may clearinghouse

activists go face to face with evil as rockefeller confronted

giuliani getting 'tripped up' by 9/11 activists

tb patient's dad-in-law works for cdc's tb program

questions about 9/11 get army sergeant demoted

bush authorizes new covert action against iran

US flexes muscle off iranian coast

armed police swoop on cowgirls with toy guns

'who's a rat' reveals government agents & informants

whitman will testify about 9/11 toxic dust

william rodriguez, 9/11 hero, appeared on fox news in boston

ron paul's 9/11 explanation deserves to be debated

many wonder, did giuliani profit from 9/11?

senator's still pushing cia to release 9/11 report

msm echoed giuliani's distortion of paul's 9/11 comment

cheney impeachment bill gets another cosponsor

the criminal career of rudy giuliani

truth squad questions john edwards about wtc7

bush wants phone companies immune to privacy suits

from local police to occupying army

jeff gannon's ‘bible reading marathon’

doctors: pot triggers psychotic symptoms

may day and the 'posthumous' influence of the illuminati

bilderberg alert!

from village voice: Attention, planet Earth: Your future is being decided today at the annual Bilderberg Group conference. This year's five-star resort site is the Klassis Hotel in Silivri, Turkey, 40 miles from Istanbul.
[ed: this is disinfo, because bilderberg expert jim tucker says it's at the ritz-carlton in istanbul.]

Conspiracy theorists have long thought that the Bilderbergers were a shadowy cabal of pols and industrialists trying to rule the planet and even establish a New World Order.

And some of the attendees would smugly agree with that assessment. That's what Brit author Jon Ronson says in a fascinating CNN Europe report from a couple of years ago that you can view here.

Among this year's attendees at the extremely private (nay, secretive) meetings, according to the Turkish paper Today's Zaman, will be ousted World Bank prexy Paul Wolfowitz, along with the usual cast of characters led by Henry Kissinger.

Let's hope the self-anointed world leaders who are gathering there will shoot some good golf scores. Otherwise, they might take out their frustrations on the rest of us.

Back in the '90s, when the militia movement was gathering steam in the US, those right-wing extremists often focused on the Bilderbergers as proof of a coming New World Order. They were kinda correct.

Fortunately, however, with attendees like Wolfowitz (and such weak goniffs as New York governor George Pataki, who went last year), I wouldn't put too much stock in their plans. Wolfie, as it was noted earlier by the Washington Post during his final daze at the World Bank, was such a poor administrator at the Pentagon and bank that he couldn't organize a two-car funeral.

update: texas gov perry attends bilderberg

from dallas morning news: Gov. Rick Perry is flying to Istanbul, Turkey, today to speak at the super-secret Bilderberg Conference, a meeting of about 130 international leaders in business, media and politics.

The invitation-only conference was started in 1954 and named for the Dutch hotel where the conference was first held. Those who attend promise not to reveal what was discussed, security is tight, and the press and public are barred...

a monarchy vacation

sorry for the disappearance, i meant to post a note about going to the east coast for a week. thanks for your patience. hopefully, my absence made your heart grow fungus, uh, fonder...

i had a great time with friends & family and the time away was much needed. but i still made sure to document some masonic action for you with my new camera...

i mostly stayed away from the news, though i did catch talbot & bugliosi on hardball. and of course, i tried to spread the word about media monarchy...

but now i'm back, i'm well rested & there's a lot to do.

let's get to work...

rachel corrie: an american conscience

from znet: The late Rachel Corrie (1979-2003) was articulate, straightforward and resolute. Her castigation of Israel's military occupation of the Palestinian people and the Israeli Government's disregard for the safety of Israelis and Palestinians rang with clarity. Through peace activism she ascertained the facts on the ground. She called it as she saw it.

The documentary, "Rachel Corrie: An American Conscience," chronicles her humanitarian work with the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah, Gaza Strip, just prior to her murder in March 2003. While Corrie stood in front of a Palestinian home to prevent its demolition, an Israeli soldier in a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer crushed her.

outside the box #102

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on may 17, 2007.

from alex ansary: Tonight I opened up the lines and covered some of the latest news such as (but not limited to) Bush's recent takeover of the DHS in case of a terrorist attack. Later, I show video of the Portland police's response to a call about a suicidal man with a gun. I spoke with a pastor who was upset about the police entering his church to use it as a base during the standoff. I also follow up with some recent news on GM food.

