9/11 updates: lies, timelines, surveys & foreknowledge

olbermann: white house owes apology to 9/11 victims for 'lie'
from raw replay: White House spokesperson Tony Fratto told Fox News that the events of 9/11 were unforeseeable and not President Bush’s responsibility. Countdown’s Keith Olbermann points out the numerous times the White House was briefed on suspicious activity and chose to do nothing about it. This video is from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast Dec. 18, 2008.

'the nation' magazine survey: tell them to cover 9/11!

fdny lieutenant said wtc7 'would be taken down'
from 9/11 blogger: MSNBC live video during building 7's collapse. Note FDNY lieutenant David Rastuccio's comment at 1:20 that the building had been allowed to fall on it's own but also mentioning a plan that, "it would be taken down".

additions to the 9/11 timeline as of dec22: day of 9/11 & united 23
from history commons: Most of this week’s new entries in the 9/11 Timeline again deal with the day of 9/11, shortly before which NORAD was preparing a major war game. On the day itself, the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) called an air defence unit in Atlantic City, just before the first plane hit the World Trade Center, but the phone was not answered. FAA manager Ben Sliney began responding to the crisis around the same time and the air space over New York was closed after the second plane hit. There are also new entries about another phone call from Flight 93, by passenger Andrew Garcia, a suspected hijack in the afternoon that delayed travel by President George Bush, and the lobby of World Trade Center 7, which was ruined by midday.

Another additional entry covers United 23, which was thought to be a potential hijack target on 9/11. The alleged potential hijackers were arrested when they returned to the airport a few days after the attacks, but soon released. Finally, the air force also started using a better radar system in Washington the day after the attacks and the governor of Kentucky was nearly shot down over Washington in 2004.

Originally posted here. If you can spare a dollar or two, please remember that every donation helps.

There have also been some interesting additions to one of the other projects hosted by the History Commons, Neoconservative Influence.

families ask bush to seize land for 9/11 memorial
from washington post: It has been more than seven years since 20-year-old Deora Bodley and 39 other passengers and crew died in the fiery crash of United Airlines Flight 93, their hijacked plane disintegrating in a grove of hemlock trees outside Shanksville, Pa. Most of the remains from the tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001, were never recovered, making the bowl-shaped crash site in the western Pennsylvania countryside an unofficial cemetery and, for surviving relatives, sacred ground. But efforts to buy property for a national Flight 93 memorial have bogged down in federal red tape and a protracted land dispute, angering family members and risking plans to hold a dedication ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The delays have prompted an advocacy group, Families of Flight 93, to ask President Bush to personally intervene during his final weeks in office to allow the federal government to seize the land needed for the memorial and to allocate part of the money for the project. "He signed the memorial act. He wanted something to be there and to be in place for years and years to come," said Bodley's mother, Deborah Borza, of San Diego. "We have waited so long already. I hold on to being hopeful that between now and January 20, something will happen, something will break free." Landowner Mike Svonavec of Svonavec Inc. of Somerset, Pa., said the National Park Service and Flight 93 groups are "trying to make my company and myself look like the bad guy in this."

conservative prof: 'saddest part' of 9/11 attacks was impact on bush
from raw story: "For me, the saddest part about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is the long-term impact on the presidency of George W. Bush," wrote Tony Campbell, an adjunct professor of political science with Maryland-based Towson University, on The Moderate Voice Monday. Nevermind the 3,000+ Americans who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Or the resulting wars. Or that one of the countries Bush chose to invade had nothing to do with the attacks. Or even the lingering, unanswered questions as to just how exactly the 9/11 attacks were pulled off.

500 million gallons of toxic sludge spill in tennessee

from tennessean: Millions of yards of ashy sludge broke through a dike at TVA’s Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of acres, knocking one home off its foundation and putting environmentalists on edge about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into the ground and flowing downriver. One neighboring family said the disaster was no surprise because they have watched the 1960s-era ash pond’s mini-blowouts off and on for years. The ash slide, which began just before 1 a.m., covered as many as 400 acres as deep as 6 feet. The wave of ash and mud toppled power lines, covered Swan Pond Road and ruptured a gas line. It damaged 12 homes, and one person had to be rescued, though no one was seriously hurt.

