cryptogon.com
   HOME
2/27/2003



Back from Road Trip

I've just returned from a mind bending---roughly 3,000 mile---road trip. I'll try to post updates tomorrow. Thanks to the two guys who donated a total of nine bucks while I was away. Several hundred dollars in gas and motel fees just went up in smoke, so that will come in handy. ;) Hopefully, the effort will be worth it. Oh, what was I up to? I'll tell you all if it works out.


2/24/2003



Nightmare: Patriot Act II :.

Oh man, this thing is really ugly. The article states that Patriot II will be rammed through during the next crisis:

Section 201 would empower the Justice Department to conduct secret arrests when investigating international terrorism. Those arrests would remain secret until criminal charges are filed.

According to prominent constitutional attorney David Cole of Georgetown University Law Center, "Never before in our history have we permitted secret arrests. This expressly authorizes the practice of secret arrests."

And, of course, a person under secret arrest might never have charges filed against him. In which case the person is either quietly let out of prison or languishes there.

Section 501 would allow the federal government to strip the citizenship of an American citizen, if that person provided "material support" to a group the United States has designated as a terrorist organization. If you gave money to an overseas religious charity -- later classified as a front organization for a terrorist group -- you could lose your citizenship.

Section 503 gives the U.S. attorney general unchecked authority to deport any person, including lawful, permanent residents -- whenever he determines their presence is inconsistent with our national security.

This could happen even if the noncitizen were law abiding and had not violated any immigration laws.

National security can be interpreted to mean, according to Cole, "national defense, foreign policy, or economic interests." Basically, the U.S. attorney general can conclude that the presence of a lawful permanent resident is "inconsistent with our economic interests and he can deport the person," Cole said. The deportation would not be reviewable by the courts.





When Kafka Aligns with Orwell: Noncooperation and Resistance :.

I'm still on the road, but dialup works in Motel 6!

In recent days, police state plans have gone into overdrive. On the other hand, signs of resistance are also visible. By this I don't mean marches and rallies and putting soft pressure on elected representatives. These seem to me mostly a waste of time and even counterproductive to the extent that the illusion is created that some opposing force is being exerted when all that is happening is participation in the overall legitimacy of regime aims. Rather, I mean the first stirrings of organized resistance by some professionals and functionaries who have a say in whether or not the government's totalitarian plans, in any number of areas of ordinary life, can be implemented. Organized resistance to smallpox vaccinations could become a leading front in the model of nonviolent noncooperation that I have in mind, but leaders of professional bodies will have to show far more spine in standing up to the onslaught on privacy and freedom to make larger things possible. I don't think for a moment that noncooperation of the sort I have in mind can become a reality, in the hands of coddled liberal leaders who surely don't want to rock the boat beyond the mild complaining their followers expect of them, but I propose this as an approach that might have a chance of working. And even the window of opportunity for noncooperation is rapidly shutting down: after the next terror attack, when the military will be on the streets, and the population brutally terrorized into abject submission, we can say goodbye to even this fond last hope.


2/22/2003



Road Trip

I may or may not be posting updates for the next several days. I'm taking off fully loaded with gadgets, so I should be able to update while I'm away, but no guarantees.

If the war starts, well... oh well.





Willing to Die for Peace: Human Shields Take Up Positions in the Bull's Eye :.

Seventeen foreigners bunked down Friday night at a Baghdad water purification plant as the first "human shields" to deploy in Iraq in preparation for a looming U.S.-led war.


2/21/2003



European Analysts Forecast Economic Disaster from War :.

Maybe tens of thousands of people won't die. Maybe it won't start World War III. Maybe it won't lead to an economic disaster. Hey, if ever there was a time to believe in miracles, this is it:

The mass anti-war demonstrations across Europe over the weekend have been replaced by analyses in various capitals predicting an impending economic catastrophe.

Most such forecasts show a war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would leave industrial economies in a shambles, regardless of its speed and outcome.

In the worst-case scenario � a prolonged war with no immediate outcome � some European analysts forecast a vertiginous rise in the price of oil, a collapse of the U.S. dollar and trade wars across the industrial world.

Ahmed Zaki Yamani, a former oil minister of Saudi Arabia and founder of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), was widely quoted in Europe saying that, should Saddam resort to massive destruction of oil fields, the price of a barrel of crude could rise to between $80 and $100.

The dollar is seen under this scenario as plunging as low as $1.50 to the euro, having already lost 20 percent during the past year. It traded yesterday at $1.07 to the euro.



2/20/2003



U.S. Adopts British Imperial Model for Iraq :.

Total U.S. control planned for Iraq:

The Bush administration plans to take complete, unilateral control of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, with an interim administration headed by a yet-to-be named American civilian who would direct the reconstruction of the country and the creation of a "representative" Iraqi government, according to a now-finalized blueprint described by U.S. officials and other sources.

I am extremely suspicious about this:

Under a decision finalized last week, Iraqi government officials would be subjected to "de-Baathification," a reference to Hussein's ruling Baath Party, under a program that borrows from the "de-Nazification" program established in Germany after World War II.

