Showing posts with label rupert murdoch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rupert murdoch. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2012

When Elites Attack (Each Other): Rupert, Tom, Cher and more


Murdoch Hits Scientology After Celebrity Breakup
from ibnlive.com: News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch took a swipe at Tom Cruise on Sunday in a series of tweets that labeled the Hollywood star a No. 2 or No. 3 person in the hierarchy of Scientologists, a group the media mogul called 'creepy.'

Cher Refuses To Back Down From Anti-Mormon Slur
from abc4.com: Cher is refusing to back down from a Twitter comment she posted on Friday that is considered a slur against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... Cher's tweet said: "I Feel if he doesn't get all his DUCKS IN A ROW we'll b forced 2 listen 2Uncaring Richy Rich! The whitest man in MAGIC UNDERWEAR in the WH" Some news agencies reported that LDS leaders were upset over the reference to the garment won by faithful adult members of the church to remind them of sacred temple ordinances.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

7/21 newspurge: burn for it/witch's wand

9/11 updates:
families want info on #phonehacking probe*

families want info on #phonehacking probeVideo: If 9/11 victims were hacked, 'Fox News is finished'*
Rashard Mendenhall sues ex-sponsor over 9/11 tweets*
Jon Stewart 'Casually' Admits to CIA Prior Knowledge*
New 9/11 Timeline Entries from HistoryCommons.org:
Military Exercises, Air Force Response to Attacks & More
*
Eyewitness to Demolition: New Video Compilation Brings Together Dozens of Explosive 9/11 Accounts*

biowars/envirohealth:
the difference between the Los Alamos fire and other wildfires can be summed up in a single word: 'radiation'*

Flash Floods Near Los Alamos Could Wash Through Canyons Full Of Nuclear Waste*
CBS Investigative Report on the Safety of the New Reactor at the Watts Bar, TN Nuke Plant*
Whistleblower says “the books are being cooked” -
“You can see a Fukushima happening here in the US” - “They wired my car for firebombing”
*
CBS Part 2: Whistleblowers "terrified" at TVA nuke plants?*
‘Anomaly’ detected in Exxon pipeline before rupture in Yellowstone River*
Second Major Oil Spill In Montana In 2 Weeks*
Fukushima: High levels of radioactivity found extensively*
China Denies Coverup of ConocoPhillips Oil Spill*
CERN Scientists Gagged On ‘Politically Incorrect’ Global Warming Data*
UN security council to consider climate change peacekeeping*
Satire: Absentminded Professor Says Cure For Cancer 'Around Here Somewhere'*

drugwar updates:
Alarming 'Bath Salts' Stimulant Sold Legally in Many States*

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

9/11 updates: no new york, 93 memorial & mystery aircraft

'9/11: science & conspiracy' from national geographic -
media war on 'conspiracy theorists':
marginalizing 9/11 truth brought to you by rupert & the cia
*


no new york: obama to spend 9/11 anniversary in virginia
no new york: obama to spend 9/11 anniversary in virginiafrom politico: President Barack Obama plans to observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks with a visit to the Pentagon ... White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday. But Obama has no plans to visit New York City on the eighth year since the World Trade Center was destroyed. "I believe he will go to the Pentagon that day, and go to the memorial there and speak after that," Gibbs said in his morning gaggle. "But we have not announced more details than that." Asked after the gaggle if the president has any plans to visit New York City for the occasion, a White House official told POLITICO he does not and that is unlikely to change. President George W. Bush marked the 9/11 anniversary with visits to lower Manhattan in 2002 and 2006. Last year, Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), then Obama's rival for the presidency, both attended a memorial ceremony at the World Trade Center site as Bush dedicated a memorial at the Pentagon.

'psychology today' calls 'conspiracy thinking' a 'psychotic illness'*
(update: why psychologists are infinitely more dangerous than conspiracy theorists*)

federal government to buy land for flight 93 memorial
from cnn: Pennsylvania landowners around the September 11, 2001, crash site of Flight 93 have reached an agreement with the federal government allowing construction of a permanent memorial there, the government announced Monday. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the National Park Service has "reached agreements with all the landowners needed" to establish the permanent memorial for the 40 people killed in the terrorist hijacking nearly eight years ago. Salazar said the government will pay the landowners approximately $9.5 million.

