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Erik Larson, Human Being and concerned Citizen. I only advocate and practice non-violent methods of social and political activism & change.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here by me in my articles and diaries are my own. I do my best to only reference reliable facts and credible sources in my writing. I submit Quicklinks for posterity, information, feedback and debunking; they may or may not represent my views. I welcome all feedback on my writing and submitted links.
Monday, April 11, 2011 The Many False Hijackings of 9/11 by shoestring
Although it has been widely reported that four commercial aircraft were hijacked over the United States on September 11, 2001, what is less well known is that while the terrorist attacks were taking place and for many hours after, numerous additional aircraft gave indications that they had been hijacked or, for other reasons, were singled out as potential emergencies. More than 20 aircraft were identified as possible hijackings, according to some accounts, and other aircraft displayed signs of emergencies, such as losing radio communication with air traffic controllers or transmitting a distress signal.
Saturday, February 12, 2011 Critique of David Ray Griffin's Fake Calls Theory by Erik Larson
In his 1/12/10 essay, Phone Calls from the 9/11 Airliners: Response to Questions Evoked by My Fifth Estate Interview, David Ray Griffin gives the most comprehensive overview of his faked phone calls theory to date, as well as a response to critics, which include people who support a new 9/11 investigation. A Professor Emeritus and skilled rhetorician, Griffin makes a case that is seemingly compelling. However, as I show in this essay, there is no actual evidence the phone calls were faked, while there is a substantial body of evidence demonstrating the calls were not only possible, but did happen. There are many credible reasons to doubt the official 9/11 story and support a full investigation, but the cause of compelling a new 9/11 investigation is undermined by the promotion of theories that are flawed, and not based on hard evidence.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Chance for Peace
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.
We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Shareable: The Next Net
"... unlike our medieval forebears, we don't have to defend our digital commons from corporate encroachment. Fighting and losing that un-winnable battle will only reinforce our sense of helplessness, anyway. Instead of pretending that the Internet was ever destined to be our social and intellectual commons, we can much more easily conspire together to build a real networked commons, intentionally. And with this priority embedded into its very architecture and functioning."
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 Public relations: Rise of the image men
So successful was the CPI in shaping public opinion that it encouraged the early PR men, Bernays especially, to puff themselves up to new heights of grandeur. No longer would they be mere lackeys of the robber barons; they were now the Great Manipulators, shapers of public opinion for the public's own good. Bernays went so far as to proclaim that, since the public was so irrational, "The conscious and intelligent manipulation
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 The United States of Inequality
In the late 1970s, a half-century trend toward growing income equality reversed itself. Ever since, U.S. incomes have grown more unequal. Middle-class incomes stagnated while the top 1 percent's share of national income climbed to 24 percent. Middle-income workers no longer benefit from productivity increases, and upward mobility, long the saving grace of the American economy, has faltered. Why is this happening?
Thursday, November 25, 2010 ARTLAB+ Interactive Art-Design-Culture-Tech Experience for DC Teens (1 comments)
ARTLAB+ is a digital media studio that gives local teens the opportunity to become integral members of a design team. They create new visitor experiences at the Hirshhorn, taking their inspiration from its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. ARTLAB+ designers hone crucial twenty-first century skills as they make videos, animations, wikis, games, podcasts, and more.
Monday, November 1, 2010 Eight False Things The Public "Knows" Prior To Election Day | OurFuture.org
There are a number things the public "knows" as we head into the election that are just false. If people elect leaders based on false information, the things those leaders do in office will not be what the public expects or needs.
Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there:
Saturday, October 2, 2010 New study: groups demonstrate distinctive "collective intelligence' when facing difficult tasks
When it comes to intelligence, the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts. A new study co-authored by MIT researchers documents the existence of collective intelligence among groups of people who cooperate well, showing that such intelligence extends beyond the cognitive abilities of the groups' individual members, and that the tendency to cooperate effectively is linked to the number of women in a group.
Friday, October 1, 2010 Gallup: Distrust in U.S. Media Edges Up to Record High
For the fourth straight year, the majority of Americans say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. The 57% who now say this is a record high by one percentage point.
Saturday, September 25, 2010 Censorship of the Internet Takes Center Stage in 'Online Infringement' Bill
Senator Patrick Leahy yesterday introduced the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act" (COICA). This flawed bill would allow the Attorney General and the Department of Justice to break the Internet one domain at a time -- by requiring domain registrars/registries, ISPs, DNS providers, and others to block Internet users from reaching certain websites. The bill would also create two Internet blacklists.
