The 280 members of the New York National Guard's Joint Task Force Empire Shield will be on duty New Years Eve assisting police in security missions here.
National Guard Soldiers and Airmen will be visible at Grand Central Station, Pennsylvania Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport. Guardsmen will also be on duty at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
Joint Task Force Empire Shield members serve on State Active Duty under the command of New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.
"Members of Joint Task Force Empire Shield are proud to play a pivotal role in keeping their fellow New Yorkers and our guests from around the world safe and secure this holiday weekend," said Maj. Gen. Patrick Murphy, the adjutant general of New York.
More...
Saturday, December 31, 2011
NY Guard prepares for New Year's Eve duty
U.S. Abandons Toxic Burn Pits as it Withdraws from Iraq and Afghanistan
From Matthew J. Nasuti, KabulPress.org:
U.S. service members and their Iraqi and Afghan allies have a common enemy. It is not Iran, the Taliban or al-Qaeda, but the Pentagon which operated hundreds of toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the U.S. completes its withdrawal from Iraq and begins to draw down in Afghanistan, the American military, pursuant to its "pollute and run" policy, is abandoning millions of kilograms of toxic and potentially radioactive waste. Everything is being buried and covered over, just as it did in Vietnam and in the Philippines when the U.S. withdrew from Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay naval installation. The Pentagon seems to hope that all the health problems of U.S. troops can likewise be buried and covered over.
The (U.S.) Air Force Times ran an editorial on March 1, 2010 that read: "Stamp Out Burn Pits." We reprint the first portion of that editorial:
"A growing number of military medical professionals believe burn pits are causing a wave of respiratory and other illnesses among troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Found on almost all U.S. bases in the war zones, these open-air trash sites operate 24 hours a day, incinerating trash of all forms - including plastic bottles, paint, petroleum products, unexploded ordinance, hazardous materials, even amputated limbs and medical waste. Their smoke plumes belch dioxin, carbon monoxide and other toxins skyward, producing a toxic fog that hangs over living and working areas."
On April 12, 2010, the Richmond Times-Dispatch carried an article by David Zucchino who investigated the American burn pits in Iraq. He interviewed Army Sgt. 1st Class Francis Jaeger who hauled military waste to the Balad burn. Jaeger told Zucchino:
"We were told to burn everything - electronics, bloody gauze, the medics' biohazard bags, surgical gloves, cardboard. It all went up in smoke."According to a website called the "Burn Pits Action Center" large numbers of American veterans who came in contact with burn pit smoke have been diagnosed with cancer, neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, breathing and sleeping problems and various skin rashes.
More...
US Occupy protests 'could intensify'
Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University in New York, spoke to Al Jazeera about the Occupy protest movement in the US.
He said that the movement reflected "anger at the impunity with which the wealthy walked away from the consequences of having brought down the world economy."
"It is anger at a system of inequality that has been entrenched and normal. There is a collective wish for a system that is more humane."
He also said he expects Occupy protests to intensify in 2012.
"I think well see more attempts to take over buildings that have been foreclosed. We will also see protests directed at specific banks, at specific political candidates."
FOURREEL.tv x Occupy NY. Trailer
FOURREEL.tv x Occupy NY. Trailer from FOURREEL.tv on Vimeo.
FOURREEL.tv presents Occupy NY. Coming January 2012.
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CIA sifts social media sites
More and more people put their lives on social media sites worldwide. Globally Facebook and Twitter have been effective tools for organizing major protests and overthrowing governments. Now members of the CIA department are paid to analyze what people are talking about on social media. This leaves many wondering about the intentions behind this practice. Wayne Madsen, an investigative journalist, gives us his thoughts on why the CIA is concerned with your tweets.
Anonymous: #OpBlackout - DAY OF ACTION 1/3/2012
This message is an immediate call to a day of action against SOPA, NDAA, and the United States Government.
TRANSCRIPT
____________
Citizens of the United States,
We are Anonymous.
This message is an immediate call for a day of action. On January 3rd, the collective is calling upon the citizens of the united states to protest against the new sections in the national defense authorization act that were passed a short while ago. While we cannot force the american people to protest, we must tell them that this law will strip away any rights they thought they had including, but not limited to, Free speech, Free press, Free access to information, and the right to protest, assemble, and bear arms. This law cannot be changed according to the Feinstein Act.
Sections Ten thirty one and ten thirty two of the national defense authorization act have been passed and ratified. It grants unlimited powers to the executive branch of the government to indefinitly detain suspects, even American citizens, without trial. All a person has to do is to commit a belligerent act.
What is a belligerent act? Is protesting a belligerent act? Is being Anonymous a belligerent act?
This is where we draw the line. This is when we leave our computers. This is when we take out our masks and defy the corrupt rule of law.
This is when we revolt.
The time has come for you to accept the truth and join us in overthrowing yet another corrupt military regime.
Operation Blackout, engaged.
We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
we do not Forgive.
we do not Forget.
To the United States government, you should've expected us.
Venezuela's Chavez: Did U.S. give Latin American leaders cancer?
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease.
It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud.
"It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... I don't know. I'm just reflecting," he said in a televised speech to troops at a military base.
"But this is very, very, very strange ... it's a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities."
Chavez, Fernandez, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been diagnosed recently with cancer. All of them are leftists.
More...
Cyprus Natural Gas Discovery and Nostradamus' Quatrains
From Noble Announces Natural-Gas Discovery Off Coast of Cyprus:
Noble Energy Inc. said a field off the coast of Cyprus may hold as much as 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the first discovery off the divided island nation.
Results from the Cyprus A-1 well indicate from 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, with a gross mean of 7 trillion cubic feet, Houston-based Noble Energy said today in a statement. The field covers about 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) and requires additional appraisal drilling before development, the company said.
From The Aegean Sea - March 11, 2012:
In the original text, the link between a powerful Arab and Spain is clearly made. After March 11, 2004, this poem becomes an invitation to find out if Nostradamus had something to say in his hidden text about the Madrid bombings:
(édition de novembre 1557)
| De la felice Arabie contrade, Naistra puissant de loy Mahometique: Vexer l'Espaigne conquester la Grenade, Et plus par mer à la gent lygustique. | La férocité de ce Ben Laden ira tant loin le Onze Mars MMIU : il atacque la Grande Espaigne, oncques la Mer Égée qui a eu le rude Atome Huit Ans après. |
In approximate English, with italics marking words no longer used or spelled thus: 'The ferociousness of this Ben Laden shall go very far on the Eleventh of March MMIU: he attacks Great Spain, never the Aegean Sea which had the rude Atom Eight Years afterwards.'
Although I was expecting Nostradamus to use the 2004 event as a warning to the Greeks for the 2012 event, I was not expecting him to link Ben Laden with the Aegean Sea event, as Ben Laden has absolutely nothing to do with it. But Nostradamus is clever in more ways than one. Although Ben Laden has nothing to do with the Aegean Sea event, Nostradamus uses the date of the Madrid attacks to point to the fact that Ben Laden never attacks the Aegean Sea!