9/11 memorial stolen from st helens park in oregon

bobcats over washington on 9/11:
what were 2 mystery aircraft doing overhead the pentagon attack?

bobcats over washington on 9/11: what were 2 mystery aircraft doing overhead the pentagon attack?bobcats over washington on 9/11: what were 2 mystery aircraft doing overhead the pentagon attack?from 9/11 blogger: Two military aircraft were flying at high altitude near the Pentagon around the time it was hit on 9/11, but the identities of these aircraft and what they were doing over the Pentagon are unknown.

The planes had the call signs "Bobcat 14" and "Bobcat 17." A partial transcript of air traffic controller communications reveals they were communicating with the control tower at Washington's Reagan National Airport, which is less than a mile from the Pentagon, between at least 9:31 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. on September 11. [1] (The attack on the Pentagon took place at 9:37 a.m. [2]) Radar data has shown that the two aircraft flew "in trail" (in single file, with one directly behind the other) at an altitude of 21,000 feet, and were overhead in the few minutes before the Pentagon was hit. [3]

LAUNCHED FROM DOVER AIR BASE
It would seem essential to establish the exact identities of these aircraft and find out what they were doing in the vicinity of the Pentagon at such a critical time. Yet, eight years after the attacks took place, we still do not have this information. (The fact that these aircraft were near the Pentagon at the time it was hit is itself virtually unknown.)

According to a 9/11 Commission memorandum, "flight strips and other information" indicate that the two aircraft, Bobcat 14 and Bobcat 17, "originated out of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware." The memorandum added, "It is possible, but not confirmed, that they were Air Force corporate passenger jets." When questioned by the 9/11 Commission, Bob Lazar, the acting operations manager at Reagan Airport on September 11, said he "did not remember any aircraft with the call sign 'Bobcat' that hung out over the National airspace" that day. All he could say was that he did remember two aircraft "coming from the north, but he did not think that they entered National's airspace." [4]

OTHER AIRCRAFT NEAR THE PENTAGON
Furthermore, there were at least two other military aircraft near the Pentagon at the time it was hit. A C-130 cargo plane that took off from Andrews Air Force Base, which is 10 miles from the Pentagon, was airborne by 9:33 a.m., and was seen by numerous witnesses above the Pentagon just after the attack there. [5] Its pilot reportedly witnessed the explosion from the Pentagon crash. [6]

And television news reporters described a "white jet" plane that was "circling the White House" a few minutes after the Pentagon was hit. [7] (The White House is about three miles from the Pentagon.) Two government sources familiar with the incident later told CNN that the plane was a military aircraft, but its details were classified. An analysis by CNN suggested the aircraft was an E-4B, which is a militarized version of a Boeing 747 that is used as a flying command post. [8] One such aircraft is known to have taken off from an airfield outside Washington, DC, shortly before the Pentagon was hit. [9]

Considering the historical significance of the 9/11 attacks, which have had devastating consequences that affect us to this day, it is essential that important details surrounding those attacks be thoroughly investigated. We therefore need to know exactly what the two aircraft--Bobcat 14 and Bobcat 17--were, and why they were flying above the Pentagon around the time it was attacked on September 11.

