"scariest thing about my halloween is that november rent is due" for the b-side of episode147from media monarchy w/ horrific headlines, sexcrimes, carnaby & the base of the pyramid + the latest news from food world order & cyber/space\war, morose music from sloan & morrissey and more...
"fear is the foundation of most governments" on this halloween weekend episode147 frommedia monarchy w/ secret societies, the media & the new world next week - weaponized culture & a swine flu national emergency - pot tax, polls, plans, games & the 'smart grid' + warwhores, police state terror drills, 9/11 updates, bank failures, hellish music from hank williams iii & so much more...
well, for the last several decades, many films & tv shows have (c)overtly covered the topics of conspiracy, secret societies & other malevolent media/memes. if you take a quick look at your local movie marquee, you'll see that conspiracy media is very much a part of the cultural zeitgeist. while it's nearly impossible to completely cover this topic, we do our best to get 'behind the normal' & break down the 'conspiratorial infrastructure'. and that's just the tip of the iceburg.
with a subject that's perfect for the media monarchy kingdom, this interview will help 'illuminate' the infotainment that's up next on your netflix queue & coming soon to a theater near you.
update: passport with 9/11 suspect's name found in pakistan from cnn: A passport bearing the name of Said Bahaji, a suspect linked to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, has been found in a town captured by the Pakistani military. The passport was found in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani military has been battling to wrest territory from the Taliban in Pakistan. It contained a Pakistani visa issued in August 2001 showing that the bearer entered Pakistan on September 4, 2001, and appeared unusually new for a document eight years old. CNN has not independently confirmed its authenticity.
from abcnews: Not there yet, but the roundtable seemed to think that the legalization of marijuana is coming. John Podesta even suggested (in jest?) taxing marijuana could be a way to pay for health care. The times they are a-changin’.
what's the difference, really? - but either way, roland carnaby wasn't supposed to meet his death on a houston highway in a high-speed chase with the cops... from houston press: Roland Carnaby was on the run. Pulled over going 75 in a 60, he'd panicked and taken off from the traffic cop and now was racing along Highway 288 at nearly 120 miles per hour with police officers right on his tail. A Houston Police Department officer named Charles Starks had stopped him driving his Jeep Commander a little before 10 a.m. on April 29, 2008. Carnaby announced he was CIA and pulled out his credentials. Starks asked for a phone number to call to verify Carnaby's claim. Carnaby gave him one, but said that probably no one was there. When Starks asked to hold the CIA badge, Carnaby refused, citing "national security" issues...
The officers later claimed that they saw Carnaby grab a "dark and shiny object" that they thought was a gun. It turned out to be his BlackBerry, which was lying next to Carnaby's body as officers handcuffed him. Bleeding badly, Carnaby began kicking out blindly. His phone records show he tried frantically to make several calls, but was only able to push random digits. He died before an ambulance could get him to the hospital.
Conspiracy theories flooded the Web, claiming the CIA or some foreign intelligence agency had assassinated Carnaby. His friends and family swore Carnaby was the real McCoy and that he knew many CIA and FBI big shots, as well as a host of local law-enforcement officers. But the CIA and FBI denied ever employing him, and HPD Chief Harold Hurtt and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia publicly claimed they hardly knew the man. Who was this guy? everyone wondered. Was he really an international CIA officer, killed in a routine traffic stop in Texas?
A year and a half later, the Houston Press has obtained new information in the form of depositions from former intelligence officers that appears to establish that Roland Carnaby was the real deal — at least for part of his life.
Almost 1,600 agents and officers took part in the raids, which followed investigations in 36 cities, according to the FBI, local law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Included in the arrests were 60 pimps, according to the FBI and local police officials.
Authorities say the youngest victim was 10.
In Southern California, two children were rescued in Riverside, and four adults were arrested, said Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman. Four suspected customers of child prostitutes were arrested in Orange County.
"It is repugnant that children in these times could be subjected to the great pain, suffering and indignity of being forced into sexual slavery for someone else's profit," Assistant Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement. He added that the latest raids show that "the scourge of child prostitution still exists on the streets of our cities."
The initiative has rescued nearly 900 children; led to the conviction of 510 pimps, madams and their associates; and seized $3.1 million in assets, according to the FBI.
"We're having an enormous impact on this business," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Most of the recovered children have been girls, who usually become victims of traffickers around age 12, Allen said.
He estimated that 100,000 children are still involved in sex trafficking in the U.S., adding that the problem is growing partly because of the recession.
from wall st journal: Around the world, four billion people live in poverty. And Western companies are struggling to turn them into customers.
For the past decade, business visionaries have argued that these people, dubbed the Base of the Pyramid, make up an enormous, untapped market. Some of the world's biggest, savviest corporations have aimed to address their basic needs—by selling them everything from clean water to electricity.
But, time and again, the initiatives have quietly fizzled out. Why? Because these companies were looking at it all wrong.
Put most simply: The Base of the Pyramid is not actually a market. True, those billions of low-income people have a lot in common. But they don't have two of the vital characteristics you need to have a consumer market. They haven't been conditioned to think that the products being offered are something one would even buy. And they haven't adapted their behaviors and budgets to fit the products into their lives. A consumer market is nothing less than a lifestyle built around a product.
