No Fluff News » big brother

A Must See for Everyone…

rampage — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:39:13 +0000

source: The Alex Jones Channel on Youtube.com

Beware of the Propaganda Concerning Town Hall Protests and the Divisiveness of Left, Right Politics

rampage — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:09:20 +0000

“The media created myth that the town hall protests raging across the country are artificially manufactured is starting to crack, as the public takes the press to task for parroting the erroneous talking point that the demonstrations are the work of lobbyists and Republican organizations, and that they are fostered by underlying racism.

A caller to C-Span’s Washington Journal show perfectly clarified the issues we have been highlighting all along, that the protesters are not just Republican ‘right-wingers,’ they aren’t being prodded into action by lobbyists, and the anger is not just directed against Obamacare, but against the entire agenda, and especially against Congress passing legislation thousands of pages long without even reading it.

As we highlighted last week, ABC News reported that there was no evidence of lobbyists at the protests. Shortly after this, Obamanoids simply switched their talking point and started to claim that the demonstrations were all being organized by Republican organizations.

The C-Span caller who labeled herself an Independent stated that she only started going to protests as recently as July 4th and before that she wasn’t even political. The caller points out that the protests are growing because, ‘All these massive bills, thousands of pages long that are passed with almost no debate, no time for us to see what’s in it,’ and in complete contrast to promised of transparency on behalf of the new administration…”

source: infowars.com

and now for something to Clarify the Murkiness of Media – Danny Deconstructs the Mainstream Media

rampage — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:55:02 +0000

source cvietch on youtube

Boeing helps US Build largest Bomb Ever Made

rampage — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:30:11 +0000

“Published reports today say the Pentagon is rattling swords in the direction of North Korea and Iran by speeding the development a 20-foot, 30,000lb bomb known as Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) meant to annihilate underground bunkers and other hardened (re: long range missile) sites.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency which has overseen the development of this monster since 2007, says it is designed to be carried aboard B-2 and B-52 bombers and deployed at high altitudes where it would strike the ground at speeds well beyond 2X the speed of sound to penetrate the below ground target.

The Boeing-built MOP won’t be the heaviest conventional bomb ever made. The US military built the T-12, which weighed about 44,000lbs, in the 1940s. Meanwhile the 21,700-lb Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, better known as the ‘Mother Of All Bombs’ is still in the US arsenal. The MOAB was developed to replace the 15,000lb ‘Daisy Cutters’ from the Vietnam Ware era. The Soviets claimed a “Father of all Bombs” in 2007 but some experts think the bomb was a hoax or stunt and questioned its true power…”

source: networkworld.com

Blackwater Represents Degeneracy of US Culture

rampage — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:20:55 +0000

“The former President of Blackwater, the security firm now notorious for its excesses against Iraqi civilians, has since resigned as the company’s president but still leads as Chairman of the Board of Directors…

Since then a series of court allegations have been made against Mr. Prince and Blackwater by two former employees who accuse him and his employees of murder, weapons smuggling, condoning child prostitution, an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, smuggling, money laundering and worst of all, the deliberate slaughter of unarmed civilians…

He also accused Blackwater guards of boasting of kills, taking mind-altering drugs, steroids and using child prostitutes. Prince is further alleged of smuggling illegal weapons into Iraq on his private aircraft and allowing his guards to use illegal exploding bullets ‘to inflict maximum damage on Iraqis’…”

source: examiner.com

Congress needs their Comfort Despite Air Force Reccomendations

rampage — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:04:58 +0000

“Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds…

…The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations. The Pentagon sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes. The Defense Department also asked to buy two additional 737s that were being leased.