United Native Americans: Occupy the United Nations Jan. 27, 2012
An Indigenous led Movement to Decolonize and Occupy the United Nations to demand repatriations for the theft of Tribal Lands, gold & other natural resources; and address issues of Civil Rights Violations, Hate Crimes, Broken Treaties, and the Human Rights inherent to ALL Indigenous People.
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Michael Moore: 75 Years Ago Today, the First Occupy
On this day, December 30th, in 1936 — 75 years ago today — hundreds of workers at the General Motors factories in Flint, Michigan, took over the facilities and occupied them for 44 days. My uncle was one of them.
The workers couldn’t take the abuse from the corporation any longer. Their working conditions, the slave wages, no vacation, no health care, no overtime — it was do as you’re told or get tossed onto the curb.
So on the day before New Year’s Eve, emboldened by the recent re-election of Franklin Roosevelt, they sat down on the job and refused to leave.
Have you considered a career in total revolution?
Dan Hind for Al-Jazeera:
In the years after the World War II, the US and Western Europe saw unprecedented rates of sustained economic growth. Food and accommodation were cheap and working people could afford a vast range of novel commodities - electronic gadgets, cars, new styles in furniture and opportunities for leisure. Decades of war, depression and social unrest in Europe were over. Material life had never been better.
But Guy Debord and other writers and intellectuals associated with 'Situationism' claimed that this prosperity had been achieved at a cost that was both unacceptable and unnecessary. The technology of production had solved the problem of subsistence, but was now busy creating new, additional desires to clinch the sale of new commodities.
The choices offered by the market posed as the entire range of what could be chosen to fulfil those desires. But the sum of commodities crowded out something that couldn't be sold. The Situationists called this crowding out the 'Spectacle'. They wanted to find the world that the Spectacle overlaid, imitated and sold to us. There was, they said, a beach underneath the pavement.
So Situationism was an attempt to achieve revolutionary change in the midst of an economic boom. Debord and the rest didn't want to create a political party and then capture the state. Instead, they sought to create spaces for freedom and the lived experience of radical equality: 'since man is the product of the situations he goes through, it is essential to create human situations. Since the individual is defined by his situation, he wants the power to create situations worthy of his desires.'
Norman Lear on fighting the good fight
I had my first "born again American" moment 30 years ago, when I was moved to outrage and action by a group of hate-preaching televangelists who were trying to claim sole ownership of patriotism, faith and flag for the far right. One of them asked his viewing congregation to pray for the removal of a Supreme Court justice.
I did what I knew how to do and produced a 60-second TV spot. It featured a factory worker whose family members, all Christians, held an array of political beliefs. He didn't believe that anyone, not even a minister, had a right to judge whether people were good or bad Christians based on their political views. "That's not the American way," he wound up saying. I ran it on local TV, and it was picked up by the networks. People For the American Way grew out of the overwhelming response to that ad.
One of the most encouraging things to happen in 2011 was the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is giving the entire country the chance for a "born again American" moment. In calling attention to the country's widening chasm between rich and poor, the Occupiers have unleashed decades of pent-up patriotic outrage against the systematic violation of our nation's core principles by the "say good-bye to the middle class" alliance of the neocons, theocons and corporate America.
More...
Chomsky to Occupy: come back bigger, better, and with much more of the 99%
Noam Chomsky has advice for the Occupy movement, whose encampments all over the country are being swept away by police. The occupations were a “brilliant” idea, he says, but now it’s time to “move on to the next stage” in tactics. He suggests political organizing in the neighborhoods.
The Occupy camps have shown people how “to break out of this conception that we’re isolated.” But “just occupying” has “lived its life,” says the man who is the most revered radical critic of American politics and capitalist economics.
Chomsky gave his counsel answering questions in a small group after a speech Monday evening, December 12, in the 1000-seat Westbrook Middle School auditorium (a/k/a Westbrook Performing Arts Center), which was filled to capacity. The speech was sponsored by the University of New England’s Center for Global Humanities.
The Occupy movement’s repression, which Chomsky decried, has a saving grace, he said: the opportunity for it to expand more into “the 99 percent” by engaging people “face to face.”
“Don’t be obsessed with tactics but with purpose,” he suggested. “Tactics have a half life.”
We are the 99% (Electronica Piano Cello) Anonymous Expression
Mature content warning
According to Anonymous Expressions: Jesus was an Occupier of his time . He stood up against oppression and taught us how to have compassion and how to love those that persecute us. Jesus is us, we are him, after all, he is you and me. Lyrics inspired by JJ3 on Youtube.
The Power of Occupy Wall Street Is Not Just What They're Doing, But How They're Doing It
From Sarah Jaffe's article at AlterNet:
“I know some members say the groups are leaderless. But I have trouble believing this is an entirely organic movement that grew without a leader. I’d push hard to see if there are leaders and to profile them,” Jerry Ceppos, journalism dean at Louisiana State University recently told the New York Times' public editor, Arthur S. Brisbane.
Brisbane was attempting to answer the question “Who is Occupy Wall Street?” It's a question that continues to confound observers of the movement. Reporters, politicians and others used to traditional, top-down, hierarchical movements (or even grassroots movements that are easily boiled down, in history books, to the actions of a single charismatic leader like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) simply cannot seem to wrap their heads around the movement's commitment to “horizontalism,” a form of organization that doesn't recognize one leader, but rather emphasizes the value of each participant equally.
Great men are how we tell our history. Great men, and very occasionally great women, individual accomplishment and heroism. History isn't so different from Twitter's trending topics, acknowledging spikes more so than slow builds and rewarding celebrity more than quiet hard work. Or, for that matter, the biases of the mainstream media and editors like Brisbane and Ceppos, authorities in their field who only understand the world through other authority figures. It's why the US only understands the civil rights movement in terms of the life of MLK, rather than the quiet work of nameless hundreds who trained in nonviolent techniques and were beaten and fire-hosed and attacked by dogs without their names making it into history books.
The way Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement worldwide are structured is drawn from another way of thinking. Marina Sitrin, an early participant in the Occupy movement in New York and the author of the book Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina, describes horizontalism thus:
“Horizontal, as it sounds, is a level space for decision making, a place where one can look directly at the other person across from you, and discuss things that matter most to all of us – we decide the agenda. Horizontalism is more than just being against hierarchy, or people having power over others – it is about creating something new together in our relationships. The means are a part of the ends. The forms of organizing manifest what we desire; it is not a question of demands, but rather a manifestation of an alternative way of being and relating.”
Horizontalism and consensus might seem complicated, especially after watching the houses of Congress descend into a battle of egos and wills. Trying to get a simple majority of the Senate, let alone the 60-vote supermajority that is essentially required for every vote now that the filibuster is routinely abused, to agree on anything is a near-impossible task, so how would 95 percent consensus ever work?
