Obama administration officials. Postol
said that a basic analysis of the weapon ... would have shown that it wasnt capable of
flying the 6 miles from the center of the Syrian government-controlled part of Damascus to
the point of impact in the suburbs, or even the 3.6 miles from the edges of governmentcontrolled ground.
Note: For more on government lies designed to start wars, see the deeply revealing reports from
Four Kaupthing bankers sentenced to prison for market abuses in 2008

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/12/kaupthing-bankers-prison-mark...
An Icelandic court has sentenced four former Kaupthing bankers to jail for market abuses related
to a large stake taken in the bank by a Qatari sheikh just before it went under in late 2008. Weeks
before the country's top three banks collapsed under huge debts as the global credit crunch struck,
Kaupthing announced that Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani had bought 5 of its
shares in a confidence-boosting move. A parliamentary commission later said the shares had been
bought with a loan from Kaupthing itself. A Reykjavik district court sentenced Hreidar Mar
Sigurdsson, Kaupthing's former chief executive, to five and a half years in prison while
former chairman Sigurdur Einarsson received a five-year sentence. Magnus Gudmundsson,
former chief executive of Kaupthing Luxembourg, was given a three-year sentence and Olafur
Olafsson the bank's second largest shareholder at the time received three and a half years.
None of the bankers, now based in London and Luxembourg, were present [at the
sentencing].
Note: Yet not a single executive of US or multinational banks has been jailed for funneling billions
of dollars into their own pockets and crashing the entire global economy. For more on this, click
here. For more on financial corruption, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media
Spain colluded in NSA spying on its citizens, Spanish newspaper

reports
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/30/spain-colluded-nsa-spying-citize...
The widespread surveillance of Spanish citizens by the US National Security Agency, which
caused outrage when it was reported this week, was the product of a collaboration with Spain's
intelligence services, according to one Spanish newspaper. Spanish agents not only knew about
the work of the NSA but also facilitated it, El Mundo reports. An NSA document entitled "Sharing
computer network operations cryptologic information with foreign partners" reportedly shows how
the US relies on the collaboration of many countries to give it access to intelligence information,
including electronic metadata. According to the document seen by El Mundo, the US classifies
cooperation with various countries on four different levels. In the first group "Comprehensive
Cooperation" are the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The second group "Focused
Cooperation" of which Spain is a member, includes 19 countries, all of them European, apart
from Japan and South Korea. The third group "Limited cooperation" consists of countries such
as France, Israel, India and Pakistan; while the fourth "Exceptional Cooperation" is made up of
countries that the US considers to be hostile to its interests. The NSA documents [suggest] the
Spanish intelligence services were working hand in hand with the NSA, as were other
foreign agencies. But if there was any doubt as to who held the upper hand, the NSA
documents make clear that any collaboration was always to serve the needs of protecting
American interests.
Japans Nuclear Refugees, Still Stuck in Limbo

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/world/asia/japans-nuclear-refugees-still-st...
While the continuing environmental disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has grabbed world
headlines with hundreds of tons of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily a
human crisis has been quietly unfolding. Two and a half years after the plant belched plumes of
radioactive materials over northeast Japan, the almost 83,000 nuclear refugees evacuated from
the worst-hit areas are still unable to go home. Some have moved on, reluctantly, but tens of
thousands remain in a legal and emotional limbo while the government holds out hope that they
can one day return. As they wait, many are growing bitter. Now they suspect the government
knows that the unprecedented cleanup will take years, if not decades longer than promised,
as a growing chorus of independent experts have warned, but will not admit it for fear of
dooming plans to restart Japans other nuclear plants. That has left the people of Namie and
many of the 10 other evacuated towns with few good choices. They can continue to live in
cramped temporary housing and collect relatively meager monthly compensation from the
government. Or they can try to build a new life elsewhere, a near impossibility for many unless the
government admits defeat and fully compensates them for their lost homes and livelihoods. For
Namies residents, government obfuscation is nothing new. On the day they fled, bureaucrats in
Tokyo knew the direction they were taking could be dangerous, based on computer modeling, but
did not say so for fear of causing panic. The townspeople headed north, straight into an invisible,
radioactive plume.
Note: For more on the devastation caused by nuclear power, see the deeply revealing reports
State photo-ID databases become troves for police

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/state-photo-id-databases-be...
The faces of more than 120 million people are in searchable photo databases that state
officials assembled to prevent drivers-license fraud but that increasingly are used by
police to identify suspects, accomplices and even innocent bystanders in a wide range of
criminal investigations. The facial databases have grown rapidly in recent years and generally
operate with few legal safeguards beyond the requirement that searches are conducted for law
enforcement purposes. The most widely used systems were honed on the battlefields of
Afghanistan and Iraq as soldiers sought to identify insurgents. The increasingly widespread
deployment of the technology in the United States has helped police [identify people who] leave
behind images on surveillance videos or social-media sites that can be compared against official
photo databases. But law enforcement use of such facial searches is blurring the traditional
boundaries between criminal and non-criminal databases, putting images of people never arrested
in what amount to perpetual digital lineups. Though not yet as reliable as fingerprints, these
technologies can help determine identity through individual variations in irises, skin textures, vein
patterns, palm prints and a persons gait while walking. Facial-recognition systems ... can be
deployed remotely, without subjects knowing that their faces have been captured.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on government assaults on
Rate-Rigging Investigation Rolls On

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/rate-rigging-investigation-rolls-on/
The global investigation into interest-rate manipulation has emboldened prosecutors to crack down
on banks, and the settlement with the Royal Bank of Scotland on [Feb. 6] underscored that
strategy. As part of the $612 million deal that American and British authorities reached with R.B.S.,
the banks Japanese unit was required to plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing, echoing an earlier
action taken against a subsidiary of UBS. The cases announced so far give other banks some idea
of what to expect. Three questions come into play: how much it will cost, whether a guilty plea will
be required and whether embarrassing e-mails will be released. The winners in all this may be the
lawyers and other advisers. The trove of internal e-mails and employee interviews, filed as part of
a lawsuit by one of the investors in the securities, offers a fresh glimpse into Wall Streets
mortgage machine, which churned out billions of dollars of securities that later imploded. The
documents reveal that JPMorgan, as well as two firms the bank acquired during the credit
crisis, Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, flouted quality controls and ignored problems,
sometimes hiding them entirely, in a quest for profit.
Doubt Is Cast on Firms Hired to Help Banks

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/doubt-is-cast-on-firms-hired-to-help-b...
Federal authorities are scrutinizing private consultants hired to clean up financial misdeeds like
money laundering and foreclosure abuses, taking aim at an industry that is paid billions of dollars
by the same banks it is expected to police. The consultants operate with scant supervision and
produce mixed results, according to government documents and interviews with prosecutors and
regulators. In one case, the consulting firms enabled the wrongdoing. The deficiencies, officials
say, can leave consumers vulnerable and allow tainted money to flow through the financial system.
The pitfalls were exposed last month when federal regulators halted a broad effort to help millions
of homeowners in foreclosure. The regulators reached an $8.5 billion settlement with banks,
scuttling a flawed foreclosure review run by eight consulting firms. In the end, borrowers hurt by
shoddy practices are likely to receive less money than they deserve, regulators said. Critics
concede that regulators have little choice but to hire outsiders for certain responsibilities
after they find problems at the banks. The government does not have the resources to
ensure that banks follow the rules. Some banks that work with consultants continue to run afoul
of the law. At other times, consultants underestimate the extent of the misdeeds or facilitate them,
preventing regulators from holding institutions accountable.
An Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the

Country?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/world/asia/as-gold-is-spirited-out-of-afgha...
Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being
flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear
money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country. Most of the gold is being
carried on commercial flights destined for Dubai. One courier, for instance, carried nearly 60
pounds of gold bars, each about the size of an iPhone, aboard an early morning flight in midOctober, according to an airport security report. The load was worth more than $1.5 million. The
gold is fully declared and legal to fly. Some, if not most, is legitimately being sent by gold dealers
seeking to have old and damaged jewelry refashioned into new pieces by skilled craftsmen in the
Persian Gulf, said Afghan officials and gold dealers. But gold dealers in Kabul and current and
former Kabul airport officials say there has been a surge in shipments since early summer. The
talk of a growing exodus of gold from Afghanistan has been spreading among the business
community here, and in recent weeks has caught the attention of Afghan and American officials.
The officials are now puzzling over the origin of the gold very little is mined in
Afghanistan, although larger mines are planned and why so much appears to be heading
for Dubai. As a European official who tracks the Afghan economy put it, new mysteries
abound. There is reason to be suspicious: the gold shipments track with the far larger
problem of cash smuggling.
Note: Remember that under US supervision Afghanistan regained its status as the #1 opium and
heroin producer in the world. Could this gold somehow be linked to the drug trade which evidence
suggests is being monitored if not facilitated by rogue elements of the US government?
Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/health/attention-disorder-or-not-children-p...
When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school,
he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall. The pills boost focus and
impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the
diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder made up and an excuse to prescribe the
pills to treat what he considers the childrens true ill poor academic performance in inadequate
schools. I dont have a whole lot of choice, said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor
families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. Weve decided as a society that its too
expensive to modify the kids environment. So we have to modify the kid. Dr. Anderson is
one of the more outspoken proponents of an idea that is gaining interest among some
physicians. They are prescribing stimulants to struggling students in schools starved of
extra money not to treat A.D.H.D., necessarily, but to boost their academic performance. It is
not yet clear whether Dr. Anderson is representative of a widening trend. But some experts note
that as wealthy students abuse stimulants to raise already-good grades in colleges and high
schools, the medications are being used on low-income elementary school children with faltering
grades and parents eager to see them succeed.
Note: For deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources on pharmaceutical
9/11 a 'staged event'

2012-06-28, New Straits Times (Malaysia's leading English-language newspaper)
http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/9-11-a-staged-event-1.99101
Malaysia is brave to organise a war crimes tribunal and to recognise former United States
president George W. Bush and his associates as war criminals. In a public forum entitled "9/11 and
the Ecological Crisis", renowned theologian, scholar and author Professor David Ray Griffin
praised Malaysia for having the courage to bring these prominent figures to justice and to
expose their crimes to the international community. "Someone has to get started
somewhere, and this is a good start, Malaysia is ideally placed in this aspect and hopefully
the international community will take notice," he said. In his lecture, Griffin also explained his
theory on the Sept 11 attacks, claiming that it was a "staged event" and could not have been the
work of Muslim terrorists. He explained that the rigid steel columns of the (World Trade Center)
twin towers made it impossible for them to crumble unless they had been rigged with explosives.
Griffin added that the fires could not have come within 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit of the
temperature needed to melt steel. He also alleged that the hijackers had minimal competence to
fly single-engine aircraft, let alone be able to handle commercial jets. Griffin noted that more than
any others, Muslims have paid the greatest price as a result of 9/11 that later launched the war on
terrorism. "We have started something called Consensus 9/11 where we have gathered several
experts to provide the world with a clear statement, based on expert independent opinion, of some
of the best evidence opposing the official narrative about 9/11."
Note: The New Straits Times is Malaysia's oldest newspaper, founded in 1845. This article is a
rare example of objective mainstream press coverage of alternative interpretations of the 9/11
events. WantToKnow team member Prof. David Ray Griffin's most recent book on 9/11 is 9/11 Ten
Years Later.
Democratic Senators Issue Strong Warning About Use of the Patriot Act
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/us/politics/democratic-senators-warn-about-...
For more than two years, a handful of Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee have
warned that the government is secretly interpreting its surveillance powers under the Patriot Act in
a way that would be alarming if the public or even others in Congress knew about it. On
[March 15], two of those senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado went
further. They said a top-secret intelligence operation that is based on that secret legal theory is not
as crucial to national security as executive branch officials have maintained. The Justice
Department has argued that disclosing information about its interpretation of the Patriot Act could
alert adversaries to how the government collects certain intelligence. It is seeking the dismissal of
two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by The New York Times and by the American Civil
Liberties Union related to how the Patriot Act has been interpreted. The dispute centers on
what the government thinks it is allowed to do under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, under
which agents may obtain a secret order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
allowing them to get access to any tangible things like business records that are
deemed relevant to a terrorism or espionage investigation. The interpretation of Section 215
that authorizes this secret surveillance operation is apparently not obvious from a plain text
reading of the provision, and was developed through a series of classified rulings by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on surveillance and other government restrictions
of basic civil liberties, click here.
Secrecy defines Obamas drone war

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/secrecy-defines-obamas-...
Since September, at least 60 people have died in 14 reported CIA drone strikes in Pakistans tribal
regions. The Obama administration has named only one of the dead, hailing the elimination of
Janbaz Zadran, a top official in the Haqqani insurgent network, as a counterterrorism victory. The
identities of the rest remain classified, as does the existence of the drone program itself. The
administration ... has parried reports of collateral damage and the alleged killing of innocents by
saying that drones, with their surveillance capabilities and precision missiles, result in far fewer
mistakes than less sophisticated weapons. Yet in carrying out hundreds of strikes over three
years resulting in an estimated 1,350 to 2,250 deaths in Pakistan it has provided
virtually no details to support those assertions. The rapid expansion in the size and scope of
the drone campaign as the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been winding down has led to
increased criticism from human rights and international law experts, many of whom dispute the
legal justification for the program. Much of the resistance to increased disclosure has come
from the CIA, which has argued that the release of any information about the program, particularly
on how targets are chosen and strikes approved, would aid the enemy. The Defense Departments
Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which has carried out strikes in Yemen and Somalia,
refuses to discuss drones or any other aspect of its secret counterterrorism operations.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
How Paulson Gave Hedge Funds Advance Word of Fannie Rescue

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LVDZC507SXKX01-21E0...
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stepped off the elevator into the Third Avenue offices of hedge
fund Eton Park Capital Management LP in Manhattan. It was July 21, 2008, and market fears were
mounting. Amid tumbling home prices and near-record foreclosures, attention was focused on a
new source of contagion: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together had more than $5 trillion in
mortgage-backed securities and other debt outstanding. Around the conference room table were a
dozen or so hedge-fund managers and other Wall Street executives -- at least five of them alumni
of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., of which Paulson was chief executive officer and chairman from
1999 to 2006. After a perfunctory discussion of the market turmoil ... the discussion turned to
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The secretary [desribed] a possible scenario for placing Fannie and
Freddie into conservatorship -- a government seizure designed to allow the firms to continue
operations despite heavy losses in the mortgage markets. Paulson explained that under this
scenario, the common stock of the two government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, would
be effectively wiped out. So too would the various classes of preferred stock, he said ...
leaving little doubt that the Treasury Department would carry out the plan. The managers
attending the meeting were thus given a choice opportunity to trade on that information.
Note: For a treasure trove of reports from reliable sources on corruption and collusion between
government officials and the largest financial firms, click here.
Government by death panel

2011-10-15, Denver Post (Denver's leading newspaper)
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_19115979
Last week we learned from Reuters that fellow countrymen labeled "militants" by the Obama
administration are now unilaterally placed on a "kill list" by "a secretive panel of senior government
officials. "This is a real-life death panel inside the highest governmental office in the land -and, according to Reuters, it acts without "any law establishing its existence or setting out
the rules by which it is supposed to operate." This neo-Star Chamber is wholly
unprecedented in its willful violations of the U.S. Constitution's due-process provisions -and our Congress' refusal to even question it is utterly detestable. However, it reminds us that
government death panels in general are anything but rare; they are all around us, making bloodcurdling decisions to kill people all the time. For example, at the state level, the death panel
commonly called the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles recently opted to execute Troy Davis,
despite compelling evidence calling his conviction into question. Likewise ... the death panel
known as the U.S. House Agriculture Appropriations Committee [is] considering cuts to food
stamps at a time when Louisiana State University researchers report that between 2,000 and
3,000 elderly Americans are already dying of malnutrition every year.
More Black Men Are In Prison Today Than Were Enslaved In 1850
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/michelle-alexander-more-black-men-in...
More black men are behind bars or under the watch of the criminal justice system than there were
enslaved in 1850, according to the author of a book about racial discrimination and criminal justice.
Ohio State University law professor and civil rights activist Michelle Alexander..., the author of The
New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, [says] there are more African
American men in prison and jail, or on probation and parole, than were slaves before the start of
the Civil War. More than 846,000 black men were incarcerated in 2008, according to U.S. Bureau
of Justice estimates. African Americans make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. population according to
census data, but black men reportedly make up 40.2 percent of all prison inmates. The criminal
justice system is the newest in a long line of societal structures that have disenfranchised people
of color, Alexander argues in her book. Alexander writes that despite today's belief in
"colorblindness," our criminal justice system effectively bars African American men from
citizenship, treating them as a separate caste: "Denying African Americans citizenship was
deemed essential to the formation of the original union. Hundreds of years later, America is
still not an egalitarian democracy. The arguments and rationalizations that have been
trotted out in support of racial exclusion and discrimination in its various forms have
changed and evolved, but the outcome has remained largely the same."
Note: For more on the deep injustices of the prison-industrial complex, see the deeply revealing
How the US government secretly reads your email