I wrote about the fraud of de-Nazification in The Real U.S. Economic Stimulus Package, Nazis and the Plan to Rape Iraq.





U.S. Combat Forces Enroute to Philippines :.

U.S. soldiers to serve in mercenary role under Philippine command:

Defence officials in Washington say that hundreds of American troops, including special operations units, are to join Philippines troops on combat missions against rebels in the Philippines.

The special forces will be backed up by about 1,000 United States marines, in an offensive against the Islamic rebel group, Abu Sayyaf, on the southern island of Jolo.

Officials in Washington said the operation, due to begin "in the coming days", would be under Philippine command.

But instead of being limited to a training role as in the past, US troops could be involved in combat.


2/19/2003



The Theater of the Free :.

Protest. Yell. Scream. If that's all you can do, do it. The "group hug" effect might make you feel good for a while. But I'm not going to pretend that the weekend-rock-concert-as-rebellion model can ever amount to much. You're only playing a part in a ridiculous theater of the free. You're free to be directed to the protest area by hundreds of heavily armed cops? Come on, man. Wake up.

When you spend money on stuff made by transnational corporations, you support the war. When you work hard and pay all your taxes, you support the war. When you watch tv, go to church and read the newspaper, you support the war.

I certainly support the war. I filled up my car the other day with gasoline. I bought a computer a couple of weeks ago. I drank Coke last night. In other words, I support the war. I don't like it, but the first step in getting un-fucked is admitting you're fucked. We need a plan. We need a way to short circuit this matrix around us. I'll tell you what has been very exciting for me over the last couple of days. I've been reading, Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, by Pauline Pears. My mind started warping as I turned the pages. Do you really want to start a revolution? Stop eating in restaurants that are represented by ticker symbols in global equity markets. Stop buying toxic garbage from your local supermarket. Grow your own food.

Maybe I'm alone in the opinion that, to paraphrase Malcolm X about the march on Washington, "they wanted all of those people outta town by sundown, and sure enough all of those people were out of town by sundown." Or maybe the cerebral subtleties of the protest went right over my lizard brain. �Cause lizard brain was what I was �thinking� with as I walked past all these armed cops. Fear. Rage. Desire for � what? Freedom? Power? Revenge? �No blood for oil,� the placards said. I couldn�t agree more. But no blood for freedom? Impossible.

Silly me. Still under the romantic delusion I�d been under since I first started marching in these staged events at 20, thinking of the movements of the 1960s and 1930s, that protest meant taking the streets, not borrowing them from THE MAN and agreeing to all terms of the temporary license or face nullity and void. Saturday I realized, finally, that this isn�t about peace at all, but power. THE MAN has the power to bomb, humiliate, control. We The People are more or less powerless to stop him. Occasionally HE throws us a bone or a rally to make us think we�re doing the democratic thing. As long as we�re �outta town by sundown.�


2/18/2003



Kuwait Shuts Down Oil Fields Near Iraq :.

Other stories indicate that U.S. forces are cocked and locked. Maybe they'll pull the trigger on the upcoming new moon. Whether or not the United Nations is along for the ride doesn't seem to matter much to the Bush regime. If they can get a rubber-stamp 'ok' in the Security Council, sure, they'll try for it. But U.S. military planners realize that the window for the attack is closing. They want the war over by the time the desert starts to heat up again this Spring:

Kuwait has begun the process of shutting down two oil fields near the Iraqi border.

Kuwaiti officials said the decision was based on an assessment that the oil fields could be a target of an Iraqi missile attack amid the expected U.S.-led war on Baghdad. Officials said rigs and other equipment have been withdrawn from the northern oil fields of the Abdali and Ratqa, Middle East Newsline reported.

Oil workers were also being evacuated from the northern fields, officials said. They said the work began last week amid an order to evacuate civilians and non-essential personnel from northern Kuwait.


2/17/2003



Britain: Shut It Down in the Event of War :.

Now we're talking! Outdoor rock concerts on the weekend, populated with flaky Hollywood types and Berkeley Democrats are merely distractions, but when people stop showing up to work, NOW YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A NATIONAL SECURITY PROBLEM. Surely, Britain has a martial law contingency plan for just such a situation. In the United States, REX 84 BRAVO, CABLE SPLICER and GARDEN PLOT used to refer the operational directives for martial law. After 9/11, and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, these terms have probably changed.

Don't get me wrong, this protest stuff is great news! Well, that is until UKUSA intelligence fabricates some type of terrorist incident that will immediately silence the resistance to war. At that point, we will have to ask ourselves: Why, with resistance to war growing in the West, would the alleged terrorists do something to completely swing public opinion back the other way toward war? Answer: They wouldn't.

Anti-war coalition leaders, emboldened by the massive turnout at peace rallies in London and around the world, are planning to try to shut Britain down should Tony Blair defy public opinion and go to war without a UN resolution.

"We want people to walk out of their offices, strike, sit down, occupy buildings, demonstrate, take direct action and do whatever they think fit the moment war starts," said Lindsey German of the Stop the War Coalition yesterday.