9/11 veteran found murdered in scottsdale

from arizona republic: A 43-year-old man found dead in a Scottsdale apartment last week was a New York City firefighter who survived 9/11.

Salvatore J. Princiotta, 43, was found dead May 14 in his condo...

A death notice published in Newsday on May 18 said Princiotta died "as a result of post 9/11 lung complications." But Scottsdale police on Tuesday said they are investigating the death as a homicide.

Clark told 12 News that investigators were aware of Princiotta's health condition.

Police went to Princiotta's home after a relative told authorities they had not heard from him. It appeared Princiotta had died "many days prior" to the discovery of his body, according to police.

A few days later, his body was placed on a historic firetruck and taken to Sky Harbor Airport under police escort for the trip to New York and a funeral on Long Island. Princiotta was a member of Ladder 9, based at a firehouse less than a mile from Ground Zero.

The homicide case was a shock to Princiotta's brother, Joseph Princiotta. He told 12 News that the family expected pathology to show the lung condition had killed his brother. Joseph Princiotta said his brother moved to Arizona last January because he found it easier to breathe. Two months after the attack, Princiotta was one of six New York firefighters who rode bicycles from New York to California on a tour to thank America.

conspiracies: the pope & the mafia millions

from sky tv/google video: Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found dead in 1982 in London. Known as God's banker for his links with the Vatican, Calvi was the chairman of Banco Ambrosiano and a central figure in a complex web of international fraud. Did the P2 masonic lodge arrange to have him silenced?

'simspons' on the difference between fox news & fox network

from raw story: In this video clip from The Simpsons, as Homer stares mesmerized at the set, Lisa asks the eternal question: "How can Fox News be so conservative when the Fox Network keeps airing raunchy shows? They don't fit together."

The explanation she gets from right-wing Springfield tv news personality Kent Brockman is, "Fox deliberately runs shows that will earn them huge fines they can then funnel through the FCC straight to the Republican Party. Everybody in the media knows it but no one has the guts to say it."

news on the march

macho mistakes at ground zero
from new york times: As more and more workers who inhaled the dust at ground zero fall ill, it has become increasingly clear that much of the problem can be traced to the Giuliani administration’s failure to insist that all emergency personnel and construction workers at the site wear respirators...

uk spy drone takes to the skies
from this is london: The Microdrone, measuring only 2ft between the tips of its eight rotor blades, was originally designed for military reconnaissance.... The drone was unveiled the day after Hampshire Deputy Chief Constable Ian Readhead said the sheer number of CCTV cameras operating today was creating an "Orwellian" society.


the secret history of jerry falwell
from daniel hopsicker: At the same time the Rev. Jerry Falwell was accusing pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU and People For the American Way of sharing responsibility for the 9/11 attack the televangelist owed over one million dollars in unpaid loans to the owner of the terror flight school in Florida which trained Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi... Falwell made no mention, then or ever, of his curious debt to secretive Green Bay financier Wallace J. Hilliard, whose flight school abetted, if unwittingly, the terrorist presence in the United States. Strangely, this is not Jerry Falwell’s only link to covert activity at the tiny Venice, FL airport.

chinese villagers riot over stricter population-control
from int'l herald tribune: An intensive campaign to enforce strict population-control measures prompted violent clashes between the police and local residents in southwestern China in recent days, witnesses said, describing the latest incident of rural unrest that has alarmed senior officials in Beijing.

pentagon considers staying in iraq for 'decades'

from npr: The White House and Pentagon are under increasing pressure from Congress and the public to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq. But the Pentagon is considering maintaining a core group of forces in Iraq, possibly for decades.

Two factors may determine the course of the war in Iraq - political progress inside Iraq and American public opinion. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll finds only 25 percent of Americans say America is moving in the right direction. And Iraq is a big reason for those who think the country is not.

