[Alex Jones]
Political News, Radio, Ideas, Videos and EventsGround Zero Building Catches Fire, Doesn't Collapse
2007-08-20
The 40 story Deutsche Bank building next to the ground zero site in New York, where the world trade center once stood, caught fire yesterday and burned intensely for seven hours without collapsing
This represents another modern day miracle in light of the commonly accepted premise that since 9/11, all steel buildings that suffer limited fire damage implode within two hours. This building had even suffered structural damage on 9/11 and had been partially dismantled.
The raging fire, which killed two firefighters, was finally declared under control late saturday afternoon, a full seven hours after it had begun to burn.
On 9/11 the south tower of the WTC burned for just 56 minutes before collapsing, while the north tower lasted around an hour and 45 minutes. According to the official transcripts of the firefighter tapes , fires in both towers were almost out immediately before the collapses.
The saving grace that could have prevented Deutsche Bank from imploding may have been the fact that it was not hit by a plane, as the twin towers were on 9/11.
However, the absence of a jet strike wasn't enough to prevent WTC 7 from crumbling into its own footprint within 7 seconds later that fateful afternoon.
Hundreds of buildings worldwide suffered major fires that gutted the entire facade of their structure before 9/11 and did not collapse, but since the twin towers behaved differently, rather than consider an alternative explanation for the collapse of the towers, experts simply decided to reverse the fundamental precepts of all known physics to make it easier for everyone to understand.
Since that time, it has been commonly accepted that limited fires in tall buildings are 99% certain to cause an almost instantaneous collapse.
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Secret Spy Court Orders Bush to Respond to Request for Information on Secret Ruling
2007-08-20
In an unprecedented order, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the Bush Administration to respond to a request it received last week by the American Civil Liberties Union for orders and legal papers discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in the secret wiretapping of Americans, according to an ACLU press release late Friday.
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CPS Corruption
2007-08-19
Alex Jones covering serious CPS corruption April 4, 2007
The Alex Jones Report April 4, 2007Alex discusses how a culture of pedophilia permeates government and branches of social services, why sex predators are enabled to conduct their activities by using the instruments of state, with a spotlight on new cases of abuse in Texas and the U.S. government's attempts to cover it up.
This video has been edited down to 10 minutes.
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Bush Realtime Reaction to Colbert Speech
2007-08-18
Complete Speech
Speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner (2006) p1
Speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner (2006) p2
Speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner (2006) p3
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State of the Union 2007 - Bush Impression
2007-08-18
Written by James Adomian
Directed by David Guy Levy
George W. Bush -- James Adomian
Dick Cheney -- David Hoffman
Nancy Pelosi -- Patty Wortham
Hillary Clinton -- Susan Deming
Barack Obama -- Wyatt Cenac
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Frank Caliendo Bush Impression
2007-08-18
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Is Bush an "Idiot"?
2007-08-18
Video Description
From: batguano
Is the President of the United States, George W. Bush, an idiot? Scarborough Country asks the forbidden question. They look at his inability to speak correctly, not at his inability to lead correctly, however. Of course the real question is, is the Republican Party full of idiots because they nominated the sucker, and continue to blindly follow his crap? Is the US full of idiots, because they elected the sucker and have not begun demanding better until recently?
UPDATE: July 12, 2007. After 11 months this got 10,400 comments, most saying, yes, an idiot he is. Then things got ugly. Rightwing trolls came in with their usual garbage, as well as non-Americans who thought it would be fun to bait them. Then there were those who really did seem to be on the side of promoting harm to the US, as well as the loons with their conspiracy theories (9/11 was an inside job, Israel is behind it all, etc.)
So I shut down the comments, and archived the 2 mb's worth of text.
Ah, peace and quiet. Now all you are left with are your own thoughts, the anger, rants and insane babblings of a YouTube "discussion," and the question, "Is Bush an 'Idiot'?"
I'll reopen discussion with a tearful apology when Bush brings America to glory.
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US National Debt
2007-08-14
The national debt has now passed $8.50 trillion. Thus,the ceiling imposed on the national debt by the Congress has just had to be raised to $8.98 trillion ( numbers updated 8/14/07 ). Because of the Treasury's financial legerdemain, the real number is slightly above this ceiling. Per capita, this is more than $29,645 for every man, woman and child in the United States. Federal taxes in excess of $1,150 per year must be collected for every man, woman and child in the United States simply to pay the interest due on the national debt. Our annual appropriations for virtually all other Federal activities pale in contrast with the line item for Federal debt service.
Since October 1, 2003, the outstanding public debt has been increasing an average of $1.60 billion every day! This increase is almost $18,500 per second. Since 1992, the national debt has doubled! These numbers are mind boggling.
So, how does this affect the owner/manager of the emerging business? In many ways!
First, approximately 17 cents out of every dollar of total tax revenue collected is immediately used merely to pay the burgeoning interest on the Federal debt. This is now surpassing the costs for our entire defense establishment, and it is exceeded only by the revenues needed to fund the total Medicare and Medicaid programs. (Ostensibly, Social Security is funded independently.) We are held hostage by this horrendous debt; 17 cents is the ransom to be paid out of every dollar we must cough up in taxes.