"We want to completely close down Whitehall and prevent the Ministry of Defence going to work. At 6pm on the first evening after the bombing starts, there will be demonstrations and vigils all over the country, to be followed by another march with CND on the first weekend after war starts."





The Rise of the Technocratic Psychopaths :.

Computers of the future will be built not by factory machines, but by living cells such as bacteria.

That at least is the vision which has been outlined by scientists speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Denver.

They have described how wires can now be made by yeast organisms, and how solar panels could be built using substances produced by sea sponges.

Researchers believe these kind of technologies will be essential if we are to continue to shrink the size of electronic devices.


Our computers will be built by bacteria? The magic nanobots will amaze and dazzle us. Excellent.

Maybe humans will be able to enhance themselves so they can work 24 hours per day without care or complaint. Wouldn't that be great? Nanotechnology can be used to build anything! Why eat an apple grown the old fashioned way. That's not cool. Surely ADM will just assemble one for you.

In all seriousness, we must be extremely cautious of the new biomolecular and nanotechnologies. Even if you don't heed the words of Bill Joy, with his dire warnings about self replicating nanotechnology, consider the type of world the Them have in mind for the rest of us once control of nanotechnology is achieved. Should private tyrannies, the same corporations that are responsible for the horrific state of the planet, be trusted with what amounts to the power of creation?

Technology is being used to harness our productive and creative energies for the exclusive benefit of an increasingly adept and devious elite. The more advanced technology becomes, the lower wages (and higher taxes) go. Why? Because technology allows the Them to stick it to us in an ever increasing number of ways. Simple. Beautiful. Diabolical. Graph it, in terms of individual buying power, if you doubt what I'm saying. This race to the bottom is a byproduct of technological advancement in the hands of psychopaths. Twenty first century technology, under the command and control of an elite with 19th century attitudes, will almost definitely lead to the destruction of most life on this planet. Interestingly enough, technology is not the problem. The intent of the user is the problem.

Yeah, yeah, Kevin. We know all of that. This has been the case since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. So what, in the name of God, are you on about?

This is the point: Technology is being used to enslave us. If you doubt that, you aren't taking an objective look at modern society. But we are now entering a phase where the technologies under development are more dangerous than anything we have ever dabbled with; and they have lower barriers to entry than, say, nuclear weapons. Humans have only possessed the capability of destroying life on this planet for about the last sixty years. Whether or not we make it another 60 years depends on our ability to show restraint and to reflect on our previous mistakes. Blindly adopting new technology that has the capacity to enslave or extinguish all life on this planet is the height of folly, yet this is standard operating procedure.

What's the difference, really, between primates and humans? Humans can write things in books, create websites and launch rockets into space, but both species basically look to a silverback for guidance and fling their feces when agitated. If you want to get an idea of how successful humans will be with nanotechnology and genetic engineering, place a crate full of hand grenades into a habitat containing several apes or gorillas and watch what happens.

And before you accuse me of being a continual downer, listen to Joe Frank's, An Enterprising Man (RealAudio stream). Joe Frank's site. This makes me laugh so damn hard I almost forget it's The End.

Recommended donation $2.






Colorado Plans for Mass Cremations and Burials :.

"The funeral codes say that a dead body is to be handled by a funeral home and that you must notify the next of kin and give preference to the religious practices of the next of kin," said Deputy Attorney General Renny Fagan, a member of the governor's advisory committee.

"But in a biological event or in a mass-casualty event, it may not be practical to follow that law," Fagan said.

Infected corpses might have to be isolated at temporary morgues to prevent the spread of disease, Estock said. In certain situations, mass cremations or burials might be required.


2/15/2003



The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War with Iraq: Petro Euros :.

This essay fills in a critical puzzle piece. The reasoning for the war is not simply a matter of U.S. access to global petrolium supplies, but rather the threat, posed by the euro, to the primacy of the dollar. All Cryptogon readers should read this essay:

Although completely suppressed in the U.S. media, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking. The upcoming war in Iraq war is mostly about how the ruling class at Langley and the Bush oligarchy view hydrocarbons at the geo-strategic level, and the overarching macroeconomic threats to the U.S. dollar from the euro. The Real Reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves.

This lengthy essay will discuss the macroeconomics of the `petro-dollar' and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency. The following is how an astute and anonymous friend alluded to the unspoken truth about this upcoming war with Iraq:

"The Federal Reserve's greatest nightmare is that OPEC will switch its international transactions from a dollar standard to a euro standard. Iraq actually made this switch in Nov. 2000 (when the euro was worth around 80 cents), and has actually made off like a bandit considering the dollar's steady depreciation against the euro. (Note: the dollar declined 17% against the euro in 2002.)

"The real reason the Bush administration wants a puppet government in Iraq -- or more importantly, the reason why the corporate-military-industrial network conglomerate wants a puppet government in Iraq -- is so that it will revert back to a dollar standard and stay that way." (While also hoping to veto any wider OPEC momentum towards the euro, especially from Iran -- the 2nd largest OPEC producer who is actively discussing a switch to euros for its oil exports)."





Largest Anti-War Protests In Europe Ever :.

WOW!

