july clearinghouse

'this is the fbi': US agency marks 100th birthday*
the real power behind the throne-to-be*
video: media hails obama’s speech as call for 'new world order'*
attending physician says jimi hendrix was waterboarded to death with red wine*
kucinich testifies at executive power hearing*
southern governors to meet in west virginia in august*
tased until dead: the epidemic of taser crazy cops*
death of man tased nine times by police ruled homicide*
astronaut says government covering up ufo's*
video: police chief defends spying on protesters as terrorists*
top advisor to US military confirms gwot is a hoax: “there is no battlefield solution to terrorism”*
marilyn, charlie wilson & the rise of the drones*
billionaire entrepreneur slipped drugs to tech execs*
video: fulford vs haarp*

outside the box #163 (w/ george green)

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on july 31, 2008.

from alex ansary: Alex covers the latest news with includes several reports of active volcanoes around the planet that are active near the 'ring of fire.' Later, he speaks with George Green, a former investment banker who has published a series of books called 'The Handbook for the New Paradigm' which he says were really written by ET intelligence.

bonus interview w/ james gilliland

from alex ansary: Alex travels up to Trout Lake, Washington to talk with ufologist James Gilliland about the phenomena on July 6th, 2008. James claims that after a near death experience he entered into what he calls intra-dimensional intelligence and began communication with beings of a higher nature. It is in this region of Washington where UFOs are seen on a regular basis around Mt. Adams. In this interview he shares his thoughts as well as some of his predictions.


and here are the latest episodes of "outside the box"
on we the people radio network...
from july 30, 2008.
stream: m3u & ram or download: hour1 & hour2

from july 26, 2008.
stream: m3u & ram or download: hour1 & hour2

boulder/nist plutonium 'mishap' draws stern rebuke

from denver post: A project to enhance the United States' ability to detect "dirty bombs" went awry at the Boulder campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where dangerous plutonium sources were obtained without management approval and handled by inexperienced and untrained researchers, according to a scathing review released Wednesday.

The result, said the 62-page report by the NIST Ionizing Radiation Committee (pdf), was the spread of plutonium contamination at the lab and into the Boulder sewer system.

Specifically, the investigators found:

• Three plutonium sources were acquired without adequate hazard analysis or management approval.

• When the plutonium was received, all protective barriers were removed except the screw-topped glass bottle in a sealed plastic bag.

• Inexperienced and untrained researchers worked on the project.

• The work area was neither restricted nor controlled for radiological work and was in a busy, multi-use laboratory.

ron paul followers pose danger for mccain in west

from ap: Dueling delegations pitting Ron Paul's Nevada supporters against those of John McCain vow to take their fight to the Republican National Convention.

That's just one sign that the outsider, Internet-fueled movement led by the feisty Republican congressman from Texas remains afloat in the wake of McCain's victory in the GOP primaries.

In the libertarian-leaning West, where Paul's message of distrust of the federal government and ardent individualism played particularly well, there is talk of Republicans straying from McCain. Libertarian candidate Bob Barr has emerged as a favorite alternative for Paul activists, followed by Constitutional Party candidate Chuck Baldwin.

Even if the numbers of such dissenters are small, in tight contests in key Western states they could spoil McCain's chances, experts say.

"In Nevada, there's absolutely enough to have an effect on the election," said Chuck Muth, a leading conservative activist in a state in which early polls show McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a statistical tie.

collateral 52: stealing the future, every day

from collateral news: History is full of examples of affluent societies experiencing hard economic times. But according to a growing number of independent analysts - ones whose jobs do not depend on painting a false picture of reality - the economic convulsion the U.S. is headed for may far surpass the Great Depression in terms of raw misery.

colorado 'fusion center' to gather intel during dnc

from colorado independent: Federal and state law enforcement officials will increase intelligence operations during the Democratic National Convention, overseeing an information war room that will be staffed around the clock with analysts who access a dozen databases while receiving reports of "suspicious activity" — activity that some civil libertarians claim could be nothing more than engaging in anti-war protests or photographing federal facilities that could be targeted for terrorist attack.