Thus, absolutely no governmental services or benefits are delivered in return for 17 percent of our total Federal tax bill. These are substantial funds that could most prudently be re-invested in the growth of our own business, but must be shoveled out instead simply to service the interest on the Federal debt. These substantial funds are diverted by Government fiat from potentially constructive economic investments in one's own enterprise into barren interest payments to the world of strangers who hold these obligations of the Treasury of the United States.
And secondly, the spending power of our present and potential customers would be increased dramatically if this sterile 17 percent of our total tax bill that is immediately swallowed by interest payments could only be freed for the purchase of goods and services. [Approximately half of all individual income taxes are required to pay the interest on the Federal debt.] While some of the recipients of these interest payments may recycle these funds into the purchase of domestic goods and services from emerging businesses, much of the Federal debt is held by foreigners. A substantial portion of the income of the average family of four is being devoured to pay the interest on this "family debt" equivalent to over $100,000. Thus, the Federal debt is a heavy drag on the economy, impeding job creation and entrepreneurial expansion as well as consumer spending on goods and services.
How does the national debt affect the owner/manager of the emerging business? It drains substantial funds out of the business that could otherwise be invested in job creation and entrepreneurial expansion. And it drains substantial funds out of consumers' pockets that could otherwise be available for the acquisition of goods and services. While it may not be observable, the national debt casts an oppressive pall upon the whole economy. And this burden inevitably impedes the growth and prosperity of the emerging business.
"You can think of the total debt as accumulated deficits plus accumulated off-budget surpluses. The on-budget deficits require the U.S. Treasury to borrow money to raise cash needed to keep the Government operating. We borrow the money by selling securities like Treasury bills, notes, bonds and savings bonds to the public. " - Treasurydirect
"Treasury bills, or T-bills, are sold in terms ranging from a few days to 26 weeks. Bills are sold at a discount from their face value. For instance, you might pay $970 for a $1,000 bill. When the bill matures, you would be paid $1,000. The difference between the purchase price and face value is interest."
So therefore debt is merely created from allowing more people to buy up Treasury Bills which we are required to pay back how much they paid for the bill plus interest. (e.g. I buy a Treasury Bill on 08-16-2007 for $98.93. On 11-15-2007 when that bill matures the government is required to pay me an interest rate of about 4.7% which will come to $100 in total they would pay me). We`ve allowed ourselves to sell off so many of these bonds, notes, and Treasury Bills that we owe about 9 trillion dollars in interest! This is our federal debt.
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Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire
2007-08-12
In this interview from April 15th, 1994, Dick Cheney reveals the reasons why invading Baghdad and toppling Saddam Hussein wouldn't be a great idea. He also stipulates that "not very many" American soldiers' lives were worth losing to take out Saddam during the Gulf War. NOTE: As of 6:17 EDT on Sunday, Aug 12th, YouTube removed this video from the Today lists [ie. most viewed, most discussed, top rated, top favorites].0 Comments | Link to This | Back to top
Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look
2007-08-12
RICHARD LARDNER
AP
Saturday Aug 11, 2007
Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.
"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.
President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.
The repeated deployments affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military, Lute said.
"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all- volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."
The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re- established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.
Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington. Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.
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US prepares to plug hole left by British troops
2007-08-12
Sean Rayment and Philip Sherwell
London Telegraph
Sunday Aug 12, 2007
America is preparing to pour thousands of extra troops into southern Iraq amid fears that Gordon Brown is committed to withdrawing British troops from the region early next year.
The White House and the Pentagon are understood to have drawn up detailed plans to secure the vital "umbilical cord" link road between Baghdad and Kuwait when the British depart.
Washington is also concerned that a British pull-out will leave the border with Iran undefended, as well as undermining US operations at a time when political pressure is mounting for an American withdrawal.
Tensions are understood to have deepened between London and Washington after Mr Brown's recent visit to the US, amid fears the Prime Minister is distancing himself from the Bush regime and its military objectives.
Military chiefs in the US have been "dismayed" by the threat of a unilateral pull-out from southern Iraq by British forces.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that neither the British nor the Americans have a "Plan B" for sending troops back into Iraq if the country descends into chaos when the coalition finally withdraws. One senior source said: "Whether or not we go back in if it all goes horribly wrong is the strategic question to which neither the US nor the British government has an answer."It seems to be lost on the British and American governments that Iraq holds the world's second-largest oil reserves. There is also the nightmare scenario of Iraq becoming an Islamic fundamental state, willing to give succour to groups like al-Qaeda."
Whitehall sources admit that there is a firm consensus among British military chiefs that maintaining a presence in Iraq after the control of Basra passes to the Iraqis in November is "pointless". But while British generals firmly deny that they have been defeated in southern Iraq, there is also an increasing acceptance that the mission is facing "strategic failure" and that the war is a "lost cause".
One senior officer, who has served on operations in Iraq, said: "In terms of intervention operations, the military can never deliver success if the policy is wrong - and in terms of Iraq the policy of intervention was wholly wrong from start to finish."
Gen David Petraeus, the American commander of coalition forces in Iraq, is understood to have held discussions with Lt Gen Graeme Lamb, who until recently was the British deputy commander in Iraq, and Lt Gen Bill Rollo, the present incumbent, over the intentions of the British force after it hands over Basra.
Gen Petraeus will deliver an interim report next month to the Bush administration on the success of his 22,000-strong troop surge in Baghdad. Any suggestion that the plan is working will put pressure on Mr Brown to keep British forces in Iraq.