Marx on ‘Technical Government’
Marcello Musto writes:
In recent years Karl Marx has again been featured in the world’s press because of his prescient insights into the cyclical and structural character of capitalist crises. Now there is another reason why he should be re-read in the light of Greece and Italy: the reappearance of the ‘technical government.’
As a contributor to the New York Tribune, one of the widest
circulation dailies of his time, Marx observed the political and institutional developments that led to one of the first technical governments in history: the Earl of Aberdeen cabinet of December 1852 to January 1855.
TEPCO says it 'no longer owns' Fukushima fallout
In terms of sheer chutzpah, Tokyo Electric Power Co's claim that it no longer owns the radioactive isotopes that spewed out of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March takes some beating.
In defending a lawsuit from a Fukushima Prefecture golf club, lawyers said the radioactive cesium that had blighted the Sunfield Nihonmatsu golf course's fairways and greens was the club's problem. The utility has taken a similarly hard line defending claims from ryokan (inn) and onsen (spa) owners.
TEPCO's lawyers used the arcane legal principle of res nullius to argue the emissions that escaped after the tsunami and earthquake triggered a meltdown were no longer its responsibility. "Radioactive materials (such as cesium) that scattered and fell from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant belong to individual landowners, not TEPCO," the utility told Tokyo District Court.
More...THE TRUTH BEHIND THE VACCINE COVER-UP
... Dr. Bernier notes that in August 1999 a public workshop was held at Bethesda in the Lister Auditorium by the National Vaccine Advisory Group and the Interagency Working Group on Vaccines to consider thimerosal risk in vaccine use. And based on what was discussed in that conference, thimerosal was removed from the hepatitis B vaccine (HepB). It is interesting to note that the media took very little interest in what was learned at that meeting and it may have been a secret meeting as well. As we shall see, there is a reason why they struggle to keep the contents of all these meetings secret from the public.
He then notes on page 13 that on October 1999 the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) "looked this situation over again and did not express a preference for any of the vaccines that were thimerosal free." In this discussion he further notes that the ACIP concluded that the thimerosal-containing vaccines could be used but the "long-term goal" is to try to remove thimerosal as soon as possible. Now, we need to stop and think about what has transpired here. We have an important group here; the ACIP that essential plays a role in vaccine policy that affects tens of millions of children every year. And, we have evidence from the Thimerosal meeting in 1999 that the potential for serious injury to the infant's brain is so serious that a recommendation for removal becomes policy. In addition, they are all fully aware that tiny babies are receiving mercury doses that exceed even EPA safety limits, yet all they can say is that we must "try to remove thimerosal as soon as possible." Do they not worry about the tens of millions of babies that will continue receiving thimerosal-containing vaccines until they can get around to stopping the use of thimerosal?
It should also be noted that it is a misnomer to say "removal of thimerosal" since they are not removing anything. They just plan to stop adding it to future vaccines once they use up existing stocks, which entails millions of doses. And, incredibly, the government allows them to do it. Even more incredibly, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Practice similarly endorse this insane policy. In fact, they specifically state that children should continue to receive the thimerosal-containing vaccines until new thimerosal-free vaccine can be manufactured at the will of the manufacturers. Are they afraid that there will be a sudden diphtheria epidemic in America or tetanus epidemic? ...
The effectiveness of Global Guerrilla swarmers
Global guerrilla swarmers will maintain their effectiveness across the vital swarming attributes in the following ways:
- Elusiveness. Global guerrillas attain concealment through anonymity in large urban environments. Reliance on the local population isn’t necessary. High degrees of mobility are accomplished by leveraging public transportation networks.
- Superior situational awareness. Open source intelligence is easy to accomplish (via the Internet, the media, and other sources). Further, encrypted global communications, via the Internet, enables global intelligence sharing information sharing. The small size of operational cells limits the potential of discovery and counter-guerrilla intelligence development.
- Standoff attacks. Like many historical swarming attacks, global guerrillas will have significant standoff firepower potential — the ability to attack from a distance. However, this firepower isn’t a traditional weapon, rather, its the global guerrilla’s ability to use attacks on infrastructure to impact downstream systems miles (perhaps hundreds of miles) distant. Attacks will be rotated among infrastructures in a modern variant of horse archer tactics.
Douglas Rushkoff: Reality as Subversion
... The greatest magic act of all – the unrecognized king of all sigils – was the creation of the dollar itself. We support the reality of this symbol whether we’re going after dollars or complaining about the lack of opportunity to accumulate them. By taking the very real values of wealth and prosperity and assigning them to the symbol of money, we dissociated our labor from the real. Sure, if we had some authority over that symbol system we might be in business. But we don’t; it’s the most protected and inaccessible set of mythology around. No cut and paste permitted, William.
I’m thinking we should let them win. Surrender the unreal realities to the bad guys. If they want broadcast television, mainstream newspapers, or even the web, let ‘em have it. They’ve conjured up an alternative universe that has very little true connection to what’s really going on here. And the market-based, competitive, reality-as-propaganda dream has swallowed them up. They are the victims of their own illusions. We don’t have to be. ...
More...
Scientists defend 'Armageddon virus' secrecy
Top US scientists have defended their bid to stop details of a mutant bird flu virus from being published and called for global co-operation to ward off an uncontrollable pandemic.
Meanwhile, scientists involved in the experiments said they were co-operating with government officials and the editors of the journals Science and Nature to pare down their research for publication in the coming weeks.
The controversy arose when two separate research teams — one in the Netherlands and the other in the United States — separately found ways to alter the H5N1 avian influenza so it could pass easily between mammals.
Until now, bird flu has been rare in humans, but particularly fatal in those who do become ill. H5N1 first infected humans in 1997 and more than half of those infected died, for a total of 350 deaths.There is concern the virus could mutate and mimic past pandemic flu outbreaks such as the "Spanish flu" of 1918-1919, which killed 50 million people, and outbreaks in 1957 and 1968 that killed three million.
Turkish warships shell narrow water between Israeli and Cypriot gas fields
From an exclusive report at DEBKAfile:
President Demetris Christofias has warned Turkey to stop its warships shelling the strip of water dividing the Cypriot and Israeli gas exploration zones in the eastern Mediterranean.
DEBKAfile's military forces report that Wednesday, Dec. 21, Turkish warships began turning their guns on the strip dividing Israel's Leviathan gas field from Block 12 of Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone-EEZ, where a large gas field was recently discovered.
Neither Israel nor Cyprus reported the Turkish attacks which are staged in international waters, but both reinforced their naval units around the gas fields. It was the Cypriot president who broke the silence Friday, Dec. 23 with a warning: "If Turkey does not change its gunboat diplomacy and stop playing the part of regional police officer, there will be consequences which, for sure, will not be good - either for the whole region or the Turkish people and first and foremost for Turkish Cypriots," he said.