NOTES
[1] "Partial Transcript; Aircraft Accident; AAL77; Washington, DC; September 11, 2001." Federal Aviation Administration, September 20, 2001.
[2] 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004, p. 10.
[3] "Memorandum for the Record: Visit to Reagan National Airport Control Tower in Alexandria, VA and Andrews Air Force Base Control Tower." 9/11 Commission, July 28, 2003.
[4] Ibid.
[5] "AA 77 Radar-Based Timeline and Maps." 9/11 Commission, n.d.; "9:37 a.m. September 11, 2001: Witnesses See Military Cargo Plane Near Flight 77; Pilot Later Implies he is Far Away." Complete 9/11 Timeline.
[6] "The Secret History of 9/11: The U.S. Government Reacts." CBC, September 10, 2006.
[7] "Planes Crash Into World Trade Center." ABC News, September 11, 2001; "The White House Has Been Evacuated." Breaking News, CNN, September 11, 2001.
[8] "Tropical Storm Humberto Heads for Texas; Democrats Blast Petraeus Timeline for Troop Withdrawal; Interview With General David Petraeus." Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees, CNN, September 12, 2007.
[9] Dan Verton, Black Ice: The Invisible Threat of Cyber-Terrorism. Emeryville, CA: McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003, pp. 143-144. According to former 9/11 Commission staff member Miles Kara, this E-4B aircraft took off from Andrews Air Force Base and was airborne at 9:27 a.m. See Miles Kara, "9/11: The Mystery Plane; Not so Mysterious." 9/11 Revisited, June 30, 2009.


film critic criticizes tarantino over his 9/11 remark

outrage after ad shows 9/11 attacks - with dozens of planes
outrage after ad shows 9/11 attacks - with dozens of planesfrom raw story: A television ad made by the Brazilian unit of ad agency DBB made its rounds on the Internet Wednesday, sparking outrage from viewers and the organization the ad was originally supposed to be for. The ad shows a graphical recreation of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, followed by an additional scenario showing dozens of planes descending on New York City. It surfaced after winning a nonprofit award. The tag line? "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it." "We are just utterly appalled," WWF spokeswoman Leslie Aun told the New York Daily news on Wednesday. "This ad is not something that anyone in our organization would ever have signed off on." DBB Brazil said the "team" that made the ad -- produced late last year -- is no longer with the company.

green adviser's past stirs trouble for white house at critical time
from foxnews: President Obama's "green jobs" adviser could become a mounting liability for the Obama administration, as the latest revelation about Van Jones shows his belief that the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks may have been an inside job. Jones joined the "9/11 truther" movement by signing a statement in 2004 calling for then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and others to launch an investigation into evidence that suggests "people within the current administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war." The statement asked a series of critical questions hinting at Bush administration involvement in the attacks and called for "deeper inquiry." It was also signed by former Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

cyber/space\war: eu, on/off, net censorship & hate speech

US to radically improve its cybersecurity. yup! you bet!

nrc study calls for covert cyberattack against 'non-state' enemies
nrc study calls for covert cyberattack against 'non-state' enemiesfrom kurt nimmo: The National Research Council is pushing for the offensive use of “cyberattack” against enemies foreign and domestic. “The current policy and legal framework regulating use of cyberattack by the United States is ill-formed, undeveloped, and highly uncertain,” a press release posted on the the National Academies website states. “The U.S. could use cyberattack either defensively, in response to a cyberattack from another nation, or offensively to support military missions or covert actions,” a report produced by the National Research Council argues.


mi6 nixed major undercover operation after memory stick lost

twitter breached again
from threat level: A French hacker has posted screenshots backing claims that he breached Twitter’s administrative panel, threatening the security and integrity of high-profile accounts and exposing private information to the public, such as the account holder’s e-mail address, IP address, mobile phone number in some cases and list of accounts blocked by the user. The screen shots show internal settings and information for Twitter accounts belonging to U.S President Barack Obama, actor Ashton Kutcher, and singers Lily Allen and Britney Spears. The info reveals that the Obama account has blocked more than 90 users from sending it messages. The screen shots also revealed a list of users who have been blacklisted by Twitter. Twitter confirmed the intrusion and said that only ten accounts had been compromised and that no information in the accounts had been altered.

do we give obama an internet on/off switch?


secret black box probe will monitor web activity
from rinf: Spy chiefs are pressing ahead with secret plans to monitor all internet use and telephone calls in Britain despite an announcement by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, of a ministerial climbdown over public surveillance. GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, is developing classified technology to intercept and monitor all e-mails, website visits and social networking sessions in Britain. The agency will also be able to track telephone calls made over the internet, as well as all phone calls to land lines and mobiles. The £1 billion snooping project - called Mastering the Internet (MTI) - will rely on thousands of “black box” probes being covertly inserted across online infrastructure. The top-secret programme began to be implemented last year, but its existence has been inadvertently disclosed through a GCHQ job advertisement carried in the computer trade press.