Ken Pollack, a foreign affairs expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, who returned last month from an eight-day visit to Iraq, dismissed last week the British presence in southern Iraq as "meaningless". He said: "I am assuming the British will no longer be [in southern Iraq]. They are not there now. We have a battle group holed up in Basra airport. I do not see what good that does except for flying people in and out. It's the wild, wild west. Basra is out of control."
John Pike, the director of globalsecurity.org, an American defence think-tank, said the 300-mile stretch of Route Tampa that runs from Baghdad to Kuwait was a crucial lifeline for US military operations. "It's the umbilical cord that connects the war in Iraq to the rest of the world," he said. "It will have to be secured."
About 2,000 trucks a day travel down the highway in high-security convoys, carrying more than 90 per cent of the food, water, ammunition and equipment for the 161,000-strong US force. The route remains a key target for insurgents and just last week two British soldiers were killed on it while providing security for a convoy.
Patrick Mercer, a former Army commander and Tory MP, added: "Whatever withdrawal timescale we adopt, we have got to understand that our commitment to Iraq is not over. We've got to face the prospect that the situation in Iraq could get worse. The question is what are our plans and responsibilities to a county whose problems we have contributed to rather than solved."
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Diebold Optical-Scan System Fails in Iowa GOP Straw Poll!
2007-08-12
Ron Paul Supporters Were Right to be Worried About Republican's Choice of Diebold to Tally Votes...
John Gideon
VotersUnite.org
Sunday Aug 12, 2007
As we reported on July 15, Ron Paul's supporters were concerned that Diebold touch-screen voting machines were going to be used in the Iowa Republican Straw Poll. Well, it turns out the concerns about touch-screens were misplaced, as the GOP chose paper-based Diebold optical-scan machines instead. But their fears of Diebold may well have been justified as two of their op-scan systems failed and delayed the reported results.
While GOP candidate Mitt Romney may have walked away with a winning edge in the Iowa Straw Poll, Diebold was true to form as their voting system failed to count ballots correctly. As the Des Moines Register is reporting two of Diebold's optical scanners failed and 1500 paper ballots had to be manually recounted by hand...
Voting machine difficulties delayed the announcement of the vote totals. About 1,500 ballots needed to be recounted, said Mary Tiffany, a spokeswoman for Republican Party of Iowa.
Two machines caused the problem, said State Auditor David Vaudt. "What likely happened is someone submitted their ballot too quickly after the other," he said. The ballots from those machines were hand counted, then re-fed into the system to recalculate the vote. A campaign poll-watcher said in one instance, a black box contained 500 paper ballots but the machine's memory said it had scanned in 498.
At least there were paper ballots that could be hand counted when the machines failed. Had the Republican's used Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines --- as millions of Americans are forced to do each Election Day --- there would have been nothing to go back to when the machines failed.
UPDATE: The Atlantic is reporting the number of ballots which had to be "re-run" as 4500.
Either way, there were reportedly 14,203 total ballots cast. So going by the Des Moines Register's reported numbers, more than 10.5% of the ballots had to be recounted. If we go by The Atlantic's reported numbers, nearly 32% of the ballots in the Iowa Republican Straw Poll had to be recounted by hand.
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Ron Paul Quietly Converting GOP Believers
2007-08-12
The Street.com | August 9, 2007
John Fout
Why haven't conservatives leaders embraced their own ideals and come out to support Ron Paul in public?
I pondered this issue in an article in June. I saw Paul as the one second-tier candidate who might have a chance of a breakout from the pack. It turns out I might have got it right. He has remained the most popular GOP candidate on the Internet. This genuine outpouring of support is rivaled only by that for Barack Obama.
Paul remains low in the polls, but his fund-raising suggests he has moved into a separate tier not shared by other small candidates. His campaign has $2.4 million on hand -- more than that of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). I spoke with Jesse Benton, Paul's communications director, and he says funding continues to be positive for this quarter.
The other second-tier GOP candidates need to do well in the Iowa Ames Straw Poll to stay in the race. Paul does not. His money and popularity over the Internet have separated him from the others.
Paul's campaign recently scheduled several last-minute events in South Carolina with a few days notice. They drew 450 people at one and over 1,000 at another. Front-runner Rudy Giuliani would love to draw those kinds of crowds.
So Paul has gotten support. Sometimes, his supporters don't always agree. A recent New York Times Magazine piece excerpted the following from a supporter's letter to Paul headquarters:
We're in a difficult position of working on a campaign that draws supporters from laterally opposing points of view, and we have the added bonus of attracting every wacko fringe group in the country. And in a Ron Paul Meetup many people will consider each other "wackos" for their beliefs whether that is simply because they're liberal, conspiracy theorists, neo-Nazis, evangelical Christian, etc. ... We absolutely must focus on Ron's message only and put aside all other agendas, which anyone can save for the next "Star Trek" convention or whatever.
The New York Times piece, nevertheless, demonstrates that Paul's support is genuine.
Then, the National Review Online jumped into the Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) debate last week. It seems that NRO feels conflicted about supporting Paul for president, as do many conservatives.
First, John Derbyshire wrote glowingly about all of the conservative credentials of Paul. Derbyshire's final conclusion, however, was that he could not embrace his own dreams and ideals:
Ain't gonna happen. It was, after all, a conservative who said that politics is the art of the possible. Ron Paul is not possible. His candidacy belongs to the realm of dreams, not practical politics. But, oh, what sweet dreams!
