'from 9/11 truth to 9/11 justice'

from 9/11 blogger: dc911truth.org hosted a conference entitled 'From 9/11 Truth To 9/11 Justice' at George Mason University on 11/11/06. The lectures are now posted on google video and are hyperlinked below. Enjoy!

Webster Griffin Tarpley with introduction by Robert Steele
historian, investigative journalist, and author of 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, amazon.com bestseller now in its third edition.

Wayne Madsen
waynemadsenreport.com, investigative journalist, syndicated columnist, former U.S. Naval Intelligence and NSA officer. Author of Jaded Tasks: Brass Plates, Black Ops & Big Oil–The Blood Politics of George Bush & Co.

Dr. Kevin Barrett
lecturer, Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Co-founder of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth.

J. Michael Springmann
former Chief, Visa Section, U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where the CIA repeatedly overruled his rejections and issued visas for 15 of the 19 alleged hijackers.

Dr. Robert Bowman
Lt. Col., USAF, ret., Democratic candidate for Congress, Florida’s 15th District. Decorated air combat veteran; head of Star Wars programs under Presidents Ford & Carter; Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech; leading expert on national security.

Daniel Abrahamson
journalist and creator of the website false flag news, reporting on military practice drills to prevent their use as covers for false-flag operations.

US death toll in Iraq reaches 3000

from ap/my way: The death of a Texas soldier, announced Sunday by the Pentagon, raised the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to at least 3,000 since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.

The grim milestone was crossed on the final day of 2006 and at the end of the deadliest month for the American military in Iraq in the past 12 months. At least 111 U.S. service members were reported to have died in December.

Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said. Donica was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

His death was not announced by U.S. military authorities in Baghdad.

At least 820 U.S. military personnel died in Iraq in 2006, according to the AP count.

dissenter silenced

here is the alex jones cameo from 'a scanner darkly'

iris scan database of children forms

from houston chronicle: Technology developed to keep track of prisoners by scanning their irises became available Thursday to identify missing children... part of an effort to image the irises of 5 million children into a nationwide database over the next few years, said Robert Melley, vice president and CEO of Biometric Intelligence & Identification.

but this will only be used for 'the children'... yeah, and the military commissions act isn't for american citizens & the detentions centers being built are for an 'immigration emergency.'

saddam hussein executed in Iraq

from bbc: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging at an unspecified location outside Baghdad's Green Zone for crimes against humanity...

from wayne madsen: Iraq's former dictator managed to avoid one of the world's most high-tech assassination efforts during the Iraq War campaign only to be allegedly discovered by U.S. forces hiding in a hole in the ground near Tikrit. There is little doubt that the trial of Saddam Hussein by a U.S. puppet government in the Green Zone of Baghdad has been a charade and a miscarriage of justice.

Saddam's death sentence decided by an Iraqi government-appointed and U.S.-approved judge on Dec. 26 was never in doubt, considering the knowledge the former Iraqi leader possesses of past crimes of the Bush family and their coterie of friends and partners in providing Iraq with much of the biological and chemical weaponry used against the Kurds, Shi'as, and Iranians.

Saddam Hussein's willingness to provide the Western media with documents and other evidence of the connivance of George H. W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Frank Carlucci, and other Reagan-Bush administration principals was made apparent to this editor in the months preceding the March 2003 American attack on Iraq.

A senior Iraqi official contacted a British colleague of this editor and passed on a personal offer from Saddam Hussein to provide an "enterprising" Western journalist with the proof of America's sanctioning of Saddam's use of U.S.-supplied chem-bio weapons during the Iran-Iraq War, including Iraq's attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja. Also included in Saddam's "package" would be top secret information regarding his role as a longtime asset for the CIA, dating from his student days in Cairo.

The essence of the offer passed to this editor via the British interlocutor was that Saddam, aware that George W. Bush was going to attack Iraq, ordered his intelligence service to gather up all incriminating evidence that would show the world that Iraq's past "weapons of mass destruction" were provided by the Reagan and Bush I administrations.

This proof undoubtedly included tape recorded conversations between Saddam and his advisers and Ronald Reagan's personal envoy to Iraq, Rumsfeld. Saddam hoped that the exposure of the Reagan-Bush administrations would embarrass Washington and derail its attack plans.

The offer from Baghdad was straightforward -- arrive in Baghdad overland from Jordan and the proof would be handed over. There was one slight hitch. Having such incriminating evidence -- documents and proof that the Reagan administration and that of George W. Bush's father aided and abetted in Saddam's military's use of chem-bio weaponry against Iranians and his own people -- would have likely made any "enterprising" Western journalist an inviting target for a number of bad actors the moment that journalist crossed into Jordanian territory from Iraq.