On Dec. 22, Israel canceled the $90 million sale to the Turkish Air Force of Elbit's hi-tech LOROP-Long Range Oblique Photography military surveillance system.Israeli defense sources said the transaction was cancelled lest SAR radar or LOROP technology find their way into the hands of Israel's enemies, such as Iran.
According to our military sources, Israel timed the deal's cancellation as a warning to Ankara to back off from its campaign of harassment in and around Israel's gas fields.
More...Friday, December 30, 2011
The Top Ten Revolutionary Videos of 2011
This list is re-posted from Dissident Voice.
At the end of the year, news agencies around the world, including the BBC, report the ten most popular YouTube videos of the past year. The lists inevitably contain some of the most banal, irritating, or mildly amusing videos of the past year, but rarely do we see the BBC and their ilk reminding us of the startlingly powerful images of resistance and revolution. So, in honour of those who were maimed or killed in 2011 in service of a better world, here are ten of the most memorable moments of revolt in 2011...
Mass Mind Control: Psycho-Civilized Society
Toward a Psycho-Civilized Society
The background to the development of anti-personnel electromagnetic weapons can be traced by to the early-middle 1940's and possibly earlier. The earliest extant reference, to my knowledge, was contained in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey (Pacific Survey, Military Analysis Division, Volume 63) which reviewed Japanese research and development efforts on a "Death Ray."
Whilst not reaching the stage of practical application, research was considered sufficiently promising to warrant the expenditure of Yen 2 million during the years 1940-1945. Summarizing the Japanese efforts, allied scientists concluded that a ray apparatus might be developed that could kill unshielded human beings at a distance of 5 to 10 miles. Studies demonstrated that, for example, automobile engines could be stopped by tuned waves as early as 1943. (1) It is therefore reasonable to suppose that this technique has been available for a great many years. Research on living organisms (mice and ground hogs) revealed that waves from 2 meters to 60 centimeters in length caused hemorrhage of lungs, whereas waves shorter than two meters destroyed brain cells.
However, experiments in behavior modification and mind manipulation have a much more grisly past. Nazi doctors at the Dachau concentration camp conducted involuntary experiments with hypnosis and narco-hypnosis, using the drug mescaline on inmates. Additional research was conducted at Aushwitz, using a range of chemicals including various barbiturates and morphine derivatives. Many of these experiments proved fatal.
Following the conclusion of the war, the U.S. Naval Technical Mission was tasked with obtaining pertinent industrial and scientific material that had been produced by the Third Reich and which may be of benefit to U.S. interests. Following a lengthy report, the Navy instigated Project CHATTER in 1947. Many of the Nazi scientists and medical doctors who conducted hideous experiments were later recruited by the U.S. Army and worked out of Heidelberg prior to being secretly relocated to the United States under the Project PAPERCLIP program. Under the leadership of Dr. Hubertus Strughold, 34 ex-Nazi scientists accepted "Paperclip" contracts, authorized by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and were put to work at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. By 1953 the CIA, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Chemical Corps were conducting their own narco-hypnosis programs on unwilling victims that included prisoners, mental patients, foreigners, ethic minorities and those classified as sexual deviants. (2)
It was not until the middle or late 1970's that the American public became aware of a series of hitherto secret programs that had been conducted over the preceding two decades by the military and intelligence community. (3) Primarily focusing on narco-hypnosis, these extensive covert programs bore the project titles MKULTRA, MKDELTA, MKNAOMI, MKSEARCH (MK being understood to stand for Mind Kontrol), BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE and CHATTER. The principal aim of these and associated programs was the development of a reliable "programmable" assassin. Secondary aims were the development of a method of citizen control. (4)
New Report: "Recording Everything" Details How Governments Can Shape the Dynamics of Dissent
A recent Brookings Institution report has now confirmed what many have suspected for some time – that the United States government (and virtually every other government in the world) has the capability to monitor and record nearly every interaction that occurs within its national borders. For years, those individuals who have tried to warn others of the creeping surveillance state were met with denials and catcalls of “conspiracy theory,” as well as the famous claims that it was not physically possible to monitor everyone.
This new report, however, shatters the delusional rationalities of the uninformed into a million pieces.
More...
2012 – Our Resolution is Global Revolution
“Every now and then in history, the human race takes a collective step forward in its evolution. Such a time is upon us now.”
–Renowned water/environmental activist (and Global Exchange ally) Maude Barlow
As we ring in 2012, let the revolution begin! From Tunisia to New York, from Spain and Greece to Oakland and ‘Occupies’ everywhere, people have taken to the streets to reclaim what is rightfully ours.
We the 99% seek more than the illusion of democracy… we want government in the hands of the people, not the corporations. We want just, fair, sustainable policies that benefit the majority — not only the wealthy few.
We will no longer stand by and allow banks, oil companies or our political system to place corporate interests above our shared values of justice, equality, good jobs and vibrant, resilient communities and ecosystems. We’re speaking out everywhere to deliver the message: Enough is Enough!People across the world are saying enough is enough with the global economic and environmental crisis, and we are responding with a massive outpouring of activism and energy. Together we are changing the rules and creating a world that champions people power not corporate power, builds positive alternatives and promotes human rights, peace and democracy.
What Must Happen to 'Occupy Everything'
... Most progressives within the US share the narrow ethnocentrism of their fellow citizens on the right. Everything is about the US, about the 5% of the world’s population who think they are somehow the vanguard of the other 95% of the world. To Occupy Everything means we must occupy our planet – take it back for everybody. That means the same rights, the same protections, the same duties, and the same laws for everyone. No more third world debt, no more private banks holding small nations hostage, no more pilotless drones murdering people without due process of law. Ellen Hodgson Brown details our global, criminalized monetary nightmare in her book Web of Debt. ...
More...
Real Democracy and the Future of Work?
In a really democratic system public money cannot be misused as is the case under the present state-welfare model. Instead, accountable, transparent sovereign communities will employ people, as they see fit via consensus decision-making to produce whatever things the individual concerned AND the community in question agree need producing. Employment will probably still be available in a (transformed) job market, but alongside this there will also be the option, via local assembly sovereignty of gainful ecological, soulful, dignified employment in a community of each worker’s choice. And because each sovereign empowered local community will now produce its own unique culture (rather than the homogenisation of townships we see presently) everyone will have a huge choice of work options, with different priorities in each diverse community. No longer should anyone feel forced to labour in an alienated way.
More...
Can the World's Next Political Revolution Be Predicted By Computers?
John Paul Titlow reports:
Big data and sentiment analysis can do amazing things, whether it's in the enterprise or in the quest to create compelling applications and experiences for consumers. But can technology trends such as these actually predict major real-world events?
As sci-fi as it may sound, that's exactly what researcher Kalev Leetaru was able to accomplish with a little help from SGI's Altix UV supercomputer packing 8.2 teraflops of processing power. Leetaru, a digital media analytics expert at the University of Illinois, wrote software that can scan over 100 million news articles and uses sentiment analysis, text geocoding and predictive analytics to determine when political upheaval will go from rowdy to revolutionary.
