the day before the rnc: storms, plans, raids & schemes

mccain may deliver convention speech from disaster zone
from thinkprogress: Politico reports that the impending landfall of Hurricane Gustav has forced Republicans to scramble their convention plans. President Bush may not attend at all, and John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech from the hurricane-stricken areas... McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters. “It just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain said in a taped interview for Fox News Sunday.

gop considered delaying convention
from washington post: Republican officials said [Thursday] that they are considering delaying the start of the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is on track to hit the Gulf Coast, and possibly New Orleans, as a full-force hurricane early next week.

massive police raids on suspected protestors in minneapolis
from salon: Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than" fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

putin: america, you're provoking wars for political gain

from times online: Vladimir Putin accused President Bush tonight of orchestrating the war in Georgia in a plot to get John McCain elected to the White House.

obama: america, get ready for wars

from russia today: Barack Obama has fired a stern warning to Russia as he accepted the Democratic Presidential nomination and officially launched his campaign for the White House.

nagin on gustav: 'this is the storm of the century'

fema: gustav to be category 5
from ap: The government's disaster relief chief says Hurricane Gustav is growing into a monster Category 5 storm. The storm that hit Cuba Saturday could reach landfall along the Gulf Coast by early Tuesday. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison told reporters several times at a briefing Saturday that the storm was strengthening into a Category 5 hurricane.

with eye on gustav, blackwater seeks personnel
from ap: Security contractor Blackwater Worldwide is seeking personnel that could possibly be deployed into areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. The Moyock-based company issued a call Friday for law enforcement officers and armed security officers who already have the credentials to work in such an environment, including those with arrest powers. Blackwater responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and reported pulling 128 people to safety. The company started work there without a client, but won both government and private sector business within days.

global hawk may be called for storm duty
from sun herald: Something that's being manufactured in part right here on the Coast could forever change the face of hurricane predictions, hurricane monitoring and even hurricane relief. But whether it's detecting land mines in a faraway country or monitoring contraflow in a hurricane evacuation, it's all the same equipment, officials with Northrop Grumman said Wednesday. And if Gustav becomes enough of a threat, the Global Hawk's capabilities might get a hurricane test run.

mandatory evacuations to begin sunday morning in new orleans
from cnn: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to consider escaping "the mother of all storms" before then. "You need to be scared," Nagin said of the Category 4 hurricane tearing along Cuba's western coast. "You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century." The city's west bank is to evacuate at 8 a.m.

outside the box #167 (w/ clyde lewis)

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on august 28, 2008.

from alex ansary: Alex Ansary & Clyde Lewis document the invasion of black helicopters that recently swarmed the Portland area without any warning. They also discussed the latest developments with current US/Russia conflict as tensions in the black sea mount.

and here is the latest episode of "outside the box"
on we the people radio network...
from august 27, 2008.
stream: m3u & ram or download: hour1 & hour2
(featuring alex en route to jantzen beach to track the black helicopters)

mccain/palin '08: and the crowd goes... huh?

alaskan governor sarah palin chosen by mccain as vp
from wikinews: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been selected by United States Presidential candidate John McCain as his vice-presidential running-mate... News agencies began reporting Palin as the selection about an hour earlier, citing sources within the McCain campaign. In introducing Palin, McCain said, "I have found the right partner to stand up to those who value their privileges over their responsibilities." Palin has an "outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies," he added. "I will be honored to serve next to the next president of the United States," said Palin, accepting the position. "To have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best I have to give, and I promise nothing less."

palin under ethics investigation for abuse of power in alaska
from thinkprogress: In Dayton, OH today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will announce that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his vice presidential running mate. Palin, who entered office in 2006 after running as a reformer, is touted by conservatives as being “a politician of eye-popping integrity.” But Palin’s reformer image took a hit last month when she was accused of attempting to get a state trooper fired. That state trooper was her former brother-in-law who had gone through “a messy divorce” with her sister. After the trooper’s boss wouldn’t act on the governor’s request, she fired him. Though Palin says she doesn’t “have anything to hide” and she “didn’t do anything wrong there,” an investigation has found that one of her aides pushed the firing... Palin’s scandal envelops her in the constellation of scandal-plagued lawmakers currently serving in Alaska.