Central to the efforts is Colorado's “fusion” center, a place designed to facilitate intelligence sharing among federal, state and military agencies in an effort to prevent terrorism. But civil rights advocates fear that the Colorado Information Analysis Center, (CIAC) now housed in an inconspicuous office building in Centennial, a southern suburb of Denver, could enable unwarranted spying on Americans exercising their First Amendment rights at the convention.

Inside the building, intelligence analysts with the Colorado State Patrol, Colorado National Guard and Federal Bureau of Investigation take local reports of suspicious criminal activity and determine what merits further investigation.

tsa performing emotional screening of passengers

from raw reply: “Transportation Security Administration officials aren’t just concerned with what is in your luggage anymore. Some are being trained to assess what’s going through your mind. Behavior Detection Officers who work for the TSA go through a week long training in order to look for travelers displaying involuntary physical and physiological reactions that indicate stress, fear or deception. Though the agency won’t go into detail about what those indicators are, they say it’s a sophisticated process to determine who needs additional screening.” KXAN has more details here. This video is from KXAN Austin, broadcast July 29, 2008.

nader says obama supporters are in 'political slavery'

from raw story: During a Sunday press conference and campaign rally attended by RAW STORY, Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader claimed that liberals and Democrats who will vote for Sen. Barack Obama as the "least worst candidate" are actually trapped in "political slavery." At the campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Nader spoke to an audience of approximately 200 about his campaign's primary issues in the 2008 presidential election. During the press conference - held in a sweltering classroom at the back of a small, suburban Methodist church - Nader also directly addressed an elderly white woman as a "political bigot."

denver area emergency responders train for dnc

from cbs4 denver: Emergency responders around the Denver area were working on drills over the weekend in the event of a major problem during the Democratic National Convention late next month.

Firefighters practiced on a staged accident involving a passenger bus on Interstate 70 in Golden. There were dozens of fake victims and emergency workers helping the wounded.

The Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross was also preparing this weekend. It rolled out an advanced communications truck worth up to $350,000.

The truck can help local emergency teams stay in touch.

"You run worst case scenarios of downtown Denver needing to be evacuated," said Robert Thompson, spokesman for the Red Cross. "Well, we've never done that.

Thompson said shelter and food plans are in place. There will also be 500 Red Cross volunteers ready to help as needed.

the enemy is us!

from existentialist cowboy: The very word 'Frankenstein' has come to mean 'monsters of our own creation' but more generally, monsters beyond our control. 'Frankenstein' has come to symbolize the Faustian bargain made by man with his own technology. The '50's Sci-Fi classic, Forbidden Planet, echoed Shakespeare's The Tempest which, likewise, dealt with the same theme. [See: Monsters From the ID]

The world is now threatened with several forms of extinction:

* a slow demise from the disregard with which we have treated our environment;

* a descent into either lawlessness or fascism for our neglect of the rule of law;

* the prospect of a quick but not painless end from nuclear annihilation.

These monsters threaten to destroy us utterly. These monsters are our own creations. These monsters are the by-products of the Faustian bargain mankind has made with the universe. These monsters are 'Frankensteins' of our creation. Or, as Pogo might have put it: 'We have seen the enemy and it is us!"

media monarchy episode085

episode085 of media monarchy was broadcast live on 89.7 wshc and features summer terror drills, plastic coffins, semtex, barksdale b52, bohemian guestlist, cdc psyops, zionist terror, brzezinski's envoy, dark knight & chicago martial law, music by leonard cohen and tons more...

download/digg/stream/subscribe
pra/revere/myspace/itunes/archive

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 sunday at 4pm pacific/7pm eastern...

plus, you can always get podcasts of previous episodes thanks to radio4all.net & archive.org

outside the box #162

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on july 24, 2008.

from alex ansary: Alex Ansary discusses the latest developments from the studios of Portland Community Media.

air force: nuclear missile crew fell asleep on duty

from raw replay: CNN’s Barbara Starr reported that the Air Force said that a crew in charge of outdated nuclear missile launch codes fell asleep while on duty.