Sunday, August 29, 2010 Congress may sneak through Internet "kill switch' in defense bill
A federal cybersecurity bill that critics say creates a presidential "kill switch" for the Internet could be added on to a defense spending bill and passed without much debate, technology news sources report.
Thursday, August 12, 2010 Canadian librarian leads worldwide digital revolt for free knowledge - thestar.com
A bearded 52-year-old Canadian university librarian is leading a digital revolt that is starting to go global.
It began when an academic database proposed increasing the fee it charges the University of Prince Edward Island by 120 per cent.
Mark Leggott snapped.
"The world's knowledge is increasingly being held to ransom and available only to those who can pay the fees," Leggott told the Star on Tuesday.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Guantánamo hearings aren't any more transparent, critics say
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- The first full military commission hearings here since Barack Obama became president and pledged to deliver transparency were no more open than the court process had been under President George W. Bush, critics say. ... One of the witnesses was subpoened in secret, six testified under pseudonyms and security officers closed the court to screen a video that's available on YouTube.
Monday, March 22, 2010 War Protest Arrests: Eight Put Their Bodies on the Gears of the War Machine
March 20, 2010, thousands of people gathered across from the White House in D.C. and thousands more gathered around the U.S. to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the illegal U.S. attack on Iraq, and to protest Obama's continuation of the violent occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and other abuses of power. Cindy Sheehan and seven others engaged in civil disobedience and were arrested.
Thursday, March 18, 2010 Bizarre Misinfo: 9/11 Happened Because Shakir Was Gay
The CIA withheld information about al-Qaeda's Malaysia summit from the FBI because one of the peripheral attendees, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, was gay and the CIA used this as leverage in a failed attempt to recruit him, according to a new story in the New York Observer.
Friday, March 5, 2010 BBC News - Disturbing story of Fallujah's birth defects
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.
Monday, February 22, 2010 US super-rich get five times more income than in 1995
The incomes of the very rich in the US grew phenomenally between 1992 and 2007, while their tax rates plummeted, according to recently uncovered IRS statistics.
Saturday, February 20, 2010 Only 21% Say U.S. Government Has Consent of the Governed (1 comments)
The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed." Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.
Sunday, December 27, 2009 Dred Scott Redux: Obama and the Supremes Stand Up for Slavery
Urged by the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court upholds the ability of the US to torture with impunity, simply by declaring people to be "suspected enemy combatants".
Saturday, December 12, 2009 DC: EMERGENCY ANTI-ESCALATION RALLY - Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009
Washington, DC - Lafayette Square | White House
Tell Obama & Congress: "NO, YOU CAN'T!"
No Escalation â"˘ End the Wars â"˘ Bring Our Troops Home
Speakers: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, Sen. Mike Gravel, Kathy Kelly, Chris Hedges, David Swanson, Rev. Graylan Hagler, Gael Murphy, Brian Becker, Debra Sweet, Mathis Chiroux, Elaine Brower, Coy McKinney, Chioma Oruh, Lynne Williams, [and more]
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 Free Hugs Campaign (Youtube Video)
Watch the drama of life and love- hippie guy with a 'Free Hugs' sign gets stares, then takers, then run off by cops, petition drive that garners thousands of signatures re-legalizes 'free hugs'. See the awkward, the warm and the ridiculous stunt hugs. Love and LOL!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 Incredible Data Visualization of the Allosphere
Check out this stunning video of inventor JoAnn Kuchera-Morinis demonstrating the Allosphere at the last TED conference. The Allosphere is a 3 story high chamber that allows researchers to stand in the middle of incredible visual and sonic representations of their data. Complex algorithms are powered by a super-computer to bring data to life in breakthrough fashion.
Monday, November 23, 2009 ZIHOP as Limited Hangout
The Military Industrial Complex did not arise from some flaw in the American character, nor indeed from Zionism. It arose, simply put, because capital requires more capital, power more power still. Powerful states act out. “Small states are virtuous only because of their weakness.” (Bakunin).
Monday, October 26, 2009 MERS Losing! Stop Your Foreclosure, Share with Others
In court cases in KS, OH, NY, NV and MA human beings are saving their homes from foreclosure by demanding that banks produce the Note. Judges in some of these cases have ruled that MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) which has acted as a 'straw man' to simply the process of selling Notes on the Secondary Market, has no standing to foreclose- potentially 60 million mortgages are affected.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Who's Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?