lady & the gramp: the sinister diversion of the palin selection
from chris floyd: But while the Palin brouhaha provides a measure of comic relief, in the end it is just another ludicrous distraction from the main issue, the one issue that is never discussed openly in the campaign (except, as Arthur Silber notes below, inadvertently): the fact that both major parties and their candidates are co-conspirators in the most savage and extensive war crime of the 21st century: the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

with palin, mccain ups chances of beating obama
from people's voice: I applaud John McCain’s choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice president nominee. In many ways this choice was far more impressive than Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden. Better yet, the McCain selection will make the general election campaign far more interesting and competitive. I say this on the basis of looking at contradictions that the choices raised. Here we have Obama proclaiming endlessly that he was running against the politics of the past, but then he picks an extremely long term senator that is clearly a member of the status quo establishment. Moreover, Obama has kept boasting that he does not take money from lobbyists, but Biden has taken plenty. And then there is the claim of great judgment by Obama for his opposition to the Iraq war, but Biden played an important role as a Democrat in supporting the Bush war. Palin is a much, much better match with McCain.

media monarchy episode089

an extra-strength episode089 of media monarchy fights black helicopters over portland, obamessiah & the dnc charade/parade, biden & the nwo, terrordrills & curfews, russia, china & london 2012, 9/11, anthrax & eugenics, lockerbie, kbr, jfk & gps, blackh20, otb & katrina, music by j-live and tons more...

download/digg/stream/skype/subscribe
pra/revere/myspace/im/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

selection '08: obamessiah & the dnc charade/parade

satire: portrayal of obama as elitist hailed as step forward for african americans*

not satire: barack obama not a US citizen*
84k+ pack invesco to hear obama's speech*
obama's speech by numbers*
obama's risky stadium gig*
mccain 'conservatives' attempt to paint obama as marxist bombthrower*
sleepwalker mccain: will lock up pot smokers but regularly uses powerful sleeping pills*
in denver, police & protesters try to prepare for each other*
legal observers document strong police presence at dnc anti-war protest*
denver’s ironic treatment of homelessness during the dnc*
dhs to use controversial fusion centers during conventions*
recreate 68 'self defense' training at the dnc*
dnc hall surrounded by steel cage*
dnc police bulletin: people with city maps could be planning violence*
no more razor wire at denver convention holding cells (since the public found out about it)*
'freedom cages' coming to denver; ss, cia, military plans to suppress protest at dnc*
video: malkin says dnc protesters ‘want brush with torture’*
audio: malkin entourage admits alex jones did not say “kill malkin”*
security turns US conventions into $100m fortresses*
police informer exposed*
video: denver police violence at the dnc*

claim that protesters carried rocks is disputed *
denver police hit protesters with pepper spray from cannons, arrest 100*
anti-abortion protesters arrested in denver*
abc reporter arrested in denver taking pictures of senators, big donors*
denver police arrest abc producer photographing contributors*
pelosi heckled everywhere she goes*
cindy sheehan catches phone bugger in the act at dnc*
'9/11 truth' activists march through denver*
protesters denied access to attorneys, forced to march in leg shackles, aclu charges*
city defends ’secret jail’ built for dnc*
company acknowledges voting machine error*
giuliani visits terrorism exhibit near dnc*
video: the man the democrats should have nominated*

video: ron paul says 'there's no difference' between mccain & obama*

video: protestors prepare for republican convention*

we remember what happened in new orleans

from brasscheck tv: In the chaos and trauma that accompanied the levee collapses in New Orleans in 2005, a few basic facts were obscured:

1. Katrina was not a natural disaster. It was an engineering disaster caused by the federally funded U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

2. Far from performing incompetently, the Bush administration and reactionary forces in local government were extremely effective in attaining their aims.

