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9/21/2002
Filthy, Corrupt Democrats = Filthy, Corrupt Republicans :.If you vote for either Republican or Democratic candidates, you are part of the problem. WAKE UP! The Federal Election Commission disclosed yesterday it has imposed a record-setting $719,000 in fines against participants in the 1996 Democratic Party fundraising scandals involving contributions from China, Korea and other foreign sources.
The FEC documents describe Democratic fundraisers who set specific prices for foreign nationals to make illegal campaign contributions in return for meetings with then-President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. A Democratic finance vice chair, for example, said organizers would have to contribute $100,000 in return for Gore's appearance at a Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.
Those penalized included the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton-Gore campaign, the Buddhist temple and nearly two dozen people and corporations acting as conduits for illegal contributions. All have agreed to pay, according to the documents.
The total in fines would have been significantly higher except that some of the corporations have folded and others were dummy operations, with no assets, set up as conduits for money from China, Venezuela, Canada and other countries.
posted by Kevin at 4:13 PM
Is USNORTHCOM a Prelude to Military Dictatorship? :.The civilian bureaucracy in the office of the Secretary of Defense is racing to establish the new Northern Command, under a four star Air Force General, by Oct. 1, 2002, despite the fact that there is widespread worry that the whole idea of a full-scale military command over the territory of the United States (Canada and Mexico) is a major violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, and a variety of federal laws that clearly spelled out the parameters for U.S. military activity inside the United States. On March 7, 2002, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued CM-213-02, "Terms of Reference for Establishing a US Northern Command," which provided bare-bone outlines of the major reorganization.Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 4:12 PM
General Franks: U.S. Ready to Attack Iraq :.This site, and others, reported that the U.S. would be ready to go, "in days or weeks rather than months," a few weeks ago. This analysis turned out to be correct. KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (CNN) -- The commander of U.S. forces based in the Gulf has said he is prepared for an attack on Iraq.
General Tommy Franks, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, said Saturday: "We are prepared to undertake whatever activities and whatever actions we may be directed to take by our nation.
"We are prepared to do whatever we are asked to do," he told a news conference in Kuwait.
posted by Kevin at 4:10 PM
White House Generated Pap Taking Absurdity To New Extremes :.I will not humiliate myself by treating the nonsense emerging from the White House as legitimate. Maybe others have the energy to go through this crap, line by line, showing the gross inaccuracies, but I don't. Just know that the nuts are running the nuthouse, and that Commandante Dumbo says it's time to shoot first and ask questions later! WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush served notice on Friday that the U.S. will shift its military strategy away from the deterrence that characterized the Cold War and toward pre-emptive action against terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction.
"The United States can no longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we have in the past," Bush wrote. "We cannot let our enemies strike first."
That means taking action against hostile forces like Iraq, he said, even when multinational groups like the United Nations balk.
"As a matter of common sense and self-defense, American will act against such emerging threats before they are fully formed," he wrote in "The National Military Strategy for the United States of America."
---SNIP---
"What the world has seen in the 20th century is a benevolent America that uses its strength for good around the world," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters Friday.
posted by Kevin at 12:21 AM
Yemen: U.S. Expanding Military Campaign :.WASHINGTON � American commando units and naval assault forces have assembled near Yemen as the United States prepares to step up the hunt for Al Qaeda operatives in the Middle East nation, defense officials said Wednesday.
America's ambassador to Yemen, Edmund J. Hull, and military commander for the region, Gen. Tommy Franks, are negotiating with Yemeni officials on the details of a cooperative effort to capture or kill terrorist suspects there, officials said on condition of anonymity.
Talks include when and how covert missions might be attempted, who would do them -- possibly a combination of U.S and Yemeni forces -- and whether there is sufficient intelligence on the location of suspects to act.
The CIA, which has its own paramilitary units, is playing a lead role in the planning, administration officials said. CIA officials declined to comment.
posted by Kevin at 12:19 AM
9/20/2002
Expert: Missing Soviet Nukes Now With Al-Qaeda? :.Just this week, the head of Ukraine's communist party admitted that some 200 Soviet- era nuclear warheads have simply disappeared. Pravda reports that a Ukrainian parliamentary member reveals that some of the warheads have been "lost."