Postgenderism - The Artificial Womb [Brave New World]
Postgenderism, Transhumanism, Technofeminism, The Artificial Womb.
Script
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Richard Heinberg: why end of growth can mean more happiness
Richard Heinberg- whose latest book describes The End of Growth- isn't looking for when the recession will end and we'll get back to "normal". He believes our decades-long era of growth was based on aberrant set of conditions- namely cheap oil, but also cheap minerals, cheap food, etc- and that looking ahead, we need to prepare for a "new normal".
The problem, according to Heinberg, is our natural resources just aren't so cheap and plentiful anymore, and he's not just talking about Peak Oil, Heinberg believes in Peak Everything (also the title of one of his books).
Heinberg thinks for many, adjusting to a life where everything costs a bit more, could be very hard, but he also thinks the transition to a new normal might actually make life better.
"Particularly in the Western industrialized countries we've gotten used to levels of consumption that are not only environmentally unsustainable, they also don't make us happy. They've in fact hollowed out our lives. We've given up things that actually do give us satisfaction and pleasure so that we can work more and more hours to get more and more money with which to buy more and more stuff- more flatscreen tvs, bigger SUVs, bigger houses and it's not making us happier. Well, guess what, it's possible to downsize, it's possible to use less, become more self sufficient, grow more of your own food, have chickens in your backyard and be a happier person."
This is not all theoretical. In the backyard of the home Heinberg shares with his wife, Janet Barocco, the couple grow most of their food during the summer months (i.e. 25 fruit & nut trees, veggies, potatoes.. they're just lack grains), raise chickens for eggs, capture rainwater, bake with solar cookers and a solar food drier and secure energy with photovoltaic and solar hot water panels.
Their backyard reflects Heinberg's vision for our "new normal" and it's full of experiments, like the slightly less than 120-square-foot cottage that was inspired by the Small Home Movement. It was built with the help of some of Heinberg's college students (in one of the nation's first sustainability classes) using recycled and natural materials (like lime plaster).
Heinberg admits it's not a real tiny house experiment since they don't actually live in it- his wife uses it as a massage studio, he meditates there and sometimes it's used as a guest house (though that's hush hush due to permitting issues). But their tiny cottage points to the bigger point behind why a transition to a less resource intensive future could equal greater happiness.
"Simplify. Pay less attention to all of the stuff in your life and pay more attention to what's really important. Maybe for you it's gardening, maybe for you it's painting or music. You know we all have stuff that gives us real pleasure and most of us find we have less and less time for that because we have to devote so much time to shopping, paying bills and driving from here to there and so on. Well, how about if we cut out some of that stuff and spend more time doing what really feeds us emotionally and spiritually and in some cases even nutritionally."
Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/richard-heinberg-why-end-growth-means-mo...
RAP NEWS X - #Occupy2012 (feat. Noam Chomsky & Anonymous)
http://thejuicemedia.com RAP NEWS episode 10: The year we've all been waiting for - 2012AD (or 13.0.0.0.0, if you ask a Mayan) - is finally here. What will happen? Will we see the poles shift or a paradigm shift? Will a rogue Sumerian planet smash into our solar system, plunging us into serfdom under the iron fist of a race of gold-hungry aliens? Or are the aliens already here? Or are all these merely humanity's collective projections of itself as it careens towards an ever-accelerating super-connected cyber-reality - whatever that means... One thing's sure, if 2011 was a prelude of things to come, 2012 is going to be one hell of a year. Now that it has arrived, are we ready? Join your host Robert Foster and his guests, Terrence Moonseed and General Baxter, as they conduct an in-depth rap analysis into the future, and humanity's place in it. Happy New YERA!
China jails dissident Chen Xi for 10 years
Mark Hennock reports for the Guardian:
A Chinese court has handed down a 10-year jail sentence to Chen Xi, the second dissident in four days to be convicted of inciting subversion through online essays.
Another democracy campaigner, Chen Wei, was sentenced to nine years on 23 December. The two men are not related.
It is one of the heaviest sentences for inciting subversion since the Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years on Christmas Day 2009.
http://www.euronews.net/ Chinese dissident Chen Xi has been jailed for ten years for subverting state power in what rights groups are calling a Christmas crackdown by Beijing.
A veteran of the Tiananmen protests, he was convicted for publishing essays online criticising the ruling Communist Party, according to his wife.
She told reporters by telephone that after a trial lasting just two and a half hours he said: "I am a law-abiding person. I respect the court's verdict. I will not appeal but I am innocent."
The Power of Occupy Wall Street Is Not Just What They're Doing, But How They're Doing It
... The way Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement worldwide are structured is drawn from another way of thinking. Marina Sitrin, an early participant in the Occupy movement in New York and the author of the book Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina, describes horizontalism thus:
“Horizontal, as it sounds, is a level space for decision making, a place where one can look directly at the other person across from you, and discuss things that matter most to all of us – we decide the agenda. Horizontalism is more than just being against hierarchy, or people having power over others – it is about creating something new together in our relationships. The means are a part of the ends. The forms of organizing manifest what we desire; it is not a question of demands, but rather a manifestation of an alternative way of being and relating.”
Horizontalism and consensus might seem complicated, especially after watching the houses of Congress descend into a battle of egos and wills. Trying to get a simple majority of the Senate, let alone the 60-vote supermajority that is essentially required for every vote now that the filibuster is routinely abused, to agree on anything is a near-impossible task, so how would 95 percent consensus ever work?
But the fact is that thousands of people can come to agreement on complicated issues. Witness the reported vote of 1720 to three (with six “unsure”) at the University of California-Davis over a student general strike this week in the wake of the pepper-spraying of unarmed students by a university cop. And some of that perhaps comes from the fact that they are not playing power games, jockeying for higher position (and more fundraising dollars), or making grandstanding speeches. The people's mic, the Occupy protesters' amplification system, actually contributes to the horizontal structure by cutting down on the ability of any one person to hold court for too long. Any speech requires the consent of those participating in the people's mic, and they can revoke it at any time by simply not choosing to repeat those words. ...
Anarchist Nation By Mark Hand
... Over the past 15 years, anti-war, economic justice and environmental campaigners have increasingly embraced anarchism’s principle of equal distribution of power. Out of this organizing approach has emerged a view of the modern nation-state and its corporate partners as authoritarian and abusive. The growing awareness of the anarchist critique of the state is impressive. It’s what Schneider calls the “negative political philosophy” of anarchism, given that anarchists excel at explaining what they’re against. But what’s even more fascinating is the growing number of activists who now view the state as obsolete.
People have learned about and experienced alternative ways of organizing society. They welcome how these different social arrangements reject monopolies on power, thereby reducing feelings of alienation and powerlessness. Not only are people embracing the anarchist critique of the state and capitalism, they are being drawn toward what Milstein, in her book Anarchism and Its Aspirations, calls a “reconstructive vision.”