Numbers like that may help to explain a carefully worded public statement this month from Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Testifying before the Senate, he was asked if the Pentagon has made any contingency plans to withdraw from Iraq...

ron paul elaborates on 9/11 comment

from the hill: In a video titled 'Educating Rudy,' Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) expands his take on the causation of the Sept. 11 attacks, which drew fire from front-runner candidate Rudy Giuliani in last week’s GOP debate.

"They say, 'We gotta go over there and fight them over there because we don’t want them coming here,'" Paul said. "I think there’s a great fallacy in that logic. Mainly because they came over here, because we were over there."

hillary & wal-mart: a match made in...

from new york times: Mrs. Clinton’s six-year tenure as a director of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest company, remains a little known chapter in her closely scrutinized career. And it is little known for a reason. Mrs. Clinton rarely, if ever, discusses it, leaving her board membership out of her speeches and off her campaign Web site.

Fellow board members and company executives, who have not spoken publicly about her role at Wal-Mart, say Mrs. Clinton used her position to champion personal causes, like the need for more women in management and a comprehensive environmental program, despite being Wal-Mart’s only female director, the youngest and arguably the least experienced in business. On other topics, like Wal-Mart’s vehement anti-unionism, for example, she was largely silent, they said.

Her years on the Wal-Mart board, from 1986 to 1992, gave her an unusual tutorial in the ways of American business - a credential that could serve as an antidote to Republican efforts to portray her as an enemy of free markets and an advocate for big government.

spin: the art of selling war

from information clearinghouse/blacklisted news:
Directed by Josh Rushing, a veteran Marine Corps media spokesman, "SPIN: The Art of Selling War" is an investigative documentary that looks at the standard justification for going to war by the American administrations of past and present.

media monarchy episode027

here is the latest podcast from media monarchy...
episode027 - may 18, 2007 download/stream/subscribe

media monarchy is originally broadcast on the portland radio authority every friday at 10am pacific/1pm eastern and can also be heard on the revere radio network every monday at 4pm pacific/7pm eastern... plus, you can get always get podcasts of previous episodes thanks to radio4all.net

scientists determine second jfk assassin 'possible'

from washington post: In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald alone shot the two bullets that struck and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.

The researchers' re-analysis involved new statistical calculations and a modern chemical analysis of bullets from the same batch Oswald is purported to have used. They reached no conclusion about whether more than one gunman was involved, but urged that authorities conduct a new and complete forensic re-analysis of the five bullet fragments left from the assassination in Dallas.

"Given the significance and impact of the JFK assassination, it is scientifically desirable for the evidentiary fragments to be re-analyzed," the researchers said.

Tobin was the FBI lab's chief metallurgy expert for more than two decades. He analyzed metal evidence in major cases that included the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1996 explosion of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island.

download the entire article: "Chemical and forensic analysis of JFK assassination bullet lots: Is a second shooter possible?"

resignations & refusals

update: wolfowitz to resign from world bank on june 30th
from raw story: The Executive Directors of the World Bank today released a statement announcing that embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz would resign at the end of the fiscal year, June 30th. According the the statement, the decision to resign was made by Wolfowitz...

from abc: World Bank officials say the bank's board is completing an "exit strategy" that will allow World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to resign this afternoon and "still save some face" over the issue of his efforts to seek a promotion and pay raise for his girlfriend at the bank.

The officials say the bank's board will accept Wolfowitz's resignation but will also acknowledge that the World Bank's Ethics Committee bears "some responsibility" for giving him bad advice on the issue of his girlfriend.

The decision is likely today, officials say, because Wolfowitz had been scheduled to leave tonight for a European trip.

whitman refuses to testify on post-9/11 air quality
from abc: Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, has refused to testify before a congressional subcommittee, regarding the government's handling of the air quality at the World Trade Center site following the 9/11 attacks.

In refusing to testify, Whitman's attorney cited that the former New Jersey governor is named as a defendant in two lawsuits involving her statements on air quality following the attacks.