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/11/us-government-...
Somewhere, a US government official is reading through a list of those who sent or received an
email from Jacob Appelbaum, a 28-year-old computer science researcher at the University of
Washington who volunteered for WikiLeaks. Among those listed will be my name, a journalist who
interviewed Appelbaum for a book about the digital revolution. Appelbaum is a spokesman for Tor,
a free internet anonymising software that helps people defend themselves against internet
surveillance. He's spent five years teaching activists around the world how to install and use the
service to avoid being monitored by repressive governments. Now, Appelbaum finds himself a
target of his own government as a result of his friendship with Julian Assange and the fact
WikiLeaks used the Tor software. Appelbaum has not been charged with any wrongdoing; nor has
the government shown probable cause that he is guilty of any criminal offence. That matters not a
jot, because, as the law stands, government officials don't need a search warrant to access our
digital data. Searching someone's home requires a warrant that can only be obtained by
proving probable cause, but digital searches require no such burden of proof. Most people
are not aware of the ease with which governments free, open and so-called democratic
can access and peruse our private communications.
Note: For key reports on government threats to privacy from major media sources, click here.
Confronting the Malefactors

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/opinion/krugman-confronting-the-malefactors...
When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were
derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests,
National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever. It is, therefore, a testament to the
passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too
big to ignore. Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even
eventually be seen as a turning point. The protesters indictment of Wall Street as a
destructive force, economically and politically, is completely right. Bankers took advantage of
deregulation to run wild (and pay themselves princely sums), inflating huge bubbles through
reckless lending. The bubbles burst but bankers were bailed out by taxpayers, with remarkably
few strings attached, even as ordinary workers continued to suffer the consequences of the
bankers sins. Bankers showed their gratitude by turning on the people who had saved them,
throwing their support and the wealth they still possessed thanks to the bailouts behind
politicians who promised to keep their taxes low and dismantle the mild regulations erected in the
aftermath of the crisis. Given this history, how can you not applaud the protesters for finally taking
a stand?
Note: For insights into the reasons why people have decided they must occupy their cities in
protest of the predations of financial corporations, check out our extensive "Banking Bailout" news
articles.
Republicans Seek Big Cuts in Environmental Rules

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/science/earth/28enviro.html
With the nations attention diverted by the drama over the debt ceiling, Republicans in the House
of Representatives are loading up an appropriations bill with 39 ways and counting to
significantly curtail environmental regulation. One would prevent the Bureau of Land Management
from designating new wilderness areas for preservation. Another would severely restrict the
Department of Interiors ability to police mountaintop-removal mining. And then there is the call to
allow new uranium prospecting near Grand Canyon National Park. In fact, one measure to
forbid the Fish and Wildlife Service to list any new plants or animals as endangered was so
extreme that 37 Republicans broke ranks Wednesday and voted to strip it from the bill. Although
inserting policy changes into appropriations bills is a common strategy when government is divided
as it is now, no one can remember such an aggressive use of the tactic against natural
resources. The new Republican majority seems intent on restoring the robber-baron era
where there were no controls on pollution from power plants, oil refineries and factories,
said Representative Henry A. Waxman, a California Democrat, excoriating the proposal on the
floor.
FBI lab reports on anthrax attacks suggest another miscue

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/19/2225013/fbi-lab-reports-on-anthrax-atta...
Buried in FBI laboratory reports about the anthrax mail attacks that killed five people in 2001 are
data suggesting that a chemical may have been added to try to heighten the powder's potency, a
move that some experts say exceeded the expertise of the presumed killer. The lab data,
contained in more than 9,000 pages of files that emerged a year after the Justice Department
closed its inquiry and condemned the late Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator,
shows unusual levels of silicon and tin in anthrax powder from two of the five letters. Those
elements are found in compounds that could be used to weaponize the anthrax, enabling the lethal
spores to float easily so they could be readily inhaled by the intended victims, scientists say. The
existence of the silicon-tin chemical signature offered investigators the possibility of tracing
purchases of the more than 100 such chemical products available before the attacks, which might
have produced hard evidence against Ivins or led the agency to the real culprit. But the FBI lab
reports released in late February give no hint that bureau agents tried to find the buyers of
additives such as tin-catalyzed silicone polymers. The apparent failure of the FBI to pursue
this avenue of investigation raises the ominous possibility that the killer is still on the
loose.
Note: For key articles from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
Obama creates indefinite detention system for prisoners at Guantanamo

Bay

President Obama signed an executive order Monday that will create a formal system of indefinite
detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who continue to
pose a significant threat to national security. The administration also said it will start new military
commission trials for detainees there. The announcements, coming more than two years after
Obama vowed in another executive order to close the detention center, all but cements
Guantanamo Bay's continuing role in U.S. counterterrorism policy. The executive order recognizes
the reality that some Guantanamo Bay detainees will remain in U.S. custody for many years, if not
for life. Activists on either end of the debate over closing the prison cast the announcement as a
reversal. "It is virtually impossible to imagine how one closes Guantanamo in light of this
executive order," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union. "In a little over two years, the Obama administration has done a complete aboutface." Recent legislation now makes it extremely difficult to transfer any detainee out of
Guantanamo Bay even if he is believed to be no threat.
Note: President Obama has repeatedly reversed his position on key elements of his election
campaign, like Guantanamo, which brought him to power. To understand how members of the
power elite of our world can exert tremendous pressure on anyone who becomes president, read
revealing major media reports on secret societies composed of the power elite of our world at this
link.
Ex-Minn. governor sues over body scans, pat-downs

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is suing the Department of Homeland Security and
the Transportation Security Administration, saying full-body scans and pat-downs at airport
checkpoints are violating his rights. Ventura filed his lawsuit [on January 24] in federal court in
Minnesota. He says the new security measures violate his right to be free from unreasonable
searches and seizures. He's asking a federal court to order officials to stop subjecting him to these
searches. Ventura was governor of Minnesota from 1999 through 2002. He now hosts the
television program "Conspiracy Theory." The lawsuit says Ventura had a hip replacement in 2008,
and his titanium implant sets off metal detectors.
Note: Jesse Ventura is one of the heros of our time. Do a video search on his name to watch
episodes of his amazingly revealing "Conspiracy Theory" programs.
Panel challenges Gulf seafood safety all-clear

2010-12-27, MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40494122/ns/us_news-environment
A New Orleans law firm is challenging government assurances that Gulf Coast seafood is safe to
eat in the wake of the BP oil spill, saying it poses a significant danger to public health. Citing what
the law firm calls a state-of-the-art laboratory analysis, toxicologists, chemists and marine
biologists retained by the firm of environmental attorney Stuart Smith contend that the
government seafood testing program, which has focused on ensuring the seafood was free
of the cancer-causing components of crude oil, has overlooked other harmful elements.
And they say that their own testing examining fewer samples but more comprehensively
shows high levels of hydrocarbons from the BP spill that are associated with liver damage. What
we have found is that FDA simply overlooked an important aspect of safety in their protocol,
contends William Sawyer, a Florida-based toxicologist on Smiths team. Five months after crude oil
stopped gushing from the broken BP wellhead into the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government has
reopened more than 90 percent of fishing waters that were in danger of contamination from the
broken Deepwater Horizon rig. But many fishermen have yet to return to sea, and consumer
confidence in Gulf seafood remains lukewarm.
Note: For important reports from reliable sources on government corruption, click here.
Britain Opens Public Inquest Into 2005 London Terrorist Attacks

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/world/europe/12britain.html
After more than five years of delay that have angered and frustrated the victims families, an
inquest opened on [October 11] into the [attacks] on the London transit system on July 7, 2005,
that killed 52 people and the four bombers, and wounded more than 700 others. The inquest ...
began with the presiding judge, Lady Heather Hallett, ... pledging in her opening remarks that she
would undertake to keep the inquest as open as possible while protecting Britains national
security. Lady Hallett said she would go as far as she could to meet the demand of the victims
families to know why the countrys security and intelligence services did not act to prevent
the bombings on the basis of what they knew about the attackers beforehand. The families
demands have echoed those of victims relatives after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the
United States, but they have been amplified by the lengthy delay in holding the London inquest,
which is the first comprehensive public inquiry into what have become known in Britain as the 7/7
attacks. The delay in opening the inquest has been officially explained as necessary to allow the
police and other security agencies to complete their own investigations. As with the last inquest in
Britain to become a focus of attention on a similar scale, the long-delayed investigation into the
1997 death in a Paris car crash of Diana, Princess of Wales, top officials of Britains major police
and security agencies, Scotland Yard, MI5 and MI6, are expected to be called as witnesses.
Note: For powerful, reliable information that the 7/7 bombing was manipulated, click here. For
analysis of the many unanswered questions surrounding the London bombing on 7/7, click here.
McDonald's, 29 other firms get health care coverage waivers
2010-10-07, USA Today/Bloomberg News

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2010-10-07-healthlaw07_ST_N.htm
Nearly a million workers won't get a consumer protection in the U.S. health reform law
meant to cap insurance costs because the government exempted their employers. Thirty
companies and organizations, including McDonald's and Jack in the Box, won't be required
to raise the minimum annual benefit included in low-cost health plans, which are often used
to cover part-time or low-wage employees. The Department of Health and Human Services, which
provided a list of exemptions, said it granted waivers in late September so workers with such plans
wouldn't lose coverage from employers who might choose instead to drop health insurance
altogether. Without waivers, companies would have had to provide a minimum of $750,000 in
coverage next year, increasing to $1.25 million in 2012, $2 million in 2013 and unlimited in 2014.
here.
BP and the Axis of Evil

2010-06-19, BBC Blogs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/06/post.html
BP is accused of destroying the wildlife and coastline of America, but if you look back into history
you find that BP did something even worse to America. They gave the world Ayatollah Khomeini.
Back in 1951 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company - which would later become BP - and its principal
owner the British government, conspired to destroy democracy and install a western-controlled
regime in Iran. The resulting anger and the repression that followed was one of the principal
causes of the Iranian revolution in 1978/79 - out of which came the Islamist regime of Ayatollah
Khomeini. And what's more, BP and the British government were so arrogant and bumblingly
inept at handling the crisis that they had to persuade the Americans help them. They did
this by pretending there was a Communist threat to Iran. The American government, led by
President Eisenhower, believed them and the CIA were instructed to engineer a coup which
removed the Iranian prime minister Mohamed Mossadegh. The CIA, led by Allen Dulles, ... sent
the CIA's top Middle East agen, Kermit Roosevelt, to run Operation Ajax. The plan, drawn up by
the British and the Americans, was to bribe the street gangs of Tehran to create chaos, and then
install an army general, General Zahedi, as prime minister.
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html
Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department
official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill
suspected militants. The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security
companies that employed former C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The contractors, in turn,
gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent
camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible
lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some American officials say they became troubled that
Mr. Furlong seemed to be running an off-the-books spy operation. It is generally considered
illegal for the military to hire contractors to act as covert spies. Officials said Mr. Furlongs
secret network might have been improperly financed by diverting money from a program
designed to merely gather information about the region. Moreover, in Pakistan, where Qaeda
and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding, the secret use of private contractors may be seen as
an attempt to get around the Pakistani governments prohibition of American military personnels
operating in the country.
Note: More details of the secret war in Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to leak out steadily. As
this article indicates, secret privatized death squad operations go on in the dark while the
Pentagon and the press announce a scaling back of "Special Operations" out of concern for
"civilian casualties."
Justice Official Clears Bush Lawyers in Torture Memo Probe

2010-01-29, Newsweek magazine blog
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/01/29/holder-under-f...
An upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of
Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored
the torture memos of professional-misconduct allegations. NEWSWEEK has learned that a
senior Justice official who did the final review of the report softened an earlier OPR finding.
Previously, the report concluded that two key authors Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court
judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor violated their professional obligations as lawyers
when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics. But the reviewer,
career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed poor judgment,
say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional
misconduct.) The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar
associations for potential disciplinary actionwhich, in Bybees case, could have led to an
impeachment inquiry.
Note: The Obama administration continues to uphold the illegal policies introduced by the
Bush/Cheney regime. For lots more on the realities of the fraudulent "war on terrorism", click here.
A National Disgrace
Two courts, one in Italy and one in the United States, ruled recently on the Bush administrations
practice of extraordinary rendition, which is the kidnapping of people and sending them to other
countries for interrogation and torture. The Italian court got it right. The American court got it
miserably wrong. In Italy, a judge ruled that a station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency and
22 other Americans broke the law in the 2003 abduction of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a
Muslim cleric who ended up in Egypt, where he said he was tortured. Two days earlier, a federal
appeals court in Manhattan brushed off a lawsuit by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen
who was seized in an American airport by federal agents acting on bad information from Canadian
officials. He was held incommunicado and harshly interrogated before being sent to Syria, where
he was tortured. He spent almost a year in a grave-size underground cell before the Syrians let
him go. It has long been established that Mr. Arar was not guilty of anything. Canada admitted that
it had supplied false information to American authorities, and in 2007, it apologized and offered Mr.
Arar $10 million in damages. Written by Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, the 59-page majority opinion
held that no civil damages remedy exists for the horrors visited on Mr. Arar. The ruling distorts
precedent and the Constitutional separation of powers to deny justice to Mr. Arar and give
officials a pass for egregious misconduct. The overt disregard for the central role of judges
in policing executive branch excesses has frightening implications for safeguarding civil
liberties, as four judges suggested in dissenting opinions.
click here.
US relinquishes control of the internet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/30/icann-agreement-us
After complaints about American dominance of the internet and growing disquiet in some parts of
the world, Washington has said it will relinquish some control over the way the network is run and
allow foreign governments more of a say in the future of the system. Icann the official body that
ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such
as .com, .net and .org said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government.
The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes
California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation
from companies and governments around the globe. Icann had previously been operating under
the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in
developing the underlying technologies used for connecting computers together. But the fresh
focus will give other countries a more prominent role in determining what takes place
online, and even the way in which it happens opening the door for a virtual United
Nations, where many officials gather to discuss potential changes to the internet. The new
agreement comes into force immediately. It replaces the old version which had been in place since
1998 and was scheduled to expire today.
CIA doctors face human experimentation claims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/02/cia-usa
Doctors and psychologists the CIA employed to monitor its "enhanced interrogation" of terror
suspects came close to, and may even have committed, unlawful human experimentation, a
medical ethics watchdog has alleged. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a not-for-profit group
that has investigated the role of medical personnel in alleged incidents of torture at Guantnamo,
Abu Ghraib, Bagram and other US detention sites, accuses doctors of being far more involved
than hitherto understood. PHR says health professionals participated at every stage in the
development, implementation and legal justification of what it calls the CIA's secret "torture
programme". The most incendiary accusation of PHR's latest report, Aiding Torture, is that doctors
actively monitored the CIA's interrogation techniques with a view to determining their effectiveness,
using detainees as human subjects without their consent. The report concludes that such data
gathering was "a practice that approaches unlawful experimentation". Human
experimentation without consent has been prohibited in any setting since 1947 [with] the
Nuremberg Code, which resulted from the prosecution of Nazi doctors. In April, a leaked
report from the International Committee of the Red Cross found that medical staff employed by the
CIA had been present during waterboarding, and had even used what appeared to be a pulse
oxymeter, placed on the prisoner's finger to monitor his oxygen saturation during the procedure.
PHR is calling for an official investigation into the role of doctors in the CIA's now widely
discredited programme. It wants to know exactly how many doctors participated, what they did,
what records they kept and the science that they applied.
Note: To watch a video of a Democracy Now! segment on the PHR report, click here. For
astounding information on how MDs participated in the CIA's mind control experiments in the past,
click here.
Rich NYC Mayor: Drug CEOs Don't Make Much Money

Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical
companies and their chief executives on Friday, declaring that they "don't make a lot of
money" and shouldn't be scapegoats in the health care debate. The mayor and wealthiest
person in New York City with a fortune estimated at $16.5 billion made the comments on his
radio show Friday. "You know, last time I checked, pharmaceutical companies don't make a lot of
money, their executives don't make a lot of money," Bloomberg said. Pharmaceutical CEOs are
known to make millions, with generous salaries, stock options and other perks. Abbott
Laboratories Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Miles White's compensation was $25.3 million in
2008. The North Chicago, Ill.-based company saw profit rising 35 percent to $4.88 billion. Merck &
Co.'s chief executive, Richard T. Clark, received a $17.3 million compensation package for 2008.
The company's profit more than doubled to $7.8 billion. The mayor ... often battles criticism that he
is out of touch with regular people. Earlier this year he declared "we love the rich people" while
arguing against raising taxes on the wealthy. It was clear that Bloomberg or one of his aides
realized his gaffe while he was still on the air Friday. The mayor, who has sought to cast himself as
a financial and business expert, came back from a break and said he had looked up the pay of
some pharmaceutical executives. "Some of them are making a decent amount, more than a
decent amount of money," he said.
Speculators busier as crude oil cost spikes

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/28/BU1B19EQFS.DTL
Speculators now account for half of all traders in the main U.S. oil market, and their
growing presence coincided with this decade's historic rise in the price of crude, according
to a new Rice University study. The study does not try to prove that speculators caused the price
spike, as many politicians and consumer advocates believe. But the authors note that prices rose
steadily along with the number of speculative investors, and fell with them as well. Seven
years ago, speculators accounted for 20 percent of oil traders on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. That number jumped to 55 percent by the time oil prices reached their all-time peak
above $145 per barrel last summer. Now oil costs $72, and speculative investors account for half
the traders. The government limits the number of oil contracts that each speculator can hold. But
under the Commodity Futures Modernization Act [passed in 2000], trades on electronic exchanges
or overseas markets don't count toward those limits. The study uses data from the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission. Speculators are defined as traders who use oil strictly as a financial
investment, those who will never take delivery of a tanker-full of crude. "This confirms what we and
others have said for some time," said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at the Public
Citizen watchdog group. "The good thing from the oil price run-up of 2008 is it has forced
Congress to realize there's a problem in these markets, and the answer is re-regulation." The
financial industry opposes tightening the regulations.
Note: To read the full study, click here.
Judge: CIA interrogations not relevant to 9/11 accused's sanity

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/guantanamo/story/1179756.html
U.S. military defense lawyers for accused 9/11 conspirator Ramzi bin al Shibh cannot learn what
interrogation techniques CIA agents used on the Yemeni before he was moved to Guantnamo to
be tried as a terrorist, an Army judge has ruled. Bin al Shibh, 37, is one of five men charged in a
complex death penalty prosecution by military commission currently under review by the Obama
administration. But his lawyers say he suffers a "delusional disorder," and hallucinations in his cell
at Guantnamo may leave him neither sane enough to act as his own attorney nor to stand trial.
Prison camp doctors treat him with psychotropic drugs. Army Col. Stephen Henley, the military
judge on the case, has scheduled a competency hearing for mid-September. Meantime, the judge
ruled on Aug. 6 that "evidence of specific techniques employed by various governmental agencies
to interrogate the accused is . . . not essential to a fair resolution of the incompetence
determination hearing in this case." Prosecutors had invoked a national security privilege in
seeking to shield the details from defense lawyers. Many of the techniques used on the
men have already been made public. They included waterboarding, sleep deprivation and
sexual humiliation methods meant to break a captive's will. But Navy Cmdr. Suzanne
Lachelier, the Yemeni's Pentagon appointed defense attorney, said court-approved mental health
experts -- as well as the judge -- need to know the specifics to assess her client's mental illness. If
he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his CIA interrogations, there may be PTSD
treatments that could make him competent.
Note: For many reports from reliable sources on the hidden realities of "the war on terror," click
here.
Let's Break up the Fed

The Obama administration's plan to increase the powers of the Federal Reserve, says one
critic, is like giving a teenager "a bigger, faster car right after he crashed the family station
wagon." Broadening the Fed's responsibilities won't help. Instead, we should think of how
best to dismantle an overextended Fed. The Fed has been incapacitated by its transformation
into an omnibus enterprise with responsibilities ranging from boots-on-the-ground regulation to
high-level monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the Federal Reserve
System, did so to forestall financial panics rather than pursue macroeconomic policies. The gold
standard defined monetary policy. The Fed was merely meant to "provide an elastic currency" by
serving as lender of last resort in times of crisis. The Act also assigned the Fed routine
responsibilities for maintaining and improving the financial system examining banks, issuing
currency notes, and helping clear checks. The adoption of Keynesian and monetarist ideas by
central bankers and elected officials subsequently cast the Fed in a proactive macroeconomic role.
In 1977, an amendment to the 1913 Act explicitly charged the Fed with promoting "maximum"
employment and "stable" prices. The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 gave the Fed
responsibility over holding companies designed to circumvent restrictions placed on individual
banks. Congress further tasked the Fed with enforcing consumer-protection and fair-lending rules.
While the record of the Fed's monetary policy has been mixed, its supervision of financial
institutions has been a predictable and comprehensive failure. The Fed's excessively broad
mandate also has thwarted accountability.
Note: The bill to audit the Fed (HR 1207) in the US Congress now has 276 co-signers -- more than
50% of all members. Yet the media is hardly reporting on this. Contact your Congressional
representatives now at this link.
Swine flu resembles feared 1918 flu, study finds

2009-07-13, MSNBC
The new H1N1 influenza virus bears a disturbing resemblance to the virus strain that caused the
1918 flu pandemic, with a greater ability to infect the lungs than common seasonal flu viruses,
researchers reported on Monday. Separately, a top official at the World Health Organization said
Monday a fully licensed swine flu vaccine might not be available until the end of the year. The
report could affect many countries' vaccination plans. But countries could use emergency
provisions to get the vaccines out quicker if they decide their populations need them. The swine flu
viruses currently being used to develop a vaccine aren't producing enough of the ingredient
needed for the vaccine, and WHO has asked its laboratory network to produce a new set of
viruses as soon as possible. Other tests showed the virus could be controlled by the antiviral drugs
Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Tamiflu, made by Roche AG, the researchers said. The
World Health Organization said on Monday that vaccine makers should start making
immunizations against H1N1 and that healthcare workers should be first in line to get them. The
WHO has previously estimated that the world could have as many as 4.9 billion doses of
H1N1 swine flu vaccine ready for the next flu season but this assumes people only need
one shot and production yields are similar to seasonal vaccine.
Note: Who's making the big bucks here? Why is the WHO so strongly promoting billions of doses
of vaccines for a disease in which the vast majority of the relatively few people who have died had
underlying causes. For more on the blatant corruption of our health industry from reliable sources,
MIA may be a quarantine site in pandemic

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1089929.html
Miami International Airport [MIA] and 18 other major American airports have been lined up
to handle a future pandemic that could require them to quarantine international flights. The
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set up stand-by quarantine/screening
facilities at the 19 airports to which all flights from affected countries would be diverted. Nationally,
airline and airport lobbyists predict chaos, saying there is no way the air-traffic system can handle
such extensive rerouting. Now, new proposals are emerging in Washington, including one that
would designate Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Orlando International and four other major airports as
potential second-tier quarantine sites. Local officials say they understand the CDC will approve the
new designations only if the airports pay for the quarantine facilities themselves. The CDC would
pay for the quarantine stations at the 19 primary airports. The facilities are not cheap. A 2008 study
by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that setting aside space for health screenings
and a quarantine of up to 200 people could cost $15,000 a month, with costs of an actual
quarantine running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood officials
began developing a plan to handle quarantined passengers and flights several years ago during
the bird flu scare. It calls for erecting air-conditioned tents on the runway ramps to screen or
quarantine passengers before they enter the terminal. Quarantined passengers might have to
remain for days to show they are not infectious.
The Economy Is Still at the Brink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/opinion/07cohanWEB.html
Whether at a fund-raising dinner for wealthy supporters in Beverly Hills, or at an Air Force base in
Nevada, or at Charlie Roses table in New York City, President Obama is conducting an all-out
campaign to try to make us feel a whole lot better about the economy as quickly as possible. Its
safe to say we have stepped back from the brink, that there is some calm that didnt exist before,
he told donors at the Beverly Hilton Hotel late last month. Mr. Obama thinks that the way to revive
the economy is to restore confidence in it. If the mood is right, the capital will flow. But this belief is
dangerously misguided. We are sympathetic to the extraordinary challenge the president faces,
but if weve learned anything at all two years into the worst financial crisis of our lifetimes, it is that
a capital-markets system this dependent on public confidence is a shockingly inadequate
foundation upon which to rest our economy. We have both spent large chunks of our lives working
on Wall Street, absorbing its ethic and mores. Were concerned that nothing has really been fixed.
Were doubly concerned that people appear to feel the worst of the storm is over and in this,
they are aided and abetted by ... the fact that the Dow has increased by 35 percent or so since Mr.
Obama started to lay out his economic plans in March. But wishing for improvement and
managing by the Dows swings are a fools game. The storm is not over, not by a long shot.
Huge structural flaws remain in the architecture of our financial system, and many of the
fixes that the Obama administration has proposed will do little to address them and may
make them worse.
Note: For many more important reports shedding light on the hidden realities of the US and world
economic crisis, click here.
Federal Judge in Sex Case Gets Nearly 3 Years

A disgraced federal judge was sentenced Monday to nearly three years in prison for lying to
investigators about sexually abusing two female employees, who said they feared him so
much they hid from him in the courthouse. U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent ... could have
received up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors said they wouldn't seek more than three years
under a plea agreement. He also was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $6,550 in restitution to the
secretary and case manager whose complaints resulted in the first sex abuse case ever against a
sitting federal judge. "Your wrongful conduct is a huge black X, a smear on the legal profession, a
stain on the judicial system itself, a matter of concern in the federal courts," said U.S. District
Judge Roger Vinson, a visiting senior judge called in from Pensacola, Fla. Vinson ordered Kent,
59, to surrender June 15 for transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and to serve three years'
probation once his 33-month sentence is completed. He also was ordered to participate in an
alcohol-abuse program while in prison. The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and
its ranking Republican demanded that Kent resign immediately from the bench Monday. His lawyer
has said he retired rather than resigned, which would allow him to continue drawing a federal
judge's salary.
Note: This case represents a major shift in that it is the first sex case ever against a sitting federal
judge. In fact, if you watch the astonishing documentary Conspiracy of Silence, you will see that
many top officials are involved in sexual abuse and have fiercely kept that a secret. Let's hope
more of this comes out as we spread the word.
U.S. May Enlist Small Investors in Bank Bailout

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/business/09fund.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pa...
During World War I, Americans were exhorted to buy Liberty Bonds to help their soldiers on the
front. Now, it seems, they will be asked to come to the aid of their banks with the added
inducement of possibly making some money for themselves. As part of its sweeping plan to purge
banks of troublesome assets, the Obama administration is encouraging several large investment
companies to create the financial-crisis equivalent of war bonds: bailout funds. The idea is that
these investments, akin to mutual funds that buy stocks and bonds, would give ordinary Americans
a chance to profit from the bailouts that are being financed by their tax dollars. But there is
another, deeply political motivation as well: to quiet accusations that all of these giant
bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats. If, as some analysts suspect, the banks assets
are worth even less than believed, the funds investors could suffer significant losses. Nonetheless,
the administration and executives in the financial industry are pushing to establish the investment
funds, in part to counter swelling hostility against the financial industry. The embrace of smaller
investors underscores the concern in Washington and on Wall Street that Americans anger
could imperil further efforts to stimulate the economy with vast amounts of government
spending. Many Americans say they believe the bailout programs ... will benefit only a golden few,
including some of the institutions that helped push the economy to the brink. Critics like Joseph E.
Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, argue that the bailouts merely privatize profits and
socialize losses.
Financial Industry Paid Millions to Obama Aide

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/us/politics/04disclose.html?partner=rss&emc...
Lawrence H. Summers, the top economic adviser to President Obama, earned more than $5
million last year from the hedge fund D. E. Shaw and collected $2.7 million in speaking fees from
Wall Street companies that received government bailout money, the White House disclosed. Mr.
Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, wields important influence over Mr.
Obamas policy decisions for the troubled financial industry, including firms from which he recently
received payments. Last year, he reported making 40 paid appearances, including a $135,000
speech to the investment firm Goldman Sachs, in addition to his earnings from the hedge
fund, a sector the administration is trying to regulate. Mr. Summerss role at the White
House includes advising Mr. Obama on whether and how to tighten regulation of
hedge funds, which engage in highly sophisticated financial trading that many analysts have said
contributed to the economic collapse. Mr. Summers ... appeared before large Wall Street
companies like Citigroup ($45,000), J. P. Morgan ($67,500) and the now defunct Lehman Brothers
($67,500), according to his disclosure report. While Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to restrict
lobbyists from working in the White House, a step intended to reduce any influence between the
administration and corporations, the ban did not apply to former executives like Mr. Summers, who
was not a registered lobbyist. In 2006, he became a managing director of D. E. Shaw, a firm that
manages about $30 billion in assets, making it one of the biggest hedge funds in the world.
Whitney Sees Credit Cards as the Next Crunch: Report

2009-03-10, CNBC
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29611789/
Prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney warned that "credit cards are the next credit crunch,"
as contracting credit lines will lower consumer spending and hurt the U.S. economy. "Few doubt
the importance of consumer spending to the U.S. economy and its multiplier effect on the global
economy, but what is under-appreciated is the role of credit-card availability in that spending,"
Whitney wrote in the Wall Street Journal. Although credit was extended "too freely over the past 15
years" and rationalization of lending is unavoidable, what needs to be avoided was "taking credit
away from people who have the ability to pay their bills," said Whitney, CEO of Meredith Whitney
Advisory Group. Whitney said available lines were reduced by nearly $500 billion in the fourth
quarter of 2008 alone, and she estimates over $2 trillion of credit-card lines will be cut within 2009,
and $2.7 trillion by the end of 2010. "Inevitably, credit lines will continue to be reduced across
the system, but the velocity at which it is already occurring and will continue to occur will
result in unintended consequences for consumer confidence, spending and the overall
economy," Whitney said. There is roughly $5 trillion in credit-card lines outstanding in the U.S.,
and a little more than $800 billion is currently drawn upon, she said. "Lenders, regulators and
politicians need to show thoughtful leadership now on this issue in order to derail what I believe will
be at least a 57 percent contraction in credit-card lines," she said.
Note: Some believe that rising defaults on credit card debt could cause yet another financial shock
to the system. For many more revelations of the amazing realites of the Wall Street bailout and the
now world-wide financial and credit crises, click here.
Executive Pay Limits May Prove Toothless

Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping
pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive
compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules. But at the last minute, the Bush
administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision. The change stipulated that the
penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the
government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use
the money. Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to
lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any
of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the
future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only
enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives. "The flimsy
executive-compensation restrictions in the original bill are now all but gone," said Sen.
Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), ranking Republican on of the Senate Finance Committee. Senators on
the Finance Committee have expressed concern to Paulson and are now considering whether they
should amend the law to apply the enforcement mechanism to all firms participating in the bailout.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports exposing the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click
here.
Idled workers occupy factory in Chicago

2008-12-06, Chicago Tribune/Associated Press
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-workersoccupyfact,0,1928458.story
Outraged and determined Chicago factory workers who were abruptly laid off this week have
occupied their former workplace and say they won't leave until they get the severance and
vacation pay they say they're owed. The employees say they received three days notice their plant
was closing. In the second day of a sit-in on the factory floor Saturday, about 250 union workers
occupied the building in shifts while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say
is leaving laborers behind. Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the
Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give its 300 employees the 60 days' notice
required by law before shutting. She said the company can't pay employees because its creditor,
Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them. Bank of America received $25 billion from
the government's financial bailout package. The company said in a statement to news outlets
Saturday that it isn't responsible for Republic's financial obligations to its employees. "Across
cultures, religions, union and nonunion, we all say this bailout was a shame," said Richard
Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743. "If this bailout should go to anything, it should go to
the workers of this country." Outside the plant, protesters wore stickers and carried signs
that said, "You got bailed out, we got sold out."
Note: For many revealing reports on the Wall Street bailout from major media sources, click here.
Congress Wants Details On Bailout Firms' Bonus Plans

2008-10-30, CNBC
The hot-button issues of CEO pay and the Wall Street bailout may soon collide with the real world
of Wall Street bonuses, taxpayer and shareholder anger over the financial crisis, and a Treasury
secretary with deep roots on Wall Street. And that collision could be loud and ugly. Though what's
commonly known as the Wall Street bailout package includes modest restrictions on CEO pay, it
hardly prevents participating financial firms from paying bonuses to top executives and others. And
in an environment of beaten-down stock prices, rising layoffs, recession and huge government
bailouts, experts and legislators say big end-of-year bonuses will cause a firestorm of public
outrage and likely provoke a Congressional backlash. "The corporate community doesn't seem
to get it," says a seething Nell Minow, founder of the Corporate Library, which focuses on
corporate governance issues. "If the corporate leaders don't come to the American people
with some accountability, they are going to find themselves in a world of pain. Congress
will set CEO pay." "People are going to be demanding that someone go to jail," say Rep.
Peter DeFazio (D.-Ore), who says his constituents have applauded him for voting against the
legislation. "It will require Democrats to revisit restrictions [on CEO pay]. " DeFazio says he would
also recommend Congress "empower a division in the FBI and Justice Department to investigate
the fraud and misdeeds that went on."
Note: For many revealing reports on the realities of the Wall Street bailout, click here.
Days Before Scandal, Interior Got Ethics Award