Sibel Edmonds interview with Philip Giraldi for The American Conservative- members of Congress, top State and DOD officials, Turkish, Israeli, Saudi and Pakistani agents involved in treason, nuclear trafficking, drug smuggling, bribery, blackmail, money laundering, pre-9/11 discussions to divide up Iraq- etc.
Monday, September 21, 2009 BradBlog Sneak Preview of Explosive Sibel Edmonds Cover Story
Bradblog: Upcoming Cover Story on Edmonds 'Outs' Video-taped, 'Blackmailed' Dem Congresswoman; Alleges State Dept. Mole at NYTimes; MUCH MORE... 'American Conservative' mag's description of interview with previously-gagged FBI whistleblower as 'explosive' may prove to be a gross understatement - Blackmail, bribery, infiltration, theft and sale of nuke secrets by Turkey, Israel explained in clearer detail than ever before..
Sunday, September 6, 2009 Newly Found Document Indicates Bush Administration Knew Repeat of 9/11 Unlikely by 2003 (1 comments)
The title of a 2003 Senior Executive Intelligence Brief (SEIB) item indicates that by late 2003 the CIA had concluded it would be hard for al-Qaeda to pull off another 9/11. The item was entitled “Terrorism Complexities Make Repeating September 11 Difficult” and was circulated to top policy officials on December 16, 2003.
Monday, June 15, 2009 Two Days Before 9/11, Military Exercise Simulated Suicide Hijack Targeting New York (1 comments)
The US military conducted a training exercise in the five days before the September 11 attacks that included simulated aircraft hijackings by terrorists, according to a 9/11 Commission document recently found in the US National Archives. In one of the scenarios, implemented on September 9, terrorists hijacked a London to New York flight, planning to blow it up with explosives over New York.
Saturday, June 13, 2009 Let's Blame Everybody Except the Guilty Party [Von Brunn]
9/11 Truthers: Glenn Beck declared he has been been warning his fans about Truthers "for a very long time", and said "early reports" indicate Von Brunn was a "hero" of the Truth movement.... This is a case of the crackpot calling the kettle black, because ... he went out of his way to point out that while it's okay to "protest the Federal Reserve", it's just crazy to be a Truther.
Friday, May 29, 2009 Those 9/11 Commission Minders Again - Kevin Fenton
New details have emerged about minders who sat in on 9/11 Commission interviews during a fact-finding trip to Canada....The three-page memo, entitled "Canada Trip Lessons Learned" and apparently drafted by staffer Gordon Lederman in the autumn of 2003, highlights how the minders behaved.
Monday, May 25, 2009 gulli: World Trade Center destruction: Interview with Dr. Harrit
Gulli, a German media, interviews Dr. Niels Harrit, primary author of the 'Active Thermitic Material Discovered' paper recently published in the refereed Open Chemical Physics Journal
Saturday, May 16, 2009 9-11 Conspiracy Theorists Sue St. Louis (1 comments)
ST. LOUIS (CN) - Two 9-11 conspiracy theorists say St. Louis used an unconstitutional ordinance to violate their right to free speech. Donald Stahl and William Demsar say city police arrested them on Feb. 6 for carrying a banner that stated, "911 Was An Inside Job!"
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Dissecting the US Mainstream Media by Sibel Edmonds (1 comments)
Sibel Edmonds has started a blog- discussion going on with here on her latest article:
"It's impossible to pinpoint the current sorry state of the MSM to one or two factors, since, at least to me, it seems to be caused by several factors, but here are the usual theories we hear out there on the mainstream media's current state:"
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 Hastert Getting $35,000 per Month to Lobby for Turkey
Justice Department records indicate that Hastert will now be "principally involved" on a $35,000-a-month contract providing representation for the Turkish government. He will work as a subcontractor for another former House speaker, Dick Gephardt, who runs the eponymous Gephardt Group.
Monday, May 4, 2009 Proof the FBI Changed Documents, and Vincent Bugliosi Was Wrong
In 2007, the legendary true crime writer Vincent Bugliosi released Reclaiming History, a Bible-sized book designed to answer all the questions regarding a possible conspiracy in the murder of President John F. Kennedy. Unfortunately, his "answers" provoked more questions. This short essay examines both the way Bugliosi dealt with one controversial matter, and the truth about this matter, as recently discovered by the author.