'homeland defense' office already existed

from sgt spline: This video is taken from a report on Fox News that was made within hours of the 9/11 attacks. The person reporting is current White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who was Fox news personality on 9/11/01. The report states, ironically enough, that two offices that were in the Pentagon section that was hit were related to terrorism. One was the "New office of Homeland Defense" and another office that deals with fighting limited wars against terrorism. Amazing Coincidence.

ron paul roundup

gop hopefuls debate abortion, tax cuts
from ap/my way: On defense for much of the evening, Giuliani switched gears nearly an hour into the debate, challenging Rep. Ron Paul's suggestion that the U.S. bombing of Iraq had contributed to the terrorist attacks of 2001. As mayor of New York at the time of the attacks, Giuliani said sternly, "I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations." His rebuke to Paul drew some of the loudest applause of the night from the partisan audience.

rudy in rage at 9/11 diss
from new york post: An irate Rudy Giuliani blasted a fellow Republican candidate at last night's GOP debate for trying to blame the United States for 9/11. Giuliani unloaded both barrels at Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a fringe Republican White House hopeful with little support...

republicans need reagan's courage
from raw story: Long-shot Republican candidate Ron Paul said the current slate of candidates need the "courage" of former President Ronald Reagan to be able to withdraw US troops from Iraq. The Texas Congressman, who has become an internet favorite but does not register much support in polls, said the Middle East is too unstable a region in which to maintain an indefinite US military presence.

fox rigs debate to savage ron paul
from propaganda matrix: In a sickening display of cronyism and as a consequence of the sheer terror elicited amongst the establishment after his previous success, Fox News rigged last night's entire presidential debate in a crass effort to smear Ron Paul - yet the Texas Congressman still beat Rudy Giuliani in Fox's own poll.

If you thought the MSNBC debate was somewhat unfair towards Ron Paul, then this was an absolute debacle.

The audience for the debate was clearly pre-screened and pre-selected to include only mainly geriatric 75 year old plus Fox News viewers who are scared of their own shadow. How else can the bizarre applause for warmongering and torture, which polls show are both clearly opposed by the majority of American people, be explained?

Guantanamo Bay is uniformly abhorred, even to the point where George W. Bush himself said he wanted to close it down, and yet Romney is applauded for saying he would like to double it!

Are these audience members robots or did Fox News dub the audio to include the applause?

Giuliani clearly endorses torture and the mindless drones in attendance rapaciously lap it up! Fox News manufactured a fictitious scenario to rig the debate - the notion that terrorists are about to detonate a nuclear bomb and that only torture can lead to its discovery.

Host Brit Hume failed to mention the fact that obtaining confessions from torture is notoriously unreliable because the victim simply tells the interrogator what he wants to hear, and not necessarily the truth. In fact, using torture in place of more traditional investigative techniques would only create false leads, waste more time and put the country in more danger.

Under the Constitution of the United States, which any of these potential Presidents will have to swear an oath to uphold, evidence obtained from torture is not admissible in court. In effect, Giuliani, Romney and Tancredo (who has now completely discredited himself) have promised to violate the Constitution before they even get into office.

After the show, Hannity and Colmes double-teamed Paul in an attempt to discredit him in the eyes of both liberals and conservatives, with Colmes going after him on abortion and Hannity chomping at the bit to smear the Texas Congressman as weak on terrorism.

This followed a showdown between Giuliani and Paul in which the Texas Congressman pointed out the fact that U.S. foreign policy has bred hatred of America throughout the world, a self-evident truth that is even embraced by the CIA itself, and was scorned by Giuliani in response.

Despite the fact that Paul was given the more difficult questions and less time to answer them and was then savagely attacked after he debate, he still came out on top when the early polling began, eventually finishing a close second to Romney and easily ahead of Giuliani.

Fox News were obviously desperate to prevent Ron Paul winning the poll because they restricted it to text message only, no Internet voting, and closed it down declaring Romney the winner after just three hours.

Fox News anchor Carl Cameron immediately tried to spin Paul's success in the poll when it became apparent he was winning with 30% of the vote shortly after 11PM. Cameron roared that Paul had been "slapped down" by Giuliani in the debate and that his success was merely because his office was unfairly flood voting - ignoring the fact that McCain had openly told his supporters to spam the polls on his own website.

An MSNBC poll again shows Ron Paul trouncing the other candidates, beating his nearest contenders hands down in every category.