tennessee disaster 3x larger than original estimate
from thinkprogress: On Monday, toxic coal sludge burst through a retention wall in eastern Tennessee, causing massive property and environmental damage. Federal studies have shown that coal ash contains “significant quantities of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium, which can cause cancer and neurological problems.” The incident — already being called the “largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States” — may now be even worse than originally anticipated. Tennessee Valley Authority officials “initially said that about 1.7 million cubic yards of wet coal ash had spilled” in the disaster. Yesterday, however, they “released the results of an aerial survey that showed the actual amount was 5.4 million cubic yards, or enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep.”

the war of christmas: murder, suicide, norad & santas

norad fighters escort santa through 'north america'
from no one has to die tomorrow: As if Christmas had not been destroyed enough by consumerism, here comes NORAD pushing their propaganda on the young believers. NORAD has a website to 'track' Santa's whereabouts, and they are using Rudolph's rfid red nose to follow the jolly old elf. The push of an armed escort into Santa's itinerary is an obvious attempt to condition children to accept the control grid, (it is of course out of love, and above all else, safety). They even use 9/11 to help define NORAD's purpose on their Santa tracking website, of course they leave out the part where they stood down that day. Why does the man who operates solely on magic need NORAD? He doesn't, it is NORAD who needs Santa's magic; to con the children. Get them young and hit them in a vulnerable spot, Bernays would be proud. NORAD should stick to standing down and leave the minds of our children alone.

video: santas disable enforcement cameras in tempe
from kfyi: A group of Santa impersonators are on the naughty list of Arizona law enforcement officials. A YouTube video posted Monday shows four people dressed as Kris Kringle, white beards and red hats included, covering three speed and red light enforcement cameras in Tempe.

man in santa suit kills 8, self on christmas eve
from ap: Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least eight people before killing himself hours later. Bruce Pardo's ex-wife and her parents were believed to be among the dead. Investigators planned to return to the scene Friday and sift through the ashes of the home, which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.


update1: 9th body found in aftermath of christmas massacre
from usa today: A ninth body has been found in the charred ruins of the Los Angeles-area house destroyed by a man dressed as Santa who first shot guests at a Christmas Eve party.

philly man shot because family talked during movie
from philadelphia inquirer: A South Philadelphia man enraged because a father and son were talking during a Christmas showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took care of the situation when he pulled a .380-caliber gun and shot the father, police said. James Joseph Cialella Jr., 29, of the 1900 block of Hollywood Street is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons violations. "It's truly frightening when you see something like this evolve into such violence," said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.


christ would fight global tyranny
from presstv: In his Christmas message to Britain, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will hail Jesus as the standard-bearer of justice and call for change. “Jesus the Son of Mary is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination, and injustice," President Ahmadinejad will say in his Christmas Day speech, according to the preliminary text of his message.

never fear, a bright star will herald a new saviour

canadian kids get 'masoni-chipped' while visiting with santa
from woodstock sentinel: The event also served as a chance for parents to have their children documented by the MasoniCHIP program. Masons and volunteers from across Oxford were on hand to help make identification kits for local children. The MasoniCHIP program provides parents with their child's dental imprints, fingerprints, still photos and a short video. "It's a child identification program," explained Tyler Deheer of Princeton's Blenheim 108 Masonic Lodge, one of the organizers of Saturday's program. All the equipment needed to make an identification profile of a child was contained in a single briefcase, including a laptop computer, a webcam, a microphone and a fingerprint scanner. "The parents keep all the information. It comes on a CD and a piece of paper. It puts everything in a neat package," Deheer said, adding that the material could be given to police in the event the child goes missing. "It holds just about anything you could use to identify a child." The program originated in the United States and Masons in Ontario have taken the lead role in implementing the program in this province.

dc cops caught stealing from toys for tots
from raw story: This year, the Grinch is wearing blue instead of green. On Christmas day, four Washington, D.C. police officers were caught on tape stealing from Toys for Tots, a charity organization that collects toys for poor children. The United States Marines led the group's toy collection drive. Yvonne Smith, the Washington, D.C. police department's outreach coordinator, pleaded with the media for less focus on the crooked officers.