Ironically, Saddam Hussein was more willing to provide the media with classified and sensitive information to expose the machinations of the United States than anyone in the George W. Bush administration or that of his father.

It is very clear why the Bush administration wants Saddam dead and it has nothing to do with Saddam's alleged "crimes against humanity."

before we go eulogizing gerald ford. . .

from wayne madsen: As the nation eulogizes President Gerald R. Ford, who died last night in California, no one should lose sight of the fact that it was Ford who helped launch the careers of the two ugliest faces in the George W. Bush administration: Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney and Rumsfeld were deep-selected from lower-level positions in the Nixon administration and named as Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff for Ford's White House. After Rumsfeld was selected as Ford's Secretary of Defense, Cheney succeeded his longtime mentor as Chief of Staff.

Rumsfeld and Cheney made it their cause to "restore" the power of Nixon's "imperial presidency" to a future Republican president. That was all but impossible under Reagan and Bush I since the entire Congress was in the hands of the Democrats for all but six years. However, Cheney and Rumsfeld succeeded in their goal under George W. Bush.

In addition to the "gruesome twosome" of Rumsfeld and Cheney, Ford also propelled George H. W. Bush into the world of future chicanery when he named the former Texas congressman, UN ambassador, envoy to Beijing, and Republican National Committee chair as CIA Director. Bush, who only served as director for one year managed to involve the agency in a number of terrorist attacks, a direct slap at those who were trying to curb the excesses of the CIA under the Nixon administration, including outgoing director William Colby.

Bush approved CIA assistance in the illegal car bombing assassination of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and his American colleague, Ronni Moffitt, on a Washington, DC street in the heart of Embassy Row. Under Ford, Bush also approved the bombing of a Cubana Airlines passenger plane off the coast of Barbados that killed over 70 men, women, and children.

Much is being made of Ford's statement in the wake of Nixon's resignation that "our long national nightmare is over." Mr. Ford's elevation of Bush, Sr., Rumsfeld, and Cheney did not end our national nightmare, it merely postponed it until January 20, 2001.

rudy's 9/11 snag

from new york post: A group of 9/11 victims' families who have criticized Rudy Giuliani's record vowed yesterday to reveal the "truth" of his performance during the terror attacks.

The angry words came after The Post reported that supporters of Giuliani have started discussions with 9/11 family members about backing him in a 2008 White House race.

His moves may be an attempt to head off criticism from relatives like Sally Regenhard, the mother of a late firefighter who vowed months ago to make "Swiftboat"-type criticisms of the ex-mayor.

"I can't see why any 9/11 family member who knows the truth about the failures of the Giuliani administration . . . would not be outraged about the failures," said Regenhard.

She co-founded a group called the Skyscraper Safety Campaign and heckled Giuliani when he testified at 9/11 commission hearings in 2004. She has long blamed Giuliani for communications failures, including faulty radios, at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

"My role, and the role of other family members, will be to bring this truth to light," she said.

Regenhard said she didn't want a fight with other victims' relatives, but said, "If these family members knew the truth about the failures of this administration... they would reconsider support for someone like him."

Giuliani gained renown for his calming voice and handling of the recovery effort immediately after the attacks. That fame launched him as a national figure and a GOP star.

On Tuesday, Lee Ielpi - a former firefighter who lost his son on 9/11 - said he had approached a Giuliani aide about supporting the former mayor in 2008. Asked how he would respond if other families criticized Giuliani, Ielpi said, "I would address their questions to the best of my ability without having a conflict . . . with other family members."

Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel said, "We have received a lot of calls from people from all walks of life and from all parts of the country who support Rudy."

Monica Gabrielle, who works with Regenhard and lost her husband on 9/11, said Giuliani is "riding on a myth that he created, and if he were truly a leader, he would have discussed the [communications] failures."

But she said she had no issue with his supporters discussing the presidential race with any 9/11 family members.

Lorie Van Auken was one of the "Jersey Girls" who helped push for the creation of the 9/11 commission, which examined the intelligence failures leading up to the attacks. She said she has no plans to try to counter Giuliani's positive publicity.

"I am not planning anything yet, but I wouldn't be averse to making my opinion clear," said Van Auken, who has strongly criticized Giuliani.

Saddam's death to be videotaped

from blacklisted news/cbs news: Saddam Hussein's final moments will be videotaped by the Iraqi government, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston. National Security adviser Mouffak al Rubaie says the date of the deposed dictator's execution will not be made public, to avoid possible unrest from Saddam's supporters, but everything from the signing of the final orders by the judge, to the hanging itself will be recorded.

Iraqis, members of the coalition, and international representatives will witness the execution. It's not clear whether the videotape will be broadcast on Iraqi television.

