New posts should begin appearing next week. The last week has been spent dealing with a server jihad at my workplace. The uprising has been quelled, sleep was lost, hair was pulled, the names of Balmer and Gates came up quite often. There were questions asked about the marital status of their respective Mothers. I'm tired and want some scotch. I've also realized that my new junior sysadmin has shitty taste in music.
Two interesting and chilling comments have been made over the past few days regarding possible terrorist attacks. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a group of people from the Chicago Tribune that he has a “gut feeling” we are about to enter a new period where terrorist attacks are likely. This past Friday, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum spoke on the Hugh Hewitt Show and said that he understands that “between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen and I believe that by this time next year, the American public’s going to have a very different view of this war.”
These comments can only be classified as one of three things. 1) Typical fear mongering that is par for the course of the current Republican leadership. 2) Signs of a possible false flag op. 3) Incredible insight.
Based on the past performance of both Chertoff and Santorum, I think the word insight does not apply to these two people. Chertoff has bungled the DHS job with the near death of New Orleans, leaky borders and the disclosure this week that a massive hole in senior leadership positions within his department exists, with a quarter of the necessary senior positions unfilled. Santorum, of the “man-on-dog sex” infamy, has been wrong on so many occasions regarding the war in Iraq and life in general that they are too numerous to mention. The short list includes his 2006 comparison of Islamic fascism to Nazism and Japanese Imperialism from World War II and his adamant claim that “hundreds of WMDs” were found in Iraq. These two lackeys have the insight of men who dig tunnels.
Sign of a possible false flag op? Possible, very much within the realm of possibility. A series of warnings given before an event could give those in power the traction they need to implement sweeping changes that would allow them to cover their tracks and put out the fires in their burning castles. With the VP’s approval ratings hovering slightly above single digits at only 13%, the rising acceptance of the American public to impeachment proceedings against the President and VP, scandal upon scandal breaking and an overall sense of anger and frustration building against the Washington elite; a terrorist attack that was “predicted” would be a relief to those in power.
Typical fear mongering? I think this pony used up its single trick a while back. The average American appears to be keyed into the strategy of scaring the living hell out of them and the effect is somewhat lukewarm right now. Even the regular Joe Six Pack on the street has begun to notice that every time something comes to light that makes the powers that be look bad; “something” seems to happen involving terrorism.
The question I have out of these two comments is who in the hell thought it would be a good idea to “tune in” Santorum to something happening? Santorum is little more than a dullard, a cheerleading parrot and a freakish example of the American Dream on acid. I wouldn’t trust his strategic thinking abilities although he is very adapt at the Republican smear job and dirty tricks. But as far as letting him in on secrets, never. So his coaching on this subject probably involves some basic direction and no specific details.
The next few months should be interesting to watch. Something is afoot in DC based on the signs we see and the recent comments regarding “chatter” and now “gut feelings”.
Talk about creative interpretation. The AJC is reporting today that the Ethics in Government Group has filed a complaint with the state ethics committee regarding our Governor’s donation of campaign funds to his personal PAC. The PAC, Perdue PAC, was apparently setup last month as a nonprofit entity and state laws allow a political campaign to donate leftover election funds to nonprofits, other candidates or political parties.
To the tune of over $750,000.00 our Governor is sliding funds around in a nonprofit that was setup to “push his agenda”, according to the AJC. Hmm, the Governor needs ¾ of a million dollars to push his agenda? The weight of the office itself doesn’t give the Governor a leg-up on the competition? He needs a fleet of wheelbarrows full of cold hard cash to get the job done? This is just a flagrant flaunting of power and money in the faces of Georgia citizens.
I believe I can add something to our Governor’s “Sonny do” list, how about knocking off the shit for a change, Sonny?
Didn’t ABC News, more specifically ABC reporter Brian Ross, say that there were, “no members of Congress we can find in these phone numbers.” When reporting on the DC Madame case just two short months ago? I guess Brian shouldn’t have made such a broad comment since he, and the rest of us knew he was seeing only a small portion of those phone records because lo and behold we have a Senator who is now caught up in the story.
I’ve said before that the only problem I have with these people using the services of prostitutes is the fact that it opens them up to blackmail. I could care less if they like kinky sex or the kind of sex they may not be able to get at home. Their choices are theirs to make and that’s between them and their spouse. But, as a Senator or any other high ranking public official, if you choose the services of a prostitute you are ripe for being blackmailed.
So, why did Ross go to such lengths to defuse the story and make a dismissive remark on a story he was covering? I think we can all guess the reason why but it is still a very good reminder of how the corporate media operates. ABC or it’s parent company, Disney, rolled the dice that a judge would not allow the rest of Ms. Palfrey’s phone records to be released. They downplayed the importance of the story and for those of us who made note of their light touch are remembering it.
Let’s wait and see who else pops up on the list. Remember that Wayne Madsen was reporting at the time of the 20/20 whitewash that VP Cheney was also among the patrons of Palfrey’s operation. For further posts on this subject, click here.
The new 7 Wonders of the World has been announced and I am heartbroken that none of my choices were picked. If it had been up to me, here are the winners in no speciic order:
While in the middle of a major Google session earlier this past week for work related information, I happened upon a name that stopped me cold in my tracks. A name of an old friend from a decade and a half ago was staring me in the face. After some hemming and hawing on my part I fired off an email and less than 10 minutes later he and I were talking on the phone, laughing it up with a tone of incredulity in our voices. This doesn’t happen often, in my life and probably yours either.