Then Todd Seavey came to Paul's defense a day later. He sees Paul as the perfect fusion candidate to bring together the fiscal and social conservatives:
Presto! The much-lamented divide between social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, which has seemed to be widening lately, is eliminated. As has oft been said, Republicans tend to fare best when they pursue the program (pioneered by National Review and praised last year by Ryan Sager in his book Elephant in the Room) called "fusionism," yoking together social conservatism and the libertarian desire to shrink government.
Paul's positions are also genuine. He has a very consistent voting record, so much so that it occasionally puts him in hot water in his own district. But his ability to stay on message will get him support from an important corner of the Republican Party -- the evangelicals.
The evangelicals in the GOP have experienced fatigue over the last few years. They have heard quite a few promises from Washington but have had precious few real victories to celebrate. How long can they put up with the pandering from the top tier candidates like Giuliani (pro-choice), Mitt Romney (a flip-flopper), and Fred Thompson (a lobbyist).
Paul has always been pro-life. He was also an original supporter of Ronald Reagan in 1976 against Gerald Ford. But you won't hear him discussing his views on religion in public. He's a firm believer in the Constitution and the separation between church and state.
So what is stopping conservatives from coming out and supporting Ron Paul in public? I return to Derbyshire's piece:
If Washington, D.C. were the drowsy southern town that Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge rode into, Ron Paul would have a chance. Washington's not like that nowadays, though. It is a vast megalopolis, every nook and cranny stuffed with lobbyists, lawyers, and a hundred thousand species of tax-eater.
Derbyshire basically admits to all of the foibles that have damaged the Republicans over the last seven years -- the lobbyists and scandals. Conservatives have gone from a party of ideals to a party of money, power brokering and winning at all costs.
Unfortunately for the GOP, it has caught up with them. They lost soundly in 2006 and may well repeat it in 2008. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) didn't help their cause last week with another ethics scandal. He's also the senator responsible for an earmark for the "bridge to nowhere."
So why not take a chance on Ron Paul? Even if you can't win, at least conservatives would feel good that they did the right thing by cleaning house. Besides, the last time a conservative got drubbed in a presidential election was Barry Goldwater in 1964. His loss did lead conservatives to their greatest win -- Ronald Reagan.
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Homeland Security To Covertly Scan Behavior
2007-08-10
Minority Report technology to analyze behaviour and physiology and determine Whether you are a terrorist or not Infowars.net | August 9, 2007
Steve Watson
The United States Department of Homeland Security is to install a host of new technology to covertly scan the behaviour and emotions of American citizens in an effort to prevent terrorism according to an upcoming article in the New Scientist.
Scientists and engineers have been asked to devise ways of analysing people's behaviour and physiology from afar, in the hope they may reveal clues about their mental state and even their future intentions, reports the London Guardian .
A program named Project Hostile Intent (PHI) is aiming by 2010 to develop technology that can scan the bodily functions of citizens without them knowing and uncover any possible hostile intent or deception.
Testimony by the American Psychological Association ( PDF link ) states that "Project Hostile Intent aims to detect and model the behavioral cues that indicate an individual's intent to carry out acts of terrorism." The testimony continues:
The cues examined in PHI are those that can be assessed remotely and in real time, and the procedures and technologies required to collect these cues are non-invasive and amenable to integration into busy operational contexts.
In other words the technology will be covertly placed in public and will operate just like CCTV, with DHS officials able to remotely access it and apply its use to anyone in the area.
The DHS offers a further brief explanation of Project Hostile Intent here .
The Guardian reports that the DHS has revealed to New Scientist that technology to be used for PHI includes lasers, cameras, eye trackers, microphones and heart rate and breathing sensors. The DHS has also stated that it wishes to develop a lie detector-type test that can be used remotely which is described as "an advantage because it would not interfere with the flow of a crowd and it could be used without the target's knowledge."
The report also states that the Project represents an enhancement of technology already in use to scan faces in crowds, details of which we have previously covered .
Infowars has posted hundreds of articles over the years detailing the involvement of DARPA and the Defense Department in mandating that the States adopt uniform biometrics on state licenses and ID cards, RFID tracker chips to replace the bar-code, and cameras that recognize individuals by their faces, walk, vehicle type or license plate number. Now the DHS is taking America all the way down the line towards the big brother state.
Peter McOwan, a computer scientist who is developing sensors to detect people's moods at Queen Mary, University of London, told the Guardian: "It's just like something from Minority Report. They have been watching too many Tom Cruise movies."
Indeed, the use of this technology for crime prevention and social control is beyond anything Orwell predicted, and is directly lifted from Phillip K Dick's Minority Report, which was recently made into a feature film. See below:
Is this the kind of society we want to live in? Clearly not. Is there even a debate about that?
Once again however, those detached from any kind of moral reality will say "If you've got nothing to hide then what is the problem with being scanned for pre-crime? If it keeps us all safe from terrorists I'm all for it". How far towards a literal technological police state can America slip before its people wake up to the fact?
We have also previously covered reports out of Britain that detail how teams of neuroscientists have developed technology that allowing them to look deep inside a person's brain and read their intentions before they act.
The technology is no longer science fiction. The London Guardian report on the developments earlier this year debated whether a 'Minority Report' era, where judgments are handed down before the law is broken on the strength of an incriminating brain scan, is ethical or not.