Specifically:

1. The Bush administration did an extremely effective job of withholding vital "life and death" information that levees had not only topped, they had also catastrophically collapsed.

2. FEMA did an extremely effective job of discouraging qualified relief workers from coming to the area, going so far as to turn many back at gunpoint. They also turned away much needed supplies like water and fuel and sabotaged local communications lines.

3. Thousands of flood victims were very effectively herded and held in concentration-like conditions within the city for many days after the flooding.

4. Though it claimed to be unable to bring food, water, medicine or transportation into the flood zone, Homeland Security did an extremely effective job of quickly hiring and deploying highly paid gun thugs to the region who were employed by companies that had made massive contributions to the Bush campaign.

5. The Bush administration and their friends in the news media did an extremely effective job of painting the victims of the flooding as dangerous and not worthy of being helped.

6. The Bush administration did an extremely effective job of erasing a carefully researched and thought out evacuation plan developed over many years by LSU and replacing it with NOTHING.

7. Post-flood law enforcement did an extremely effective job of illegally seizing fire arms from hundreds of law abiding citizens while allowing criminals to run amok.

Incompetence? Poor planning? You've got to be kidding....

police state usa: terror drills, curfews, gps & ip snooping

terror drill finds culprit with dirty bomb
from ny daily news: It was only a drill, but the scenario was still terrifying. A boat loaded with radioactive materials sailed through New York Harbor Friday. A multiagency task force - led by state-of-the-art NYPD boats - was assigned to stop the interloper. "We're trying to further...protect the waterways and ports of New York City from any acts of terrorism or any incidents that may occur," said Deputy Chief Joseph McKeever of the NYPD counterterrorism division.

canadian military exercise 'nanook 2008' travels through uncharted waters
from wikinews: Operation NANOOK 2008 was held from August 11 to August 25 by the Canadian Forces for the purpose of conducting mock emergency rescue operations for potential maritime disasters in the northeastern Canadian article waters. Two Canadian navy ships and two airforce planes, a CC-138 Twin Otter and a CP-140 Aurora, took part in the exercises in the Canada's arctic. The HMCS Toronto and the Canadian Coast Guard ship Pierre Radisson travelled along the Hudson Strait. The Operation extended to Davis Strait, and Frobisher Bay during the annual NANOOK Operation.

michigan holds mock disease outbreak drill
from wlns: State officials had a chance to learn what it would be like to respond to a disease outbreak. Wayne Wood, Michigan Farm Bureau: "The main thing is to get the comfort level of whether we've got the capacity to handle a contagious disease like that and contain it before it spreads." The event was sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security. It was part of an emergency training exercise on how to handle a major outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Those who took park suited up in disposable biosecurity suits and entered what's called the hot zone. They also learned how to gather samples and diagnose the disease using live sheep.

US central command conducts training
from centcom: The United States Central Command has deployed approximately 200 personnel from Tampa to Central Command Forward Headquarters in the Middle East to conduct training on the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP). The training includes the emergency deployment of the USCENTCOM headquarters in Tampa to an alternate location forward in the CENTCOM area of responsibility (AOR). The alternate command post will provide the Commander of US Central Command the ability to maintain situational awareness and command and control of contingency operations throughout the USCENTCOM AOR as well as Headquarters, USCENTCOM during a natural disaster. The COOP was last exercised during November 2006, and is a long-planned, routine training event. There are no media opportunities scheduled during this training.

unmanned drone on long island sparks terror investigation
from wnbc: An unmanned drone being built by an engineer on Long Island sparked a large counter-terrorism investigation across the New York area, officials tell WNBC.com. Police said they had stumbled upon overnight testing of the drone at a little-used airstrip in Calverton, Long Island. The investigation began in February of last year, when investigators first learned testing of the drone was underway. Officials said the drone was being designed to carry more than 600 pounds of explosives. "It could be in the air for 8-10 hours and there's potential harm if it is carrying a large amount of toxic material," NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in explaining why his department's counterterrorism officials were concerned.