Friday, May 1, 2009 Contractors paid $1,000 a day to supervise, design torture program (1 comments)
Two former military officers, both psychologists, were paid $1,000 a day by the Central Intelligence Agency to supervise the torture and waterboarding of US detainees, according to a report published late Thursday.
Friday, May 1, 2009 NYT Public Editor tap dances around 'Brutal Truth' of torture
Clark Hoyt's New York Times public editor column on Sunday, "Telling the Brutal Truth," brings the ongoing "debate" over whether waterboarding is torture to brave new heights of absurdity.
Friday, May 1, 2009 Rice may have admitted to conspiracy, former Nixon counsel says
In little-noticed comments Thursday, the former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon John Dean said Thursday that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have unwittingly admitted to a criminal conspiracy when questioned about torture by a group of student videographers at Stanford.
Thursday, April 30, 2009 Editor-In-Chief Quits Over 'Active Thermitic Material' (3 comments)
Professor Marie-Paule Pileni has resigned as editor-in-chief of the Open Chemical Physics Journal over the publication of the Niels Harrit et al paper, Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe, which she says she was unaware of. In an interview with videnskab.dk (Danish science news service) she said she believes the publication was "political"
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 Lawsuit: Detainee was tortured by US in late '01
A Tunisian man detained after the Sept. 11 attacks was tortured at CIA-operated secret prisons in Afghanistan months before a Justice Department memo sanctioned the practices, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Saturday, April 25, 2009 Torturing detainee may have produced false terror alerts (1 comments)
As the nation struggles to make sense of a wave of new revelations regarding the "harsh interrogation techniques" brought to bear on detainees by the CIA, two very different narratives are shaping up to describe the treatment of captured al Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah in April and May of 2002.
Friday, April 24, 2009 First Merchant Bank exposed - Luke Ryland
A partial transcript of Sibel's recent interview is now up at Let Sibel Edmonds Speak.
The most interesting news involves First Merchant Bank (FMB) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The TRNC is only recognized by one country, Turkey.
In August 2004, US Treasury blacklisted First Merchant Bank because:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Active Thermitics Made Simple
Three Points of Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe that Anyone Can Understand
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Same people defending torture' ignored 9/11 warnings- Larisa Alexandrovna
"the very same people who are out defending torture as a necessary tool in their falsely constructed "war on terror" are the very same people who had the intelligence to stop the 9/11 attacks literally delivered to them and did nothing. These people who ignored multiple and various warnings from the CIA, foreign governments, and so forth, did nothing and that intelligence was obtained without the use of torture."
Sunday, April 19, 2009 Transcript from Visibility 9-11; A Basic Chemistry Lesson with Dr. Niels Harrit | 911Blogger.com (1 comments)
April 11 Michael Wolsey podcast an interview with the lead author of the paper "Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe". Read the full transcript here, and follow the link to listen to the podcast. Harrit explains the chemistry of nano-thermite and their experiments on the red-gray chips, and talks about why he got involved.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Wikipedia editors livid over new paper: censor Active Thermitic Material
The new paper has pulled the rug out from under the wikipedia front lines defending the official story and they have now suddenly changed the title of the demolition page [and are deleting references to the paper from numerous different pages]
Monday, April 13, 2009 The Poppy Palace- Electric Politics Interview w/ Sibel Edmonds
Connect the dots. According to the UN's latest report, under U.S. occupation 92% of the world's opium production comes from Afghan poppies. Most of the heroin going to Europe is manufactured in or transits Turkey. The exact value to Turkey of its heroin exports is unknown but experts estimate a range in the tens of billions of dollars per year. The neocons helped establish and remain closely associated with Turkish lobbying...
Sunday, April 12, 2009 9/11 Media Breakthrough in Denmark
The excellent work by Niels Harrit, Farrer, Jones and Ryan et. al in the recent journal article (Thermitic Material Discovered in WTC Dust) has paved the way for some very good media coverage in Denmark. At around 10:30 pm on Monday April 6, Harrit was interviewed for 10 minutes during the late news program on one of the two most respected Danish television channels (TV2). On Wednesday April 8, Harrit was interviewed for 6 min
Sunday, April 12, 2009 Do firefighters believe 9/11 conspiracy theories? (3 comments)
In the new season of the FX drama Rescue Me, firefighter Franco Rivera espouses the belief that 9/11 was "an inside job." According to a Sunday New York Times article, the show's writers added this assertion because actor Daniel Sunjata is a "truther"; but the real firefighters on set-who work as script advisers-were offended by his allegations. This got the Explainer wondering: Do any firefighters believe in 9/11 conspiracy..