US singer eartha kitt dies at 81
from bbc: American singer, dancer and actress Eartha Kitt has died at the age 81, her friend and publicist has said. Kitt died of colon cancer on Thursday, Andrew Freedman said. She was one of the few artists to be nominated in the Tony, Grammy and Emmy award categories and was a stalwart of the Manhattan cabaret scene. She famously played Catwoman in the Batman television series in the 1960s and was known for her distinctive, feline drawl. She also had a number of hit songs, including Old Fashioned Girl, C'est Si Bon and Santa Baby.

appreciation: playwright harold pinter, 1930-2008
from washington post: Let us pause. And in deference to a man who knew precisely how to wring meaning from silence, stop just a little longer. Harold Pinter, prospector of 24-karat drama in the tension-racked spaces between words, died in London on Wednesday, at age 78. With his death, the pool of contemporary playwrights of international literary stature has been all but drained dry.

actor who played gay fireman on sopranos takes own life
from ap: Police say the actor who portrayed the gay lover of a closeted mobster on "The Sopranos" has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in New York. Police spokesman Lt. John Grimpel says John Costelloe was found dead in an apparent suicide at his Brooklyn home on Dec. 18. Police were called to his residence after family members were unable to reach him. The 47-year-old former New York City firefighter gained fame in 2006 when he was cast as short-order cook Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski opposite Joseph Gannascoli, who played gay mobster Vito Spatafore on the hit HBO show. Costelloe was performing as a hustler in a theater production of "Gang of Seven" at the time of his death.

the illegal green tree

from brasscheck tv: Christmas trees didn't come to the English speaking world until the 19th century. The tradition started in Germany and eastern Europe in the 16th century. There's another "green tree" we might think about today. One that could feed and clothe billions of the world's poor and increase the standard of living for everyone. One problem: It's been made illegal.

patton assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders

from telegraph: The newly unearthed diaries of a colourful assassin for the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, reveal that American spy chiefs wanted Patton dead because he was threatening to expose allied collusion with the Russians that cost American lives.

The death of General Patton in December 1945, is one of the enduring mysteries of the war era. Although he had suffered serious injuries in a car crash in Manheim, he was thought to be recovering and was on the verge of flying home.

But after a decade-long investigation, military historian Robert Wilcox claims that OSS head General "Wild Bill" Donovan ordered a highly decorated marksman called Douglas Bazata to silence Patton, who gloried in the nickname "Old Blood and Guts".

His book, "Target Patton", contains interviews with Mr Bazata, who died in 1999, and extracts from his diaries, detailing how he staged the car crash by getting a troop truck to plough into Patton's Cadillac and then shot the general with a low-velocity projectile, which broke his neck while his fellow passengers escaped without a scratch.

Mr Bazata also suggested that when Patton began to recover from his injuries, US officials turned a blind eye as agents of the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, poisoned the general.

Mr Wilcox told The Sunday Telegraph that when he spoke to Mr Bazata: "He was struggling with himself, all these killings he had done. He confessed to me that he had caused the accident, that he was ordered to do so by Wild Bill Donovan.

questions about general patton's death

interview w/ robert wilcox, part1

and here is part2, part3 & part4

bush/obama regimes to run transition/terror drill in january

from usa today: What would happen if terrorists attacked the United States at the start of Barack Obama's presidency? The Bush administration doesn't want to wait to find out. It's planning to test the incoming government's readiness next month in a series of tabletop exercises involving top Bush and Obama officials. Concerned about the first handoff of presidential power since Sept. 11, 2001, the White House also is preparing briefing books and office manuals designed to bring the incoming Obama administration up to speed in a hurry. "This is the first wartime transition in 40 years, and it's probably the first transition in a couple of centuries in which our homeland itself has been under threat," says White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, who's supervising the effort. The goal is to "make sure that those who are coming in are as well prepared as they can be to deal with an actual threat here in this country."

study: headbanging can cause traumatic brain injury

from raw replay: A study from Australian researchers says that rock fans that headbang are at risk of injuring their brains. The Guardian reported: “We identified a definite risk of mild traumatic brain injury from headbanging,” Dr Andrew McIntosh, of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), told the Australian newspaper. “We would suggest a proper public health warning, as for smoking.” The results of his research were published in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal. Researchers at UNSW’s school of risk and safety sciences found that risk of neck and head injury was directly related to song tempo. The average heavy metal song, with a tempo of 146 bpm, is likely to cause mild injury if the head’s range of motion is greater than 75 degrees. Songs like Motley Crue’s Kickstart My Heart – at 180 bpm – are among the most dangerous, leading to anything from mild headaches to mosh-induced strokes. McIntosh and co-author Declan Patton advised that “Adult-oriented rock” is much more safe, as it involves a slower rate of head-bopping. We are not quite sure what “adult-oriented rock” means, but we suspect the music is less cool than AC/DC. This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Dec. 22, 2008.

key witness in ohio election fraud dies in plane crash

from velvet revolution: Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush's 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night [dec19] when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution ("VR"), a non-profit that has been investigating Mr. Connell's activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how he can tell all about his work for George Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that George Bush and Dick Cheney would "throw [him] under the bus."