ABC News' poll has Ron Paul at 18,500+ votes, with his nearest rivals Romney and Giuliani barely making it into the 200's. This is an emphatic win for the Texas Congressman.

Despite the fact that this whole event was a giant orchestrated smear job on behalf of Fox News to eliminate Ron Paul from the race, his message of liberty and real conservatism still resonates with the American people and no amount of vitriol on behalf of Neo-Con Rupert Murdoch and his underlings is going to change that fact.

update: fox news smear job on ron paul
from paul joseph watson: Fox "News" anchor John Gibson was joined by diehard Neo-Con Michele "put every Muslim in a concentration camp" Malkin last night to attack Ron Paul, Alex Jones and suggest that people in the Middle East enjoy being bombed and to state otherwise is a tin-foil hat conspiracy theory...


update: ron paul discussed on c-span
from blacklisted news/you tube: Tons of phone calls endorsing Ron Paul on C-Span's Washington Journal this morning following last night's debate. Washington Journal is typically a program viewed by an older demographic. This shows that people across the political spectrum are not fooled by the cartoon like antics Fox News tried to pull on Ron Paul in yesterday's debate.

national id: biometrics pinned to social security cards

from cryptogon/wired: The Social Security card faces its first major upgrade in 70 years under two immigration-reform proposals slated for debate this week that would add biometric information to the card and finally complete its slow metamorphosis into a national ID.

The leading immigration proposal with traction in Congress would force employers to accept only a very limited range of approved documents as proof of work eligibility, including a driver's license that meets new federal Real ID standards, a high-tech temporary work visa or a U.S. passport with an RFID chip. A fourth option is the notional tamper-proof biometric Social Security card, which would replace the text-only design that's been issued to Americans almost without change for more than 70 years.

bbc scientology documentary airs to huge ratings

from breit bart tv: This is the entire BBC Panorama documentary on Scientology that aired on Monday night to record ratings driven in part by widely watched video of the encounter between a BBC reporter and a Scientology official.

update: sorry for shouting you weirdos
from john sweeney: I’m a disgrace, a bigot, the BBC has dumbed down. And their DVD says Panorama faked a demonstration which triggered terrorist threats against the Church — implying that we might be in league with terrorists.

That’s what happens when you start ask questions about Scientology. They come for you, big time...

9/11 & 'the view' again

from paul joseph watson: Rosie O'Donnell has returned 9/11 truth to prominence by laying out the facts for the controlled demolition of the twin towers and Building 7 on ABC's The View...

O'Donnell also exposed the destruction of the crime scene and how the WTC metal was immediately shipped off to China.

The subject of Giuliani receiving criticism on Fox News (watch the videos) for having had the New York emergency command bunker stationed in WTC 7 cropped up and Rosie used the opportunity to educate the audience about Building 7 and the pools of molten steel found under all three buildings that collapsed on 9/11.

Resident Neo-Con Stepford Wife Elizabeth Hasselbeck was on hand to attempt to debunk the facts but sat in silence when Rosie asked her to explain how the towers fell in seconds at the speed of almost no resistance.

We have now come to understand that prominent 9/11 film makers and other activists within the movement are scheduled to appear on The View in upcoming weeks, as well as debunkers like Popular Mechanics, but that the two camps will appear on separate shows and not engage in a debate of any kind.

Expect a week long orgy of ad hominem attack pieces from Neo-Con attack dogs like O'Reilly, Hannity and the rest of the usual suspects.

jerry falwell dead at 73

update from raw story: Fundamentalist pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his office today and rushed to a hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia, but later died, according to various media reports.

from cbs: The Rev. Jerry Falwell was hospitalized in "gravely serious" condition Tuesday after being found unconscious in his office Tuesday, a Liberty University executive said.

Ron Godwin, executive vice president of Falwell's university, said Falwell was found unconscious after missing an appointment Tuesday morning.