watchlist 'problems' will legitimize traveler registry database
from infowars: The terrorist watch list is a complete joke– that will only lead to legitimizing the ‘trusted traveler’ programs and other means of biometric registration.

new guidelines would give fbi broader powers
from new york times: A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday. The plan, which could be made public next month, has already generated intense interest and speculation. Little is known about its precise language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations.

curfew america hits hartford, connecticut
from the independent: The police state has not arrived quite yet but it may feel like it to the residents of some American cities, where a handful of embattled mayors and police chiefs are imposing strict and sometimes sweeping curfews as a last resort to quell new waves of gun violence this summer. "We must do this because we cannot and will not tolerate innocent people, especially children, to be victims," insists Eddie Perez, the Mayor of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, where a night-time curfew was introduced last week and will remain in effect for a month for those under 18 years old. Nor are there any apologies from the authorities in Helena-West Helena on the banks of the Mississippi in Arkansas, small pockets of which are under a 24-hour curfew that all ages must respect. Police are enforcing it, moreover, with night-vision goggles and M16 military rifles.

google privacy practices worse than isp snooping, at&t charges
from threat level: Online advertising networks - particularly Google's - are more dangerous than the fledgling plans and dreams of ISPs to install eavesdropping equipment inside their internet pipes to serve tailored ads to their customers, AT&T says. At least that's what the company told Congress in a letter early this week, responding to four prominent House lawmakers who are bird-dogging ISPs about their online profiling practices. Those lawmakers asked 33 internet companies on Aug. 1 to explain some of their monitoring practices, Most have replied. In its letter (pdf), AT&T denies that it currently digs deep into the net habits of its users "for the purpose [of] developing a profile of a particular consumer's online behavior."* (AT&T is currently facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly helping the NSA spy on Americans' internet usage, but that's a different issue since the NSA does not run ads.)

bush protesters get $50k state settlement
from raw story: State records show that a $50,000 judgment has been awarded to two retired school teachers who were strip-searched during a 2004 campaign stop by President Bush. The State Appeal Board recently approved the out-of-court settlement for Alice McCabe and Christine Nelson. They brought a claim against the Iowa Department of Public Safety after two state troopers arrested them at a rally in Cedar Rapids in September 2004. The charges were later dropped.

police using ‘warrantless gps tracking’
from raw replay: CNN’s Kate Bolduan reported that police are using GPS devices to track suspects without their knowing it. Some states like Washington and Oregon require that police obtain a warrant before using a GPS device to track suspects. Most states do not require a warrant. This video is from CNN’s American Morning, broadcast August 18, 2008.


bbc: some residents 'furious' over nyc terror checks
from raw story: 'Operation Sentinel,' a project of the New York Police Department which would have every vehicle in Manhattan tracked by a series of license plate scanners, is cause for fury among some New York City residents. Details of the program were reported by RAW STORY on August 12. A similar security grid is being developed for Washington, DC. In an August 19 report, BBC's Wendy Urquhart found that while some are accepting of the plan's invasive measures, others are not taking the news so lightly.

lockerbie evidence not disclosed

from bbc: Scottish police had information that might have changed the outcome of the Lockerbie bombing trial, a BBC TV programme has learned. The information could have affected the credibility of key evidence, but was not passed to the defence team. Libyan national Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is serving life for killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing. A prosecution witness had seen a picture linking al-Megrahi to the bombing before he identified him.

flashback: hollywood to frame iran for lockerbie

halliburton sued for human trafficking

from raw story: Twelve men recruited in Nepal died after forced transfer to Iraq, lawfirm says... Thirteen Nepali men were recruited and held against their will for thirteen months in a human trafficking scheme engineered and perpetrated by Halliburton and its Jordanian contractor, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in California federal court.