Millions of protesters - many of them marching in the capitals of America's traditional allies - demonstrated Saturday against U.S. plans to attack Iraq.

In a global outpouring of anti-war sentiment, Rome claimed the biggest turnout - 1 million according to police, while organizers claimed three times that figure.

In London, at least 750,000 people joined in the city's biggest demonstration ever, police said. Berlin had up to half a million on the streets, and Paris was estimated to have had up to 100,000.


Check your local Indymedia site for the latest information.

Paul writes:

Hey Kevin,

I bristled ever so slightly that the Italians got top billing for their million marchers on Saturday's marches :-) when in London the police admitted to 750,000 marching to the rally in Hyde Park where hundreds of thousands had already gathered, and admitted that well over a million attended the Hyde Park rally, with the organisers claiming two million at the rally. So while the Italians may have had more on the march, we had more at the rally :-)

Happy hunting,

Paul


2/14/2003



CIA Black Ops Flight Crashes :.

I don't know where to start on this one. It's almost like you need to have read Compromised: Clinton Bush and the CIA, by Terry Reed to get the full effect of this story. The spooks run narcotics, plain and simple. The trick is to get .mil to shoot down the flights operated by the upstarts, while allowing the Company Authorized flights to go through. The trick is to get Dyn Corp to spray the competitors coca fields without the defoliant wrecking Uncle's own coca crops. The trick is to get drug shipments to enter U.S. airspace via a joint CIA/Special Forces project called SEASPRAY, while ratf*cking the conventional smugglers. This story leads down a deep, dark alley and it will disappear in short order:

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the single-engine Cessna Caravan went down Thursday morning while trying to make an emergency landing in Florencia, near an area dotted with fields that produce coca, the main ingredient of cocaine.

American officials refused to discuss the flight's purpose or identify those aboard. The Colombian Army's high command said the plane was on an intelligence mission, and Colombian investigators reported seeing two bodies in the wreckage.

It was not clear which arm of the U.S. government operated the plane. A host of U.S. agencies and government contractors are in Colombia, operating radar stations that track drug-smuggling flights, fumigating drug crops by plane and helping Colombian security forces.


It was not clear which arm of the U.S. government operated the plane. Hmm, my guess is that it's the same arm of the U.S. government that operated this cocaine cartel's mainframe.

Finally, check out these dingbats. I don't think there enough spooks milling about looking clueless. Where's Hasenfus?





SoldiersCopsSoldiersCopsSoldiersCops

When I put this site up back in June of 2002, I wrote the following in the ABOUT section:

In the wake of 9/11, the outward appearances of things didn't change significantly---except at airports. After the next event, even the most deaf, dumb and blind Americans will scratch their heads and think, "Gee, there are soldiers on the street." America as we think we know it is already gone, and has been for years. What will be different is that even the rhetorical image of America will be shattered into pieces. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, etc? Remember all of that? The mask will be off and we will finally get to gaze upon the actual system we created with our decades of apathy and sloth.

If they are softening us up this much before the next terrorists event, what will things be like in the wake of it? Photo caption:

National Guardsmen and police gather at Grand Central Station in New York early February 13, 2003. The United States and Britain are on high alert amid intelligence-led reports that al Qaeda may launch an attack on the western allies. Photo by Peter Morgan/Reuters

I was planning on doing more entries, but it just didn't happen today.


2/13/2003



To the Reader From the Global Investment Company

You were looking for information about a specific type of company. You know what I'm talking about. If you feel like unburdening your soul about your company's activities in this area, or anything else, please feel free to contact me via email. At a minimum, use a throw-a-way email account and do not send anything further from work. My PGP key is at the bottom of this page.

If I know THIS much about what you were looking for, imagine what your IT department knows about what you're using your computer for. You may want to buy the premium article I wrote recently called, U.S. Military and Intelligence Activities Involving the Internet. It's only $2 and judging from the information you let slip, you might want to read it closely.

If I don't hear from you in the next couple of days, I'll assume you were casually using your work machine for extracurricular reading and I'll let the rest of my readers in on what this is all about.





Clear Channel Stations Preparing for War :.

This purports to be an internal Clear Channel memo. These imbeciles redefine the meaning of Yellow Journalism:

Board ops: The second you get a notification that war has begun make sure you are prepared to hit news bulletin sounder and get the information on IMMEDIATELY. As soon as it is offered, cut to network updates or long-form coverage immediately. Then call and page Ken and Cristi.

Our Coverage will be called America's War with Iraq In writing copy please call our coverage, 'LIVE In-Depth Team Coverage of America's War with Iraq.'

After a major terror attack or after the war begins take all presidential addresses and public appearances.

Branding liners have been produced and are in the system. Michael please issue a memo making it clear where board ops will find this important imaging. Mike also make certain that our cross promos on the FMs all address Live in-depth team coverage of the War with Iraq on Newstalk 1530 KFBK

Editors, producers get to work on a 'war list' immediately. Make sure it includes local experts, sources, military types, other CC newsrooms around the country, network contacts etc. Cristi please coordinate this and make certain it is posted everywhere.