Falwell, a television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority, became the face of the religious right in the 1980s. He later became president of the conservative Liberty University. Falwell was hospitalized twice in early 2005 for heart and lung problems.

update: When asked if he believes Falwell is in heaven,
Christopher Hitchens responds,
"No. And I think it's a pity there isn't a hell for him to go to."

hillary to chair 9/11 probe committee

from raw story: Sen. Hillary Clinton announced today that, along with a New York Congressman, she will chair a probe looking into the federal government's response and environmental clean-up efforts in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"We need to examine what went wrong and assess whether the federal government is better prepared to respond to environmental hazards in future disasters," Clinton said in a news release. "I also remain concerned about potential indoor contamination resulting from the collapse of the World Trade Center and want to take a close look at the EPA's inadequate program to test and clean residential areas in Manhattan."

former marine claims illness from mystery vaccine

military source believes experimental shots may have been given

from msnbc: Target 5 has discovered that an alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas. "This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military," said an unidentified military health officer who fears for his job.

A shot from a syringe is leaving some U.S. servicemen and women on the brink of death.

"When the issue, I believe, of the use of the vaccine comes out, I believe it will make the Walter Reed scandal pale in comparison," said the health officer.

Lance Corporal David Fey, 20, has dialysis three days a week. His kidneys are failing, his military career is over, and he feels like his country abandoned him...

(click here for video)

Fey is one of a growing number of U.S. servicemen and women who are getting sick after receiving vaccines. And the highly praised Department of Defense medical officer who spoke with Target 5 said that the number is up in the thousands. The symptoms range from joint aches and pains and arthritic symptoms to death.

The Department of Defense said that it encourages "healthcare workers and vaccine recipients to report adverse (reactions) events." But the military never reported Fey's reaction to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the FDA.

"I see the way the propaganda and information war is waged against America's sons and daughters and how patients are treated who claim to be injured from a vaccine," said the unidentified health officer. "That's troubling. That should trouble America." The officer said those who have claimed to have had adverse reactions to shots are treated like it is all in their heads.

Asked whether servicemen and women are receiving experimental vaccines, the officer said, "I would hope to God not. But from what I've seen, I would have to say yes."

The Department of Defense maintains that the vaccines given to U.S. troops are safe.

nytimes: giuliani a 'benevolent dictator'

from raw story: A story in [monday's] New York Times is highly critical of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's handling of the recovery operation in New York City following 9/11, claiming that his desire to downplay problems and return the city to a semblance of normality as quickly as possible has led to serious health problems for many of those who worked at ground zero.

The Times also charges that Giuliani sidelined experienced federal officials from FEMA, OSHA and the Army Corps of Engineers, placing the cleanup instead in the hands of "a largely unknown city agency" that offered "a generally slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, unfocused response to environmental concerns." According to the Times, "one Army Corps official said Giuliani acted like a 'benevolent dictator.'"

today is 'wiretap the internet day'

from wired: May 14th is the official deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply with the FCC's expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

Congress passed CALEA in 1994 to help FBI eavesdroppers deal with digital telecom technology. The law required phone companies to make their networks easier to wiretap. The results: on mobile phone networks, where CALEA tech has 100% penetration, it's credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going. Cops can now start listening in less than a day.

Now that speed and efficiency is coming to internet surveillance. While CALEA is all about phones, the Justice Department began lobbying the FCC in 2002 to reinterpret the law as applying to the internet as well. The commission obliged, and last June a divided federal appeals court upheld the expansion 2-1. (The dissenting judge called the FCC's position "gobbledygook." But he was outnumbered.)

teachers stage fake gunman attack on 6th graders

from ap/cnn: Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.

The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.

"We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he said.

But parents of the sixth-grade students were outraged. (Watch student recount incident, mother react... Video here)

"The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them," said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.

Some parents said they were upset by the staff's poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.

During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on a locked door.

After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.

"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out."

Principal Catherine Stephens (note: a graduate of virginia tech!) declined to say whether the staff members involved would face disciplinary action, but said the situation "involved poor judgment."

outside the box #101

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on may 10, 2007.

from alex ansary: Tonight I spoke with a survivor of the war in Lebanon in 2006. Later I took phone calls, covered the news, and briefly discussed identifying edible plants.

travolta attacks bbc over scientology exposé

from daily mail: John Travolta has launched a bitter attack on a veteran BBC reporter over a Panorama film that exposes the methods used by Scientology and questions whether it is a "brainwashing cult".