A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell's life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR's attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell's not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed.
(mark crispin-miller on mike connell from july24,2008)

killed pilot accused of rigging vote for gop
from raw replay: 19 Action News reported on a plane crash that resulted in the death of Michael Connell. Connell was a Republican media consultant for George Bush and John McCain. Connell had been accused of rigging the 2004 presidential election in Ohio but he denied the charges under oath.

connell was warned not to fly before plane crash
from wayne madsen: WMR has learned from knowledgeable sources in Ohio that Republican Party computer networking guru Mike Connell was warned not to fly in anonymous warnings conveyed to principals in the ongoing federal civil lawsuit of King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell, stemming from GOP-engineered vote fraud in the 2004 Ohio presidential election, as well as a potential Ohio racketeer-influenced criminal organization (RICO) criminal proceeding against former Bush White House aide Karl Rove and Blackwell, in the conspiracy to illegally steer Ohio’s 20 electoral votes to the Bush column in 2004.

was connell crash an accident or murder?
from raw story: The death of Republican "IT guru" Mike Connell last Friday in a fiery plane crash has been the subject of intense speculation online about whether it might have been murder - but very little of that speculation has made it into the national media. Now one local TV station in Connell's home state of Ohio is acknowledging that there are questions about his death. "Well, this sounds like a made up story," Scott Taylor of 19 Action News in Cleveland began. "One man rigging state elections to help his boss, President George Bush. After it's done, power players in Washington say 'Get rid of the guy.' Do I believe it? No -- for now." Taylor noted that "bad weather could have played a part in the crash" but "some in Washington have a different opinion."

video: raw eyewitness footage of burning wreckage at connell crash
from bradblog: I'm not sure what, if any, light this video - as shot by local eye and ear-witnesses in Akron, OH - sheds on the plane crash and death of high-ranking GOP IT operative Mike Connell. But, as it may reveal something, to somebody, in the still-unexplained, and surprisingly-timed crash, I suppose it may useful to put it on the record here.

illinois policeman was a serial rapist

from raw replay: A police sergeant in Bloomington, Illinois was convicted of serial rape. Jeffrey Pelo was convicted of 35 counts of rape, kidnap, and stalking and sentenced to more than 440 years in prison. ABC’s 20/20 will tell the story from the perspective of Pelo’s victims in a Friday night broadcast. ABC News has more details here. This video is from ABCNews.com, broadcast Dec. 19, 2008.

tom clancy’s endwar: world war 3 coming soon?

from truthnews: Notable propaganda-mouthpiece and popular author Tom Clancy, who has (ironically or not) pre-predicted a number of notable world events in his fiction works, including aspects of the 9/11 attacks, the Georgia-Russian conflict and the North American Security & Prosperity Partnership, has now released a video game called EndWar. The game envisions an super-crisis World War III scenario, led by renewed Russian-American tensions, as well as EU and middle-east conflict resulting in widespread nuclear war and massive casualties worldwide. Hopefully this scenario will not also resemble real life in the years to come.

ground zero lounge: panopticon: the pandemonium configuration

from clyde lewis: The movie Hellraiser features a mysterious box called a "Lament Configuration." Those who possess this box can open other realms of existence. With the arrival of digital TV, you will have to purchase a box that will tune you in to another realm of propaganda.

stream (part1/part2)
download (part1/part2)

Recorded every Monday evening in front of a live audience at Dante's Inferno in Portland Oregon, the Ground Zero Lounge features Clyde Lewis in this audience participation discussion of current events as they relate to the paranormal.

media monarchy episode104

now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this 104th episode of media monarchy w/ apocalyptic clips, bankbombs & the shoe heard round the world + the oncoming obamessiah, the continuing econocrash, the growing civil unrest & the ever-expanding police state, music by eef barzelay and tons more...

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pra/revere/myspace/itunes/archive

media monarchy is originally broadcast live on the portland radio authority & revere radio network every friday at 10am pacific/1pm eastern...

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

media monarchy episode103b

episode103b from media monarchy was broadcast live on the portland radio authority and features deep throat, bettie page, little adolph hitler, supposedly unsolved mysteries supposedly solved, 9/11 updates, crazy conspiracy theorists, envirohealth & the parable of the acorns, w/ local music by diezel p and tons more...