The Nepali men, each between the ages of 18 and 27, were allegedly hired as kitchen staff by the then-Halliburton subsidiary KBR and its Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners. Once they arrived in Jordan, however, their passports were seized and they were dispatched to Iraq.

"Tragically, as the men were being transported to Iraq, a car containing twelve of the men was stopped by members of the Ansar al-Sunna Army, an insurgent group," the Washington lawfirm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll writes. "The 12 men in the car were taken hostage and executed by the insurgents. The executions were filmed and posted on the Internet. The Inspector General for the United States Department of Defense investigated and confirmed the facts related to the fate of the 12 men, which led to increased enforcement of anti-trafficking measures by the United States."

Only one man survived.

flashback: dyncorp/halliburton sex slave scandal won't go away

anthrax updates: leahy, boyle, grassley, coverups & 2 groups

leahy not satisfied with the anthrax investigation
from empty wheel: The biggest news from a blogger chat with Patrick Leahy at the DNC today came in response to a question I threw out as we adjourned - about whether or not he was convinced with the FBI's case in the anthrax case. We had this exchange:

emptywheel: Do you think Ivins acted alone? Are you convinced Ivins sent the anthrax letters?

Leahy: No, I'm not satisfied. I think someone was involved either before or after. I'm not satisfied with the answers I've gotten.

I suggested that he had seen significantly more evidence than the public had seen-he gave me a funny look; I'm not sure what that meant. He said SJC will do a hearing with Mueller in mid-September. Leahy expects some hard questions from both Democrats and Republicans.

govt biological weapons legislator: anthrax inside job coverup continuing
from steve watson: A former government biological weapons legislator appeared on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones show yesterday to discuss his detailed knowledge of the cover up of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which he is adamant were perpetrated by criminal elements of the US government in an attempt to foment a police state by killing off opposition to hardline post 9/11 legislation. Dr Francis A. Boyle literally helped write the law with regards to terrorism, as he was responsible for drafting the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 that was passed unanimously by both Houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bush Snr.

charles grassley on the anthrax investigation
from glenn greenwald: For today's edition of Salon Radio, I spoke with GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa who, to his credit, has been the leading critic in the Senate of the FBI's anthrax investigation. Sen. Grassley wrote an August 7 letter to Attorney General Mukasey and FBI Director Mueller complaining about the FBI's secrecy and botched investigation and demanding answers to multiple key questions. In the interview, Sen. Grassley reveals that the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Pat Leahy (of which Grassley is a member), will now hold hearings to investigate the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins.

project anthrax & the coverup (part6): vaxgen's donald francis & aids; the thai experiments; the mailings as fascist 'cinical trials'
from alex constantine: The anthrax mailings and the development of vaccines were inseparable projects - these involved animal and human experimentation. On August 3, 2008, USA Today explained the work that Dr. Ivins did at Ft. Detrick, specificially - terminal animal experiments:

"Ivins performed research that required exposing research animals to airborne anthrax, according to a 1998 report in the journal Vaccine. The goal was to test whether a new vaccine could guard against anthrax inhaled in a bioterrorist attack." The strain of anthrax employed "in Ivins' vaccine experiments was a wet form sprayed into the faces of macaque monkeys through a mask."

top anthrax expert: 'maybe there's 2 groups' of anthrax killers
from george washington: William Patrick is the leading U.S. expert on weaponizing anthrax, and has multiple patents in anthrax weaponization. Patrick made an interesting point in a November 2001 article in USA Today:

Further complicating things, the spores contained in the first attack, on a Florida media company, have been described by investigators as a clumpy powder, which would make a poor aerosol. Only two weeks later, the finely prepared Daschle-letter spores appeared. Those spores were ground so fine that they apparently drifted across offices and contaminated other letters in the mail. The same strain of anthrax was used in all the attacks, suggesting a common source.