Lawmakers in the House last week added funds to buy those planes, and plus funds to buy an additional two 737s and two Gulfstream V planes. The purchases must still be approved by the Senate. The Air Force version of the Gulfstream V each costs $66 million, according to the Department of Defense, and the 737s cost about $70 million.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Department of Defense didn’t request the additional planes and doesn’t need them. ‘We ask for what we need and only what we need,’ he told reporters Wednesday. ‘We’ve always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for.’”

source: wsj.com

Why does it take 400 Australian Police to Arrest 4 So-Called Terrorists?

rampage — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:18:02 +0000

“Hundreds of police swooped on suspected terrorists in Melbourne early today amid fears suicide attacks were about to be launched on army bases in Australia. Police from around the country were quietly moved to Melbourne before launching their raids on homes in at least seven suburbs. Several men of Somali and Lebanese backgrounds were arrested and were expected to appear in court later on terrorism-related charges.

Police sources said it would be claimed the men were planning to attack a barracks in western Sydney and other defence bases in Victoria. The suspected terrorists were said to be plotting to force their way into the bases to kill as many soldiers as possible before turning guns on themselves. The arrested men are believed to have links to al-Qaeda…

Four people, all Australian citizens of either Lebanese or Somalian backgrounds, had been arrested. Police have begun interviewing two men aged 25, a 26-year-old old and a 22-year-old. These are the same age ranges as suicide bombers who have committed atrocities in Indonesia…”

Come on people wake up, see through the propaganda. Notice the key phrases; terrorists, al-Qaeda, suicide bombers, stop placing your fears in scapegoats of the government/media, you should fear government and their control over you.

source: dailymail.co.uk

Venezuelan Government Closing down 34 “Bourgeoisie” Radio Stations

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:53:44 +0000

“he Venezuelan government has ordered the closure of 34 radio stations, the head of the national telecommunications regulator, Conatel, has said. Diosdado Cabello, who is also minister of public works in the government of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, said the closures were due to the stations’ inability to meet legal operating requirements, and warned that more closures may follow.

‘They will have to cease transmission once they have received the order’, Cabello said on Friday. ‘This is about legitimate authority of the government to manage the radio spectrum… We are only implementing what the law says…’”

source: aljazeera.net

Understanding there’s no Anonymity in the Technological Age

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:02:24 +0000

“Don’t think for a second that cleaning out your browser cookies, hoisting that firewall, and installing identity theft software makes a dent in protecting your privacy in the new digital world.

Every time we activate our cell phone, swipe a credit card, or use EZ-Pass to sail through toll booths, we leave a record of our whereabouts and clues to our behavior for others to tap that never even existed 20 years ago. All that Web browsing you do on your Android or iPhone device, all the weather updates you may get via that connected GPS unit—these things not only tell someone somewhere what data matters to you but also reveal where you accessed it. As the Web moves off the desktop and into every niche of the physical world, with it goes all of the privacy concerns that still aren’t resolved online. Clean out those Firefox cookies if you like, but Web privacy is only the beginning. At the same time the privacy front evolves, experts in the field are also rethinking the ramifications of these mountains of data. In the future, they warn, governments and corporations may be able to violate your privacy without even having to identify who you are.

‘It has grown by orders of magnitude since the birth of the Internet and our use of cell phones,’ says Stephen Baker, BusinessWeek journalist and author of a new book on digital data gatherers, ‘The Numerati.’ From email replacing letters to downloading music from iTunes instead of purchasing CDs, our habits, tastes, and movements now are recorded in ways that can be connected…”

source: computerpoweruser.com

UK Plans to Install CCTVs in 20,000 Brit’s Homes, for the Children…

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:38:50 +0000

“THOUSANDS of the worst families in England are to be put in “sin bins” in a bid to change their bad behaviour, Ed Balls announced yesterday. The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction. Around 2,000 families have gone through these Family Intervention Projects so far. But ministers want to target 20,000 more in the next two years, with each costing between £5,000 and £20,000 – a potential total bill of £400million. Ministers hope the move will reduce the number of youngsters who get drawn into crime because of their chaotic family lives, as portrayed in Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless. Sin bin projects operate in half of council areas already but Mr Balls wants every local authority to fund them…”

source: express.co.uk

US Troops to be Deployed in the Event there is a Flu Pandemic

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:24:25 +0000

“According to CNN, the Pentagon is ‘to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.’