wolfram alpha: an invention that could change the internet for ever

eu wants 'internet g12' to govern cyberspace
eu wants 'internet g12' to govern cyberspacefrom eu observer: The European Commission wants the US to dissolve all government links with the body that 'governs' the internet, replacing it with an international forum for discussing internet governance and online security. The rules and decisions on key internet governance issues, such as the creation of top level domains (such as .com and .eu) and managing the internet address system that ensures computers can connect to each other, are currently made by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private, not-for profit corporation based in California which operates under an agreement with the US Department of Commerce. The decisions made by ICANN affect the way the internet works all around the world.


prison awaiting hostile bloggers
from threat level: Proposed congressional legislation would demand up to two years in prison for those whose electronic speech is meant to “coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.” Instead of prison, perhaps we should say gulag. The proposal by Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Los Angeles, would never pass First Amendment muster, unless the U.S. Constitution was altered without us knowing. So Sanchez, and the 14 other lawmakers who signed on to the proposal, are grandstanding to show the public they care about children and are opposed to cyberbullying. The meaasure, H.R. 1966, is labeled the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. It’s designed to target the behavior that led to last year’s suicide of the 13-year-old Meier.

hr1966: megan meier cyberbullying prevention act

update1: rupert murdoch: 'internet will soon be over'
from paul joseph watson: Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch gave a strange response when asked about plans for mainstream news websites to charge for content, declaring, “The current days of the internet will soon be over.” He was making reference to the fact that corporate media websites cannot continue to survive under their current failing business model. The establishment media is dying and advertising revenue has plummeted as people turn to blogs and the alternative media for their news in an environment of corporate lies and spin.

update2: facebook 'bug' revealed personal email addresses
from gadgetwise: Facebook inadvertently gave a “curious” former Peace Corps volunteer and National Guardsman a slew of personal–and likely private–e-mail addresses for other Facebook users, including six Google executives and board members and 61 reporters and editors at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Mike Sheppard, a 29-year-old from Holland, Mich., who earned a masters in statistics in December and has no advanced computer training, sent a mass-blast e-mail to each of The Times and Journal reporters describing a Facebook programming glitch that made it possible. “I wanted to make sure the press knew so Facebook could correct it,” he said in an interview.

cyberbullying bill about shutting down the opposition

pentagon to create force for digital warfare
from ap: The U.S. military must reorganize its cyber operations and will use a new command at a Maryland Army facility to create a force for digital warfare, the director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the Pentagon's leading cyber warfare commander, said the U.S. is determined to lead the global effort to use computer technology to deter or defeat enemies, while still protecting the public's constitutional rights.

lazy journalism exposed by online hoax

authorities hunt hackers in breach of virginia health data
from washington post: The FBI and Virginia State Police are searching for hackers who demanded that the state pay them a $10 million ransom by Thursday for the return of millions of personal pharmaceutical records they say they stole from the state's prescription drug database. The hackers claim to have accessed 8 million patient records and 35 million prescriptions collected by the Prescription Monitoring Program. "This was an intentional criminal act against the commonwealth by somebody who was trying to harm others," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said. "There are breaches that happen by accident or glitches that you try to work out. It's difficult to foil every criminal that may want to do something against you." Although the hackers had threatened to sell the data if they did not receive payment by Thursday, the deadline passed with no immediate sign that they followed through.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

econocrash: davos, panic, pyramid schemes & market magic

do we need a north american currency?
do we need a north american currency?from marketwatch: Thomas Jefferson once said: "When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." As the global financial system pushes on a string, investors are desperately trying to hold tight. The New World Order is upon us, full of hope, promise and a fair amount of fear. In our recent discussion regarding the direction of our country, we noted the risks of catering to conventional wisdom and the implications for the U.S. dollar. See MarketWatch column on New World Order. Years ago, the Federal Reserve wrote a "solution paper" regarding the need to combat zero-bound interest rates. The concern was the flight of capital from the U.S. and an option discussed was a two-tiered currency, one for U.S citizens and one for foreigners. Canadian economist Herbert Grubel first introduced a potential manifestation of this concept in 1999. The North American Currency - called the "Amero" in select circles - would effectively comingle the Canadian dollar, U.S. dollar and Mexican peso. On its face, while difficult to imagine, it makes intuitive sense. The ability to combine Canadian natural resources, American ingenuity and cheap Mexican labor would allow North America to compete better on a global stage. Experience has taught us, however, that perceived solutions introduced by policy makers and politicians don't always have the desired effect.