In the middle of this wayback machine trip another name came up, the name of an old flame of mine. The old flame, the one who haunted me for years and whom I had always believed had moved on and probably made a great life for her self, still lives there. What little I was told about her has left me feeling a bit down and conflicted. I moved on, I changed my life for what I know is the better and I think I am a much better man for the changes. That is how life has gone for me over the past 15 years. She, on the other hand, has apparently entered assort of hermetically sealed life. Nothing, it appears, has changed in her life. The same job, the same interests, the same life and no new wrinkles to add color to her life.
I really do not know what to think about this new piece of information. I feel sad for her and a bit guilty for having moved into a different realm of living without her influence. These conflicted emotions have almost overshadowed the possibility of rekindling my old friendship with my old “co-conspirator in crime”, who is still an amazingly fun and interesting person. At some point he is going to break the news to her that he’s been in contact with me, and his delivery was that of absolute boyish glee. I suppose the mystery of whatever became of me has finally been solved, with a happy ending too.
But I now worry about the fallout from this. I’m not concerned about how this will affect my life because I know where I am going. The passage of time and the literal distance of a third of the country separate us, so there are barriers to prevent something stupid from occurring. But I worry about her reaction when she realizes that so much has changed for me and nothing has changed for her. I’m worried that she will not take this well. I just wanted to say hello to an old friend and to be honest, I had assumed more than a decade ago that she had more than likely left for a completely different city. I thought she had probably moved home to Philadelphia. When her name was spoken it was more than a shock, it was an impossibility that had never occurred to me.
We float in and out of each other’s lives and we have a profound effect on each other. I believe in God and the human soul in part because of this effect. Our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Our siblings and our friends and lovers all have a hand in the evolving nature of our lives and we play a part in shaping their lives. For good or bad, empathy, love and searching for answers seem to change with each person’s influence but all these people and events interweave with one another to create the tapestry of our lives. We even have these effects on one another online, with no physical presence being a part of the equation.
So I am left in a strange place right now. Remembering this great love, the one who was unequaled at the time and has been unequaled since, with a sense of sadness for what her life has not become. I even feel a sense of anger that no “good man” has stepped up to the plate and taken her someplace that she really deserved to be in her life. I was a mess when I last saw her and was in no shape to take her on the journey that I have taken. I’m dismayed that she didn’t take the trip herself. In short, I am sure that I’m going to have a lot of old memories and some unresolved issues to consider very soon. The cat is about to get out of the bag and it’s been in there for a long time.
I’m trying to stay away from the purely political posts for at least a few days. The recent Libby commutation of sentence still has my blood boiling. I still need to spend some time digesting the CIA “Family Jewels” release and I haven’t even made the time to do that yet. So let’s go off in a different direction today.
Courtesy of Kent Steadman’s website we have some interesting information that has come to light regarding the Roswell incident. For those who have followed the players in the case, the name of Col. Walter Haut will ring a bell. Col. Haut’s “deathbed confession” has been released. He wrote an affidavit before he passed away which explains the things he saw and did surrounding the infamous incident.
The British media are reporting the details of this affidavit in surprising depth. The American media are, as par for the course, ignoring it. It’s quite interesting to read the Col.’s comments and it’s even more interesting to consider whether his affidavit is a real confession, disinfo or a prank.
The timing of this release is extremely curious considering some of the related and non-related events of the past two weeks. We first had the botched automobile-as-a-Molotov-cocktail “attacks” in the UK, followed by the detainment of a number of conspirators that include physicians and this was book ended by a new al-Quaeda video being released; an abnormally long video at that. The American political scene has given us the insulting Libby commutation, a potential physical threat on the life of Presidential hopeful Barrack Obama and a meeting in Kennebunkport between the Bush clan and Vladimir Putin. The UFOlogy field has also had two new stories to follow with the sudden emergence (and quiet follow-up) of the “Drones” photos and sightings which were accompanied by a release of documents purportedly by a former “insider”.
It’s quite obvious that some of these stories are plants and distractions. Which story is the real McCoy is a question up for debate. We are being distracted, intentionally, for a reason. The Libby story surprises me not in the least bit, but it still infuriates me. The hypocrisy of those in power knows no bounds and the overt in your face attitude is stunning. The Obama story, which I first learned of last night, troubles me the most.
I have feared since the VaTech massacre that we will soon be seeing a return to the days of assassins, where the leaders who appeal to the populace and those with a certain charismatic appeal to the masses, will be gunned down. The threats to all of us are lined up like rings, each one a barrier to keep us in line and under control. Assassination of our own leaders in America is a tactic we have not seen in a generation. Enough time has passed and it is of great concern to me.
One thing you can never underestimate about politicians is their inflated sense of self and the thin skin which covers that ego. The Speaker of the House here in Georgia has come up with a doozy. In a press conference earlier this week, Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson had this to say about bloggers,“Those dadgum blog sites. You know what I predict is going
to happen? I predict somebody’s going to sue one of those site domains for
slander, and somebody’s going to get hit with a big suit because there’s no
accountability, and they say and do things about people that are blatantly
false.
“If y’all did, you’d get sued in a New York minute ... Somebody’s going
to sue ‘em and hit ‘em with enough money ... and somebody is going to say, ‘We’d
better be careful with this.’