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/09/day_bef...
Just before the Department of Interior's inspector general released reports that laid bare the oiland-sex scandal in the department's oil royalties office this week, Interior won an annual award
from the federal Office of Government Ethics. The inspector general said Wednesday that federal
officials in the Mineral Management Service's royalty-in-kind program allegedly were plied with
alcohol and expensive gifts from industry representatives, and in some cases had sex and did
drugs with them. The Denver-area office takes in roughly $4 billion each year in oil and natural gas
reserves from companies drilling on federal and Indian land and offshore. But, on Monday, the
Interior Department was praised for "developing a dynamic laminated Ethics Guide for employees"
that was a "polished, professional guide" with "colorful pictures and prints which demand
employees' attention." The guide, the award noted, was small enough for employees to carry.
Interior also was lauded for having held a four-day seminar for its ethics advisors nationwide. It
isn't known if those seminars included the royalty office, where investigators found that a former
program director was paid more than $30,000 for improper outside work, bought cocaine
using a personal check from his office and engaged in an illicit sexual relationship with a
subordinate; employees accepted gifts, including sports tickets and vacations, from
industry executives; and two former officials, with the help of a supervisor, arranged to get
themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting work after they retired.
Note: For many more reports of government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Who Killed Chandra Levy?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/specials/chandra/epilogue_1.html
In the six years since Chandra Levy was found in Rock Creek Park, her story continues to haunt
many lives. Rep. Gary Condit was abandoned by the Democratic Party and was trounced in the
primary for his House seat in 2002. He now splits his time among California, Colorado and
Arizona, where he operated two Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors. Ingmar Guandique, the
Salvadoran immigrant convicted of attacking women in Rock Creek Park around the time Chandra
disappeared, has never been charged in connection with the case. Most of the investigators have
... dispersed. All of those who agreed to be interviewed now say Condit had nothing to do
with Chandra's disappearance. Nearly all of them consider Guandique to be the prime
suspect, even as he consistently denies any involvement in the crime. The investigators
continue to second-guess the case, especially the many lost opportunities to gather evidence
about the killer. Among other things, they cite the failure to immediately obtain the security camera
tape from Chandra's apartment building; the failure to promptly and correctly analyze the contents
of her computer, which would have shown that she was searching for something to do in Rock
Creek Park; the failure to conduct a more rigorous search of Rock Creek Park; and the failure to
quickly recognize and capitalize on the possible link between Chandra's disappearance and
Guandique's Rock Creek Park attacks. Jack Barrett, former D.C. chief of detectives, said the focus
on Condit hurt the investigation. He also faulted his superiors ... for their constant news
conferences that helped fuel the media frenzy.
Note: There is good reason to suspect U.S. Representative Gary Condit was targeted in this killing
for trying to confront the powers that be. For more on this, click here.
Book Cites Secret Red Cross Report of C.I.A. Torture of Qaeda Captives
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/washington/11detain.html?partner=rssuserlan...
Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence
Agencys interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and
could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes,
according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001. The book says that the
International Committee of the Red Cross declared in the report, given to the C.I.A. last year, that
the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure the United States captured, were
"categorically" torture, which is illegal under both American and international law. The book says
Abu Zubaydah was confined in a box "so small ... he had to double up his limbs in the fetal
position" and was one of several prisoners to be "slammed against the walls," according to the
Red Cross report. The C.I.A. has admitted that Abu Zubaydah and two other prisoners were
waterboarded, a practice in which water is poured in the nose and mouth to [cause near]
suffocation and drowning. The book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror
Turned Into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer ... offers new details of the agencys secret
detention program, as well as the bitter debates in the administration over interrogation methods.
Citing unnamed "sources familiar with the report," Ms. Mayer wrote that the Red Cross document
"warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government
in jeopardy of being prosecuted."
Note: For lots more on war and war crimes, click here.
Justices Rule Terror Suspects Can Appeal in Civilian Courts

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/washington/13scotus.html?partner=rssuserlan...
The Supreme Court ... delivered its third consecutive rebuff to the Bush administrations handling
of the detainees at Guantnamo Bay, ruling 5 to 4 that the prisoners there have a constitutional
right to go to federal court to challenge their continued detention. The court declared
unconstitutional a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that ... stripped the federal
courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus petitions from the detainees seeking to challenge their
designation as enemy combatants. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the
truncated review procedure provided by a previous law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, falls
short of being a constitutionally adequate substitute because it failed to offer the fundamental
procedural protections of habeas corpus. Justice Kennedy declared: The laws and Constitution
are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. The decision, which was
joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen G.
Breyer, was categorical in its rejection of the administrations basic arguments. Indeed, the court
repudiated the fundamental legal basis for the administrations strategy, adopted in the
immediate aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, of housing prisoners captured in
Afghanistan and elsewhere at the United States naval base in Cuba, where Justice
Department lawyers advised the White House that domestic law would never reach.
Note: For many disturbing reports on threats to civil liberties from major media sources, click here.
Detainees Now Have Access to Federal Court

Defense attorneys for the 270 detainees at Guantanamo Bay said the Supreme Court decision
yesterday that granted detainees habeas corpus rights was a watershed moment that will allow the
men, some held for as long as 6 1/2 years, to challenge their detentions before a civilian judge.
The court's ruling immediately gives the detainees access to a federal court in Washington, where
lawyers will seek to have judges order the men released from indefinite detention. Legal experts
said it is unclear how the hearings will proceed, but the government could be compelled to
present highly classified evidence, and detainees could for the first time be able to publicly
call witnesses, present evidence of abuse and rebut terrorism allegations. The decision
could force the U.S. government to show why individual detainees must be held, something
U.S. officials have fought for years. As many as 130 detainees have been deemed dangerous but
are unlikely to ever face criminal charges, according to prosecutors, and now government officials
could have to argue for indefinite detention even if the evidence is flimsy or nonexistent. "We're
going to see a high number of people the government is going to have to release," said Michael
Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has represented Guantanamo Bay
detainees since 2002. It is unclear how the Boumediene v. Bush decision will affect military
commissions trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where 20 detainees, including ... Khalid Sheik
Mohammed, have been charged with war crimes.
FEMA gives away $85 million of supplies for Katrina victims

2008-06-11, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/06/11/fema.giveaway/
FEMA gave away about $85 million in household goods meant for Hurricane Katrina victims, a
CNN investigation has found. These items, stored by FEMA, were meant for Katrina victims but
were given to state and federal agencies. The material, from basic kitchen goods to sleeping
necessities, sat in warehouses for two years before the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's giveaway to federal and state agencies this year. James McIntyre, FEMA's acting press
secretary, said that FEMA was spending more than $1 million a year to store the material and that
another agency wanted the warehouses torn down, so "we needed to vacate them." Photos from
one of the facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, show pallet after pallet of cots, cleansers, first-aid kits,
coffee makers, camp stoves and other items stacked to the ceiling. And even though the stocks
were offered to state agencies after FEMA decided to get rid of them, one of the states that passed
was Louisiana. Martha Kegel, the head of a New Orleans nonprofit agency that helps find homes
for those still displaced by the storm, said she was shocked to learn about the existence of the
goods and the government giveaway. "These are exactly the items that we are desperately
seeking donations of right now: basic kitchen household supplies," said Kegel, executive
director of Unity of Greater New Orleans. "FEMA, in fact, refers homeless clients to us to
house them. How can we house them if we don't have basic supplies?"
Note: For revealing reports on government corruption from reliable sources, click here.
FDA Faulted for Approving Studies of Artificial Blood

A new analysis concludes that the Food and Drug Administration approved experiments with
artificial blood substitutes even after studies showed that the controversial products posed a clear
risk of causing heart attacks and death. The review of combined data from more than 3,711
patients who participated in 16 studies testing five different types of artificial blood, released
yesterday, found that the products nearly tripled the risk of heart attacks and boosted the chances
of dying by 30 percent. Based on the findings, the researchers questioned why the FDA allowed
additional testing of the products to go forward and why the agency is considering letting yet
another study proceed. "It's hard to understand," said Charles Natanson, a senior
investigator at the National Institutes of Health who led the analysis. "They already had data
that these products could cause heart attacks and evidence that they could kill." An artificial
blood substitute that has a long shelf life and does not need refrigeration could save untold lives by
providing an alternative to trauma patients in emergencies, especially in rural areas and in combat
settings. But attempts to develop such products have been marred by repeated failures and
fraught with controversy, in part because some products have been studied under rules allowing
researchers to administer them without obtaining consent from individual patients. After the
Washington-based consumer group Public Citizen sued the FDA to gain access to data submitted
to the agency, Natanson and colleagues at NIH and Public Citizen pooled data from studies
conducted between 1998 and 2007.
click here.
Fewer Large Corporations Audited by IRS

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRLsCIPHsx_U88frjisSL7tE2z4gD901DS380
The tax audit rates of the largest companies are less than half what they were 20 years ago
while more small and mid-size businesses are coming under scrutiny, according to an
organization that monitors the Internal Revenue Service. The Syracuse University-based
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse described what it said was a "historic collapse" in
audits for corporations holding assets of $250 million or more. About 26 percent of them were
audited in the 2007 budget year compared with 34 percent in 2006 and 43 percent in 2005. The
IRS did not dispute the numbers, based on agency data. The TRAC report concluded that the IRS
also was concentrating on regular small and mid-sized companies to boost audit numbers.
"Moving the focus of the corporate auditors away from the large corporations and toward the
smaller ones has been quite effective when it came to increasing the overall number of these kinds
of audits but actually was counterproductive in financial terms," the researchers said. TRAC also
questioned the financial benefits of the shift. The group said that last year the government
uncovered $682 in additional recommended taxes for every revenue agent hour spent auditing the
smallest corporations, compared with $7,498 in additional taxes for audits of the largest
corporations. Dean Zerbe, national managing director for Houston-based alliantgroup, which
provides tax services for medium-sized companies, said his fear was that "in the IRS' zeal to show
Congress improved numbers in corporate audit, it is America's small and medium businesses that
are taking it on the chin."
Note: For more revelations of government corruption from major media sources, click here.
Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy
technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's
legal authority. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his
department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible.
Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights
concerns are resolved, he said. His statements marked a fresh determination to operate the
department's new National Applications Office. But Congress delayed launch of the new office last
October. Critics cited its potential to expand the role of military assets in domestic law
enforcement, to turn new or as-yet-undeveloped technologies against Americans without
adequate public debate, and to divert the existing civilian and scientific focus of some
satellite work to security uses. Democrats say Chertoff has not spelled out what federal laws
govern the NAO, whose funding and size are classified. Congress barred Homeland Security from
funding the office until its investigators could review the office's operating procedures and
safeguards. The department submitted answers on Thursday, but some lawmakers promptly said
the response was inadequate. [Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House
Homeland Security Committee] said, "We still don't know whether the NAO will pass constitutional
muster since no legal framework has been provided."
Note: For many more revealing stories on threats to civil liberties, click here.
Army Blocks Public's Access to Documents in Web-Based Library

The Army has shut down public access to the largest online collection of its doctrinal publications,
a move criticized by open-government advocates as unnecessary secrecy by a runaway
bureaucracy. Army officials moved the Reimer Digital Library behind a password-protected firewall
on Feb. 6, restricting access to an electronic trove that is popular with researchers for its wealth of
field and technical manuals and documents on military operations, education, training and
technology. All are unclassified, and most already are approved for public release. "Almost
everything connected to the Army is reflected in some way in the Reimer collection," said Steven
Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the nonprofit Federation of American
Scientists. "It provides the public with an unparalleled window into Army policy. It provides
unclassified resources on military planning and doctrine." Aftergood ... said the collection offers
specialized military manuscripts that do not appear on the shelves of local libraries. These include
documents on the Army's use of unmanned aircraft [and] tactics and techniques for the use of
nonlethal weapons. "All of this stuff had been specifically approved for public release,"
Aftergood said. "I think it's a case of bureaucracy run amok. And it's a familiar impulse to
secrecy that needs to be challenged at every turn." In 2006, the National Archives
acknowledged that the CIA and other agencies had withdrawn thousands of records from the
public shelves ... and inappropriately reclassified many of them. Early in 2002, then-Attorney
General John D. Ashcroft issued a memo urging federal agencies to use whatever legal means
necessary to reject Freedom of Information Act requests for public documents.
Note: For reliable reports on escalating government secrecy from reliable, verifiable sources, click
here.
The FBI Deputizes Business

2008-02-07, Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/07/6918/
Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and
the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called
InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does -- and, at least on one
occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government,
which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who
showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to "shoot to kill" in the event
of martial law. In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late January,
InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website, www.infragard.net, which adds that "350
of our nation's Fortune 500 have a representative in InfraGard." FBI Director Robert Mueller
addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9, 2005. He urged InfraGard members to contact
the FBI if they "note suspicious activity or an unusual event." And he said they could sic the FBI on
"disgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on the job against their employers."
Note: We don't normally use Common Dreams as a news source, but as this news is so important
and the major media failed to report it, we decided to include this article here. For a revealing
report by the ACLU on this key topic, click here. For important reports from major media sources
on threats to civil liberties, click here.
Spies' Battleground Turns Virtual

U.S. intelligence officials are [now claiming] that popular Internet services that enable computer
users to adopt cartoon-like personas in three-dimensional online spaces also are creating security
vulnerabilities by opening novel ways ... to move money, organize and conduct corporate
espionage. Over the last few years, "virtual worlds" such as Second Life and other role-playing
games have become home to millions of computer-generated personas known as avatars. By
directing their avatars, people can take on alternate personalities, socialize, explore and earn and
spend money across uncharted online landscapes. Nascent economies have sprung to life in
these 3-D worlds, complete with currency, banks and shopping malls. Corporations and
government agencies have opened animated virtual offices, and a growing number of
organizations hold meetings where avatars gather and converse in newly minted conference
centers. Intelligence officials ... say they're convinced that the qualities that many computer
users find so attractive about virtual worlds -- including anonymity, global access and the
expanded ability to make financial transfers outside normal channels -- have turned them
into seedbeds for transnational threats. The government's growing concern seems likely to
make virtual worlds the next battlefield in the struggle over the proper limits on the government's
quest to [expand] data collection and analysis and the surveillance of commercial computer
systems. Virtual worlds could also become an actual battlefield. The intelligence community has
begun contemplating how to use Second Life and other such communities as platforms for cyber
weapons.
Time Runs Out for an Afghan Held by the U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/world/asia/05gitmo.html?ex=1359867600&en=19...
Abdul Razzaq Hekmati was regarded here as a war hero, famous for ... a daring prison break he
organized for three opponents of the Taliban government in 1999. But in 2003, Mr. Hekmati was
arrested by American forces in southern Afghanistan when, senior Afghan officials ... contend, he
was falsely accused by his enemies of being a Taliban commander himself. For the next five years
he was held at the American military base in Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, where he died of cancer on
Dec. 30. The fate of Mr. Hekmati, the first detainee to die of natural causes at Guantnamo ...
demonstrates the enduring problems of the tribunals at Guantnamo. Afghan officials, and some
Americans, complain that detainees are effectively thwarted from calling witnesses in their
defense, and that the Afghan government is never consulted on the detention cases, even when it
may be able to help. Mr. Hekmatis case, officials who knew him said, shows that sometimes the
Americans do not seem to know whom they are holding. In a report in February 2006 ...
researchers at Seton Hall University School of Law ... concluded that no outside witnesses had
ever been called to appear at Guantnamo. Lt. Col. Stephen E. Abraham ... stepped forward last
June to criticize the tribunals. In a submission to the Supreme Court, he condemned them for
relying on generalized evidence that would have been dismissed by any competent court,
and as being devised to rubber-stamp the administrations assertion that the detainees had
been correctly designated enemy combatants when they were captured and that they
could be held indefinitely.
Timeline: Porton Down Laboratory