white house will 'create crisis' & 'panic' to push stimulus
from business & media: Is the new Obama administration taking cues from the Bush administration to get Congress to act? It certainly seemed that way to, South Carolina’s junior Republican senator, Jim DeMint. DeMint, speaking Jan. 27 at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., explained the Obama administration will “create crisis and widespread panic” just like its predecessor in order to get Congress to act expeditiously. “I’ve been around long enough to know whenever someone tells me I have to make a decision right now, my response is no,” DeMint said. “That clears it up right away and I think more and more the Bush administration and now this administration knows that they’re not going to get a quick reaction out of Congress unless they create crisis and widespread panic. And that’s going to be their M.O. to get Congress to act.” Another senator, James Inhofe, R-Okla., explained the Bush administration used a similar tactic, under the direction of former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, to get the $700-billion TARP bailout bill passed by Congress back on Oct. 4, 2008.

bipartisanship? demint predicts zero senate gop votes for obama stimulus

ny ceo arrested over pyramid scheme
from afp: A New York CEO was to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of fleecing investors through a pyramid, or Ponzi scheme, authorities said. A spokeswoman for the FBI said that Nicholas Cosmo, chief executive of Agape World Inc, was due in court following his arrest late Monday. Cosmo "planned and carried out a fraudulent scheme" targeting some 1,500 investors and a total of 370 million dollars, the US prosecutor's office in New York said.

baboon’s blood offers davos leaders shakespearian market magic
baboon’s blood offers davos leaders shakespearian market magicfrom bloomberg: That old black magic has even the World Economic Forum in its spell. “Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble,” says WEF delegate Richard Olivier, one of the 2,500 global business and political leaders starring at the forum’s 39th annual meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland. The son of Shakespearian actor Laurence Olivier isn’t conjuring up Wall Street’s Triple Witching Hour before its next scheduled appearance in March. He’s hosting a seminar titled “Leadership Lessons From Macbeth” for WEF delegates who include Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, News Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. “Cool it with a baboon’s blood,” the 47-year-old Olivier advises, reciting the witches’ recommendation to the troubled Thane of Cawdor in Shakespeare’s play. The WEF’s theme this season is “Shaping the Post-Crisis World.” Yet Olivier reckons the kettle of fiscal crises currently heating up WEF delegates from JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO James Dimon to American International Group Inc. Vice Chairman Jacob Frenkel makes the Davosian stage an ideal venue for the princes of Wall Street to delve into the magic of “Macbeth” and discuss how they persuaded people, including themselves, to believe in things that were not real.

un crime chief says drug money keeps banks afloat
from iht: The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday. Vienna-based UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis spiralled out of control last year. "In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital," Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. "In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor." The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that "interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities," Costa was quoted as saying. There were "signs that some banks were rescued in that way." Profil said Costa declined to identify countries or banks which may have received drug money and gave no indication how much cash might be involved. He only said Austria was not on top of his list, Profil said.

stimulus bill sends thrill through region

banks & standing armies: ron paul on glenn beck
from infowars: Glenn Beck actually quotes Thomas Jefferson on the fact that “banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.”

ron paul: strengthening or weakening the economy?