Saturday, April 11, 2009 Obama to release Reagan records kept secret by Bush
The Obama administration is about to release 244,966 pages of documents from the Reagan White House that the Bush administration had held back for years during a review of whether to assert executive privilege.
Saturday, April 11, 2009 Should Obama Control the Internet? | Mother Jones (1 comments)
Should President Obama have the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a state of emergency?
Senators John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) think so. On Wednesday they introduced a bill to establish the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor-an arm of the executive branch that would have vast power to monitor and control Internet traffic to protect against threats...
Saturday, April 11, 2009 US munitions delivered to Israel | Amnesty International
A massive consignment of US munitions was delivered to Israel in recent weeks, according to information revealed by Amnesty International. The organization received information that the Wehr Elbe, a German cargo ship, chartered and controlled by US Military Sealift Command, docked and unloaded its cargo of reportedly over 300 containers at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just 40km north of Gaza by road on 22 March.
Thursday, April 9, 2009 Schumer: DOJ should investigate Red Cross reports of torture (2 comments)
In light of the startling revelations that came to light this week with the publishing of a Red Cross report, which documented in gruesome detail interrogation practices such as suffocation by water, beating by collar and prolonged nudity, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that he would support a Department of Justice investigation into the reported torture.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 Traces of explosives in 9/11 dust, scientists say- Deseret News
Tiny red and gray chips found in the dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center contain highly explosive materials - proof, according to a former BYU professor, that 9/11 is still a sinister mystery.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 What's crazier, believing the U.S. orchestrated 9/11 or that Saddam did?
"...there can no longer be any serious argument about whether Saddam Hussein's Iraq worked with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to plot against Americans." -Stephen F. Hayes, The Weekly Standard, 2003
When discussing politics, if there's one thing that sends people running for the hills, it's conspiracy theories - or worse, conspiracy theorists.
Monday, April 6, 2009 Following Bush lead, Obama moves to block challenge to wiretapping program
President Barack Obama invoked "state secrets" to prevent a court from reviewing the legality of the National Security Agency's warantless wiretapping program, moving late Friday to have a lawsuit that challenged the program dismissed.
Sunday, April 5, 2009 Explosive Residues: Energetic Materials and the World Trade Center Destruction - 911Research.WTC7.net
The scientific paper Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe conclusively shows the presence of unignited aluminothermic explosives in dust samples from the Twin Towers, whose chemical signature matches previously documented aluminothermic residues found in the same dust samples. The present review of the paper and related research is intended to summarize those findings...
Saturday, April 4, 2009 The Ones Who Got It Right by Ralph Nader
Why is it that well regarded people working the fields of corporate power and performance who repeatedly predicted the Wall Street bubble and its bursting receive so little media and attention?
Saturday, April 4, 2009 Who Controls The Black Bloc Anarchists?
The British authorities seemed to have little problem with allowing a group of violent black bloc anarchists to smash up the RBS building while provoking police yesterday, despite the group announcing their target in advance, yet a legitimate anti-poverty organization has had its "accreditation" to protest at the G20 removed on the orders of Downing Street.
Saturday, April 4, 2009 Cyber Security Act- Bill Proposes Giving President Power to Shut Down the Internet (2 comments)
Cybersecurity Bill Proposes Unprecedented Government Power Over the Internet - A cybersecurity bill introduced today in the Senate would give the federal government extraordinary power over private sector Internet services, applications and software. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would, for example, give the President unfettered power to shut down Internet traffic in emergencies or disconnect any critical infrastructure system
Saturday, April 4, 2009 Economist: US collapse driven by 'fraud,' Geithner covering up bank insolvency
In an explosive interview on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal, William K. Black, a professor of economics and law with the University of Missouri, alleged that American banks and credit agencies conspired to create a system in which so-called "liars loans" could receive AAA ratings and zero oversight, amounting to a massive "fraud" at the epicenter of US finance.
Friday, April 3, 2009 Court Smacks Down Obama on Indefinite Detention
Upholding the centuries-old right of Habeus Corpus, a US Federal Judge has blocked the Obama Administration 'shades of Bush' attempt to hold detainees indefinitely without charge, simply by transferring them to a US created and maintained war zone.