An Iraqi government official says efforts are under way to carry out the death sentence by the end of this month, indicating that they want to do the execution before the Muslim celebration of Eid, which coincides with the New Year.

news on the march

Ba'ath threatens US if Saddam is executed
from international herald tribune: Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party threatened Wednesday to retaliate if the ousted Iraqi leader is executed, warning in an Internet posting it would target U.S. interests anywhere... "Our party warns again of the consequences of executing Mr. President and his comrades... The Ba'ath and the resistance are determined to retaliate, with all means and everywhere, to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime," the statement added, referring to Ba'ath fighters as "the resistance."

Israel breaks settlement promise to US
from ap/msnbc: Israel has approved a new settlement in the West Bank to house former Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday, breaking a promise to the U.S. to halt home construction in the Palestinian territories.

FBI says files in leak cases are 'missing'
from new york sun: The FBI is missing nearly a quarter of its files relating to investigations of recent leaks of classified information, according to a court filing the bureau made last week. In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the FBI said it identified 94 leak investigations since 2001, but that the investigative files in 22 of those cases "are missing" and cannot be located.

China to stay with one-child policy
from ap/cnn: China has no plans to change its one-child policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said, adding family planning was critical to China's modernization plans. The official Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday quoted Wen as saying the "government will adhere to the basic policy of family planning with improved services and stronger leadership."

French troops had bin Laden in sights
from reuters/yahoo: A documentary says French special forces had Osama bin Laden in their sights twice about three years ago but their U.S. superiors never ordered them to fire. The French military, however, said that the incidents never happened and the report was "erroneous information."

american blackout

from google video: Whatever you think you know about our election systems or Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, this film will make you question further why the news media fails to accurately inform the public. Directed by GNN's Ian Inaba, creator of Eminem's "Mosh" music video, American Blackout critically examines the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence voices of political dissent.

Many have heard of the alleged voting irregularities that occurred during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Until now, these incidents have gone under-reported and are commonly written-off as insignificant rumors or unintentional mishaps resulting from an overburdened election system.

American Blackout chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Mckinney not only took an active role investigating these election debacles, but has found herself in the middle of her own after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Featuring: Congressional members John Conyers, John Lewis, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Bernie Sanders and jounalists Greg Palast and Bob Fitrakis.

chomsky: it doesn't matter if there's a conspiracy behind 9/11

from blacklisted news: This short clip of Noam Chomsky being interviewed re 9/11 is very revealing in which he says, referring to what critics of the official narrative allege, "what does it matter even if it was true, it wouldn't be significant?" He then refers back to the assassination of JFK in which he still insists that the assassin was Oswald, with the nonsensical comment that "people get killed all the time."

Add to this his routine dismissal of the role of the Jewish lobby in shaping US Middle East policy and it is easy to understand why he is known as the "Chief Gatekeeper."

Will he debate anyone on these issues? Of course, not. He prefers opponents like Alan Dershowitz who is guaranteed not to raise any important issues that Chomsky cannot counter. In [these videos], he speaks about coincidences that can't be explained but it would be nice if he would explain how it was that the 8,000 page Patriot Act was already written, printed, and ready to be sent to Congress immediately after 9/11 when, before the event, there would have been no chance of its passage. Another coincidence?

prince harry off to iraq

from new york post: Prince Harry will soon be off to war in Iraq - and this time, he'll be wearing proper British military gear and not a Nazi uniform.

The young royal reportedly will head to Iraq with his unit in May.

Harry will be stationed near the southern port city of Basra, and will likely be assigned to patrol the border with Iran.

The Daily Telegraph said Harry is determined to go, despite reports of resistance from many in the military who fear the prince would be a fat prize for terrorists.

They're also worried that Harry - who had to apologize publicly for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party in 2005 - would attract attention and put his fellow soldiers in greater danger.

The Telegraph said officials are trying to figure out how they can minimize the dangers, but not give Harry special treatment.

With a rank of cornet, which is like a second lieutenant, the 21-year-old will have a command of 11 men and four light tanks, the Telegraph said.

outside the box #82

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on december 21, 2006.

from alex ansary: This program I set aside the news for an evening to provide my viewers with an insight into my life before I became a regular commentator on the New World Order. Please excuse the first 10 minutes, there were a few technical difficulties.

former president gerald ford dies at 93

from houston chronicle: Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon's scandal-shattered White House as the 38th president and the only one never elected to nationwide office, has died. He was 93...

Ford was an accidental president, Nixon's hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straightforward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.

Minutes after Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal and flew into exile, Ford took office and famously declared: "Our long national nightmare is over."

But he revived the debate over Watergate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on...