“We’re brazen now because people will say things ‘cause they know
there’s no accountability. There’s no reason for it. It bugs me a little. I see
‘em do it about people who’re private citizens. I accept my role as a public
official. They can say I’m bad, dumb and ugly, and truth is a
defense."
“I know everybody thinks that’s going to last a while. I don’t believe
it’ll last too much longer.”
Isn’t it funny how our employees, public servants such as politicians, get their panties in a wad over little things like the exercise of free speech by their employers, we the citizens for whom they work for? Bitching and moaning by the unwashed masses at the neighborhood Waffle Hatchi doesn’t bother them in the least but when their constituents put their beliefs online it’s a different story.
Dissent becomes slander, criticism becomes brazen behavior and accountability is only applied to non-politicians in the minds of these egotistical idiots. Grow a thicker skin, Mr. Speaker. If the Speaker want’s some cheese to go with his whine he only needs to follow the rats who fatten themselves under the gold dome downtown.
Political discourse has gone downhill, that is a fact. But it’s the behavior of politicians and their ability to work the lowest common denominator that has brought things to the point they are now. Who are our great leaders in the state of Georgia? Who is the bright boy who clears the fog and bullshit of politics to help lead this state into a brighter future? There isn’t one and we are left with the dimmest bulbs the state can offer. Dear God, if we even had a new George Busbee among us I would be thrilled. If another Sam Nunn came to power I’d be ecstatic. We are stuck with a bunch of mouth breathing parrots who make JB Stoner look like a brilliant and progressive thinker.
All we have are a bunch of spoiled brats running this state, some of whom can’t even come to town without getting a Goddamn DUI arrest on the books. Grow up, Mr. Speaker and do what’s best for the entire state of Georgia, not just what the special interests groups , who donate huge amounts of money to political parties and campaigns, want the elected officials to do for them. Maybe folks will be a bit more civil when critiquing the House when our representatives act like leaders, instead of the glad handing money grubbers we now have. Until then, you politicians are the ones who made this bed so you need to learn to lie in it. Change the sheets or go sleep on the couch if the mattress doesn’t suit your delicate sensitivities.
After watching the mainstream media’s reporting of the attempted car bombings in the UK this past weekend I can only say that the bloodthirsty little beggars are little more than cheerleaders and idiots, as they have been for quite some time, who also need to look up the actual meaning of the word foiled. I spent all of Saturday morning and some of the early afternoon completely in a news vacuum, away from the TV and out of the house with only CDs to keep me occupied while I was out and about doing Saturday errands. I came home to MSNBC’s coverage and realized quickly what was happening and how deeply they wanted this to be far more serious than it really is. Have these idiot talking heads of the TV news ever heard of the IRA? Do they even know the history of terrorist attacks in London? Of course they have not and do not to answer both questions.
So bad were the early 80’s attacks that even Roger Waters of Pink Floyd was inspired to write, “and maniacs don’t blow holes in bandsmen by remote control.” in the lyrics to a song. If an IRA bomber had screwed up as badly as these idiots did this past week, in making such a lame excuse for a car bomb, I am pretty sure they would kill them just to weed out the idiots from their ranks. And yet the mainstream media are acting as though death is waiting to descend upon America at any moment, as though London is burning and we are spiraling into the sun.
What has happened in London and Glasgow can be clearly seen as nothing more than idiots on parade. Nothing was “foiled” as the press are falling over themselves to say. Foiling an attack would mean that the police or intelligence agencies raided them before they were able to carry out an attack. Catching them after they’ve left two sedan sized Molotov cocktails in London and damaged the passenger drop off at the Glasgow Airport isn’t “foiling” a plot. It’s called catching criminals after they have committed a crime, regular police work in other words.
Can the media talking heads, with their neat suits and neat hair and neat accents keep their little bloodlust fantasies to themselves for 5 minutes these days? I don’t think they can, to be honest. All afternoon long on Saturday I watched them talk about al-Qaeda, potential victims of shrapnel wounds, Osama bin Laden giving his okay, fighting them over there so we don’t have to over here, and the usual clap trap that they can’t prevent themselves from saying when there is very little actual news to report.
Fear not only serves the government, it also serves the media and the sponsors of the networks that cover the news. The true leanings of the talking heads are on display when something like this occurs. They are bloodthirsty little monsters who probably tortured small animals for gratification when they were adolescents. Their “reporting” is more akin to masturbation than professional journalism.
Tomorrow marks my birthday. I no longer get excited about my birthdays and feel somewhat relieved when the day has passed. This year I will be turning 41 and for some odd reason, numerology popped into my head.
When I think of the number 41 I tend to think of the year 1941. That was, of course, the year of the Pearl Harbor attack but it was also a huge year in baseball history. Joe DiMaggio had his 56 game hitting streak and Ted Williams hit .406 in that year. It is now 66 years beyond 1941 and I was born 41 years ago, in 1966.
41 is the atomic number of niobium, the number 41 is encoded into much of JS Bach’s music and Arthur C. Clarke used the number prominently in the Rama cycle of books. If you are a fan of Kevin Smith’s film Clerks, you’ll understand when I say that I enjoyed turning 37 far more than I am enjoying turning 41.