‘The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.
The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.
It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.
Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.
As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called “execution order” that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.
Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said.’ (CNN, Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak, July 2009)

The implications are far-reaching. The decision points towards the establishment of a police State. The Pentagon is already planning on the number of troops to be deployed in the case of a pandemic. A nationwide vaccination program is is already planned for the Fall. The pharmaceutical indsutry is slated to deliver 160 million vaccine doses by the Fall…”

source: infowars.com

Napolitano Continues Bush’s Federalization of Local and State Law Enforcement

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:56:57 +0000

“Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to New York to deliver a speech to the boss today. She told the Council on Foreign Relations there will be no departure from the Bush administration in regard to homeland security. It will be the same agenda with a few minor changes — for instance, the color-coded threat advisory will be chucked.

‘Napolitano sang the praises of counter-terrorism intelligence being shared between federal, state and local agencies through arrangements known as fusion centers,’ writes Frank James for NPR. Napolitano said she plans ‘to make them a top priority for this department to support them, build them, improve them and work with them.’

Translation: the feds will continue the full-steam ahead effort to federalize state and local law enforcement, an effort that began in earnest under Bill Clinton and picked up critical momentum during the reign of George W. Bush. ‘Napolitano sounded just like her predecessors Ridge and Michael Chertoff,’ James continues. ‘And she talked about educating the populace about how to be the eyes and ears of counter-terrorism and also how to respond to the aftermath of man-made or natural disasters,’ or for that matter government contrived false flag operations. Napolitano told the internationalist cabal in New York that the American people suffer from ‘complacency’ and this is a ‘threat in the United States.’ In order to combat complacency, the government has to do more to ‘educate’ the public on the threat posed by terrorists and other miscreants. In other words, Napolitano admitted the incessant warnings of impending doom — from dirty bombs in major cities to bad guys taking out nuclear plants — have not worked…”

source: infowars.com

How to Protect Yourself from Big Brother on the Internet

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:35:02 +0000

“…The Internet remains one of the most powerful means ever created to give voice to repressed people around the world. Unfortunately, new technologies have also given authoritarian regimes new means to identify and retaliate against those who speak out despite censorship and surveillance. Below are six basic ideas for those attempting to speak without falling
victim to authoritarian surveillance and censorship, and four ideas for the rest of us who want to help support them…

1. Understand Risk Assessment
2. Beware of Malware
3. Choose the Least-Risky Communications Channels
4. Use Encryption to Prevent Surveillance and Censorship of your Web Usage
5. Be Careful of What and Where You Publish
6. Should I use a Tor Bridge…”

source: eff.org

Motorhome Diaries Denied Entry into Canada

rampage — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:18:52 +0000

source: youtube.com

Ron Paul Addressing Opposition to H.R. 1207

rampage — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:12:43 +0000

source: youtube.com

Bin Laden under US Employment Until September 11th

rampage — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:19:46 +0000

“Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript).In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained ‘intimate relations’ with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, ‘all the way until that day of September 11.’

These ‘intimate relations’ included using Bin Laden for ‘operations’ in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These ‘operations’ involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner “as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict,” that is, fighting ‘enemies’ via proxies. As Sibel has previously described, and as she reiterates in this latest interview, this process involved using Turkey (with assistance from ‘actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia’) as a proxy, which in turn used Bin Laden and the Taliban and others as a proxy terrorist army.”

source: infowars.com

Guantánamo, Still Going Strong

rampage — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:12:21 +0000

“There’s a McDonald’s on the high street, suburban houses, rats the size of dogs and 229 of the world’s most high-profile prisoners. Six months after President Obama declared that he would close it down, Naomi Wolf heads to Guantánamo Bay to see whether anything has changed.