Friday, April 3, 2009 Geithner Admits His Failure to Regulate Led to Current Crisis
Before Timothy Geithner became Treasury chief, he regulated major U.S. banks. Now he says: "We're having a major financial crisis in part because of failures of supervision."
Thursday, April 2, 2009 Cheney has moles in Obama Administration, [Hersh] says (3 comments)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has moles in the Obama government which report back to him from the Pentagon, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh told NPR and MSNBC on Tuesday.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Afghan Escalation OK with MoveOn, Anti-War Insiders
Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent notes that "President Obama's announcement today of an escalation in the American presence in Afghanistan is being met with mostly silence - and even some support - from the most influential liberal groups who opposed the Iraq War. ... MoveOn.org ... declined to make any public statement about Obama's Afghan policies in response to my queries.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 'Dead' Pakistan Taleban Chief Takes Credit for Lahore Terror Attack --By Lori Price
It's a miracle! Pakistan Taleban chief Baitullah Mehsud -- who supposedly died from kidney failure six months ago -- takes credit for three recent deadly terror attacks, including Monday's attack on a police academy in Lahore.
He spoke to the BBC by phone.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President by Ray McGovern
I was wrong. I had been saying that it would be naďve to take too seriously presidential candidate Barack Obama's rhetoric regarding the need to escalate the war in Afghanistan. I kept thinking to myself that when he got briefed on the history of Afghanistan and the oft proven ability of Afghan "militants" to drive out foreign invaders-from Alexander the Great, to the Persians, the Mongolians, Indians, British, Russians...
Sunday, March 29, 2009 Flim-Flam Obama Man: The "New Democrat[ic]" President's Wall Street Loyalties Get Clearer Every Day
Many on what passes for a left in the United States have been led to believe that Barack Obama is a "Mr. Smith-goes- to-Washington" character eager and ready to struggle against entrenched corporate and financial interests. A considerable number of so-called "left liberals" make curious bedfellows with right-wing noisemakers (including dangerous reactionary nut-jobs like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Bernard Goldberg)...
Sunday, March 29, 2009 Pinochet judge seeks criminal probe of Bush 'torture lawyers' (1 comments)
Six Bush-era officials responsible for crafting the legal justifications permitting the military prison at Guantanamo Bay are the subject of a potential Spanish criminal probe which could place the men under serious risk of arrest if they travel outside the United States.
Sunday, March 29, 2009 TARP funds come back to Washington as campaign donations (1 comments)
Recent filings in the Federal Election Commission's database revealed that in the first two months of this year, at least $250,000 of bail-out funds returned to Washington in the form of campaign finances.
Thursday, March 26, 2009 Pentagon exploring robot killers that can fire on their own
The Defense Department is financing studies of autonomous, or self-governing, armed robots that could find and destroy targets on their own. On-board computer programs, not flesh-and-blood people, would decide whether to fire their weapons
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Does anybody else pull their long nose hairs out the manly way - just yanking them and enduring the pain? (6 comments)
This was posted directly to Reddit.com and has 1942 "up" votes so far, and 801 comments; while Rome burns. Check the comment thread of deliriously stoopid one-liners- It's the first LOL i've had in a week. I confess to both plucking and clipping. I bet Type-A Mr. M's a plucker- unless he just lets them grow? I wonder how Rob Kall handles them pesky nose hairs! And how bout Obama and Bush?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 TARP Helps Banks for Rich
The Troubled Asset Relief Program helps those banks that cater to the rich, which had no problem with subprime mortgages or other toxic assets.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Force Congress To Observe the Law on National Emergencies!!!
"On 9/11 the Bush administration declared a State of Emergency (SOE), which was formally proclaimed on SeOn 9/11 the Bush administration declared a State of Emergency (SOE), which was formally proclaimed on September 14, 2001, and extended by Bush repeatedly thereafter, most recently on August 28, 2008." Congress has been derelict in its duty to meet every 6 months to consider a vote on whether to end the state of emergency.
Monday, March 23, 2009 Death Squad Leader Was Top Cia Agent - Sunday Herald
THE LATE President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serb death squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegrating Yugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, according to the independent Belgrade Radio B92.
The claim that from 1992 until the end of the decade, Jovica Stanisic, head of Serbia's murderous DB Secret Police, was regularly informing his CIA handlers...
Monday, March 23, 2009 Crawling the Web to Foretell Ecosystem Collapse
The Interwebs could become an early warning system for when the web of life is about to fray.