As soon as something happens, notify everyone! Cristi will make sure a complete staff phone list is posted in the newsroom, the studios. Take one home; leave one in your car. You may be asked to help with staff notification.





Initial Ground Phase of Iraq War Underway :.

Here we go...

U.S. Special Operations troops are already operating in various parts of Iraq, hunting for weapons sites, establishing a communications network and seeking potential defectors from Iraqi military units in what amounts to the initial ground phase of a war, U.S. defense officials and experts familiar with Pentagon planning said.

The troops, comprising two Special Operations Task Forces with an undetermined number of personnel, have been in and out of Iraq for well over a month, said two military officials with direct knowledge of their activities. They are laying the groundwork for conventional U.S. forces that could quickly seize large portions of Iraq if President Bush gives a formal order to go to war, the officials said.





Sharon to be Prosecuted as War Criminal :.

I think Ariel Sharon and Slobodan Milosevic would make excellent cell mates. Filthy bastards. Well, maybe they'll go after Bush after he wipes out several hundred thousand people in Iraq over the next few weeks or months:

BELGIUM'S highest court has delivered a landmark ruling that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be prosecuted for war crimes � but only after he leaves office.

Israel responded angrily to what one official called a "scandalous" decision, immediately recalling its ambassador to Brussels for consultations and summoning the Belgian envoy for a dressing-down.

The move by the Cour de cassation, the top appeal court, opens the way for several serving or ex-leaders around the world to be tried under a unique Belgian law that allows for war crimes prosecutions independently of where the offences took place.





FBI Destroyed Possible McVeigh Evidence :.

FBI officials said Wednesday they were still trying to determine whether the videotape and other evidence was actually destroyed, but remain confident all those responsible for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building have been punished.

My God! What a steaming heap. Watch the Alex Jones video, 911: The Road to Tyranny and then see what you think about OKC bombing and then 9/11.





Man's Tree House Dream Comes True :.

I love stories like this. When I finally fire up my off grid house, I won't need the TV or the gas generator, but I'd like to know how this guy convinced his girlfriend to go along with the plan:

With a chain saw, a rope and a hatchet, Tony Detmer built his three-story dream house -- suspended 20 feet up, in a stand of Douglas fir and cedar.

Detmer, 31, often starts his day with a plunge into the snow below. In the deep chill of a mountain morning, he said, the jolt is better than a cup of coffee.

"There's something about being off of the ground," he said. "I feel lofty. I want to fly. This is the closest I can get."

Detmer began working on the tree house in the fall of 1999. The deck went up first. Then straps were wrapped around trees to hold up parts of the house. The whole thing cost less than $2,000, most of which went for a 3,000-watt generator to run a saw and a television.

"I never used a level, it's all by eyeball," he said.

Detmer's girlfriend, Betsy Delph, 23, and another roommate, Brett Hoisington, 19, also live in the house, which has a wood-burning stove and a rope swing on the deck.


2/12/2003



When "It" Happens, Try to Remain Calm :.

When they light off the next one, you have a few options (as long as you're not one of the hundreds or thousands who buy the farm). You can panic. You can kiss their boots, and beg for them to save you. Or, you can realize that the same people who are offering you "security" from terrorism are the terrorists. Take your pick. Hint: If "It" is a nuke, chemical, biological or radiological dispersal weapon, I'm finished maintaining this nonsensical site. That'll be it. Done. Finished. See ya:

Intelligence information suggests al-Qaida attacks may occur as early as this week in both the United States and on the Arabian peninsula, CIA Director George J. Tenet told Congress on Tuesday.

The information led to last week's raising of the national terror alert level to "orange," the second highest level of five. The information came from "multiple sources with strong al-Qaida ties," Tenet said without providing details.

"The intelligence is not idle chatter on the part of terrorists and their associates," Tenet said. "It is the most specific we have seen, and it is consistent with both our knowledge of al-Qaida's doctrine and our knowledge of plots this network � and particularly its senior leadership � has been working on for years."

The information pointing to imminent attacks was gathered both in the United States and overseas, said FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert S. Mueller III, who joined Tenet and other intelligence chiefs to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee in an annual public session on threats to national security.

The CIA director said the information suggests the attack may involve a "dirty bomb" � a weapon that spreads radioactive material over a wide area � or chemical or poison weapons. Officials last week worried the attack was timed to coincide with the hajj, a Muslim holy period this week.


Related: Missile Launchers Positioned in D.C.

Related: Official Likens London Terror Threat, 9/11

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:05 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP) -- A terrorist threat that prompted heightened security in London over the last two days is similar in scale to the Sept. 11 attacks, the chairman of the ruling Labor Party said Wednesday.

``This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York,'' Labor Party chairman John Reid said.





O'Reilly: "Cut His Mic...We're Done" :.

I doubt any of my readers pay much attention to Bill O'Reilly, but I would encourage all of you to listen to this exchange between O'Reilly and Jeremy Glick, whose father died in the World Trade Center.





Will Saddam Blow It? :.

