Archive for July 20, 2010
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Hosting Company Says al-Qaeda Website Reason for Removing 73,000 Blogs
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
It was not copyright violations that prompted the hosting service Burst.net to pull more than 73,000 blogs offline earlier this month. It was al-Qaeda, the phony terror group created by the CIA.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee in March that radical Islamist websites pose a threat to the United States.
“The site was shut down after FBI agents informed executives of Burst.net, Blogetery’s Web host, late on July 9 that links to al-Qaeda materials were found on Blogetery’s servers, Joe Marr, chief technology officer for Burst.net,” told CNET. “Sources close to the investigation say that included in those materials were the names of American citizens targeted for assassination by al-Qaeda. Messages from Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the terrorist organization, as well as bomb-making tips, were also allegedly found on the server.”
The FBI did not order Burst.net to pull the plug. Marr said a Burst.net employee erred in telling Blogetery’s operator and members of the media that the FBI had ordered it to terminate Blogetery’s service. He said Burst.net did that on its own, according to CNET.
Another site was taken down following the shuttering of Blogetery. Ipbfree.com, a platform for message boards, was removed within days of Blogetery. So far there is no explanation why Ipbfree.com was denied service.
BP photoshops fake photo of crisis command center, posts on main BP site
BP has faked yet another oil crisis response photo on its Web site.
UPDATE: 11:14PM Eastern: BP has now posted the “original” photo, they claim. Except – surprise – they are refusing to post the high-resolution version of the new “original” photo (update: they’ve now posted the original photo). They posted the high-res version of the altered photo earlier, and in fact, that version is still live via a link below the new photo. Why not post the high-res version of the new “original” photo? Afraid someone is going to enlarge it and find out it’s fake too?
UPDATE 10:37PM Eastern: The Washington Post has the story now. Oddly, BP is now claiming that the photo is real – but it showed blank screens, and rather than show blank screens at AP’s crisis center, they instead put fake content-filled screens in the photo. Uh, a few questions.
1) Why were the screens in the crisis center blank in the middle of the crisis? Coffee break?
2) The BP spokesman claims that the photographer photoshopped the changes. Really? A professional photographer hired by BP Photoshops so poorly that a 12 year old kid could do a better job. Really? Let me show you what BP said exactly, and then the photo that supposedly this “professional” edited:
Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said that there was nothing sinister in the photo alteration and provided the original unaltered version. He said that a photographer working for the company had inserted the three images in spots where the video screens were blank.
Now here is the Photoshop job that the “professional” photographer did – this is just one part of the photo that he screwed up:
Anyone who has ever used Photoshop knows that this is an incredibly amateur job. I can do far better than this, and I tend to play with Photoshop for fun. We’re to believe that a professional photographer did this poor a job, for pay, for a huge corporate client? Really? No one would hire this photographer again if this is true. Oh, and the photographer added the fake screens to the photo, what, without BP’s permission? That’s what they’re implying, “the photographer did it.”
3) Why does the meta data show that the photo was actually taken on March 6, 2001? Or is BP next going to tell us that their professional photographer has never set the time and date stamp on his multi-thousand dollar camera? Because then all of his photos for all of his clients will be screwed up. Really?
In all seriousness, an astute reader noticed that the meta info for the photo says it was created in 2001, not July 16, 2010 as claimed on BP’s site. It looks like BP took a photo from 2001, and in order to make it look like the command center in July of 2010, they pasted pictures of the oil well leaking over the old photo.
Militarization of Central America and the Caribbean: The U.S. Military Moves Into Costa Rica
by Mark Vorpahl
Nestled between Panama to its south and Nicaragua to its north, Costa Rica is a Central American nation roughly the size of Rhode Island.
If another nation were to send Rhode Island a force of 7,000 troops, 200 helicopters, and 46 warships in an effort to eradicate drug trafficking, it is doubtful that the residents of Rhode Island would consider this offer “on-the-level.” Such a massive military force could hardly be efficiently used to combat drug cartels. The only logical conclusion is that the nation whose troops now are occupying this other country had another agenda in mind that it didn’t want to share.
In early July, by a vote of 31 to 8, the Costa Rican Congress approved the U.S. bringing into their nation the same military force described above, justified with the same dubious “war on drugs” rationale. According to the agreement, the military forces are supposed to leave Costa Rica by the end of 2010. This begs the question, however, if such an over the top display of military muscle is needed now to combat the drug cartels, what will be done in the next few months to make their presence unnecessary? The history of such U.S. military deployments around the world suggests a more credible outcome than what the agreement states. Once the U.S. moves such massive forces into a country, they rarely move them out.