2008-01-31, BBC News
The Ministry of Defence's announcement that it is to award 3m in compensation to 360 veterans
of chemical weapons tests has put the spotlight on the Science and Technology Laboratory at
Porton Down. 1916: Building work begins at Porton Down ... to create an experimental base for
research into chemical warfare. 1920: Large-scale expansion of the site begins, initially focusing
on the effects of mustard gas - experiments in which thousands of volunteers were to participate.
1940: After the outbreak of war, a secret group is set up at Porton Down to investigate biological
warfare. 1945: Thousands of military personnel had taken part in trials at Porton Down during
World War II. As the war ended, volunteers began participating in nerve-agent trials there - a
practice that was to continue until 1989. 1953: Leading Aircraftman Ronald Maddison
participates in chemical experiments at Porton Down. Within an hour of being given sarin,
he is dead. Military chiefs conduct an inquest in secret. Verdict: misadventure. 1989: Nerveagent trials at Porton Down cease. 2002: Ministry of Defence (MoD) helpline set up to enable
Porton Down veterans to find out more about the trials they were involved in. 2004: Fresh inquest
into the 1953 death of Ronald Maddison returns a verdict of unlawful killing. The MoD [only two
years later] admits "gross negligence". 2008: The BBC learns of a 3m out-of-court settlement
between the MoD and veterans, under which the [360] ex-servicemen will each receive 8,300 and
an apology ... without admission of liability.
Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe

An investigation into the illicit sale of American nuclear secrets was compromised by a senior
official in the State Department, a former FBI employee has claimed. The official is said to have
tipped off a foreign contact about a bogus CIA company used to investigate the sale of
nuclear secrets. The firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates, was a front for Valerie Plame,
the former CIA agent. Her public outing two years later in 2003 by White House officials
became a cause clbre. The claims that a State Department official blew the investigation into a
nuclear smuggling ring have been made by Sibel Edmonds, 38, a former Turkish language
translator in the FBIs Washington field office. Plame, then 38, was the ... wife of a former US
ambassador, Joe Wilson. She travelled widely for her work, often claiming to be an oil consultant.
In fact she was a career CIA agent who was part of a small team investigating the same
procurement network that the State Department official is alleged to have aided. Brewster
Jennings was one of a number of covert enterprises set up to infiltrate the nuclear ring. [Edmonds
said the State Department official] "found out about the arrangement . . . and he contacted one of
the foreign targets and said . . . you need to stay away from Brewster Jennings because they are a
cover for the government. Phillip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, said: Its pretty clear Plame was
targeting the Turks. If indeed that [State Department] official was working with the Turks to violate
US law on nuclear exports, it would have been in his interest to alert them to the fact that this
womans company was affiliated to the CIA. I dont know if thats treason legally but many people
would consider it to be.
Note: To read former CIA agent Philip Giraldi's analysis of Edmonds' claims, in which he identifies
the unnamed State Department official as Marc Grossman, click here. And to read an interview
with Edmonds on the series of articles about her revelations appearing in the Sunday Times and
media censorship elsewhere, click here.
Pentagon Won't Probe KBR Rape Charges

2008-01-08, ABC News
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4099514
The Defense Department's top watchdog has declined to investigate allegations that an American
woman working under an Army contract in Iraq was raped by her co-workers. The case of former
Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones gained national attention last month. An ABC News
investigation revealed how an earlier investigation into Jones' alleged gang-rape in 2005 had not
resulted in any prosecution, and that neither Jones nor Democratic and Republican lawmakers
have been able to get answers from the Bush administration on the state of her case. In letters to
lawmakers, DoD Inspector General Claude Kicklighter said that because the Justice Department
still considers the investigation into Jones' case open, there is no need for him to look into the
matter. "We're not satisfied with that," a Nelson spokesman said. Jones' lawyers also professed
disappointment. Despite deferring to the Justice Department, Kicklighter's office told Nelson it was
willing to pursue other questions Nelson raised about Jones' case. Kicklighter agreed to explore
"whether and why" a U.S. Army doctor handed to KBR security officials the results of
Jones' medical examination, a so-called "rape kit," which would have contained evidence of
the crime if it had occurred. In a separate letter, Kicklighter's office said that the State
Department had said its security officials had Jones' rape kit in their possession at one point.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports on government corruption from major media sources,
click here.
Dan Ellsberg: Sibel Edmonds case
2007-11-19, OpEdNews.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_luke_ryl_071119_dan_ellsberg_3a_sibel...
Bradblog has been chasing the story about former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds' offer to 'tell all.'
[Daniel] Ellsberg says: "I'd say what she has is far more explosive than the Pentagon
Papers. From what [Edmonds] has to tell, it has a major difference from the Pentagon
Papers in that it deals directly with criminal activity and may involve impeachable offenses.
And I don't necessarily mean the President or the Vice-President, though I wouldn't be surprised if
the information reached up that high. But other members of the Executive Branch may be
impeached as well. There will be phone calls going out to the media saying 'don't even think of
touching [Edmonds' case], you will be prosecuted for violating national security.'" [Edmonds] said:
"The media called from Japan and France and Belgium and Germany and Canada and from all
over the world. I'm getting contact from all over the world, but not from here." More Ellsberg: "I am
confident that there is conversation inside the Government as to 'How do we deal with Sibel?' The
first line of defense is to ensure that she doesn't get into the media. I think any outlet that thought
of using her materials would go to the government and they would be told 'don't touch this, it's
communications intelligence.' As long as they hold a united front on this, they don't run the risk of
being shamed." [Edmonds:] "I will name the name of major publications who know the story, and
have been sitting on it --- almost a year and a half." "How do you know they have the story?," we
asked. "I know they have it because people from the FBI have come in and given it to them.
They've given them the documents and specific case-numbers on my case."
Note: Though this is not from one of our normal reliable sources, Dan Ellsberg is a highly
respected whistleblower who has received an abundance of major media coverage over the years.
As the mainstream media are clearly and consciously ignoring this story, we felt it deserved to be
posted, even though we don't have a major media source to back it up. For lots more reliable
information on this courageous woman, click here.
Student describes how she became a Clinton plant

2007-11-13, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/13/clinton.planted/index.html
The college student who was told what question to ask at one of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's
campaign events said "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one
who was planted. In an exclusive on-camera interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, said giving anyone specific questions to
ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics. GalloChasanoff ... said what happened was simple: She said a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like
to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in
Newton, Iowa, on November 6. "I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her
energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said Monday
night. According to Gallo-Chasanoff, the staffer said, " 'I don't think that's a good idea, because I
don't know how familiar she is with their plans.' " He then opened a binder to a page that,
according to Gallo-Chasanoff, had about eight questions on it. "The top one was planned
specifically for a college student," she added. "It said 'college student' in brackets and then
the question." Topping that sheet of paper was the following: "As a young person, I'm worried
about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?" And
while she said she would have rather used her own question, Gallo-Chasanoff said she didn't have
a problem asking the campaign's because she "likes to be agreeable," adding that since she told
the staffer she'd ask their pre-typed question she "didn't want to go back on my word." Clinton
campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee said ... Clinton had "no idea who she was calling on." GalloChasanoff wasn't so sure. "It seemed like she knew to call on me because there were so many
people, and ... I was the only college student in that area," she said. Gallo-Chasanoff said she
wasn't the only person given a question.
Note: Click on the link above to watch videos of the student asking the planted question and of the
full interview with CNN.
Pentagon Review Faults Bank Record Demands

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/washington/14letter.html?ex=1350014400&en=b...
An internal Pentagon review this year found systemic problems ... in the militarys efforts to obtain
records from American banks and consumer credit agencies in terrorism and espionage
investigations, according to Pentagon documents. The newly disclosed documents, totaling more
than 1,000 pages, provide additional confirmation of the militarys expanding use of what are
known as national security letters under powers claimed under the Patriot Act. The documents
show that the military has issued at least 270 of the letters since 2005, and about 500 in all since
2001. The documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by two private
advocacy groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The
New York Times first disclosed the militarys use of the letters in January, and senior members of
Congress and civil liberties groups criticized the practice on grounds that it seemed to conflict with
traditional Pentagon rules against domestic law enforcement operations. The documents raise a
number of apparent discrepancies between the Defense Departments internal practices and what
officials have said publicly and to Congress about their use of the letters. The documents suggest,
for instance, that military officials used the F.B.I. to collect records for what started as purely
military investigations. And the documents also leave open the possibility that records could be
gathered on nonmilitary personnel in the course of the investigations. Civil liberties advocates
said recent controversy over the Department of Defenses collection of information on
antiwar protesters made them suspicious of the assertion that the letters had been used
exclusively to focus on military personnel. We are very skeptical that the D.O.D. is
voluntarily limiting its own surveillance power, said Melissa Goodman, a staff attorney for the
A.C.L.U..
Supreme Disgrace
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/opinion/11thu1.html?ex=1349755200&en=fc1bca...
Somehow, the [Supreme Court] could not muster the four votes needed to grant review in the case
of an innocent German citizen of Lebanese descent who was kidnapped, detained and tortured in
a secret overseas prison as part of the Bush administrations ... anti-terrorism program. The victim,
Khaled el-Masri, was denied justice by lower federal courts, which dismissed his civil suit in a
reflexive bow to a flimsy government claim that allowing the case to go forward would put national
security secrets at risk. Those rulings ... represented a major distortion of the state secrets
doctrine, a rule ... that was originally intended to shield specific evidence in a lawsuit filed against
the government. It was never designed to dictate dismissal of an entire case before any evidence
is produced. The Masri case ... is being actively discussed all over the world. The only place it
cannot be discussed, it seems, is in a United States courtroom. In effect, the Supreme Court has
granted the government immunity for subjecting Mr. Masri to extraordinary rendition, the
morally and legally unsupportable United States practice of transporting foreign nationals
to be interrogated in other countries known to use torture and lacking basic legal
protections. Its hard to imagine what, at this point, needs to be kept secret, other than the ways
in which the administration behaved, ... quite possibly illegally, in the Masri case. The Supreme
Court has left an innocent person without any remedy for his wrongful imprisonment and torture. It
has ... established [itself] as Supreme Enabler of the Bush administrations efforts to avoid
accountability for its actions. These are not accomplishments to be proud of.
Back In Iraq: The 'Whores Of War'

2007-09-29, Sunday Herald (Scotland's leading newspaper, Sunday edition)
http://www.sundayherald.com/search/display.var.1724225.0.back_in_iraq_the_who...
Despite being implicated in several controversial killings, [Blackwater] is the Pentagon's most
favoured contractor and has effective diplomatic immunity in Iraq. Referred to as "the most
powerful mercenary army in the world", both the US ambassador to Iraq and the army's top
generals hold it in regard. The company, based near the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina,
was co-founded by Erik Prince, a billionaire right-wing fundamentalist. At its HQ, Blackwater has
trained more than 20,000 mercenaries to operate as freelancers in wars around the world. Prince
is a big bankroller of the Republican Party - giving a total of around $275,550 - and was a young
intern in the White House of George Bush Sr. Under George Bush Jr, Blackwater received
lucrative no-bid contracts for work in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.
His firm has pulled down contracts worth at least $320 million in Iraq alone. Jeremy Scahill, who
wrote the book Blackwater: The Rise Of The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, says when
Bush was re-elected in 2004, one company boss sent this email to staff: "Bush Wins, Four More
Years!! Hooyah!!" One Blackwater employment policy is to hire ex-administration big-hitters
into key positions. It hired Cofer Black, a former State Department co-ordinator for counterterrorism and former head of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre, as vice-chairman. Robert Richer,
a former CIA divisional head, joined Blackwater as vice-president of intelligence in 2005. Scahill
says the firm is "the front line in what the Bush administration views as the necessary
revolution in military affairs" - privatisation of as many roles as possible. Scahill went on to
call Prince a "neo-crusader, a Christian supremacist, who ... has been allowed to create a private
army to defend Christendom around the world."
Case Dismissed?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20884696/site/newsweek/from/ET/
The nations biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the White
House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve a
measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the U.S. intelligence
communitys warrantless surveillance programs. The campaign which involves some of
Washington's most prominent lobbying and law firms has taken on new urgency in recent
weeks because of fears that a U.S. appellate court in San Francisco is poised to rule that the
lawsuits should be allowed to proceed. If that happens, the telecom companies say, they may be
forced to terminate their cooperation with the U.S. intelligence community or risk potentially
crippling damage awards for allegedly turning over personal information about their customers to
the government without a judicial warrant. But critics say the language proposed by the White
House drafted in close cooperation with the industry officials is so extraordinarily broad that it
would provide retroactive immunity for all past telecom actions related to the surveillance program.
Its practical effect, they argue, would be to shut down any independent judicial or state inquires
into how the companies have assisted the government in eavesdropping on the telephone calls
and e-mails of U.S. residents in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks. Its clear the
goal is to kill our case," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
[which] filed the main lawsuit against the telecoms after The New York Times first disclosed, in
December 2005, that President Bush had approved a secret program to monitor the phone
conversations of U.S. residents without first seeking judicial warrants. I find it a little shocking that
Congress would participate in the covering up of what has been going on," added Cohn.
Source Disclosure Ordered in Anthrax Suit

Five reporters must reveal their government sources for stories they wrote about Steven J. Hatfill
and investigators' suspicions that the former Army scientist was behind the deadly anthrax attacks
of 2001, a federal judge ruled. The ruling is a victory for Hatfill, a bioterrorism expert who has
argued in a civil suit that the government violated his privacy rights and ruined his chances at a job
by unfairly leaking information about the probe. He has not been charged in the attacks that killed
five people and sickened 17 others, and he has denied wrongdoing. Hatfill's suit, filed in 2003,
accuses the government of waging a "coordinated smear campaign." To succeed, Hatfill and his
attorneys have been seeking the identities of FBI and Justice Department officials who disclosed
disparaging information about him to the media. In lengthy depositions in the case, reporters have
identified 100 instances when Justice or FBI sources provided them with information about the
investigation of Hatfill and the techniques used to probe his possible role in anthrax-laced mailings.
But the reporters have refused to name the individuals. In 2002, then-Attorney General John D.
Ashcroft called Hatfill, who had formerly worked at the Army's infectious diseases lab in
Fort Detrick in Frederick County, a "person of interest" in the anthrax case. Authorities
have not made any arrests in the investigation. Hatfill's search for government leakers is
"strikingly similar" to the civil suit filed by Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist who became the subject
of a flurry of media stories identifying him as a chief suspect in a nuclear-secrets spy case. Those
stories also relied on anonymous sources. Lee was never charged with espionage.
Note: For more reliable information about the anthrax attacks that followed closely after 9/11 and
the mysterious deaths of over a dozen renowned microbiologists shortly thereafter, click here.
China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12security.html?ex=1...
At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here [in Shenzhen] in
southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an Americanfinanced company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual
activity. Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of
12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same
company will be issued to most citizens. Data on the chip will include not just the citizens
name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police
record, medical insurance status and landlords phone number. Even personal reproductive
history will be included, for enforcement of Chinas controversial one child policy. Plans
are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to
the card. Security experts describe Chinas plans as the worlds largest effort to meld cutting-edge
computer technology with police work to track the activities of a population. But they say the
technology can be used to violate civil rights. We have a very good relationship with U.S.
companies like I.B.M., Cisco, H.P., Dell, said Robin Huang, the chief operating officer of China
Public Security. All of these U.S. companies work with us to build our system together. The role
of American companies in helping Chinese security forces has periodically been controversial in
the United States. Executives from Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems testified in
February 2006 at a Congressional hearing called to review whether they had deliberately designed
their systems to help the Chinese state muzzle dissidents on the Internet; they denied having done
so.
Airlines Sue FBI, CIA Over Sept. 11