Previous press reports indicate as many as 50 nuclear suitcase devices are also missing from Russia's nuclear arsenal.
posted by Kevin at 2:26 AM
With Air Marshals Like This, Who Needs Terrorists? :.Fly the friendly skies? "Then out of nowhere, hell broke loose," Rajcoomar said. "One of these marshals came down to me and said, 'Head down, hands over your head!' They pushed my head down, told me to bend down... . I just couldn't believe it. I was speechless, in shock."
Unseen by his wife 30 rows back, Rajcoomar was whisked off the plane, taken to an airport police station, and locked in a cell he called so filthy "I wouldn't even put my dog in it."
During detention, Rajcoomar said, he was never asked anything except his name, address and Social Security number. He asked why he was being held.
"One of the marshals said something like, 'We didn't like the way you looked,' " Rajcoomar recalled. "They also said something like, 'We didn't like the way you looked at us.' "
Finally, after about three hours, Rajcoomar was released without explanation.
"It was like a nightmare," Rajcoomar said. "The marshals were completely out of control... . If they had pulled the trigger, we'd all be dead. I don't feel safe knowing they're there, not with this kind of behavior."Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 2:24 AM
German Official Compares Bush to Hitler :.The regional Schwaebisches Tagblatt newspaper quoted German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's justice minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, as saying "Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic problems. It's a classic tactic. It's one that Hitler used."
posted by Kevin at 2:22 AM
9/19/2002
Saddam Hussein Given Nuclear Warning :.The interesting thing about the previous Gulf War is that Saddam Hussein did, in fact, use chemical and biological weapons, despite the nuclear threat laid out by George Bush Sr. You've probably never heard that one, but believe it! If you don't believe it, start by reading about Operation: BLACK DOG. The question is, will we be lucky enough to avoid a nuclear event during the next war? I doubt it. Saddam Hussein knows that the next campaign will deliver a kill-shot to his regime. He's going to use whatever he has. It turned out that the previous Bush administration didn't have the resolve to follow through on their nuclear threat, and covered up the fact that Iraq and the U.S. both used chemical and biological weapons. The current U.S. regime, however, is made up of psychopaths. For Hussein, this will be his swan song. Therefore, my best guess is that the U.S. is preparing to use a nuclear weapon on Baghdad. Pray, meditate or do whatever you do. There aren't many options left to us at this stage. Note: If the U.S. lights off a nuclear weapon on the capital city of an Arab state, that's all folks. I'm outta here. I'll be spending my time getting my spiritual house in order. AMERICA will NUKE Baghdad if Saddam Hussein dares unleash weapons of mass destruction, it emerged last night.
The chilling warning to Iraq was revealed by former Tory Premier John Major, who led Britain in the 1991 Gulf War.
During that conflict, allied forces were armed with �battlefield� nuclear weapons and prepared to use them in a counter attack, he said.
Saddam was privately warned his capital would be obliterated if he used weapons of mass destruction against allied troops or Middle East targets � including Israel.
And senior security sources last night confirmed Saddam has been warned AGAIN of the consequences if he breaks the ban on using terror weapons.
posted by Kevin at 5:34 AM
How Saddam Happened: Made In America :.I almost don't believe this is from a mainstream media source. None of this information is new, but it's somewhat encouraging that this stuff is getting wider dissemination. If you want to know more, read Friedman's, " Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq", or the case study I wrote on the subject several years ago. The "notetaker" mentioned in the article is probably Howard Teicher. His story is pretty interesting. See the materials above, or search the web to find out more about Teicher: The last time Donald Rumsfeld saw Saddam Hussein, he gave him a cordial handshake. The date was almost 20 years ago, Dec. 20, 1983; an official Iraqi television crew recorded the historic moment.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE Defense secretary, at the time a private citizen, had been sent by President Ronald Reagan to Baghdad as a special envoy. Saddam Hussein, armed with a pistol on his hip, seemed �vigorous and confident,� according to a now declassified State Department cable obtained by NEWSWEEK. Rumsfeld �conveyed the President�s greetings and expressed his pleasure at being in Baghdad,� wrote the notetaker. Then the two men got down to business, talking about the need to improve relations between their two countries.
Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that Saddam was a murderous thug who supported terrorists and was trying to build a nuclear weapon. (The Israelis had already bombed Iraq�s nuclear reactor at Osirak.) But at the time, America�s big worry was Iran, not Iraq. The Reagan administration feared that the Iranian revolutionaries who had overthrown the shah (and taken hostage American diplomats for 444 days in 1979-81) would overrun the Middle East and its vital oilfields. On the�theory that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the Reaganites were seeking to support Iraq in a long and bloody war against Iran. The meeting between Rumsfeld and Saddam was consequential: for the next five years, until Iran finally capitulated, the United States backed Saddam�s armies with military intelligence, economic aid and covert supplies of munitions.
posted by Kevin at 5:01 AM
Rumsfeld Gets An Earful :.Rumsfeld, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, had started to argue the case for removing the Iraqi president when a woman seated behind him stood up and said, "Mr. Rumsfeld, I think we need weapons inspections, not war."
"Why are you obstructing the inspections? Is this really about oil? How many civilians will be killed?" the woman asked.
She and another woman began chanting "Inspections, not war" and unfurled a banner bearing the slogan before Capitol police removed them from the hearing room.Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 4:46 AM
Bush Wants War :.More of the same, but this is pretty good info: If it achieved nothing else, the offer of the Iraqi government to accept without conditions the return of United Nations weapons inspectors has exposed the most essential truth of contemporary international politics: the Bush administration wants war. Its hysterical claims of �weapons of mass destruction� have never been anything else but a means of manufacturing a public justification for war. The Bush administration has responded angrily to the diplomatic note of the Iraqi foreign minister�demanding that it be ignored by the UN�because it knows that Saddam Hussein�s concession deprives the United States of the fig leaf of a pseudo-legal pretext for invading Iraq, destroying its government, seizing its oilfields and reducing the country to what would be, in effect, semi-colonial status.Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 4:42 AM
9/18/2002
The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace :.The big report will be out later today. I'll be going over it later. To those of you who have read my recent cyberwar essay, anyone want to make any bets on how much emphasis this report will place on physical threats to information infrastructures? My guess is that these issues won't come up at all. I really hope they will, but I don't think they will. Update: Well, I read the report. They do make some references to physical information infrastructure vulnerabilities, but there's nothing specific, and they basically pass the buck, just like the Pentagon did in the mid 1990s. Mostly bloated wonk speak, the document acknowledges that the physical nature of information systems is a factor in formulating a defense, but doesn't go on to offer any viable prescriptions. Here's the plan, which means, as I said, there is no plan: Owners and operators of information system networks and network data centers should consider developing remediation and contingency plans to reduce the consequences of large-scale physical damage to facilities supporting such networks. Where requested, the Federal government could help coordinate such efforts and provide technical assistance.Here is more on physical vulnerability. It would have been simpler to say "grab your ankles" but instead they call for bean counters to come up with some models: Industry is working jointly with government to develop an understanding of the complex connections between organizations in a sector, among sectors, and with the government. In particular, there is concern about cascading effects from one critical infrastructure sector to others. Developing tools and methodologies to perform cyber risk modeling is essential to both eliminating vulnerabilities and fostering the appropriate risk-transfer mechanisms.The authors of this report are obviously aware that the Internet is actually built out of very fragile technologies. They manage to do a good job of preventing panic: The Internet was built to be redundant and though security has been added on over time, security was never incorporated as a fundamental feature and gaps remain in its implementation. In addition, the methods and rules that the Internet uses for communication, and the devices that support the transfer of information, were not designed to support the growing volume of data that flows through the Internet.Here's the way I described the same situation in my essay: You always hear that the Internet was designed to route information around dead or crowded nodes. Well, what you don't hear is that this theory only applies when the amount of traffic on the system DOES NOT OVERWHELM the routers, switches and communications media. If transcon and intercity OC-192s and OC-768s start going down, the sudden traffic overflow onto the lower tiered intercity connections will bring everything to a grinding halt. Couple that with attacks on root DNS nodes and DOS attacks on systems still standing� Put a fork in it, ladies and gentlemen. It�s done.On physical infrastructure protection, the document plays a shell game: Public-private partnerships should identify cross-sectoral interdependencies both cyber and physical. They should develop plans to reduce related vulnerabilities, in conjunction with programs proposed in the National Strategy for Homeland Security.Oh, so we should look at the National Strategy for Homeland Security for guidance. Here's what that document has to say on infrastructure protection: If terrorists attack one or more pieces of our critical infrastructure, they may disrupt entire systems and cause significant damage to the Nation. We must therefore improve protection of the individual pieces and interconnecting systems that make up our critical infrastructure.*sigh* Anyway, I've had enough. I'm sure you have, too. Update: More Criticism :.SEATTLE--A White House official is standing behind the administration's draft recommendations on cybersecurity, asserting that they have not been weakened by lobbying from technology companies.