And what will be the punishment for pre-crime? With moves to "chemically castrate" sex offenders by eliminating their sexual desires, seriously being considered now, how far fetched is it to imagine a future thought criminal's brain being "corrected" by eliminating the relevant desires or emotions picked up by a brain scan?
It is not beyond reason to expect this technology to be implemented without debate. Can anyone remember a real meaningful debate occurring concerning surveillance cameras before four million of them went up in London?
We have also previously reported on documents leaked from the Home Office in London revealing that the British government is looking into using X-ray technology cameras by concealing them in lamp posts to "trap terror suspects".
With the Bush administration's new ability to implement any surveillance programs it now wishes without oversight, and rabid neocon lapdogs calling for the heads of anyone who questions them, a pandora's box has been opened that threatens to turn America into a big brother panopticon state.
So get it straight, you are helping the terrorists by resisting having your behaviour scanned. Plus, if you have anti-big brother government feelings Project Hostile Intent will certainly expose you for he terrorist you are.
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Cheney urging strikes on Iran
2007-08-10
McClatchy Newspapers | August 10, 2007Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef
President Bush charged Thursday that Iran continues to arm and train insurgents who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and he threatened action if that continues.
At a news conference Thursday, Bush said Iran had been warned of unspecified consequences if it continued its alleged support for anti-American forces in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker had conveyed the warning in meetings with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, the president said.
Bush wasn't specific, and a State Department official refused to elaborate on the warning.
Behind the scenes, however, the president's top aides have been engaged in an intensive internal debate over how to respond to Iran's support for Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq and its nuclear program. Vice President Dick Cheney several weeks ago proposed launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iraq run by the Quds force, a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to two U.S. officials who are involved in Iran policy.
The debate has been accompanied by a growing drumbeat of allegations about Iranian meddling in Iraq from U.S. military officers, administration officials and administration allies outside government and in the news media. It isn't clear whether the media campaign is intended to build support for limited military action against Iran, to pressure the Iranians to curb their support for Shiite groups in Iraq or both.
Nor is it clear from the evidence the administration has presented whether Iran, which has long-standing ties to several Iraqi Shiite groups, including the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr and the Badr Organization, which is allied with the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, is a major cause of the anti-American and sectarian violence in Iraq or merely one of many. At other times, administration officials have blamed the Sunni Muslim group al Qaida in Iraq for much of the violence.
For now, however, the president appears to have settled on a policy of stepped-up military operations in Iraq aimed at the suspected Iranian networks there, combined with direct American-Iranian talks in Baghdad to try to persuade Tehran to halt its alleged meddling.
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Security firms working on devices to spot would-be terrorists in crowd
2007-08-10
London Guardian | August 9, 2007
Ian Sample
Counter-terrorism experts have drawn up plans to develop an array of advanced technologies capable of spotting would-be terrorists in a crowd before they have time to strike.
Scientists and engineers have been asked to devise ways of analysing people's behaviour and physiology from afar, in the hope they may reveal clues about their mental state and even their future intentions.
Under Project Hostile Intent, scientists will aim to build devices that can pick up tell-tale signs of hostile intent or deception from people's heart rates, perspiration and tiny shifts in facial expressions.
The project was launched by the US department of homeland security with a call to security companies and government laboratories for assistance.
According to the timetable set out, the new devices are expected to be trialled at a handful of airports, borders and ports of entry by 2012.
The plans describe how systems based on video cameras, laserlight, infra-red, audio recordings and eye tracking technology are expected to scour crowds looking for unusual behaviour, with the aim of identifying people who should be approached and quizzed by security staff, New Scientist magazine reports.
The project hopes to advance a security system already employed by the US transportation security administration that monitors people for unintentional facial twitches, called "micro-expressions", that can suggest someone is lying or trying to conceal information.
Studies by Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, have revealed that involuntary expressions can often betray someone's true intentions. If you flash your teeth, lower your eyebrows and wrinkle your nose for a fraction of a second while trying to smile, you have just demonstrated the micro-expression for disgust.
A major hurdle will be developing technology that can make correct decisions quickly. "Right now, screeners have typically less than one minute to examine a traveller's documents and assess whether they are a threat," said Larry Orluskie, of the department of homeland security.
The project is also expected to investigate developing a lie detector-type test that can be used remotely - an advantage because it would not interfere with the flow of a crowd and it could be used without the target's knowledge.
Experts yesterday were sceptical that today's technology will be able to predict hostile intent accurately enough to be useful. Dr Ekman said a terrorist might confound security measures by showing a range of expressions from fear of being caught to distress at the possibility of dying. "I don't know. No one knows," he told New Scientist.
Anthony Richards, a counter-terrorism expert at St Andrews University who has worked on Britain's ability to pre-empt a major terrorist attack, agreed that the project faced substantial hurdles.
"There could be all kinds of reasons that might make people behave in certain ways that have nothing to do with terrorism. If you have heightened security and there are a lot of police around, it could be possible that you can feel and look guilty even when you haven't done anything wrong.
"We need to reduce the motivation for people doing these kinds of things. We shouldn't just accept that terrorism will remain as it is or worsen over the next 20 or 30 years and then just put all the technological solutions in place. Technology is certainly important in the fight against terrorism but that shouldn't detract from the crucially important challenge of finding out what is driving terrorism. We need to have a sensible and honest appraisal as to what is radicalising young people."