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/airlines-sue-fbi-cia-over-sept-11/n2007...
Airlines and aviation-related companies sued the CIA and the FBI on Tuesday to force terrorism
investigators to tell whether the aviation industry was to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks. The two
lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sought court orders for depositions as the aviation
entities build their defenses against lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages for injuries,
fatalities, property damage and business losses related to Sept. 11, 2001. The aviation
companies said the agencies in a series of boilerplate letters had refused to let them
depose two secret agents, including the 2001 head of the CIA's special Osama bin Laden unit,
and six FBI agents with key information about al-Qaida and bin Laden. The [plaintiffs] said they
were entitled to present evidence to show the terrorist attacks did not depend upon
negligence by any aviation defendants and that there were other causes of the attacks. In
the CIA lawsuit, companies ... asked to interview the deputy chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit in
2001 and an FBI agent assigned to the unit at that time. The names of both are secret. In the FBI
lawsuit, the companies asked to interview five former and current FBI employees who had
participated in investigations of al-Qaida and al-Qaida operatives before and after Sept. 11. Those
individuals included Coleen M. Rowley, the former top FBI lawyer in its Minneapolis office, who
sent a scathing letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller in May 2002 complaining that a supervisor
in Washington interfered with the Minnesota investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui weeks before the
Sept. 11 attacks. Requests to interview the agents were rejected as not sufficiently explained,
burdensome or protected by investigative or attorney-client privilege, the lawsuits said.
Note: For a concise summary of reliable, verifiable information on the 9/11 coverup, click here.
Producer of 9/11 Conspiracy Film 'Loose Change' Arrested for Deserting

the Army
2007-07-26, FOX News
One of the young filmmakers behind a controversial 9/11 conspiracy documentary was arrested
this week on charges that he deserted the Army, even though ... he received an honorable
discharge. Korey Rowe, 24, who served with the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan and Iraq, told
FOXNews.com that he was honorably discharged from the military 18 months ago which he
said he explained to sheriffs when they pounded on his door late Monday night. When they came
to my house, I showed them my paperwork, Rowe said. The cops said, 'Youre still in the
system.' Rowe is one of the producers of "Loose Change," a cult hit on the Internet
espousing the theory that the U.S. government and specifically the Bush administration
orchestrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The movie is set to be released in about 40
British theaters in late August, according to Rowe and fellow filmmakers Jason Bermas and
Dylan Avery. Police arrested Rowe at his house in Oneonta, N.Y., about 10:45 p.m. on Monday
and took him to the Otsego County jail, where he spent a day-and-a-half before he was released,
he said. Rowe was turned over to officials at Fort Drum the closest military base who then
booked him on a flight to Fort Campbell, Ky., where his unit is based, to try to straighten out why
the military issued a warrant for his arrest. A warrant for my arrest came down and showed up on
the sheriffs desk, Rowe said. Where it came from and why it showed up all of a sudden is a
mystery to me. There were at least five sheriffs on hand for his arrest, Rowe said. They pulled a
whole operation. They cut my phone lines. They came from the woods. It was crazy it was
ridiculous, he said.
U.S. dropped Enron-like fraud probe

2007-07-23, Sacramento Bee (Leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/286713.html
Two years into a fraud investigation, veteran federal prosecutor David Maguire told colleagues
he'd uncovered one of the biggest cases of his career. Maguire described crimes "far worse"
than those of Arthur Andersen, the accounting giant that collapsed in the wake of the Enron
scandal. Among those in his sights: executives from a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, the
investment empire overseen by billionaire Warren Buffett. In May 2006, he felt strongly enough
about his case that he prepared a draft indictment accusing executives from a Virginia insurer,
Reciprocal of America, of concocting a series of secret deals to hide its losses from regulators.
Although he didn't name anyone from Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiary, he described the company
as a participant in the scheme. But Maguire never brought those charges. Months after preparing
the draft, he was removed as the lead prosecutor on the case and reassigned. His replacement, a
prosecutor who hadn't been involved in the case until then, soon announced that the Berkshire
Hathaway subsidiary, General Reinsurance, would not be indicted. By April of this year, the entire
investigation ... had fizzled. Former employees and policyholders of the Richmond-based insurer
were astounded. Why had the Justice Department spent upward of $2 million to investigate
the case only to decline to prosecute? Maguire and his team of investigators had secured two
related guilty pleas, interviewed dozens of witnesses and gathered 7,000 boxes of documents.
Tom Gober, a certified fraud examiner who worked on the case ... concluded that the Justice
Department had buckled under pressure from defense lawyers. "It just stinks," he said. "You don't
come in out of nowhere and in no time kill three years of sophisticated effort."
Bush Approves New CIA Methods

President Bush set broad legal boundaries for the CIA's harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects
yesterday, allowing the intelligence agency to resume a program that was suspended last year
after criticism that it violated U.S. and international law. In an executive order lacking any details
about actual interrogation techniques, Bush said the CIA program will now comply with a Geneva
Conventions prohibition against "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and
degrading treatment." Two administration officials said that suspects now in U.S. custody could be
moved immediately into the "enhanced interrogation" program and subjected to techniques that go
beyond those allowed by the U.S. military. Rights activists criticized Bush's order for failing to
spell out which techniques are now approved or prohibited. "All the order really does is to
have the president say, 'Everything in that other document that I'm not showing you is legal
-- trust me,' " said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. The CIA interrogation guidelines are
contained in a classified document. A senior intelligence official, asked whether this list includes
such widely criticized methods as the simulated drowning known as "waterboarding," declined to
discuss specifics but said "it would be very wrong to assume that the program of the past would
move into the future unchanged." CIA detainees have also alleged they were left naked in cells for
prolonged periods, subjected to sensory and sleep deprivation and extreme heat and cold, and
sexually taunted. A senior administration official briefing reporters yesterday said that any future
use of "extremes of heat and cold" would be subject to a "reasonable interpretation . . . we're not
talking about forcibly induced hypothermia."
Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/washington/11surgeon.html?ex=1341806400&en=...
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush
administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports
because of political considerations. The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to
speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison,
mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to water down a
landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that
even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm. Dr. Carmona said he was
ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said
he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend
political briefings. Dr. Carmona is one of a growing list of present and former administration
officials to charge that politics often trumped science within what had previously been largely
nonpartisan government health and scientific agencies. On issue after issue, Dr. Carmona said,
the administration made decisions about important public health issues based solely on political
considerations, not scientific ones. I was told to stay away from those because weve already
decided which way we want to go, Dr. Carmona said. He described attending a meeting of top
officials in which the subject of global warming was discussed. The officials concluded that global
warming was a liberal cause and dismissed it, he said.
FBI Finds It Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data

An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more
than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial
transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in
March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism. The new audit covers just 10 percent of the
bureau's national security investigations since 2002. The vast majority of the new violations were
instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail
records the agents did not request and were not authorized to collect. The agents retained the
information anyway in their files. Two dozen of the newly-discovered violations involved agents'
requests for information that U.S. law did not allow them to have. The results confirmed what ...
critics feared, namely that many agents did not ... follow the required legal procedures and
paperwork requirements when collecting personal information with one of the most sensitive and
powerful intelligence-gathering tools of the post-Sept. 11 era -- the National Security Letter,
or NSL. Such letters are uniformly secret and amount to nonnegotiable demands for
personal information -- demands that are not reviewed in advance by a judge. After the 2001
terrorist attacks, Congress substantially eased the rules for issuing NSLs, [leading] to an explosive
growth in the use of the letters. More than 19,000 such letters were issued in 2005 seeking 47,000
pieces of information, mostly from telecommunications companies.
AAA wants gas-price inquiry

2007-05-16, The San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco's leading newspaper)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/16/BUGVAPRFRQ1.DTL
AAA asked the U.S. Senate Tuesday to investigate why oil companies are making huge profits at a
time when glitches at gas refineries have caused pump prices to soar. "We are concerned about
the number and frequency of refinery outages this year in light of the large profits the industry has
been reporting," AAA Public Affairs Director Geoff Sundstrom told the Senate Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources. "AAA doesn't know why refiners appear to be failing at this task,
but we do think it would be worth the committee's time and trouble to find out." Sundstrom spoke at
a Senate hearing at which lawmakers asked energy experts to explain the spell of unplanned
refinery shutdowns that have thrown gas supplies into disarray from coast to coast, boosting
average pump prices to a record $3.09 per gallon in the United States. California Energy
Commission spokesman Bob Aldrich said his agency does not investigate the industry but does
track its practices. This year the big story was a series of glitches in the annual switchover from
winter gas to a differently formulated summer gas. Tom Kloza, publisher of the Oil Price
Information Service ... said the surprise this year was that refineries outside California also had
unplanned problems with their normal spring maintenance. "I did not think we'd see the same
downtime elsewhere in the country," he said. Sean Comey, spokesman for AAA of Northern
California, said the gas refining business is unusual because it seems that even when
production goes down, prices and profits go up. "When most industries have production
problems, profits suffer as a result," he said.
Study suggests cancer risk from depleted uranium

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2074419,00.html
Depleted uranium, which is used in armour-piercing ammunition, causes widespread damage to

DNA which could lead to lung cancer, according to a study of the metal's effects on human lung
cells. The study adds to growing evidence that DU causes health problems on battlefields
long after hostilities have ceased. DU is a byproduct of uranium refinement for nuclear power. It
is much less radioactive than other uranium isotopes, and its high density - twice that of lead makes it useful for armour and armour piercing shells. It has been used in conflicts including
Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq and there have been increasing concerns about the health effects of DU
dust left on the battlefield. In November, the Ministry of Defence was forced to counteract claims
that apparent increases in cancers and birth defects among Iraqis in southern Iraq were due to DU
in weapons. Prof Wise and his team believe that microscopic particles of dust created during the
explosion of a DU weapon stay on the battlefield and can be breathed in by soldiers and people
returning after the conflict. Once they are lodged in the lung even low levels of radioactivity would
damage DNA in cells close by. "The real question is whether the level of exposure is sufficient to
cause health effects. The answer to that question is still unclear," he said, adding that there has as
yet been little research on the effects of DU on civilians in combat zones. "Funding for DU studies
is very sparse and so defining the disadvantages is hard," he added.
Note: We suspect a major cover-up of the dangers of DU, on which the media have reported little.
How convenient that this pesky waste product from nuclear power plants which is radioactive for
thousands of years could be sold to the military for weapons. For lots more on this vital topic, click
here.
New fears over additives in children's food

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2074349,00.html
Food safety experts have advised parents to eliminate a series of additives from their children's
diet while they await the publication of a new study that is understood to link these ingredients to
behaviour problems in youngsters. The latest scientific research into the effect of food additives on
children's behaviour is thought to raise fresh doubts about the safety of controversial food
colourings and a preservative widely used in sweets, drinks and processed foods. It will be several
months before the results are published, despite the importance of the findings for children's
health. Researchers at Southampton University have tested combinations of synthetic colourings
and preservative that an average child might consume in a day to measure what effect they had on
behaviour. A source at the university [said] their results supported findings first made seven
years ago that linked the additives to behavioural problems, such as temper tantrums, poor
concentration and hyperactivity, and to allergic reactions. Independent experts say that
consumers should consider removing these additives from their children's diets now. Dr Alex
Richardson, the director of Food and Behaviour Research and senior research scientist at Oxford
University, said: "There are well-documented potential risks from these additives. In my view the
researchers had done an excellent piece of work first time round and there was enough evidence
to act. If this new study essentially replicates that, what more evidence do they need to remove
these additives from children's food and drink?"
Note: For how drug companies collude with government to suppress this kind of information, click
here.
Lecturers Prey on Nigerian Women, Girls

When Nigeria's education minister faced an audience of 1,000 schoolchildren, she expected to
hear complaints of crowded classrooms and lack of equipment. Instead, girl after girl spoke up
about being pressured for sex by teachers in exchange for better grades. One girl was just 11
years old. "I was shocked," said the minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili. "I asked, was it that prevalent?
And they all chorused 'yes.'" For years, sexual harassment has been rampant in Nigeria's
universities, but until recently very little was done about it. From Associated Press interviews with
officials and 12 female college students, a pattern emerges of women being held back and denied
passing grades for rebuffing teachers' advances, and of being advised by other teachers to give in
quietly. Most victims are college students such as Chioma, a slim, quiet 22-year-old with a B
average, who repeatedly failed political science after refusing her teacher's explicit demands for
sex. She said he was a pastor and old enough to be her grandfather. In a recent survey ... 80
percent of over 300 women questioned at four universities said sexual harassment was
their no. 1 concern. But with a strong African tradition of respecting one's elders, families or
teachers, harassed students can rarely expect support, even when repeated complaints are made
against one individual. Yet attitudes are slowly changing. Ezekwesili, the education minister, says
she wants to set up complaints programs and join forces with women's organizations. "We are
going to take punitive measures against these teachers and give a voice to students," she
promised.
Audit finds U.S. anti-terror statistics inflated

Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking
among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 even though no evidence linked them to
terror activity, a Justice Department audit said Tuesday. Overall, nearly all of the terrorism-related
statistics on investigations, referrals and cases examined by department Inspector General Glenn
A. Fine were either diminished or inflated. Only two of 26 sets of department data reported
between 2001 and 2005 were accurate, the audit found. It found that data from the Executive
Office of U.S. Attorneys were the most severely flawed. Auditors said the office, which compiles
statistics from the 94 federal prosecutors' districts nationwide, both under- and over-counted the
number of terror-related cases during a four-year period. The numbers, used to monitor the
department's progress in battling terrorists, are reported to Congress and the public and help, in
part, shape the department's budget. Other examples, according to the audit, included: charges
against a marriage-broker for being paid to arrange six fraudulent marriages between Tunisians
and U.S. citizens, prosecution of a Mexican citizen who falsely identified himself as another person
in a passport application, [and] charges against a suspect for dealing firearms without a license.
Note: To read the report by the Justice Department, click here.
Tax Cuts Offer Most for Very Rich, Study Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/washington/08tax.html?ex=1325912400&en=e1dc...
Families earning more than $1 million a year saw their federal tax rates drop more sharply than
any group in the country as a result of President Bushs tax cuts, according to a new
Congressional study. The study, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also shows that
tax rates for middle-income earners edged up in 2004 ... while rates for people at the very top
continued to decline. While Mr. Bushs tax cuts reduced rates for people at every income level,
they offered the biggest benefits by far to people at the very top especially the top 1 percent of
income earners. Two of his signature measures, tax cuts on investment income and a steady
reduction of estate taxes, overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest households. Households in the
top 1 percent of earnings, which had an average income of $1.25 million, saw their effective
individual tax rates drop to 19.6 percent in 2004 from 24.2 percent in 2000. The rate cut was
twice as deep as for middle-income families. Those rates could decline even more as the
estate tax on inherited wealth is gradually phased out by the start of 2010. Mr. Bush and his
Republican allies in Congress want to permanently extend that tax cut and almost all of the others.
The cost of doing that would be more than $1 trillion over the next decade. Families in the bottom
40 percent of income earners, those with incomes below $36,300, typically paid no federal income
tax and received money back from the government.
FDA May Clear Cloned Food, But Public Has Little Appetite
Consumer advocates and others have complained bitterly in recent years that the Food and Drug
Administration has veered from its scientific roots. Later this week, the agency is expected to
release a formal recommendation that milk and meat from cloned animals should be allowed on
grocery store shelves. The long-awaited decision comes as polling data to be released this week
show that the public continues to have little appetite for such food, with many people saying the
FDA should keep it off the market. That raises the issue: Should decisions such as this one be
based solely on science, or should officials take into account public sensitivities, which may be
unscientific but are undeniably real? "There is more to this issue than just food safety," said Susan
Ruland of the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents such major companies as
Kraft Foods and Dannon. The organization's member companies are concerned that sales of U.S.
dairy products could drop by 15 percent or more if the FDA allows the sale of meat and milk from
clones. Relatively few cloned farm animals exist; there are an estimated 150 clones out of
the nation's 9 million dairy cows. But biotechnology companies are gearing up to clone
farmers' tastiest cattle and pigs and most productive dairy cows. In the University of
Maryland survey, nearly half of those polled asserted that it was not yet possible to clone farm
animals for food. For the most part, people don't know this is a reality yet.
Administration asks to keep Cheney logs secret

The Bush administration asked an appeals court Wednesday to overrule a federal judge and allow
the White House to keep secret any records of visitors to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence
and office. To make the visitor records public would be an "unprecedented intrusion into the daily
operations of the vice presidency," the Justice Department argued in a 57-page brief to the U.S.
Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. Congress has excluded presidential and vice
presidential records from the public's reach making the visitor logs untouchable, the
government said. "There is thus no dispute that, for example, appointment calendars maintained
by the office of the vice president, revealing the identities of visitors and the time of their visits,
would not be subject to disclosure," the Justice Department said in its response. A lawsuit over
similar records revealed in September that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph
Reed key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal landed more than 100
meetings inside the Bush White House.
Note: While lobbyists are required to register for Congress, the public is not allowed to know who
is lobbying the two most powerful political representatives of the nation. What kind democracy is
this?
Tech Watch: Forecasting Pain