Ford also earned a place in the history books as the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, who also was forced from office by scandal...

Even after two women tried separately to kill him, the presidency of Jerry Ford remained open and plain...

[Ford] joined former presidents Carter, Bush and Clinton at a memorial service in Washington three days after the Sept. 11 attacks. In June 2004, the four men and their wives joined again at a funeral service in Washington for former President Reagan...

He was undaunted even after the two attempts on his life in September 1975. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a 26-year-old follower of Charles Manson, was arrested after she aimed a semiautomatic pistol at Ford on Sept. 5 in Sacramento, Calif. A Secret Service agent grabbed her and Ford was unhurt.

Seventeen days later, Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old political activist, was arrested in San Francisco after she fired a gun at the president. Again, Ford was unhurt.

Both women are serving life terms in federal prison...

Ford was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin.

military considers recruiting foreigners

from boston globe: The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks - including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer - according to Pentagon officials.

Foreign citizens serving in the US military is a highly charged issue, which could expose the Pentagon to criticism that it is essentially using mercenaries to defend the country. Other analysts voice concern that a large contingent of noncitizens under arms could jeopardize national security or reflect badly on Americans' willingness to serve in uniform.

The idea of signing up foreigners who are seeking US citizenship is gaining traction as a way to address a critical need for the Pentagon, while fully absorbing some of the roughly one million immigrants that enter the United States legally each year.

The proposal to induct more noncitizens, which is still largely on the drawing board, has to clear a number of hurdles. So far, the Pentagon has been quiet about specifics - including who would be eligible to join, where the recruiting stations would be, and what the minimum standards might involve, including English proficiency. In the meantime, the Pentagon and immigration authorities have expanded a program that accelerates citizenship for legal residents who volunteer for the military.

And since Sept. 11, 2001, the number of immigrants in uniform who have become US citizens has increased from 750 in 2001 to almost 4,600 last year, according to military statistics.

With severe manpower strains because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and a mandate to expand the overall size of the military - the Pentagon is under pressure to consider a variety of proposals involving foreign recruits, according to a military affairs analyst.

"It works as a military idea and it works in the context of American immigration," said Thomas Donnelly , a military scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington and a leading proponent of recruiting more foreigners to serve in the military.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grind on, the Pentagon has warned Congress and the White House that the military is stretched "to the breaking point."

senators nix pre-9/11 hijacker ID theory

from ap/yahoo: A lengthy Senate investigation has debunked charges by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamed Atta and other Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks, according to a committee aide familiar with the report.

In a letter to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sens. Pat Roberts and John D. Rockefeller dismissed suggestions by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., that defense analysts ignored analysis that could have prevented the attacks...

They concluded "there was no evidence Mohamed Atta or any hijackers were identified prior to 9/11," said the committee aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

An internal Pentagon assessment already had dismissed Weldon's charges as unfounded. But the letter from Roberts and Rockefeller is the first rejection from Capitol Hill. The letter was obtained and first reported Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.

Weldon, a 10-term Republican who lost his seat in the Nov. 7 election, repeatedly contended a secret military unit called "Able Danger" searched large amounts of data to link four Sept. 11 hijackers to al-Qaida more than a year before the attacks.

In September, the Pentagon's inspector general found some employees recalled seeing an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist before the attacks. But the report said those accounts "varied significantly" and witnesses were inconsistent at times in their statements.

At the time, Weldon questioned the "motives and the content" of the report and rejected its conclusions, which he said relied on cherry-picked testimony. Weldon could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

According to the committee aide, Roberts and Rockefeller found similar problems in their investigation.

Weldon lost his seat to Democrat Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral who called for troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2007.

Just weeks before the election, the FBI raided the homes of Weldon's daughter and a close friend in an investigation of whether the congressman improperly helped the pair win lobbying and consulting contracts.

fbi chided for okc bomb investigation

from guardian: A two-year congressional inquiry into the Oklahoma City bombing concludes that the FBI didn't fully investigate whether other suspects may have helped Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols with the deadly 1995 attack, allowing questions to linger a decade later.

The House International Relations investigative subcommittee will release the findings of its two-year review as early as Wednesday, declaring there is no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection to the attack, but that far too many unanswered questions remain.

The subcommittee's report will conclude there is no doubt McVeigh and Nichols were the main perpetrators, and it discloses for the first time that Nichols confirmed to House investigators he participated in the robbery of an Arkansas gun dealer that provided the proceeds for the attack.

There have long been questions about that robbery because the FBI concluded McVeigh was in another state at the time it occurred.

The report also sharply criticizes the FBI for failing to be curious enough to pursue credible information that foreign or U.S. citizens may have had contact with Nichols or McVeigh and could have assisted their plot.