The Hollywood star has written to Corporation chiefs accusing journalist John Sweeney of venting "personal prejudices, bigotry and animosity" and harbouring "hatred against my religion".

Travolta also urges the BBC to halt the screening of the documentary tomorrow. (May 14)



The star's intervention is the latest in what Sweeney says is a campaign of intimidation since he embarked on his film, in which former Scientologists claim they were forced to cut themselves off from their families.

He says he has been followed by mysterious cars and even had his wedding gatecrashed.

But the Church of Scientology has hit back with its own film questioning Sweeney's methods, and plans to distribute 100,000 copies on DVD. Clips have already been posted on the YouTube website.

During filming, Sweeney confronted Travolta at a London film premiere, shouting from the crowd:

"Are you a member of a brainwashing cult?"

The star complained to George Entwistle, the BBC's head of TV current affairs, and deputy director-general Mark Byford.

[Travolta] wrote:

"There was a man screaming insults and accusations about my religion from the crowd. As a journalist, especially for the respected institution of the BBC, he should not be given a forum to air his personal prejudices, bigotry and animosity."

At one point during filming, Mr Sweeney lost his temper with the Scientologists, unleashing a savage tirade against them. Footage will be shown on Panorama.



Mr Sweeney admitted:

"It was a stupid thing to do. I apologised almost immediately. It was wrong, and I'm sorry. I've been hauled over the coals by the BBC. In mitigation, it was my seventh day with Scientologists and I defy anyone to spend that long with them and not feel brainwashed."

Scientologist spokesman Mike Rinder said:

"Mr Sweeney's tactics are outrageous. He is abusive and when it became clear his stories are pre-written and he wouldn't let the facts get in the way, he had a meltdown."

The BBC said:

"While Mr Sweeney's behaviour at one point is clearly inappropriate, the BBC is happy that, taken as a whole, the filming was carried out fairly."

no one says '9/11.' no one needs to.

from ny times: On Tina Fey’s NBC sitcom "30 Rock," recently, her character, the fictional NBC producer Liz Lemon, settles in with friends to watch the network’s "Salute to Fireworks" in Rockefeller Plaza. As marching-band music plays, they see explosions and smoke rising over a monolithic high-rise tower in New York. "Oh boy," Liz says dryly, "that’s going to scare a lot of people."

That is probably the first really funny 9/11 joke to appear on a prime-time network show, and the humor works because there is no need to explain why anyone would be scared. The scene combines the two latest, surprisingly effective twists in entertainment’s use of the terror attacks: Audacious sitcoms and sketches are occasionally turning them into hilarious comedies; dramatic films, from the smart little thriller "Civic Duty" to the Mark Wahlberg action movie "Shooter," are routinely taking what is best described as an unspoken 9/11 approach, referring to the events without using the actual words.

Allusions are cropping up more often because 9/11 and its aftermath — from color-coded terror alerts to removing shoes at the airport — have become part of ordinary life. But that is probably not the major reason. As the fallout from the attacks, bundled under the term "war on terror," became unquestionably politicized, the images of 9/11 also became less sacrosanct, fair game for mainstream entertainment.

cnn accidentally airs 'bush resigns'

from media bistro: Following up on this post, it did happen.
Here's a screen grab from CNN International around midnight ET... This appeared on screen for 12 seconds. (Two seconds before, President Bush had appeared on screen, but the chyron accurately said "Pressure over Iraq.")

media monarchy episode026

here is the latest podcast from media monarchy...
episode026 - may 11, 2007 download/stream/subscribe

media monarchy is originally broadcast on the portland radio authority every friday at 10am pacific/1pm eastern and can also be heard on the revere radio network every monday at 4pm pacific/7pm eastern... plus, you can get always get podcasts of previous episodes thanks to radio4all.net

bush changes continuity plan

white house, not dhs, would run shadow gov't
from raw story/blacklisted news: President Bush yesterday issued a national security directive that would, in the event of a catastrophic attack on the federal government, assign the responsibility of running a shadow government to the White House, not the Department of Homeland Security, according to a Washington Post report:

"The order makes explicit that the focus of federal worst-case planning involves a covert nuclear attack against the nation's capital," the report says, "in contrast with Cold War assumptions that a long-range strike would be preceded by a notice of minutes or hours as missiles were fueled and launched."