I saw $2.04 for a gallon of gas today. No jokes from my European readers. $2.04 is a lot for us gluttonous Americans. HA! Actually, I hope it hits $5. That would bring this show down, and then we could get on to what's next. Ahhh, but Bush et al. are going to commit genocide in Iraq in a desperate bid to drive oil prices down again...while lining their pockets, of course. Their diabolical plan may work. Or not. Even if they do get away with it, how much longer can the fraud of the petroleum based paradigm last? Three years, five years, ten at the outside max?

IRAQI President Saddam Hussein was moving large amounts of explosives to the country's oil fields, in apparent preparations to destroy them in the case of a US-led military invasion, NBC News has reported.

Citing unnamed military officials, the report said Iraqi companies had been purchasing the explosives and moving them to production areas in order, presumably, to set the fields ablaze.





77,000 Body Bags :.

FEARS that Iraq will inflict heavy casualties on British and American troops intensified yesterday when it emerged the Pentagon had ordered almost five times the number of body bags it requested before the last Gulf War.





Have an Ad? Rent Space on Someone's Forehead :.

More universal than television, livelier than billboards -- London marketing whiz kids have hit upon a new advertising medium: the human forehead.

In a national British campaign to be rolled out in coming weeks, marketing agency Cunning Stunts said it was about to start renting advertising space on the foreheads of university students.

"The idea came when we realized how much coverage students gained in the newspapers during recent demonstrations over debt," said Cunning Stunts' Nikki Horton.

"This is a new way for them to supplement their meager income, but it's also the new advertising medium," she added.


Research Credit: TR


2/10/2003



Ashcroft Proposes Vast New Surveillance Powers, Encryption Crimes :.

Within hours of its release, Cryptogon was covering the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (Patriot Act 2). Instead of adding updates to that entry, I'm going to post new entries about this catastrophic legislation separately so they don't get lost in the pile.

A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal penalties for using encryption in the U.S.





France and Germany Attempt to Derail U.S. War Plan :.

Russia is siding with France and Germany in trying to stop the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They are actually trying to prevent the formation of an Anglo American empire. Probably the most interesting aspect of this is that Germany has been a mortal enemy to both France and Russia in the not to distant past! But take a look at a map of the world and you will see why the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend doctrine is taking shape.

The U.S. and Britain are in the process of securing, for themselves, what can only be described as the greatest strategic prize in the history of the world: Control of Eurasia. All strategic thinkers understand that he who controls this region controls the world. With the latest diplomatic developments, we are witnessing nothing less than a campaign of pragmatic geostrategy on the part of France, Germany and Russia to counter the ascension of Anglo American hegemony in Central and South West Asia.

Is this the beginning of a new political order? On one side, perhaps, an Anglo American alliance will attempt to build a global empire. On the other side, France, Germany and Russia, feeling the threat, must band together out of necessity. Of course, this analysis may seem pre-mature. But if these thoughts are not on the minds of the leaders of France, Germany and Russia, why are they playing this game with the U.S. and Britain at this critical moment? And how does China feel about all of this posturing?

The Franco-German plan to intensify UN weapons inspections and step up spy flights over Iraq is both a calculated snub to the US and an attempt to derail what is seen as Washington's determination to go to war.

This became clear as deep divisions between the US and France and Germany over Iraq exploded into the open at a high level security conference in Munich. According to one unconfirmed report in the German magazine Der Spiegel, UN blue-helmet soldiers would be deployed in Iraq and the number of weapons inspectors tripled. Some 150,000 US soldiers based close to Iraq's borders would remain in place to ensure the "peaceful invasion" of the blue helmets and secure their mission.

French Mirage reconnaissance planes, German Luna-Drohne unmanned planes, and American U2 spy aircraft would fly over Iraq.

The Russian defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, who attended the Munich conference, said his country had highly skilled inspectors and reconnaissance planes that could take part in a reinforced inspections regime if it was approved by the UN security council.

So bad are the relations between Paris and Berlin on one side and Washington on the other, that Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, was not told anything about the plan, even though his French and German counterparts were at the conference in the Bavarian capital with him.





Cheney Didn't Like the Head Count :.

Beth Osborne Daponte was a 29-year-old Commerce Dept. demographer in 1992, when she publicly contradicted then-Defense Secretary Richard Cheney on the highly sensitive issue of Iraqi civilian casualties during the Gulf War. In short order, Daponte was told she was losing her job. She says her official report disappeared from her desk, and a new estimate, prepared by supervisors, greatly reduced the number of estimated civilian casualties.

Although Cheney said shortly after the 1991 Gulf War that "we have no way of knowing precisely how many casualties occurred" during the fighting "and may never know," Daponte had estimated otherwise: 13,000 civilians were killed directly by American and allied forces, and about 70,000 civilians died subsequently from war-related damage to medical facilities and supplies, the electric power grid, and the water system, she calculated.

In all, 40,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the conflict, she concluded, putting total Iraqi losses from the war and its aftermath at 158,000, including 86,194 men, 39,612 women, and 32,195 children.


Research Credit: TR





U.S. Demands Iraq Show Cooperation by This Weekend :.

Cryptogon predicted that the war would start on or about the new moon at the beginning of February. That didn't happen. My guess, and this is just a guess, is that the unending refusal of France (and Germany) to go along with the plan has delayed the main event. I think one of three things will happen.