I’m not so much freaked out about the actual age itself. Middle age isn’t really shaking me up. To be honest I am somewhat surprised and grateful to have not met my demise long ago. My Navy experiences forced me to understand and accept my mortality in my early adult life because there was no other choice. When I left the service at the age of 26 I was under the impression that I was living on borrowed time and I’ve had to readjust my behavior since my physical safety has improved greatly since then.
The only things I really despise about middle age is the effect it has on my body. I am not, and never will be, as limber as I once was. I have to force myself to exercise daily and I can’t seem to break past certain points in that exercise. It’s like I’ve plateaued and can’t increase my stamina or reps of just about every exercise routine I know. I don’t mind the gray hair; except for the gray chest hair, I actually dislike that.
I enjoy the moderate level of wisdom that has accompanied middle age. I am certainly enjoying the look on young men’s faces when I loose patience with them and read them the riot act. Instead of trying to physically posture and assert themselves over me the way they would try to do when I was younger, they now just open their eyes wide and skulk, and I have learned that I can get away with a lot when I dress down someone who deserves it. I think the curmudgeon clothes will fit me well in 20 years.
I also enjoy the fact that a woman in her early 30’s is a younger woman for me. It is a relief to date a “younger woman” and feel at ease since she now is at an age where she actually knows what she is doing. Being the older man now adds a new twist that is interesting as well. So, there are advantages to this middle age business.
If 51 presents itself to me I certainly hope I am able to handle it as well as I think I am handling 41.
Because of my recent work related break from the blog I’ve found it to be a bit tough to get the rhythm going again in terms of writing posts. It’s been weeks since I had a roundup of news articles about the melamine contamination scandal so I thought a new one is in order. There has actually been some new and troubling developments.
Just this morning we have learned that the Chinese government has closed 180 food plants in China for their use of toxins in their food. Among the toxic substances found to have been used were formaldehyde, banned dyes and industrial wax. Some of the food processors were also found to have been using recycled or expired food in their plants. I wonder what “recycled” food is exactly? I have to assume it is analogous to the method of making pig feed from the excess or waste feed which we learned about several months ago as this scandal first gained momentum.
An ominous statement regarding this which was made by a director in the Chinese quality control administration, as quoted in the article linked above, “These are not isolated cases.” I take that to mean that what we have seen so far are examples of a general culture and accepted practice within the Chinese food industry as a whole. Of course, since we are shamelessly capitalistic here in the States, big business concerns grow fatter off the response by increasing sales of their products and services.
Now, don’t get me wrong on my last statement. I do believe that a person (Corporate entity in this case, which is really a legal person) deserves the profits of their labor when they devise a method or system or device which provides a legitimate and needed service to humanity. But it continues to irk me that for the last 6 years we have seen one business concern after another making huge profits in response to problems that are intentionally created by men, which doesn’t address the root problem.
The root problem in this case isn’t a natural byproduct of human activity, such as methane release in coal mining as an example, it’s a problem related to food processors intentionally adding toxic substances to their food products. It’s a safety issue that is man-made, not a naturally occurring problem. The companies that make a living by selling products that monitor methane in coal mines provide a necessary and noble product that ensures the safety of miners and the corporate assets of the business they work for. That is what I am referring to.
This series of problems is a result of big business and government holding each other’s hands and looking the other way thus allowing a problem to fester by ignoring their primary responsibilities. Once the cat is out of the bag and the problem makes them look bad, a problem that they created, they spring into inaction. Bureaucracy and cost are always the reasons given why they can’t do something. Next tune, please.
A word of caution before clicking the link to the "Family Jewels" reports, the pages of the report have been converted into .gif files which will load in your browser. There are over 700 pages so I would recommend dial-up users using a different URL to view/download the files. If I can find a Table of Contents style index page for the reports I'll post it. For those with a broadband connection, here you go: Selected excerpts from the CIA "Family Jewels" report.
Also keep in mind that you are viting the CIA's public website when viewing these documents.
Nothing like a good case of coincidence to turn your head, is there? Here in Atlanta we are beginning to see the true early stages of what will probably turn out to be a major failure of our healthcare system and this is hot on the heels of the new Michael Moore film that will be released this week. For years we have been learning about the financial crisis at one of the major hospitals in Atlanta, Grady Health Care System, and the crisis is finally at a tipping point 7 years after the hemorrhaging began.
Grady Hospital plays a vital and central role in the health care system for the metropolitan Atlanta area, for those not from Atlanta or familiar with our health care system. It is the only level 1 trauma unit in the area and its location in downtown Atlanta puts it in a busy and special location. Indigents and the uninsured also use Grady, as it is the only source of medical care they have and in a metropolitan area of more than 4 million people, you can imagine its level of use simply for those two aspects.
We are now hearing that the financial situation is so dire at Grady that we Atlantans need to consider and prepare for it’s possible closure. If this happens the patients that would normally use the Grady Healthcare System will be redirected to the remaining hospitals and clinics in the metro area. In other words, an already overwhelmed health care system for the metropolitan Atlanta area will have to absorb the load of almost 1 million patients per year.
You may be wondering where the conspiracy is in this story? To be honest, there may be one; there may not be one. What can be said is that the experience of getting sick or being injured in one of the major cities of America may turn into a nightmare of shocking proportions. Who’s to blame, the isolated administrators of the Grady Healthcare System or a broader administration of healthcare in America? Probably a combination of both.