When push comes to shove, the political machinery in Costa Rica is subservient to U.S. government and corporate interests. Nevertheless, there are many in Costa Rica who are declaring that the agreement is a violation of their national sovereignty and is unconstitutional. (In 1948 Costa Rica abolished its army, which was sanctioned in its constitution.) Legislator Luis Fishman has vowed to challenge the decision of the Congress in the courts.
Shifting Strategy and Tactics
The buildup of U.S. armed forces in Costa Rica is part of an escalating pattern that indicates a shifting of strategy and tactics for the U.S. in controlling what the Monroe Doctrine infamously described as the U.S.’s “backyard” — that is, all of Latin America. Since the U.S. government inspired covert coup d’etats and political reversals of popular governments and/or movements in Guatemala, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, and El Salvador in previous decades, U.S. rulers had figured they had things stitched up to their liking in Latin America. The political elites in Latin America were uniformly in the pockets of the U.S. corporate empire and appeared to be more or less in control of their people. They commonly outlawed strikes and at times even trade unions, eliminated minimum wage laws, and gave enormous tax breaks to U.S. corporations.
‘NHS doesn’t care about cost of medicine’: Drugs firms accused of profiteering by raising prices by ONE THOUSAND per cent
Drugs made by Teva, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical firms. It is the main producer of Qvar asthma inhalers, which have gone from costing a couple of pounds to £16
The medicines are not new innovative products developed by pharmaceutical companies after enormous investment in research and development.
Instead, they are unbranded so-called ‘generic’ drugs which have been available for many years and include commonly used antibiotics prescribed to millions of patients.
Last night, The Mail on Sunday investigation prompted the Department of Health to reveal it had launched a review of the price increases and to say that it was examining what action could be taken against manufacturers deemed to be making excess profits.
Italians protest health budget cuts
Italians stage a street protest against the economic policies of the Berlusconi government. File photo
Italy’s medical workers are out on strike in protest to fiscal cuts in the heath sector, leaving patients stranded and forcing postponement of surgeries.
Hundreds of doctors, nurses and veterinarians held a demonstration on Monday in front of the House of Parliament in Rome to voice their anger at the cuts in health service budgets proposed the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Xinhua reported.
Striking health care workers hope their protest will convince Italian lawmakers to repeal the proposed measures that would lead to job cuts.
The strike rattled many Italian hospitals as trade unions announced more than 75 percent of doctors, nurses and hospital staffs took part in the walk-out.
Meanwhile, Massimo Cozza, the head of the Italian General Confederation of Labor, warned that “the government’s budget will have a drastic effect on the public health sector,” and will face the country with a loss of an estimated 30,000 doctors in the next four years.
The protest comes on the heels of a 24.9 billion euro ‘scrimp and save’ policy unveiled in May in an attempt to tackle the Italian government’s budget deficit.
Berlusconi has threatened to step down if the parliament fails to approve the budget plan, which was endorsed by the Senate last week.
Sayanim — Israeli Operatives in the U.S.
By Jeff Gates
Americans know that something fundamental is amiss. They sense—rightly—that they are being misled no matter which political party does the leading.
A long misinformed public lacks the tools to grasp how they are being deceived. Without those tools, Americans will continue to be frustrated at being played for the fool.
When the “con” is clearly seen, “the mark” (that’s us) will see that all roads lead to the same duplicitous source: Israel and its operatives. The secret to Israel’s force-multiplier in the U.S. is its use of agents, assets and sayanim (Hebrew for volunteers).
When Israeli-American Jonathan Pollard was arrested for spying in 1986, Tel Aviv assured us that he was not an Israeli agent but part of a “rogue” operation. That was a lie.
Only 12 years later did Tel Aviv concede that he was an Israeli spy the entire time he was stealing U.S. military secrets. That espionage—by a purported ally—damaged our national security more than any operation in U.S. history.
In short, Israel played us for the fool.
From 1981-1985, this U.S. Navy intelligence analyst provided Israel with 360 cubic feet of classified military documents on Soviet arms shipments, Pakistani nuclear weapons, Libyan air defense systems and other intelligence sought by Tel Aviv to advance its geopolitical agenda.