1) The U.S. will pull some back channel swindles with the U.N. Security Council states, getting them to rubber stamp a use-of-force resolution.

2) U.S. intelligence will launch a terrorist attack inside the U.S., possibly with chemical, biological or radiological dispersal weapons. My guess is that U.S. forces would pull the trigger on Iraq within 24 hours of such an event.

3) U.S. Intelligence/Special forces fake an Iraqi pre-emptive attack on Israel or Kuwait. You can see the headlines now. Saddam Hussein Strikes First, etc.

In any event, if the war doesn't start by the beginning of March, I'll be amazed.


2/9/2003



Sources and Methods: Plagiarism :.

Several Cryptogon readers submitted this one:

The veracity of Colin Powell's report on Wednesday before the United Nations Security Council was dealt a serious blow when Britain's Channel 4 News broke a story that severely undermines the credibility of the intelligence Powell used to make his case to the UN.

Powell's presentation relied in no small part upon an intelligence dossier prepared by the British Government entitled, "Iraq - Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation." That report plagiarized large swaths of an essay written in September of 2002 by a graduate student from California named Ibrahim al-Marashi. Al-Marashi's essay appeared in the September 2002 edition of a small journal, the Middle East Review of International Affairs.


2/7/2003



The Choice for Iraq's Rag-Tag Army: Be Killed by the U.S. or by Saddam :.

Meat grinder:

"We want America to attack because of the bad situation in our country. But we don't want America to launch air strikes against Iraqi soldiers because we are forced to shoot and defend. We are also victims in this situation."





Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 :.

When Bush said it was Game Over the other day, he wasn't kidding:

On Friday, February 7 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), NOW with Bill Moyers will provide details of a Justice Department draft of a bill designed to extend the powers of the Patriot Act. The draft bill was provided exclusively to NOW by Center for Public Integrity, which obtained it from a confidential government source. The document, entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, outlines significant broadening of law enforcement powers, including domestic intelligence gathering, surveillance, and law enforcement prerogatives, while decreasing public access to information and judicial review authority.


Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, PDF (12mb) or HTML.

SHOCKING:

This provision would expand FISA's definition of "foreign power" to include all persons, regardless of whether they are affiliated with an international terrorist group, who engage in international terrorism.

They will role out this nightmarish legislation after elements of U.S. Intelligence conduct the next terrorist fraud inside the U.S. Or maybe during the war with Iraq.

Update: Slashdot Comments

It's Saturday night and I'm drinking Mexican beer by the liter, reading these great comments on Slashdot. I think I like this post the best:

Patriot? (Score:5, Insightful)
by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08, @12:33PM (#5259123)

"It is the duty of a patriot to protect his country from its government."
-Thomas Paine


This one is pretty good, too:

I suspect. . . (Score:5, Funny)
by Limburgher (523006) on Saturday February 08, @12:31PM (#5259111)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Thursday December 05, @02:46PM)

that, soon, Alot of our Base are going to Belong To Them. :(


Research Credit: MR





GAO Drops Cheney Energy Pursuit :.

Nothing to see here, move along. Hey, it's only overt corruption at the highest levels of government:

The General Accounting Office announced Friday it is dropping its lawsuit seeking records of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

GAO Comptroller General David Walker said in a written statement that because of the demands of time and resources, the department decided not to appeal a federal judge's decision to dismiss the suit.





Chomsky: Confronting the Empire :.

The most powerful state in history has proclaimed, loud and clear, that it intends to rule the world by force, the dimension in which it reigns supreme. Apart from the conventional bow to noble intentions that is the standard (hence meaningless) accompaniment of coercion, its leaders are committed to pursuit of their �imperial ambition,� as it is frankly described in the leading journal of the foreign policy establishment � critically, an important matter. They have also declared that they will tolerate no competitors, now or in the future. They evidently believe that the means of violence in their hands are so extraordinary that they can dismiss with contempt anyone who stands in their way. There is good reason to believe that the war with Iraq is intended, in part, to teach the world some lessons about what lies ahead when the empire decides to strike a blow -- though �war� is hardly the proper term, given the array of forces.

The doctrine is not entirely new, nor unique to the US, but it has never before been proclaimed with such brazen arrogance � at least not by anyone we would care to remember.





Employment Meltdown: Opportunity in the Ashes?

I quit my last job when the place started ripping me off. (Don't worry, I got paid. I made them an offer they couldn't refuse.) That was just over a year ago. I haven't had a job since, and this has been one of the best years in recent memory (except for burning though my hard earned savings).

For a while after I quit, I searched for jobs similar to what I had been doing; networking and sysadmin stuff. I considered getting various certifications (Cisco, Microsoft, blah, blah), but then I saw what was happening out in the world, thought about all the stress of being in IT and asked myself, "Why bother?" Information technology jobs, like most jobs, have become commoditized. In case you haven't noticed, the race to the bottom, in terms of pay and working conditions, is on. I decided to give up on the nine to fiver. I never liked it anyway. So, what difference would it make if I was a truck driver or an IT nerd? Come to think of it, driving a truck was better than anything I ever did in IT, but it was still driving a truck...