What we will see is patterns emerge from this problem and we will see the pattern solidify in shape and form. The wealthy, those who have the resources to fend for themselves, will be taken care of and their finances will carry them through. The poor and middle class will suffer for they haven’t the financial resources to protect themselves. Lives will be torn, lives will be lost and the strong will continue to survive. In effect, we will see a microcosm of the greater Illuminati Conspiracy Theory. Depopulation and a greater divide between the haves and the have nots.
Many can argue that business, like nature, is a struggle for survival and those that cannot survive in business should and will die. I agree with that idea to an extent. When it comes to vital services, and healthcare is a vital service, survival of the fittest should not be a factor. While Grady does need stronger leadership, it should not be sacrificed as a failed business. It provides more than just a service to the indigent and poor of Atlanta; the very structure of healthcare for all Atlantans and Georgians is at risk if it is allowed to close its doors. Doctors who practice within a 100-mile radius of Atlanta also send their patients to Atlanta for the higher quality of care they can receive in the city. They would no longer be able to do this if Grady is allowed to close as the remaining city hospitals and clinics will be overwhelmed with nearly 1 million more patients per year. The healthcare of Georgians and the healthcare for the entire southeastern US would feel the ripple effects of this.
The release of SiCKO should provoke discussion in this country about the healthcare system and we need to pay attention to how the film is discussed. We know that the health insurance industry has ramped up their attack machine on Moore and they will spin the lies and propaganda about their industry on a daily basis. Let’s try to look through the lies and bullshit that will rise to the top and go beyond them. In the end, all Americans, not just a select few, will benefit if we do this.
The past week has brought to light an aspect of the Bush administration that has only been reported peripherally. The revelation that VP Cheney is not only violating the Presidential Records Act intentionally but has also created his own security and classification system for documents and is claiming that he, his office and his responsibilities are not connected to the Executive Branch, shouldn’t be surprising. The fact that no one seems to give a damn and holy hell is not being raised is surprising. Cheney’s control over the shadow government has been documented several times since the 9/11 attacks, what we are now seeing are glimpses of the mechanisms he has put in place to work behind a veil of secrecy of his own creation.
Several months after 9/11 there was an article published by Time Magazine that provided a general overview of Cheney’s whereabouts in the days and weeks following the disaster. Site R was described and vague details of how the shadow government operates were given. Cheney is many things, but dumb and disorganized he is not. The processes we are now being seeing for the first time, such as his customized document classification system are simply the surface gloss covering what he and his office and henchmen are doing as day-to-day work.
The fact that the Fourth Estate is rolling over and purring like a content kitten and not making this a major news story is one more piece of evidence that the so-called “Liberal Media Bias” is simply a fable and term used by propagandists. Our senior members of the Executive Branch are showing all of us once again that they believe the laws of the land do not apply to them, that they are above the law and complicit in this conspiracy to circumvent the law is our mass media, the Fourth Estate.
The details of what Cheney and his staff are and have been doing in secret will most likely never be learned. Document shredding appears to be a full time job at the Naval Observatory and we have seen first hand that those who are the leaves on this tree of power do not open their mouths, even with the threat of prison hanging over their head. Their loyalty is to individuals and to the maintenance of power, not to our nation and certainly not to their fellow Americans. The scandal that brews beneath the surface of this process in the office of the VP may never see the light of day, and it never will if the corporate news leaders have their way.
But few care and why should they with Paris Hilton nearing the end of her jail stint and an interview ready to happen with the giant of journalism, Larry King. We have pregnant white women being murdered to satisfy your news jones and if that isn’t enough to satisfy our need to be informed about the world around us we still have Barry Bonds waiting in the corner with his juiced race to surpass Henry Aaron for the home run record. With race, murder, sports and celebrity to ponder who needs to spend time thinking about boring politics?
The Washington Post and MSNBC are reporting that DCI Michael Hayden is about to okay the release of several hundred pages from the CIA's infamous "Family Jewels" reports. Backstory on these reports and their history can be found in the link.
This is a very curious development, especially at this critical juncture in US history. We have major Constitutional questions that the agency are a central component of in their actions in this "War on Terror". Most specifically we know some details of the extraordinary rendition program being run by the agency. Several CIA agents are currently being tried in abstentina in an Italian court for kidnapping suspected terrorists from that country.
We also have VP Cheney's foreboding comments from 2001 where he stated the US Intelligence Community would have to work in "the dark side" from that point on. If Abu Grahib, Guantanamo Bay, the spying on Americans and rendition strategies is only the tip of the iceberg, and who's to say it isn't, there could be things going on that make even the Family Jewels reports seem tame in comparison.
The timing of this release of historical info is also interesting. Perhaps the agency sees the writing is on the wall regarding their activities since 9/11/2001 and they know it will be sooner than later before the word leaks out and they wish to soften the blow by desensitizing us to what is coming? Perhaps they know a leak is in the works already? Who knows.
All that can be said is that the agency releases information of their own choice about as often as Haley's Comet swings around in view. Something is driving this release and it isn't patriotism or a belief that state secrets are damaging to a Democracy. The trick in this case is trying to understand why they want to release it.