Agents differ from assets and sayanim. Agents possess the requisite mental state to be convicted of treason, a capital crime. Under U.S. law, that internal state is what distinguishes premeditated murder from a lesser crime such as involuntary manslaughter. Though there’s a death in either case, the legal liabilities are different—for a reason.
Intent is the factor that determines personal culpability. That distinction traces its roots to a widely shared belief in free will as a key component that distinguishes humans from animals.
Agents operate with premeditation and “extreme malice” or what the law describes as an “evil mind.” Though that describes the mental state of Jonathan Pollard, Israeli leaders assured us otherwise—another example of an evil mind as the U.S. was played for the fool.
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Dermot Ahern Lies in the Dáil – The Seychelles Connection II
Let’s be clear. Ireland can not claim to be neutral if our own Army Officers are illegally arming and training a secret militia that oppresses the People of the Seychelles. We cannot have a man claim to be Minister for Justice who lies about serious crimes he thus involves himself with. Dermot Ahern has become a threat to Ireland, an equal of the other criminal Irish rogues operating in the Seychelles with immunity. How can any one of the people expect justice if the Minister for Justice is to behave this way. How can honest Gardaí confidently uphold their oaths now that their superiors are so compromised.
Martin Ferris asked the Minister, ‘if he will release the Garda report into claims that Government officials were buying guns; and if he will make a statement on the matter’,
Ahern replied ‘In response to correspondence from the individual referred to by the Deputy, I sought a report from the Garda authorities on the matters raised. The correspondence in question did not raise the claim that Government officials were buying guns. I was informed by the Garda authorities that the person in question [Gerry Walshe] made a number of allegations of unlawful activity and inaction by the Garda Síochána. [Inaction is an accusation aimed at him]
The Gardaí have found no evidence to substantiate the claims made. [Gardaí were given evidence; which they “lost”] Local Gardaí have met with the complainant to discuss the allegations and he has declined to make a formal statement of complaint to the Gardaí. [Audio recordings of the meeting prove the Gardaí had no intention of helping Mr. Walshe] In circumstances where the complainant will not make a formal statement to the Gardaí it is difficult for them to further investigate the various matters raised.”
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Troops patrol French village of Saint-Aignan after riot
The normally sleepy village near Blois is in shock after unprecedented rioting
Three hundred soldiers are patrolling a normally tranquil village in France’s Loire Valley after dozens of armed travellers clashed with police.
The riot erupted on Sunday morning in Saint-Aignan after a gendarme had shot and killed a traveller who had driven through a checkpoint, officials said.
Travellers armed with hatchets and iron bars then attacked the village police station and hacked down trees.
They also toppled traffic lights and road signs and burned three cars.
“It was a settling of scores between the travellers and the gendarmerie,” said the village mayor, Jean-Michel Billon.
He said the travellers also pillaged a bakery in the village. Just 3,400 people live in the village in a popular tourist region of central France.
US to deploy troops on Mexico border
A fence separates the cities of Nogales, Arizona, US (L) and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
The US will start sending some 1,200 troops to its border with Mexico in August to help in monitoring and arresting illegal immigrants, officials say.
The deployment is part of President Barack Obama’s border plan to reduce drug smuggling and human trafficking on the US-Mexican border.
Obama asked for $500 million in supplemental funds from the Congress in late May to deploy more troops to secure the almost 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) border.
The Army and Air National Guard troops “will provide direct support to federal law enforcement officers and agents working in high-risk areas to disrupt criminal organizations seeking to move people and goods illegally across the southwest border,” AFP quoted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano as saying on Monday.
Gen. Craig McKinley, commander of the National Guard, said that the troops will be trained in four border states, including California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, by September 1.
Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon has expressed discontent with the decision.
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Only 23% Say U.S. Government Has the Consent of the Governed
The notion that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed is a foundational principle of the American experiment.
However, a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 23% of voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty-two percent (62%) say it does not, and 15% are not sure.
These figures have barely budged since February.
There is no gender gap on this question. Younger voters are more likely than their elders to believe the government today has the necessary consent. Among voters under 30, 28% say the government has that consent. Just 15% of senior citizens share that view.
From an ideological perspective, most liberal voters (58%) think the federal government has the consent of the governed. Most moderates (57%) and most conservatives (84%) disagree.
Democrats are closely divided on the question. Republicans and unaffiliated voters strongly reject the notion that the government has the consent of the governed.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 12-13, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.