Six months ago this week President Obama, on his second day in office, promised to close the Guantánamo detention camp within a year, and to undo the secretive and coercive detention and interrogation policies of George W. Bush. But has Obama been as good as his word…”

source: truthout.org

Obama Allows Oppression to Continue in Syria

rampage — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:54:55 +0000

“The US president has extended sanctions against certain Syrian and pro-Syrian individuals due what he has called their continued interference in neighbouring Lebanon. The move by Barack Obama to keep the sanctions in place for another year comes in spite of some encouraging steps by Syria in recent months, the White House said on Friday. ‘In the past six months, the United States has used dialogue with the Syrian government to address concerns and identify areas of mutual interest, including support for Lebanese sovereignty,’ Obama said in a statement.

He said there have been ’some positive developments in the past year, including the establishment of diplomatic relations and an exchange of ambassadors between Lebanon and Syria.’ But “the actions of certain persons continue to contribute to political and economic instability in Lebanon and the region and constitute a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” he said.”

source: aljazeera.net

The Vulnerabilities of State Imposed Smart Grids

rampage — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:56:26 +0000

“The city of Miami and several commercial partners plan to rollout a “smart grid” citywide electrical infrastructure by the year 2011. This rollout was
announced on the heels of news that foreign agents have infiltrated our existing electrical infrastructure and that recent penetration tests have uncovered numerous vulnerabilities in the proposed technologies. Simultaneously, the National Institute for Standards in Technology (“NIST”) has recently released a roadmap for producing smart grid standards. In this whitepaper, I will discuss the flaws with the current guidelines and map them to the criticisms of similar regulatory mandates, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (“PCI DSS”), that rely heavily on organizations policing themselves…

As of the writing of this white paper, NIST has released a draft framework for review that includes some of the proposed standards. While there are several security standards listed in the framework, NIST appears to be making the same mistakes of previous regulatory mandate governing bodies. For example, the PCI DSS standards have been criticized for not requiring a high-level of security in environments that process cardholder data. Specifically, one of the major criticisms is the “self policing” aspect of these standards. The credit card companies (American Express, Discover
Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc.) are responsible for ensuring that relevant companies are compliant with the standards. If a company is deemed non-compliant, then the credit card companies issue what they consider to be the appropriate punishment…”

source: blackhat.com

UK Iraq Inquiry Unravels Justification for War

rampage — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:44:21 +0000

“An investigation into the kidnapping of five British men in Iraq has uncovered evidence of possible collusion by Iraqi government officials in their abduction, and a possible motive – to keep secret the whereabouts of billions of dollars in embezzled funds. A former high-level Iraqi intelligence operative and a current senior government minister, who has been negotiating directly with the hostage takers, have told the Guardian that the kidnapping of IT specialist Peter Moore and his four bodyguards in 2007 was not a simple snatch by a band of militants but a sophisticated operation, almost certainly with inside help. Only Moore is thought still to be alive.

Witnesses to the extraordinary operation which led to the abductions have also told us that they have been warned by superiors to keep quiet. ‘This operation was on a state level, not al-Qaida. Only the state has the capability to carry this out,’ one of the sources said.

The Guardian can also reveal that there was a sixth westerner who was working with Moore at the time of the kidnap. The man – whose identity is known to the Guardian – managed to narrowly avoid being captured by hiding in a toilet at the Iraqi ministry of finance, where the abductions took place. Over the past 10 months the Guardian has interviewed senior Iraqi figures and eyewitnesses as well as the former British military officer who investigated the kidnap for the men’s employers. Their accounts allege that the hostage takers had contacts in the Iraqi government, and also that officials in the ministry of defence warned off witnesses to the kidnap.”

source: guardian.co.uk

US to Gain Access to EU Banking Data under Guise of “Terrorism”

rampage — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:49:23 +0000

“The EU is about to enter talks with the US on giving it access to banking data in its fight against terrorism. German politicians from across the political spectrum are up in arms, and members of the European Parliament say they will try to scupper any deal that violates data privacy.

US anti-terror officials want to be able to continue examining Europeans’ financial transactions, and it appears likely that the European Union is going to comply.