Once the papers are released I am certainly going to have a look and I highly recommend that all Conspiracy Theory researchers and enthusiasts do the same, even if the agency or government theories are not your main subject of interest. Red herrings, misdirection, disinfo and manipulation should be things we all keep in mind while digesting the documents. Whatever reason the agency has in releasing these documents there has to be an ulterior motive and we need to step back and think of their place in the big picture.
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, or been renditioned to spend a summer vacation in Gitmo. Work, the kind that pays the bills and adds gray hair to my head, has been busy and hectic. If I can get through this week unscathed I should be back to posting regularly once again.
A comment left by someone on the 12th for my post about the recent Blackwater legal maneuver seemed a bit odd to me. After searching a bit I found the identical comment posted on three different blogs that were commenting on this story. While I can understand the desire to post a comment on a subject that you feel strongly about, the overall tone and attempt to redirect attention away from Blackwater and into “ambulance chaser” hatred didn’t sit right with me. While I only did a quick search for similar comments on blogs, finding 3 identical comments in only a minute from a loose search query makes me wonder if the anonymous poster of the comment (using the name “scar’d” in the other postings) has a dog in this fight, so to speak.
Astroturf movements get started in similar ways as this and viral advertising gets spread in a similar manner as well. Individuals with an agenda to spread an idea with ulterior motives do tend to seek out open comment sites such as message boards and blog comments. While I can’t say with certainty that the poster is an agent tasked with seeding this idea their action fits the mold. Is this comment poster hitting other blogs and message boards with this same message in an attempt to sway attention away from the direction of the Blackwater suit and stir anti-lawyer sentiment as the means of distracting us from the subject?
For your own thoughts here are links to the comment posted here at my blog as well as the other three blogs.
This morning’s news about the bombing of the Askariya shrine adds to a foreboding situation throughout the middle east. The shrine is one of the holiest to Shiite Muslims and is prophesized as the place where the 12th Imam will return. The bodies of the 10th and 11th Imams are interred at the Mosque. With an increase of violence in Iraq, battles in Gaza spreading between Hamas and Fatah factions and verging on civil war and a tenuous cease fire being declared between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government, we are heading into a tense summer.
Old tensions are increasing throughout the region and even the cold war between the US and Russia is beginning to pick up steam once again. International tensions such as this are not new but there seems to be a sense of urgency and hair-trigger response that we haven’t seen since the late 60’s and early 70’s at the height of Israeli/Arab tensions. I believe we truly are entering a phase where one event could trigger a cascade of events that sends all of us into a real world war. The idea was floated last summer at the height of the fighting between Israel and Lebanon last summer.
As usual, watch for periphery events to guide you as to what could be in store for the future. The decision to oust General Pace as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and replace him with an Admiral who had a command level role in the Serb bombing campaign, who also has close career ties to the new head of CENTCOM, the US appears to be getting it's own ducks in order for more combat. The placing of Admirals Mullen and Fallon into these positions are a clear indication that a Naval-centric approach to US strategy in the middle east is coming.
My pet theory right now is that yet another "surge" or increase of troops in Iraq will occur within a year while the Navy begins a surface warfare strategy against Iran. Those troops already on the ground will need to dig in before the Navy begins its operations and hell will break loose once they do.
There has been quite a bit of discussion going on at various blogs and alternative news sites over the past few days regarding the lawsuit by Blackwater Security Consulting against the families of the 4 Blackwater contractors who were killed in Fallujah in 2004 in a now infamous attack. The background and shadowy details of Blackwater and it’s right-wing extremist president, Erik Prince, has been garnering more and more attention of late with books being published about him and this private army, as well as the troubling rise of contractors in Iraq. I’ve posted briefly about Prince in an earlier post but to get a more well rounded set of information about him I strongly advise the reader to spend some time Googling his name.
One of the most worrisome aspects of this lawsuit against the families is the effect it could have on other families who may wish to sue Blackwater in the future if their loved ones meet their demise in Iraq or elsewhere in the world. It could also have a chilling effect on any potential Government investigations into their work in the “War on Terror”. Among the attorneys who are pursuing the lawsuit against the families are Fred Fielding (current counsel to President Bush), Joseph Schmitz (former Inspector General of the Pentagon), Kenneth Starr (of the infamous Starr investigation of President Clinton) and Cofer Black (former Director of the CIA Counter Terrorism Center).
What Blackwater has done in retaining these lawyers in this case is troubling when you consider their connections to the upper echelons of the recent power structure in Washington. Fielding’s involvement is quite troubling as his presence creates a direct pipeline of information between the President, Rove, Cheney and Blackwater. Attorney/Client privilege is supposed to prevent information from leaking out of cases like this but do we really believe that these people care about the law and privacy? One thing about those who wield true power in this country is that they do not view the laws of this nation as something that applies to them.
The last thing Blackwater needs is to have it’s inner workings exposed before the American public, especially in a case that would generate public sympathy for the families of the deceased contractors. In fact, a full disclosure of the inner workings of Blackwater is what this nation needs. We need to wake up to the dangers presented by a rogue, private army being led by a far right-wing extremist that is being supported by extremist ideologues within our own Government.
A potential widening of the war in Iraq is currently underway with Turkey amasing troops, tanks and artillery on its border with Iraq. This is what happens when ancient politics and emotions are allowed to run free. Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr is now claiming that he and his forces will defend the Kurds from Turkish forces which have already been bombarding Kurdish villages after suicide attacks against Turkish forces inside Turkey.