2006-12-00, Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4202262.html
No longer a gleam in the Pentagon's eye, ray guns or radiofrequency (RF) weapons, to
be exact officially have arrived. As troops are increasingly forced to serve as an ad hoc police
force, nonlethal weapons have become a priority for the military. The Department of Defense is
currently testing the Active Denial System (ADS), which fires pain-inducing beams of 95-GHz radio
waves, for deployment on ground vehicles. This surface heating doesn't actually burn the target,
but is painful enough to force a retreat. While the military continues to investigate the safety of RFbased weapons, defense contractor Raytheon has released Silent Guardian, a stripped-down
version of the ADS, marketed to law enforcement and security providers as well as to the military.
Using a joystick and a targeting screen, operators can induce pain from over 250 yards away, as
opposed to more than 500 yards with the ADS. Unlike its longer-ranged counterpart, Silent
Guardian is available now. As futuristic and frightening as the ADS "pain ray" sounds, the Air
Force Office of Scientific Research is funding an even more ambitious use of RF energy.
Researchers at the University of Nevada are investigating the feasibility of a method that would
immobilize targets without causing pain. Rather than heating the subject's skin, this approach
would use microwaves at 0.75 to 6 GHz to affect skeletal muscle contractions. This project is still
in the beginning stages. The ADS, on the other hand, is already a painful reality.
Note: For lots more concerning information on non-lethal weapons, click here.
A Texas-sized campaign loophole

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-cash29nov29,1,5005191....
The Texas Ethics Commission affirmed this week that state officials could accept unlimited gifts of
cash from donors without revealing how much they received. All public officials have to do is report
a gift of currency and the source of the money. The legal interpretation shocked campaign finance
watchdogs and some Texas officials, who argued that it was tantamount to legalizing bribery. "This
creates a loophole big enough to drive an armored car full of cash through," said Craig McDonald,
director of the nonprofit group Texans for Public Justice. "It makes a mockery of our ethics laws."
Ronnie Earle, the Travis County district attorney leading the corruption prosecution of former
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, called the interpretation absurd in a letter to the panel. He
joked that Texas officials could reveal receiving a gift of a wheelbarrow, "without reporting
that the wheelbarrow was filled with cash."
Dark Side of Dubai's Boomtown

2006-11-17, ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2663252
In the world of thoroughbred racing, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohamed, has spared no expense
in making himself a big man. The sheikh's taking the same no expense spared approach to
promoting Dubai around the world. Prominent figures, including former President Bill Clinton, have
been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak, or act as consultants. President Bush's
brother Neil was a guest of the royal family last year. And as Dubai grows from desert town to
boomtown, again, no expense is being spared. Just putting up the world's tallest building isn't
enough. The building will be twice this height when completed next year. One hundred sixty floors
of the most luxurious apartments and offices the world has ever seen. All being built, it turns out,
by workers who on average make less than a dollar an hour. Behind the glitzy world of Dubai
are some 500,000 foreign workers who human rights groups say live in virtual enslavement.
A report out just this week from the group Human Rights Watch concludes workers putting
up Dubai's soaring towers are being systematically cheated and abused, with the sheikh's
government looking the other way.
Note: If you want to see how deep this ugly hole goes, don't miss the eye-opening ABC News
video at this link.
Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice

On July 10, 2001...then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer
Black, at CIA headquarters. Black laid out the case...showing the increasing likelihood that alQaeda would soon attack the United States. It was...so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and
Black should go to the White House immediately. Tenet called Condoleezza Rice...and said he
needed to see her right away. He and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get
Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action. Two weeks earlier, he had told Richard A.
Clarke: "It's my sixth sense, but I feel it coming. This is going to be the big one." But Tenet had
been having difficulty getting traction on an immediate bin Laden action plan, in part because
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had questioned all the National Security Agency intercepts
and other intelligence. Black emphasized that...the problem was so serious that it required an
overall plan and strategy. Rice...was polite, but they felt the brush-off. President Bush had said he
didn't want to swat at flies. Tenet left the meeting feeling frustrated. No immediate action meant
great risk. The July 10 meeting...went unmentioned in the various reports of investigations
into the Sept. 11 attacks. Though the investigators had access to all the paperwork on the
meeting, Black felt there were things the commissions wanted to know about and things
they didn't want to know about. Afterward, Tenet looked back on the meeting with Rice as a
tremendous lost opportunity to prevent or disrupt the Sept. 11 attacks. Black later said, "The only
thing we didn't do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head."
Nonlethal weapons touted for use on citizens

Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American
citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force
secretary said Tuesday. The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it
easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael
Wynne. "If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing
to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if
they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also
can be effective in disabling some electronic devices.
Note: The government has been developing potentially lethal "non-lethal weapons" for decades,
as evidenced by released FOIA government documents. Don't miss our excellent summary on this
critical topic available at http://www.WantToKnow.info/mindcontrol10pg#nonlethal and the in-depth
Washington
Post
article
on
psychological
http://www.WantToKnow.info/060123psyops.
manipulations
available
at
Officials Sued Over Phone Records Access

2006-06-14, Los Angeles Times/Associated Pres
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-phone-records-la...
The federal government sued the New Jersey attorney general and other state officials
Wednesday to stop them from seeking information about telephone companies'
cooperation with the National Security Agency. The unusual filing...is the latest effort by federal
authorities to halt legal proceedings aimed at revealing whether and how often AT&T, Verizon and
other phone companies have provided customer records to the NSA without a court order. New
Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber, a Democrat, and other officials sent subpoenas to five
carriers on May 17, asking for documents that would explain whether they supplied customer
records to the NSA, the lawsuit said. The subpoenas followed by a few days a USA Today report
that the phone companies had complied with the secretive agency's request for the phone records
of millions of ordinary Americans after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Justice Department said more
than 20 lawsuits have been filed around the country alleging that the phone companies illegally
assisted the NSA. The government says sensitive national security information would be revealed
if judges allow those cases to proceed. In this matter, the federal government said the New Jersey
officials are treading on federal turf and that the companies, if forced to comply with the
subpoenas, would be confirming or denying the existence of the program. President Bush and
other top federal officials have refused to do that.
Kanata hotel hosts high-level power group

2006-06-09, CBC News (Canada's equivalent of PBS)
http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/story/ot-bilderberg20060609.html
A serene setting in Ottawa's west-end Kanata suburb has been transformed into a four-day festival
of black suits, black limousines, burly security guards and a bevy of conspiracy theories. The
security outside the Brookstreet Hotel is much tighter than it is on Parliament Hill. Inside,
the CBC was told, all guests were asked to check out at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. The hotel
appears to be hosting the annual meeting of one of the world's most secretive and powerful
societies: the Bilderberg group. But, of course, no one will admit it. People who follow the
Bilderberg group say it persuaded Europe to adopt a common currency, and, among other things,
persuaded Bill Clinton to support the North American Free Trade Agreement. "David Rockefeller is
going to be here. Henry Kissinger is going to be here. Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank,
is going to be here" says Daniel Estulin, who has written a book about the Bilderberg group. Jim
Tucker, who has followed the Bilderberg group for the last 30 years, told CBC News he is troubled
by all the secrecy. "Officials of the United States government [should not] have a private meeting
with private citizens about public policy," Tucker says.
9/11 Commission report is a lie

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/270284_connellyrebut16.html
The [9/11] commission's conclusions and recommendations should be totally rejected. Its story is
full of lies, distortions and omissions of fact. Following are two of the more than 40 reasons why
the official story about what happened on 9/11 is untrue. First, who were the hijackers? None of
those named appear on any of the passenger lists released by the airlines. Six of the men named
by the government are still alive. We know that because European media have interviewed
them. In his book, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions," Dr. David Ray
Griffin documents all that and concludes the whole report is one long lie. Second, in the months
after 9/11 all of the surviving New York City Fire Department personnel who were on the scene
were interviewed. Those oral histories were recorded and withheld from the public until Aug. 15,
2005. Only after losing in court three times did the city of New York finally release them. All 503
are now posted on The New York Times Web site. Why did the city fight so hard to keep them from
the public? It turns out those oral histories reveal details about what was happening in the World
Trade Center buildings that are completely inconsistent with the tale told by the commission.
Dozens of firefighters and medics reported hearing, seeing and feeling explosives going off in the
buildings that collapsed. Why were there explosives, very powerful explosives by all accounts,
going off in the buildings? The report seems to be an obvious cover-up. The question that we all
need to ask is: What is the commission covering up? Was 9/11, in fact, an inside job?
A case for conspiracy theorists

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12759539/site/newsweek/
Is there a case for conspiracy theories about 9/11 and the Iraq war? About 10 minutes into the
ultra-low-budget documentary 'Loose Change,' now making its way around the Internet, that late,
great genius of addled truth-telling, Hunter S. Thompson, is heard giving his gonzo opinion of the
way the American press behaved after 9/11. "Well, let's see, 'shamefully' is the word that comes to
mind," he says. The kernel of truth in all the conspiracy theories is that the Bush administration's
biggest supporters and closest political allies have benefited mightily from its policy of open-ended
war. Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's old company -- which is all about both oil
and defense -- has seen its stock rise from about $12 a share to about $80 a share under
this administration. ExxonMobil, which has contributed mightily to the Republican Party,
has seen its stock soar from about $32 to $64 since Bush took office. Share prices in both
companies, and in their industries, were plunging before the Bush administration came to office in
early 2001. 'Loose Change' doesn't present a plausible case for conspiracy, only a collection of
innuendoes. But the invasion of Iraq, well, that's a rather different matter. As a whole raft of books
by former members of the administration, Bush admirers and outside analysts have established
over the last couple of years, the president and vice president were hell-bent on toppling Saddam
Hussein even before September 2001.
Note: Though the author belittles 'Loose Change,' he also makes some great points and alerts
people to the fact that this free documentary has gained wide popularity.
In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy

The question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the
electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to
build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth? Irritation grows as residents deprived of airconditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion watch the massive US
Embassy they call 'George W's palace' rising from the banks of the Tigris. In the pavement cafs,
people moan that the structure is bigger than anything Saddam Hussein built. Officially, the design
of the compound is supposed to be a secret, but you cannot hide the giant construction cranes and
the concrete contours of the 21 buildings that are taking shape. Looming over the skyline, the
embassy has the distinction of being the only big US building project in Iraq that is on time and
within budget. In a week when Washington revealed a startling list of missed deadlines and
overspending on building projects, Congress was told that the bill for the embassy was $592
million (312 million).
Note: For the deeper reasons behind this war, don't miss http://www.WantToKnow.info/warcoverup
Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi

[April 10, 2006] The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the
leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents. The effort has raised his
profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have...helped the Bush
administration tie the war to...Sept. 11. Although Zarqawi and other foreign insurgents in Iraq have
conducted deadly bombing attacks, they remain "a very small part of the actual numbers," [said]
Col. Derek Harvey, who...was one of the top officers handling Iraq intelligence issues on the staff
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature...made him
more important than he really is." One briefing slide about U.S. "strategic communications" in
Iraq, prepared for Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq,
describes the "home audience" as one of six major targets of the American side of the war.
There were direct military efforts to use the U.S. media to affect views of the war. One slide
in the same briefing, for example, noted that a "selective leak" about Zarqawi was made to Dexter
Filkins, a New York Times reporter. Filkins's resulting article...ran on the Times front page. U.S.
propaganda efforts in Iraq in 2004 cost $24 million. "Villainize Zarqawi" one U.S. military briefing
from 2004 stated. It listed..."PSYOP," the U.S. military term for propaganda work. One internal
briefing, produced by the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, said..."The Zarqawi PSYOP program
is the most successful information campaign to date."
U.S. paying a premium to cover storm-damaged roofs

2005-09-29, Duluth News Tribune/Knight Ridder
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/nation/12775741.htm
Across the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast, thousands upon thousands of blue tarps are being
nailed to wind-damaged roofs, a visible sign of government assistance. The blue sheeting...isn't
coming cheap. Knight Ridder has found that a lack of oversight, generous contracting deals and
poor planning mean that government agencies are shelling out as much as 10 times what the
temporary fix would normally cost. The government is paying contractors an average of $2,480
for less than two hours of work to cover each damaged roof - even though it's also giving
them endless supplies of blue sheeting for free. Steve Manser, the president of Simon Roofing
and Sheet Metal of Youngstown, Ohio, which was awarded an initial $10 million contract to begin
"Operation Blue Roof" in New Orleans, acknowledged that the price his company is charging to
install blue tarps could pay for shingling an entire roof.
Note: Google news shows that though many small papers reported this story, no major media did.
Many Contracts for Storm Work Raise Questions

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/26/national/nationalspecial/26spend.html?ex=12...
Topping the federal government's list of costs related to Hurricane Katrina is the $568 million in
contracts for debris removal landed by a Florida company with ties to Mississippi's Republican
governor. More than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts signed by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency alone were awarded without bidding or with limited
competition, government records show, provoking concerns among auditors and
government officials about the potential for favoritism or abuse. Already, questions have
been raised about the political connections of two major contractors - the Shaw Group and
Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton - that have been represented by the lobbyist
Joe M. Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former leader of FEMA. Bills
have come in for deals that apparently were clinched with a handshake, with no documentation.
Kellogg, Brown & Root, which was given $60 million in contracts, was rebuked by federal auditors
for unsubstantiated billing from the Iraq reconstruction and criticized for bills like $100-per-bag
laundry service.
Experts blame flooding on faulty levees

2005-09-21, MSNBC News/Washington Post
Louisiana's top hurricane experts have rejected the official explanations for the floodwall
collapses that inundated much of New Orleans, concluding that Hurricane Katrina's storm
surges were much smaller than authorities have suggested and that the city's floodprotection system should have kept most of the city dry. With the help of complex computer
models and stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's
Hurricane Center have concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those
barriers. That would make faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two
the likely cause of the breaching of the floodwalls. Ivor van Heerden, the Hurricane Center's
deputy director, said the real scandal of Katrina is the "catastrophic structural failure" of barriers
that should have handled the hurricane with relative ease. "We are absolutely convinced that those
floodwalls were never overtopped," said van Heerden. On a tour Tuesday, researchers...showed a
"debris line" that indicates the top height of Katrina's waves was at least four feet below the crest
of Lake Pontchartrain's levees. They contended that the pattern of destruction behind the
breaches was consistent with a localized "pressure burst," rather than widespread overtopping.
Former representative Bob Livingston, (R-La.)...noted that the earthen levees along Lake
Pontchartrain had all held, while concrete floodwalls had failed. He was especially concerned
about the 17th Street barrier, saying it "shouldn't have broken." If Katrina did not exceed the
design capacity of the New Orleans levees, the federal government may bear ultimate
responsibility for this disaster.
Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA

2005-09-06, Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_3004197
Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began:
"What are we doing here?" As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for
firefighters...a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday [less than a week after
landfall] in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta. Many of the firefighters,
assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going...to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800621-FEMA. On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their
FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal
agency.
Note: If the above link does not work, click here.
Papers show Mitterrand approved Rainbow Warrior bombing

2005-07-10, New Zealand Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10335095
The sabotage of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior 20 years ago in Auckland was
carried out with the "personal authorisation" of France's late president Francois Mitterrand,
documents showed today. Le Monde newspaper published extracts in its Saturday edition of a
1986 account written by Pierre Lacoste, the former head of France's DGSE foreign intelligence
service, giving the clearest demonstration yet of Mitterrand's direct involvement in the sinking of
the campaign vessel. Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira died in the attack on the ship
that was leading Greenpeace's campaign against French nuclear tests on the Mururoa Atoll in the
Pacific. "I asked the president if he gave me permission to put into action the neutralisation plan
that I had studied on the request of Monsieur (Charles) Hernu," Lacoste wrote. Hernu was defence
minister at the time. "He gave me his agreement while stressing the importance he placed on the
nuclear tests.
Pentagon Creating Student Database

The Defense Department began working yesterday with a private marketing firm to create a
database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify
potential recruits. The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database
will include personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail
addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.
"The purpose of the system is to provide a single central facility within the Department of
Defense to compile, process and distribute files of individuals who meet age and minimum
school requirements for military service." Some information on high school students already is
given to military recruiters in a separate program under provisions of the 2002 No Child Left
Behind Act. Recruiters have been using the information to contact students at home, angering
some parents and school districts around the country.
UK film: terror fears exaggerated

2005-05-14, CNN/Reuters
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/14/film.cannes.terrorfears.reut
CANNES, France (Reuters) -- A British documentary arguing U.S. neo-conservatives have
exaggerated the terror threat is set to rock the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, the way
"Fahrenheit 9/11" stirred emotions here a year ago. At a screening late on Friday ahead of its gala
on Saturday, "The Power of Nightmares" by filmmaker and senior BBC producer Adam
Curtis kept an audience of journalists and film buyers glued to their seats and taking notes
for a full 2-1/2 hours. The film, a non-competition entry, argues that the fear of terrorism has
come to pervade politics in the United States and Britain even though much of that angst is
based on carefully nurtured illusions.
Note: To view this excellent film online free, click here.
A Serious Drug Problem