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'deep throat' mark felt dies at 95

from washington post: W. Mark Felt Sr., the associate director of the FBI during the Watergate scandal who, better known as "Deep Throat," became the most famous anonymous source in American history, died yesterday. He was 95.

Felt died at 12:45 p.m. at a hospice near his home in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he had been living since August. Felt "was fine this morning" and was "joking with his caregiver," according to his daughter, Joan Felt. She said in a phone interview that her father ate a big breakfast before remarking that he was tired and going to sleep. "He slipped away," she said.

As the second-highest official in the FBI under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover and interim director L. Patrick Gray, Felt detested the Nixon administration's attempt to subvert the bureau's investigation into the complex of crimes and coverups known as the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

He secretly guided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he and his colleague Carl Bernstein pursued the story of the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office buildings and later revelations of the Nixon administration's campaign of spying and sabotage against its perceived political enemies.

Felt insisted on remaining completely anonymous, or on "deep background." A Post editor dubbed him "Deep Throat," a bit of wordplay based on the title of a pornographic movie of the time. The source's existence, but not his identity, became known in Woodward and Bernstein's 1974 book, "All the President's Men," and in the subsequent movie version, in which actor Hal Holbrook played the charismatic but shadowy source.

econocrash: panic, ponzi, predictions, scenarios & nightmares

8 really, really scary predictions
from fortune: Dow 4,000. Food shortages. A bubble in Treasury notes. Fortune spoke to eight of the market's sharpest thinkers and what they had to say about the future is frightening... Nouriel Roubini: "We are in the middle of a very severe recession that's going to continue through all of 2009 - the worst U.S. recession in the past 50 years. It's the bursting of a huge leveraged-up credit bubble. There's no going back, and there is no bottom to it." (read the 7 other scary predictions here)

peter schiff: a nightmare before christmas

video: ron paul & peter schiff on our economic collapse

video: ron paul on the alex jones show, dec17 (part1 & part2)

4 really, really bad scenarios
from cryptogon: I found this one most interesting: The Alternate-Dollar Nightmare: “The Number One vulnerability is the dollar itself,” Rickards concluded. “We’re printing them and shoving them out the door, and the Fed is basically out of bullets. So why hasn’t the dollar collapsed? The short answer is, global investors don’t have any other choice.” That is, there simply aren’t enough Euro- or Yen-backed securities for investors to shift their money out of dollars and into some other currency. But what if some kind of global coalition – say a trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund allied with several countries around the world – banded together to create a gold-backed alternative to the dollar?

alternative currencies grow in popularity
from time: Most of us take for granted that those rectangular green slips of paper we keep in our wallets are inviolable: the physical embodiment of value. But alternative forms of money have a long history and appear to be growing in popularity. It's not merely barter or primitive means of exchange like seashells or beads. Beneath the financial radar, in hip U.S. towns or South African townships, in shops, markets and even banks, people throughout the world are exchanging goods and services via thousands of currency types that look nothing like official tender. Alternative means of trade often surface during tough economic times. "When money gets dried up and there are still needs to be met in society, people come up with creative ways to meet those needs," says Peter North, a senior lecturer in geography at the University of Liverpool and the author of two books on the subject. He refers to the "scrips" issued in the U.S. and Europe during the Great Depression that kept money flowing and the massive barter exchanges involving millions of people that emerged amid runaway inflation in Argentina in 2000. "People were kept from starving [this way]," he says.

video: lord rothschild on cnbc

downturn spurs 'survival panic' for some in US
from reuters: A paralegal, recently laid off, wanted to get back at the "establishment" that he felt was to blame for his lost job. So when he craved an expensive new tie, he went out and stole one. The story, relayed by psychiatrist Timothy Fong at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, is an example of the rash behaviors exhibited by more Americans as a recession undermines a lifestyle built on spending. In the coming months, mental health experts expect a rise in theft, depression, drug use, anxiety and even violence as consumers confront a harsh new reality and must live within diminished means. "People start seeing their economic situation change, and it stimulates a sort of survival panic," said Gaetano Vaccaro, deputy clinical director of Moonview Sanctuary, which treats patients for emotional and behavioral disorders. "When we are in a survival panic, we are prone to really extreme behaviors."