"The one (claim) I hear the most often is that it was watered down," Howard Schmidt, vice chairman of the White House's National Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, said here Thursday. "It is not watered down."
On Wednesday, the White House formally introduced a 64-page draft proposal titled "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace." Rather than target specific industry segments or recommend new laws and regulations, the administration's plan states that industry and individuals must simply take greater cautions.
posted by Kevin at 6:34 AM
The "Complete" 9/11 Timeline :.This makes Mike Ruppert's "Oh Lucy" effort look like a boyscout exercise! Paul Thompson, I salute you. This webpage is meant to be a comprehensive resource for anyone attempting to understand 9/11 and the anthrax attacks. Once you start reading, I think it will become clear that, whatever happened, there is much more going on than the "official story" claims. The mainstream media is the one that's failed to "connect the dots". There are an amazing amount of intriguing news stories that have squeaked into the media but not reached a wide audience, and/or have not been properly followed up or placed into context. I haven't seen anything that pulls it all together, so I've felt compelled to make this.
posted by Kevin at 6:27 AM
9/17/2002
Iraq Flings Monkey Wrench Into U.S. War Machine :.I'd be willing to bet that the hawks inside the White House are pretty mad right about now. I think the only reason George Bush went to the U.N. is because the entire world, with the exception of Tony Blair, saw the U.S. stance for what is was: An attempt to rip off even more of the world's oil. Going to the U.N., it was probably thought, would silence all the naysayers, and give Saddam Hussein yet another chance to screw up, allowing the bombs to then fall in short order. Well, Saddam Hussein did what probobably nobody on the Bush foreign policy team thought he would do. He's allowing inspectors back in. No conditions. Another article states: U.S. officials said they were not surprised by the Iraqi move. "We were expecting this kind of thing," said one White House official. Bullcrap. They thought they had this thing all sealed up. Saddam Hussein is giving them all the bird at this moment. Here's what I hope is happening: I hope that Saddam Hussein realized that he was on a collision course with a bunch of U.S. "smart" weapons. I hope that he is making a genuine effort to work with the U.N. to possibly diffuse the situation. Here's what I think is happening: I think there are no protagonists in the U.S./Iraq story. I think Saddam Hussein is insane. I think the people in control of George Bush are insane. I think the plan to take over Iraq was planned long ago ( see story below) and that a regime change is already baked into the cake. I don't think Bush wanted to go to the U.N., but he did it out of necessity. Now that Hussein has thrown up his arms and will allow inspectors, the U.S. finds itself in a VERY odd situation. How can they go ahead with an attack now? My gut feeling is that NOTHING is going to prevent a U.S. invasion of Iraq. I don't know what the circumstances will be, but I feel as though they (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.) decided Hussein had to go, long ago. I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to see the entire situation move back from the brink. Unfortunately, I just don't see how that is possible when the U.S. is behaving like this is a game of chicken, and the steering wheel has been tossed out the window.
posted by Kevin at 6:00 AM
Atrocities in Israel :.This video shows an Israeli tank opening fire on children as they ran away. They were attempting to buy candy bars.
posted by Kevin at 5:19 AM
Atrocities in Afghanistan :.This Le Monde Diplomatique article is shocking. If the events described are true, the war crimes courts will be busy for years to come. I selected a relatively tame passage to quote below. Fair warning: If you don't have a strong tolerance for descriptions of almost unimaginable cruelty, don't read this article. At Kalai Zeini they were forced to sit, side by side, across a vast field within the perimeters. Soon a convoy of trucks arrived with metal cargo containers fastened to their chassis. The prisoners were then ordered to line up before being squeezed into these containers. A Northern Alliance officer, who agreed to speak anonymously, said: "We were responsible for delivering the prisoners and we loaded 25 containers from Zeini to Shiberghan. We put around 200 people into each container."