Air Force Times reported: “Three missile officers with the 91st Space Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., fell asleep July 12 while holding a classified launch code device used to activate the missile control system. The device, kept in a locked case, installs the codes that allow the launch control center on base to command the ICBMs in the missile silos.”

gm & ford 'on the verge of bankruptcy'

from bloomberg: General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the two biggest U.S. automakers, have about a 46 percent chance of default within five years, according to Edward Altman, a finance professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. "Both are in very serious shape and the markets reflect that," Altman, the creator of the Z-score mathematical formula that measures bankruptcy risk, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The model shows that these companies are "on the verge of bankruptcy," he said.

an ugly mess of news part1

9/11
poll: what happened on 9/11?*
anthrax scare sparked tough tactics*
billboard displays burning wtc with slogan, ‘please don’t vote for a democrat’*
billboard displaying burning twin towers reads ‘please don’t vote for a democrat’*
‘9/11 could have been prevented if we’d had a republican president.’*
bin laden driver wants '9/11 braintrust' as witnesses*
nyc 9/11 ballot initiative & bob mcilvaine interview & wayne madsen on inn*
an untold story of 9/11*
september 11th families to descend*
wtc site will be open again to families on 9/11*
major 9/11 exclusive on deadline live w/ jack blood*
the last nail in the coffin of the 9/11 myth: atta in okc sept '01*
video: we are change confronts christie todd whitman*
alleged 9/11 mastermind may testify in hamdan's trial
who knows what happened on 9/11?*
police saw military personnel, stealing debris from pentagon crash site*
video: omega presents pdx 9/11 truth*
actress heather thomas latest celebrity to question 9/11*
tmz picks up heather thomas' comments about 9/11*

selection '08
obama's plane - passengers were told they might have to assume brace position*
greens nominate mckinney for president*
cynthia mckinney green party presidential candidate speaks at the convention*
gop asks net for advice, paulites answer the call ... and answer, and answer*
a cast of 300 advises obama on foreign policy*
the democrats are the real problem*
nader’s campaign to receive presidential matching funds*
bill clinton says barack obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support*
barack obama: what if ... ?*
obama's political prisoner larry sinclair freed*
the dedication of ron paul*
mccain says only wwIII would justify draft*

police state usa
US military to patrol internet*
resource wars will be managed by a 'pandemic'*
slideshow: cold war mountain*
fbi investigates prison guards in inmate death*
new fbi database to include photos & palm prints
pentagon getting more eyes in the sky
pentagon plans more spy satellite purchases
utility workers hired as stasi informants in colorado, california & arizona
police 'torture' videos cause uproar in mexico
man sues wal-mart
fusion centers: implementing the control grid
US contractor leads torture training in mexico
dhs considering shock bracelet for airline passengers
cia expert: terror threat exaggerated
fbi agent indicted in chihuahua's shooting death
daytona beach cop fired for demanding free coffee
jury awards $3.7m in prince george's police shooting
death of prince george's suspect is ruled a homicide
fcs, au terror bunker, goldman sachs/india billionaire
secret bunker ready in case of terrorist attack*
gun-grabbers at the chicago tribune*
three jfk airport plot suspects to be brought back from trinidad*
3 deny JFK terror plot claims*
duke holds campus gunman simulation*
seizing laptops & cameras without cause*
elites seek control over rising cashless society*
corporate media loathe to explain real outrage behind terror comments*
mandatory in-car breathalyzers coming?*
uk police ads, rimpac, fcs, drills/x's +*
mr. bush goes to gitmo: how the patriot act makes bush a 'terrorist'!*
video: war camp kids chant ‘ooh, aah, ooh, aah, I want to kill somebody.’*

geopolitiks
US charges guantanamo detainee in uss cole bombing
ahmadinejad target of 'rome x-ray plot', diplomat says
pentagon making case against iran
bilderberg researcher arrested in britain
mexican army members busted for home invasion & murder
ray mcgovern warns of "false flag attack" & possible nuclear strikes on iran
new hampshire will accept oil from chavez

miltech
cfr zionist demon to be top air force man
think you're not part of the military-industrial complex? think again
torture chamber music
air force finds lax nuclear security
booz, allen & hamilton, the army’s accomplice in southeast colorado
more than 1 in 10 army recruits now given "moral waivers"
game controllers driving drones, nukes
future combat systems accelerated
americans die in iraq from ‘electrocution’; shocks reported by troops ‘almost daily’*
military branches combine for joint lightning*
raytheon borrows from gaming technology*
darpa plans soldier-tagging system for US troops*