update: navy's idea of 'stimulus': torpedoes, missiles & jets
navy's idea of 'stimulus': torpedoes, missiles & jetsfrom danger room: The Navy is hoping the stimulus bill will pay for more missiles, and fighter jets, and torpedoes. The gazillion dollar economic aid package, making its way through Congress, puts a premium on projects that can generate jobs, ASAP. So the Pentagon has given "some suggestions in terms of military hospitals, clinics, barracks, some child-care centers and things like that, where we think the work could begin right away or is already under way and could be accelerated," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told senators the other day. But an internal Navy memo, obtained by InsideDefense.com ace Chris Castelli, goes farther than these mom-and-apple-pie construction projects. Instead, the Navy suggests, what about some: "Tomahawk cruise missiles, MK-48 torpedoes or SM-2 air defense missiles; warfighting equipment such as small boats, riverine and coastal warfare craft"... Which sounds a lot more like the Navy's typical shopping list, than an attempt to get Americans working in a hurry. Not surprising. But lame. Meanwhile, Taxpayers for Common Sense finds an extra billion in the stimulus bill for nuclear stockpile watchers at the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Plus, there's another $200 million for the oft-troubled effort to build a high-tech fence along the Mexican border. "DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano at her nomination hearing this month criticized the fence, which has already doubled in cost since construction began," the good-government group notes. "Considering the controversy around increased spending on the weapons complex and border fence, these passages of the legislation should raise some flags over its shovel-readiness." Here's my question to y'all: Should defense projects even be considered part of the stimulus package? Obviously, some of them do generate jobs. But with the Pentagon already gobbling up more than $600 billion a year, hasn't the military-industrial complex had more than its fill? Talk it over, in the comments.

more americans joining military as jobs dwindle
more americans joining military as jobs dwindlefrom iht: As the number of jobs across the nation dwindles, more Americans are joining the military, lured by a steady paycheck, benefits and training. The last fiscal year was a banner one for the military, with all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004, the year that violence in Iraq intensified drastically, Pentagon officials said. And the trend seems to be accelerating. The army exceeded its targets each month for October, November and December — the first quarter of the new fiscal year — bringing in 21,443 new soldiers on active duty and in the reserves. December figures were released last week... "When the economy slackens and unemployment rises and jobs become more scarce in civilian society, recruiting is less challenging," said Curtis Gilroy, the director of accession policy for the Department of Defense. Still, the economy alone does not account for the military's success in attracting more recruits. The recent decline in violence in Iraq has "also had a positive effect," Gilroy said.

from soviet agent to london newspaper proprietor
from soviet agent to london newspaper proprietorfrom time: What can you get for a single unit of Britain's poor, battered currency? Not much - apart from power, influence and an entrée into the highest echelons of the British establishment. These are the potential byproducts of an agreement reached on Jan. 21 by Russian oligarch and politician Alexander Lebedev to buy London's largest newspaper, the Evening Standard, from its current owners Associated Newspapers for the nominal fee of one pound sterling. The bargain-basement price is arguably the least startling aspect of a transaction that if confirmed next month following a staff consultation process - and barring any intervention by the British government - will open a new and bizarre chapter in Anglo-Russian relations. Lebedev, after all, is a former KGB operative, who spied on Britain under diplomatic cover during the Cold War, by his own account scouring news sources such as the Standard for tidbits to feed to his handlers back home. His exotic pedigree has caused a few splutters. Richard Ottway, a Conservative MP, said he felt that "the fact that [Lebedev] has been a member of a foreign security service" meant there should be an inquiry into the sale. "I think it's one more example that we are no more a serious nation that we allow a serious paper to be taken over in our capital by a Russian oligarch," harrumphed Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, an octogenarian former newspaper editor.

irish millionaire found dead of suspected suicide
from wikinews: Irish property businessman Patrick Rocca has been found dead in his home. Police reports indicate that suicide is the probable cause. He was 42. Rocca was discovered dead yesterday morning, with one shot to the head. The Irish Times has confirmed that there appears to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding this shot, and that the firearm involved has been confiscated. Rocca was believed to have assets worth €500 million. He had worked in business for around 25 years, since he joined his family business, Rocca Tiles. His first property deal involved the purchase of two Gatwick office blocks in 2005.

over 8 in 10 corporations have tax havens
from ap: Eighty-three of the nation's 100 largest corporations, including Citigroup, Bank of America and News Corp. (NWSA), had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2007, and some of the companies received federal bailout funding, a government watchdog said Friday. The Government Accountability Office released a report that said Bank of America Inc., Citigroup Inc. (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS) all had more than 100 units in countries that maintain low or no taxes. The three financial institutions were included in the $700 billion financial bailout approved by Congress.