"We did our best with limited resources, and I think we moved the understanding of this issue forward a couple of notches even though important questions remain unanswered," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the subcommittee chairman, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Rohrabacher's subcommittee saved its sharpest words for the Justice Department, saying officials there exhibited a mindset of thwarting congressional oversight and did not assist the investigation fully.

The report rebukes the FBI for not fully pursuing leads suggesting other suspects may have provided support to McVeigh and Nichols before their truck bomb killed 168 people in the main federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

The report says the inadequacy of the bureau's work was exposed two years ago when some bombing evidence overlooked for 10 years was discovered in a home linked to Nichols that had been searched repeatedly by agents.

It also notes that McVeigh failed a polygraph when he was asked a question about whether other perpetrators were involved.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Sunday the FBI had not seen the report but that it remains confident its agents conducted a thorough invetsigation.

"The Oklahoma City bombing case was the largest case the FBI worked on before 9/11," Kolko said. "Agents at virtually every office, domestically and overseas, covered thousands of leads. Every bit of information was investigated and reviewed."

The subcommittee report concludes the Justice Department should not have rushed to execute McVeigh in 2001 after he dropped his court appeals, and officials should have made more efforts to interview and question him about evidence suggesting he might have gotten help from other people who remain unpunished.

Rohrabacher's report cites several leads the subcommittee believes weren't fully investigated, including:

*Information that McVeigh called a German citizen living at a white supremacist compound in Oklahoma two weeks before the bombing and that two witnesses saw the men together before the bombing.

*Witness accounts that another man was seen with McVeigh around the time of the bombing. The FBI originally looked for another suspect it named John Doe 2, even providing a sketch, but abruptly dropped that line of inquiry. The subcommittee concludes that decision was a mistake.

*Findings in AP articles in 2003 and 2004 that indicated the FBI had gathered some evidence suggesting a group of neo-Nazi bank robbers may have been tied to McVeigh. The subcommittee interviewed three of those robbers, and all denied a connection. A fourth member of the gang died and a fifth member could not be located by Congress.

*Phone record and witness testimony that persons associated with Middle Eastern terrorism in the Philippines may have had contact with Nichols, and that Nichols took a book about explosives to the Philippines. The FBI and Filipino police spent months investigating such a connection, but ruled it out.

*Information from a former TV reporter concerning an Iraqi national who was in Oklahoma around the time of the bombing.

see also:
martin keating's "the final jihad"
9/11: road to tyranny

death sentence for saddam upheld

from bbc: Iraq's Appeals Court has upheld the death sentence against ousted President Saddam Hussein.

The court rejected an appeal by Saddam Hussein's lawyers and confirmed that he would be hanged, court spokesman Raed Juhi told the BBC.

The appeal was launched after an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein to death on 5 November for the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town Dujail.

Under Iraqi law, Saddam Hussein must be executed within 30 days.

"It cannot exceed 30 days. As from tomorrow [Wednesday] the sentence could be carried out at any time," appeals court judge Arif Shaheen told a news conference in Baghdad.

maoists shut down coke production in nepal

from upi: Followers of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong managed to shutdown the sole bottler of Coke in Nepal over an ongoing employment dispute.

The Times of India reported that since Saturday, a Maoist labor union has effectively shut down two bottling plants owned by Bottlers Nepal in an attempt to force the Coke producer to rehire 55 contract workers.

The 55 workers had been recently laid off from plants in the Nepalese cities of Kathmandu and Bharatpur, ultimately leading to the labor standoff.

The movement by the Maoist group against worker exploitation comes as Coke is beginning an international mobile campaign aimed at promoting its carbonated products.

The standoff also marks the second such occurrence in the area for a soft drink company after Pepsi recently encountered a similar incident.

The paper said earlier this month, Varun Beverages, Nepal's Pepsi bottler, lost nearly a week of production after a Maoist union held back workers seeking better facilities and permanent positions.

industry: protect nuke plants from the air

from playfuls: The nation's nuclear power industry is asking the U.S. government how to protect new plants from airplane terror attacks.

The official request comes weeks after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued initial regulations for new plants that are no tougher than those in effect for decades, The New York Times said.

The request is focused on the commission's Design Basis Threat, a list of possible attack threats the commission has put together on possible defenses for each nuclear company.

Based on post-Sept. 11 concerns, the nuclear power companies and some commission members, such as Gregory B. Jaczko, have suggested new reactors be built with airborne attacks in mind.