Late last year, I took a class and got my real estate license. Can you believe it!? Yes, friends, I'm about to start selling the American Dream to anyone willing and able to sign on the dotted line.

Nobody makes real money by working for the man. Sell the man a house, however, and now you're talking. My goal is to hopefully make enough money to be able to buy some dirt in a galaxy far, far away, or up in Oregon. There will be a chicken tractor. Power will come from wind, solar and moving water. My family says things like, "What will you do out there, all alone!?"

"When I need to take a break from reading, I'll watch the wind blow through the trees."

Then comes that awkward pause, as your family looks at you in stunned silence.

Oh yeah! One of the new guys at my office also worked in IT for years. He's 60 years old, and just starting a new career in real estate. He's a certified Oracle DBA, MCSE, and unix head. His doctor told him he had to quit IT. The stress was killing him. Anyway, he's been in real estate a few months longer than me and he just listed a house with an asking price of 1.6 million U.S. dollars! I shit you not. Another newbie was a tech recruiter and she's beginning to carve it up as well. HAHAHA! So, all you nerds out there, fire your PHB, get a real estate license, and let's make enough money to blow this pop stand and build a freak village out in the trees. Or, something like that.

Click to Open Resume, Hit Delete

On a Friday afternoon in July, Wells Fargo database manager Jill Levine posted an ad on Monster.com for a database analyst. By Monday morning, 250 resumes were waiting in her e-mail inbox. By mid-afternoon she had double that number and pulled the ad.

U.S. Economy in Worst Hiring Slump in 20 Years

The American economy has fallen into its worst hiring slump in almost 20 years, and many business executives say they remain unsure when it will end.

With economic growth having slowed to less than 1 percent in recent months, about one million people appear to have dropped out of the labor force, neither working nor looking for a job, according to government figures.


Unemployed Tech Workers Meet for Support

It's part job fair, part support group for unemployed tech workers. And with 50 unemployed newcomers joining each week, 495 Networking Support Group is - to the distress of its members - one of the fastest-growing ventures around." This is one of the best groups I've ever been associated with," said Jason Traiger, 60, who has been job hunting since he was laid off eight months ago. "I look forward to coming every week. And I look forward to the day I don't have to come." When 495NSG (named for Interstate 495, a Boston ring road and high-tech corridor) was founded in 2001, 345,000 were employed in Massachusetts' high technology sector, according to state figures. Since then, the sector has shed more than 30,000 jobs, including 15,000 in greater Boston.





Mobile Phone Danger: "The Effects Could Be Terrifying" :.

RADIATION from mobile phones destroys brain cells and may lead to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, research has confirmed.

Scientists have found long exposure to operating handsets destroys cells in areas of the brain important for memory, movement and learning and fear it could cause the premature onset of illnesses usually linked to ageing.


Related coverage: BBC


2/3/2003



Dr. Steven Greer Has Found a Candidate Device :.

Listen to the audio on the site:

Dr. Steven Greer has located what appears to be a suitable energy device that could replace fossil fuels.

And to those of you who like to email me, saying this type of thing is impossible, save it.

Related: Greer's Board of Technical Advisors looks pretty competent.





Bush Floats Biggest Deficit Spending Plan Ever :.

Bush's new spending plan, which will set off months of congressional debate, projects that deficits will hit an all-time high in dollar terms -- $307 billion for the current fiscal year and $304 billion for 2004, with both years surpassing the previous record of $290 billion set by Bush's father in 1992.


2/1/2003



Shuttle :.

When this thing launched, I crossed my fingers, hoping nothing would happen because I knew there was an Israeli on board. I never thought something would happen upon re-entry. Who knows what happened to this thing? None of us ever will, probably. Alex Jones is calling it an obvious PSYOP, but he doesn't have any tangible proof. I'd go as far as to say that it does seem really odd, but that's about it. I have nothing else to go on.

Analysis note from Alex Jones:

Three weeks ago, on my syndicated radio show, I said that there was a very good chance that the globalists would do something horrible concerning the latest Colombia mission. Understand, the psychological warfare technicians do not even need to publicly blame Iraq for the Columbia disaster. It will serve as a distraction in the global press during the final weeks of war preparation in the gulf. It will serve the dual purpose of unifying the country behind President Bush as he grandstands, talking about how horrible the death of the astronauts has been.


Update: Photos Show Odd Images Near Shuttle

A San Francisco amateur astronomer who photographs the space shuttles whenever their orbits carry them over the Bay Area has captured five strange and provocative images of the shuttle Columbia just as it was re-entering the Earth's atmosphere before dawn Saturday.

The pictures, taken with a Nikon 8 camera on a tripod, reveal what appear to be bright electrical phenomena flashing around the track of the shuttle's passage, but the photographer, who asked not to be identified, will not make them public immediately.

"They clearly record an electrical discharge like a lightning bolt flashing past, and I was snapping the pictures almost exactly . . . when the Columbia may have begun breaking up during re-entry," he said.




Google


cryptogon.com
www

:. 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.