update: putin calls for end of dollar stranglehold
from telegraph: Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has called for concerted action to break the stranglehold of the US dollar and create a new global structure of regional powers. "The one reserve currency has become a danger to the world economy: that is now obvious to everybody," he said in a speech at the World Economic Forum. It is the first time that a Russian leader has set foot in the sanctum sanctorum of global capitalism at Davos. Mr Putin said the leading powers should ensure an "irreversible" move towards a system of multiple reserve currencies, questioning the "reliability" of the US dollar as a safe store of value. "The pride of Wall Street investment banks don't exist any more," he said.

update: diplomat says 'jewish money' controls US
from afp: South Africa’s deputy foreign minister has been taken before the national human rights body for allegedly saying that "Jewish money" controls the United States, officials said Thursday. Fatima Hajaig allegedly told a political rally two weeks ago in Johannesburg that Jews "control America, no matter which government comes into power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush... Their control of America, just like the control of most western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money," she allegedly said. Outraged by the remarks, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies — a civil rights group — said it filed a complaint Wednesday against Hajaig at the human rights commission.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

selection '08: obama/biden herd the sheep

dems endorse 'global war on terror'; obama 'goes after' osama
dems endorse 'global war on terror'; obama 'goes after' osamafrom michel chossudovsky: Obama's "American Promise" is War. Barack Obama has embraced the "Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT). The Obama-Biden campaign has endorsed the very foundations of the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda: "Go after Osama bin Laden, take him out". The rhetoric is softer but the substance is almost identical:

"For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just “muddle through” in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives." [APPLAUSE]


'the nation' & the obama campaign
'the nation' & the obama campaignfrom global research: The “special convention issue” of the Nation magazine features a lengthy article entitled “Progressives in the Obama Moment,” which seeks to make the case for those opposed to war and the reactionary policies of the Bush administration to rally behind the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The authors of the article engage in verbal contortions in an attempt to square the notion that Obama represents a progressive, anti-war impulse of far-reaching dimensions (“The Obama nomination sets the stage for a sea-change election”) with the plain fact that his actual policies are of a thoroughly conventional character and are well within the confines of the right-wing consensus of American bourgeois politics.

both parties want dictatorship
both parties want dictatorshipfrom lew rockwell: Politics brings out the worst in everyone, which is one good reason to completely depoliticize society. This way we can all busy ourselves in productive work or leisure, instead of wasting vast time watching these clowns on television promise the impossible to us. What we are being offered on television is two flavors of dictatorship. One party imagines Athens, with fairness and justice for all, international brotherhood and sisterhood, a world free of hate and discrimination in which all wealth is shared and no wealth is made at the expense of nature... Now to the Republicans, who imagine themselves creating a modern form of Sparta, with military strength and a disciplined citizenry unified in the drive to national greatness, courage, and heroism. Along with this comes support for national service (the draft) and a demand that Congress stop meddling in executive-branch matters.

video: obama strategists mark west virginia as 'battleground' state
from your4state: Fresh from the Democratic National Convention, Obama strategists have now fixed their eyes on West Virginia. During the primary season, presidential candidate Barack Obama suffered one of his biggest losses in the state of West Virginia. Now the Obama campaign is refocusing its efforts and labeling West Virginia a "battleground" state.


video: biden would prosecute bush officials if evidence exists
from raw replay: Fox’s Brian Kilmead talked with Joe Biden about Sarah Palin’s speech to the Republican National Convention. Kilmead asked Biden about reports that an Obama administration would prosecute officials in the Bush administration. This video is from Fox’s Fox & Friends, broadcast September 4, 2008.


biden denies: 'no one's talking about pursuing bush criminally'
from raw story: The possibility that Barack Obama might seek to bring criminal charges against President Bush or members of his administration has been a recurring theme during the presidential campaign, especially since the Obama campaign has attempted to stress themes of bipartisanship. For that reason, Democrats have been quick to downplay any hints of possible criminal prosecutions.