Compressed into these airless, dark metal boxes in very high temperatures, the Taliban cried for mercy. Another Afghan soldier who lent credence to his testimony by admitting he killed some prisoners, said: "I hit the containers with bullets to make holes for ventilation and some of them were killed." I asked him if he personally shot holes into the containers, and why, and who gave the orders, and he said: "The commanders ordered us."Research Credit: JH
posted by Kevin at 5:03 AM
Let's Roll: Was Flight 93 Shot Down? :.Several days ago, I read the following anonymous post on Slashdot. The author claims to have been the pilot of a U.S. military jet who was ordered to shoot down Flight 93. Of course, this person could have been making it all up. I posted a follow-up message, asking the author to write to me. He/she has not: Post-9/11 Revelation (Score:-1, Troll)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10, @06:37PM (#4232457)
Flight 93 was shot down.
I know because I was ordered to shoot down the plane. Due to the classified status of that day's events, I can not divulge my name or the method I used to bring down the target. After I touched down back at the base that day, I found that the passengers on flight 93 had successfully overpowered the hijackers moments before I killed them all. I have suffered immeasurable guilt since then, to the degree that the unit shrink has grounded me indefinitely.
You will probably never know the full story. I do not think I can bear another six years of service before retirement and may be medically discharged by then, in which case I have nothing to live for any more. I just came across this story (written two days AFTER the anonymous Slashdot post): THE unmarked military-style jet swooped down at high speed through the valley, twice circled the smouldering black scar where Flight 93 had careered into the ground just seconds earlier and then hurtled off over the horizon.
At least six eyewitnesses saw the mysterious aircraft on the morning of September 11 last year. But the US authorities deny it ever existed.
So when George Bush laid a wreath yesterday at the crash site in a remote valley outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, he was one of only a handful of people who know what really happened to the 40 innocents and four hijackers aboard the doomed United Airlines Boeing 757-200.
posted by Kevin at 4:32 AM
9/16/2002
Confirmation: U.S. Executing Plan to Expand Hegemony :."The past is never dead. In fact, it's not even past." ---William Faulkner Many writers, inside and outside of foreign policy circles, have been discussing the creation of an American empire in which Central Asia and Persian Gulf region are brought under direct or indirect control of the U.S.  This theme comes up repeatedly on this web site. Today, we have more confirmation that the U.S. is planning to create a 'global Pax Americana'. The psychopaths at the helm of this doomed ship are reading from a script called REBUILDING AMERICA'S DEFENSES: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century. The document has the same tone and swagger as some of the U.S. foreign policy documents of the late 1940s and early 1950s. I'm thinking specifically of PPS-23 and NSC-68. After World War II, the point was to, basically, use America's military and economic power, or lose it. Worry about the moral and ethical dilemmas later. Hint: We're in a similar situation today. Take a look at couple of passages from PPS-23 and NSC-68. Note the similarities to current U.S. Grand Strategy: From Policy Planning Staff 23 (PPS-23): Review of Current Trends in U.S. Foreign Policy, 1948, originally classified Top Secret: ...we have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population... In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. [Enslave the Third World.] To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day dreaming [forget human rights]; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and benefaction... [forget human rights] The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. [The only rule is win.] [comments mine] From National Security Council 68 (NSC-68): United States Objectives and Programs for National Security, 1950, originally classified Top Secret: Our overall policy at the present time may be described as one designed to foster a world environment in which the American [economic] system can survive and flourish. It therefore rejects the concept of isolation [disarmament] and affirms the necessity of our positive [interventionist] participation in the world community.