envirohealth
2 peer-reviewed scientific papers debunk co2 myth*
7 graphs to end the warming hype*
group of 50k scientists disbelieve global warming*
vaccinated chickens in vietnam die of bird flu*
video: 10 things you should eliminate from your diet today*
population control: the eugenics connection*
national pro-life student group exposing racism of abortion business founder*

assassinations
why was jfk murdered?
jfk to debut on blu-ray nov 11
why was jfk murdered?
'jfk' on blu-ray
jfk ultimate collector's edition announced for blu-ray

drugwar
drug smugglers bribing US agents on border

media
right-wing apoplectic over pixar’s wall*e: ‘malthusian fear mongering,’ ‘fascistic elements’
wall*e: a world without us
wall*e merchandise hits the streets
wall*e for president

historymystery
US wanted to test sarin on australian troops: report
nazi doctor 'is alive in chile'
freemason north american union pyramids in princeton, west virginia
1991 cnn report: secret succession plans would grant cheney special authorities during disaster
propaganda: from the class room to hollywood - the scientific outlook part 4

other
missing millionaire's body found
millionaire software designer vanishes, wife pleads for help
why vincent bugliosi’s 'bush is a murderer' book is too risque
the debate is over: waterboarding is torture
video: christopher hitchens is waterboarded
stupid is as hitchens does
want to know if waterboarding is torture? ask christopher hitchens
texas man cleared for shooting neighbor’s burglars
cult leader moon injured in helicopter crash*

collateral 51: courting disaster

from collateral news: If there's another Katrina-like disaster, says John McCain, he'll use the private sector as a model to make sure emergency supplies get where they're needed. Why not privatize disaster relief altogether, John?

return of the summer terror drills: lightning rescue, diablo bravo, immediate response, brimstone & noble resolve

'lightning rescue 2008': the military takes steps to prepare for a pandemic flu (or to cause one?)
from khnl: Seven specially designed Army Humvees, trucks and a tractor-trailer loaded with communication equipment were driven onto the Army's, MG Charles P Gross support vessel at Pearl Harbor Saturday morning. The vessel is headed to Nawiliwili Harbor in Kauai for a joint military and civilian pandemic influenza exercise scheduled to take place July 24, at Pacific Missile Range Facility.

The exercise is a part of Lightning Rescue 2008.

The emergency exercise is being conducted by the 307th Single Battalion soldiers and over 200 military person ell and civilians. Together they will take part in setting up, mobilizing and operating a mock quarantine area to stop a deadly virus from spreading. The 307th Single Battalion is capable of controlling and commanding communications for military units anywhere in the world.

midsummer alert: noble resolve & diablo bravo
from ghost troop: Neo-cons and their allies are pounding the drums of war against Iran. Just after his White House meeting on June 4, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that war with Iran was a done deal:

"George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on that matter before the end of his term in the White House." http://antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=13020

In his July 14 article “Amber Alert! Get Ready for War” http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13130 Justin Raimondo states “The Israelis have already been using U.S. bases in Iraq to train for the coming attack… [Bush] is more determined than ever to leave his lasting mark on the Middle East and the world.”

In his July 15 article “A Phony Crisis – And A Real One” http://antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=13134 Pat Buchanan writes: “Israel and its Fifth Column… seek to stampede us into war with Iran.”

In his article, “9/11 and the Neo-Con Agenda” http://digg.com/politics/9_11_and_the_Neo_Con_Agenda_2 Dr. James H. Fetzer explained why the Bush Administration needs another (self-inflicted) “false flag” attack to expand the failing war in the Middle East.

In “False Flag Prospects, 2008” http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=2514&z=224 Captain Eric H. May proved the connection between official terror drills and the U.S. 9/11/2001 and UK 7/7/2005 terror attacks.

As experienced military professionals, it is our mission of conscience to publish alerts to the American people whenever the danger of a false flag attack is high. We face that danger now with several suspicious military exercises just ahead of us.

On July 22 Virginia will run a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) scenario at the Richmond International Airport. For two weeks we have tried to gather particulars on the terror drill from the Virginia National Guard. The command has been evasive, refusing us access to personnel involved in the WMD-related activities.