The bioterrorists "must have had a hell of a short learning curve," says Patrick, who headed U.S. bioweapons work until the program's halt in 1969. "Or maybe there's two groups."

In other words, either a single killer or group of killers went from a crude anthrax preparation to an extremely advanced weaponized form of anthrax in 2 weeks, or there were two groups of killers.

The anthrax sent in the first letters was coarse, brown, "sandlike", and clumpy. The anthrax sent to Daschle and Leahy was white and very fine.

ivins tried to mislead fbi on anthrax
from usa today: The FBI said Monday that Bruce Ivins, the bioscientist whom they say launched the 2001 anthrax attacks, helped them figure out how to collect the anthrax samples needed for the investigation. On Feb. 27, 2002, Ivins submitted a sample that didn't meet those standards. The FBI destroyed his sample without testing it, said Vahid Majidi, assistant director for the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate.

fbi admits it destroyed evidence in anthrax case
from ap: FBI scientists early on had — but destroyed — the unique strain of anthrax used in the deadly 2001 attacks that years later would lead them to Dr. Bruce Ivins, now the government's top suspect. FBI Assistant Director Vahid Majidi (vah-HID muh-JI-dee) said the initial anthrax sample that Ivins took from his Army lab in February 2002 and gave investigators did not meet court-ordered conditions for its preparation and collection. Majidi said the sample kept at the FBI lab was destroyed because the bureau believed it might not have been allowed as evidence at trial. Not until after April 2004 did investigators trace strains of genetically-unique anthrax back to Ivins' lab at Fort Detrick, Md. (This version CORRECTS that sample might NOT have been allowed.))

why people who question the anthrax attacks won't question 9/11
from 9/11 blogger: I think I've figure out why many people who question the government's explanation for the anthrax attacks don't question the official story about 9/11.

Specifically:

* 9/11 involved much greater loss of life - while 5 people died in the anthrax attacks, close to 3,000 died on 9/11

* While none of us have seen gruesome images of the victims of the anthax attacks, we watched horrific images of 9/11: planes slamming into buildings, people jumping out of the Twin Towers, the Towers collapsing . . .

* 9/11 was the first attack on the U.S. by "foreign terrorists". As such, it was the point at which America took the fork in the road away from traditional notions of liberty, justice and the Geneva Convention and towards the "war on terror"

9/11 and the anthrax attacks - and the government's "investigation" into both - were actually very similar in many ways, as I will show in my next essay.

However, while many people can see how ridiculous the government's case against Dr. Bruce Ivins as the "sole culprit" is, they are so traumatized by the 3,000 dead, the horrible images, and the status of 9/11 as the "day when everything changed", that they simply will not allow themselves to honestly and fully investigate 9/11.

anthrax, hatfill & more: additions to the complete 9/11 timeline
from history commons: Most of the new entries published by the 9/11 Timeline this week deal with the anthrax scare. The main drug used to combat anthrax was Cipro, which a high government official advised some reporters to take shortly after 9/11. Although an inquiry was launched into a coverup of problems with it in May 2000, the FDA endorsed the drug two months later. Hoax letters similar to the later anthrax mailings were sent to Fox News from 2000, and one may have been received by a Florida tabloid in mid-September 2001. The anthrax attacks are associated with the Patriot Act, which Democratic Senator Russ Feingold blocked on October 9. Two other Democratic senators were then targeted by the killer, and 28 congressional staffers tested positive for the disease. Congress then passed the bill without reading it.

anthrax fall guy ivins reminds frederick, maryland locals of the frank olson 'suicide' case of 50yrs ago
from peters new york: The story of Frank Olson was documented in the months before 9/11 in an article in the New York Times magazine section. Written by his son's Harvard schoolmate, Michael Ignatieff, we learn from the story that "Frank Olson's specialty... had been the development of aerosols for the delivery of anthrax." In the years immediately preceding his death, Olson was one of the top officials at the government's biological weapons laboratory at Fort Detrick.