Schneider referenced this phenomenon in his Nation article when he wrote that anarchists have “reminded us that we don’t have to rely on Republicans or Democrats, or Clintons, Bushes or Sarah Palin, to do our politics for us.”
Indeed, large numbers of people are waking up. Poet and essayist Phil Rockstroh recently explained that “we are no longer isolated, enclosed in our alienation, imprisoned by a concretized sense of powerlessness; daylight is beginning to pierce the darkness of our desolate cells.” ...
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out
http://www.ted.com JR, a French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face. He makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out. A funny, moving talk about art and who we are. Learn more at insideoutproject.net.
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See also:
Occupy Art #f12
Occupy Art: Hi there, shall we collaborate on this?
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“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein
February the 12th has been announced as an international day of creative action for the worldwide Occupy movement.
Stemming from Occupy Melbourne, the home of the ‘tent monsters meme’, this day is all about coming at things from different angles, playing with reality and having some fun in these very serious times.
Exhibitions, music, street-art, performance, theatre, you name it, lets infect it with a bit of Occupy creativity.
Spread the word, lets start this creative virus. Here is a little video:
http://youtu.be/iSxgHHfZvGs
To discuss and collaborate please join the Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Art-International-Day-Of-Creative-Action-Feb-12-F12/346946421987719
Or if Tumblr is your style:
http://occupy-art-feb12.tumblr.com/
Please use the hash tag #F12
Please contact carlscrase@gmail.com with further questions.
2012 - Time for Change
"2012: Time for Change" presents an optimistic alternative to apocalyptic doom and gloom. Directed by Emmy Award nominee João Amorim, the film follows journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the bestselling 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, on a quest for a new paradigm that integrates the archaic wisdom of tribal cultures with the scientific method. As conscious agents of evolution, we can redesign post-industrial society on ecological principles to make a world that works for all. Rather than breakdown and barbarism, 2012 heralds the birth of a regenerative planetary culture where collaboration replaces competition, where exploration of psyche and spirit becomes the new cutting edge, replacing the sterile materialism that has pushed our world to the brink.
The Emperors New Virus? - An Analysis of the Evidence for the Existence of HIV (Documentary)
"The Emperor's New Virus?" is a supplementary follow-up to the award winning documentary, House of Numbers. It takes an in-depth look at the scientific evidence surrounding the existence of HIV.
Internet hacker group 'Anonymous' back occupy movement
It is underground but when its members reveal themselves, it is usually through a cyber attack. The group anonymous has been known to retaliate against companies and others that it thinks are on the wrong side of morality from banks to Mexican drug cartels.
Press TV's Colin Campbell reports from Washington.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
I Want My Money Back (Occupy Christmas!)
Yo, my crackers! Enjoy the latest twisted Christmas rap from The Cracker Wrappers! This year, it's time to occupy Christmas and put a cap into Wall Street. Enjoy!
**Warning! Explicit lyrics, disturbing imagery, and white rapping!**
Noam Chomsky on Adam Smith & the Invisible Hand
An extra scene from the 2008 documentary: American Feud: A History of Conservatives and Liberals. The 90 minute DVD contains 14 extra minutes of professor Chomsky. Here, Chomsky argues that the conventional notion of "invisible hand" is mistaken and that though worshipped by conservatives, Adam Smith is very rarely read.
www.americanfeud.org
Deputies Tied Suspect to a Chair, Gagged Him, and Pepper-Sprayed Him to Death
From Fox 13 in Tampa comes the horrifying story of Nick Christie, a 62-year-old Ohio man who was detained by the Lee County Sheriff's Office for being publicly intoxicated. While Christie's wife asked that he be taken to the hospital, Lee County cops decided instead to strip Christie naked, tie him to a chair, cover his face, and then pepper spray him repeatedly, until he died:
The District 21 Medical Examiner ruled his death was a homicide because he had been restrained and sprayed with pepper sprayed by law enforcement officers. But to this day, nobody has ever been charged with a crime, and the Lee County State Attorney cleared the sheriff's office of any wrong doing.
It's been more than two and a half years and his wife still can't accept what happened.
More...Friday, December 23, 2011
Occupy Psychopaths (OWS vs. the Pathology of the 1%)
An Occupy Wall Street activist explains why he thinks it is very important to spread knowledge about psychopaths and psychopathy. Find out about the important connection between psychopaths and the ruling 1%. This is not taugh in schools (but should be).
Rev. Billy: Shopocalypse is upon us
Many people across the world have claimed that they are addicted to shopping and one man is helping Wien people of their obsession with spending money. Rev. Billy is showing people there is life after shopping and performs credit card exorcisms. He joins us to give some advice on how to kick the shopping habit.
Musical Innerlube: Mahavishnu Orchestra - Smile of the Beyond
Album: Apocalypse (1974)
Genre: Jazz Rock/Fusion
Monday, December 19, 2011
Forensic Examiner Found No Match of Cables on Manning’s Laptop to WikiLeaks’
A day after a government forensic expert testified that he’d found thousands of diplomatic cables on the Army computer of suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, he was forced to admit under cross-examination that none of the cables he compared to the ones WikiLeaks released matched.
Special Agent David Shaver, a forensic investigator with the Army’s Computer Crimes Investigations Unit, testified Sunday that he’d found 10,000 U.S. diplomatic cables in HTML format on the soldier’s classified work computer, as well as a corrupted text file containing more than 100,000 complete cables that had been converted to base-64 encoding.
Six months after Manning was arrested for allegedly leaking documents to WikiLeaks, the site began publishing 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables that ranged in date from December 1966 to the end of February 2010. But Shaver said none of the documents that he found on Manning’s computer, and that he then compared to those that WikiLeaks published, matched the WikiLeaks documents.
Shaver wasn’t asked how many cables he compared to the WikiLeaks cables, or which dates those cables had, he just said he matched “some of them.” In re-direct examination, however, he noted that the CSV file in which the cables were contained was corrupted and suggested this might indicate that it had not been possible to pass those cables to WikiLeaks for this reason. The defense objected to this assumption, however, noting that Shaver could not speculate on why the cables were not among those released by WikiLeaks.
13,000 Chinese Villagers Rise Up Against Economic Inequality, Threaten to March on Gov't Offices
The 13,000 residents of Wukan, in the wealthy province of Guangdong, are in open revolt against officialdom and have driven out local Communist Party leaders who they say have been stealing their land for years.
The villagers appear to be winning support from the public, with the first confirmed protest backing them held in the provincial capital Guangzhou on Sunday. The three demonstrators there were detained by police.
While the Guangzhou protest was relatively small, it is a sign that government efforts to block news of the unrest in Wukan have failed and the villagers are attracting public support.
Many local businesses have been closed for the past week while schools have been shuttered as riot police blockade the village, which has for months been the scene of occasionally violent protests over land seizures.