Peter McOwan, a computer scientist who is developing sensors to detect people's moods at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "It's just like something from Minority Report. They have been watching too many Tom Cruise movies."
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China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales
2007-08-10
The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.
Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.
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9/11 Commission Ignored Firefighter's Account of Explosions Inside WTC
2007-08-10
Schroeder's compelling testimony contradicts official story at every turnPrison Planet | August 9, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson
Astounding and compelling testimony from a brave 9/11 firefighter that was ignored by the 9/11 Commission has added further weight to the already overwhelming evidence that the twin towers were brought down by means of explosives.
Firefighter John Schroeder, assigned to Engine Company 10 directly across the street from the World Trade Center complex, holds back tears and describes his first-hand experience on Sept. 11th in an emotive interview with We Are Change and Loose Change .
Much of Schroeder's testimony directly contradicts the official story and the 9/11 Commission, to which he spoke but was ignored.
Watch the video.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Schroeder's testimony is his recollection that there was a distinct gap between the plane striking the north tower and the elevators exploding.
"We're standing there in the lobby....all of a sudden we hear (explosion noise) and the elevators exploded like something out of a Bruce Willis Die Hard movie," said Schroeder.
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Investigators Probe Whether Government Lab Deliberately Released Virus
2007-08-09
Foot and mouth outbreak another act of biological terrorism against British farming community?
Prison Planet | August 8, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson
Investigators are seriously probing whether a British government lab and an American pharmaceutical company colluded to deliberately release the foot and mouth virus in an act of biological terrorism against the farming community.
The source of the recent foot and mouth outbreak is highly suspected to have originated from the government's Pirbright research facility, which is shared by American vaccine maker Merial Animal Health.
Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported that the release of the virus came after an "international drill" last month that was held at Pirbright Laboratory, in which live virus was used. Real attacks are always shadowed by drills to provide culpable deniability.
"A PROBE into Britain's new foot and mouth disease outbreak has focused on whether staff at an animal vaccine firm may have spread the virus, possibly deliberately ," reports the Herald Sun .
"A preliminary report into the outbreak said yesterday it was a "real possibility'' that human movement spread the disease to two nearby farms, with Merial coming increasingly under suspicion."
The motive of Merial Animal Health Limited is clear - providing they remained undetected as having been the culprits for the outbreak - another mass foot and mouth scare would result in record purchases of their vaccine from panic stricken farmers across the country.
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Fox News Uncovers Ron Paul's Most Shocking Skeleton in the Closet
2007-08-09
Desperate debunkers resort to attacking Congressman on amount of money he requests for shrimp research, while Giuliani's rampant corruption is ignored Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet | August 7, 2007
Fox News are so desperate to dig up any dirt on Ron Paul, that one of their flagship shows last night resorted to attacking him over the amount of federal funding he requested for shrimp research.
Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul - who is campaigning as a critic of congressional overspending - has revealed that he is requesting $400 million worth of earmarks this year," reported the Brit Hume show.
The Wall Street Journal reports Paul's office says those requests include $8 million for the marketing of wild American shrimp and $2.3 million to pay for research into shrimp fishing.
A spokesman says, "Reducing earmarks does not reduce government spending, and it does not prohibit spending upon those things that are earmarked. What people who push earmark reform are doing is they are particularly misleading the public - and I have to presume it's not by accident."
The Texas Lone Star Times also ran with the shrimp hit piece, which originated with an article in the Wall Street Journal.
- Read more here: http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/070807_rp_skeleton.html
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Change Confronts Mayor Bloomberg on Subway
2007-08-09
Mike Knarr / WeAreChange.org News | August 6, 2007
Related: Revised Rules Coming on Filmmaking and Photography, After Uproar
Related: Bloomberg Confronted as Camera Ban Set for Enforcement
Related: Protesters Turn Lens on Mayor's Office Over NY Film Ban
Bloomberg Takes the Ride of His Life.
Mayor Bloomberg takes the subway periodically, about once a month according to his staff, so that he can be with the people. Unfortunately he picked the day when WeAreChange.org and Infowars.com reporters were outside City Hall. The ride lasted about 15 minutes and Luke, Tom, Nate and several other concerned citizens used every minute to bring up questions from parking tickets to 9/11.
Luke started in with an attack on the Ground Zero Memorial. Why are you disrespecting the family members by moving the memorial off the grounds of the World Trade Center? Read a great article about this and the massive money spent by Pataki and Bloomberg after 9/11 here by Debra Burlingame. www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008478
Debra Burlingame is the sister of Captain Charles "Chic" Burlingame, III, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He participated in the very pentagon drill which envisioned just such an attack and his daughter Wendy died under mysterious circumstances in a fire later. It's all just a coincidence.
Luke moved on by adding that 45% of the remains have not been found, why do you want to build on holy ground? By the way family members this year are just asking to go down the ramp but Bloomberg said in an earlier interview ,"It doesn't work. And you know we just have to get used to the fact that there's a lot of construction going on there." I guess everyone is supposed to move on and stop bugging the government about trivial issues like this. Why are you ignoring the rescue workers who are sick and dieing? How did building 7 come down? The EPAs lies are causing the deaths of thousands of first responders. Still no response from the Mayor.