This broad intention embraces two subsidiary policies. One is a policy which we would probably pursue even if there were no Soviet threat. [This is where we are today.] It is a policy of attempting to develop a healthy international community. [Meaning, an international community in which predatory economic policies are the norm.] The other is the policy of containing the Soviet system. [Wow! We won! Free to focus on the first policy above.] These two policies are closely interrelated and interact on one another. Nevertheless, the distinction between them is basically valid and contributes to a clearer understanding of what we are trying to do. [comments mine] Flash forward to today. Everything old is new again: A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001.
The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'
The PNAC document supports a 'blueprint for maintaining global US pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests'.
This 'American grand strategy' must be advanced for 'as far into the future as possible', the report says. It also calls for the US to 'fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars' as a 'core mission'.
The report describes American armed forces abroad as 'the cavalry on the new American frontier'. The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document written by Wolfowitz and Libby that said the US must 'discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role'.Special thanks to the Cryptome for providing the complete text of the report. Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 4:38 AM
Nuclear Power Plant Security: U.S. Begging For Cataclysm :."If an attack took place, most of the guards would run like hell." ---Security guard at a nuclear power plant If you thought my cyberwar essay was frightening, you won't believe this! WASHINGTON, DC, September 12, 2002 (ENS) - Security guards protecting 24 of the nation's nuclear reactors, located at 13 power plants across the U.S., have little confidence that they could defeat a determined terrorist attack, finds a new report by a nonprofit nuclear watchdog group. The guards told interviewers that their morale is very low, and that they are under equipped, undermanned, and underpaid.
The report, based on interviews conducted by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), warns that security guards at only one out of four nuclear power plants are confident their plant could defeat a terrorist attack.
The guards told the POGO interviewers that most nuclear power plants have increased the overtime hours worked by plant security personnel, rather than adding new personnel, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Some guards are now working up to six consecutive days of 12 hour shifts, and guards raised serious concerns about fatigue.
Prior to September 11, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) required only five to 10 security guards on duty per nuclear reactor. Since then, the NRC has ordered the utilities to minimally increase the guard force, but many plant operators have opted to increase the hours of their existing guards instead.
posted by Kevin at 4:27 AM
Rumsfeld Borrows Page From Nazi Playbook :.Research credit and commentary by TR: Given Rumsfeld's latest argument--that the US is engaging in pre-emptive self-defense against what it BELIEVES to be a threat--this article on the Nuremberg trials is very instructive. Basically, Rumsfeld's argument is the same argument the Nazi's gave when defending their attacks on neighboring countries during the Nuremberg trials. They said they were justified in attacking because BELIEVED these countries were a threat. Of course, this argument was laughed right out of the courts. But in this Nazi society, Rumsfeld's arguments ring true. ---------- Nazi Self-Defense
Then what happened after failing to get any formal authorization from the Security Council, the U.S. Ambassador Negroponte - who has the blood of about 35, 000 people in Nicaragua on his hands when he was U.S. Ambassador down in Honduras - sent a letter to the Security Council asserting Article 51 of the U.N. Charter to justify the war against Afghanistan. And basically saying that we reserve the right to use force in self-defense against any state we say is somehow involved in the events of September 11. Well, the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed me on that and asked what is the precedent for this? I said that the precedent again goes back to the Nuremberg Judgment of 1946 when the lawyers for the Nazi defendants argued that we, the Nazi government had a right to go to war in self-defense as we saw it, and no one could tell us any differently. Of course that preposterous argument was rejected by Nuremberg. It is very distressing to see some of the highest level of officials of our country making legal arguments that were rejected by the Nuremberg Tribunal.
posted by Kevin at 4:22 AM
Secrecy Cloaks Patriot Act :.WASHINGTON � Ten months after it was passed because of the Sept. 11 attacks, the USA Patriot Act remains shrouded in complexity and secrecy.
The legislation, overwhelmingly approved by Congress after the White House demanded new tools to prevent the next terrorist assault, resulted in the largest expansion of police powers in decades.
Yet Americans know little about it, Congress is having difficulty getting questions answered, and Bush administration officials won't say how it has been used.