On Monday, foreign ministers of European Union member states gave their approval for the European Commission and Sweden, which currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, to negotiate an agreement with Washington that would allow it to scrutinize European citizens’ banking data. However, there is a growing wave of criticism from across the political spectrum in Germany and from the European Parliament…”

source: spiegel.de

Associated Press Trying to Lace Their Articles with DRM but Will Fail

rampage — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:41:23 +0000

“The Associated Press last week rolled out its brave new plan to “apply protective format to news.” The AP’s news registry will “tag and track all AP content online to assure compliance with terms of use,” and it will provide a “platform for protect, point, and pay.” That’s a lot of “p”-prefaced jargon, but it boils down to a sort of DRM for news—”enforcement,” in AP-speak…But how could that possibly work?It was good enough for music…

Turns out that it won’t, not really, not if the goal is to exercise control over AP content by those not voluntarily disposed to play by the AP’s rules. First, let’s try to make sense of what’s being proposed. According to the AP’s announcement, the news registry it plans to set up relies on a new ‘microformat’…”

source: arstechnica.com

DHS Infectious Pathogen Facility in Tornado Alley

rampage — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:31:44 +0000

“The Department of Homeland Security relied on a rushed, flawed study to justify its decision to locate a $700 million research facility for highly infectious pathogens in a tornado-prone section of Kansas, according to a government report.

The department’s analysis was not “scientifically defensible” in concluding that it could safely handle dangerous animal diseases in Kansas — or any other location on the U.S. mainland, according to a Government Accountability Office draft report obtained by The Washington Post. The GAO said DHS greatly underestimated the chance of accidental release and major contamination from such research, which has been conducted only on a remote island off the United States.

DHS staff members tried quietly last week to fend off a public airing of the facility’s risks, agency correspondence shows. Department officials met privately with staff members of a congressional oversight subcommittee to try to convince them that the GAO report was unfair, and to urge them to forgo or postpone a hearing. But the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), decided otherwise. It plans to hold a hearing Thursday on the risk analysis, according to two sources briefed on the plans. “

source: washingtonpost.com

Stimulus Dollars Going Down the Drain

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:27:28 +0000

“The feds are spending tens of millions of stimulus dollars to repair and build toilets across the nation, in an outflow of taxpayer funds that critics have branded ‘potty pork.’

From humble sylvan outhouses to ‘historic’ restrooms, cash from the $787 billion stimulus is going to spruce up or completely replace aging toilets, government releases show.

In New Mexico alone, the feds are spending $2.8 million for toilets in national forests. “

source: nypost.com

Gene Therapy Just Got Easier

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:36:13 +0000

“A new genetic engineering technique could make it as easy to rewrite a genome as it is to read it.

Using the process, which grafts pieces of synthetic DNA into the genomes of dividing cells, researchers generated 15 billion different genomic patterns in just three days. The process would normally take years, and could eventually be used to produce industrial chemicals, drugs, fuel and anything else that comes out of bacteria.

‘Automated sequencing really advanced the way we can read genetic information. We hope automated genome engineering will advance the way we write genetic information,’ said Harris Wang, a Harvard University biophysicist.

Earlier methods of manipulating genomes involved a painstaking biological cut-and-paste process, with target genes removed, tweaked and reinserted, one at a time. Alternatively, bioengineers could use a mutagen that turned genomes to hash.

But Wang and George Church — a co-author of the study, and a pioneer in DNA synthesis, genome sequencing and all-purpose biotechnological wizardry — want to speed that process up.

Their technique, known as Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering, or MAGE, starts with single-stranded pieces of DNA, custom synthesized to fit on target sections of a genome. In a microscopic remix of the famous Dr. Frankenstein movie scene, a target cell is then jolted with energy, opening holes in its membrane. The DNA flows inside. When the cell divides, it uses the new DNA in copying itself.”

source: wired.com

Swine Flu Hype: London Readies Catacombs as Mass Graves

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:31:11 +0000

“A city council said Saturday it was considering using underground burial chambers, currently a tourist attraction, to store the corpses of swine flu victims if the pandemic worsens.

Exeter City Council said the empty 19th-century catacombs could become an emergency mortuary.

A council spokesman said the plan could be put into operation if the cemeteries and the crematorium could not keep up with funeral demands.