biden: israel free to attack iran
from press tv: US Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden says Israel can take any action against Iran without Washington's permission. "Israel has an absolute right to defend itself," Biden told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday adding that "It doesn't have to ask us".

murdoch brokered secret truce between obama & ailes
murdoch brokered secret truce between obama & ailesfrom guardian: Rupert Murdoch helped broker a "tentative truce" between Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and key News Corporation lieutenant Roger Ailes, the boss of Fox News Channel, earlier this year, according to the media mogul's biographer. Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive, was forced to court Obama after the rising star of US politics rebuffed his initial approaches, it is believed because of what he saw as the derogatory coverage of him and his wife, Michelle, on Fox News, according to Michael Wolff.

5 deferments kept biden out of vietnam
from ap: Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden received five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the same number of deferments received by Vice President Dick Cheney, and later was disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

bush arrives in uk amid huge security operation

bush arrives in uk amid huge security operationfrom guardian: George Bush arrived in the UK today for his last presidential visit to the country before leaving the White House next January. Airforce One touched down at Heathrow just before 2pm. On the final leg of his European tour Bush will take tea with the Queen, dine with Gordon Brown and have breakfast with Tony Blair.

His arrival has prompted planned demonstrations and a heavy security operation. The Stop the War coalition are planning protests at Windsor and Parliament Square. They are also expected to defy a police ban and march past Downing Street. The Metropolitan Police said it has mounted a "significant" operation involving 1,000 officers.


bush dines with rupert murdoch as protests go on
bush dines with rupert murdoch as protests go onfrom thinkprogress: Yesterday, President Bush “arrived at Downing Street for a private dinner hosted by Gordon Brown and attended by Rupert Murdoch, a clutch of ministers and a mini-faculty of historians.” Thousands of Britons turned out to protest the President, chanting, “George Bush terrorist” and “Arrest George Bush.”

pope to meet bush in st john's tower
pope to meet bush in st john's towerfrom reuters: Pope Benedict will unusually host talks with U.S. President George W. Bush in a restored medieval tower on Friday, to repay him for a warm reception at the White House, the Vatican said. The pope usually receives heads of state in his private study in the Apostolic Palace, overlooking St Peter's Square. But Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the change was to repay Bush for "the cordiality of the meeting at the White House" when the pope visited the United States in April. St. John's Tower is a round structure on a hilltop inside the Vatican gardens that is sometimes used as a residence for important guests... The late Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963, restored the tower as a place where he could work in peace.

will bush convert to catholicism like phony tony?
will bush convert to catholicism like phony tony?from about: On Friday, June 13, 2008, as George W. Bush met with Pope Benedict XVI, the London Telegraph reported rumors that the President is considering conversion to Catholicism. On one level, there seems little of substance in the rumor, which may have started simply because the Holy Father greeted the President in the Vatican gardens rather than in his private study, where the two men have met in the past and where Pope Benedict has received all other world leaders. A Vatican spokesman, however, said that the venue was simply chosen to parallel the welcoming ceremony that the White House held for Pope Benedict during his visit to the United States in April.

bush protesters clash with police in uk
from raw replay: Protests were staged as George Bush visited Downing Street and Windsor on day one of his trip to the UK. The US president is in London with his wife Laura as part of his ‘farewell’ tour of Europe. This video is from BBC, broadcast June 16, 2008.


update: police used 'agents provocateurs' at uk bush protests
from steve watson: Anti-war MP George Galloway has accused London Metropolitan Police of engaging in "a deliberate conspiracy to bring about scenes of violent disorder" during President George W. Bush’s visit to the UK last week. Galloway has written a letter to the Home Secretary in which he names a senior police officer thought to have been operating as an undercover "agent provocateur".

The Respect Party MP details incitements that the officer made towards police and how the man encouraged other protesters to charge baton-wielding officers and hurl projectiles at them. Galloway cites an article from last Weekend’s Mail On Sunday in which author Yasmin Whittaker-Khan detailed how she bumped into a known senior police officer, dressed like a press photographer with a large expensive camera, who shouted “Pigs out!” and enticed others to the front of the police-protestor clashes.

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