July 28-August 1, a wide array of U.S. military, police, and disaster agencies will be running multiple terror and catastrophe drills. The two main terror drills are “Noble Resolve” and “Diablo Bravo."

The National Guard Bureau informed us that during Noble Resolve ‘08, Virginia will run scenarios involving a rail incident and a terrorist attack. Both Indiana and Oregon will simulate earthquakes. In “Marine Corps Martial Law?–An Indy Alert Update” http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=2938&z=256 we described recent terror drills that brought 2,300 Marines to the Indianapolis area last month. Two weeks ago, Capt. Stephen Bomar, public affairs officer for the Oregon National Guard, told us that a “surprise inject” for Noble Resolve 2008 could include a WMD anywhere in the state.

Texas will also be prepared for surprise injects—including nuclear devices. Exercise officials refused to provide details, saying that they did not want to spoil the surprise for exercise participants. In “Texas Terror, Code Blue!” http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=3036&z=262 Capt. May detailed official evasions about recent terror drills in the Houston area, which have led notable intelligence writers to settle on Houston as the most likely target for a false flag attack. He included the suspicious gunning down of CIA operative Roland Carnaby, who may have been involved in a terror plot, by Houston police.

Diablo Bravo, like Noble Resolve, is a national-level exercise. It involves Department of Energy-controlled nukes in the state of Washington. According to local officials, on July 28, “the public may see a puff of smoke with a bang at the exercise start and observe some increase in vehicular traffic” near the U.S. Strategic Weapons Facility in Bremerton. Diablo Bravo will have 500 participants from a wide range of local, state, and federal agencies across America.

In addition to Noble Resolve and Diablo Bravo, there are two other noteworthy concurrent exercises. “Immediate Response 2008,” running for three weeks beginning in mid-July, involves a thousand American troops training in the nation of Georgia. The Bush administration is pressuring east Russia, probably in preparation for an attack on Iran in Russia’s south. “JTFEX 08-4, Operation Brimstone,” running from July 21-31, involves 15,000 military personnel in amphibious exercises along the U.S. southeast coast, probably simulating the Iranian coastline.

We believe that since 9/11 the American people have already thwarted false flag attempts with well-timed Internet alerts. The Internet can effectively interdict treasonous intentions. Shining just a little light can cause the cockroaches of conspiracy to scurry. Accordingly, we urge you to pass this alert along to first responders, elected officials, media – and all other American citizens. The future of our nation may depend upon your action.

as an update/supplement ... this article provides more details about the exercises and related issues.

the strange case of half a million plastic coffins in georgia

from neithercorp forum: Yep, these are cheap plastic coffins. Hundreds of thousands of them. Don’t believe it? Why coffins? Why in the middle of Georgia?

Well, apparently the Government is expecting a half million people to die relatively soon, and the Atlanta Airport is a major airline traffic hub, probably the biggest in the country, which means Georgia is a prime base to conduct military operations and coordination. It is also the home of the CDC, the Center for Disease Control. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but usually you don’t buy 500,000 plastic coffins "just in case something happens," you buy them because you know something is going to happen. These air tight seal containers would be perfect to bury victims of plague or biological warfare in, wouldn’t they?

stolen semtex explosives & detonators left unguarded

from bbc: A depot in France from which a large quantity of powerful explosive went missing was poorly guarded, the regional head of security has said. The storage of 28kg (61lb) of Semtex at the site near Lyon was “not usual and certainly not authorised”, Xavier de Fuerst also told the AFP news agency. A search by anti-terrorist officers is under way, and the manager of the site has been suspended pending an inquiry. Semtex has been favoured by terrorists for being very difficult to detect.

barksdale b52 crashes off guam

from danger room: The Air Force is conducting rescue operations near Guam to recover crewmembers from a B-52 bomber that crashed off the coast earlier today. The AP reports that two crewmembers have been found, but there's no information on their condition. There's also no word yet on what caused the crash.

"The B-52 bomber based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana was en route to conduct a flyover in a parade when it crashed around about 30 miles north-west of Apra Harbour, the Air Force said," the AP reports.