"I am encouraged the nuclear industry acknowledges the commission should do more to strengthen security requirements," Jaczko said of the official request, while cautiously adding, "This proposal does not ensure that any new nuclear reactors will be designed to withstand commercial aircraft crashes."

abc honored for 'misleading' 9/11 series

from upi: ABC received a "Falsie" award for its Sept. 11 miniseries that the Center for Media and Democracy chided as the most misleading U.S. show of the year.

The organization - described by as a "left-leaning watchdog group" by Daily Variety - chided ABC's "Path to 9/11" as "an opportunity to rewrite history" launched by conservative filmmakers that directly contradicted the Sept. 11 commission report it was supposedly drawn from.

The Falsies are presented to shows deemed to be subliminal PR spin distorting the facts.

The runner-up for the dubious honor last week was the National Association of Broadcast Communicators, the organization that distributed pre-packaged "video news releases" that appeared to be legitimate TV news reports.

from 9/11 blogger: Listen to Paul Thompson' tell us why "Path To 9/11" was "misleading."

urbi et orbi

from reuters: Pope Benedict delivers traditional Christmas Day ''Urbi et Orbi'' speech to crowds in St Peters Square.

Pope Benedict said in his Christmas message on Monday (December 25) a self-confident humanity that has reached other planets, worships technology and conquers science cannot live without God or turn its back on the hungry masses. The Pope said that while 21st century man appeared to be a master of its own destiny, ''perhaps he needs a saviour all the more'' because much of humanity still suffered.

bush banned from bethlehem

from global research: The Spirit of Christmas consists in spreading Peace and Justice.

The Spirit of Christmas is when War Criminals are banned from the Birthplace of Jesus Christ.

In April 2003, at the height of the military campaign directed against Iraq, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem decided to ban President Bush and Prime Minister Blair from the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

"They are war criminals and murderers of children. Therefore the Church of Nativity decided to ban them access into the holy shrine for ever... Their entry into the church will tarnish it as [Bush's] hands are covered in the blood of the innocent.”

The Church of the Nativity is under the authority of the Greek Orthodox church.

Of utmost significance, the US News media has not reported this story.

Spread the word to Church parishes in the US and around the World.

Unseat the War criminals.

US deaths in Iraq could top 9/11 toll by christmas

from editor & publisher: Five more American troops have died from combat wounds in western Iraq and Baghdad, the military said Friday, pushing the U.S. death toll since the war began closer to the number who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In December, 76 American troops have been killed. At the current rate, the number of U.S. combat deaths this month could meet or exceed the previous monthly record for 2006.
At least 2,964 American troops have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 -- or just nine less than the commonly accepted U.S. death toll on Sept. 11, 2001.

At the current rate this month, the 9/11 figure could be eclipsed before Christmas Day.

Thirty-two journalists have been killed in Iraq this year, the high for any country in recent years.

An estimated 100,000 to more than half a million Iraqis have perished since the war began.

bush OKs grants to preserve camps

from japan times: U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a $38 million grant program to preserve notorious internment camps where Japanese-Americans were kept behind barbed wire during World War II.

The money will be administered by the National Park Service to restore and pay for research at 10 camps. The objective of the law is to help preserve the camps as reminders of how the United States turned on some of its citizens in a time of fear.

The camps housed more than 120,000 Japanese-American U.S. citizens and residents under an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, when the country still was in shock over the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

At the time, there were fears that Japanese-Americans were loyal to Japan, and Roosevelt's order prohibited such people from living on the West Coast in a position possibly to help an invasion force.

Thousands of families in California and parts of Washington state, Oregon and Arizona were pushed from their homes and into camps surrounded by armed guards. The sites named in the legislation are in California, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.

The last of the camps closed in 1946, and President Ronald Reagan signed a presidential apology to Japanese-Americans in 1988.

Cosponsors of the bill included the two current members of Congress who spent time in the camps as children: Democratic Reps. Mike Honda and Doris Matsui of California. Matsui was born in the Poston camp in Arizona.

The National Park Service already operates facilities at two of the 10 camps: the Manzanar National Historic Site in California and the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho.

protesters march against nypd police brutality

from raw story: In the following video report filed by the Associated Press, protesters fill Wall Street in a third demonstration against alleged brutality by the New York Police Department.

from bbc: A group of several hundred protesters took to New York's Wall Street on Thursday as anger over the fatal police shooting of a young black man increases.

The mostly African-American demonstrators, many of whom accused New York's top politicians and police of institutionalised racism, appeared outnumbered by a large assortment of police officers. Despite moments of tension, the event passed off without any violent confrontation.

Sean Bell, a 22-year-old father of two, was killed in the small hours of what was supposed to be his wedding day, at the end of November.

Nobody disputes that 50 police bullets were fired by five plainclothes officers at the car Mr Bell was driving, wounding two passengers who had been celebrating with their friend in a strip club in the borough of Queens hours.