In 1953, Olson was found on a New York City sidewalk, his body bloodied and broken, apparently after a fall from his hotel room. The details of his death, ruled a suicide, remained a mystery for more than twenty years. But in 1975, an article in the Washington Post revealed that, contained in a report issued by the then-recently concluded U.S. President's Commission on CIA Activities was an account of a scientist who had been administered a dose of LSD without his knowledge, suffered side-effects from the drug, went to New York under CIA escort for psychological treatment, and jumped out of a hotel room window.

9/11: ksm, new clues, steel cross, nist & wtc7

financial times & 'self-confessed mastermind of 9/11'
from people's voice: The Financial Times (FT), once the liberal, enlightened voice of the financial elite (in contrast to the aggressively neo-conservative Wall Street Journal) has yielded to the totalitarian-militarist temptation. The feature article of the weekend supplement of August 16/17, 2008 – “The Face of 9/11” – embraces the forced confession of a 9/11 suspect elicited through 5 years of hideous torture in the confines of secret prisons. To make their case, the FT published a half-page blow-up photo first circulated by former CIA director George Tenet, which presents a bound, disheveled, dazed, hairy ape-like prisoner. The text of the writer, one Demetri Sevastopulo, admits as much: The FT owns up to being a propaganda vehicle for a CIA program to discredit the suspect while he stands trial based on confessions obtained through torture.

From beginning to end, the article categorically states that the principle defendant, Khalet Sheikh Mohammed, is the “self-confessed mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US.” The first half of the article is full of trivia, designed to provide a human-interest feel to the courtroom and the proceedings – a bizarre mixture discussing Khaled’s nose to the size of the courtroom.

a new 9/11 clue
from jerry mazza: Recently, an email drifted in about an article I wrote, What were the Mossad with fraudulent New Zealand Passports doing in Iraq? The writer said, “I’ve known about this for some time - that the Mossad was involved in murdering our troops in a variety of methods to keep them there so we could ‘finish’ the job by destroying Syria and Iran. For years now I’ve suspected and now know for sure the Mossad had a lot to do with the 9/11 attack on the WTC. The attached mp3 is a recording of NYPD radio transmissions on 9/11. Listen from the 3-minute mark almost to the end. This was never reported in the media.”

The recording is titled, “The WTC-10-5-the-message-about-the-remote-controlled-plane.” In the mélange of scratchy voices bumping each other off and on, around minute three, the words “remote controlled-plane” bump through clearly, are interrupted, and finally assert quite clearly again that “there’s a big truck on King Street with the mural of an airplane painted on it diving into New York City and exploding.” It was later noted “King Street between 6th and 7th Avenues,” about a mile north of WTC, which was in direct line of sight from King St. and 6th Avenue...

steel cross installed near flight 93 site in pennsylvania
from raw replay: Steel beams that were once part of the World Trade Center are now shaped like a cross and standing in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, near the spot where one of the hijacked planes from 9/11 crashed. This video is from The Associated Press, broadcast August 25, 2008.

nist report: shameful, embarrassing & completely flawed
from paul joseph watson: NIST Claims “New Phenomenon” Occurred For First Time Ever In Collapse Of WTC 7, Yet fails to address why ground zero workers and media outlets had prior knowledge of an “extraordinary event” never before observed an hour in advance, plus myriad of other ignored issues...

In its final report on the collapse of WTC 7 that news outlets are reporting “puts 9/11 conspiracy theories to bed,” NIST claims that the never before observed “new phenomenon” of “thermal expansion” was to blame for the destruction of the building, a completely ludicrous conclusion in a report that simply ignores eyewitness testimony and hard evidence that points to the deliberate demolition of the structure.