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Police Seize Cameras, Arrest Photographers and Solicit Information on Other Media at Anti-War Protest
2007-08-09
Aaron Dykes / JonesReport.com | August 7, 2007
Fairport, NY - Police arrested three anti-war demonstrators for allegedly trespassing at the privately-owned district office of Congressman Randy Kuhl (R - NY), apparently on the orders of Welker Property Management, the landlords. Two of the three arrested were carrying signs related to "9/11 Truth," including Wendy Painting, one of those arrested, who is a member of "Rochester 9/11 Truth" and an Indymedia reporter.
Painting says all of those arrested were press members. She says that police confiscated her camera and later used its conditional return as incentive to provide information about other cameramen at the event.
"I was told that if I identified the other people taking pictures, I would be allowed to keep my camera."
Read more here: Jonesreport.com
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The Timeline to Tyranny
2007-08-09
Ten advances towards the end of freedom and privacy in the United States
Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet | August 7, 2007
The top ten advances towards tyranny in the United States during the tenure of the Bush administration, from the Patriot Act to the latest expansion of the illegal eavesdropping surveillance program.
1) The USA Patriot Act
The party line often heard from Neo-Cons in their attempts to defend the Patriot Act either circulate around the contention that the use of the Patriot Act has never been abused or that it isn't being used against American citizens. Here is an archive of articles that disproves both of these fallacies.
The Patriot Act was the boiler plate from which all subsequent attacks on the Constitution were formed.
2) Total Information Awareness
"Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend - all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database," infamously wrote New York Times writer William Safire, announcing the birth of Total Information Awareness, a kind of Echelon on steroids introduced a year after 9/11.
TIA was not canned, it was simply removed from the newspaper, renamed and continues to operate under a guise of different programs.
3) USA Patriot Act II
The second Patriot Act was a mirror image of powers that Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler gave themselves. Whereas the First Patriot Act only gutted the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and seriously damaged the Seventh and the Tenth, the Second Patriot Act reorganized the entire Federal government as well as many areas of state government under the dictatorial control of the Justice Department, the Office of Homeland Security and the FEMA NORTHCOM military command.
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as the Second Patriot Act is by its very structure the definition of dictatorship.
4. Military Commissions Act
Slamming the final nail in the coffin of everything America used to stand for, the boot-licking U.S. Senate gave President Bush the legal authority to abduct and sexually mutilate American citizens and American children in the name of the war on terror in passing the Military Commissions Act and officially ending Habeas Corpus.
There is nothing in the "detainee" legislation that protects American citizens from being kidnapped by their own government and tortured.
The New York Times stated that the legislation introduced, "A dangerously broad definition of "illegal enemy combatant" in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted."
Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times, "The compromise legislation....authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."
Similarly, law Professor Marty Lederman explains: "this [subsection (ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to 'hostilities' at all."
5. John Warner Defense Authorization Act
The Bush Junta quietly "tooled up" to utilize the U.S. military in engaging American dissidents after the next big crisis, with a frightening and overlooked piece of legislation that was passed alongside the Military Commissions Act, the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, which greased the skids for armed confrontation and abolishes posse comitatus.
6. Illegal Domestic Wiretapping Program
"Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials," reported the New York Times on December 16, 2005
The secret warrantless spying program was a complete violation of both the 4th Amendment and FISA.
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7. Expansion of Illegal Domestic Wiretapping Program
Not content with now being lawfully allowed to force ISP's and cell phone companies to turn over data about customers without a warrant, the Bush administration is pushing for even more authority to spy on American citizens, and has already been handed a 6 month window within which to impose any surveillance policy it likes, and for that program to remain legal in perpetuity.
The administration has a 6 month window in which to impose any surveillance program it chooses and that program will go unchallenged and remain legally binding in perpetuity - it cannot be revoked. Under the definitions of the legislation, Bush has been granted absolute dictator status for a minimum of 6 months.
If he so chooses, and so long as it's implemented within the next half year, Bush could build a database of every website visited by every American - and the policy would be immune from Congressional challenge even after the "surveillance gap" legislation reaches its sunset
8. Martial Law Presidential Decision Directive 51
New legislation signed on May 9, 2007, declares that in the event of a "catastrophic event", the President can take total control over the government and the country, bypassing all other levels of government at the state, federal, local, territorial and tribal levels, and thus ensuring total unprecedented dictatorial power.
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which also places the Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of domestic "security", was signed earlier this month without the approval or oversight of Congress and seemingly supercedes the National Emergency Act which allows the president to declare a national emergency but also requires that Congress have the authority to "modify, rescind, or render dormant" such emergency authority if it believes the president has acted inappropriately.
9. Destruction of the Dollar
Former World Bank Vice President, Chief Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz has predicted a global economic crash within 24 months - unless the current downturn is successfully managed. Asked if the situation was being properly handled Stiglitz emphatically responded "no,".
Stiglitz caused controversy in October 2001 when he exposed rampant corruption within the IMF and blew the whistle on their nefarious methods of inducing countries to fall under their debt before stripping them of sovereignty and hollowing out their economies. Stiglitz agreed that the process of hijacking and looting key infrastructure on the part of the IMF and World Bank, as an offshoot of predatory globalization, had now moved from the third world to Europe, the United States and Canada.
10. Amnesty & The North American Union
The open plan to merge the US with Mexico and Canada and create a Pan American Union has long been a Globalist brainchild but its very real and prescient implementation on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations has finally been reported on by mainstream news outlets.