The B-52, despite its age, has an admirable safety record. Aviation Week's ARES blog reports that the last crash of a B-52 was in 1994; that accident was blamed on pilot error. A B-2 bomber crashed off the coast of Guam earlier this year.

bohemian grove 2008 guestlist revealed

from 9/11 blogger: Activists from truthaction.org have obtained the official guest list for Bohemian Grove's 2008 midsummer encampment along with a map of the Grove's facilities. According to the guest list, this year's attendees include George H. W. Bush, David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and several former CIA directors. Also attending are two members of the Grateful Dead, one of whom is camping with the elder Bush. During an action at the entrance of the elite retreat, several 9/11 truth information packs were accepted by Bohemian Grove campers and taken into the grove, including one by former CIA Director James Woolsey's bunkmate.

driving bin laden: not guilty plea in war crimes tribunal

from dpa: The former driver for Osama bin Laden pleaded not guilty to terrorism-related charges on Monday as the first trial under US President George W Bush's controversial military commissions got under way in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni national, has been charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Hamdan is alleged to have served as bin Laden's driver and bodyguard before his capture in 2001 and transfer to the US detention centre at the naval station in Cuba the following year. Hamdan alleges he was abused during intense interrogations while in US custody, and has been among the most active Guantanamo detainees challenging the legal process in federal court, including in a key ruling by the US Supreme Court in June 2006 that US President George Bush's commissions were unconstitutional and violated the Geneva Conventions.

offline generators caused power outage at cdc germ lab

from atlanta journal-constitution: A critical germ lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lost power last week because the agency had taken two backup generators out of service for upgrades, CDC officials said Friday. Their absence from a complex, centralized backup generator system created a power fluctuation when the system was activated during a July 11 power outage, causing the whole system to shut down, CDC spokesman Dave Daigle said. The problem is being fixed, he said. The backup power failure — the second in 13 months — is the type predicted years ago by some CDC engineers. And it has heightened concerns in Congress about lab safety at the Atlanta agency, which experiments on smallpox, Ebola, anthrax and other deadly germs.

israel, iran, pakistan, plots, dead stocks & coke on a sub

jewish terrorist document found
from press tv: A document has surfaced in a UK auction, unveiling terrorist activities of a Jewish group prior to the establishment of the Israeli regime. According to the Times of London, the pamphlet unveils several terrorist activities of a Jewish underground group - Irgun - led by Menachem Begin, the future Israeli prime minister. Bombings and murders by underground groups in Palestine, such as Begin's Irgun, hastened the British withdrawal and the United Nations declaration that led to the founding of Israel.

israel cooks up terror plot against bush
from kurt nimmo: In order to set the stage for further attacks against Muslims, most notably Iran, Israel has cooked up a transparently phony terrorist attack against Bush. “Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush,” reports Reuters. Recall Israel’s shabby attempt to create a fake al-Qaeda cell in the Gaza Strip back in December, 2002. “The head of preventive security in Gaza, Rashid Abu Shbak, said Israeli agents posing as operatives of al-Qaeda recruited Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time.

US to iran: you have 2 weeks
from press tv: Washington says Tehran has two weeks to decide between suspending its uranium enrichment program and facing 'further isolation'. In a Saturday statement, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said time has come for Tehran to choose between confrontation and meeting Western demands over its enrichment program. "We hope the Iranian people understand that their leaders need to make a choice between cooperation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation," said McCormack.

pakistan's stock-market meltdown
from time: Even for a country now routinely scarred by violence, the scenes were startling. On Thursday, the clashes in Pakistan were not with militants near the Afghan border but in the financial districts of Pakistan's major cities as hundreds of angry investors visited their rage on stock markets that failed them.

mexico finds tons of cocaine in submarine
from reuters: The Mexican military, working with information from U.S. intelligence services, found nearly six tonnes of cocaine in a makeshift submarine seized this week off the Pacific coast. The 32-foot (10-metre)-long, green fiberglass craft was designed to travel just beneath the water, leaving almost no wake. It was one of Mexico's largest maritime drug seizures and the first time the country has seen drug smugglers using a submarine, the navy said.

brzezinski's envoy on 'campaign-season tour of war zones'

obama arrives in afghanistan
from ap: Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, the first stop on a campaign-season tour of war zones, a spokesman said. Less than four months before the general election, Obama's first visit to Afghanistan, with a subsequent stop in Iraq, was rich with political implications, although the Illinois senator flew as part of an official congressional delegation.