None of the men were armed, but some police officers have said they had reason to believe otherwise.

The majority of officers at the scene were black, but one white officer was responsible for firing 31 of the bullets discharged.

poll: bush not trustworthy, doesn't inspire confidence

from cnn: President Bush faces some discouraging poll numbers as the year many have called the most challenging of his presidency comes to an end.

A majority of the American people, 55 percent, no longer believe Bush shares their values. They also are not sure if he is honest and trustworthy or if he understands complex issues, a CNN poll released Thursday reports. The poll was conducted for CNN by the Opinion Research Corporation and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Nearly 53 percent say he is not honest and trustworthy, and the same number believes he does not understand complex issues. Fifty-one percent also say he is not a strong leader.

Only 37 percent believe that the president inspires confidence, compared to 61 percent who say that he does not. In 2005, 46 percent thought the president inspired confidence. Bush fared much better in this category in 2001 following the September 11 terrorist attacks, when 75 percent said that he inspired confidence.

9/11 truth gets grammy nomination

the new ministry track, 'lies, lies, lies,' which features clips from 'loose change' has been nominated for a grammy in the 'best metal category.' ...

from 9/11 blogger/hip video promo: ... The album peaks with 'Lies, Lies, Lies' , a remarkably candid statement of disbelief in the official line on the Iraq War and the catastrophic events that led up to it. The song opens with sound clips borrowed from Dylan Avery’s incendiary documentary Loose Change – a powerful touchstone for those who believe the Bush Administration has covered up crucial facts about the 9/11 attacks.

Over some of the heaviest beats in Ministry history (and that’s saying something) Jorgensen spits lyrics about government deceit, and punctuates a grinding guitar riff with a guttural cry of “lies!” that sounds as if it’s coming from the burning throat of an infernal judge. His conviction and his outrage are equally scalding.

Here at HIP, we’ve certainly seen our share of anti-administration videos over the past six years. But we don’t think we’ve ever gotten one with more visceral power than director Zach Passero’s hypnotically engrossing clip for 'Lies, Lies, Lies'. What’s so remarkable about it is that it isn’t really over-the-top at all – instead, it communicates its message of resistance through gestures of fear and bewilderment. Passero’s stationary camera scans the interior of a quintessential, television-dominated suburban home. As the people inside sit entranced by the motion pictures, an Arab bogeyman stalks the outdoors, just beyond a living room window. The family members respond as they might have been taught in a Cold War video, ducking and covering under the kitchen table.

But there’s nothing parodic about this clip, and it’s shot with a curious coldness and a strangely antiseptic feel that leaves no doubt about the director’s feelings. All of the everyday objects inside the house seem to take on a too-still quality – they radiate terror and claustrophobia. Possessed, the eldest boy stares at the camera and fingers at a plastic raygun. In the next shot, he sits in the barber’s chair, shorn of his locks and wearing fatigues. Still in a trance, he leaps up from the chair, and follows a procession of marching skeletons – led by George W. Bush.

selective service plans 'readiness' tests for draft

from komo: The Selective Service System is making plans to test its draft machinery in case Congress and President Bush need it, even though the White House says it doesn't want to bring back the draft.

The agency is planning a comprehensive test - not run since 1998 - of its military draft systems, a Selective Service official said. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009.

Scott Campbell, the service's director for operations and chief information officer, cautioned that the "readiness exercise" does not mean the agency is gearing up to resume the draft.

"We're kind of like a fire extinguisher. We sit on a shelf," Campbell told The Associated Press. "Unless the president and Congress get together and say, 'Turn the machine on' ... we're still on the shelf."

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson prompted speculation about the draft Thursday when he told reporters in New York that "society would benefit" if the U.S. were to bring back the draft. Later he issued a statement saying he does not support reinstituting a draft.

The administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that policy has not changed and no proposal to reinstate the draft is being considered.

cheney to take the stand in plamegate case

from raw story: A segment on this morning's CNN broadcast discussed Vice President Dick Cheney's planned testimony as a defense witness in the Justice Department's perjury case against former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby. CNN broadcaster Soledad O'Brien remarked that "it can be kind of confusing" but that "the big take away from this is 'the VP on the stand.'"

CNN correspondent John King noted that Cheney's testimony could be "potentially, politically damaging."

the good shepherd

from wikipedia: The value of secrecy -- commitment to honor and discretion -- has been embedded in Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) since childhood. As a dedicated, optimistic student at Yale University, he is recruited to join the Order of Skull and Bones, a secret society designed to breed the world leaders of tomorrow. Wilson's acute intelligence, immaculate reputation, and sincere belief in American values render him a prime candidate for a career in intelligence. During the Second World War, General Sullivan (Robert De Niro) recruits him to the new Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. As one of the Office's covert founders, duplicity is required of Wilson as he navigates a world where nothing can be accepted at face value.