imf chief warns of riots in response to economic crisis
from paul joseph watson: The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that advanced nations will be hit by violent civil unrest if the elite continue to restructure the economy around their own interests while looting the taxpayer. During a speech in Madrid, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that “social unrest may happen in many countries - including advanced economies” if governments failed to adequately respond to the financial crisis. “He added that violent protests could break out in countries worldwide if the financial system was not restructured to benefit everyone rather than a small elite,” reports the Guardian.

arizona police trained for economic civil unrest
from kurt nimmo: Mike Sunnucks, writing for the Phoenix Business Journal, reports that Arizona state and local police “say they have broad plans to deal with social unrest, including trouble resulting from economic distress. The security and police agencies declined to give specifics, but said they would employ existing and generalized emergency responses to civil unrest that arises for any reason.”

ex-nasdaq chairman madoff’s $50b ponzi scheme
from youtube: CNBC’s Davif Faber reports on the $50 billion Ponzi scheme run by ex-NASDAQ chairman Bernard L. Madoff.

envirohealth: deathmaps, databanks, transplants etc

US natural hazard death map is produced
from upi: Scientists using nationwide data collected since 1970 have produced a map depicting natural hazard mortality across the United States. Susan Cutter and Kevin Borden from the University of South Carolina said their map presents a county-level representation of the likelihood of dying as the result of natural events such as floods, earthquakes or extreme weather. "This work will enable research and emergency management practitioners to examine hazard deaths through a geographic lens," the researchers said. "Using this as a tool to identify areas with higher than average hazard deaths can justify allocation of resources to these areas with the goal of reducing loss of life." Cutter and Borden found hazard mortality most prominent in the southern part of the nation, where most people were killed by various severe weather hazards and tornadoes. Other areas of elevated risk are the northern Great Plains where heat and drought were the biggest killers, and in the western mountains with winter weather and flooding deaths. Heat and drought ranked highest among the hazard categories, causing 19.6 percent of total deaths, closely followed by severe summer weather 18.8 percent, and winter weather 18.1 percent. The map is featured in the International Journal of Health Geographics.

the bill nobody noticed: national dna databank
from natural news: In April of 2008, President Bush signed into law S.1858 which allows the federal government to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the US. This was to be implemented within 6 months meaning that this collection is now being carried out. Congressman Ron Paul states that this bill is the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database. S.1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is justified as a "national contingency plan" in that it represents preparation for any sort of public health emergency. The bill states that the federal government should "continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening" and "maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening... ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly". Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests. Read the full bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1858

mystery illness paralyses girl given cervical cancer jab
from times online: A 12-year-old schoolgirl has been left paralysed from the waist down by a mystery illness that came on 30 minutes after she was given the new anticervical cancer jab. Ashleigh Cave suffered dizziness and headaches soon after the vaccination at her school and then deteriorated rapidly, collapsing several times over the following days. A week later she was admitted to hospital after losing all strength in her legs and, two months on, there has been no improvement. Her mother Cheryl, 37, from Aintree, Merseyside, is blaming her daughter’s condition on the human papillomavirus (HPV) jab, which was introduced in Britain in September as part of a government-funded vaccination programme... In America, where an immunisation programme using a similar product, Gardasil, began more than a year earlier, there have been dozens of serious “adverse events” reported in which a link to the vaccinations is suspected.

video: sorting sellafield: inventions aid nuclear clean-up
from bbc: Sellafield's reactors and reprocessing bunkers are being decommissioned six decades after the plant began life. It made plutonium for nuclear weapons and generated electricity for the national grid. The Nuclear Research Laboratory's Fiona Rayment gives a guided tour of the plant's new research centre. The lab has been designed to reinvigorate the UK's nuclear industry amid a review of how much electricity should be developed by nuclear power stations.

flashback: uk used humans in secret radioactive tests

scientists call ap report on global warming 'hysteria'
from fox news: Scientists skeptical of the assertion that climate change is the result of man's activites are criticizing a recent Associated Press report on global warming, calling it "irrational hysteria," "horrifically bad" and "incredibly biased." They say the report, which was published on Monday, contained sweeping scientific errors and was a one-sided portrayal of a complicated issue. "If the issues weren't so serious and the ramifications so profound, I would have to laugh at it," said David Deming, a geology professor at the University of Oklahoma who has been critical of media reporting on the climate change issue. In the article, Obama Left with Little Time to Curb Global Warming, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein wrote that global warming is "a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid," and that "global warming is accelerating." Deming, in an interview, took issue with Borenstein's characterization of a problem he says doesn't exist. "He says global warming is accelerating. Not only is it continuing, it's accelerating, and whether it's continuing that was completely beyond the evidence," Deming told FOXNews.com. "The mean global temperature, at least as measured by satellite, is now the same as it was in the year 1980. In the last couple of years sea level has stopped rising. Hurricane and cyclone activity in the northern hemisphere is at a 24-year low and sea ice globally is also the same as it was in 1980." Deming said the article is further evidence of the media's decision to talk about global warming as fact, despite what he says is a lack of evidence.