goldman sachs frontman meets with unocal executive
from afp: US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Sunday met here with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has been criticised by the Illinois senator for not doing enough to rebuild his war-torn country. An official in Karzai's office told AFP the talks had taken place in the capital, but gave no details about the meeting. Obama has made Afghanistan a key focus of his foreign policy pledges, saying it - not Iraq - should be the focus of the so-called "war on terror" and promising to send more troops to battle insurgents here if elected.

mccain leaked details of obama's iraq trip
from huffington post: Reuters reports that McCain shared details of Obama's trip to Iraq at a fundraiser:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend... "I believe that either today or tomorrow - and I'm not privy to his schedule - Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.

Josh Marshall points out that there's something very wrong with this. The Reuters piece hints at it. But if Obama is going to be in Iraq this weekend, this is a major breach on McCain's part.

'dark knight' reflects real martial law in chicago

from ethan allen: Coincidence or art imitating life? The slow downward spiral towards fascism grabs some fast momentum with a bit of slight-of-hand propaganda from the new Batman movie, 'Dark Knight.' The recent push towards open martial law in Chicago is an eerie reflection of the Dark Knight production, which filmed many of its Gotham scenes in downtown Chicago last summer. In the film, the Joker (Heath Ledger) creates so much chaos and violence that the National Guard (Gotham National Guard) is brought in to suppress riots and restore order. During filming, extras were dressed up as national guard troops with many seen by many Chicago natives acting in scenes and also providing 'security' for the civilian extras during takes. Military helicopters, armored vehicles and hundreds of uniformed extras maneuvered in downtown Chicago for several days while their scenes were filmed, creating the atmosphere, albeit a fictional one, of open martial law and military code of conduct for all citizens. One scene is described below:

"The scene was an evacuation scene where pedestrians and prisoners were being evacuated from Gotham City. There were two bridges the pedestrians would be crossing. The one on the left was for the National Guard and pedestrians. The bridge on the right is where the action took place. The premise of the scene was for the pedestrians to be crossing when all of a sudden the National Guard and Gotham City Department of Corrections officers move in. They create a wall to allow the prisoners to board the boat ahead of the pedestrians."

And another, this one from someone who witnessed some of the filming during the Chicago production:

"After the interviews, we moved to a corner space in the building with huge windows so we could watch Chris direct a spectacular scene: Two National Guard helicopters carrying troops flying so low and close together over the Chicago River. Extras dressed as rifle-carrying National Guard troops were down on the streets."

And now, a short one year later, we have the governor of Chicago calling for national guardsmen to be used to suppress violence and crime in the windy city...

While real world crime rates don't move and flow with the production of Hollywood movies, it seems odd that things would get so out of control in a city where only a year earlier the Joker was rampaging and causing all kinds of anarchy. Be it a Batman super villain or crips and bloods, the order out of chaos formula is in full effect. The image of troops goose stepping through the streets in Chicago was the scene of a major motion picture production, and now it will soon be in real time. Boots on the ground, in your face fascism is coming to a city near you, brought to you by the Pentagon planners and a few friendly Hollywood movies. What was fantasy is now reality, only we don't have a real Batman to help us.

boho grove, mexi drugs, truckstop tasers & rp

vanity fair editor arrested at bohemian grove
from oakland focus: Alex Shoumatoff, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine, tried to sneak into the exclusive Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, Calif., this week. He was hoping to get an inside look at the exclusive retreat of some of the world’s most prominent CEOs, business leaders and politicians. Of course, he stuck out like a seersucker suit at a funeral and was promptly handcuffed and arrested. Most embarrassing for him: he was arrested by a part-time security guard whose day job is a plumber.