The Al Sadr comments alone are worthy of concern for the fate of the region. Al Sadr, a Shiite, is claiming the Kurdish people to be an integral part of Iraq. These are difficult comments to dissect considering the fact that the Shia are a minority in the Kurdish culture. What is equally concerning to me is the timing of the end of the Bilderberg meeting in Istanbul with this troop buildup along the Iraq border.
Did the Bilderbergers give Ankara the green light to invade Iraq and begin what will probably be a slaughter of the Kurdish people? What will be the outcome of such a move. I think it’s easy to say that if Turkey does indeed invade the Kurdistan region we will see a major uptick in extremist attacks throughout the region, not just Iraq and Turkey.
July 22nd will be the date to keep in mind for anything happening with Turkey as this is the date of their next elections and their Parliament is currently in recess. A border skirmish or incursion in the region, such as this scenario or an escalation somewhere else such as the Syrian/Lebanon border could be the key to the next phase in the chess match being played in the region. Last summer’s action between Israel and Lebanon was a preview of what we can expect in the future.
If you have dealt with manipulative people in your life for a long enough period of time you begin to understand patterns, habits and techniques they use to get what they want or do what they want. The skilled manipulator is capable of formulating an end result they wish to achieve, forcing behavior or actions that enable them to achieve their goals and finally pulling it off with “I had no other choice” as their justification.
I’ve thought about the tactics of manipulators this past week, more specifically the manipulators that we all deal with, our political leaders. In this context of our political leaders I have focused on the ongoing war in Iraq and the still beating drumbeat of war in Iran. Let’s look at a few facts that can hardly be disputed:
1) The neo-con leaders and brain trust are dead set on a nuclear strike on Iran. Not a ground invasion, not a conventional air strike, a nuclear air strike. They make no secret of their feelings and this is openly discussed and defended by them on a daily basis.
2) If the efforts to date in Iran had been an honest attempt to democratize and rebuild a nation, this could only be considered an absolute failure of diplomacy and leadership. While it is true that even the brightest and best among us can fail and they are not above failure, the sheer number of failures in Iran are a sign that there was never an attempt to honestly democratize and rebuild the nation. The failures have been planned.
3) The current surge strategy is not and never has worked. You cannot play “whack a mole” with an enemy and expect to succeed. The number of troops that were assigned for the invasion and occupation of Iraq (Afghanistan as well) were woefully short in numbers. This set the stage for failure before combat began. This wasn’t a simply underestimation or a failure due to lack of good, hard intelligence or intelligence analysis; it was intentional.
4) There is now a complete absence of doubt that our armed forces are in a crisis mode. The loss of men and equipment, the burnout that is occurring within the ranks and a certain shift in mood by the foot soldiers on the ground in Iraq are obvious signs. Reports coming from some of the greatest rational military thinkers and strategists confirm these outward signs. Our military has been wrecked by a failure to properly lead it, and a failure to maintain it. This has had an even more dangerous impact than an intentional dismantling of the services.
Are all four of these points just random coincidences or the result of poor leadership and cloudy foresight? To simply write these things off to incompetence is to turn a blind eye to an obvious fact, the people who hold true power in this country and led us into this catastrophe did not attain those positions out of sheer good luck. They are extremely bright and perceptive people who have focused on a goal of recreating and redefining an Imperial United States. They were smart enough and capable enough to gain these positions, failures such as these do not fit the equation.
These are not failures they are intentional acts. The end goal is control over the Middle East and it’s resources. Africa has even become an official target of the current Military-Industrial Complex as well as gaining the attention of the neo-con theorists as we have seen the Pentagon officially create its first headquarters that is tasked with the monitoring and control of the African continent.
How would these people gain and maintain control over the entire Middle East or Africa? Depopulation is the only method that can be seriously considered. We are all aware of the infamous 2000 PNAC report, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century.” In which it is argued that a “New Pearl harbor” would be the impetus to enter a new world war, which addressed instability in the Middle East, our nation’s longstanding Imperial status and America’s need for a supply of oil. It is not beyond simple conjecture to question if other, far more sinister reports have circulated around Washington that take these ideas to a greater extreme and combine other connected ideas of the neo-cons. If reports do not exist, can we say with any certainty that the most extreme right-wing theorists have at least broached ideas of this nature at cocktail parties, think tank sessions and corporate retreats for quite some time?
Henry Kissinger once commented on US soldiers by saying, “Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” This attitude is not isolated, Kissinger is one of the most powerful political, social and economic elites this nation has to offer. He is a fixture on the Council on Foreign Relations, The Bilderberg Group and is nothing less than a guru in international circles.
Prince Philip has made no secret of his feelings about population control, more specifically his support of the idea of depopulation of the world. A constant periphial but connecting idea that is shared among the neo-cons, globalists and Illuminati conspiracy theorists is the idea of a massive depopulation of the world at large.
Consider the environment in the Arabic, Persian and North African worlds at this very moment. Anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high. Support for the violent ousting of American troops in all those regions is extremely high. The true masters of world power have their eyes set on the wealth and resources of those regions. Oil, poppy, gold, diamonds, and every resource they have. The overt use of military support in the capacity of an occupying force from nations such as Britain and France was shown decades ago to be an inefficient and miserable means of controlling the resources of a nation.