1st US face transplant done in ohio
from washington times: A woman so horribly disfigured she was willing to risk her life to do something about it has undergone the first near-total face transplant in the U.S., the Cleveland Clinic announced Tuesday. Reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow and a team of other specialists replaced 80 percent of the woman's face with that of a female cadaver a couple of weeks ago in a bold and controversial operation certain to stoke the debate over the ethics of such surgery. The patient's name and age were not released, and the hospital said her family wanted the reason for her transplant to remain confidential. The hospital plans a news conference Wednesday and would not give details until then. The transplant was the fourth worldwide; two have been done in France, and one was performed in China.

study: US media keeps people uneducated about health issues
from alternet: "Blaming the media" is a catchphrase that is used in almost cliché-level proportions. But when it comes to health care, a new study indicates it may be appropriate to fault media coverage for a lack of public knowledge about health care policy -- and by extension, the false perception of reproductive rights as ideological "hot rods" rather than women's health concerns. A recently released Pew Research study conducted with the Kaiser Family Foundation monitored health coverage from January 2007 to June 2008 to determine which subjects got the most coverage, and in which media. The study was designed to be particularly broad-ranging -- rather than, for instance, analyzing how TV news covers breast cancer, the study looked at how television, radio, print, online outlets and other forms of media covered everything heath-related, from specific diseases to health policy and more. What were the results? According to the report, "News about health occupies a relatively small amount of American news coverage across all platforms: 3.6 percent of news during 2007 and the first half of 2008." In a list of most frequently covered topics, health came in eighth -- far above religion, education and celebrities, but below the economy, crime, foreign affairs and politics. These results, while hardly thrilling, don't seem abysmal at first. Health gets more coverage than celebrities, after all, which seems like a victory in our current climate. But compounding the small amount of attention devoted to health, the breakdown within existing health coverage shows a tendency to focus on controversial or sensational aspects of health issues, leaving vital policy information behind. One need only to think about the extreme health stories on the nightly news (Are your pills contaminated? Are your children at risk from a rare strain of X?) to understand the crux of the problem. Why focus on the actual public ramifications of various diseases and policies when Jenny McCarthy and Amanda Peet are going at it over autism? Or we can lure people in front of the TV by frightening them?

outside the box #182

here is the latest episode of "outside the box," hosted by alex ansary.
it was originally broadcast by portland community media on december 18, 2008.

from alex ansary: Alex interviews Dr. Rima Laibow about Codex Alimentarius. Later he covers the latest news.

plus you can always get the latest episodes of "outside the box" on the oracle broadcasting network...

police state int'l: tracked, traced, tortured, erased

masonic big brother is watching, but seniors don’t mind
from jeffrey kurz: Sensors keep track of just about everything Shirley Player does in her apartment, but she’s not worried that Big Brother is watching. Far from it. “I feel very safe with it... It’s nice to know you’re being watched.” Player is one of 68 residents of the Masonicare retirement community participating in a study that aims to determine whether keeping a technological eye on seniors can help them live longer independently in their own homes.

google seeking to cut net censorship deals
from steve & paul watson: Google Inc is lobbying internet providers and phone companies to establish a separate internet traffic lane in order to prioritize the search engine giant’s content, according to a leading report today. Google has for years been one of the loudest advocates of internet neutrality, the practice of giving all internet data traffic the same level of priority. However, the Wall Street Journal today reveals that the company, which now incorporates Youtube, wants to set up its own fast track on the web. The precedent this would set would be to allow companies to pay internet providers for preferential treatment. Smaller companies, businesses and websites could be left operating in the internet slow lane, unable to compete with the elite of the corporate world.