NIST completely fails to address prior knowledge of the building’s collapse, including why news outlets like the BBC and CNN reported that the building had collapsed an hour before it actually fell, as well as firefighters on the scene who are heard on video saying, “Keep your eye on that building, it’ll be coming down soon.”

cnn: conspiracy theorists ‘not swayed’ by wtc7 explanation
from raw replay: CNN’s Deborah Feyerick reported that a new report explaining the collapse of World Trade Center building 7 during the 9/11 attack doesn’t convince conspiracy theorists. This video is from CNN’s American Morning, broadcast August 22, 2008.

jfk: students honored for bullet study & new exhibit

study of jfk assassination bullets honored
from upi: Three Texas A&M University faculty members were honored for a study challenging the lone-gunman theory in the assassination of U.S. President John Kennedy. Statistics Professors Cliff Spiegelman and Simon Seather along with research chemist William James analyzed the makeup of bullets that came from the same production batch as the ones recovered after the 1963 shooting in Dallas.

The trio received the 2008 Statistics in Chemistry Award from the American Statistical Association for their work showing that the metallic compounds of the fatal bullets weren't as unique as originally thought. "Using new compositional analysis techniques not available in the 1960s, the team determined that the bullet fragments involved in the assassination are not nearly as rare as previously reported, leading to the recommendation that the bullet fragments be reanalyzed," the university said in a written statement.

'the making of a president': jfk's growth as a politician shown in well-timed exhibit at jfk library

from wbz: The early chapters in Pres. John F. Kennedy's story are on display at the JFK Library and Museum. The exhibit, called "The Making of a President," shows experiences that shaped Kennedy's life.

And for the first time, we're seeing journals he kept as his traveled around the world. "I was struck by what a curious mind he had," said Jim Wagner of the JFK Library.

His journals revealed how much he learned while abroad – not only from dignitaries, but ordinary people as well. "Wherever he was, he would take time to talk to shopkeepers and people he met in restaurants and hotels and get their sense of what they thought was happening in their part of the world," said Wagner.

Worldly views and war service are only a few of the themes that shaped the former president. These are the same themes we hear today as we get ready to elect the 44th president. "At the convention, so much of it is about biography and learning about the candidates running for office. What is it about them that's prepared them to be president," said Wagner.

organized crime dumping weak US dollar for euro

from afp: The weakened US dollar has fallen out of favor with organized crime groups to pay for drug shipments or to settle scores, a Canadian government report said Friday.

And if the greenback continues its slide in 2008, as expected, more and more criminals are likely to exchange euros for illicit goods, said Criminal Intelligence Service Canada in its annual report. (2mb pdf)

"The US dollar weakened significantly against other major currencies in 2007 and according to some economists, is expected to depreciate further in 2008," said the report.

"As a consequence, other currencies - particularly the euro - are poised to weaken the US dollar's dominance as the currency of choice for international remittances and payments," it said.

"This trend could also drive an increase in observed instances of bulk-cash transfers denominated in currencies other than Canadian and US dollars," the report added.

russian & US warships engaged in black sea standoff

from irish times: Russian and US warships were engaged in a Black Sea stand-off last night, amid western warnings that the conflict in Georgia could destabilise other parts of Moscow's old empire. A US coast guard cutter carrying aid docked at the Georgian port of Batumi after bypassing the Russian-controlled port of Poti. Two other US navy vessels were offshore in the Black Sea. Meanwhile, 250km (155 miles) north, Russian warships landed in the separatist region of Abkhazia.

alex jones on 'russia today'


tension rises as putin talks of black sea confrontation
from times online: A new Cold War between Russia and the West grew steadily closer yesterday after the Kremlin gave a warning about “direct confrontation” between American and Russian warships in the Black Sea. Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, declared that Russia was taking “measures of precaution” against American and Nato naval ships. “Let’s hope we do not see any direct confrontation in that,” he said. Any attempt by countries in the West to isolate Russia would “definitely harm the economic interests of those states”, he said.




update: russia may cut oil flow to the west
from telegraph: Fears are mounting that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over coming days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions and Nato naval actions in the Black Sea. Any such move would be a dramatic escalation of the Georgia crisis and play havoc with the oil markets.