By trawling scientific list-serves, Chinese fish market websites, and local news sources, ecologists think they can use human beings as sensors by mining their communications.
Thursday, March 19, 2009 Perp Walks Instead of Bonuses by Robert Scheer
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.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Norwegian Daily: Terrorists Working for Western Countries
Nafeez Ahmed posts translation of a Norwegian article based on research in his book The War on Truth; 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Obama's "enemy combatant" policy: following a familiar pattern - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com (2 comments)
First: Denounce your presidential predecessor for a given policy, energizing your party's base and capitalizing on his abiding unpopularity. Second: Pretend to have reversed that policy upon taking office with a symbolic act or high-profile statement. Third: Adopt a version of that same policy, knowing that it's the only way to govern responsibly or believing that doing otherwise is too difficult.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Politico: Obama Ties to Bilderberg (3 comments)
The highest levels of the Obama administration are infested with members of a shadowy, elitist cabal intent on installing a one-world government that subverts the will of the American people.
It sounds crazy, but that's what a group of very persistent conspiracy theorists insists, and they point to President Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, as the latest...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 The sanctity of AIG's contracts - Glenn Greenwald (1 comments)
Apparently, the supreme sanctity of employment contracts applies only to some types of employees but not others. Either way, the Obama administration's claim that nothing could be done about the AIG bonuses because AIG has solid, sacred contractual commitments to pay them is, for so many reasons, absurd on its face.
Sunday, March 15, 2009 ACLU Report Examines Patriot Act Abuses
The American Civil Liberties Union has released a comprehensive report examining widespread abuses that have occurred under the USA Patriot Act, a law that was rushed through Congress just 45 days after 9/11.
In the almost eight years since the passage of the controversial national security law, the Patriot Act has led to egregious government misconduct, the ACLU says.
[ACLU report at ReformThePatriotAct.org]
Sunday, March 15, 2009 Decades of Disparity:Drug Arrests and Race in the United States- Human Rights Watch Report
This 20-page report says that adult African Americans were arrested on drug charges at rates that were 2.8 to 5.5 times as high as those of white adults in every year from 1980 through 2007, the last year for which complete data were available. About one in three of the more than 25.4 million adult drug arrestees during that period was African American.
Saturday, March 14, 2009 United Nations condemns US, Britain and other states over rendition
A report issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council this week strongly condemns the United States, Britain and other states for breaching basic human rights and international law.
The document, drafted for the UN General Assembly by Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinen, indicts the US specifically for numerous violations of international law, including the use of torture.
Friday, March 13, 2009 Our world may be a giant hologram - New Scientist (3 comments)
"If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram."
The idea that we live in a hologram probably sounds absurd, but it is a natural extension of our best understanding of black holes, and something with a pretty firm theoretical footing. It has also been surprisingly helpful for physicists wrestling with theories of how the universe works at its most fundamental level.
Friday, March 13, 2009 Americans Losing Their Faith in Faith ... And Everything Else [Except the Military]
The longstanding project called the General Social Survey, which has polled Americans about their feelings on a variety of political and social issues for more than 35 years, just recently came out with their preliminary 2008 data
Thursday, March 12, 2009 Obama's first signing statement: Claiming too much power? (1 comments)
Two days after releasing a heavily-cushioned memo concerning his position on presidential signing statements, President Obama today went to town with a doozie of a signing statement accompanying his ratification of the omnibus spending bill.
Thursday, March 12, 2009 Italy's high court sinks CIA rendition case
Italy's highest court sided with the government Wednesday and threw out key evidence in an alleged CIA kidnapping of an Eygptian terrorism suspect in Italy, dealing a blow to the trial of 26 Americans charged in the case.
Thursday, March 12, 2009 Harold Meyerson - Building a Better Capitalism
So what kind of capitalism shall we craft? Now that the market fundamentalism to which we've adhered for the past 30 years has -- by its own criterion of increasing shareholder value -- totally failed? Now that Alan Greenspan has proclaimed himself "shocked" that "the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity" proved to be an illusion?
Thursday, March 12, 2009 Harold Meyerson - Building a Better Capitalism (1 comments)
So what kind of capitalism shall we craft? Now that the market fundamentalism to which we've adhered for the past 30 years has -- by its own criterion of increasing shareholder value -- totally failed? Now that Alan Greenspan has proclaimed himself "shocked" that "the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity" proved to be an illusion?