What would be a more efficient and overwhelming means of controlling the indigenous population while assuming complete control of the resources of those nations? Complete and overwhelming destruction would work in the nations where a certain amount of western style civilization has a foothold. In the poorest of nations it would not work simply because those people know nothing but strife, suffering and violence in their lives. In the theoretically rich Muslim nations there is a threat of religious inspired violence for which overwhelming force is seen as a challenge and is historically in their realm of consciousness.
The way to control these nations, their people and their wealth, is to use complete and overwhelming use of force combined with strong methods of depopulation. Nuclear attacks on Iran would provide both of these qualities. The weapons themselves would provide destructive power; their fallout would curse the region with radiation sickness and generations of birth defects and cancer. Imagine if this were combined in nations such as Somalia, for which the US has been targeting with Naval Shore Bombardment in recent months, with highly infectious diseases with a staggering mortality rate?
We have seen strange and isolated cases of new and old diseases break out and disappear in the most rural and impoverished areas of the world and the most cosmopolitan and wealthy areas. The SARS virus, which oddly arose and then disappeared in Toronto. The spread of and implied human-to-human transmission of H5N1 (bird flu) in several sub-Asian nations such as Vietnam. The recent XDB tuberculosis patient who traipsed across Europe and North America with no restrictions and no manhunt. It is easy to look at these and many other cases such as West Nile virus in America, Acinetobacter Baumannii that has infected wounded US troops in Iraq, and realize that data can be gathered from these events to help plot an intentional outbreak of some deadly virus.
America and many, many innocent nations would of course feel the effects of such an attack (nuclear or Biological) but they would be minimal compared to what would be felt by the nations targeted. Never forget that all during the Cold War, American strategists theorized over Nuclear War, where Megadeaths, deaths in the millions, were used and considered as acceptable losses in the scenarios considered for Thermo-Nuclear Warfare. The tenants of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) would not come into play in such a scenario as I have presented because there would be no “other side” to fire back with identical weapons.
What would be the response from Arabic, Persian and African nations in such a scenario? They pose no military threat to the US mainland. The only “threat” to come of such activity would be terrorists’ attacks on American soil. Even if a terrorist organization held a single Nuclear weapon it’s effect on the nation as a whole would be small in comparison to what US weapons could do to those nations. Retaliatory strikes would be considered a chance to inflict even more damage upon the “enemy”. At what point would the risk, MAD, be too great to consider? The only point would be if another Nuclear power threatened to strike at us in a pre-emptive measure. But, the tenants of MAD would prevent that from occurring, so the threat is neutralized.
So, how does this relate to the subject of manipulators and the current situation in Iraq and Iran? The end goal that has been propsed by PNAC and the neo-con cabal has been to gain control of resources and people. They claim an end times type of threat from Iran. The military is incapable of a ground assault in Iran. The situation in Iraq is dire.
These facts would lead them to a scenario where the Nuclear option is not only feasible, it would be the only option. The condition of the US armed forces as well as a call for a greater “shock and awe” campaign would be the justification. Radiation? Well, oil prices would of course spike, but price controls could be used in conjunction with martial law to quell the public. Of course the Military-Industrial Complex would make an even larger financial killing creating new technologies to protect workers from radiation and selling new devices. The contractors would make an even larger killing with their fees for working in a radiation hazard environment. The oil companies would ultimately make an even greater killing since they would effectively have the oil rich lands all to themselves with no interference. A virtual ghost of a population in these nations would be easily controlled as they would be sick, in a minority and powerless.
When we consider the state of affairs concerning our involvement in Iraq the end game should be in our minds just as much as the current series of moves.
The mystery of the missing honeybees is still providing new clues and insights. After the mass media rush to cover the story, more curious information has come to light. To read more of my posts on the missing honeybee mystery, click this link and you will find all of my posts which include links to news and industry websites that provide a wealth of information on this story that go far beyond what you saw on the evening news or on cable TV.
While browsing for new stories on the missing honeybee mystery I found an extremely interesting comment from a representative of the Michigan Beekeepers Association who blames the colony collapse on bee food,
“The high-fructose corn syrup these commercial guys are feeding their honeybeesThis is quite a significant statement. We have all been reading for years about the dangers and health threat that high fructose corn syrup can be to human health. The introduction of GM corn syrup into the colony collapse mystery is quite an eye opener for me and one I had not thought of.
is made from genetically modified corn, which is made to hurt insects."
My posts will be a little slow to come this week as my time and energy are in short supply for the blog. There is more news on the contaminated Chinese food product front. These stories can be found with a little searching but you have to move away from the big 5 of mass media to find them.
Another feed product has been found to be contaminated with melamine. A Pennsylvania company that makes feed for shrimp has recalled it product.
The Chinese government is calling the warning to American consumers about imported toothpaste, “unscientific, irresponsible and contradictory.” This, after hundreds have died in Latin America and the Caribbean after using toothpaste imported from China that contained diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical compound found in anti-freeze. It’s what gives anti-freeze it’s sweet taste. It’s good to see the Chinese are learning more about capitalism than just raking in the dough, now they can add Doublespeak to their resumes.
A Texas laboratory has found more than just melamine, cyanuric acid and diethylene glycol in products coming from China, they have now found acetaminophen in dog and cat food. It looks like we are going to keep finding toxic and banned chemicals as well as drugs in foods coming from China, I wonder if we will ever find some food in there too?
Bon apetite!