The framework on which the American Union is being pegged is the NAFTA Super Highway, a four football-fields-wide leviathan that stretches from southern Mexico through the US up to Montreal Canada .Coupled with Bush's blanket amnesty program, the Pan American Union is the final jigsaw piece for the total dismantling of America as we know it.
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For an explanation of the timeline to tyranny in a wider context, click here to listen to Alex Jones' rant on the subject.
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A Moment of Pause in the Life of New York's Police State
2007-08-05
Mini-feature Police State & Critical Mass in New York peers into the reality of daily conditioning on the city's streets and examines the casual disposal of Constitutional rights by NYPD officers everywhere as the theoretical light of an ideal New York has dimmed and, surely, freedom with it
Aaron Dykes / JonesReport.com | August 3, 2007
Awake in a nightmare of arbitrary law, total control, corralling on the streets. A woman cries out "but I ride my bike all the time" as she is dragged away and handcuffed. A high-level police officer barks into a megaphone a repeatedly, droning "Heads up, heads up, heads up, heads up, heads up for traffic." Then faster, moving along a few stragglers, "Heads-up, heads-up, heads-up--"
| "We will arrest as many as we can," police tell cameras. |
"Keep moving." "Don't go past this line." Police everywhere shoving on people, dragging others off to be arrested. Demands for identification. 'What have I done?' Police tell cameras they will "arrest as many as we can We."
The whole of this picture is a reality in New York, down any street, on any given day, around the next corner and standing in the way. Gone is the cultural metropolis its name was known by.
Police State & Critical Mass in New York
A vast departure from the New York once emblematic of the guaranteed freedoms and unprecedented opportunity available in the land of America that activist reporters from WeAreChange.org captured in cinematic strides, juxtaposing the hopeful life of music, food, drinks, music and city life with the harsh, grinding rhythm of police control, crowd management, check points, random (illegal) searches and other routine, systematic violations of the Constitution.
Police State & Critical Mass in New York makes a case-study out of the state of "security" as it has solidified since the "terrorist" attacks that took place nearly six years ago. Absent is almost any sense of freedom as police surround a peaceful congregation of bicyclists known as "Critical Mass" who tour through the city. Police regarded them as a quasi-demonstration and ensued ticketing, arresting and harassing any and all of them on no pretense at all.
Amongst the chaotic swirl of the bikes, cars and people are claustrophobic pedestrian walkways lined with officers shouting at cameras while captured and detained cyclists wait on the curb, some in handcuffs.
Down the way, another cyclist explains how police forced him into the middle of the road for the sole purpose of ticketing him. Clearly others on bikes were simply going from point-to-point, and not affiliated with the quasi-demonstration yet were ticketed and arrested. A man is cuffed and taken away without cause after speaking through a cardboard-megaphone things like "Grow up, Read the Constitution."
But the officers have "orders to clear the block," and everyone must obey. Only someone yells back,
"What's next? Put us in pens?"
"What's next? Put us in railroad cars?"
"What's next?"
The director's description, from Google Video:
WeAreChange.org attends a Critical Mass gathering in New York City during the summer. Critical Mass started in 1992 in San Francisco as an ... all » organized event to promote bicycle transportation but has evolved over the years as a loose gathering of people who enjoy biking, roller blading and other means of alternative transportation. Throughout the years a central and time have been established in cities around the world and therefore there is no need for an organizer. Since 2006 the mainstream press has attempted to define Critical Mass as a "demonstration". They also call it "monthly political-protest rides" despite the absence of signs or speeches.
Police have been frustrated by the fact that there is no organization to force permits and fees upon. To combat this the city has passed laws requiring a Parade Permit for over 50 riders. They then just start pulling people over and if they can't get them on bike laws, such as required lights and helmets, they move on to intimidating them. The weakest tend to get fined or arrested and the ones that stand up for their rights tend to walk.
In this video you will see several travesties of justice. A gentleman appears dressed as a preacher and brings a cheerleader megaphone to remind the police of the constitution. He is arrested, even though he breaks no law including the new sound amplification laws that require a permit for bullhorns. Pedestrians are allowed to walk freely around the area and on sidewalks however people with cameras are not.
Police refuse to give badge numbers. Police move camera people away from areas where arrests are being performed. Police state that simply standing on the sidewalk filming is "dangerous" as a reason to get them to leave. Police video anyone filming events as a means of intimidation. Police state that lining up police vans and scooter patrols as well as bringing captains and other suits to the scene ahead of time is not meant to intimidate people. Incidentally, we saw no gatherings of over 50 at any time in one place on the streets.
Perhaps there should be a law that requires the police to obtain permission for 50 or more of them to assemble without a reason!
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Reporters Booted Out of Michelle Obama Event
2007-08-04
JonesReport.com | August 3, 2007
Reporters from WeAreChange Seattle were asked to leave a Michelle Obama event after being told that no press was allowed. Based on the video, it had less to do with a media policy and more to do with being handled by protective staff.
WeAreChange briefly caught the wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama outside after the event while holding signs that read "9/11 Truth Seeking Leads to Peace," an appeal to the shared anti-war sentiment with many Democrats and liberals.
The group asked Michelle if she would support a new 9/11 investigation. She didn't respond, but did accept a flyer titled "9/11 Fact Sheet."
CLICK ON THE BANNER TO BUY TERRORSTORM IN
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