The President's directive states that "Emphasis will be placed upon geographic dispersion of leadership, staff, and infrastructure in order to increase survivability and maintain uninterrupted Government Functions."

According to the report, "Other former Bush administration officials said the directive formalizes a shift of authority away from the Department of Homeland Security to the White House."

The report continues, "Under an executive order dating to the Reagan administration, responsibility for coordinating, implementing and exercising such plans was originally charged to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and later DHS, the Congressional Research Service noted in a 2005 report on a pending DHS reorganization..."

"The new directive gives the job of coordinating policy to the president's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism -- Frances Fragos Townsend, who will assume the title of national continuity coordinator -- in consultation with Bush's national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, with the support of the White House's Homeland Security Council staff. Townsend is to produce an implementation plan within 90 days. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will continue to coordinate operations and activities, the directive said."

news on the march

full-scale mock terror exercises may 10-18
from lone star iconoclast: The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Jennings County is center stage in Southern Indiana, as the nation’s first full-scale homeland defense preparedness exercise with active forces gets under way May 10-18. Three disasters comprise the package of terror events to be addressed over several states, including a roaring hurricane ashore in Rhode Island, simulated terrorist actions in Alaska involving both sea and air, and an improvised 10-kiloton nuclear device detonation in Indiana...

The exercise is divided into two parts: first, Vigilant Guard, focusing on the National Guard’s role in responding to the mock disaster, then Ardent Sentry/Northern Edge 07, conducted by the U.S. Northern Command as it replicates the federal role of reinforcements to the first responders and those embedded into the crises scenario.

escape from iran: inside a cia covert-op
from wired: Mendez hit upon an unusual but strangely credible plan: He'd become Kevin Costa Harkins, an Irish film producer leading his preproduction crew through Iran to do some location scouting for a big-budget Hollywood epic. Mendez had contacts in Hollywood from past collaborations. (After all, they were in the same business of creating false realities.) And it wouldn't be surprising, Mendez thought, that a handful of eccentrics from Tinseltown might be oblivious to the political situation in revolutionary Iran... To build his cover, Mendez put $10,000 into his briefcase and flew to Los Angeles. He called his friend John Chambers, the veteran makeup artist who had won a 1969 Academy Award for Planet of the Apes and also happened to be one of Mendez's longtime CIA collaborators.

why i support congressman ron paul for president
from op-ed news: Ron Paul is a true intellectual who didn't get into politics looking to score personal gain and fortune. Running for office wasn't a perfunctory thing for the Congressman. He has devoted his life to learning and understanding issues that escape the opportunists in Washington, D.C. Ron Paul is a very intelligent man, and he isn't some "fringe" candidate like the establishment tries to portray. He is a medical doctor who has delivered many babies throughout his life. I believe Ron Paul is the only electable Republican, since he doesn't come with the Iraq war baggage that the rest of the candidates have.

americans review bush knowledge of 9/11
from angus-reid polls: Most people in the United States are certain that their president was not aware the country would be attacked by a terrorist organization in 2001, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 55 per cent of respondents think George W. Bush did not know about the 9/11 attacks in advance, while 22 per cent believe he did.

Did George W. Bush know about the 9/11 attacks in advance?
Yes 22% - No 55% - Not sure 22%

Did the CIA know about the 9/11 attacks in advance?
Yes 29% - No 41% - Not sure 30%

chinese tv replaced with anti-regime slogans
from epoch times: On May 1, many satellite TV channel programs in Guangzhou City had been replaced, on some channels, and even displayed pictures and slogans against the communist regime. Many mainland media reported the incident, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan media. Mainland media avoided reporting the content.

According to a Southern Metropolitan News report from May 2, between 8:00 pm to 8:40 pm on the evening of May 1, the newspaper received dozens of cable TV viewer reports that the TV program had been replaced. The news report has been reprinted by at least 42 media on the mainland, but none of these media reported the content.