Over his thirty-year career, Wilson's methods are adopted as standard operating procedure and he becomes a respected veteran in his field, but his idealism is eroded by a growing suspicious nature, reflective of a world settling into the long paranoia of the Cold War, and an escalating conflict with his volatile Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) counterpart. In the end, he sacrifices everything in the name of serving the country he loves, including his devoted wife Clover (Angelina Jolie), his children, and himself.

clinton's security advisor hid 9/11 docs

from my way/ap: President Clinton's national security adviser removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later tried to find the trash collector to retrieve them, the agency's internal watchdog said Wednesday.

The report was issued more than a year after Sandy Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removing the documents.

Berger took the documents in the fall of 2003 while working to prepare himself and Clinton administration witnesses for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission. Berger was authorized as the Clinton administration's representative to make sure the commission got the correct classified materials.

Berger's lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said in a statement that the contents of all the documents exist today and were made available to the commission.

But Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., outgoing chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said he's not convinced that the Archives can account for all the documents taken by Berger. Davis said working papers of National Security Council staff members are not inventoried by the Archives.

"There is absolutely no way to determine if Berger swiped any of these original documents. Consequently, there is no way to ever know if the 9/11 Commission received all required materials," Davis said.

london braces for attack, 'miracle' if there isn't one

from abc news: British intelligence and law enforcement officials have passed on a grim assessment to their U.S. counterparts, "It will be a miracle if there isn't a terror attack over the holidays in London," a senior American law enforcement official tells ABCNews.com.

British police have been quietly carrying out a series of key arrests as they continue to track at least six active "plots" tied to what they call "al Qaeda of England."

Officials said they could not cite any specific date or target but said al Qaeda had planned previous operations during the Christmas holidays that had been disrupted.

"It is not a matter of if there will be an attack, but how bad the attack will be," an intelligence official told ABCNews.com.

Authorities say they are seeking at least 18 suspected suicide bombers.

"They hope they are one step ahead, but they seriously fear they may be one step behind," the senior American official said.

British law enforcement and intelligence officials say the ongoing plots have been in the planning stages for at least three years. The officials say the plots are all connected and track back to al Qaeda commanders in Pakistan who have been recruiting and training British citizens of Pakistan descent.

A report by "Newsweek" says that American al Qaeda figure Adam Gadahn has served as a translator of a 12-member team of Western recruits, the "English brothers," said to be preparing an attack that would be much bigger than last year's attack on the London subway system.

Watch ABCNews' undercover video of the active al Qaeda recruitment efforts inside Pakistan.

U.S. officials say the "Newsweek" report is, in many respects, parallel to intelligence reports they have been receiving.

British Home Minister John Reid recently told reporters that it was "highly likely" that terrorists would attempt an attack before the first of the year.

bush 'developing illegal bioterror weapons' for offensive use

from truthout: In violation of the US Code and international law, the Bush administration is spending more money (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to develop illegal, offensive germ warfare than the $2 billion spent in World War II on the Manhattan Project to make the atomic bomb.

So says Francis Boyle, the professor of international law who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 enacted by Congress. He states the Pentagon "is now gearing up to fight and 'win' biological warfare" pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives adopted "without public knowledge and review" in 2002.

The Pentagon's Chemical and Biological Defense Program (PDF) was revised in 2003 to implement those directives, endorsing "first-use" strike of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) in war, says Boyle, who teaches at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

Terming the action "the proverbial smoking gun," Boyle said the mission of the controversial CBW program "has been altered to permit development of offensive capability in chemical and biological weapons!"

The same directives, Boyle charges in his book Biowarfare and Terrorism (Clarity Press), "unconstitutionally usurp and nullify the right and the power of the United States Congress to declare war, in gross and blatant violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution."

For fiscal years 2001-2004, the federal government funded $14.5 billion "for ostensibly 'civilian' biowarfare-related work alone," a "truly staggering" sum, Boyle wrote.

Another $5.6 billion was voted for "the deceptively-named 'Project BioShield,'" under which Homeland Security is stockpiling vaccines and drugs to fight anthrax, smallpox and other bioterror agents, wrote Boyle. Protection of the civilian population is, he said, "one of the fundamental requirements for effectively waging biowarfare."

The Washington Post reported December 12 that both houses of Congress this month passed legislation "considered by many to be an effort to salvage the two-year-old Project BioShield, which has been marked by delays and operational problems." When President Bush signs it into law, it will allocate $1 billion more over three years for additional research "to pump more money into the private sector sooner." ...