The act makes it much easier for government agents to monitor phones and computers, scour financial, medical and student records, investigate library use, conduct secret searches and detain noncitizens.Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 4:20 AM
End Days: Cloned Food Products Coming Soon :. Water full of heavy metals. Air full of dioxin. Food full of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics. Now, cloned food products full of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics. And you thought featherless chicken was bad? F*cking hell. What's next? How about cloned featherless chickens? I would encourage everyone to read Bill Joy's, " Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," before biting into that tasty cloned beef cheeseburger. Milk from cloned cows and meat from the offspring of cloned cows and pigs could show up on grocery shelves as early as next year under the plans of livestock breeders who are already raising scores of clones on American farmsteads.
A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's top scientific body, has given fresh impetus to the effort to turn cloning into a routine tool of U.S. agricultural production.
A special NAS panel that reviewed developments in animal biotechnology was alarmed by genetic manipulation of fish and insects that might escape and harm wild species, but it found cloning of farm animals less troublesome, since the technique involves copying adult animals without altering their genes. The committee called for a few additional studies but said the technique was unlikely to affect the safety of the food supply.
posted by Kevin at 4:15 AM
Aussie Phone Taps: 20X Americans :.After you throw a shrimp on the barby, the cops throw a tap on your phone! Australian authorities use telephone taps at 20 times the rate of their counterparts in the United States, figures that the Opposition says raise concerns about privacy and oversight of call tapping.
With legislation before Parliament to give ASIO greater policing powers, Labor says the phone-tap figures call into question whether law enforcement agencies need their powers bolstered.
Figures released by the Federal Opposition, and taken from annual reports of the United States and Australian governments, show that in the financial year ending in June 2001, more than 2150 warrants were issued for phone taps in Australia, but only 1490 in the US. Taking into account the population difference - 284 million compared to just over 19 million - Australia's rate of phone interception was 20 times that of the US.
posted by Kevin at 4:08 AM
9/15/2002
Shame: Larkin Community Hospital :.We are all standing on the edge of a very deep abyss: MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A Florida hospital has received threats against three Muslim-American students, who were detained in an anti-terror operation as they were traveling to start internships at the hospital.
Larkin Community Hospital president Dr. Jack Michel said Saturday he was requesting the students transfer somewhere else after receiving numerous threats because of the incident.
Michel said his hospital has received an overwhelming amount of "threatening, ethnic, racial e-mails (and phone calls) directed at Muslim-Americans."
posted by Kevin at 3:59 PM
Linux Worm Creating Distributed Attack Network :.In "Cyberwar: How Terrorists Could Defeat the U.S., and Why They Won�t," I wrote that terrorists could use a denial of service network as part of a wider information infrastructure attack, including an attack on root DNS nodes. News is emerging about a growing attack network that is comprised of thousands of compromised Linux systems. The interesting thing about this worm (Linux Slapper) is that it creates intelligent zombies based on peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. This means that the Linux Slapper operator may easily target and re-target his army of rogue systems. This is a massive improvement, in terms of offensive capability, over the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) based Code Red worm, which was not P2P enabled. As of now, nobody knows if the Linux Slapper distributed denial of service (DDoS) network is being built by a twelve year old, a group of international terrorists or some other party. A new worm that attacks Linux Web servers has compromised more than 3,500 machines, creating a rogue peer-to-peer network that has been used to attack other computers with a flood of data, security experts said Saturday.
The worm seems to spreading fairly rapidly, according to security firm Symantec, which early Friday detected about 2,000 infected computers actively attacking, a number that climbed to 3,500 late Friday. The company's security personnel could not be contacted for comment Saturday.
"It is confirmed through various sources that this worm is in the wild and actively attacking other servers," the firm warned its newest advisory Saturday.
The worm targets Apache Web server installations on a variety of Linux systems, including those from Red Hat, SuSE, Debian, Mandrake and Slackware. By exploiting a security hole in the Apache OpenSSL module that enables a widely used encrypted communications service known as the secure socket layer, the worm can copy itself to new servers.
The advisory includes an analysis of the so-called Linux.Slapper.Worm's code, revealing some details of the attack network created from servers compromised by the worm.
"(Slapper) also includes a number of peer-to-peer capabilities, which allow it to communicate with other clients, and participate in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) network," stated the advisory.
posted by Kevin at 2:37 PM
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:. Reading
 Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
 Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
 The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
 Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
 The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
 When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
 The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
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