mexican drug cartels & islamic radicals working together
from proceso: According to a U.S. government intelligence report obtained by Proceso, Hamas, Hezbollah and other radical Islamic groups have become associates of the Mexican drug trafficking cartels: they are furnishing them weapons and helping them to distribute drugs in Europe and the Middle East. Ahead of time, DEA and Justice Department officials told this weekly that “in coming days” they will conduct an operation in the border area shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay – where the radical Islamic groups have settled – that will show their ties with the Mexican drug traffickers... (infowars note: Of course, this is utter nonsense. The CIA — in collaboration with Wall Street banks and the Pentagon, is behind the Mexican drug cartels — not Muslims. “The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, as is by now well-known by anyone who has cared to be informed, has long been deeply involved in the international trafficking of the addictive drugs heroin and (since the early 1980s, if not earlier) cocaine, the enormous profits from which have financed, and continue to finance, both U.S. covert operations and the U.S. military (via payments to Pentagon contractors).” — The CIA: America’s Premier International Terrorist Organization.)

truck stops to sell tasers
from danger room: The Tupperware-style parties, the combo stun-gun-MP3-players, the pink models for her, and the poker-and-Playboy themed charity events were just the start. Taser International's newest marketing technique: selling their stun guns in truck stops.

ron paul defends the dollar
from fagan411: Ron Paul takes on evil fed chairman Ben Bernanke...

nukeleaks, elites, awol, crisis, pope snake & anthrax

contaminated US site faces ‘catastrophic’ nuclear leak
from new scientist: One of "the most contaminated places on Earth" will only get dirtier if the US government doesn't get its act together - clean-up plans are already 19 years behind schedule and not due for completion until 2050. More than 210 million litres of radioactive and chemical waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford in Washington State. Most are over 50 years old. Already 67 of the tanks have failed, leaking almost 4 million litres of waste into the ground. There are now "serious questions about the tanks' long-term viability," says a Government Accountability Office report, which strongly criticises the US Department of Energy for delaying an $8 billion programme to empty the tanks and treat the waste... The DoE's plan, however, is "faith-based", says Robert Alvarez, an authority on Hanford at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. "The risk of catastrophic tank failure will sharply increase as each year goes by... and one of the nation's largest rivers, the Columbia, will be in jeopardy."

the process of indoctrination: how the public is being conditioned to accept the existence of an elite ruling class
from corbett report: It seems that a unique moment in human history is at last coming to an end. Just a few short years ago, anyone who dared talk about the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg group or the Bohemian Grove as organizations through which the financial oligarchs wielded power was dismissed with that ultimate debate-ending phrase: 'conspiracy theorist.' Now, however, these secretive organizations and the corporate moneymen who pull their strings are finally allowing the public a glimpse behind the façade of representative democracy at the way elite institutions are really shaping global geopolitics. People are at last free to talk about how world politics are shaped by a few thousand of the ultra-wealthy and well-connected… provided, of course, those people are closely tied to Henry Kissinger and tend to think that global government is the best way of organizing 21st century society.

canada returns deserter to US
from ap: A U.S. Army deserter who fled to Canada three years ago was deported July 15 to the United States, marking the first time a resister to the war in Iraq has been removed by Canadian authorities. Paula Shore, spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, confirmed that Robin Long, 25, was deported, but she could not discuss specifics of the case, including Long's destination.

wolfowitz: US future hinges on another ‘crisis’
from aaron dykes: In a response to PNAC associate Robert Kagan, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has suggested that a ‘compelling crisis’ such as Pearl Harbor or 9/11 may help bolster America’s stature in the world, which, Wolfowitz clearly hints, has been damaged by the Bush administration:

"America’s future leadership role may depend even more on how threatening the world appears. Historically, that leadership role has often emerged out of a compelling crisis: Pearl Harbour, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, or the attacks of 9/11.

the pope reunites with his old buddy the serpent
from this is london: The image was practically Biblical: Pope Benedict XVI face to face with a serpent. But the hint of a good vs evil face-off dissipated when the pontiff next squared up against a koala - and, smiling, gave the fuzzy furball a little scratch behind the ears. The Pope was meeting native Australian animals during the World Youth Day celebration in Australia, where young Roman Catholic pilgrims attended religious classes then chowed down on sausages at barbecues.

7ys on, no answer on anthrax attacks
from raw story: It's been almost seven years since - in the weeks immediately following 9/11 - anthrax powder sent through the mail killed five people, threatened the lives of two Democratic senators, terrorized the entire nation, and helped prod a panicky Congress into passing the so-called Patriot Act. In the intervening years, not only has the killer remained free, but missteps in the investigation have had major negative consequences.