He said: ‘We have some empty catacombs in an old cemetery in the city. These are 19th century underground burial chambers which are normally a tourist attraction,’ he said.

‘They can, however, be safely used for their original purpose and allow us to temporarily store bodies in the remote possibility that the need should arise…’”

source: AFP

Humanitarians Going to Gaza are Fighting the New World Order

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:10:15 +0000

“We live in an era defined by its brutality. Our challenge is whether to accept this – or to take the risks necessary to transform our world commons in beloved community.

A year ago this August, forty-four ordinary people from seventeen different countries sailed to Gaza in two, small wooden boats. We did what the world would not do – we broke through the siege of Gaza. Over the last year the Free Gaza Movement has organized seven more voyages, successfully arriving to Gaza on five separate occasions. Ours remain the only international ships to reach the Gaza Strip in over forty-two years.

In the Middle-East, the struggle for justice is an uncertain endeavour in the best of times. On all sides human rights workers are beset with difficulties and distress. The Arab states are tyrannies, their peoples subject to secret police, arbitrary arrest, torture, and oppression. Within their societies, the Arab world is equally fractured by ethnic and class tensions, poverty, and political stagnation. From the outside, from the West, the Middle-East faces both open and covert acts of intimidation, intervention, economic destabilization, and even war, invasion, and mass killings…”

source: counterpunch.org

UK Trying to Justify Sending more Troops to Afghanistan

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:52:23 +0000

“Britain may need to send more troops to Afghanistan despite the success of Operation Panther’s Claw, military chiefs admit.

The scale of the challenge was revealed yesterday as it emerged that British soldiers have faced nearly 1,000 roadside bombs in the past three months. Although 3,000 troops managed to drive out about 500 Taleban during the five-week offensive, they will be fully deployed holding an area in Helmand province about the size of the Isle of Wight, their commanding officer admitted.

Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of Task Force Helmand, said that the existing troops could not be expected to mount further significant operations without reinforcements. Gordon Brown hailed the offensive as an ‘heroic’ military success, saying it had made Britain safer and ‘pushed back the Taleban’. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, however, called for renewed efforts to engage the Taleban politically…”

source timesonline.co.uk

Israel’s Guise of Freedom

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:38:11 +0000

“Israel is a democracy, we are told. We have freedom of speech to prove it. Aside from a few pesky details of a permanent state of emergency which allows the government and security forces to impose censorship of the media, we really are free to speak our minds – to an extent.

The legal limits on personal expression are draconian, but not very often invoked. It is the unspoken limits of freedom of speech which are more binding. Even as I write I hear the clinking of the chains in my mind: how much do I dare expose? What might be the repercussions of this word, or that sentence?

I, like most young Israeli Jews, went to the army at the age of 18. At the time I barely even questioned this. Going to the army here is a fact of life, merely another step in the standard ‘natural’ order: six years of grade school, six of high school, three in the army and so forth. In the army I was exposed to matters of varying levels of secrecy. Divulging them is, of course, illegal. But even that is not what I feel constrains me and so many others. What security clearance deems secret is not, as a general rule, an interesting subject for conversation other than in very specific circumstances, almost never occurring outside the army.”

source: guardian.co.uk

US Ramps Up for “Home Grown” Terror Drills

rampage — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:17:03 +0000

“A huge simulation coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun today with no mainstream media coverage at all.

The security exercise known as National Level Exercise 09 (NLE 09) will last for five days and will involve foreign security officials working in conjunction with the US military, as well as Federal, State, Local Tribal and Private Sector representatives.

According to a factsheet in the recesses of the FEMA website, the agency will host National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09) on July 27 through July 31, 2009:

‘NLE 09 will be the first major exercise conducted by the United States government that will focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery,’ the factsheet states. It is designated as a Tier I National Level Exercise, or TOPOFF, which are exercises conducted annually in accordance with the National Exercise Program (NEP), ‘which serves as the nation’s overarching exercise program for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating national level exercises,’ according to FEMA.”

source: infowars.com