Note: The following is the New York Times website's abstract of this article, which is a very good
summary.
2003 Medicare bill is object lesson in how special interests hold America's health care system
hostage; says law subsidizes private health plans, which have repeatedly failed to deliver
promised cost savings, and creates unnecessary layer of middlemen by requiring that drug benefit
be administered by private insurers; says it specifically prohibits Medicare from using its
purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices; notes that Rep Billy Tauzin, who shepherded
drug bill through Congress, now heads all-powerful drug-industry lobbying group, and Thomas
Scully, former Medicare administrator, negotiated for future health industry lobbying job at same
time he was pushing drug bill; calls Medicare bill corrupt deal created by corrupt system.
Brigadier shocks and awes: there is no war on terrorism

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Brigadier-shocks-and-awes-there-is-no-war...
The so-called global war on terrorism does not exist, a high-ranking army officer has declared in a
speech that challenges the conventional political wisdom. In a frank speech, Brigadier Justin Kelly
dismissed several of the central tenets of the Iraq war and the war on terrorism, saying the "war"
part is all about politics and terrorism is merely a tactic. Speaking at a conference on future
warfighting, Brigadier Kelly, the director-general of future land warfare, also suggested that the
"proposition you can bomb someone into thinking as we do has been found to be untrue".
Why We Fight
2005-03-23, BBC (Film Review)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/why-we-fight.shtml
This award-winning film provides an inside look at the anatomy of the American war machine. Why
We Fight [was originally] the title of a series of propaganda films that Frank Capra began making in
1942, with the aim of encouraging the American war effort against Nazism. Director Eugene
Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) has used the films as a commentary on the contemporary
obsession of the American elite with military power. He also harks back to a speech by President
Eisenhower, who, just before he left office, referred to the "military-industrial complex". Eisenhower
was worried that too much intelligence, and too much business acumen in America, had become
focussed on the production of unnecessary weapons systems. Since Eisenhower's time,
everything has become much worse, as Eugene Jarecki describes it. The war in Iraq was made
possible by a new range of weapons systems: a bomb called the "bunker buster" was dropped by
stealth bombers on the first night of the conflict. Is American foreign policy dominated by the
idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life?
Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these
questions.
Note: To watch this great film (which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival) free
online, click here or here. For powerful information on cover-ups around war, click here.
Secret US plans for Iraq's oil

2005-03-17, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4354269.stm
The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks,
sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil. Two years ago today - when President
George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad - protesters
claimed the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Saddam had been conquered. In fact there
were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the
Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department
"pragmatists". "Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan [was] drafted with the help of
American oil industry consultants. Insiders told Newsnight that planning began "within weeks" of
Bush's first taking office in 2001, long before the September 11th attack on the US. The industryfavoured plan was pushed aside by a secret plan, drafted just before the invasion in 2003, which
called for the sell-off of all of Iraq's oil fields. The new plan was crafted by neo-conservatives intent
on using Iraq's oil to destroy the Opec cartel. Philip Carroll, the former CEO of Shell Oil USA who
took control of Iraq's oil production for the US Government a month after the invasion, stalled the
sell-off scheme. Mr Carroll told us he made it clear to Paul Bremer, the US occupation chief who
arrived in Iraq in May 2003, that: "There was to be no privatisation of Iraqi oil resources or facilities
while I was involved." Formerly US Secretary of State, [James] Baker is now an attorney
representing Exxon-Mobil and the Saudi Arabian government.
MI6 ordered LSD tests on servicemen

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jan/22/uknews1
Fifty years ago, Eric Gow had a baffling and unexplained experience. As a 19-year-old sailor, he
remembers going to a clandestine military establishment, where he was given something to drink
in a sherry glass and experienced vivid hallucinations. Other servicemen also remember tripping:
one thought he was seeing tigers jumping out of a wall, while another recalls faces "with eyes
running down their cheeks, Salvador Dal-style". Mr Gow and another serviceman had volunteered
to take part in what they thought was research to find a cure for the common cold. Mr Gow felt that
the government had never explained what happened to him. But now he has received an official
admission for the first time, confirmed last night, that the intelligence agency MI6 tested LSD on
servicemen. One of the scientists involved at the time suggested that the experiments were
stopped because it was feared that the acid could produce "suicidal tendencies". MI6, known
formally as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and responsible for spying operations
abroad, carried out the tests in the cold war in an attempt to uncover a "truth drug" which
would make prisoners talk against their will in interrogations. In parallel experiments, the
CIA infamously tested LSD and other drugs on unwitting human subjects in a 20-year
search to uncover mind-manipulation techniques. The trials were widely criticised when they
came to light in the 1970s.
Note: For key reports from major media sources on CIA experimentation on unwitting subjects,
click here.
FBI faulted over linguist's complaints: Review deemed lacking

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/01/15/fbi_faulted_...
The FBI never adequately investigated complaints by a fired contract linguist who alleged shoddy
work and possible espionage inside the bureau's translator program, although evidence and
witnesses supported her, the Justice Department's senior oversight official said yesterday. The
bureau's response to complaints by former translator Sibel Edmonds was "significantly flawed,"
Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a report that summarized a lengthy classified investigation
into how the FBI handled the case. Fine said Edmonds's contentions "raised substantial questions
and were supported by various pieces of evidence." "The report substantiated the most serious
of Sibel's allegations and demonstrates that the FBI owes Sibel an apology and
compensation for its unlawful firing of her rather than hiding behind its false cloak of
national security," said Mark Zaid, her lawyer.
Note: Ms. Edmonds deeply revealing allegations are laid out clearly in an open letter to 9/11
Commission Chairman Thomas Kean available at http://www.WantToKnow.info/sibeledmonds.
Berg's encounter with 'terrorist' revealed

2004-05-14, CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/13/berg.encounter/
When Nicholas Berg took an Oklahoma bus to a remote college campus a few years ago, the
American recently beheaded by terrorists allowed a man with terrorist connections to use his
laptop computer, according to his father. Michael Berg said the FBI investigated the matter more
than a year ago. He stressed that his son was in no way connected to the terrorists who captured
and killed him. Government sources told CNN that the encounter involved an acquaintance
of Zacarias Moussaoui -- the only person publicly charged in the United States in
connection with the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. According to Berg, his son was taking
a course a few years ago at a remote campus of the University of Oklahoma near an airport. He
described how on one particular day, his son met "some terrorist people -- who no one knew were
terrorists at the time." At one point during the bus ride, Berg said, the man sitting next to his son
asked if he could use Nick's laptop computer. Government sources said Berg gave the man his
password, which was later used by Moussaoui, the sources said. The sources said the man who
used Berg's e-mail knew Moussaoui. But the sources would not disclose details of how the men
were connected.
Note: Other major media articles have pointed out a number of other strange "coincidences"
connecting the man allegedgly beheaded and those accused of involvement in 9/11. How can that
be? For lots more, click here.
The Vision Thing

First Star Wars. Now Star Gate. That is the real code name ... of a secret program that spent $20
million in the past 10 years to employ psychics in pursuit of the unknown. What the Pentagon's
ultra-secret Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA] hoped it might get from the paranormal was a real
advantage in the world of military intelligence. Last week ... the CIA (which spent $750,000 on
psychic research from 1972 to 1977) determined that the program was a waste of money and
moved to shut it down. Congress had ordered the agency to take over Star Gate last year and
conduct a study of its effectiveness. "There's no documented evidence it had any value to the
intelligence community," says David Goslin, of the American Institute for Research, which the CIA
hired to do the study. So the three full-time psychics still operating on a $500,000-a-year budget
out of Fort Meade, Maryland, will soon close up shop. At least a few powerful Senators on the
Appropriations Committee will miss them. Senators Daniel Inouye and Robert Byrd, intrigued by
stories of psychic successes, pushed hard during many years to keep Star Gate going. Tales of
the effectiveness of psychics as spies have long been circulated. DIA credited psychics with
creating accurate pictures of Soviet submarine construction hidden from U.S. spy
satellites, and a 1993 Pentagon report said psychics had correctly drawn 20 tunnels being
built in North Korea near the demilitarized zone.
Note: Though this article largely debunks remote viewing, it does reveal some key facts. Before
1995 the government consistently denied such a program ever existed. Former participants in
remote viewing programs, many of them respected scientists, have spoken openly about their
involvement. Many of these scientists believe that the program was not shut down, but rather all
civilians were terminated from the program in order to take it to a higher level of secrecy. For an
excellent 50-minute video on this program, click here.
Court sides with CIA, torture reports to stay secret

2015-05-21, McClatchy News Service
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/21/267440/court-sides-with-cia-torture-rep...
The CIA can keep secret a nearly 7,000-page Senate report on harsh interrogation methods,
as well as an internal agency review. The complete 6,963-page report compiled by the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence [is] exempt from the dictates of the Freedom of
Information Act, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg concluded. The Senate committee
report, he reasoned, remained a document under congressional control, and Congress made sure
to exempt itself from FOIA. Congress has undoubted authority to keep its records secret, authority
rooted in the Constitution, longstanding practice, and current congressional rules, Boasberg
stated. Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, voiced disappointment in the
ruling. The Senate committee released a summary of the $40 million report last December,
following years of back-and-forth.
2 D.E.A. Workers Are Accused of Secretly Running Strip Club

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/nyregion/2-dea-agents-accused-of-lying-on-b...
The Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge ... had an unusual distinction: David Polos, an official with the Drug
Enforcement Administration in New York City, and Glen Glover, a civilian D.E.A. employee, each
had ownership interests and actively participated in its management. That secret connection was
revealed when the two men were charged with lying during national security background checks
about their ownership interests and their work in the strip club. Mr. Polos, 51, had been with the
agency for more than 20 years. He helped supervise the New York Organized Crime and Drug
Enforcement Strike Force, a multiagency group that targets large narcotics traffickers. Polos ...
resigned from the agency last month. Glen Glover, 45, of Lyndhurst, N.J., also a longtime agency
employee, worked as a telecommunications specialist. Each man was charged with one count of
making false statements. The men had claimed that they had no employment outside the
agency, when in fact they had ownership interests in the lounge, and actively managed it
while working for the D.E.A.. The two men had worked regular shifts running the club, hiring and
firing dancers, bouncers and other employees, arranging for advertising and using a video
surveillance system to remotely monitor activities inside the club by smartphone or computer. Mr.
Polos used his status as a law enforcement officer to facilitate the clubs operations. At
times, he told people in the club that he was working for the F.B.I.
Note: Award-winning journalists have presented powerful evidence of direct DEA and CIA
involvement in and support of drug running and drug cartels. For more along these lines, see
concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about corruption in government and in the
intelligence community.
Johanna Hamilton Goes Back to 1971 to Find Burglars Who Revealed
Illegal FBI Spying

2015-05-18, PBS
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/johanna-hamilton-1971-burglars-who-re...
1971: A group of ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. What they
discovered shocked them. Long before Edward Snowdens revelations about NSA
surveillance, these activist-burglars exposed COINTELPRO, the FBIs illegal surveillance
program that involved the intimidation of law-abiding Americans. For forty years the burglars
kept their identities secret, but in Johanna Hamiltons new film 1971, these previously anonymous
Americans publicly tell their story for the first time. Hamilton took the time to talk to us about how
she approached telling this story: "To me, every aspect of the story was compelling. A group of
ordinary people who put everything on the line to protect freedom of speech and hold their
government accountable. They were total outsiders who trained themselves for one night of
amateur burglary in order to break into an FBI office on a hunch! They manage to evade
capture. The revelations from the break-in helped lead to the Church Committee hearings in
Congress, which ended up establishing the first ever set of guidelines governing the FBIs
investigative powers. The Citizens Commission risked everything because they suspected the
government was conducting illegal surveillance. And they were right. We are in the midst of the
same discussion today. Post 9/11 we lost many of the checks and balances that the government
normally operates under. Governments should not spy on law-abiding citizens whether its
Hoovers FBI or todays NSA."
Note: Watch this incredible documentary free on this webpage. For more along these lines, read
about COINTELPRO and many other intrusive manipulations by corrupt intelligence agencies.
Missouri National Guard's term for Ferguson protesters: 'Enemy forces'

2015-04-17, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/politics/missouri-national-guard-ferguson-prote...
As the Missouri National Guard prepared to deploy to help quell riots in Ferguson, Missouri ... the
guard used highly militarized words such as "enemy forces" and "adversaries" to refer to
protesters, according to documents obtained by CNN. The National Guard's language, contained
in internal mission briefings obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, is intensifying
the concerns of some who objected to the police officers' actions ... after the August 9 shooting of
unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by city police officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury declined
to indict Wilson in the case. "It's disturbing when you have what amounts to American soldiers
viewing American citizens somehow as the enemy," said Antonio French, an alderman in St. Louis.
The documents reveal that the Missouri guard was especially concerned that "adversaries" might
use phone apps and police scanners to expose operational security. A document titled
"Operation Show-Me Protection II," which outlines the Missouri National Guard's mission in
Ferguson, listed players on the ground deemed "Friendly Forces" and "Enemy Forces."
Among groups characterized as hate groups were ... "General Protesters." In addition to
analyzing the threat general protesters could pose to soldiers, the National Guard also briefed its
commanders on their intelligence capabilities so they could "deny adversaries the ability to identify
Missouri National Guard vulnerabilities," the mission set states.
Note: The Pentagon's systematic militarization of domestic police forces is well-reported. Now we
learn that the National Guard is trained to treat protesters like enemy troops. What happens to civil
liberties when civil society is viewed by authorities as a battle-front?
FAA investigating Florida mailman's landing of gyrocopter on U.S.

Capitol lawn
2015-04-15, Tampa Bay Times (One of Florida's leading newspapers)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/ruskin-mailman-tries-flying-t...
Doug Hughes, a 61-year-old mailman from Ruskin, told his friends he was ... going to fly a
gyrocopter through protected airspace and put it down on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, then
try to deliver 535 letters of protest to 535 members of Congress. After 2 years of planning,
Hughes ... flew straight up the expanse of the National Mall and brought his small craft down right
in front of the Capitol, where he was quickly surrounded by police. The incident brought out dozens
of reporters

Government Corruption News Articles - COMPLETE ARCHIVE

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Government Corruption News Articles - COMPLETE ARCHIVE

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Government Corruption News

U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba

Former U.S. Air Force Officers Recount Experiences With UFOs at

Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group

The War On Waste

[9/11] Hijack 'suspects' alive and well

Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of

1979-07-00, United States National Archives

Political ties to a secretive religious group

'Bonesmen' for president

Alleged [9/11] Hijackers May Have Trained At U.S. Bases

When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing

C.I.A. Data Show 14-Year Project On Controlling Human Behavior

Hypnotic Experimentation and Research

Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.

Massive Pentagon Child Pornography Accusations Not Investigated

A New Look at the 9-11 Commission

Where'd the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It's a Secret

CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals

The Lowdown on Sweet?

FAA Received Alert About 9/11 Hijacker

2006-01-07, ABC News/Associated Press

U.S. Suppressed Footage of Hiroshima for Decades

A coverup for a cause of Autism?

Is Al Qaeda Just a Bush Boogeyman?

Lockheed and the Future of Warfare

The 9/11 Secret in the CIA's Back Pocket

Connections And Then Some

Defence redefined means securing cheap energy

Human Guinea Pigs: At Your Own Risk

Pipeline politics taint U.S. war

Experts Urging Broader Inquiry In Towers' Fall

Engineers Suspect Diesel Fuel in Collapse of 7 World Trade Center

'We've Hit The Targets'

Group Calls for Disclosure of UFO Info

Echelon spy network revealed

Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies; Took LSD to C.I.A.

Mind-Control Studies Had Origins in Trial of Mindszenty

to develop "effective and practical techniques" to "render an individual subservient to an imposed

INTELLIGENCE: Of Dart Guns and Poisons

For Terrorist Fearmongers, Its Always the Scariest Time Ever

2015-06-02, The Intercept

FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades

How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and

Admiral: 'Destroy' photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse

The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings

UFOs Disabling Nuclear Missiles: Former Senator Says Veterans'

IMF's epic plan to conjure away debt and dethrone bankers

Government Workers With Ties to Child Porn

The 9/11 Hijackers: Fraud in Official Video Exhibits Uncovered by Expert

Scandal Exposed in Major Study of Autism and Mercury

Architect Richard Gage Explains His 9/11 Theory

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

Shocking History of Medical Experiments on People

A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

The rich get richer, then buy elections

The Pope, Eichmann and the Nazi 'Ratlines'

FDA "Corruption" Letter Authenticated: Lawyers, Start Your Engines!

UFO sightings revealed in UK archive files from 1990s

Bank Bonuses Far Exceeded Profits

The $700 trillion elephant

Ford's records show 2 on Warren panel had doubts in JFK killing

Concentration camp doctor tops list of wanted Nazis