Think of an example close to home. In the 1970s, bottled water was a foreign idea to most Americans—it wasn't part of American consumers' lifestyle. It took decades for large numbers of consumers to accept the notion of buying something you could get free out of a faucet—and turn bottled water into a big business. For many poor consumers, paying for clean water or sanitation products seems just as outlandish.
The answer? Companies must create markets—new lifestyles—among poor consumers. They must make the idea of paying money for the products seem natural, and they must induce consumers to fit those goods into their long-held routines...
One final thought: When marketing to the Base of the Pyramid, companies should be positive. Instead of telling consumers that a product will alleviate their hardships, companies should stress how the product will make their lives more enjoyable.
heavily armed law enforcement teams scattered across bay area this weekend for 'urban shield 2009' from contra costa times: Armed officers in full battle gear will be scattered throughout the Bay Area this weekend, rescuing hostages, fighting bank robbers and quelling terrorism at the Oakland Airport, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the NASA Ames Research Center and 22 other high profile sites. There will be the sound of gunfire and blasts — all part of Urban Shield, one of the biggest domestic terrorism drills in the country. The $1 million, two-day event begins Saturday and will test the training of 27 crack teams from throughout the state, elsewhere in the country and the world...
27 teams? or is it: '25 teams practice emergency response' ... abc probably just confused the number of teams with the number of scenarios ... nothing to see here, move along:
drill may delay travel into fort huachuca wednesday from azstarnet: Southern Arizona’s largest military installation is testing its anti-terrorism measures on Wednesday, a drill that could make travel there more time-consuming. Fort Huachuca’s force protection exercise may cause hold-ups for traffic entering the installation, an Army news release said. “Visitors to the fort may experience some delays that day,” said the release from spokeswoman Tanja Linton. Those entering the fort should be prepared to present identification and proof of insurance and vehicle registration, she said. Fort Huachuca, about 75 miles southeast of Tucson, is home to the Army’s military intelligence training center.
and, of course, the folks at fort huachuca are big fans of mediamonarchy.com, visiting several times a week ... now let's catch a bus in orlando:
tsa spot-checks greyhound bus terminal from orlando sentinel: Bryce Williams wasn't expecting to walk through a metal detector or have his bags screened for explosives at the Greyhound bus terminal near downtown Orlando. But Williams and 689 other passengers went through tougher-than-normal security procedures Thursday as part of a random check coordinated by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The idea is to keep off guard terrorists and others who mean harm, thereby improving safety for passengers and workers. There was no specific threat to the bus station on John Young Parkway south of Colonial Drive. Although the TSA is best known for its agents at airports, the agency's Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, teams stage periodic operations at bus and train stations, ports and other transportation centers. They began work in December 2006. Thursday's daylong event was the first at a Greyhound station in Florida, said John Daly, TSA security director for the Orlando region.
and then finally, we jet off to the 'holy' land for some hi-tech & hush-hush wargames w/ everyone's favorite bff's:
USrael rehearse state of the art air defence umbrella from afp: A massive air defence drill under way in Israel will join Israeli and US systems to create the world's most advanced anti-missile umbrella to protect the Jewish state, officials said on Thursday. The Juniper Cobra 10 exercises, the fifth in a series of joint air defence drills between the allies, began this week and comes amid heightened tension between Israel and arch-foe Iran. Some 1,000 US soldiers will take part in the two-week exercise combining Israeli and US systems to "create the world's most advanced air defence system to protect our citizens and homes from attack," the commander of Israel's Air Defence Corps, Brigadier General Doron Gavish, told reporters. Israeli and US commanders refused to describe the scenarios they are simulating, but said they would practise merging different anti-missile systems that defend simultaneously against long-, medium- and short-range missiles.
episode105 - weaponized culture from corbett report: To what extent is our culture shaped by the culture creators? From culture and fashion to celebrity gossip and tv programming, there is no way to escape the steady stream of propaganda that assaults us on a daily basis. But forewarned is forearmed, and if we can become conscious of the techniques of manipulation, then perhaps we can dismantle the most subtle weapon of all.
from ap: It's a big number that only tells part of the story. The number of banks that have failed so far this year topped 100 on Friday — hitting 106 by the end of the day — the most in nearly two decades. But the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad banks are hard to find.
Going slow buys time. An economic recovery could save some banks that would otherwise go under. But if the recovery is slow and smaller banks' finances get even worse, it could wind up costing even more.
This year's 106 bank failures are the most in any year since 181 collapsed in 1992 at the end of the savings-and-loan crisis. On Friday, regulators took over three small Florida banks — Partners Bank and Hillcrest Bank Florida, both of Naples, and Flagship National Bank in Bradenton — along with four elsewhere: American United Bank of Lawrenceville, Ga., Bank of Elmwood in Racine, Wis., Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minn., and First Dupage Bank in Westmont, Ill.
... which, like other 'national emergencies', lets vague directives kick in and be used in broad & sweeping ways - checkpoints, curfews & possible forced vaccinations ... from ap: President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency and empowered his health secretary to suspend federal requirements and speed treatment for thousands of infected people.
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