video: children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms


microsoft wants to get under your skin
from the register: Microsoft's HealthVault, the medical records database, is to be integrated with VeriMed's human-embedded RFID tags, allowing doctors to access the medical records of unconscious patients with a quick scan of the arm. VeriMed consists of an RFID tag that is embedded in the arm of a hopefully willing participant, and responds with a 16-digital identity code when queried at 134KHz. This code can then be used to identify the person through VeriChip's website, and will soon be able to link to their medical records as stored on Microsoft's HealthVault system. "VeriMed adds an exciting RFID-based option for HealthVault users trying to keep themselves and their families safe," says Sean Nolan, the chief architect for HealthVault, quoted in RFID Journal. If you're excited about the idea of being electronically indexed then this is probably the technology for you.

and from there, it just gets worse...

cheney admits detainee-abuse role
from consortium news: Vice President Dick Cheney said for the first time Monday that he helped get the “process cleared” for the brutal interrogation program of suspected terrorists. In an interview with ABC News, Cheney was matter-of-fact and unapologetic about the harsh techniques used against the detainees — including waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning considered torture since the days of the Inquisition. “I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the [Central Intelligence] Agency, in effect, came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do,” Cheney said. “And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.”

feds say antiwar cd's included in 'suspicious packages' sent to nat'l guard
from ap: (Editor’s note: This stinks to high heaven of a COINTELPRO operation designed to make anti-war activists look like terrorists.) Suspicious packages have been sent to National Guard and Reserve facilities in 36 states, federal authorities said Wednesday. Initial reports from the Guard that one of the packages contained a powdery substance turned out to be incorrect, officials said. The 51 packages included anti-war compact discs and began arriving at locations around the country last Friday, said National Guard spokesman Mark Allen.

update: tests negative on white powder sent to US embassies

navy killer drone complete; 1st flight set for '09
(and more dead pakistanis will follow soon thereafter)

details emerge on failed nuke inspection
from danger room: It ain't easy for an Air Force unit to pass a nuclear inspection these days. Air Force Times has details on the flunked test that we first reported on Saturday. It sounds like paperwork issues blew the exam for the 90th Missile Wing. "Inspectors failed the 90th Missile Wing after discovering the maintenance group had not properly documented tests done to its missiles, even leaving some tests completely undocumented," the paper's Michael Hoffman reports. "An unsatisfactory grade on any portion of the NSI [nuclear surety inspection] fails the entire wing."

dutch minister of foreign affairs: ‘we need an international order’

'war on terror' a generational conflict, bush says
from afp: The United States' "war on terror" will continue for many years to come, President George W. Bush said Wednesday in a speech on his national security legacy. Bush, who leaves office on January 20, compared the fight against terror to the Cold War of the post-World War II years. "Like the struggle against Communism during the Cold War, the struggle against terror will be a generational conflict," Bush told military officers at the US Army War College. That struggle is "one that will continue long beyond my presidency," Bush said.

economic riots & US collapse as brzezinski's puppet prepares for attack

iraq spokesman: US troops might be needed for another decade
from mcclatchy: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last month sold the Iraqi people on a security pact with the U.S. He called it a “withdrawal agreement” to end the presence of American forces in his country by the beginning of 2012. However, his top government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, undercut that claim this week when he said in Washington that the U.S. might be needed in Iraq for another 10 years. Al-Dabbagh’s statement reverberated with political leaders in Baghdad and renewed criticism of the deal.

the failed logic of supporting the troops
from global research: In the United States, a growing number of leftists are voicing their opposition to the Israeli occupation. They condemn the demolition of homes, the jailing of Palestinians without charge, and the confiscation of Palestinian land for settlements. They don't support the Israeli troops or their mission, nor do they give a free pass to those who are just "doing what they are told." Nonetheless, many of these same individuals support the US troops in Iraq. Dangerously, most Americans put forth the notion that the troops' intrinsic heroism provides them with the impunity to destroy any bogeymen who stand in their way, cultivating a code of silence that strongly discourages dissent. It is under this premise that we support our "brave" and "noble" soldiers: we know their stories well, they miss their families, they are "just like us," and we should respect their service. While one may comprehend the mindset of the troops, this understanding does not validate support for them. If the invasion of Iraq, the mission, and the occupation as stated policy are all wrong, then support for the armed forces carrying out the mission must also be wrong.

mumbai terror: truth unfolding

russian police arrest 150 at opposition protests
from afp: Russian authorities arrested Sunday at least 150 people taking part in opposition demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg organised by former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, police said. Police spokesmen said about 90 people were detained in Moscow and 60 in St Petersburg for attempting to take part in unauthorised demonstrations.

russia/cuba, china drills, abl, plague war threat