Authorities have vowed to crack down on the instigators of the latest unrest, which was triggered by the arrest nine days ago of five villagers, one of whom died last Sunday in police custody.
Authorities say the 42-year-old man suffered a heart attack, while relatives who saw the body said they believed he had been beaten to death.
Villagers told AFP on Sunday they will march to government offices in Lufeng city on Wednesday unless the body of Xue Jinbo is returned and the other four villagers still in police custody are released.
Battle Rages in Cairo as "Thugs" and Army Attack Protesters
TRNN Exclusive: Army attacks occupation of cabinet office, street fighting into the night, at least nine dead
Manufactured Fear - 15 minutes that will change your life
A history of false flag attacks used to manipulate the minds of the people!
No oil will pass Hormuz if Iran oil banned
An Iranian lawmaker says if Iran's oil industry is targeted by international sanctions the Islamic Republic will not let a single barrel of oil cross the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“[The US] should know that in line with international law, such as Paragraph 4, Article 14 of Geneva 1958 Convention, if oil sanctions are imposed on Iran, we will not allow even a single barrel of oil to be exported to countries hostile to us,” Issa Jafari noted on Sunday.
He added that the Strait of Hormuz is the world's energy corridor through which a daily total of 35 million barrels of crude oil is exported.
The lawmaker further said that new sanctions were a plot by the US and its allies to divert global attention from the Occupy Wall Street movement and also to cover up the recent scandal with regards to the US spy drone violating Iran's airspace.
More...
Pharmaceutical Company Raises Drug Price from $10 to $1,500 Per Dose
Over 500,000 babies are born prematurely in the United States each year.
Unfortunately, with premature birth comes comes an increased risk for health consequences. As a “solution” for these premature births, KV pharmaceutical company offers a drug known as Makena, which is meant to reduce the risk for premature births.
But good luck using it if you’re interested, as the company recently raised the price from $10 to $1,500 per dose.
Pharmaceutical Companies Are in it For the Money
As many people are well aware, pharmaceutical companies care very little about your health. The KV pharmaceutical company now expects to make a whopping $30,000 over the course of a pregnancy with their drug Makena – a price most people would agree is completely ridiculous for such a ‘good cause’.
Once this change was picked up and made public by the mainstream media, however, the company made a move to lower the price from $1,500 to $690 per dose. Unfortunately, this price is still irrational, especially when compared to how high it is from the initial $10.
More...
Tagore in the land of Arabian Nights
No sooner had the Nobel Committee announced, on 13 November 1913, that Rabindranath Tagore had won the Nobel Prize for Literature than the news was broadcast to every country around the world. The Arabic-speaking world expressed its enthusiasm in an appropriate manner: The dailies of Egypt, Lebanon and several other Arab countries published the news with zeal and enthusiasm, presumably because Tagore was the first Asian to receive the award.
In addition to the Egyptian daily al-Ahram, many Egyptian journals of repute -- including al-Hilal, Saut al-Sharq, al-Jinan and al-Muqtataf -- published articles about Tagore. The next year, Wadi al-Bustani, a Lebanese writer and translator of Umar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat from Persian to Arabic, travelled to Calcutta and stayed as Tagore’s guest for two days. He was so charmed by his host’s disposition and erudition that he compared him to an angel on earth.
Al-Bustani was perhaps the first Arab to meet Tagore after he’d won the Nobel Prize and, after reading Gitanjali, The Gardener and Sadhana in English, he wrote a wonderful article in Arabic about the laureate. This homage was published in al-Hilal late in 1916. Soon afterwards, Bustani became the first to translate Gitanjali into Arabic.
Tagore travelled to Egypt in 1926 but did not mention this visit in his writing, except for a passing reference in Pareshey. Arabic sources reported that he landed at Alexandria and presented a lecture at the al-Hamra opera on 27 November 1926, during which he talked about the existence of God in every living being. On 29 November of that year, he gave another lecture, this time at Cairo’s Hadiqa al-Uzbukiyya opera; he spoke about the differences between Western and Eastern philosophies. Reporters for dailies from Egypt -- such as al-Balagh and al-Ahram -- and other Arab countries covered his talks with zeal.
[ ... ]
He has the unique distinction of being the only poet in the world whose poems are sung as the national anthems of two independent countries (India and Bangladesh), crossing geographical, linguistic and intellectual boundaries. He is equally well-loved in the land of the Arabian Nights: a number of Arab countries celebrated the 150th anniversary of his birth with gaiety and respect.
More...
Tagore poems at Occupy Poetry
On the Dark Side in Al Doura - A Soldier in the Shadows
WARNING: Graphic and disturbing photos between 38:40 and 40:45.
U.S. Army Ranger John Needham, who was awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism, wrote to military authorities in 2007 reporting war crimes that he witnessed being committed by his own command and fellow soldiers in Al Doura, Iraq. His charges were supported by atrocity photos which, in the public interest, are now released in this video. John paid a terrible price for his opposition to these acts. His story is tragic.
CBS reported obtaining an Army document from the Criminal Investigation Command suggestive of an investigation into these war crimes allegations. The Army's conclusion was that the "offense of War Crimes did not occur." However, CBS also stated that the report was “redacted and incomplete; 111 pages were withheld.”
This video is placed within the context of Vice President Dick Cheney's insistence that this nation's efforts "must go to the dark side;" which included ignoring the Geneva Conventions.
John's story is told, here, by his father, Michael Needham. It is produced in the spirit of the public interest and towards promoting justice and the rule of law.
Israel’s Secret Weapon
Which country in the Middle East has undeclared Nuclear weapons? Which country in the Middle East has undeclared biological and chemical capabilities? Which country in the Middle East has no outside inspections? Which country jailed its nuclear whistleblower for 18 years? Vanunu told the world that Israel had developed between one hundred and two hundred atomic bombs and had gone on to develop neutron bombs and thermonuclear weapons. Enough to destroy the entire Middle East and nobody has done anything about i
t since. It’s thought plutonium is made in Dimona; nuclear weapons are assembled at Yodefat and stored at Zachariah and Eilabun. Three nuclear submarines are based in Haifa and Israel’s biological and chemical warfare laboratories are at Nes Ziona.
Israel never comments on such reports. But evidence continues to emerge. In 1992 an Israeli cargo plane crashed in Amsterdam killing forty-three people. The Israelis claimed it was carrying flowers and perfume. It took six years and a Dutch parliamentary enquiry before they admitted it was carrying DMMP, a key component for sarin nerve gas. The DMMP was bound for The Israeli Institute of Biological Research at Nes Ziona, one of Israel’s most secret defence sites. It is subject to no international inspection and reporting of its activities in Israel is prevented by strict military censorship.
Congress Declares “Offensive” War on the Internet in NDAA
Buried in the recently passed NDAA is a provision, perhaps just as dangerous as its other transgressions, that permits the Pentagon to wage an offensive Cyber War, “to defend our Nation, Allies and interests.”
Section 954 of the NDAA titled Military Activities in Cyberspace received no debate in Congress as well as in the media. The section states clearly:
Congress affirms that the Department of Defense has the capability, and upon direction by the President may conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our Nation, Allies and interests.
Even though there was virtually no debate about this provision by Congress or the press, the intention of action was expected. In July of this year, the Pentagon announced their strategy to treat cyberspace as an “operational domain” in their Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace.
Keiser Report: Exotic Pet Banking Fraudsters
This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss Keiser's GIABO soup for the protesting person of the year and the true cost of bankers. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Leah McGrath Goodman about the price of oil and MF Global.
London 2012 - The enemy of democracy
So, while company directors, corrupt politicians and bankers are comfortably seated together to supervise and reap profits from the labour of others (how capitalist!) we'll still be on the streets showing that we're strong, we're angry and that these bastards are losing their control over us. Now, there is something that our rulers absolutely do not want broadcasting around the world. There'll be no shortage of cameras about, as pretty much every news agency in the world will be operating here in Britain this summer.
It's not hard to see why the rich are so worried. Protests, direct action, strikes and the like are set to undo every bit of material gain they're hoping to raid from the Olympic Games. How can the rich push the sponsors if the TV cameras are showing pictures of people angry at those exact same sorts of mega-corporations? How can the rich get their billionaire buddies to travel to Britain to spend their cash in London's fancy hotels and restaurants, if these places are under threat of being attacked by black bloc tactics? How can the British government continue to dictate to Greece and other countries through the IMF and EU about their economic policies when the people riot against British economic policy? How can foreign policy be enforced when TV screens from Hong Kong to Houston are showing pictures of people critical to these policies?
The answer is, they can't. So, prepare to kiss your fantasy of legitimate protest goodbye.
More...
15 dead as Kazakh workers fight cops
At least 15 people have been killed and 70 injured as Kazakh police opened on unarmed rebel oil workers and their supporters in the west of the country.
The uprising is now being further fuelled by anger at the brutal methods deployed by the state to attack the demonstrations calling for higher wages.
Reports the New York Times: "On Saturday, several hundred protesters blocked railroad tracks in Shetpe, a town north of Zhanaozen, to protest the treatment of the other activists. The police opened fire, killing one person and wounding about a dozen more.
More...
Dictatorship Naturally Arises Out Of Democracy
5500 arrests of peaceful protesters in 90 days.
0 arrests of economic criminals in 3 years.
Who are you protecting?
Welcome To The United Police States of America, Sponsored By Twitter
Imagine my surprise this morning when, without warning, my shiny new Twitter account (@d_seaman) was suspended and taken offline.
No more tweets for you. You now have 0 followers.
My crime? Talking too much about Occupy Wall Street (I'm not an Occupier, but as a blogger and journalist it strikes me as one of the most important stories out there -- hence the constant coverage), and talking too much about the controversial detainment without trial provisions contained in the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would basically shred the Bill of Rights and subject American citizens to military police forces. The same level of civil rights protection that enemy combatants in a cave in Afghanistan receive!
Revealed: bankers' secret meetings with ministers
The full scale of big banks' lobbying of the Chancellor, George Osborne, to get him to water down banking reforms can be revealed today. Senior bank executives met or called Treasury ministers nine times in the weeks after Sir John Vickers published his landmark proposals on how to prevent another banking crisis, The Independent can reveal.
Bank bosses are fighting furiously behind the scenes to limit any changes to the way they do business. Fears are growing – articulated by Sir John himself – that the banks are successfully thwarting the Government's plans to overhaul the British banking system and the Treasury is weakening some of the key reforms as a result of intense lobbying.
Mr Osborne also personally met the Barclays boss Bob Diamond, the Royal Bank of Scotland's Stephen Hester and Lloyds' Antonio Horta-Osorio on separate occasions in the days before the Vickers report.
Mr Osborne will announce his official response to the Vickers Independent Commission on Banking proposals on Monday – it is certain to be scrutinised for any sign that the Government's resolve to tackle the sector has been weakened.
The commission recommended that banks should be required to "ring fence" their high street banking operations away from their "casino" investment operations; and to increase their capital buffers in order to reduce the chances of British taxpayers being forced to rescue them in future. (Taxpayers had to pump in £65.9bn to save Lloyds, RBS and HBOS.)
The full list of contacts between bankers and ministers, revealed through a request under the Freedom of Information Act by The Independent, shows that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban held meetings with Mr Hester of RBS, Mr Diamond, and Douglas Flint of HSBC in the nine days after the release of the Vickers report in September as they lobbied against the plans. The largest banks have warned that the reforms could harm the economy and threatened to move their headquarters out of Britain.
More...The Gandhi Rap - be the change u want to see
Presentation on Gandhiji's Life with Gandhi rap sung by MC Yogi
'Absolutely no progress being made' at Fukushima nuke plant, undercover reporter says
Conditions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are far worse than its operator or the government has admitted, according to freelance journalist Tomohiko Suzuki, who spent more than a month working undercover at the power station.
"Absolutely no progress is being made" towards the final resolution of the crisis, Suzuki told reporters at a Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan news conference on Dec. 15. Suzuki, 55, worked for a Toshiba Corp. subsidiary as a general laborer there from July 13 to Aug. 22, documenting sloppy repair work, companies including plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) playing fast and loose with their workers' radiation doses, and a marked concern for appearances over the safety of employees or the public.
For example, the no-entry zones around the plant -- the 20-kilometer radius exclusion zone and the extension covering most of the village of Iitate and other municipalities -- have more to do with convenience that actual safety, Suzuki says.
"(Nuclear) technology experts I've spoken to say that there are people living in areas where no one should be. It's almost as though they're living inside a nuclear plant," says Suzuki. Based on this and his own radiation readings, he believes the 80-kilometer-radius evacuation advisory issued by the United States government after the meltdowns was "about right," adding that the government probably decided on the current no-go zones to avoid the immense task of evacuating larger cities like Iwaki and Fukushima.
The situation at the plant itself is no better, where he says much of the work is simply "for show," fraught with corporate jealousies and secretiveness and "completely different" from the "all-Japan" cooperative effort being presented by the government.
Bishop arrested as #OWS protesters tear down fence to get to Duarte Square
On Saturday, a retired bishop was among more than 50 people arrested after the Occupy Wall Street movement stormed another New York City park in an attempt to find a new home.
Former Episcopal bishop George E. Packard was led away in cuffs after climbing a ladder to illegally enter Juan Pablo Duarte Square in the west SoHo neighbourhood of the city during the demo.
He was one of hundreds of demonstrators, members of the clergy and elected officials who descended on the park and scaled a chain-link fence by a lot they’re eyeing as a new campsite.
Packard, who is affiliated with the movement, writes a blog under the title ‘Occupied Bishop‘.
More...
image from http://www.spitting-image.net
